ENGLISH CHARACTER AND EARLY ENGLISH STYLE
arcades, and so-called tiercerons, i.e. ribs springing from the same
capitals as the cross ribs, but leading up to other points along the
ridge or at right angles to the ridge. Thus the vault in Lincoln
assumes the shape of a sequence of stars—more decorative but less
reasonable than the French system.
In all this, the Early English style appears the true representative
of a national character that seems scarcely changed to this day. There
is still the same distrust of the consistent and logical and the extreme
and uncompromising. Now it has not been possible to discover these
peculiarly English qualities in Norman architecture, and it is worth
mentioning in this context that just about the middle of the isth
century there are other indications as well of an awakening of
national consciousness. The Provisions of Oxford of 1258 are the
first official document with a text not only in French (or Latin) but
also in English. And they declare that no royal fiefs shall in future
go to foreigners, and that the commanders of royal castles and
ports must in future all be English. It is known that Simon de
Montfort's revolt was a national movement, and that Edward I was
influenced by Simon's ideas to a considerable extent. The same ten-
dency towards national differentiation can incidentally be noticed
during the same period in other European countries. It may be
connected with the experiences of the Crusades. Here the knights of
the West, though united in a common enterprise, must for the first
time have become aware of the contrasts of behaviour, feelings and
customs of the nations.
As far as architecture is concerned, die Crusades have had, beyond
this, one more immediate effect. They caused a complete reform in
the planning and building of castles. Instead of the Norman reliance
for defence on the keep, a system of concentric curtain walls with
towers at intervals was now adopted. It came from the mighty
castles (such as Le Crak des Chevaliers) built by the Crusaders in
Syria and the Holy Land. The Crusaders took it from the Turks,
who in their turn had derived it from Roman military architecture*
The Tower of London, as enlarged by Henry III and his successors,
is an instance of this concentric plan. What is, however, more specially
important here, is the fact that the new functional standard is
accompanied at least in a number of cases by a new aesthetic standard.
To the architects who designed the Edwardian castles of Wales the
appearance of the Norman castle, with its irregular bailey and its
keep on a mount in one corner, was haphazard and untidy* They re-
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