Early English Gothic (also First Pointed, Lancet Gothic or Early Gothic, abbreviated to E.E.) was the first phase of English Gothic architecture, distinguished by pointed arches, lancet windows and rib vaults. It emerged from a combination of English Romanesque (Norman) and French Early Gothic (Primary Gothic) architecture, and was primarily used in churches. While it was related to contemporary French architecture, it had important differences that made it distinctively English, such as low interiors, flat (not apsidal) east ends to churches and thick walls. The first notable buildings were constructed in the style in the 1170s-90s, including Wells Cathedral and Lincoln Cathedral. While the style was centred on England and the English-controlled parts of Wales, it was also used in Scotland.
History
Influences Since the Norman Conquest, English buildings had been constructed in the Romanesque style, with rounded arches and thick walls, as were all masonry buildings in western Europe. However, shortly before 1100 two important and related changes occurred. The first was the introduction of the pointed arch, possibly derived from Arabic architecture and seen in the very influential abbey church of Cluny. The second was the invention of the ribbed vault. Previously churches had been covered by simple and heavy barrel or groin vaults, or by timber ceilings. The new ribbed vault allowed a lighter construction, with larger window, thinner walls, and buttresses taking the concentrated loads. The drawback was that a ribbed vault of round arches could only cover square bays. Combining the ribbed vault with the pointed arch, probably first done at Durham, allowed vaults to cover buildings of any shape.Clifton-Taylor 1968, p. 43 At the same time, the quality of masonry was improving (as can be seen by comparing the transepts (1079–93) and tower (post-1107) of Winchester Cathedral), allowing more precise construction.
The potential of these changes was first realised in full at the Abbey of Saint Denis near Paris (1140–44), which combined pointed arches, ribbed vaults and thin walls of well-dressed stone to produce the first Gothic building.Pevsner 1968, p 89 The new style spread rapidly across northern France, being well established by the 1160s, but did not as yet cross over to England.Pevsner 1968, p. 97
Transitional architecture
As pointed arches and finer mouldings became more common across Europe, so English builders tried to combine them with their existing Romanesque repertoire. The result was the so-called Transitional style. It can be identified by surprising combinations of arches and mouldings, such as rounded arches with delicate mouldings, and pointed arches with vigorous zigzag (as at Cartmel Priory and the chapter house vestibule of Bristol Cathedral).
The Cistercians
While England largely ignored the mid-12th century architecture of northern France, the Cistercian order of monks independently introduced a Burgundian form of austere Gothic, in keeping with their religious ideals.Pevsner 1968, p. 118 This was characterised by the use of a blank wall instead of a triforium, the combination of pointed major arches with rounded windows, columns of eight shafts, fleshy waterleaf capitals (with upturned corners) and flat east ends. Examples include the abbeys of Byland, Fountains, Furness, Kirkstall and Roche. By this mean the pointed arch was well established in northern England before the works at Canterbury were begun. One of the main non-Cistercian buildings to use these forms seems to have been Archbishop Roger's rebuilding of the east end of York Minster. This has now gone, but the surviving work of the 1160s at Ripon (choir, transepts and nave ends) gives an impression of its form. The near-intact church of the Augustinian Brinkburn Priory exhibits a similar style.
Canterbury Cathedral In 1170, Archbishop Thomas Becket was murdered in his own cathedral at Canterbury, sparking a hugely popular pilgrimage cult. Following this, in 1174, the east end of the church was destroyed by fire. The monks gathered masons from France and England before entrusting the reconstruction to William of Sens. He may have been involved in the rebuilding of Sens Cathedral, though he was not (as was previously believed) its designer. He oversaw the demolition of much of the burnt-out choir and the construction of a new choir within its shell, before he fell from the scaffolding and was replaced as master mason by William the Englishman. The new building had to be more splendid than its predecessor and contemporaries, and had to accommodate the vast crowds of pilgrims to Becket's shrine in suitable dignity.
From what was built at Canterbury, William of Sens' influences seem to have been drawn from across northern France, perhaps especially from the destroyed cathedrals at Arras and Cambrai.Woodman 1981, pp. 109-114 This meant that the new work at Canterbury was a synthesis of the previous three decades of French Gothic developments, as well as English tastes. The pointed arches, wide lancets, sexpartite vault and general elevation are French in origin, from various sources, while the thick walls, the use of galleries and the lowness of the vault are more native features, conditioned by the constraints of the retained shell and the tastes of the monastery. Some features, like the multi-coloured marble shafts, were occasionally used in France, but became very popular in England.Woodman 1981, p. 115 William the Englishman introduced references to more recent French buildings at Reims and Laon, with larger windows and flying buttresses, but also influential features not derived from France, like round abaci above capitals.Woodman 1981, pp. 125-126 Canterbury introduced the Gothic style to England and had close adherents in buildings like Rochester Cathedral, but no English church appeared quite as French as Canterbury until Westminster Abbey in 1245. Another building which was closely related to Canterbury was Chichester Cathedral. The east end was extended with a retrochoir which featured the exotic marble columns and volute capitals of Canterbury, but with a greater use of rounded arches to blend with the existing Norman church. The nave was reclad in a similar style after a fire in 1187. Canterbury also influenced the reconstruction of Nidaros Cathedral, in Norway, begun in 1183. Like Canterbury, Nidaros housed a martyr-saint, and the imitation of Canterbury's centralised eastern Corona chapel shows the international renown of Becket's cult.Binski 2004, pp. 33-34
Early examples - Wells and Lincoln After Canterbury, all great church buildings were Gothic in style, but designers' responses to the innovations and French features presented at Canterbury varied. At Lincoln, rebuilt from 1192 after an earthquake in 1185, many of the forms were initially derived from Canterbury (sexpartite vaults, paired triforium openings, wide lancets), but the emphasis was changed to create a broader and richer building. For example, the plain round columns seen at Canterbury were replaced by clustered piers, and the smooth dado below the windows was exchanged for a very complex syncopated blind arcade. The first phase, encompassing the east end of the building, was the work of Geoffrey de Noiers, while the nave was built by Alexander the Mason, who simplified the blind arcade, added more Purbeck marble and increased the bay widths. Additional elaboration was provided by the use of tierceron vaults, instead of the simple sexpartite or quadripartite vaults used in France. The result was a building with little resemblance to its ultimate French precedents.
A new school of Gothic emerged in western England and south Wales in the 1180s, responding to different French precedents to those seen at Canterbury. Its earliest buildings included Dore Abbey, Worcester Cathedral (west bays), St Davids Cathedral and, most spectacularly, the vast church at Glastonbury Abbey. The culmination of this school was Wells Cathedral, begun some time before 1186, and largely completed by 1215.Clifton-Taylor 1968, p. 74 This makes it the earliest English building to use entirely pointed arches (as Canterbury had round ones in the aisles and triforium). Its bay division is virtually absent, with no vaulting shafts in the nave and a horizontal band of triforium running straight to the crossing. The piers are also unusually complex, creating a contrast of ornate arcade and simple upper parts that has little obvious precedent in England or France. Wells also has the grandest Early English west front, covered in statuary and with deep buttresses, unlike the flat fronts of later work.
Mature Early English The horizontality of Wells had few direct successors besides Salisbury (1220–84), the most complete and most austere Early English cathedral. This has the same low triforium and quadripartite vault, but simplifies the Wells pattern with bell capitals and plain Purbeck-shafted round piers. The outside is similarly plain, without sculpture or carving except on the towerless west front.Clifton-Taylor 1968, pp. 99-104 This restraint was echoed in some prominent buildings connected with Archbishop Stephen Langton's reformist movement (or, in other interpretations, the architectural oversight of Elias of Dereham), such as the choir (consecrated in 1240) at Temple Church and the chapel at Lambeth Palace, both in London.
The more ornate treatment at Lincoln, on the other hand, proved very influential. The most direct copy was Bishop Northwold's presbytery extension at Ely (completed 1252). This was perhaps the most elaborate English interior to date, applying dog-tooth, cusping, traceried cut-outs and foliage sprays to every feature to create an exceptionally rich elevation.Clifton-Taylor 1968, pp. 114-116 Lincoln also influenced the east end of Rievaulx Abbey - the Cistercians were moving away from their earlier austerity - which in turn was a source for much Scottish architecture.
A further artistic centre emerged at York, where the transepts were rebuilt on a colossal scale from the 1220s. This was related to ongoing works at Hexham, and had extremely tall lancets and round arches over the triforium.Clifton-Taylor 1968, pp. 106-109 Whitby Abbey belongs to this school, as does the Chapel of the Nine Altars at Durham.
Thus by the mid-13th century Early English was ubiquitous across England, as parish churches were rebuilt by masons emerging from the cathedral workshops (seen for example in the unusual columns in Lincolnshire derived from that cathedral), and the style could be used to rich or austere effect, with distinct regional variations.
Scotland
Though Scotland was a separate kingdom, the 13th century was a period of peace and close ties with England. The only major architectural influence at this time was English. As in England, some of the earliest importers of Gothic forms were the Cistercians. Unlike in England, Scotland did not see major Romanesque cathedral construction (except Kirkwall, then part of Norway), so the Early English work generally forms the primary fabric. Though Scotland had fewer large cathedrals than England, those that were built were of high quality, with important work surviving at Dunblane, Elgin (ruined), Kirkwall and especially Glasgow. The largest and grandest cathedral, St Andrews, was substantially rebuilt in the later middle ages and has been mostly destroyed. While St Andrews, begun in 1160-62, followed northern English Cistercian forms, with octofoil piers and waterleaf capitals, most of the 13th century buildings were derived from Lincoln, either directly or via northern English works such as the choir of Rievaulx.Fawcett 1997, p. 40 This is especially the case at Glasgow Cathedral (as may be seen in the plate-traceried triforium).Fawcett 1997, p. 43
Replacement by Decorated