The accounts of
Jesus' temptations in
Matthew's and
Luke's gospels both suggest that the
Second Temple in
Jerusalem had one or more pinnacles (): :Then he (
Satan) brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here. Some have stated that there were no pinnacles in the
Romanesque style, but conical caps to circular buttresses, with
finial terminations, are not uncommon in
France at very early periods.
Eugène Viollet-le-Duc gives examples from
Saint-Germer-de-Fly Abbey and the
Basilica of Saint-Remi, and there is one of similar form at the west front of
Rochester Cathedral. inside the buttress. In the 12th-century Romanesque two examples have been cited, one from
Bredon in
Worcestershire, and the other from
Cleeve in
Gloucestershire. In these the buttresses run up, forming a sort of square turret, and crowned with a pyramidal cap, very much like those of the next period, the
Early English. In this and the following styles, mainly in
Gothic architecture, the pinnacle seems generally to have had its appropriate uses. It was a weight to counteract the
thrust of the
vaults, particularly where there were
flying buttresses; it stopped the tendency to slip of the stone copings of the
gables, and counterpoised the thrust of
spires; it formed a pier to steady the elegant perforated
parapets of later periods; and in France especially served to counterbalance the weight of overhanging
corbel tables, huge
gargoyles, etc. In the Early English period the small buttresses frequently finished with
gablets, and the more important with pinnacles supported with clustered shafts. At this period the pinnacles were often supported on these shafts alone, and were open below; and in larger work in this and the subsequent periods they frequently form niches and contain statues. About the Transition and during the
Decorated Gothic period, the different faces above the angle shafts often finish with gablets. Those of the last-named period are much richer, and are generally decorated with
crockets and finials, and sometimes with
ball flowers. Very fine groups are found at
Beverley Minster and at the rise of the spire of
St Mary's, Oxford. Perpendicular pinnacles differ but little from Decorated, except that the crockets and finials are of later character. They are also often set angle-ways, particularly on parapets, and the shafts are panelled. In France pinnacles, like spires, seem to have been in use earlier than in England. There are small pinnacles at the angles of the tower in the
Saintes Cathedral. At
Roullet-Saint-Estèphe there are pinnacles in a similar position, each composed of four small shafts, with caps and bases surmounted with small pyramidal spires. In all these examples the towers have semicircular-headed windows. File:View west along Duomo roof, Milan.jpg|Pinnacles with statues on the roof of
Milan Cathedral File:Cathédrale de Saintes (France)nnn.JPG|Pinnacles at
Saintes Cathedral ==See also==