XXV.—The Plan of the First Cathedral Church of Lincoln

Abstract

It is hardly too much to say that no period in the history of mediaeval church architecture in England is so important as that which immediately followed the Norman Conquest. It is important in respect of the marvellous extent and quality of its own achievement; of its influence on the subsequent history of English architecture; and also (which perhaps cannot be asserted of any other period) of its influence on the architectural development of western Europe generally. By the time of the Conquest the Norman school was fully formed, and was achieving such masterpieces as Jumièges and Saint-Étienne, Caen. The Conquest provided an opportunity of which the immense energy of the Norman bishops and abbots took full advantage. In their greater churches they built on a scale which they had hitherto rarely attempted in their own country. Such activity bred experience, readiness in solving structural problems. The Norman character naturally led them to develop the logic of construction, and they were innovators in the practice of expedients which only needed fuller development to reach the essentials of what we call Gothic. It is true that this great development was not English; it was essentially Norman, the accident of the Conquest, but its importance is none the less on that account, and needs fuller recognition than perhaps it has yet received.