224. Belfry of Tournai (Belgium) 370 225. Belfry of Ghent (Belgium) 371 226. Belfry at Calais (France) 374 227. Belfry of Béthune (France) 376 228. Belfry of Évreux (France) 377 229. Belfry of Avignon (France) 378 230. Belfry gate known as _La Grosse Cloche_, Bordeaux 379 231. Cloth hall known as _La Loge_, Perpignan 381 232. Bishop's Palace at Laon 382 233. Archbishop's Palace at Albi. Plan 383 234. Archbishop's Palace at Albi. General view 384 235. Palace of the Popes at Avignon. Plan 385 236. Palace of the Popes at Avignon. General view 387 GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE INTRODUCTION The term _Gothic_, as applied to the architectural period dating from the middle of the twelfth to the end of the fifteenth century, is purely conventional. The expression is clearly misleading as indicating the architecture of the Goths or Visigoths; for these tribes were vanquished by Clovis in the sixth century, and left no monumental trace of their invasion. Hence, their influence upon art was _nil_. The term is radically false both from the historical and the archæological point of view, and originates in an error which demands the strenuous opposition due to persistent fallacies. By a strange irony of fate the term _Gothic_, used in the last century merely as the opprobrious synonym of _barbaric_, has been specialised within the last sixty years in connection with that polished epoch of the Middle Ages which sheds most lustre upon our national art. And this, in spite of its Germanic origin. Romanesque architecture, or to be exact, that architecture which, by virtue of the archæologic convention of 1825, we agree to label Romanesque, undoubtedly borrowed its essential elements from the Romans and Byzantines, modifying and perfecting them by the genius of Western Europe; but the architectural period which began in the middle of the twelfth century, and is so unjustly dubbed _Gothic_, was of purely French birth; its cradle was the nucleus of modern France. Aquitaine, Anjou, and Maine were the provinces in which it first took root. The royal domain, and notably the Ile-de-France, witnessed its most marvellous developments, and it was from the very heart of France that its splendour radiated throughout Europe. But the tyranny of usage leaves us no choice as to the title of this volume. We are compelled to style it _Gothic Architecture_, though we would gladly have registered our protest by naming it _French Mediæval Architecture_.[1]