--MATT. PARIS.
[Illustration: Vesica Piscis in the tympan of the south doorway, Ely
Cathedral]
CHAPTER V.
OF THE SEMI-NORMAN STYLE.
Q. What is the Semi-Norman style?
A. It is that style of transition which, without superseding the Norman
style, prevailed more or less, in conjunction with it, during the latter
part of the twelfth century, and probably even from an earlier period, and
gradually led to the complete adoption, in the succeeding century, of the
early pointed style in a pure state, and to the general disuse of the
semicircular arch.
Q. By what is this style chiefly denoted?
A. By the intersection of semicircular arches, the frequent intermixture
of the pointed arch in its incipient state with the semicircular arch, and
the pointed arch with its accompaniments of features, mouldings, and
ornamental accessories, exactly similar to those of the Norman style, both
in its earlier and later gradations, and from which it appears to have
differed only in the contour or form of the arch.
[Illustration: Early specimen of intersecting Arches, St. Botolph's
Priory, Colchester. (12th cent.)]
Q. Whence are we to derive the origin of the pointed arch?
A. Many conjectural opinions on this much-contested question have been
entertained, yet it still remains to be satisfactorily elucidated.
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