of the ancient temples, it generally happened that the architect, conforming himself to new requirements, endeavoured, by a prudent return towards the traditions of the past, to avoid those striking incongruities which would have deprived of all their value the magnificent materials he had at his disposal. Hence arose a style still undecided; hence mixed creations, which it will suffice merely to mention. Then we must not forget--to say nothing of the case in which, as in the old Roman city, Christian basilicas might be built with the marble of heathen sanctuaries--the monuments of this same Rome were still the only models that presented themselves for imitation. Finally, for this architecture which the Christian religion was to create as its own, it was obvious there would be an infancy, an age of groping in the dark and of uncertainty; and at length that there should be a separation from the past, and a gradually experienced feeling of individual strength. (Fig. 299.) This infancy lasted about five or six centuries; for it was only about the year 1000 that the new style--which we see at first made up of “recollections” and weak innovations--assumed an almost determinate form. This is the period called Norman,[49] which, according to M. Vaudoyer, has left us some monuments that are “the noblest, the simplest, and the severest expression of the Christian temple.” [Illustration: Fig. 297.--The Church of St. Agnes, at Rome, Latin style (Fifth Century). Restored and debased in the Seventeenth Century.] [Illustration: Fig. 298.--The Church of St. Martin, at Tours (Sixth Century). Rebuilt or restored in the Eleventh Century.] “Three years after the year 1000, which was supposed was to be the last year of the world,” says the monk Raoul Glaber, “churches were renewed in nearly every part of the universe, especially in Italy and in Gaul, although the greater number were still in a condition good enough to require [Illustration: Fig. 299.--Remains of the Church of Mouen, in Normandy. Architecture of the Fifth or Sixth Century.]