CHRONOLOGY
Reading edition
The popular classification of English Gothic Architecture divides the style into four periods, thus:
NormanWilliamI.,1066,to RichardI.,1189.
Early EnglishRichardI.,1189,to EdwardI.,1272.
DecoratedEdwardI.,1272,to RichardII.,1377.
Perpendicular RichardII.,1377,to EdwardVI.,1547.
These terms are useful, but not sufficiently descriptive. They were superseded by the late Edmund Sharpe’s “Seven Periods,” the terms of which are derived from the forms of the windows and their tracery, but are applicable to other details.
SHARPE’S “SEVEN PERIODS.”
Saxon 1066.
Norman1066to1145.
Transitional1145”1190.
Lancet1190”1245.
Geometrical 1245”1315.
Curvilinear1315”1360.
Rectilinear1360”1550.