. An introduction to the study of Gothic architecture . this was clearlynot the case with the introduction of tracery intoEngland. The origin of tracery has been much discussed, and it is com-monly asserted that the French and the Germans had con-siderably the start of England in this particular and importantpart of Gothic architecture, if not in the whole style. This is,however, by no means a settled point, but one fairly open tofurther investigation. It has been already observed, in speak-ing of the change from the Komanesque styles to the earliestGothic, that its progress was very nearly si
. An introduction to the study of Gothic architecture . this was clearlynot the case with the introduction of tracery intoEngland. The origin of tracery has been much discussed, and it is com-monly asserted that the French and the Germans had con-siderably the start of England in this particular and importantpart of Gothic architecture, if not in the whole style. This is,however, by no means a settled point, but one fairly open tofurther investigation. It has been already observed, in speak-ing of the change from the Komanesque styles to the earliestGothic, that its progress was very nearly simultaneous in Eng-land and in the northern parts of Europe. It is difficult toobtain accurate dates of the precise parts of any building evenin England, and still more difficult in foreign countries; win-dows are often inserted, and the tracery of windows is not un-frequently of a different age from the arch and jambs; it there-fore requires more careful investigation than we have yet hadapplied to this subject before it can be decided 142 PROGRESS OF TRACJER7. A kind of tracery is however used in the Eomanesque style inthe Ehine churches of Germany, apparently before it was usedeither in France or England. Like all other parts of Gothic architecture, tracery appears tohave grown gradually and naturally from the necessity of sup-plying a want that was felt. The Chapter-house at Westminster, as has been mentioned,has windows with foliated circles in the head of actual bar-tracery ; and the date of these windows has been ascertained,by the building accounts preserved in the Public Record-office,to be about 1245. This is the same date as the celebrated SainteChapelle in Paris, which is commonly cited as the earliest ex-ample of actual tracery, considered as the climax of perfectGothic. The windows in the apse of the Cathedral of Rheimsare of the same character, and are usually supposed to be con-siderably earlier; but Wilars de Honecort, an architect of Pi-cardy,
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