Chap. II POINTED ARCH.

I'J5
ri^s OF sr. vROjrD, periouei'x.
we give a jilaii
(_%.
L'>9), was co iinienctd in tlie year 9S1, and was complited in 1047,
on the type of, if not copied from, tlie
cailiedral of St. INIark, at Venice. A
section is given in
Jiff.
KJO, exliibiting
tlie use of tiie pointed arches in con-
struction only. The clioir at Loches
was erected between the years 11-10
and 1180, and is in the late and elegant
Norman style universal in that country,
just anteiior to the introduction of the
true (lointed style, wliicli was timidly
oH'ected in the iiorth of France about
the year 1 150. being mixed witli round
arches in all the great cathedrals and
churches erected between ll.O and
ItiOO, at which date the style may be
said to have been perfected in all its
essential ])eculiarit:es.
.307(1.
'
In England it was in every
respect above twenty- five years later
The first really authentic example of
its use is in Canterbury Cathedral after
the fire in 1175, and was apparently in-
troduced by William of Sjns; nearly
half a century j^assed before it can he
sa'd to have entirely sujierseded the
Norman arch. In Germany, the intro-
duction was somewhat later, and we
know of no authentic specimen of pure
Gothic anterior to the commencement
of the 13th centiu-y, and even then
nearly half a century elapsed before it
entirely superseded the round arch style. During the whole of the first half of that century,
we find round arches mixed up with tlie pointed ones which were then coming into fashion."
;?07/*. These views were com')ated by Mr. E. Sharpe. as noticed in the JJnildei;
p. .SIT,
especially as to the first named works being considered as arches at all
;
and a question
arose at the Institute of
ISritisb Architects, as t,i
the age of the Frer.ch
bui'dmgs named; T. ais-
actions, 1860-61, |).
'Jll.&cand 115. Mr.
Street, in his Brick
Aicliitecture in Italy,
states,
(p.
258) that

"The Italians ignored,

as much as possible, the
clear exhibition of the
pointed arch, and, even
when they did use it,
not uiifrequently intro-
duc. d it in such a way
as to show their con-
tempt for it as a featur2 of construction ; employing it often on'y for ornament, and never
hesitating to construct it in so faulty a manner, that it required to be held together with iron
rods from the very first day of its erection. This fault thoy found it absolutely necessary to
connnit, beiau>-e they scarcely ever i)rought themselves to allow theuse of the buttress."
(fc) JIEnl.VAL ARTIFICEUS.
SOa. In considering the question of the origin of pointed architect'.ire, those who have
hitherto been supposed to have devised the pointed arch itself must not be neglected : and
to these jiersons we are indebted for the gigantic masses of exquisitely decorated composition,
to be seen in the structures which they designed and erected. These men are imagined to
have belonged to a corporation or guild having authority over all countries, or to a guild
in each country, having authority only in its own nation. This so-called confraternity has
been known as the Freemasons. In the following account of them we shall much abridL'e
tiie two papers read before the lU)yal Institute of British Architects, and given in
ST. FltOXn, rEiaulte.V, TKANSVtKSE SELTIO.N.