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440 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND
not altogether unworthy of its achievements in painting and
sculpture.
In the tenth century Brixworth church underwent serious
modifications. It is probably at this time that the five lateral
compartments ofthe nave were pulled down, and certainly the
western porch was raised into a tower. It seems likely that the
new floors added above the porch, together with a gallery at the
west end of the nave, formed some sort of state pew for a local
FIG. 100. Brixworth Church. Pre/conquest church
dignitary. There are analogies to this arrangement of the west
end both in England and in churches of the Carolingian age
on the Continent.
The great outburst of building which began about 1090
owes almost
everything, but not quite everything, to the Nor/
man Conquest. This is true both of the
general social and
economic conditions, which made building on such a scale
possible, and of the architectural ideas and techniques with
which the builders embodied the
energy, ambition, and prac/
tical
organizing ability that the Normans brought to
religion as
to every other aspect oflife. The old name for the style then de/
veloped was Norman, though we now call it Anglo/Norman
Romanesque, to indicate the truth that it forms part of a great
artistic movement which is shared by all western European
countries, and that in England its character differs in many
itself. The old name
ways from the architecture of Normandy
had more than a mere chronological significance, but the