BOOKS RECOMMENDED: Adamy, _Architektonik des gotischen Stils_. Corroyer, _L’Architecture gothique_. Enlart, _Manuel d’archéologie française_. Hasak, _Einzelheiten des Kirchenbaues_ (in _Hdbuch d. Arch._). Moore, _Development and Character of Gothic Architecture_. Parker, _Introduction to Gothic Architecture._ Scott, _Mediæval Architecture_. Viollet-le-Duc, _Discourses on Architecture_; _Dictionnaire raisonné de l’architecture française_. +INTRODUCTORY.+ The architectural styles which were developed in Western Europe during the period extending from about 1150 to 1450 or 1500, received in an unscientific age the wholly erroneous and inept name of Gothic. This name has, however, become so fixed in common usage that it is hardly possible to substitute for it any more scientific designation. In reality the architecture to which it is applied was nothing more than the sequel and outgrowth of the Romanesque, which we have already studied. Its fundamental principles were the same; it was concerned with the same problems. These it took up where the Romanesque builders left them, and worked out their solution under new conditions, until it had developed out of the simple and massive models of the early twelfth century the splendid cathedrals of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries in England, France, Germany, the Low Countries and Spain. +THE CHURCH AND ARCHITECTURE.+ The twelfth century was an era of transition in society, as in architecture. The ideas of Church and State were becoming more clearly defined in the common mind. In the conflict between feudalism and royalty the monarchy was steadily gaining ground. The problem of human right was beginning to present itself alongside of the problem of human might. The relations between the crown, the feudal barons, the pope, bishops, and abbots, differed widely in France, Germany, England, and other countries. The struggle among them for supremacy presented itself, therefore, in varied aspects; but the general outcome was essentially the same. The church began to appear as something behind and above abbots, bishops, kings, and barons. The supremacy of the papal authority gained increasing recognition, and the episcopacy began to overshadow the monastic institutions; the bishops appearing generally, but especially in France, as the champions of popular rights. The prerogatives of the crown became more firmly established, and thus the Church and the State emerged from the social confusion as the two institutions divinely appointed for the government of men. [Illustration: FIG. 105.--CONSTRUCTIVE SYSTEM OF GOTHIC CHURCH, ILLUSTRATING PRINCIPLES OF ISOLATED SUPPORTS AND BUTTRESSING.]