Chapter XII: Vaulting 73

CHRONOLOGY

The popular classification of English Gothic Architecture divides the style into four periods, thus:

Norman William I., 1066, to Richard I., 1189.
Early English Richard I., 1189, to Edward I., 1272.
Decorated Edward I., 1272, to Richard II., 1377.
Perpendicular Richard II., 1377, to Edward VI., 1547.

These terms are useful, but not sufficiently descriptive. They were superseded by the late Edmund Sharpe’s “Seven Periods,” the terms of which are derived from the forms of the windows and their tracery, but are applicable to other details.

SHARPE’S “SEVEN PERIODS.”

Saxon 1066.
Norman 1066 to 1145.
Transitional 1145 ” 1190.
Lancet 1190 ” 1245.
Geometrical 1245 ” 1315.
Curvilinear 1315 ” 1360.
Rectilinear 1360 ” 1550.

PLATE I

BYZANTINE AND EARLY CHRISTIAN

English Church Architecture of the Middle Ages