In Burgundy, as we have just seen, both the style and its history differed considerably from this. From some cause which has not yet been explained, this country became early the favourite resort of hermits and of holy men, who founded here those great monastic establishments which spread their influence not only over France, but over the whole of Europe, controlling to an immense extent all the relations of European society in the Middle Ages. The culminating epoch of the architecture of Normandy and Burgundy was the 11th century. In the 12th the monarchical sway of the central province was beginning to be felt in them. In the 13th it superseded the local character of both, and gradually fused them with the whole of France into one great and singularly uniform architectural province. LATIN STYLE.[30] [Illustration: 607. Plan and Section of Basse Œuvre, Beauvais. (From Woillez, ‘Monuments Religieux de Beauvais.’)] Before proceeding to describe the local forms of architecture in Central France it is necessary to say a few words regarding a class of buildings which have not hitherto been mentioned, but which must not be passed over. These cannot be included in any other style, and are so nearly devoid of architectural features, properly so called, that they might have been omitted but for one consideration. They bear so remarkable a resemblance to the earliest Christian churches of Rome on the one hand, and to the true Gothic on the other, that we cannot doubt their being the channel through which the latter was derived from the former. They are, moreover, the oldest churches in Northern France, which is sufficient to confirm this view. The character of this style will be understood from the plan and internal and external view of one of its typical examples, the Basse Œuvre at Beauvais (Woodcuts Nos. 607 and 608). It will be seen that this building consists of a nave and side-aisles, separated from each other by a range of plain arches resting on piers without either bases or capitals; on one side the angles are cut off, so as to give a slightly ornamental character; on the other they are left square. The central aisle is twice the width, and more than twice the height, of the lateral aisles, and has a well-defined clerestory; the roof, both of the central and side aisles, is a flat ceiling of wood. The eastern end has been destroyed, but judging from other examples, it probably consisted of three apses, a large one in the centre and a smaller one at the end of each aisle. [Illustration: 608. External and Internal View of Basse Œuvre. (From Woillez.)]