semicircular, and was constructed without a surrounding aile, as in the Abbaye-aux-Dames, Caen; but, unlike that building, it had lateral choirailes carried up to it on both sides, terminating in chapels, which, however, it is believed were not apsidal. The apse of Peterborough cathedral was orginally divided from the choir proper by an arch, the side pillars of which remain. The wall of the apse was pierced with three rows of windows, five in each row; these have been blocked up, or altered and filled with tracery, when the retro-choir and other additions and alterations were made.

We have already mentioned the Anglo-Roman church, at Canterbury, which, according to Eadmer, had an apse at both ends. It is highly improbable that both apses existed in the original building when Augustine took possession of it; but it is very likely that the west apse was of the ancient structure, and that the east one was erected by Augustine, or some of his successors, for the purpose of forming a larger and more seemly sanctuary.

Langfranc, the first Norman archbishop of Canterbury, no sooner took possession of the See than he decided to build a new cathedral, in the style of architecture he was familiar with. Previous to his call to England he was abbot at the monastery of St. Stephen, at Caen, which had shortly before been founded by William of Normandy, and he was accordingly conversant, as every learned ecclesiastic of the middle ages was, with the most advanced treatment of the architecture of his time. His cathedral is believed to have been a close copy of the church of his monastery, built between 1064 and 1077, and aceordingly in course of erection at the same time as his new cathedral. The choir of Langfranc's cathedral is supposed to have extended only two bays east of the centre tower, and to have been terminated with a semicircular apse. The shortness of this important portion doubtless led to its destruction, for, within twenty years after its completion, archbishop Anselm had the choir taken down and reconstructed, under the superintendence of Ernulph, prior of the monastery, and his successor, Conrad, who finished it with so much magnificence that it was afterwards designated "the glorious choir of Conrad." This choir was destroyed by fire in 1174; and that which now exists was erected by the architects known as William of Sens and English William, between the years 1174 and 1184. Conrad's choir extended eastward to the towers of St. Anselm and St. Andrew, which were erected along with it, and still remain; between these a chapel was projected, dedicated to the Holy Trinity.

That the choir of Conrad was terminated with a semicircular apse of seven bays is proved by the description given by Gervase the monk,* which is as follows:-" Since, therefore, the choir of Conrad, gloriously finished in our time, has been miserably destroyed by fire, in order that the

Gervas de combust. et repar. Dorob. Eccles. Decem Script. Edit Twysden, 1652. Quoted in Britton's Hist. and Antiq. of the Metropolitical Church of Canterbury, p. 34.

memory of so great a man, and so noble a work, might not perish, we shall proceed to describe it. . On passing from the great central tower, the eastern pillars of the choir were seen jutting out from a solid wall, like semi-pillars or pilasters. It was supported by eighteen pillars, nine on each side, in a direct line, and at equal distances; and beyond these were six other pillars extended, in the form of a semicircle. Arches were thrown both from the ninth pillar on each side, and from pillar to pillar, as well round the circular parts as over those in a direct line; and on these arches

was reared a solid wall, in which were several small and obscure windows. On this wall was erected an ambulatory, called the triforium, and an upper range of windows. The roof extended over this inner wall, and was finely painted to represent heaven or the firmament.

"At the bases of the pillars surrounding the choir and presbytery was a

wall,

which divided the choir from the side ailes, and enclosed the former with the presbytery, the high altar, and the altars of St. Alphage and St. Dunstan. Beyond the eastern bending of it, and behind the high altar, was the patriarchal chair, made of one stone, in which the archbishops were wont to sit on their festivals, during the intervals of mass, till the consecration of the elements, and then they descended by eight steps to Christ's altar. The crypt was of equal length and breadth with the choir."

The form of Conrad's apse can now be very clearly seen in the plan of the crypt, the larger western portion of which is unquestionably Ernulph's work. We give the plan of the crypt (Fig. 26), in preference to a groundplan of the choir above, as it shows more clearly the succession of the apsidal terminations from Anselm's time. The crypt, terminating in a semicircular apse with seven arches (A), surrounded with an aile, and flanked by the eastern transepts and the towers of SS. Andrew and Anselm, is Prior Ernulph's work; and clearly proves that the choir, built over it, was also terminated with a semicircular apse, surrounded by an aile, as at Norwich, from the eastern part of which Trinity chapel was projected. Both the apse and chapel were destroyed by the fire, and all vestiges of them were swept away by William of Sens.

The present apse, completed about the year 1184, is semicircular, of five bays, and surrounded with an aile; it has the remarkable circular building, attached to the aile wall eastward of the apse, known as the Corona. The form of the apse, terminating the chapel of St. Thomas,* is indicated at B on our crypt plan, and that of the corona at C. This plan shows a succession of three apsidal terminations, such as no other crypt or building in existence presents.

The chapels in the towers of St. Andrew and St. Anselm have apses inclined towards the east; and the eastern transepts have each two small apses projected from their eastern sides. The great transepts had originally two apses on their east sides, which were removed to make way for the present Perpendicular chapels.

The architectural history of Canterbury cathedral is extremely interesting; and we may conclude our remarks with a brief summary of it, so far as relates to the development of the apse. Firstly, there was the ancient Anglo-Roman church, with, in all probability, one semicircular apse at its west end, appointed as that of the basilica of St. Peter, at Rome. Secondly, there was the same church, as modified by Augustine or his successors, existing up to the time of archbishop Langfranc, with both east and west apses. Thirdly, Langfranc's cathedral, with its short choir, terminated with a semicircular apse, and, most probably, with small apses projected from the east wall of the transepts. Fourthly, the "glorious choir of Conrad," terminated with a semicircular apse of seven bays, and surrounded with an aile. Fifthly, the chapel of St. Thomas, the

Now called Trinity chapel, or retro-choir.

joint work of the two Williams, terminated also with a semicircular apse, surrounded by an aile. And lastly, the Corona, which may fairly be designated an apsidal building, erected by English William. There is probably no church in Christendom whose apse can claim such an ancient and illustrious list of ancestors as that of the cathedral of Canterbury.

We now come to the only building in England in which the apse is found in a developed state, approaching that of the great apses of the thirteenth century cathedrals of France; but before describing the apse of Westminster Abbey, as it at present exists, we must briefly review its early history; and here we have to acknowledge the great value of the archæological labours of the late Sir George Gilbert Scott, from whose valuable. Gleanings from Westminster Abbey we have derived much of the following historical information.

*

The earliest church of which there is any record whatever is that built in the reign of King Offa; no particulars of its architecture, however, have reached us. It was removed to make way for the church erected by Edward the Confessor and his successors. Regarding this latter building we have very meagre information, but, fortunately for our present purpose, what does exist informs us that it was terminated eastward with a semicircular portion. In the Lives of Edward the Confessor, among documents published under the direction of the Master of the Rolls, the following passage is to be found, alluding to the church erected by that monarch:“Principalis aræ domus altissimis erecta fornicibus quadrato opere parique commissura circumvolvitur; abitus autem ipsius ædis dupplici lapidum arcu ex utroque latere hinc et inde fortiter solidata operis compage clauditur." Here we are informed that the principal" altar-house," or choir of the church, was erected to a great height, vaulted, and terminated in a circular form. From the above passage, and that from the NormanFrench poem quoted in the note, we may safely conclude that the choir of Edward the Confessor's church was finished at its east end with a semicircular apse, most probably on the Norman model. Edward spent much of his early life in Normandy, and doubtless became quite familiar with its ecclesiastical architecture; and "it is," to use the words of the Gleanings, "unlikely that he should be content with the dimensions of a Saxon church; indeed, had he been so, he had one to his hand without building a new one; and as he was greatly enlarging the monastic establishment, it seems probable that in rebuilding the Abbey church he would adopt the scale which was becoming common in Normandy. Again, we have no

"I may mention that the document in which this occurs was written between the death of the Confessor and of Queen Edith (i.e., between 1065 and 1074). In the same volume occurs a description of the old monastery, written during the reign of Henry III. It is in Norman-French verse, and the following is the translation given :- Now he laid the foundations of the church with large square blocks of grey stone; its foundations were deep, the front towards the east he makes round, the stones are very strong and hard, in the centre rises a tower, and two at the west front, and fine large bells he hangs there.' . . . G. G. S.”— Gleanings from Westminster Abbey, p. 3.

reason to believe that the choir of Westminster Abbey was rebuilt between the days of Edward the Confessor and those of Henry III., which would have been inevitably the case had its scale been diminutive; and, if it did exist through that interval, we have full proof that it was as long as the present eastern arm of the church; for the present position of the transept we know to be identical with that of the Confessor's church, from the fact of the remains of his dormitory abutting against it in the usual manner; while the eastward extent of the old church is defined almost with certainty by the fact that the Lady-chapel was erected against it in the early days of Henry III., some years before he commenced rebuilding the church itself." This brings us to the consideration of the work of Henry III., of which the present apse is the most important feature.

We have, in a previous portion of this article, dwelt upon the characteristic apse of French architecture-that with five or seven sides, surrounded by an aile, and polygonal radiating chapels adjusted so as to fit together symmetrically—it is not difficult, therefore, to detect the origin of the apse of Westminster Abbey. Speaking of the system adopted in planning the apses of Beauvais and Amiens, Scott remarks:-" There can be little doubt that king Henry III., during his sojourns in France, became enamoured of this arrangement, which in its perfected form, he may have seen in course of being carried out at Amiens, Beauvais, Reims, and elsewhere. It would naturally strike him as well suited to the reconstruction of the eastern portion of a church already possessing an apse with a continuous surrounding aile. Whether this project had been formed when the Lady-chapel was built in 1220, it is impossible to ascertain. This was begun the same year with Amiens cathedral, and eight years later than Reims, so that it is not impossible; though the extreme youth of the king would in that case compel us to transfer the originating of the scheme from him to the abbot. However this may be, it is probable that it fell readily into the subsequently adopted plan, as we find no disturbance of the regularity of the division which would otherwise have been the case."

The method adopted by the architect in setting out the apse of Westminster Abbey is, however, different from that followed in any of the continental churches. Did this decided departure spring from independence on his part, and a natural desire to do something new, or was it a clever expedient suggested by the necessity of uniting the new work with the already existing Lady-chapel? Although Scott recognises the obvious fact that the apse was suggested by the great French examples, in progress at the time, he does not attempt to account for the marked peculiarities which it alone possesses of all works of the class. It bears no evidence of being tentative, but rather of being the thoughtful work of a clever geometrician, who had a certain problem to solve or some difficulty to over

come.

Be this as it may, it it obvious that his mere study of the apses of Reims, Beauvais, and Amiens, all of which are different as we have already shown, would never have suggested the method of planning he adopted at