OLDEST OF THE GUILD HALLS (1304). P. 307] [Illustration: TOWN HALL, LOUVAIN P. 307] [Illustration: TOWN HALL, BRUSSELS THE EARLIEST OF THE FLEMISH GOTHIC HALLS (1377). P. 307] [Illustration: ANTWERP CATHEDRAL P. 308] [Illustration: MECHLIN CATHEDRAL] [Illustration: TOLEDO CATHEDRAL NOTE THE CORO, OCCUPYING THE THREE LAST BAYS OF THE NAVE, AND OBSTRUCTING VIEW OF THE SANCTUARY BEYOND THE CROSSING. PP. 308, 309] [Illustration: BURGOS CATHEDRAL OPEN-WORK SPIRES RECALL COLOGNE. P. 308] CHAPTER V GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN GERMANY, THE NETHERLANDS, AND SPAIN In Germany the Romanesque style had been developed on lines so monumental that the architects were slow to abandon it for the Gothic. Accordingly, while the French and English worked out the constructive principles that produced a new style, the Germans were content to borrow its features, especially as represented in the French cathedrals. They were drawn to this imitation through the commercial relations which existed by way of Burgundy between the cities of Germany and Northern France. For at the commencement of the thirteenth century the cities played a most important rôle in the political as well as the economic life of Germany. Kings and emperors, recognising the value of their support, had conferred special privileges upon them, which in times of confusion they had themselves increased until they were practically self-governing. Their power rivalled that of the duchies, countships, and other governments which made up the fluctuating aggregation of authorities comprised in the empire. Moreover, the cities had increased their power by combinations. The most important of these were the Rhenish Confederation and the Hanseatic League of German merchants, the latter extending its activities to points outside of Germany, as far distant as London and Novgorod. Another phase of the prominence of cities lay in the fact that they were frequently the sees of Archbishops, who were fiefs of the empire and vied with other feudal lords in political importance. Meanwhile, this period was marked by a revival of culture. “It was a period of great men and great ideas, of dramatic contrasts of character; on the one side a broad humanitarianism combined with a gay enjoyment of the world and on the other an almost superhuman spirituality that sought its ideal in a rejection of all the world could give.” It was the age of the Minnesinger and of the rise of the Friars; an age, too, in which the voice of the laity was raised on behalf of purity of religion and religious tolerance. This higher spirit of the time found expression both in literature and architecture, and, though in the latter field some noble palaces and castles were created, the chief glory is to be found in the cathedrals and town-halls--the embodiment of the religious and civic life of the burghers.