FRENCH  CATHEDRALS   1140-1250
Such was the range of knowledge and experience of the men who
built the great Gothic cathedrals. They were invited abroad as the
bringers of the new Gothic style, the "opus francigenum", as it is
called in a German record of that time; they kept thek eyes open
while they travelled, and noted buildings, sculptures and paintings
with the same eagerness. They knew as much of the carving

of figures and ornaments
as of building construc-
tion, although their draw-
ing technique was still
elementary.
to
-H—
27.      PROBABLE    ORIGINAL    ELEVATION   OF    THE
NAVE OF NOTRE DAME, DESIGNED C.
St. Denis must owe its
novelty to a master-mason
of this calibre. And many a
bishop and an architect
burned with ambition to
emulate Suger and St.
Dejiis. Between 1140 and
1220 new cathedrals were
begun on an ever-growing
scale at Sens, Noyon, Senlis,
and then Paris (Notre
Dame, c. 1163 seqq.), Laon
(c. 1170 seqq.), Chartres (c.
1195 seqq.), Rlieims (1211
seqq.), Amiens (1220 seqq.)
and Beauvais (1247 seqq.).
These are by no means all;
there are many more all
over France. We must,
however, here confine our-
selves to a brief analysis of
the main development in
the lie de France and the
surrounding regions, which
just then became die centre
of a national French king-
dom. It is a development as
consistent and as concise as
that of the Greek temple.
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