The new principles of construction are first distinctly and skilfully exemplified in the Abbey Church of St. Denis, which dates from 1137 to 1141. And the origin of Gothic, so far as existing monuments exhibit it, is, on the Continent, now commonly traced to that building only. But the Abbey Church of Morienval, near Crépy-en- Valois, appears to anticipate, though in a halting manner, some of the principles that are carried out so remarkably in St. Denis. This church, a construction of the eleventh century, has an apse which dates from the end of the eleventh or the beginning of the twelfth century, and a rudimentary apsidal aisle whose vaults have diagonal ribs, pointed archivolts, [1] and even rudely pointed transverse arches, though of these last arches one has no rib, while the other has a rudely adjusted and very heavy round-arched one. The diagram 2 [2] (Fig. 11) illustrates the form and construction of one compartment of these vaults, the one marked a on the reduced plan of the apse given at A. It will be seen that the narrow archivolt a, in the plan B, whose elevation is at a', is both stilted and pointed, in order to bring its crown up to nearly the same level as that of the wider spanned round arch b, whose elevation is at b'; and that the transverse arch c, situated at b in the plan A, is more acutely pointed for the same reason, while the transverse arch d assumes the form of an irregular ellipse. It is interesting, as showing that constructive exigencies alone here brought about the use of the pointed arch, to notice further, that the ridges of the longitudinal cells, g and h, having to pass through the intersection of the diagonals, and curving with the form of the apse, bring the crowns of these transverse arches to one side, rather than
- ↑ Three of these archivolts are pointed, and one is round, there being four arches in all to the apse arcade. The Report of the "Congres Archéologique de France" for the year 1877 thus alludes to this apse: "Nous voudrions aussi dégager de l'époque ogival certains églises où, malgre l'ogive et même la nervure, on trouve dans les moulures, dans les colonnes ou dans quelques dispositions générales, des formes qui rappellent par trop encore soit le XIe siécle, soit les premiers rudiments de la transition. Le chœur de l'église de Morienval mérite à cet égard d'être cité tout le premier: la nervure et l'ogive avaient eté fort peu pratiquées lorsqu'il fut construit, et peut-être, ou plutôt selon toute probabilité, c'est là que les habitants du Valois virent pour la première fois ces germes fécunds d'un nouvel art de bâtir."
- ↑ I am indebted for this diagram to Mr. G. F. Newton, who kindly took the pains to go for me from Paris to Morienval, and secure the data which my own notes had not fully included.
