CHAPTER V.

THE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

HAVING now traced the gradual developement of Gothic architecture, from the rudest Romanesque to its perfection in the Decorated style, it only remains to trace its decline, which though not equally gradual was much more so than is commonly supposed. Up to the time of its perfection the progress appears to have been nearly simultaneous throughout the northern part of Europe, with some exceptions: but during the period of its decline, chiefly the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, it assumed a different form in each country, so distinct one from the other as to require a different name and to be fairly considered as distinct styles. To call the Perpendicular style of England by the same name with the Flamboyant style of France, Germany, and the Low Countries, can only cause needless con

fusion, and the received names for these styles are so expressive of their general character that it would not be easy to improve upon them.

The transition from the Decorated to the Perpendicular style has been less generally noticed than the earlier transitions, but though less apparent at first sight, it may be as clearly traced, and examples of it are almost equally numerous: they occur in most parts of the country, though more common in some districts than in others, especially in Norfolk. The earliest authenticated example of this transition is the church of Edington in Wiltshire, built by William de Edington, bishop of Winchester, the first stone was laid in 1352, and the church was dedicated in 1361. is a fine cruciform church, all of uniform character, and that character is neither Decorated nor Perpendicular, but a very remarkable mixture of the two styles throughout: the tracery of the windows looks at first sight like Decorated, but on looking more closely the introduction of Perpendicular features is very evident, the west doorway has the

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segmental arch common in Decorated work, over this is the usual square label of the Perpendicular, and under the arch is Perpendicular panelling over the heads of the two doors, the same curious mixture is observable in the mouldings, and in all the details. This example is the more valuable from the circumstance that it was Bishop Edington who commenced the alteration of Winchester cathedral into the Perpendicular style; he died in 1366, and the work was continued by William of Wykeham, who mentions in his will that Edington had finished the west end, with two windows on the north side and one on the south: the change in the character of the work is very distinctly marked. Bishop Edington's work at Winchester was executed at a later period than that at Edington, and as might be expected the new idea is more fully developed; but on a comparison between the west window of Winchester and the east window of Edington, it will at once be seen that the principle of construction is the same, there is a central division carried up to the head of the window, and sub-arches springing from

it on each side; it may be observed that whenever this arrangement of the sub-arches occurs in Decorated work, it is a sign that the work is late in the style. Before the death of Bishop Edington, the great principles of the Perpendicular style were fully established. These chiefly consist of the Perpendicular lines through the head of the window, and in covering the surface of the wall with panelling of the same kind. These features are as distinctly marked at Winchester as in any subsequent building, or as they well could be.

The next great work of Wykeham was New College chapel, Oxford, certainly one of the earliest, and perhaps the first building erected from the foundation in the Perpendicular style, and a finer specimen of the style does not exist. The first stone was laid in 1380, and it was dedicated in 1386.

Another very remarkable and valuable example of the transition from Decorated to Perpendicular is the choir of York minster, commenced by Archbishop John de Thoresby in 1361, and completed in 1408; the general appearance of this mag