DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.29899#0175
Bk. III. Ch. IX.
COLLEGIATE CLIURCHES.
155
esting, as it was here that the three raost celebrated archbishops of
Canterbury—Becket, Langton, and Edmund—found an asylum when
driven by the troubles of their native land to seek a refuge abroad, and
the bones of the last-named sainted prelate are said still to remain in
the châsse, represented in the woodcut, and are now and have been for
centuries the great object of worship here.
About a century after- the erection of these two early specimens, we
have two others, the dates of which are ascertained, and which exhibit
the pointed style in its
greatest degree of perfec-
tion. The first, the Sainte
Chapelle in Paris, was com-
menced in 1241 and dedi-
cated in 1244 the other,
the church of St. Urban at
Troyes, was begun in 1262,
and the choir and transept
completed in 1266. Both
are only fragments—choirs
to which it was originally
intended to add naves of
considerable extent. The
proportions of the Sainte
Chapelle are in consequence
somewhat too tall and short ;
but the noble simplicity of
its design, the majesty of
its tall windows, and the
beauty of all its details,
render it one of the most
perfect examples of the
style at its culminating point
in the reign of St. Louis. m _ .. _ .
Now that the whole of the
painted glass has been restored, and the walls repainted according
to what may be assumed to have been the original design, we are
enabled to judge of the effect of such a building in the Middle Ages.
It may be that our eyes are not educated up to the mark, or that the
restorers have not quite grasped the ancient design ; but the effect as
now seen is certainly not quite satisfactory. The painted glass is
glorious, but the effect would certainly have been more pleasing if all
the structural parts of the architecture had been of one colour. There
1 A plan of tfie Sainte Chapclle will be found further on (page 395) when
comparing it witli St. Stephen’s Cliapel, Westminster.
COLLEGIATE CLIURCHES.
155
esting, as it was here that the three raost celebrated archbishops of
Canterbury—Becket, Langton, and Edmund—found an asylum when
driven by the troubles of their native land to seek a refuge abroad, and
the bones of the last-named sainted prelate are said still to remain in
the châsse, represented in the woodcut, and are now and have been for
centuries the great object of worship here.
About a century after- the erection of these two early specimens, we
have two others, the dates of which are ascertained, and which exhibit
the pointed style in its
greatest degree of perfec-
tion. The first, the Sainte
Chapelle in Paris, was com-
menced in 1241 and dedi-
cated in 1244 the other,
the church of St. Urban at
Troyes, was begun in 1262,
and the choir and transept
completed in 1266. Both
are only fragments—choirs
to which it was originally
intended to add naves of
considerable extent. The
proportions of the Sainte
Chapelle are in consequence
somewhat too tall and short ;
but the noble simplicity of
its design, the majesty of
its tall windows, and the
beauty of all its details,
render it one of the most
perfect examples of the
style at its culminating point
in the reign of St. Louis. m _ .. _ .
Now that the whole of the
painted glass has been restored, and the walls repainted according
to what may be assumed to have been the original design, we are
enabled to judge of the effect of such a building in the Middle Ages.
It may be that our eyes are not educated up to the mark, or that the
restorers have not quite grasped the ancient design ; but the effect as
now seen is certainly not quite satisfactory. The painted glass is
glorious, but the effect would certainly have been more pleasing if all
the structural parts of the architecture had been of one colour. There
1 A plan of tfie Sainte Chapclle will be found further on (page 395) when
comparing it witli St. Stephen’s Cliapel, Westminster.