234 COMPARATIVE ARCHITECTURE. of the great power the Church had acquired. S. Ambrose's fame and influence maintained the Ambrosian rite, which differed in some points of ritual, such as side altars not being used {cf. Milan Cathedral, page 408). V. Social and Political. — The devastating wars in the North Italian plains led to the gradual rise of the Venetian state, the first form of government being republican, but an oligarchy in which a Duke, or Doge, was invested with supreme authority gradually grew up. Italy itself consisted of a number of separate cities which were independent commonwealths. vi. Historical. — Venice from the first kept up a close alliance with Constantinople, by means of which both the naval import- ance and commerce of the little state continually increased, especially after the eleventh century, by which time commercial relations had extended to the Black Sea and the coast of the Mediterranean, including Dalmatia, Croatia, and Istrii,. The barbarians who occupied the valleys of the Rhine and Po pursued a similar development in spite of the intervening Alps, Milan being as much German as Italian. In Italy, the old Roman population eventually caused barbarian influence to wane, but until this had come to pass little building was done. The eleventh and twelfth centuries were the great building epochs in Lombardy. 2. ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER. NORTH ITALIAN ROMANESQUE. CENTRAL ITALIAN ROMANESQUE. Arcades restricted to top of Arcades in several stories were gables and apses The character employed as an ornament to the is less refined owing to the use of facades (No. 91). Marble facing stone and brick rather than marble. was carried to such an extent as to Wide, flat, and severe facades form a style in that material. The are typical, covering the whole Basilican type was closel}' adhered church, without marking in any to, and beaut)' and delicacy of detail way the difference of nave and were preferred to the invention of aisles. A rose window (No. g6) fresh architectural forms produced and a porch resting on lions are by a new system of construction, often the chief relief. Details show Detail much affected by Classic a breaking away from Classic pre- remains and traditions, which re- cedent. In sculpture, hunting and suited in the production of carving other scenes reflecting the life of and ornament of great refinement, thenortherninvaders are frequent. At Pisa ancient sarcophagi richly and in these a grotesque element sculptured with figures existed, by is prominent. whose study the Pisani were in- The churches were of the Basi- fluenced. lican type, and were nearly all The churches were mostly roofed vaulted and roofed. Side aisles with plain open-timbered roofs, the are often in two stories, the clere- members of which were orna- story is omitted, the walls between mented with bright coloring, the side chapels forming but tresses.
