There is especial reason why we English should study the work of our own mediæval glass painters. They are the chief representatives of our primitive school of painting. It is true that there are English manuscripts in the museums, and there are the painted rood screens of Norfolk, including the superb example at Ranworth, and there is the portrait of Richard II. at Westminster; but of the painting which must once have covered the walls of our churches, there is little left but patches of faded colour clinging here and there to the plaster, and the occasional dim outline of a figure. Of our glass, on the other hand, in spite of four hundred years of destruction, a considerable quantity remains, and is worth far closer study than it has ever had. I must gratefully acknowledge the help I have had from my brother, Mr. T. K. Arnold, especially in writing of the Canterbury glass of which he has made a very close study. My thanks are also due to Mr. Noel Heaton for information on the chemical composition of glass. The publishers are fortunate in having been able to reproduce, for the illustrations, the very beautiful coloured drawings of Mr. Lawrence B. Saint, which are now in the Victoria and Albert Museum. H. A. CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE 1. THE MAKING OF A WINDOW 1 2. THE BEGINNINGS OF STAINED GLASS 11 3. THE STYLE OF THE FIRST PERIOD 29 4. TWELFTH CENTURY GLASS 41 5. EARLY THIRTEENTH CENTURY GLASS IN ENGLAND: CANTERBURY AND LINCOLN 67 6. THIRTEENTH CENTURY GLASS IN FRANCE: SENS AND CHARTRES 85 7. OTHER THIRTEENTH CENTURY WINDOWS. EARLY GRISAILLE 109 8. THE STYLE OF THE SECOND PERIOD 123 9. EARLY FOURTEENTH CENTURY GLASS IN ENGLAND: MERTON COLLEGE AND EXETER 151 10. FOURTEENTH CENTURY GLASS AT YORK 161 11. FOURTEENTH CENTURY GLASS IN FRANCE 183 12. LATE FOURTEENTH CENTURY GLASS IN ENGLAND: TRANSITIONAL--GLOUCESTER AND THE WORK OF THE WINCHESTER SCHOOL 195 13. THE STYLE OF THE THIRD PERIOD 211 14. FIFTEENTH CENTURY GLASS AT YORK 225 15. FIFTEENTH CENTURY GLASS IN FRANCE 241 16. MALVERN AND FAIRFORD 251 INDEX 267 ILLUSTRATIONS PLATE 1. The Ascension Window, Le Mans. Possibly eleventh century _Frontispiece_