Note 54 — Chapter III · Some of the Primary Gothic Cathedrals: Noyon, Senlis, Sens, Laon, Soissons

The corner stone of St. Frambourg was laid in 1177 by Louis VII. It is a sort of forerunner of the Sainte-Chapelle type of edifice, without aisles or transept. Its sober, pure lines show faultless constructive skill, and a grievous pity is its present abandonment. Behind the cathedral is the church of St. Pierre, built in six different epochs: the lower stories of the tower, XI century; the choir and transept, 1260; the piers of the nave and the north tower’s top story, XV century; the rich façade, XVI century, a work of Pierre Chambiges; and the heavy, cold south tower, of the XVII century. In Senlis are St. Vincent’s church with a choir built after 1136, a XII-century tower, contemporary of the cathedral, and a groin roof of the XVIII century. St. Aignan’s belfry is of the end of the XI century, and served as model for the towers of St. Vincent and St. Pierre, just as all three of them contributed toward the inspiration of that sovereign thing of Senlis, the cathedral tower.