File:Westminster Abbey - its memories and its message (1921) (14586983079).jpg

Identifier: westminsterabbey00stur (find matches)
Title: Westminster Abbey : its memories and its message
Year: 1921 (1920s)
Authors: Sturgeon, Mary C. (Mary Carol), 1943- Weirter, Louis, b. 1873, ill
Subjects: Westminster Abbey
Publisher: New York : F. A. Stokes, (1921)
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive

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riginating idea of theAbbey was derived from Louis, it is evident that there is anarchitectural relation between the two churches. Frenchinfluence is indeed so strong at Westminster that we mustconclude either that a French architect was responsible for thedesign, or that an English architect was sent to France tostudy the great models on the spot. The latter theory wasaccepted until quite recently, and a supposed visit of thisEnglishman to Rheims was held to account for the particularlystrong resemblance of the Abbey to that cathedral. The era was, as we know, one of very great developmentin French Gothic architecture, whereas our own Gothic art ofthat period had been checked in its growth by the BaronsWars. To mention only the most famous cathedrals, thechoir of Rheims had been commenced in 1211; Amiens navewas begun in 1220 ; and Cologne (which is French Gothic too,and, as some think, its apogee) in 1248. We know, too, thatHenry was in close touch with France and knew it well. He40
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wm^ 2^-^::^ LONG LIVE THE KING! must have been familiar with those noble examples of earlierFrench Gothic at Paris, the choir of Saint-Denis, finished in1144, and Notre-Dame, which had been consecrated in 1182. Henrys accessibility to ideas and ready perception ofexcellence make it extremely likely that he decided deliberatelyto copy the style of the new French work; and his habit oftaking his own wherever he found it, would in all probabilitylead him to invite a successful French artist to come to Londonfor the purpose of planning his own projected building. Thatthis is what in fact did happen seems to have been provedby the Rev. H. F. Westlake, the Custodian of the Abbey.For Mr Westlake has found in ttie Great Chartulary of theAbbey, commonly called Domesday, an entry which speaks ofMaster Henry the Mason as Henry de Reyns, the latter beingthe common contemporary spelling of Rheims. This Master Henry, whose place of origin was hithertounknown, was always supposed to have been an Eng

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