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PENETRATION INTO SCOTLAN LATF DO E GOTHIC FORMS9 14 . III. E PENETRATIOTH N INTO SCOTLAN F ENGLISDO H LATE GOTHIC FORMS. RY IAN C. HANNAH, F.S.A.ScoT., F.S.A. Throughou e mediaevath t l period—untie th f o l d towarden e th s fourteenth century—Gothic architecture had maintained a uniformity of characte western i r n Europe that, considerin e greath g t distances and difficulty of communication, was certainly extremely remarkable. Then each country began to develop a style of its own; England evolved the Perpendicular, France the Flamboyant, Germany and Spain took to forms that were distinctly individual; northern Italy was soon discarding Gothic altogether in favour of the new features of the Renaissance. In all these countries the general tendency was towards churches of great size, and proportionately still greater elevation, above all exceed- ingly well lighted, almost every foo f wall-spaco t e betweee th n necessary supports being sometimes pierce r windowsfo d e filleb o dt , with magnificent staine r paintedo d glass. Scotland possesses several parish churches that conform in great degre o thest e e latest Gothic ideals, whether cruciform with middle towers as at Edinburgh, Haddington, and Perth, or with simple western steeple t Linlithgoa s a s d Stirlingwan e formeth , a later r addition. Nevertheles countrn ow develope w r yno ou s a dstyl e s thatrulwa ty her own, different in important respects from prevailing fashions else- wher e; excep r slighfo t t penetration ove e t bordeBoltoa th r s (a n ri n Cumberland) it is confined to Scotland and seems peculiarly to blend witr landscapeshe h peculiarlA . y favourable e seeexamplb no t s i e t Crichtona , Midlothian. mose Churcheth r t fo par d e tan sar kepw lo t only moderately well lighted, their most distinguishing features being roofs wholly of masonry without any timber coverings above their stone vaults.1 Sometimes, Rosslynat as barrethe , l onlvaulthe y is t roof there is; much more frequently the outer slabs of stone rest upo a nrelativel y thick mas f rubblo s e laid directle vaultth n .o y This was in itself no novelty. Such roofing is exceedingly common in the ancient churches and cells of Ireland, culminating in Cormac's r vaste Chapefa e studiee b a th y r t n Casheln a li scalo d ma d t ei an , huge Romanesque church of St Sernin at Toulouse. But the fashion beed ha n almost universally discarded elsewhere when Scotland adopted 1 Macgibbon and Boss, Eccles. Arch., III., 4, claim this form of roof to be rather an independ- t inventioen n tha revivae nth earlief o l r forms agreeI . 150 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, JANUARY 13, 1930. it as the most usual form of roofing for churches of moderate size. r detailsFo particularld an , y window tracery, recourse was-had largely to France, a country with which Scotland's political relations were of the closest throughout the fifteenth century and the greater part of the next. Franc d Burgundan e n faci y t possess many churches which approximat o Scottist e h late Gothic forms (withou e exclusivelth t y stone roofs). A very good example is the recently restored Madeleine at Geneva, a fifteenth-century fabric with low, ribbed vault in four unequal bays, five-sided apse and quasi-aisle formed by a series of chapels opening by independent arches on the south. Perhap e mossth t remarkable fact abou e Englisth t h Perpendicular style, which seem havo t s e originate t Gloucestea d r befor e Blacth e k Death, and was hardly superseded altogether by Renaissance forms until well inte seventeentoth h century s thai , t whil n Englani e d an d r morWalefa s ei t commoi s n thaothey nan r for s f Gothicmo ha d an , left its mark in one form or another on nearly every church, it hardly spread at all across the waters or beyond the Cheviots. Ireland had by the fifteenth century worked out forms of her own, and only now and then (as in the much-reconstructed nave of Armagh cathedral) is the English style to be found there in anything like its original form. The long political connection between England and different portions of what is France to-day resulted in the mainland exerting an enor- mous architectural influence upo e islanth n d without receiviny an g English building traditions of real importance in return. In Calais, the Porte de Guise with its flanking octagonal turrets, flat four-centered arch, carved spandrels and elaborate lierne vault, would fairly closely resembl eTudoa r gatewa t weri f yi e finished with English battlements instea a high f o d, tiled French e rooflargTh .e cruciform churcf ho Notre Dame, also at Calais, was almost entirely rebuilt during the fifteenth century, with windowse mosth f o t , particularl greae yth t seven- e northerth f o lighe n on transeptt , closely followin e lineth f go s English Perpendicular work, whil archee eth s fro transepte mth e th o st chancel aisle outed san r chapels, withou capitalsy an t vere ar , y English indeed, as also the omission of a blind-story; the flat lierne vaults are at least not very French, but the walls of yellow brick, with their large turrets and the triple two-light windows of the central tower with the arcading below them, give a general impression that is certainly pre- dominantly Flemish. Despite the undoubted influence exerted by the Perpendicular style, the building is exceedingly unlike any English church. y surprisinwa o s n thuy searci gn t i sma I thahe w Scotlant n i d vain for any real example of English Perpendicular buildings; while PENETRATION INTO SCOTLAN F LATDO E GOTHIC FORMS1 15 . they were exactly to the taste of their own inventors they did not find favour with others. It is true, none the less, that the influence of this style made many Scottish building e fifteentth f o s h century quite different from what they would otherwise be, though not to any extent that suggests comparison wit e extremelhth y strong English influence apparen r earlieou n i rt churches, extendin r inte fourteentfa g th o h century—not in any great measure checked by the battle of Bannock- burn. Scotlan t lasa td workedha buildina t dou g traditio r ownhe f ,no outsidy an d e an influences wermorw no ee e Frenclikelb o t y h than English, particularl domestin yi militard can y work. This was of course natural enough considering the long continuance of the French alliance, but that political considerations were not always predominant is certainly suggested by the fact that the best known, perhaps alse mosth o t interesting, exampl f lato e e English Gothic influence in Scotland came from the necessity for extensive reparations o Melrost e Abbey afte s partiait r l destructio firy nb e during Richard II's raid of 1385. The incident can hardly have done much to prejudice monke th favoun e architectursi th f o r f theieo r oppressors foure Th -! teenth century nave and centre of Melrose (as MacGibbon and Ross point out) have rather striking resemblances in detail to the con- temporary nave of York Minster, but the spirit of the Scottish church wit s outehit r chapel d doublan s e flying buttresses suggests alse th o influenc f Franceo e e datTh e .easter th 150 f o 5 n appeare on n o s buttresses, and it seems that the restoration of the transepts and quire was going on, doubtless with intermissions, after 1385 till that period. The different portions blend exceedingly well; the transition from the earlier to the later work is skilfully managed without any obvious change in the style or character of the building. The transepts mainly follow the style of the fourteenth century, especially in the splendid south window n theii t r bu ,clerestorie e three-lighar s t Perpendicular window f quito s n Englisa e h type, thoug e light th he septifoile ar s d instead of cinquefoiled, as would be far more usual farther south. The stonw remainlo ee sanctuarth f so y scree entirele nar keepingn yi o s d an , are the large four-light transomed windows north and south of the quire. The great five-light east window is unlike anything else in Europe, but traditios it mainls ni y Perpendicular mullions it ; s extene dth righo t p u t soffit of the arch; its lights above the transoms have alternate triangular and horizontal headings in both cases cusped beneath; while the tracery s somha ep curiouto e th sn i diamond forms. e canopieTh 1 d nichen i s e gablth e above, wit e buttresseth h d squaran s e pinnacles e alsar ,o Much of the tracery is now broken away, but its original form is clearly shown in the plates of E1. W. Billings' Baronial and Ecclesiastical Architecture of Scotland, Blackwood, 1852, vol. iv. 152 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, JANUARY ]3, 1930. exceedingly littlEnglish w e southerth eho t ye ; n styl realls ei y repro- duced is clear from the extremely Scottish character of what remains e quiree vaulth oth barreff A o .t l roof support e outeth s r slabf o s stone without any intermediate timbering; the elaborate ribs with the famous central crucifixion boss are in truth but panelling on the tunnel vault.