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Course Content
~ Introduction
Section 1: Python Refresher
Chapter 1: Install Python
Chapter 2: Variables, Strings, Ints, and Print
Chapter 3: If Statements and Comments
Chapter 4: Functions
Chapter 5: Lists
Chapter 6: Loops
Chapter 7: Dictionaries
Chapter 8: Classes
Section 2: Project #1 - Word Counter Website
Chapter 9: Project Intro
Chapter 10: Django Cheat Sheet
Chapter 11: Installing Django
Chapter 12: Running the Django Server
Chapter 13: Project Tour
Chapter 14: URLs
Chapter 15: Templates
Chapter 16: Forms
Chapter 17: Counting the words
Chapter 18: Challenge
Chapter 19: Solution
Section 3: Git
Chapter 20: Intro to Git
Chapter 21: Installing Git A-Z
Chapter 22: Troubleshooting
Section 4: Project #2 - Your Personal Portfolio
Website
Chapter 23: Project Intro
Chapter 24: Sketch
Chapter 25: Virtualenv
Chapter 26: Gitignore
Chapter 27: Apps
Chapter 28: Models
Chapter 29: Admin
Chapter 30: psycopg2 fix
Chapter 31: Postgres
Chapter 32: Test Your Skills - Blog Model
Chapter 33: Home Page
Chapter 34: Bootstrap
Chapter 35: Show Jobs
Chapter 36: All Blogs
Chapter 37: Blog Detail
Chapter 38: Static Files
Chapter 39: Polish
Section 5: VPS
Chapter 40: Intro
Chapter 41: Digital Ocean
Chapter 42: Security
Chapter 43: Postgres and Virtualenv
Chapter 44: Git Push and Pull
Chapter 45: Gunicorn
Chapter 46: Nginx
Chapter 47: Domains
Section 6: Project #3 - Product Hunt Clone Website
Chapter 48: Project Intro
Chapter 49: Sketch
Chapter 50: Extending Templates
Chapter 51: Base Styling
Chapter 52: Sign Up
Chapter 53: Login and Logout
Chapter 54: Products Model
Chapter 55: Creating Products
Chapter 56: Iconic
Chapter 57: Product Details
Chapter 58: Home Page
Chapter 59: Polish
~ Conclusion

Introduc on
Assets and Resources:
- Django Official Website ([Visit Here](
https://www.djangoproject.com/ ))
- Python Official Website ([Visit Here](
https://www.python.org/ ))
- DigitalOcean’s Overview & Documentation ([Visit Here](
https://www.digitalocean.com/docs/ ))

Welcome to “Django 2.2 & Python: The Ultimate Web

Development Bootcamp”. This book is designed to be
your one-stop guide to mastering the powerful
combination of Django, a high-level web framework, and
Python, one of the world’s most versatile programming
languages. By the end of this bootcamp, you will not only
have built three functional web applications but will also
be equipped with the knowledge and confidence to
embark on your own web development projects.

Why Django and Python?

When venturing into the world of web development, the
sheer number of languages, frameworks, and tools can
be overwhelming. So why focus on Django and Python?
Python is celebrated for its simplicity, versatility, and
readability, making it a top choice for beginners and
seasoned developers alike. It powers a myriad of
applications, from simple scripts to machine learning
algorithms and large-scale web applications.
Django, on the other hand, was birthed from Python’s
philosophy. Often referred to as the framework “for
perfectionists with deadlines,” Django makes it
significantly faster to build high-quality web applications.
It’s designed to avoid repetitive tasks and encourage the
rapid development of robust applications, making your
development journey smoother and more enjoyable.

What’s Inside this Bootcamp?

As you delve into the upcoming sections and chapters,
here’s what you can expect:
1. Python Refresher: Even if you’ve never written a line
of Python code, we’ve got you covered. We begin with
the basics, ensuring you’re well-equipped to tackle
Django with confidence.
2. Three Comprehensive Projects: From a simple word-
counting website to your own portfolio and a clone of the
renowned Product Hunt platform, you’ll be applying your
newfound knowledge in practical, tangible ways.
3. Insights into Git: Dive into version control with Git, a
must-know tool for every developer. You’ll learn why it’s
crucial, how to set it up, and how to use it effectively.
4. Deploying with DigitalOcean: We won’t just leave you
with applications on your local machine. We’ll guide you
through deploying your projects to a Virtual Private
Server (VPS) on DigitalOcean, making them accessible
to the world.

Are You Ready?

Whether you’re a novice curious about web development
or a Python enthusiast eager to dip your toes into web
frameworks, this book is crafted for you. Our approach is
hands-on, interspersed with challenges and solutions,
ensuring you not only consume content but also actively
engage with it.
Before you dive into the next sections, ensure you have
a functioning computer and a stable internet connection.
While no prior experience with Django or Python is
required, a basic understanding of general programming
concepts will be beneficial.
And most importantly, come with an open mind and a
thirst for knowledge. The world of web development is
vast and fascinating, and we’re thrilled to be your guide
on this journey.
Prepare yourself for an immersive, enlightening, and,
above all, fun exploration of Django 2.2 and Python.
Let’s begin!

Section 1:
Python Refresher
Install Python
Assets and Resources for this Chapter:
- Python Installer: Available from the official Python
website ([Download here](
https://www.python.org/downloads/ ))
- Python Documentation: Helpful for any installation
troubleshooting or additional details ([Visit here](
https://docs.python.org/3/ ))

Introduction
Before we dive into the world of Django, it’s essential to
familiarize ourselves with the foundational language
upon which it’s built: Python. While Django is a powerful
web framework, Python is the heart and soul that powers
it. In this chapter, we’ll ensure you have Python installed
and set up correctly on your machine.

Why Python?
Python is one of the world’s most popular programming
languages. It is known for its simplicity, readability, and
vast array of libraries and frameworks, making it versatile
for everything from web development to data analysis to
artificial intelligence and more.

Choosing a Python Version

While there are multiple versions of Python available, as
of writing this book, Python 3.9 is the latest stable
release. It is always advisable to use the latest version
unless you have a specific need for an older version.
Django 2.2, which we’ll be focusing on in this book,
requires Python 3.5 or newer.
Steps to Install Python:
1. Visit the Official Python Website
- Open your browser and navigate to [Python’s official
website]( https://www.python.org/downloads/ ).
2. Download the Installer
 - You’ll see a button labeled “Download Python 3.9.x”
(or the latest version). Click on it to start the download.
3. Run the Installer
- Once the download is complete, locate the installer
in your downloads folder and double-click to run it.
- Important: Ensure you check the box that says “Add
Python 3.9 to PATH” before proceeding. This will allow
you to run Python from your command line or terminal
without any extra configuration.
4. Choose Installation Options
- For most users, the default installation options will
suffice. However, if you’re an advanced user and want to
customize the installation, feel free to do so.
- Click “Install Now” to begin the installation process.
5. Installation Complete
- Once the installation is finished, you’ll see a screen
indicating that Python was installed successfully.
6. Verify the Installation
- Open your command line or terminal and type
`python —version` and press enter. This should return
the version number, confirming that Python was installed
correctly.

Potential Issues and Troubleshooting:

- If you receive an error when trying to verify the
installation, it’s possible that Python wasn’t added to
your system’s PATH. Make sure you checked the “Add
Python to PATH” option during installation.
- On some systems, you might need to use `python3`
instead of `python` to invoke Python.

Conclusion
Congratulations! You’ve successfully installed Python on
your machine. As we delve deeper into Django and web
development in the subsequent chapters, you’ll see the
power and flexibility that Python offers. But for now, take
a moment to celebrate this first step in your web
development journey. In the next chapter, we’ll dive into
some fundamental Python concepts to get you warmed
up.

Next Steps:
Before moving on, consider playing around with the
Python interactive shell by typing `python` (or `python3`
on some systems) into your command line or terminal.
This will give you a prompt where you can type and
execute Python code directly, providing an excellent way
to practice and experiment.

Variables, Strings, Ints,

and Print
Assets & Resources:
- Python (Version 3.7 or later) ([Download and install
from Python’s official website](
https://www.python.org/downloads/ ))
- A Text Editor or IDE (Recommendation: VS Code or
PyCharm)

Introduction:
Before diving deep into the world of Django and web
development, it’s crucial to have a strong foundation in
Python. This chapter will guide you through the basics of
variables, strings, integers, and the print function in
Python, setting the stage for the upcoming chapters.
1. Variables:
A variable in Python is like a container or storage
location that holds data values. A variable is assigned
with a value, and you can change this value based on
your needs.
Syntax:
“`python
variable_name = value
“`
Example:
“`python
greeting = “Hello, World!”
“`
In this example, `greeting` is a variable that holds the
string “Hello, World!”.

2. Strings:
Strings in Python are a sequence of characters,
enclosed within single (`’ ‘`) or double (`” “`) quotes.
Examples:
“`python
name = “John”
message = ‘Welcome to the world of Python!’
“`
String Concatenation:
You can also combine or concatenate strings using the
`+` operator:
“`python
first_name = “John”
last_name = “Doe”
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full_name = first_name + ” ” + last_name
“`

3. Integers (Ints):
Integers are whole numbers (without decimal points). In
Python, you can perform various arithmetic operations
with integers.
Examples:
“`python
age = 25
days_in_week = 7
“`
Basic Arithmetic Operations:
“`python
sum = 5 + 3 # Addition
difference = 5 - 3 # Subtraction
product = 5 * 3 # Multiplication
quotient = 5 / 3 # Division
remainder = 5 % 3 # Modulus (returns the remainder of
the division)
“`

4. The Print Function:

The `print()` function in Python is used to output data to
the console. It’s a great tool for debugging and for
displaying results to users.
Syntax:
“`python
print(value1, value2, …, sep=’ ‘, end=’\n’)
“`
Examples:
“`python
print(“Hello, World!”)
print(“Your age is:”, age)
print(first_name, last_name, sep=” “, end=”!\n”)
“`
In the last example, `sep` is used to define a separator
between the values, and `end` defines what to print at
the end. The default values are a space (`’ ‘`) for `sep`
and a newline (`’\n’`) for `end`.

Practice Exercise:
Now that you have a basic understanding of variables,
strings, integers, and the print function, try the following:
1. Create a variable called `course` and assign it the
string value “Python for Web Development”.
2. Create two variables, `students` and `teachers`, and
assign them the integer values 200 and 5, respectively.
3. Use the `print()` function to display the following
message:
“`
Welcome to the course: Python for Web Development.
We have 200 students and 5 teachers.
“`
Remember to use string concatenation and the variables
you’ve created!

Conclusion:
Understanding the basics of variables, strings, and
integers, and how to display them using the `print()`
function is fundamental in Python. This knowledge will
be instrumental as we proceed further into more complex
topics and start our journey with Django. Make sure to
practice the concepts you’ve learned here, as practice is
the key to mastering any programming language.
In the next chapter, we will explore conditional
statements in Python. Stay tuned!

Note: This chapter serves as a brief refresher. If any

topic seems challenging, consider referring to the Python
official documentation or other in-depth Python beginner
courses to gain a deeper understanding.

If Statements and
Comments
Assets and Resources:
- Python 3.x (You can download and install Python from
[python.org]( https://www.python.org/downloads/ ))
- Integrated Development Environment (IDE) like
PyCharm or Visual Studio Code (You can choose any
IDE, but for beginners, I recommend [PyCharm
Community Edition](
https://www.jetbrains.com/pycharm/download/ ))

Introduction
Before diving into web development with Django, it’s
crucial to have a firm grasp on the basic building blocks
of Python. One of the core concepts of any programming
language is conditional statements, with “if statements”
being the most commonly used. In this chapter, we’ll be
exploring if statements, along with Python comments
which play an essential role in making our code
understandable.

If Statements
At its heart, an if statement is a simple decision-making
tool that Python provides. It evaluates an expression
and, based on whether that expression is `True` or
`False`, will execute a block of code.

Basic If Statement
“`python
x = 10
if x > 5:
print(“x is greater than 5”)
“`
In the code above, Python checks if the value of `x` is
greater than 5. If it is, the message “x is greater than 5”
is printed to the console.

If-Else Statement
Often, you’ll want to have an alternative action in case
the if condition isn’t met:
“`python
x=3
if x > 5:
print(“x is greater than 5”)
else:
print(“x is not greater than 5”)
“`

If-Elif-Else Statement
For multiple conditions, Python provides the `elif`
keyword:
“`python
x=5
if x > 10:
print(“x is greater than 10”)
elif x == 5:
print(“x is 5”)
else:
print(“x is less than 10 but not 5”)
“`
In the example above, since `x` is 5, the message “x is
5” will be printed.

Comments in Python
Comments are an essential part of any programming
language. They allow developers to describe what’s
happening in the code, which can be invaluable for both
the original developer and others who might work on the
code in the future.
In Python, the `#` symbol is used to denote a comment.
Any text following this symbol on the same line is
considered a comment and will not be executed by
Python.
“`python
# This is a single-line comment in Python
x = 5 # Assigning value 5 to variable x
“`
For multi-line comments, Python developers often use
triple quotes, though this is technically a multi-line string.
Python simply ignores this string if it’s not assigned to a
variable:
“`python
”’
This is a multi-line
comment in Python
”’
x = 10
“`

Conclusion
If statements form the backbone of decision-making in
Python, allowing us to conditionally execute blocks of
code. Together with comments, which help in clarifying
and explaining our code, these tools are foundational for
any aspiring Python developer.
In the next chapter, we’ll explore functions, another
essential building block in Python.

Func ons
Assets and Resources Required:
1. Python (Version used in this book: Python 3.9) *(You
can download and install Python from the official website
[python.org]( https://www.python.org/downloads/ ).
Ensure you select the version 3.9 or newer during the
setup.)*
2. An IDE or text editor (Recommended: Visual Studio
Code) *(Available for free at [Visual Studio Code’s official
website]( https://code.visualstudio.com/download ).)
3. A working terminal or command prompt to execute
scripts.

Introduction
Functions are a cornerstone of programming in any
language. In Python, functions enable you to bundle a
sequence of statements into a single, reusable entity.
This chapter introduces you to the world of functions,
explaining how to create and use them.
Defining a Function
A function is defined using the `def` keyword, followed by
a name for the function, and then a pair of parentheses.
The code block within every function is indented, which
is a critical aspect of Python syntax.
Here’s a simple function definition:
“`python
def greet():
print(“Hello, World!”)
“`
In the above code, we’ve defined a function named
`greet` that, when called, will print “Hello, World!” to the
console.

Calling a Function
To execute the statements inside a function, you need to
call or invoke the function. To call a function, you simply
use the function name followed by parentheses.
“`python
greet() # This will print “Hello, World!”
“`

Parameters and Arguments

Functions can also accept values, known as parameters,
which allow you to pass data to be processed. When you
define a function and specify parameters, they act like
variables.
Here’s an example:
“`python
def greet(name):
print(f”Hello, {name}!”)
“`
When calling this function, you provide a value, known
as an argument, for the specified parameter:
“`python
greet(“Alice”) # This will print “Hello, Alice!”
“`

Return Values
Functions can also return values using the `return`
keyword. This is useful when you want a function to
evaluate data and give something back.
Here’s an example of a function that takes two numbers,
adds them, and then returns the result:
“`python
def add_numbers(a, b):
result = a + b
return result
sum_result = add_numbers(5, 3)
print(sum_result) # This will print 8
“`

Default Parameter Values

Python allows you to set default values for function
parameters. This means if an argument for that
parameter is omitted when the function is called, the
default value will be used.
“`python
def greet(name=“User”):
print(f”Hello, {name}!”)
greet() # This will print “Hello, User!”
greet(“Bob”) # This will print “Hello, Bob!”
“`

Variable-length Arguments
There might be scenarios where you don’t know the
number of arguments that will be passed into a function.
Python allows you to handle this kind of situation through
*args and kwargs.
“`python
# Using *args
def print_all_args(*args):
for arg in args:
print(arg)
print_all_args(1, “apple”, True, 42.5)
“`

Scope of Variables
In Python, a variable declared inside a function has a
local scope, which means it’s accessible only within that
function. Conversely, variables declared outside all
functions have a global scope.
“`python
global_variable = “I’m global!”
def demo_function():
local_variable = “I’m local!”
print(global_variable) # This is valid
print(local_variable) # This is valid within the
function
print(global_variable) # This will print “I’m global!”
# print(local_variable) # This would result in an error
“`
Summary
In this chapter, we explored the essentials of functions in
Python, which included defining, calling, and returning
values from functions. We also delved into parameter
handling with default values and variable-length
arguments. Grasping the concept of functions and their
flexibility is vital for any budding Python developer. As
you continue in this book, you’ll find that functions play
an integral role in building Django applications.
In the next chapter, we’ll explore Python lists, a crucial
data structure in Python, which will aid us further when
diving into Django’s capabilities.

Lists
Assets and Resources Required for this Chapter:
- Python (version 3.6 or higher) [Can be downloaded and
installed from the official Python website at `
https://www.python.org/downloads/ `]
- A code editor (preferably IDLE, which comes with
Python installation) or any other code editor of your
choice.

Introduction:
Lists are one of the most powerful tools in Python. They
allow you to store multiple items in a single variable.
These items can be of any type, and you can mix types
within a list. This flexibility allows lists to support a
myriad of use cases, from simple collections of numbers
to complex data structures.

Creating a List:
To create a list, use square brackets and separate the
items with commas.
“`python
Visit https://ebookmass.com today to explore
a vast collection of ebooks across various
genres, available in popular formats like
PDF, EPUB, and MOBI, fully compatible with
all devices. Enjoy a seamless reading
experience and effortlessly download high-
quality materials in just a few simple steps.
Plus, don’t miss out on exciting offers that
let you access a wealth of knowledge at the
best prices!
Other documents randomly have
different content
 Fig. 11.—Souvigny, Abbey
Church.

The School of Poitou

The chronology of the churches of Poitou is somewhat obscure, but the
vaulting principles of the school were well developed early in the eleventh
century, to which period a number of the existing churches belong. Their
naves are tunnel vaulted and without a clerestory, the light entering through
windows in the outer walls of the aisles, which are narrow and high and
covered with groined vaults rising from the imposts of the arches opening
into the nave. The entire church has a single-gabled exterior roof of wood
and tile, its rafters supported near their centers by a wall above the nave
arcade, and thus not resting directly upon the extrades of the vaults.[60]
Certain minor structural differences make it possible to divide the churches
of Poitou into two groups.
The first is composed of the earlier churches, of which Saint Savin-sur-
Gartempe (Vienne) (begun cir. 1023) is the best and perhaps the only
existing example. In it, both nave and aisle vaults are without transverse
arches. All the vaults are semicircular in section, and those of the aisles[61]
have their transverse surfaces continuous with the soffits of the nave arches.
[62] This gives them the flattened groins so characteristic of Roman
architecture. Such a system as this required an extensive wooden centering,
and it is not surprising that the builders of Poitou soon introduced
transverse arches beneath the vaults,—perhaps through the influence of
Lombardy, where they were in use as early as the tenth century[63]—thus
producing a group of churches which form the second type of the school.
Notre Dame-la-Grande at Poitiers (Vienne) (early twelfth century), is an
early example of this class. Transverse arches are employed throughout the
church, not only strengthening the vaults but making it possible to save
centering by using the same form for each successive bay and at the same
time reducing to some extent the thickness of the web by thus breaking it up
into smaller units.[64]
Toward the second half of the twelfth century the system was still further
improved by the introduction of pointed arches and vaults in both nave and
aisles, as for example in the abbey church of Cunault (Maine-et-Loire). The
flattened type of groin has here been abandoned, though the vaults are not
of domed-up type. Such doming is to be found in Poitou, however, in Saint
Pierre at Chauvigny (Vienne),[65] probably with the intention of saving
centering, as in Byzantine architecture. But even though the builders of
Poitou made some progress in vaulting, they never attempted to solve the
associated problem of getting direct light in the nave. Hence such progress
was but slight from the earliest to the latest churches of the school.[66]

The School of Auvergne

The Origin and Use of the Triforium Gallery in Auvergne

One of the distinguishing features of the typical churches of Auvergne is
the presence of a second story or triforium gallery above the side aisles. To
account for its presence a number of theories have been advanced. That
such galleries were not intended for congregational purposes, at least in the
early churches of the school, is evident from the fact that they are but dimly
lighted and accessible only by narrow staircases in dark corners. They may
have been used for storerooms or treasuries for relics brought by pilgrims,
—a possibility which is strengthened by the fact that they ceased to be built
in the thirteenth century when the era of the Crusades was past,[67]—or they
may have been useful places from which to defend the church,
corresponding in this respect to the room frequently found in the second
story of Romanesque towers.[68] But whatever their use, they would seem,
in Auvergne, at least, to have originated on purely structural grounds.
The expedient of dividing the openings from the nave of the church to
the aisles into two stages, with the evident intention of thus reducing the
height of the piers and even of making lighter piers possible, was employed
in a number of churches both earlier and later than those in Auvergne. It
may even be in part the explanation of the double colonnade in the Lateran
Baptistery, and the upper stories in the chapel at Aachen, and the abbey
churches at Essen, Nymwegen, and elsewhere. In any case, it explains the
system of two stories of arches in the Carolingian church of Saint Michael
at Fulda (818-822),[69] and in the early Romanesque churches of Vignory
(Haute-Marne)[70] (eleventh century), Montiérender, (Haute-Marne)[71]
(early eleventh century), and Chatel-Montagne (Allier)[72] (early twelfth
century), and probably also in Saint Pierre at Jumièges (Seine-Inférieure)
[73] (cir. 940).[74]
A significant fact in connecting these churches which are wooden
roofed, with the vaulted churches of Auvergne, lies in their geographical
distribution. While the earliest examples such as Fulda lie in the
Carolingian region, the latter examples, Jumièges, Vignory and
Montiérender lie but slightly north of Auvergne, while Chatel-Montagne is
actually in this province.[75] What is more natural to suppose, then, than
that the vaulted churches of Auvergne were based upon these earlier
churches, and that the nave arcade in two stages was retained even when
both aisles and nave were covered with vaults? Furthermore, it would then
be perfectly natural that the builders should have built these vaults in two
stories corresponding to the two stages of arches, since they would have
promptly recognized the great advantage gained by this system, which
stiffened the interior and exterior walls for the added weight which the high
vaults brought to bear upon them, without injuring to any extent the
appearance of the church.[76] This seems all the more plausible when the
fact is considered that the churches of Auvergne generally have broader
aisles than those of Poitou or Provence. This may also have been a heritage
from the early churches with two-storied arcades and wooden roofs just
mentioned,[77] and in any case it further explains the system of aisle vaults
in two stories. For, while the vaults of narrow aisles might be raised a
considerable distance from the ground without danger from excessive
thrusts, in wide aisles they would have exerted such thrusts and pressures
on piers and walls as to have rendered their support most difficult,
particularly when they carried directly the tiles of the roof as in Auvergne.

The School of Auvergne continued

As to the actual vaulting system of the Auvergnate churches, it is as
follows. In the nave, heavy tunnel vaults resembling those of Provence in
that they usually carried the roof.[78] Otherwise the churches are more like
those of Poitou in the form of the piers, the almost universal absence of a
clerestory, and the employment of vaults of semicircular section with
transverse arches, as in the early churches of the second class in that school.
In the triforium, the builders realized the advantage gained by the use of a
half tunnel vault as an offset to the nave thrusts and as a means of best
filling the space beneath a single gable roof,[79] and this is therefore the
universal method. At times this vault is borne on full semicircular
transverse arches,[80] and at others on those which follow its curve.[81] In
the side aisles, groined vaults were employed because they were the only
kind which could be built without cutting into either the triforium or the
side wall windows. In form they closely resemble those of Poitou and were
provided with transverse arches.

Churches of the Auvergne School

The church of Notre Dame-du-Port at Clermont-Ferrand (Puy-de-Dôme)
[82] (Fig. 12) (cir. 1100) has the Auvergnate characteristics just described.
Its great fault lies in the darkness of the interior, a darkness more
pronounced than that of the churches of Provence or Poitou because of the
width and lowness of the aisles with the consequent distance of the lateral
windows from the nave and the fact that they cannot be cut very high above
the floor. The windows of the triforium are also small,[83] and their light is
almost entirely confined to the gallery by its floor and by the smallness of
the arches opening into the nave. This fault was remedied in the choir,
where the light was most needed, by doing away with the triforium, and
placing a clerestory beneath the half dome of the apse.[84] As a further
improvement a lantern was placed over the crossing.[85]

Fig. 12.—Clermont-Ferrand,
Notre Dame-du-Port.

In certain churches of the school like Saint Sernin at Toulouse (nave

twelfth century), the triforium was increased in size, perhaps in order that it
might be used for congregational purposes, but more probably because
larger windows were absolutely necessary in this portion of the church for
the sake of the lighting. This theory is strengthened by the fact that Saint
Sernin has double side aisles and the lateral windows are therefore too far
away to light the nave. These added aisles are covered with vaults of regular
Auvergnate character, even to the extent of half tunnel vaults beneath their
roofs, and the remainder of the church corresponds to the structural
standards of the school.[86]

Churches of Auvergne with a Clerestory

Although it might seem from the foregoing pages that the builders of
Auvergne were very backward in structural technique, there are a number of
churches in the school which have a clerestory in the nave. Among them is
Saint Étienne at Nevers (Nièvre)[87] (end of the eleventh century),[88] in
which the clerestory is obtained by raising the wall above the triforium
arches just high enough to permit the introduction of comparatively small
windows with their heads rising above the impost of the vaults.[89] The
principle is the same as that in Provence, and no structural innovation is
involved. The builders merely relied upon heavy piers and walls and salient
buttresses to bear the added thrust which the tunnel vaults, thus raised,
produced. That their reliance was not especially well founded is proved by
the numerous cracks in the masonry.

The School of the Loire

The introduction of a clerestory in tunnel-vaulted churches was not yet
scientifically accomplished, and it remained for the school of Bourgogne to
find the best possible solution of the problem. But this solution would seem
to have been reached only after some intermediate steps had been taken
which may, perhaps, be traced in a number of eleventh century churches.
Two of these lie slightly to the north of Poitou and Auvergne and strongly
reflect the influence of these neighboring schools. These churches, together
with others in the same general region, may perhaps be said to constitute a
school of Romanesque architecture, which might properly be termed the
School of the Loire.
The first of these is the small church of Saint Genou (Indre).[90] It is a
combination of the types of Auvergne and Poitou except that the tunnel
vault of its choir is raised on a clerestory wall pierced with good sized
windows. Its aisles are in only one story, and, instead of being groined, are
covered by three-quarter tunnel vaults perhaps showing the influence of
such Provence churches as those of Silvacane and Vaison. The whole
system shows an advance in structural skill in several particulars. In the first
place the aisles are built low, and with columnar piers close together, thus
insuring the support of a heavy triforium wall. This wall is lightened in
appearance but not structurally weakened, by a wall arcade opposite the
vaults and roofs of the aisles, and is sufficiently thick at the clerestory level
to be pierced with window openings and still afford an excellent impost for
the tunnel vault. This, in turn, is built of light material like the vaults of
Poitou. With exterior salient buttresses, the system is complete. Its only
important drawbacks are the closeness of the supporting piers and the
necessity of keeping the whole choir rather low to avoid excessive thrusts.
The second church lies between Saint Genou and the school of
Bourgogne. It is the abbey church of Saint Benoît-sur-Loire (Loiret), begun
in 1062 and possessing a choir, transepts, and porch, dating from the second
half of the eleventh century. Its choir (Fig. 13) closely resembles that of
Saint Genou in every particular, except that the aisles have full tunnel vaults
and the church as a whole is larger with a much more lofty nave of greater
span.[91] Such a system as that of Saint Genou and Saint Benoît is produced
by the extension of the elevation so frequently seen in the apses of the
churches of Poitou and Auvergne to embrace the sides of the choir as well.
The columnar piers and small arches used are like those in the apse rather
than like those in the remainder of the church. The builders seem, however,
to have failed to realize that walls which would support the half dome of the
apse would not necessarily prove sufficiently strong to resist the thrusts of a
tunnel vault. In fact, in spite of its apparent advance, the vault of the choir
of Saint Benoît was only prevented from falling by the addition of
transverse arches and flying-buttresses at a date subsequent to the
completion of the church, and the vault of the nave of Cluny, which was
quite possibly similar, actually fell in 1125.[92] It remained for the twelfth
century builders of Bourgogne to take the final steps which were to carry
the system of tunnel vaulted naves with direct light to its highest
development.
 Fig. 13.—Saint Benoît-sur-
Loire, Abbey Church.

The School of Bourgogne

It is most unfortunate for a study of the school of Bourgogne that the
mother church at Cluny (Saône-et-Loire) should have been almost totally
destroyed in the French Revolution. This great church was begun in 1089
and must have been finished in 1125, for the nave vaults fell in that year
and were rebuilt before the final consecration in IIVO. What its original
vaulting system was is difficult to say. Reber[93] says that it was probably
vaulted like the churches of Auvergne with inner aisles in two stories, but
Rivoira[94] states that both the nave and aisles had tunnel vaults on
transverse pointed arches. The exterior view,[95] and the model which
fortunately remains, would correspond with either arrangement.[96] The
important facts to note are that the nave had a clerestory, and that the nave
vault was strengthened on the exterior by carrying up the clerestory walls to
exert a downward pressure at its haunch, a most important structural
advance over the exterior wall of Saint Benoît-sur-Loire.[97]
 Fig. 14.—Paray-le-Monial,
Abbey Church.

The developed system of Bourgogne may be seen to advantage in the

abbey church of Paray-le-Monial (Saône-et-Loire) (Figs. 14, 15), which
dates from the early twelfth century and is thus only slightly later than
Cluny itself. Its nave is wider and loftier than any yet seen in which a tunnel
vault was used, though not equal in size to that at Cluny, which was thirty-
two feet wide and ninety-eight feet high. All the structural arches are
pointed, but those used for windows, doors and decoration are still round
headed.[98] The clerestory, while it has only moderately large windows, is
so high above the ground as to render the support of the vaults above it
exceptionally difficult. This difficulty was overcome, first by giving the
vault a pointed section and thus reducing the thrust; second, by building as
light a web as possible and covering it with a wooden roof; third, by using
tie-rods of wood or metal, running along near the impost of the vault in the
thickness of the walls, thus to a certain extent concentrating the pressure
upon the piers; and, finally, as has already been stated, by carrying the
exterior walls of the church to a point considerably above the window heads
(Fig. 15), thus obtaining a downward pressure which offsets the outward
thrusts.
 Fig. 15.—Paray-le-Monial,
Abbey Church.

The side aisles of the school of Bourgogne are also worthy of mention.
They are usually covered with groined vaults, in many cases of slightly
domical form. Whether this method came directly from Lombardy where
there exist early examples of its use, or whether it came in through the
influence of Poitou and Auvergne which had come into close contact with
Carolingian architecture, is an open question. It seems quite likely,
however, that, since the Byzantine builders developed this type and
transmitted it to the Carolingian builders of the Rhine valley, it should have
passed from there into France and spread over the three northern-central
schools as it did over Lombardy. Regardless of its origin, it became the
standard type in all the important churches of the Cluniac region.
Occasionally, as at Souvigny (Allier) (possibly eleventh century), the
enclosing arches are of stilted round headed form, a type which is also
found as far north as Vézelay (Yonne) La Madeleine (after 1140) (Fig. 16).
Neither of these churches, however, is near the center of the school,[99] and
the pointed structural arch as used in the abbey church of Paray-le-Monial
(Fig. 14) is the common form.
The system employed in Bourgogne marks the highest development
attained in the use of a tunnel vault running the length of the nave. In the
Ile-de-France a few instances might be cited[100] in which a system like one
of those already described was used, and the same is true of certain
Romanesque churches outside of France, but in none of them is any new
structural method introduced. The tunnel vault was even used occasionally
as late as the thirteenth century,[101] but the examples are generally small
and insignificant.

Churches with Transverse Tunnel Vaults Over the Nave

Besides the methods which have just been described and which were so
localized as to form veritable Romanesque schools, there remain a number
of churches falling into two groups in which transverse tunnel vaults
replace those running longitudinally either in the nave or aisles. The first
and smaller group contains those in which such vaults were used over the
nave. Of these, the most important example is Saint Philibert at Tournus

Fig. 16.—Vézelay, La
Madeleine.

(Saône-et-Loire),[102] a church of considerable size and of early date

(dedicated 1019). Cylindrical piers and transverse arches divide the nave
into rectangular bays each of which is covered by a transverse tunnel vault
with a window in the clerestory wall at either end. Excellent light is thus
obtained and the thrusts of the vaults admirably counteract one another. In
fact, the system is so logical that it is surprising that it gave rise to so few
imitators.[103] The explanation may perhaps lie in the lack of apparent
continuity in the vault, a fault which this method shares with that of Le Puy.
As to its origin, it may go back to such Persian monuments as Tag-Eivan, or
to Syrian copies of Sassanian work with the substitution of stone for brick
as Choisy suggests,[104] though it is not unreasonable to think that the
builders of Tournus originated the system since it involved no unknown
structural principles. The aisles of Saint Philibert furnish one of the rather
rare examples of the employment of interpenetrating vaults.[105]

Churches with Transverse Tunnel Vaults Over the Aisles

The second group is much larger and more widespread, and comprises
all the churches employing transverse tunnel vaults over the side aisles. The
examples belonging to the school of Perigord have already been discussed,
[106] and mention has been made of the fact that there are possibly enough
of such churches in Provence alone to constitute a fifth type in that school.
[107] But the system is too widespread to be attributed to any one province.
It is undoubtedly a product of Roman and very early mediaeval
architecture, for it is to be seen in such buildings as the Basilica of
Maxentius at Rome, and in a modified, ramping form at Aachen.[108] Its
structural advantage lies in the large space which the tunnel vault affords
for windows in the outer wall thus lighting both the nave and aisles. Among
the many examples are the parish church of Chatillon-sur-Seine (Côte-d’Or)
[109] of the twelfth century, the abbey churches of Hauterive (Savoie),
Ronceray[110] (vaulted in 1115), Bénévent-l’Abbaye (Creuse),[111] and the
cathedral of Lescar (Basses-Pyrénées),—in which, however, the vaults are
an addition to a primitive construction.[112] In the church at Fontenay
(Côte-d’Or)[113] (before the middle of the twelfth century) concealed flying
buttresses appear over the transverse arches between the aisle bays, thus
aiding in securing a more even abutment for the continuous thrust of the
tunnel vault of the nave. A few churches like Cavaillon,[114] and the
cathedral of Orange (Vaucluse),[115] have tunnel vaults over rectangular
bays flanking the nave but not connected by arches to form side aisles.
The vaulting of the ambulatory gallery of Mantes cathedral, of the aisles
of Fountains Abbey in England, and possibly the original vaults of the aisles
of Saint Remi at Reims[116] were also transverse tunnel vaults. These latter
churches differ from the ones previously mentioned, however, in that they
are not tunnel vaulted in the nave and, moreover, are constructed with a
clerestory so that the side aisle vaults do not serve the purpose outlined in
the account of tunnel vaulted churches in the preceding paragraph.

Tunnel Vaults with Cross Ribs

This brings the discussion of the standard methods of tunnel vaulting to
a close, but there remain two curious churches in which cross-ribs were
added beneath the surface of simple tunnel vaults. One of these is at
Lusignan (Vienne),[117] and the other at Javarzay (Deux-Sèvres). Both date
from about 1120 to 1140 though the ribs may be a later addition to give the
appearance of ribbed vaulting which was introduced at about this time.

Naves with Groined Vaults

Although usually confined to the side aisle bays, there are a few
Romanesque churches in which the builders of the eleventh and twelfth
centuries placed groined vaulting over the nave. The scarcity of such
examples is due primarily to the difficulty of meeting the severe outward
thrusts of a groined vault raised over bays of considerable span and at a
point high above the ground. In the side aisles where the vaults were
comparatively low, the exterior wall could be thickened by salient
buttresses, and the piers strengthened by the weight of the wall above in a
manner to offset the thrust, but in the nave the problem was more
complicated. The builders had not yet invented the flying buttress. Hence,
when they attempted groined vaults at all, they blundered along trusting that
the inert mass of their walls and such timid buttresses as could be erected
above the nave piers would provide sufficient offset for the thrusts even
though these were now concentrated at four main points in each bay.
Naturally the vaults frequently gave way and had to be reconstructed. In
spite of these difficulties, the advantage of the groined vault in providing a
clerestory whose windows might rise as high as the crown of the vault itself
led to its occasional use.

Groined Vaults Over Rectangular Nave Bays

The vaults thus employed were of two rather distinct classes, those over
rectangular nave bays which were usually but little domed up, and those
over square bays which were generally distinctly domed in the Byzantine
manner. Of the first type perhaps the best known example is the Burgundian
church of La Madeleine at Vézelay (Yonne), (Fig. 17) dedicated

Fig. 17.—Vézelay, La Madeleine.

in 1104. Its nave is divided into a series of rectangular bays by transverse

arches of semicircular section, and over each bay is placed a groined vault
very slightly domed at the crown. To insure the stability of these vaults, the
builders relied on the weight of the walls, which were carried up somewhat
above the window heads, and on simple salient buttresses. To these exterior
supports were added interior arches half imbedded in the walls above the
clerestory windows (Fig. 17), furnishing one of the earliest examples of the
use of wall ribs or formerets. The web of the vault does not, however,
follow their extrados, but gradually breaks away from it toward the crown,
with the apparent object of thus concentrating even more pressure upon the
piers by stilting the wall line of the vault surface.[118] Even these
precautions were not deemed sufficient, so iron tie-rods were employed, but
these rusted and broke,[119] the vaults settled badly,[120] and if it had not
been for the addition of exterior flying buttresses, which had meanwhile
come into general use, the vaults would most certainly have fallen.
Although not a structural success, Vézelay did prove of advantage in
turning the builders away from the tunnel vault,—and this, too, in
Bourgogne where it had been most highly developed,—to a new type which
presented problems whose solution was to lead to Gothic architecture.
Vézelay was, however, but little imitated in the Romanesque era, perhaps
because of the almost contemporary development of the ribbed vault in
Lombardy, Normandy, and the Ile-de-France. A few churches, such as
Anzy-le-Duc (Saône-et-Loire)[121] did employ groined vaults over the nave
but on a smaller scale and frequently with more pronounced doming.
A more important and independent group of groined vaulted churches is
to be found in Normandy. In this school, the churches were usually covered
with wooden roofs though the aisles were occasionally groined. But there
are three churches in which the choir also has groined vaults. These are, La
Trinité or the Abbaye-aux-Dames at Caen (Calvados) (cir. 1066), Saint
Nicolas at Caen (cir. 1080), and Saint Georges-de-Boscherville at Saint
Martin-de-Boscherville (Seine-Inférieure) (late eleventh and early twelfth
century). The choir of the third of these churches, though later in date than
the others, is more primitive in type, for it is covered by interpenetrating
vaults, in which, however, the deep lunettes above the windows rise so
nearly to the crown that the result resembles groined rather than tunnel
vaulting.
In both the other examples true groined vaulting is used, but at La Trinité
it is in practically square bays, and carried by walls running down to the
ground,[122] making it easier of construction than that at Saint Nicolas[123]
where the bays are rectangular and the choir has true side aisles. This
church is similar in structural principles to La Madeleine at Vézelay—
except that the wall ribs are omitted,—and these two churches may be said
to represent the highest point reached by groined vaulting with practically
flat crowns during the Romanesque period.
Other examples might be cited, ranging from such an unusual church as
Saint Loup-de-Naud (Seine-et-Marne) in the Ile-de-France,—which is of
uncertain date,[124]—to churches as late as the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries, among which are Severac-le-Château (Aveyron) and Saint Pons-
de-Mauchiens (Hérault).[125] Occasionally, also, groined vaults were used
in the crypt as at Saintes (Charente-Inférieure),[126] even when tunnel
vaults were used in the upper part of the church, a peculiarity explained by
the fact that underground it was easy to dispose of the thrusts which could
not so readily be offset in the nave.
 The question of the origin of the method has frequently arisen and a
number of writers, including Choisy,[127] suggest the East as a possible
cradle of the style because of the numerous churches in Palestine thus
vaulted, but Rivoira[128] shows rather conclusively that it was the Cluny
influence which carried the method to the East rather than the reverse, a
theory strengthened by the fact that the earliest example there, which is the
church of Saint Anne at Jerusalem,[129] would seem to be after rather than
before the beginning of the twelfth century.[130] Moreover it is quite
reasonable to attribute the development of this advanced type of vault to the
builders of Bourgogne themselves, for they were surely progressive enough
to have taken such a step.

Groined Vaults over Square Nave Bays

Churches with groined vaults over square nave bays are much more
numerous than those with rectangular bays, just described. The most
important of these belong to the school of the Rhenish Provinces, which
had, perhaps, clung to Byzantine and Carolingian traditions in this respect.
As a rule the large churches of this school were originally planned for
vaulting only in the side aisles.[131] These were usually divided into square
bays by round headed transverse arches, and then each bay covered by a
more or less domed up groined vault, which, from its size and form, might
be erected with comparatively little centering.[132] There was no triforium
gallery, but a wall with blank arches took its place beneath the clerestory
windows. In many of the churches[133] shafts were carried up on the inner
face of alternate nave piers, probably to support the cross beams of the roof,
or possibly to carry transverse arches, but not to carry vaulting.
By the early twelfth century, after numerous fires had played havoc with
the churches, the Rhenish builders seem to have at last made an effort to
replace the wooden roofs with vaults. In doing this, they sought a form of
vault which would exert as little as possible of outward thrust and thus be
stable at the considerable height at which it must be placed. The Lombard
builders had by this time developed the domed up cross-ribbed vault, but, as
has been admirably shown by Porter,[134] the ribs which they employed had
for their sole purpose the saving of wooden centering, since the masonry of
the vault proper was heavy enough to stand without their aid. It was natural
then for the Rhenish builders, who copied their neighbors in Lombardy in
many particulars,[135] to look to them for a method of vault construction,
which they found in domed up vaults like those of Rivolta-d’Adda (1088-
1099) or Sant’Ambrogio at Milan (cir. 1098). These the Rhenish builders
chose as models, but being plentifully supplied with wood for centering, it
would seem as if they purposely did not adopt the diagonal ribs, but built
groined vaults of simple domed up type, placing them over square nave
bays each corresponding to two aisle bays in the true Lombard manner. This
system may be seen to advantage in the cathedral of Speyer[136] (probably
vaulted cir. 1137-1140). With extremely heavy walls like those of the
Rhenish churches, and with good masonry for their construction, such
vaults proved comparatively safe even over naves of such a span as that of
Speyer which is almost fifty feet in width.
This account of the Rhenish school completes the discussion of groined
vaulting as applied to the naves and choirs of Romanesque churches. The
heavy walls and the general excellence of masonry construction which they
required, together with the necessity for large interior piers, did not render
them popular or widely used.

Aisles with Groined Vaults in Lombardy and Normandy

That the use of groined vaults was far more extensive in the aisles than
in the naves of Romanesque churches has already been shown by the
examples cited from the schools of Poitou, Auvergne, Bourgogne, and
elsewhere. To these should be added a number of churches, chiefly of the
schools of Lombardy and Normandy, which have groined aisles in
combination with rib vaulted or wooden roofed naves. In Lombardy, where
the naves are ribbed, this combination has been admirably explained by
Porter[137] in connection with the use of wood for centering. Thus he shows
that groined vaults, provided that they were sufficiently domed up, could be
built over the small bays of the aisles and triforia with almost no wooden
framework, but that when such vaults were attempted in the nave the bays
were so large as to require a considerable amount of centering beneath the
vault, and therefore the builders substituted permanent diagonal arches of
very heavy character.
The Norman groined aisles are, however, of a different sort, for they
either have level crowns or are but slightly domed up in type. [138] The
abbey church of Jumièges (Seine-Inférieure) (1040-1067) is among the
earliest examples of this construction and is the only Norman church with
groined vaults in both the aisles and triforium.[139] La Trinité at Caen[140]
and the abbey church of Lessay (Manche)[141] are also Norman churches
with groined aisles, in both cases with level crowns. In La Trinité, as in the
early churches of Poitou, the bays are not even separated by transverse
arches.[142] In Saint Étienne at Caen, and in the choir of the cathedral of
Gloucester, the aisles are vaulted in both stories like those of Auvergne, the
lower groined, the triforia with half tunnel vaults, but it seems very
probable that these latter were added only when vaulting took the place of
the wooden roof in the central portions of the church.[143]
Curious instances of the persistence of groined vaulting are to be seen in
the triforia of such transitional churches as Saint Germer-de-Fly (Oise)[144]
and Vézelay, where the remaining portions of the church have ribbed vaults.
For this persistence an explanation is later attempted.[145]

Aisles with Semi-Groined Vaults

An unusual form of aisle vault appears at Creully (Calvados)[146]
(twelfth century), where the aisles are covered with a half tunnel vault
intersected toward the outer wall by lunettes, which thus convert it into a
semi-groined vault. Its obvious advantage lies in the combination of inward
pressure, which it exerts in support of the nave vaults, with the added
window space which it affords without increasing the height of the exterior
walls.

Ribbed Vaults
The introduction of ribs beneath the diagonal intersections of groined
vaulting gradually brought about a revolution in Mediaeval building, and
transformed the massiveness of Romanesque construction into the light and
graceful architecture of the Gothic era. Much has been written in an effort
to discover the origin of the new system. It is not, however, the intention
here to add to the number of theories advanced, except in an incidental
manner, but rather to classify the various forms of ribbed vaulting as
applied to naves, choirs, and aisles of the churches following immediately
after those of the Romanesque period which have just been described. As a
geographical basis is no longer practical for such a classification, because
of the widespread distribution of the new method of construction, a
structural basis will be substituted, and the vaults will be divided into two
major groups according as they were used over square or rectangular nave
bays, and then subdivided according to their minor characteristics.

Ribbed Vaults Over Naves with Square Bays

Lombardy affords the first examples of ribbed vaults over nave bays of
square plan. According to Rivoira[147] the earliest are in the church of Santa
Maria e San Sigismondo at Rivolta d’Adda[148] (before 1099), though this
was closely followed by the more important church of Sant Ambrogio at
Milan (between 1088-1128) (Fig. 18), which furnishes an admirable
example of the Lombard type. Its nave is divided into four great square
bays, each corresponding to two bays in the side aisles. (Plate I-a.) Of these
the eastern bay is treated as a crossing and covered by a dome above a
lantern on squinches, but the remaining three have four-part domed up
vaults with heavy ribs of square section, used not only transversely and
along the walls but also diagonally, thus forming a complete system or
skeleton of arches beneath the vault surface in the manner of true Gothic
architecture. But there are many reasons to believe with Porter[149] that the
builders of Lombardy employed these ribs purely as a permanent centering
of masonry,—which was less expensive than a temporary centering of wood
in a country where the latter material was very scarce,—and that they failed
to appreciate the fact that such ribs made possible a great reduction in the
weight of the panels, or web. of the vault, and in other ways could be made
to aid in reducing and concentrating its pressures. The masonry of the vault
is still excessively

PLATE I
 Fig. 18.—Milan, Sant’
Ambrogio.

thick,—between sixteen and twenty inches,—and would stand equally well

were the ribs removed. Moreover its thrust is so great that the builders
dared not raise its imposts sufficiently high to admit of a clerestory beneath
the formerets, and instead of rendering possible a lighter construction as
Gothic vaults were destined to do, these vaults of Saint’ Ambrogio required
for their support a wall forty inches thick and ramping walls above the
transverse arches of the triforium together with interior tie-rods and wooden
chains in the masonry[150] to offset their severe outward thrust. All these
facts show that the Lombard vaults are still fundamentally Romanesque in
type. Even in San Michele at Pavia (early twelfth century), where the
system was a little more developed, in that a small clerestory was
introduced, the principles were still the same as in Milan. As a matter of
fact, the Lombard builders never made any further advance in the handling
of ribbed vaults, and even went backward rather than forward. For the
builders found that groined vaults of domed up type could be built so lightly
as to require but little centering, and a return to this simple form was made
in such churches as San Lanfranco at Pavia.[151] Later on, in the thirteenth
and fourteenth centuries, French methods of ribbed vaulting were
introduced, but throughout the whole period of Lombard supremacy the
tendency was to avoid vaulting entirely, and when adopted, it was of the
heavy character just described.

The System of Alternate Supports

The Lombard churches are important in the present connection, however,
because of the method in which they are divided into vaulting bays. They
furnish the earliest examples of the system of alternate light and heavy
supports,—employed according to Cattaneo[152] as early as 985 in the three
original bays of SS. Felice e Fortunato at Vicenza. This system of piers with
alternate transverse arches produces one square[153] bay in the nave to two
square bays in the side aisles, and it occurs not only in vaulted churches but
also in others in which a wooden roof rests upon these transverse supports.
[154] Its advantage in the vaulted churches is particularly important,
however, and of a two-fold character. In the first place, it renders the four
enclosing arches uniform, and it makes them as nearly as possible of equal
span with the diagonals.[155] And in the second, it saves a considerable
amount of centering by rendering possible the construction of a vault
covering a space corresponding to two rectangular bays on four instead of
seven ribs.[156]
Outside of Lombardy, the four-part cross-ribbed vault over square nave
bays was but seldom employed in churches with side aisles also divided
into square compartments. It appears, however, in the cathedral of Le Mans,
(Sarthe) (middle of the twelfth century), where it would seem to be due to
the influence of the neighboring single aisled churches of Anjou,—which
are later discussed,—and it was frequently used in reconstructing the vaults
of the Rhenish school. In the Gothic period also, the system occasionally
appears in a modified form, and naturally enough these revivals occur
where Norman and Rhenish Romanesque had caused the principles of
Lombard architecture to be strongly entrenched. Thus the church of Saint
Legerius at Gebweiler[157] (cir. 1182-1200) furnishes a Rhenish, and the
choir of Boxgrove Priory church (cir. 1235), an English application of this
method. In the latter, the vaults are no longer highly domed up, and are
therefore far removed from their Lombard prototypes, only the general
division of the church reflecting this influence.
 Naves without Side Aisles
More important by far, are the churches without side aisles but with
naves in square bays with four part cross-ribbed vaults. This method is to be
seen in the cathedral of Fréjus (Var),[158] which is considered by Porter[159]
to exhibit the earliest extant ribbed nave vaults in France. These are
distinctly of Lombard type, and would seem to show a strong Lombard
influence entering France from the south. It may possibly be that this same
influence followed the route taken earlier by the dome on pendentives, and
thus gave rise to the domed up ribbed vault so common in the churches of
Anjou.[160] Of these latter, the cathedral of Saint Maurice at Angers
(Maine-et-Loire) (Fig. 19), presents perhaps the best existing example. Its
nave vaults which date from as early as 1150[161] are among the largest and
finest in France, having a span of some fifty-six feet. As in Lombardy, the
crown is highly domed up while to facilitate the construction of the web of
the vault with the least possible centering, pointed diagonals and enclosing
arches are employed. By this means the entire vault was constructed on the
ribs with no centering at all for the lower courses, and a simple cerce, a
device consisting of two curved boards sliding along each other, for those
near the crown. At the same time the outward thrusts were greatly reduced
by the pointed section of the vault.

Anjou Ridge Ribs

 Fig. 19.—Angers, Cathedral.

Since the Anjou churches possessed naves of wide span, it is not

surprising to find that their builders soon added ridge ribs beneath the vault.
That these were not mere cover-joints to conceal an irregular intersection of
the masonry, as Choisy suggests,[162] would seem to be proved by the fact
that the courses meet in a straight line at the ridge in by far the greater
number of Anjou churches in which they are employed,—for example in La
Couture at Le Mans (Fig. 20), Airaines,[163] and numerous churches with
small torus ribs, as well as by the fact that such ridge ribs are sometimes
omitted even when the masonry is laid up in courses of equal width and
therefore interpenetrating at the ridge, as in Avesnières (Mayenne)[164] near
Laval. If not, however, primarily a cover-joint, these ribs did at least
possess both a structural and decorative quality. In the first place they
helped to keep the keystone of the diagonals rigidly fixed during the
building process, and furthermore, they gave an absolutely straight line to
the vault crown which was always difficult to adjust, particularly in a vault
of large size. One of the best and earliest examples of the employment of
such ribs appears in the nave of Notre Dame-de-la-Couture at Le Mans
(Fig. 20) which dates from about 1200, and a later example is afforded by
the church of Saint-Avit-Sénieur (Dordogne),[165] where the vaults are of
the thirteenth century and replace an original series of domes on
pendentives of true Perigord type.
 Fig. 20.—LeMans, Notre Dame-
de-la-Couture.

In all of the Anjou vaults thus far discussed, the ribs are of
comparatively heavy section and placed entirely beneath the vault surface,
but there was to be a decided change in the thirteenth century. It has already
been noted that domed up vaults could be erected almost without centering
and exerted little if any pressure upon the ribs beneath them. Realizing this,
the builders of Anjou soon began to reduce the size of the ribs until they
became little more than torus mouldings running along the groin and ridge
of the vault. As an actual fact, however, these torus mouldings were carved
upon a sunken rib flush with the surface of the panel, which, if it no longer
furnished a support for the vault, at least formed a sort of permanent
centering dividing the surface to be vaulted into distinct severies and
marking the line of their intersection in an absolutely correct curve. Such
vaults are closely allied to those of groined type, the ribs playing practically
the same part as those of brick in Roman concrete vaulting. Since, however,
in the Anjou system the ribs always were merely a permanent centering
which could easily be removed without destroying the vault, a sunken
centering was quite as efficient in serving the purpose of vault division
while the torus afforded a certain amount of surface decoration.
 Of this typical Anjou construction, there are numerous examples. At
Poitiers, in the church of Sainte Radegonde the ribs are of reduced size but
not quite flush with the vault surface and the same is true at Saint-Hilaire—
Saint-Florent near Saumur (Marne-et-Loire),[166] while the choir and
transept of Angers cathedral (Fig. 19), and the later bays of the cathedral of
Poitiers furnish examples of the standard type. After a short period of
experiment, the builders of Anjou became very skillful in the construction
of these ribs and vaults and frequently employed them over bays of unusual
plan and elevation as, for example, in the chapel north of the choir aisle in
Saint Serge at Angers (Fig. 21).
An instance of the influence of Anjou construction upon the neighboring
territory, as well as of the relationship between this Gothic style and the
Romanesque school of Perigord, may perhaps be seen in the Old Cathedral
of Salamanca in Spain.[167] Here the three western bays of the nave are
covered with ordinary domes but with diagonal ribs beneath them, while the
two remaining bays have regular domed up Anjou vaults. The date of this
cathedral, cir. 1120-1178, may, perhaps, explain this peculiar combination
as being due to an Anjou-Gothic influence displacing one of Perigord-
Romanesque, in much the same manner as such an influence displaced the
Perigord-Romanesque architecture of western France.

Square Nave Bays Outside of Lombardy and Anjou

Fig. 21.—Angers, Saint Serge.

 Besides its use in Lombardy and Anjou, the square nave bay with four
part cross-ribbed vaults, was employed to some extent in other parts of
Europe throughout the Gothic period.[168] Some of these are churches
without side aisles, but aisles are more commonly found, divided into
rectangular bays corresponding in number to those of the nave. Of the
single naved churches, San Francesco at Assisi,[169] is a good example.
Although dating from 1236-1259, its vault ribs are still heavy and almost
square in section, as if derived from Lombard prototypes. But they differ in
being of pointed section and in not giving to the vaults a domed up crown.
In this they would seem to be examples of French influence upon Lombard
tradition.

Square Nave and Rectangular Aisle Bays

An early church with square nave bays and ribbed vaults over
rectangular bays in the side aisles (Plate I-b.), is to be found at Bury (Oise)
(Fig.

Fig. 22.—Bury, Church.

 22). It probably dates from about 1125, and is an important monument of
the Transitional period. Its nave vaults are quite highly domed and in this
respect seem somewhat Lombard, but their pointed arches and awkward
construction indicate an effort on the part of the builders toward reducing
this doming and a dawning consciousness of the value of the pointed arch in
the construction of ribbed vaults. This is further shown in the side aisles.
Because of the rectangular shape of the bays, the problem was presented of
getting three sets of ribs of different span to rise to the same or practically
the same height. Not being thoroughly familiar with the flexibility of the
pointed rib, the builders at Bury were naturally somewhat clumsy in its use.
Thus, the diagonals were made segmental in elevation to lower them to the
level of the pier arches, while masonry was piled on the crown of the
transverse ribs, or their voussoirs widened, to bring them up to the level of
the vault panel.[170] A few such experimental steps as these at Bury, were
all that were necessary to give the builders a mastery of the use of the
pointed arch in ribbed vaulting.

Ribs with Caryatid Supports

Fig. 23.—Bury, Church.

 But there is another feature of the side aisle vaults which is worthy of
note before turning to the more developed churches which resemble Bury in
their arrangement of vaulting bays. This is the use of small caryatid figures
which appear at the springing of the diagonal ribs (Fig. 23).[171] These
would seem to serve a purely decorative purpose, perhaps to distract
attention from the great size of the ribs behind them, or to give an apparent
lightness to the vault itself by seemingly placing its burden upon such
insignificant shoulders, or more probably still, the figures served to break
the transition from shaft to rib by concealing the impost of the latter.
Whatever their explanation, other examples besides those at Bury are to be
seen. Of these, the angels—now badly mutilated—at the base of the ribs in
the narthex of Saint Ours at Loches (Indre-et-Loire) (Fig. 24)[172] are
especially interesting, and perhaps account for the tiny figures employed at
the springing of the ridge ribs in a number of churches in Anjou, such as
Angers, Saint Serge (Fig. 21), as well as for the larger figures in the apse of
Notre Dame-de-la-Couture at Le Mans (Fig. 20).[173] It may even be
through the influence of such figures as these that grotesques were used to
support the small shafts in the arcade of the triforium passage in the
cathedral of Nevers (Nièvre) (Fig. 25).

Fig. 24.—Loches,
Saint Ours.
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