The Gradual Change from Decorated to Perpendicular
Richard II. and the latter part of Edward III.
From c. 1360 to 1399.
Having now traced the gradual development 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 a distinct style. To call the Perpendicular style of England by the same name as the Flamboyant style of France, Germany, and the Low Countries, can only cause needless confusion; 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 gradual change 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.
Professor Willis has demonstrated that this change began to shew itself, in the choir and transepts of Gloucester Cathedral, before the middle of the fourteenth century. The panelling and the window tracery have so much the appearance of the Perpendicular style that they have been commonly supposed to have been rebuilt or altered at a late period; but the vaulting and the moldings are pure Decorated, and the painted glass of the fourteenth century is evidently made for the places which it occupies in the heads of the windows with Perpendicular tracery: it must therefore be considered as the earliest known example of this great change of style. In this work of alteration the walls and arches of the Norman church were not rebuilt, but cased with panelling over the inner surface, so as to give the effect of the latter style to the interior. This was just the same process as was afterwards followed at Winchester by William of Wykeham, in changing the Norman to the Perpendicular style in appearance without any actual rebuilding. The work was begun as early as 1337, and carried on for a number of years. The funds were procured by offerings at the tomb of King Edward II., who, as is well known, was buried in this church, the body having been removed from Berkeley Castle for that purpose by the Abbot Thokey. It has been ascertained by Archdeacon Freeman, at Exeter, by a careful comparison of the building with the fabric rolls, that the greater part of that fine Cathedral was also altered from the Norman to the Decorated style without rebuilding.
The Dean’s Cloister of Windsor with the buildings surrounding it was built between 1350 and 1356, as appears by the builder’s accounts still extant in the Public Record Office. The style is Perpendicular, but with Decorated moldings, or at least a mixture of them. The vault of the porch under the Ærary or treasury, and the doorway to it, are among the richest pieces of work of this period. It was originally the porch of the chapter-house of the Order of the Garter.
Sir G. G. Scott, in his “Gleanings from Westminster Abbey,” has also shewn that part of the cloisters, and some other work recorded to have been built by Abbot Litlington, 1362-1386, are in a style of transition, belonging rather to the Perpendicular than the Decorated.
The substructure of all the canonical residences running southward from the Deanery, (itself the Abbot’s house of old,) displays a range of vaulting of simple and elegant character, with here and there a window of the period still remaining to testify that the whole was completed, before the tasteless alterations of subsequent centuries destroyed the workmanship which they were as unable to appreciate as to imitate. Two archways still remain, in the length of this substructure, connecting Great Dean’s Yard with the courts to the eastward of it. They are of the style to which their known date would assign them; though perhaps a close consideration of their details (such as the cavetto and double ogee moldings) would lead to the conclusion that those characteristics, hitherto assigned to the fifteenth century, are here found in one of the earliest examples of their application.
The whole of Abbot Litlington’s work is in a style of transition between the Decorated and Perpendicular period; it is almost impossible to say to which of these received styles the moldings and details can be referred. As the divisions of the styles of Gothic Architecture are entirely arbitrary, arranged for general convenience, and for the use of beginners in the study, it is perfectly natural that this sort of mixture should take place for a certain period between each of the great changes. The latter part of the fourteenth century was the period when the Perpendicular style was coming into general use, but was not fully established: as the distinction is less marked than in the similar period between each of the other styles, it has been commonly overlooked, but the same overlapping of styles occurs at this period as in the similar transition between the others. This is more marked and prominent between the Norman and the Early English styles, and therefore that is commonly called the period of transition; but a similar period exists equally between each, a gradual change was always going on.
One of the earliest authenticated examples of this transition is the church of Edington, Wiltshire, built by William de Edington, Bishop of Winchester: the first stone was laid in 1352, and the church was dedicated in 1361. It 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 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 moldings, 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. Those 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, perhaps the first, building erected from the foundations entirely 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. Winchester College, built immediately after New College, is of precisely the same character with it, as might have been expected: they are both excellent specimens for the study of the Perpendicular style. 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 magnificent work is Perpendicular, but there is great mixture in all the details. The chancel of St. Mary’s Church at Warwick, rebuilt by Thomas Beauchamp, second Earl of Warwick, between 1370 and 1391, has more of the Perpendicular, being covered with panelling like Winchester, but the moldings are quite of mixed character. King’s Sutton Church, Northamptonshire, deserves notice as a specimen of this transition. In some instances, as at Charlton-on-Otmoor, the perpendicular line of the molding is carried on straight through the flowing lines of the tracery to the arch.
The nave and western transepts of Canterbury Cathedral were rebuilt between 1378 and 1411, but the Perpendicular style was then so fully established that there are scarcely any signs of transition. Chipping-Camden Church, Gloucestershire, was rebuilt by William Greville, a rich wool-stapler, who is buried in the chancel with his wife, and there is a fine brass to their memory; he died in 1401. This church is almost entirely of transitional character. The glorious chapter-house of Howden, and Gisburne Priory Church, in Yorkshire, are of this period, and very fine examples of early Perpendicular work. The roof and the casing of the walls of Westminster Hall belong also to the close of this century, 1397-99. The gatehouse of Thornton Abbey, Lincolnshire, is another splendid example of this transition. The cloisters of Gloucester Cathedral are decided Perpendicular in the fan-tracery of the vaults, but are partly of earlier date and character.
Houses and castles of the time of Richard II. are rather numerous and fine, and have frequently such a mixture of the Decorated and Perpendicular styles that it is difficult to say to which they belong. This is the case with a part of Warwick Castle, of Donnington Castle, Berkshire, Wardour Castle, Wiltshire, and Wressel Castle, Yorkshire; and Bolton Castle, in the more northern part of Yorkshire, is another fine example, and remarkably perfect. It is a very lofty and fine building, rather a fortified house than a castle intended for military purposes; there are two courts, and all the towers are perfect, or nearly so. It belongs to the time of Richard II. Dartington Hall, Devonshire, near Totnes, is another remarkable example of this period and character; it is a manor-house not fortified, with extensive farm-buildings attached to it. All the original windows are of four lights, with arches of the form called the shouldered-arch, which has been adopted in the modern Gothic front of Balliol College, Oxford. The original parts of the Vicar’s Close at Wells are of the same character and period; the remains of the Vicar’s Close at Lincoln are in part also of this character, one house is earlier, more decidedly Edwardian, and remarkably perfect. Most of these buildings are well known and have often been described, but are sometimes said to belong to the one style and sometimes to the other, this important transitional period having been very commonly overlooked.
The chancel of the fine church at Warwick is an excellent example of this change; it has sometimes been described as of the earlier style, and by other writers as of the later. The chapel on the south side of it, with the celebrated tomb of the Earl of Warwick, is an addition, and belongs to the later style.