THE DEVELOPMENT OF ARCHITECTURE. IN ESSEX. 171
D. The Perpendicular, from Richard II., 1377, to the death of
Henry VIII., in 1546. To which I have added,
E. The Tudor, from Edward VI., 1546, to the death of
Elizabeth, in 1602.
The sudden access of wealth by the captains of the Conqueror's
army, and by others who were related to him, or had assisted him in
the invasion of England, combined with the natural characteristics of
the Norman race, namely, a love of building and fighting, impelled
them to enter upon a building mania, the like of which has never
since been seen.
The castles and fortified houses were a necessity to those who
had to hold what they had obtained by the strong arm. And the
religious edifices, the churches, the abbeys, and the priories were
the outcome of their religious zeal. Whatever the Norman took in
hand, he did to the best of his power. If he built a castle, he built
it for all time, and according to the instinct of the day against all
attacks of the then known implements of war and of surprise. If
he engaged in a fight he fought as well as he knew how. If he
desired possession of another man's land or property he did his very
best to secure them ; and so in his soberer moments, and when
appealed to by the ecclesiastics of the day, he laid the foundations
of his abbey or his priory with a princely disregard of its ultimate
cost. The erection of a church in every parish was a duty not to
be neglected under any circumstances ; and when we remember that
the great ecclesiastics of that period were as eager and as active on
the field of battle and in the senate as their military and judicial
brethren, and possessed of great influence and power, we can readily
understand that they would not allow the erection of the parish
church to be forgotten or postponed.
Amongst the Conqueror's followers to whom he made con-
siderable grants of manors and lands in Essex were Eustace, Earl
of Boulogne, Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, Suene of Essex, Aubrey de
Vere, Ralph Baynard, Geoffrey de Mandeville, Eudo Dapifer,
Robert Gernon, all well-known names to readers of Essex history
as heads of families, and who, either themselves or through their
posterity, were connected with many of the churches and castles
and other buildings of the county.
As the question of mouldings is one of considerable importance,
often in point of fact determining the date of a window or door, I
think it will be advisable at this point to draw your attention to this