Fletcher, Banister; Fletcher, Banister: A history of architecture for the student, craftsman, and amateur: being a comparative view of the historical styles from the earliest period (London, 1896)

102

COMPARATIVE ARCHITECTURE.

had become only a title. In northern Europe, Denmark,
Sweden, and Norway were distinct kingdoms, and England
had become welded into one by the Norman kings at the
end of the eleventh century.

2. ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER.

The term Romanesque may be said to include all
those phases of architecture, which were more or less based
on Roman work, and which were being carried out, in a
rough and ready way, in various parts of Europe, from the
departure of the Romans up to the introduction of the
pointed arch in the thirteenth century. Each country is
described under its own heading.

The general architectural character is sober and dignified,
while picturesqueness is obtained by the grouping of the
towers, and projection of the transepts and choir.

3. EXAMPLES (refer to each country).

4. COMPARATIVE.

a. Plans.—In church architecture further developments
from the type of the Early Christian basilica took place.
Transepts were usually added, and the chancel prolonged
further east than in the basilicas, the church partaking more
and more of a fully-developed cross on plan, as at S. Michele
at Pavia (Nos. 55, 56, 57). The transepts were the same
breadth as the nave, which was usually twice the width of
the aisles.

The choir was raised considerably by steps; under it was
the crypt, where the saints and martyrs were buried, this por-
tion being supported on cross vaults as at S. Miniato, Florence
(No. 62). In later periods the aisles were continued round
the choir.

The cloisters in connection with the churches are often
of great beauty and elaborately carved.

The towers are special features, and of great prominence
in the design, as at the Church of the Apostles at Cologne
(No. 67). They are either square, octagonal, or circular,
with well-marked storeys, having windows to each. The