Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1998. Vol. 2. Eger Journal of English Studies.(Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 26)

Studies - Endre Abkarovits: Teaching the Englishness of English Gothic cathedral architecture

fields when and in which England played a leading role in the history of Western arts. English Gothic architecture is one of the few exceptions. Gothic has a special role in England. If we just take the sheer quantity of time into consideration when people were erecting buildings mainly in this style, we have to realize that during almost one half of the second milleneum this was the predominant or most favoured artistic style in England. (Roughly, from 1150 to 1550, plus the Gothic revival of the 18th and 19th centuries.) (Watkin:156) Especially the last phase of English Gothic, the Perpendicular, is so much felt to be their own that it is often referred to as the 'national style' of England. The style of this Gothic period was revived in the eighteenth century and preferred to all other former styles. The Anglo-Saxon period did not leave behind great churches. The Norman period was already characterised by large-scale construction activities and important fortresses and cathedrals have survived from this period. We can say, however, that, on the whole, the English did not build very original and outstanding constructions in this period either, though there are some exceptional achievements such as Durham cathedral, but even the latter has a mixture of styles and its importance is largely due to the fact that the three main features of Gothic architecture (ribbed vault, pointed arches, flying butresses) are already present. But the earliest surviving pointed rib vaults (1120-1133) of the Middle Ages had no effect on the walls or piers. ( Wilson: 19-23) Durham only anticipated the vaults of the Ile-de-France, but we cannot know if it exerted any influence on them. The question of why just cathedral building became important at the beginning of the Gothic period is answered by Martindale in the following way: 'Much of the major building is cathedral architecture. Monasteries had had their churches by 1200, with which they were satisfied. By contrast, many towns were not satisfied with their main ecclessiastical building. The years 1140-1250 were a period in which it became possible to build churches the size and height of which had not been known since the fall of the Roman Empire.' (Martindale: 13) It is the Gothic age when England created great works of art, even by European standards. Although Gothic was not born in England (though its main elements are already present in the dominantly Norman Durham cathedral, as we have seen), within a century England caught up with France and after the disaster of Beauvais cathedral, when the French were unable to renew their Gothic style, the English remained innovative and went on developing this style. From Pevsner's remark it seems that even the English are not always aware of the real value of their achievements, especially concerning the Decorated period. 'In fact, the architecture of England between 1250 and 47