Bk. II. Ch. V. BURGUNDY. 505 On the northern border of the province we find the church of St. Menoux (Woodcut No. 371), belonging certainly in many of its details to the style we are now describing. This is most distinctly observable in the exterior of the apse of the chevet, a feature which is seldom found unaltered ; here it is surrounded by a series of pilasters of rude classical design, which give to it a peculiar local character. Internally, too, its, chevet (Woodcut No. 372) is remarkably elegant, though less Burgundian in style. It shows to what an^xtent the stilting of round arches could be used to overcome the difficulty of combining arches of different spans, but all requiring to be carried to the same height. Like all the old churches of the province, it possesses a large and im- portant narthex, here the oldest part of the church, and a rude and characteristic specimen of a style of architecture that can hardly be later than the 10th century. These few specimens must suffice to define a style which well deserves a volume to itself, not only on account of its own architect- ural merit, but from the enormous influence exercised both by the order itself and by its monastic founders on the civilization of Europe in the as^e to Avhich it belongs. During the 11th and 12th centuries Cluny was more important to France than Paris. Its influence on the whole of Europe was second only to that of Eome — civilizing barbai-ians by its missionaries, withstanding the feudal nobility, and in many ways counteracting the ferocity of the times.
