Architecture: Gothic and RenaissanceSmith, T. Roger (Thomas Roger)
History
Architecture: Gothic and Renaissance
Smith, T. Roger (Thomas Roger)
Architecture -- History; Architecture, Gothic; Architecture, Renaissance; Church architecture
Second only in importance to the churches and religious buildings come
the military and domestic buildings of the Gothic period (Fig. 7).
[Illustration: FIG. 7.--HOUSE OF JAQUES COEUR AT BOURGES.
(BEGUN 1413.)]
Every dwelling-house of consequence was more or less fortified, at any
rate during the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries. A lofty
square tower, called a keep, built to stand a siege, and with a walled
inclosure at its feet, often protected by a wide ditch (fosse or
moat), formed the castle of the twelfth century, and in some cases
(_e.g._ the White Tower of London), this keep was of considerable
size. The first step in enlargement was to increase the number and
importance of the buildings which clustered round the keep, and to
form two inclosures for them, known as an inner and an outer bailey.
The outer buildings of the Tower of London, though much modernised,
will give a good idea of what a first class castle grew to be by
successive additions of this sort. In castles erected near the end of
the thirteenth century (_e.g._ Conway Castle in North Wales), and
later, the square form of the keep was abandoned, and many more
arrangements for the comfort and convenience of the occupants were
introduced; and the buildings and additions to buildings of the
fifteenth century took more the shape of a modern dwelling-house,
partly protected against violence, but by no means strong enough to
stand a siege. Penshurst may be cited as a good example of this class
of building.
It will be understood that, unlike the religious buildings which early
received the form and disposition from which they did not depart
widely, mediæval domestic buildings exhibit an amount of change in
which we can readily trace the effects of the gradual settlement of
this country, the abandonment of habits of petty warfare, the ultimate
cessation of civil wars, the introduction of gunpowder, the increase
in wealth and desire for comfort, and last, but not least, the
confiscation by Henry VIII. of the property of the monastic houses.
[Illustration: FIG. 8.--PLAN OF WARWICK CASTLE. (14TH AND FOLLOWING
CENTURIES.)]
Warwick Castle, of which we give a plan (Fig. 8), maybe cited as a
good example of an English castellated mansion of the time of Richard
II. Below the principal story there is a vaulted basement containing
the kitchens and many of the offices. On the main floor we find the
hall, entered as usual at the lower or servants' end, from a porch.
The upper end gives access to a sitting-room, built immediately
behind it, and beyond are a drawing-room and state bed-rooms, while
across a passage are placed the private chapel and a large dining-room
(a modern addition). Bed-rooms occupy the upper floors of the
buildings at both ends of the hall.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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