Gothic architecture the logical fulfillment of Romanesque—Origin of Romanesque architecture—Romanesque basilicas modified by the liturgy—Horrors of the IX and X centuries in France—Rebirth of the builders’ energy after the year 1000—Cluny, the civilizing force of the X and XI centuries—Various regional Romanesque schools of France—Normandy, Burgundy, Auvergne, Poitou, Languedoc, Provence, and the Franco-Picard school—Birth of Gothic art—An undecided question where the first diagonal-crossing ribs were used—Germany’s and Italy’s claims—Claim of England—The Ile-de-France Picard region, the classic land of Gothic—Gothic architecture not a layman’s revolt against monkish Romanesque—The architects of the Gothic cathedrals—No heretical tendencies in Gothic sculpture—Origin of the term Gothic—XVII- and XVIII-century scorn for Gothic architecture—Modern French school of mediÆval archÆology.

Evolution from Romanesque to Gothic—St. Denis’ abbatial, the first important Gothic monument—Some early-Gothic churches in the Ile-de-France—Morienval, the first Gothic-vaulted ambulatory extant (c. 1122)—Church of St. Étienne, at Beauvais (c. 1120)—St. Germer-en-Flay built from 1150 to 1175, yet less advanced than St. Denis—Poissy’s church of St. Louis (c. 1135)—How Abbot Suger built his abbey church at St. Denis—St. Denis’ school of glassmaking, the leader for fifty years—Dedication of St. Denis on June 11, 1144, consecrated the national art—Who Suger was and how St. Bernard converted him—What is left of the abbey church which Suger built—Reconstruction of St. Denis by St. Louis, 1231 to 1280—Pierre de Montereau, its architect—Tombs in St. Denis’ abbatial—Deviation of the axis not symbolic—Some happenings in St. Denis during the XII and XIII centuries—Charles PÉguy’s verses, linking St. Denis, St. GeneviÈve, and Jeanne d’Arc.

Cathedral of Noyon, first built of Gothic cathedrals (c. 1150)—Noyon’s communal charter, the first of known date, 1109—Cathedral’s nave, a vessel of most perfect proportion—Exceptional among French cathedrals, its transept’s rounded ends—Noyon has retained its annexes—Its chapter house, built about 1240—Noyon city destroyed, 1918—Cathedral still stands.

Cathedral of Senlis, second of the Gothic cathedrals, begun about 1153—Sculpture at Senlis’ west portal (c. 1180) marks a date in imagery—Cathedral tower, the “pride of the Valois land”—Transept’s faÇades of the best Flamboyant Gothic art—What the World War did to Senlis.

Cathedral of Sens, begun about 1160—Sens’ ancient see, governed by notable men in the XII and XIII centuries—How they found out who was the architect of the cathedral—St. Thomas Becket in Sens, 1164, and again from 1166 to 1170—St. Louis married in Sens Cathedral, 1234—Glory of Sens’ stained glass.

Cathedral of Laon, begun about 1160—Fallacy of the “town-hall” theory—Cathedral of springtime foliage—Oxen on Laon’s towers—Origin of the square east end of Laon Cathedral—Laon’s communal struggle—Famous XII-century school of Anselm de Laon—Laon city shelled by the French, but its cathedral unhurt.

Cathedral of Soissons almost a ruin—Desolation of Soissons in World War—Soissons’ southern arm of transept ends in a hemicycle (c. 1180)—Is the most exquisite thing in France—The crusading bishop-builder, Nivelon de ChÉrisy.

Some important Primary Gothic churches: Abbatial of St. Remi at Rheims (c. 1170)—Its superb XII-century glass wrecked in the World War—Abbatial of Notre Dame at ChÂlons-sur-Marne (c. 1160)—Pioneer in fenestration—First to use pillars between chapels and ambulatory—Church of St. Quiriace at Provins (c. 1160)—Provins, residence of the counts of Champagne—Its international fairs frequented by mediÆval Europe—Collegiate of St. Yved, at Braine (c. 1200), between Primary Gothic and the Era of Great Cathedrals—Individual plan of its choir-chapels—St. Leu d’Esserent, on the Oise, the best type of the small churches in the classic Ile-de-France—Its forechurch shows transition work (c. 1150)—Primary Gothic work to be found at Étampes, VendÔme, FÉcamp, Rouen, Lisieux, Angers, Mantes, Paris.

Notre Dame, begun in 1163—Its exterior unsurpassed, the west faÇade a classic—Scholastic training of its bishop-builders—Summa of the supreme scholastic, Aquinas, like a Gothic cathedral—Thirty thousand students then in Paris University—Bishop Maurice de Sully (1160-96) built Notre Dame—Bishop Eudes de Sully made the portals of the west faÇade—Bishop Pierre de Nemours died a crusader, before Damietta, 1219—Bishop Guillaume d’Auvergne finished the north tower (1228-49)—All the prelates building Paris Cathedral good and able men—Their sincerity lives in its stones—First architect unknown—Jean and Pierre de Chelles made the transept and apse chapels—Sculpture of Notre Dame masterly—Sainte-Chapelle built by St. Louis, 1246 to 1248—St. Julien-le-Pauvre a contemporary of Notre Dame’s choir (c. 1180)—Same noble sculptured capitals—Three Benedictine abbey churches of Paris show early trials of Gothic vaulting—St. Germain-des-PrÉs, St. Martin-des-Champs, St. Pierre-de-Montmartre—St. Louis and his friend, Joinville—Louis IX illuminated his kingdom with fair churches—On his first crusade spent five years in the East, 1248 to 1259—From 1254 to 1270 worked for his people—Death of St. Louis on the crusade of 1270—His characteristics: justice, pity, other-worldliness—Inimitable charm of Joinville’s Histoire de St. Louis—Describes his friendship with the king in Palestine—Joinville’s old age and death in 1319.

Mantes’ collegiate of Notre Dame is Primary Gothic—A contemporary of Paris Cathedral—Perhaps by the same architect—Its chapel of Navarre one of the best works of Rayonnant Gothic.

Meaux Cathedral, a difficult architectural page to decipher, owing to reconstruction—Begun in 1170, but rebuilt radically after 1270—Bossuet, its greatest bishop (1681 to 1704)—Meaux, the cathedral for the Te Deum of victory—Battle of the Marne, 1914, waged at the city gates.

Cathedral of Chartres—Bishop Fulbert’s Romanesque Notre Dame burned in 1194—His vast crypt, of 1020, still exists—Bishop Geoffrey de LÈves built the tower of Chartres, called the most beautiful in the world (1145)—Making of the three western portals (c. 1155)—Gothic cathedral begun after the fire of 1194—Primary Gothic west faÇade escaped the fire—Jehan de Beauce crowned the northwest tower, 1506 to 1513—Sculpture of the transept portals and porches, 1220 to 1260—Chartres excels all cathedrals in the wealth of its stained glass, chiefly of the XII and XIII centuries.

Cathedral of Rheims, begun by the crusader, Bishop AlbÉric de Humbert, 1211—Its architects recorded in the pavement labyrinth—Its west faÇade the culmination of Gothic art—Coronation of Charles VII in 1429, Jeanne d’Arc present—Astounding sculptural wealth of this “Cathedral of the Angels”—Martyrdom of Rheims in the World War.

Cathedral of Amiens, the Parthenon of Gothic art—Bishop Evrard de Fouilloy began it, 1220—Designed by Robert de Lusarches—Its sculpture the peer of Rheims and Chartres—Its portal of the Vierge DorÉe (c. 1280).

Cathedral of Bourges—Only XIII-century cathedral without a transept—Inner aisle has its own triforium and clearstory—Chevet built by St. Guillaume, 1200 to 1209—Over main portal is best Last Judgment (c. 1275)—Bourges famous for its stained glass—Jean, duc de Berry, and Jacques Coeur, the late-Gothic art patrons of Bourges—Their gifts to the cathedral—OrlÉans Cathedral destroyed by Calvinists (note).

Cathedral of Beauvais—A mighty fragment: only a choir and transept—Begun in 1247, derived directly from Amiens—Transept faÇades masterpieces of late-Gothic—Is Flamboyant Gothic of English origin?—Le Prince family of glassmakers.

Cathedral of Troyes—Its choir built by Bishop HervÉ, 1206 to 1226—Martin Chambiges designed the Flamboyant west faÇade—Magnificent XIII- and XIV-century windows of Troyes Cathedral—St. Urbain’s church begun by Pope Urban IV in 1262—Carried the Gothic principle of equilibrium to its limit—Churches of Troyes treasure-houses of stained glass and sculpture—Cultivated court of Champagne’s rulers—To the Gothic school of Champagne belongs the Cathedral of ChÂlons-sur-Marne—ChÂlons another center for stained glass.

Cathedral of Tours—Choir begun about 1210—Has the classic note of the Touraine landscape—Cathedral windows set up between 1260 and 1270—Venerable ecclesiastical souvenirs of Tours—Tours, the center for the Region-of-the-Loire school of sculpture—Michel Colombe, last of the great Gothic artists, worked here—Environs of the city rich in Flamboyant Gothic.

Cathedral of Lyons—Lyons boasts an apostolic succession for its bishops—Early Christian martyrs of Rome’s chief city in Gaul—St. Martin d’Ainay’s abbatial dedicated in 1107—Cathedral choir late XII century—With Vienne Cathedral (note) it alone in France used incrustations—Nave of Lyons Cathedral building through the XIII century—Stained glass of Lyons of exceptional quality—All Christendom was represented at the Ecumenical Council held in Lyons Cathedral in 1274—Church of Brou built by Marguerite of Austria (note)—Moulins Cathedral and Souvigny’s abbatial and tombs (notes).

Cathedral of Le Mans—XII-century nave built by notable prelates—Bishop Hildebert de Lavardin (1097 to 1125) a poet and scholar—Guillaume de Passavent made the Angevin vaults (c. 1150)—Geoffrey the Handsome, nicknamed Plantagenet, and his son, Henry II of England, born in Le Mans—TrinitÉ church at VendÔme (note)—Le Mans’ Gothic choir built from 1218 to 1254 by Bishop Geoffrey de Loudon—Le Mans ranks next to Chartres and Bourges for its wealth of stained glass—Rayonnant-Flamboyant transept of the XIV and XV centuries—The groups at Solesmes a final expression of Gothic sculpture (1495 to 1550)—Collegiate church at St. Quentin, in size a cathedral, XIII-century choir—Villard de Honnecourt, probably the architect of St. Quentin.

Plantagenet Gothic fused the cupola of Aquitaine and the diagonals of north—Lasted a hundred years, from 1150 to 1250—For clearness divided into three periods: I. Heavy diagonals, II. Eight slight branches, III. Multiple ribs—English fan tracery a derivation of Angevin Gothic.

Cupola churches of Aquitaine: St. Front at PÉrigieux, begun after a fire, 1120, and finished by 1180—Cahors Cathedral has Romanesque portal of beauty (note)—Cathedral of AngoulÊme, begun 1109—Its faÇade a notable page of French decoration—Rich faÇades distinguish Poitou’s Romanesque school—Fontevrault abbey church, built in the first half of the XII century—Plantagenet tombs at Fontevrault—AliÉnor of Aquitaine buried there in 1204 beside her husband, Henry II, and her son, Richard Coeur-de-Lion—AliÉnor’s descendants notable builders of churches.

Cathedral of Angers—Its nave vaulted with First-Period diagonals, about 1150—Anjou rulers a remarkable race—Fulk Nerra, the great builder, died 1040—Choir of Angers Cathedral extended after 1274—In the nave is XII-century glass of St. Denis derivation—Cathedral’s Apocalypse tapestries—Fortress of Angers, built by St. Louis, 1228 to 1238—Church of Toussaint had a ramified vault of the Third Period—St. Jean’s hospital hall, endowed by Henry II, a gem of Plantagenet art—Choir of St. Serge, 1220 to 1225, a masterpiece of lightness.

Saumur—Another center for the study of Plantagenet Gothic—Historical fÊte called the Non-Pareille took place in its castle in 1241—St. Pierre’s church shows different kinds of Angevin vaults—Church of St. Martin at Candes, a Plantagenet masterpiece—St. Florent-les-Saumur shows one of the first eight-branch vaults—Puy-Notre-Dame and AsniÈres beautiful examples of Plantagenet art (note)—Plantagenet vaults at Le Mans, VendÔme, Chinon, and Tours.

Cathedral of Poitiers, begun by Henry Plantagenet and AliÉnor of Aquitaine, 1160—In adopting the gracious Plantagenet vaulting it remained true to Poitou’s Romanesque traditions—XII-century Crucifixion window the most glorious in the world—Spirit of Poitiers’ bishops, St. Hilary and Fortunatus, inspired it—Church of Ste. RadÉgonde is Plantagenet vaulted—St. Hilaire’s abbatial has curious octagonal cupolas—St. Jean’s baptistry, the oldest building in France, dating from the IV century—Clement V at Poitiers in 1307 carried on the Templars’ process—Hall of the count’s palace rebuilt by Duke Jean de Berry—Jeanne d’Arc examined there in 1429, found to be sent of God.

Cathedral of Clermont-Ferrand, begun in 1248—Gothic of the north, translated with a Midi accent—True character of Auvergne shown in its Romanesque churches—Notre Dame-du-Port, the classic type of Auvergne’s Romanesque school—Abbey church of La Chaise Dieu, begun by Clement VI, 1344—Contains incomparable tapestries (note)—First Crusade proclaimed at Clermont by Urban II, 1095—Riom’s Sainte-Chapelle, of the XIV century—Madonna of the Bird a masterpiece of late-Gothic imagery—Romanesque Cathedral of Le Puy (XII century) one of the most venerable shrines in France.

Cathedral of Bordeaux, like the city itself, is of the north and the south—Nave is composite and difficult to read—Clement V (d. 1314) built the Rayonnant Gothic choir—In the Romanesque church of Ste. Croix appeared the first diagonals of the region—Charlemagne laid Roland’s olifant on the altar of St. Seurin—St. Bertrand-de-Comminges Cathedral built by Clement V—Cathedral of Bayonne (note).

Cathedral of Toulouse consists of two inharmonious parts—Unaisled nave with Angevin vaults building while Simon de Montfort besieged city—Gothic choir begun in 1275—Chief monument of Toulouse is the abbey church of St. Sernin (begun 1075)—Languedoc then excelled in sculpture: Moissac’s portal and cloister (note)—Toulouse a center for brick architecture—Its Jacobins’ church begun in 1229—St. Dominic’s mission in Languedoc—Albigensian Crusade.

Albi Cathedral, the incarnation of the Midi wars: meridional Gothic—Aggressive Bernard de Castanets began it in 1282—Flamboyant and Renaissance riches were added to St. Cecilia’s cathedral—Frescoes of its vault have never been surpassed (1509 to 1512)—Its choir screen equally noted—Auch Cathedral has famous XVI-century windows (note)—Cathedral of Rodez possesses a notable Flamboyant tower (1510 to 1526) (note)—Carcassonne CitÉ has been too much restored—Its ci-devant cathedral of St. Nazaire the best of XIV-century Gothic—Like a reliquary of colored glass—Carcassonne town has typical Midi Gothic churches.

Narbonne Cathedral, consisting of a vast Gothic choir, begun in 1272—Its mechanical skill cold, but still Gothic of the grand style—Lovely XIV-century glass—Sack of BÉziers, 1209—Perpignan Cathedral and Elne’s cloister (note)—Abbey church of Fontfroide allied with Poblet in Catalonia (note).

Montpellier Cathedral, formerly an abbey church, built by Urban V, XIV century—Jaime el Conquistador, mighty builder of churches, born in Montpellier, 1208—Mende Cathedral and St. Victor’s abbatial at Marseilles built by Urban V (note)—Maguelonne, former cathedral of diocese, now the most aloof spot in Europe—Aigues-Mortes, begun by St. Louis, completed by his son—Fortress unspoiled by restorations—Both crusades of Louis IX sailed thence—St. Gilles’ abbey church, partly a ruin, interesting to archÆologists; building from 1116—Noted portal of St. Gilles inspired Trinity Church, Boston—Loyalty of Provence to its Saintes-Maries traditions—Les Saintes-Maries church a pilgrim shrine (note)—St. Martha’s church at Tarascon (note).

St. Trophime Cathedral at Arles—Portal influenced by Gallo-Roman sculpture—Its cloister the fairest Christian monument in the city—Ruins of Montmajour near Arles—FrÉdÉric Mistral should be one’s companion in Provence—Expresses the regional soul—St. Maximin church the best Gothic monument in Provence—Begun by Charles II d’Anjou in 1295—Cathedral of St. Sauveur at Aix-en-Provence is composite—Its south aisle originally a separate Romanesque church, XII century—Good King RenÉ gave the triptych by a French primitif—Avignon’s great day was the XIV century under seven meridional popes, 1309 to 1377—Palace of the Popes built from 1335 to 1358—Grandest fortress-palace in the world.

Burgundy excelled in monastic architecture—The cradle of three great cloistral centers—Luxeuil, Cluny, CÎteaux—Luxeuil, founded by St. Columbanus (610), reorganized the VII century—Cluny, Christendom’s supremest monastic congregation, founded 910—St. Hugues of Cluny (1049 to 1109) trained the leaders who remade Europe’s civilization—Peter the Venerable, abbot from 1120 to 1156, continued building Cluny’s vast church—AbÉlard died in a Cluny house, 1142—Revolution destroyed the glorious abbatial church—Paray-le-Monial, the favorite priory of Abbot Odilo (d. 1049) of Cluny, initiator of the Truce of God—Its Romanesque church has fluted pilasters (XII century)—Autun Cathedral’s Romanesque portal the ancestor of the sculptured doors of Gothic cathedrals—Abbey church at Saulieu (note)—Beaune’s collegiate of Notre Dame has lovely tapestries—HÔtel Dieu at Beaune (1444 to 1457), founded by Nicolas Rolin, contains Roger van der Weyden’s best work—Hospital hall at Tonnerre (founded 1293) the prototype for Beaune’s hospice—Fontenay, the oldest Romanesque Cistercian church extant—Dedicated by Eugene III in 1147—Avallon’s church of St. Lazare blessed by Paschal II in 1107—Has a well-known Romanesque entranceway.

Some Primary Gothic churches in Burgundy—MontrÉal’s collegiate can be visited from Avallon—Built by a returned crusader late in the XII century—Pontigny’s abbatial the oldest Gothic in Burgundy—Its nave (1160 to 1180), with bombÉ vaults, was begun as Romanesque—Its choir used structural features as decorations—Three archbishops of Canterbury, St. Thomas Becket, Stephen Langton, and St. Edmund Rich, found refuge at Pontigny—VÉzelay’s abbatial of the Madeleine the stateliest church in Burgundy—Its Romanesque nave and Gothic choir belong both to the XII century—Its imaged portico (c. 1132) a supreme work of French sculpture—Second Crusade preached by St. Bernard at VÉzelay, 1146—Philippe-Auguste and Richard Coeur-de-Lion rallied here for the Third Crusade, 1191.

Burgundy’s best Gothic monuments—Collegiate of Notre Dame at Semur a gem of the Burgundian school, begun about 1225—Its sculpture exceptional—Auxerre Cathedral begun in 1215, the model of Gothic churches in the province—Auxerre’s sculpture and its opaline glass rank with the first—Bishop Jacques Amyot (d. 1593) restored the cathedral after the Calvinists sacked it—Cathedral of Nevers has an apse at both west and east ends (note)—Dijon, the capital of Burgundy, led in art, under its four great dukes, 1364 to 1477—Flemish-Burgundian school began modern imagery—Dijon’s cathedral of St. BÉnigne, formerly an abbatial, is mediocre late-XIII century—Crypt of St. BÉnigne begun 1001—Oldest monument of the Romanesque renaissance—William of Volpiano, abbot of St. BÉnigne, initiated the revival of architecture after the year 1000—Rebuilt Tournus abbey church (note)—Church of Notre Dame, Dijon, is a gem of Burgundian Gothic (1220-1240)—Its subtleties of construction have never been excelled.

St. Bernard, abbot of Clairvaux (d. 1153), born near Dijon, the greatest son of Burgundy—His reform laid the spiritual foundations of Gothic cathedrals—His puritanic taste in architecture made Cistercian churches bare and simple—Cistercian Order, founded 1099, instrumental in spreading Gothic over Europe—St. Stephen Harding, its practical founder, welcomed St. Bernard at Citeaux in 1113—Five hundred Cistercian monasteries founded in Europe before the middle of XIII century—Spirit of St. Bernard, greatest of Cistercians, lives in the Imitation of Christ.

Monastic architecture best expression of Norman character—Normandy, like Burgundy, was a land of monasteries—Bernay’s abbey church an ancestress of Norman Romanesque (note)—Bec Abbey, the Cluny of Normandy—Lanfranc made the school of Bec world-noted—At Bec, St. Anselm began the philosophical movement of the Middle Ages—William of Volpiano pioneer in the rebirth of architecture in the duchy—JumiÈges, the first Norman church of architectural pretension, begun 1040—Only vestiges remain of St. Wandrille abbey—Caen, the Mecca of Norman Romanesque and the queen city for towers—Three good towers at St. Pierre-sur-Dives—St. Georges de Boscherville the best type of Norman Romanesque—FÉcamp’s Primary Gothic abbatial rose after the fire of 1169—Gothic abbatial at Eu built after the death of St. Laurence O’Toole, 1180—Mont-Saint-Michel the greatest of Norman abbeys—Its Merveille (Gothic halls), building from 1203 to 1228—Choir of Mont-Saint-Michel, the best work of Flamboyant Gothic, begun 1450.

Rouen Cathedral, not local in character—Its tower of St. Romain begun in 1145—Its transept faÇades and Lady chapel XIV-century Rayonnant work—Abbatial of St. Ouen a gem of Rayonnant Gothic—No city richer than Rouen in Flamboyant Gothic monuments—Trial of Jeanne d’Arc at Rouen in 1431 and her Rehabilitation in 1456.

Lisieux Cathedral the earliest Gothic cathedral in Normandy—Begun after 1160 as Ile-de-France Gothic—Its Lady chapel built by Bishop Pierre Cauchon, Jeanne d’Arc’s venal judge.

Évreux Cathedral not homogeneous, but has much charm—Its choir (1298-1310) a gem of Rayonnant Gothic—XIV century’s best array of glass in its choir.

SÉez Cathedral modest in size—Norman in style—Its choir a forerunner of Rayonnant Gothic—Has XIV-century windows.

Bayeux Cathedral the Gothic of the duchy at its best—Romanesque part of its nave remarkable—Bishop Odo, brother of the Conqueror, built the crypt, and of his time is the Bayeux Tapestry—Choir of Bayeux a masterpiece of Normandy’s elaborate Gothic.

Coutances Cathedral loveliest in Normandy, begun after the fire of 1218—Its three towers notable—Aisles of choir are of different height.

Gothic art of Brittany—Brittany more a land of shrines than cathedrals—Her religious soul best expressed by her Calvarys—XIII-century cathedral at Dol has fine eastern window—Cathedral at Nantes possesses the last great work of Gothic sculpture—Cathedral of Quimper very Breton in spirit—St. Pol-de-LÉon Cathedral entirely complete—The Kreisker is Brittany’s grandest tower—St. Yves of Brittany helped build TrÉguier Cathedral.

Summing up—Gothic art gave way before the pagan Renaissance and the contempt for legends roused by the Reformation. In the World War France again displayed the spirit that had built cathedrals. Unquenchable idealism of the French race.