Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 2004. Vol. 4. Eger Journal of English Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 30)
MATTHEW PALMER The English Cathedral: Prom Description to Analysis
The English Cathedral: from Description to Analysis 83 One more recent observation of particular interest to students of English Gothic architecture is Imre Takács's suggestion that there may be English design sources, namely Bristol Cathedral, for the rood screen from the Pilisszentkereszt of c. 1360, currently on display at the Historical Museum of Budapest. By analysing this possibility students would be able to test some of the rather vague and general statements regarding the influence of English vaulting systems in Central Europe put forward by Abkarovits. 3 6 Indeed, Late Gothic architecture in the Kingdom of Hungary would provide a useful means of analysing the Perpendicular style and Nikolaus Pevsner's premise that the Perpendicular was the quintessential English style. Pevsner indeed says it himself: "Now, before the Englishness of the Perpendicular style can be assessed, it must be remembered that a certain amount of what has so far been analysed belongs to the Late Gothic of northern Europe in general rather than to England". 3 7 By admitting that there is a wider frame of reference and that groundwork needs to be done before the target material can be approached, Pevsner is indeed close to the British Council's intended aim in promoting Inter cultural studies, namely to "achieve an anthropological understanding of one's own country before engaging a foreign culture". 3 8 By making a day trip to St Elizabeth's Kassa (Kosice, Slovakia), for instance, students of the EKF would be in a much better position to judge whether "all-over pattern", "illogicality" and "emphasis of verticalities and grids" were purely English virtues. 39 Indeed, we believe without being introduced to medieval fabrics first-hand, and without some knowledge of Hungary's own Gothic tradition, English Gothic art will continue to feel extremely, and unnecessarily, distant. Conclusion On 8 t h June, 1406, the English students from the English natio of the University of Paris, the same "nation" attended by Paris's Hungarian students, demanded that one of their former tutors, Benedek Makrai, be released from prison following his participation in an armed uprising in Óbuda against King Sigismund in 1403. Their plea was heard, Makrai was Abkarovits quoting Martindale: "In Lincoln ribs began to get separated from the vaulting long ago, and the English influence is felt as far away as in the Vladislav Hall in Prague" (op. cit. p. 60). o<r Pevsner, op. cit. p. 94. og Jones, op. cit., and quoted in Palmer, M., "Culture, Media, Language: The Present and the Future of Contemporary Cultural Studies in Hungary", Framing the Issues: British Studies — Media Studies , Pécs, 1996. 3 9 Pevsner, op. cit. pp. 102-121.
