Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 1.djvu/224

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CASSELL'S ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF ENGLAND
[A.D. 1198

teristic of Norman work. Secondly, a porch flanked by two pedimented buttresses, ornamented with corbel-tables and intersecting arcades. The arch is plainer than it would have been at a later period, but it exhibits the billet moulding which is also used on the buttresses. The capitals are of the plain cushion form, and the pediment of the porch exhibits the scalework surface ornament already mentioned. Other varieties of this ornament also occur in the heads of the lower windows, and in the arcade in the middle storey. The zigzag in this example is only used for a string course.

A capital from the Chapel in the Tower of London is given as a very good example of the early Norman form of capital. It exhibits the volutes at the angles and the plain block in the centre, in room of the caulicoli, and is surrounded by a peculiar stiff kind of foliage, the whole being an evident but rud imitation of the Corinthian capital. The volutes and the centre block are common features of early Norman capitals, but the foliage is rare. It occurs also in the work of Remigius, at Lincoln Cathedral.

A portion of Doorway, Durham Cathedral, is given as an example of rich Norman, and exhibits the peculiar mouldings and ornaments of the style. The dripstone shows a rude kind of foliage, on which are placed at intervals medallions containing animals, &c. It is not unusual for these to be occupied with the signs of the zodiac. The arch exhibits a rich series of zigzags; the abacus of the capitals is of the usual Norman form, but has its upright face ornamented with what is an evident imitation of a classical form, generally known as the Grecian honey-suckle. The capitals are of the usual cushion shape, but overlaid with foliage and monstrous animals. The shapes exhibit two varieties of ornamentation, much used in very rich doorways. The first two are fluted spirally in opposite directions, and the third exhibits a kind of diaper work, being a modification of the zigzag, in which the interstices are filled with foliage.

Richard Coeur-de-Lion.

CHAPTER XLVI.

Accession of Richard I., Surnamed Cœur-de-Lion, a. d. 1159-Massacre of the Jews—The Third Crusade.

No sooner bad the monks of Fontevrault committed this body of Henry to the grave, than Richard assumed the sovereign authority, and his first acts were marked with all that energy and determination which afterwards distinguished him. He at once gave orders that the person of Stephen of Tours, seneschal of Anjou, and treasurer of Henry, should be seized. This functionary was thrown into a dungeon, where be was confined with irons on his feet and hands, until he had given up to the new king, not