exterior is characterized by arched string-courses and reticulated pattern work in the tympanums. This monument may be assigned to the first half of the XI century. (Woillez, S. 27.)

SOISSONS, Aisne. St. Médard. The crypt, which is well preserved, is assigned to the XI century. (Lefèvre-Pontalis, Arch. Rel. I, 169.)

St. Léger. The choir is said to resemble closely the middle chapel of Braisne.1 The crypt, though assigned by Fleury to the VIII century, in reality dates from 10901100, as M. Lefèvre-Pontalis has pointed out. The church itself was entirely reconstructed in the XIII century.

BALAGNY-SUR-THERAIN, Oise. Église. The ornament consisting of chevrons and billet mouldings, and the construction in herring-bone masonry indicate that this single-aisled church must date from the end of the XI century. (Woillez.)

TILLÉ, Oise. Église, which may be ascribed with confidence to the first half of the XI century, consists of three aisles separated by square piers. The walls are constructed of rubble; the roof is in timber. A Greek cross in the gable recalls the Basse Oeuvre of Beauvais. (Woillez, Appendix.)

CHIVRY-LÈS-ÉTOUVELLES, Aisne. Eglise. Of the structure of the XI century, only two semicircular absidioles remain, the rest of the edifice having been entirely rebuilt. The present square choir is of the XVI century; the tower is Gothic; and the portal, Renaissance.

PLESSIS-LE-CHARMANT, Oise. Église consists of a single-aisled nave and a rectangular choir. The tower and choir are Romanesque, but the spire with its turrets and dormers is a work of the XII century.

ANGIVILLERS, Oise. Église. The inadequate publication by Woillez indicates that the church was supplied with a single-aisled nave and transepts, ornamented externally with arched string-courses. (Woillez, Appendix.)

SARRON, Oise. Eglise, which may be assigned to the first half of the XI century, consists of a nave, two side aisles, and an apse masked externally. The piers are square, the roof is in wood. The exterior is adorned with arched string-courses. (Woillez, Appendix.)

CRAMOISY, Oise. St. Martin. The tower is a charming design of the end of the XI century with two stories of coupled arches and a cornice composed of a flat corbel-table.

ACHY, Oise. Église of small dimensions has been only inadequately published. One of the windows is surmounted by an arcuated lintel. (Woillez, Appendix.) ORVILLE, Somme. Église, notwithstanding many reconstructions, contains some fragments of XI century architecture. (Bourlon.)

ULLY-ST.-GEORGES, Oise. Église is said to date from the XI, XIII, and XVI centuries. (Woillez.)

RUE-ST-PIERRE, Oise. Église may be assigned to the first half of the XI century. The façade is surmounted by a little belfry; the central doorway is plain, except that the voussoirs are carved with a Carolingian triangular motive. (Woillez, Appendix.)

1 Von Bezold.

ROCHY-CONDÉ, Oise. Chapelle St. Arnoult is said to date from the XI

century.

ESTRÉES-ST-DENIS, Oise. Église. The single-aisled nave is preceded by a façade surmounted by a belfry. (Woillez, Appendix.)

LUCHY, Oise. Eglise has been only inadequately published. (Woillez.)

MONUMENTS OF THE XI AND XII CENTURIES OF DISTRICTS BORDERING ON THE ILE DE

FRANCE

MONUMENTS OF THE FIRST CLASS

VÉZELAY, Yonne. Abbaye la Madeleine. This Benedictine abbey, one of the largest in France, fell under the influence of the Cluniac reform in the XI century. The church erected at the time of the foundation in 8461 was destroyed by fire in 1120, when 1,127 men and women are said to have perished in the flames. The existing edifice was probably commenced soon after this catastrophe, for the western portions are in the style of the last half of the XII century, and the Gothic choir of 1198–1201 doubtless replaces an older Romanesque structure. This venerable abbey, which is thoroughly Cluniac and Burgundian in style, consists of a choir of five aisles; a pentagonal chevet; an ambulatory; transepts; a nave, entirely groin-vaulted except the last four bays which are rib-vaulted; and a narthex three bays long groin-vaulted except for the last bay, the lower of whose stories is barrel-vaulted, the upper, rib-vaulted. The masonry laid in bands alternately light and dark recalls the school of Auvergne as do several details of ornamentation. There were originally four towers. The main arcades of the narthex have pointed arches a fact which misled Viollet-le-Duc into the error of considering this an important monument of the transitional movement. The interest of Vézelay centers in the portals, whose sculptures are among the finest productions of the Burgundian school. (Arch. de la Com. des Mon. Hist. II, 11; Von Bezold.)

MONUMENTS OF THE SECOND CLASS

ST.-BENOÎT-SUR-LOIRE, Loiret. Abbaye. The narthex of this important monument is usually assigned to the year 1022 on the strength of a text which I have not been able to find; there is need, however, of but a superficial examination of the architecture to realize that the construction can not possibly be as early as this. M. Marignan, however, goes too far in assigning this portion of the building to a date as late as 1160-80; it may well have been erected in the first quarter of the XII century. Fortunately the chronology of the remainder of the church is less obscure, and the approximate date of the choir - obviously, the oldest part of the existing church is established by documentary evidence: "Since the church of the blessed

1 Hugo Pictavinus notarius, Historia Vizeliacensis, mon. I, cit. Schlosser, 283; Karl II, Urk. für Vézelay, 868, ian. 7, B. R. 1746.

2 Besly, Histoire des Comtes de Poitou, p. 451 [lege 551], cit. Inkersley.

Virgin Mary, Mother of God, in which rests the body of the holy father Benedict, had fallen into ruin, partly by age, partly by fire, it seemed good to Abbot William (with the consent of Odilo, an upright man and prior of the same church) to demolish the old building and erect instead a new - "[Abbot William] commenced to build, and laid anew the foundations of that church over which he ruled and which had been devastated by many fires and ruined by old age, but he died before being able to finish it."2 Now, since William was abbot from 1070-80, it must have been during this period that the reconstruction of the choir was begun. According to Rocher,3 the construction was finished only in 1103. In the meanwhile (1095), the monastery had been ravaged by a new fire. This fire very probably rendered necessary the reconstruction of the nave, whose architecture shows all the characteristics of the style of the early years of the XII century. The design of the nave differs widely from that of the choir in that cruciform piers with system are substituted for columns - a lack of unity which, however, could be paralleled in many homogeneous churches of Berry or Burgundy. Probably soon after 1103, or at least sometime in the first half of the XII century, the narthex, which had stood isolated before the church, was rebuilt. Finally, in 1218, the western bays of the nave were again made over, and the whole edifice restored in the Gothic style. As the monument stands to-day, the choir with its ambulatory and four radiating chapels may be taken as an authentically dated structure of c. 1070-1103.5 The central aisle is barrel-vaulted, but the side aisles are covered with groin vaults with transverse ribs; there is a continuous triforium, no system, and a clearstory with shafted windows. The main archivolts are in two orders, unmoulded, and certain bases are supplied with griffes. Two absidioles project to the eastward on each arm of the salient transepts which are covered with pointed barrel vaults added après coup about the end of the XII century. The nave, although remade in the Gothic period, retains Romanesque groin vaults in the side aisles; the north lateral porch of the XIII century is notable for its fine sculpture. The narthex in two stories, entirely vaulted with groin vaults resting on round transverse arches, is divided into nine equal squares by three aisles, of equal height, each three bays long. The piers have engaged on each face a half column with richly carved Corinthianesque and figured capitals. (Rocher; Marignan.)

AVALLON, Yonne. St. Ladre. The present edifice of three aisles appears to have been commenced only in the last half of the XII century, for the façade — evidently the oldest part of the structure is a fine example of rich Burgundian ornamentation. The remarkable portals in five orders with twisted and chained

1 Basilica semper virginis Mariae Dei genetricis in qua beatus pater Benedictus corpore quiescit partim vetustate, partim incendio demolita, visum est abbati Guillelmo, adnitente Odilone, viro probo, ejusdem basilicae aedituo, vetus demolire et novum opus pro vetere instaurare. Miracula Sancti Benedicti, lib. VIII, Chap. 25, éd. Cestau, p. 317.

2 [Guillelmus] ipsam quam regebat ecclesiam multis incendiis devastatam et senio pregravatam novo jecto edificare cepit fundamento, sed mortus praereptus consummare non potuit. Liber Modernorum Regum, Migne, Pat. Lat. LVIII, col. 1903.

colonnettes show no trace of the influence of the Ile de France. Except for the northwest tower of the XVI century, the remainder of the church is a homogeneous construction of c. 1200 with pointed arches throughout except in the windows. The vaults have no diagonal ribs, but the system is logical and continuous. The apse is covered with a half-dome. (Nodier and Taylor.)

St. Martin, an ancient priory, has been long abandoned. The plan is in the form of a Greek cross. Some portions are said to be Romanesque in style, but the vaults and several of the windows are clearly Gothic. (Nodier and Taylor.) LA CELLE, Cher. Eglise is the finest example of the architecture of the XI century in the département of Cher. The edifice consists of a nave without clearstory, two side-aisles, transepts with eastern absidioles, a rectangular choir, and three apses of which the central one is polygonal externally. Except for the half-domes of the apses and the cloistered dome on squinches, which covers the crossing, the church is entirely covered with round barrel vaults. The vaults of the nave have had to be reinforced by the addition of later buttresses. Externally, the monument is remarkable chiefly for the central apse, on each angle of which is engaged a column supporting a blind arch. (De Kersers VI, 112.)

MONUMENTS OF THE THIRD CLASS

CHÂTEAU-MEILLANT, Cher. St. Genès. The present edifice which, with the exception of certain portions made over in the Gothic period, dates from the end of the XI or early XII century, consists of a nave now roofed in timber but originally covered with a pointed barrel vault reinforced by transverse arches resting on a continuous system; of two side aisles formerly nearly as high as the nave and covered with half barrel vaults, which buttressed the nave vaults and thus necessitated the omission of the clearstory; of transepts; of a choir; of a central tower; and of no less than seven apses and absidioles. The construction seems to have progressed from east to west, the nave showing architectural forms evidently slightly later in date than those of the choir. There are no external buttresses. (De Kersers III, 213; Deshoulières.)

Le Chapitre or Notre Dame. This edifice of the XI century consists of a large nave, transepts, a central tower, five apses, and two chapels added in the XVI century, which gravely disfigure the original plan. The great apse is decorated externally with a cornice composed of blind arches separated alternately by colonnettes and square pilasters covered with an interlacing pattern.

DUN-LE-ROI, Cher. St. Etienne, which differs widely from most of the Romanesque monuments of Berry, consists of a nave six bays long, two side aisles, a semicircular apse, an ambulatory, and three apsidal chapels. The eastern part of the building must date from the XII century, but the western bays are Gothic, while the vaults, save those of the choir, are constructions of the XIV century, and the chapels and western tower-porch were added in the flamboyant period. The system is continuous; there is no clearstory. Externally the apse, with its grouped shaft buttresses, flat corbel-tables, and shafted windows in two orders, is thoroughly Romanesque in character. (De Kersers IV, 95.)

BRUÈRES, Cher. Abbaye de Noirlac consists of a nave, two side aisles, transepts, a rectangular choir, and two square chapels projecting to the eastward of the transepts, a disposition which at once betrays the Cistercian origin of the abbey. The choir, which is the oldest part of the structure and dates from about the middle of the XII century, is covered with a pointed barrel vault; the transepts are supplied with rib vaults of c. 1200; the side aisles are groin-vaulted; and the nave has a Gothic rib vault, although there are no flying buttresses. The piers are square, the archivolts unrelieved; the system rests on corbels placed just below the impost level. (De Kersers VI, 102.)

PLEINPIED, Cher. Abbaye. This church, one of the most elegant medieval structures of the neighborhood of Bourges, was commenced probably soon after 1080, the year of the foundation of the abbey. At all events the choir must have been finished in 1092, since Archbishop Richard II was here buried at that date. The church is cruciform with a central tower, and its three aisles terminate in three apses. There are no transeptal absidioles. The choir is notable for its slightly pointed barrel vaults raised over a clearstory; the choir aisles are covered with combination barrel and groin vaults; the transepts are also barrel-vaulted, except for the cupola under the central tower; but the nave vaults have been destroyed. Externally, the decoration consists of arcades, flat corbel-tables, arched string-courses, salient buttresses, and shafted windows. (De Kersers V, 75.)

Eglise de Givaudins. The single-aisled nave, which is assigned to the XI century, is notable for the portal in two unornamented orders. The choir dates from the XVI century.

AIX-D'ANGILLON, Cher. St. Ythier, a monument of the early XII century which is said to show Cluniac influence, consists of a single-aisled nave, transepts with absidioles, a choir flanked by two side aisles covered with semicircular barrel vaults, a central tower, and three apses. The arches of the arcades are pointed; the piers are cylindrical; there is no system. The archivolts of the continuous triforium are moulded. Externally, the apse is ornamented with shafts and engaged arcades. (De Kersers I, 6.)

BAR-SUR-AUBE, Aube. St. Pierre consists of a nave six bays long, two side aisles, transepts, a chevet, an ambulatory, and radiating chapels. The church, which is rib-vaulted throughout, is almost entirely Gothic in structure, although the round arch persists in the triforium. Each bay of the clearstory is pierced by a single lancet very narrow for the available space; above, the longitudinal vault rib is slightly stilted. Although the vaults are quadripartite, the system is alternate. In the intermediate piers three colonnettes carry the archivolts of the main arcade and a single shaft supporting the system of three members on which rest in turn the five vaulting ribs. The capitals show all the characteristics of the style of the last years of the XII century. (Arnaud, 200.)

St. Maclou. The nave, the side aisles, the transepts, the first bay of the choir, and the first bays of the chapels which flank it, belong to the last half of the XII century; the remainder of the choir, with its polygonal apse, is a work of the XIV century, while the portal is modern. The nave is only three bays long, but is entirely