| Sir Christopher Wren (..who raised Robert II and Francis Edwards after the death of their parents who were related to Wren through blood ties. - Albert Wellington Freer - great grandson of Colonel Arthur William Wellington Freear (Freer) married Maltilda Edwards a descendant of Francis Edwards. Albert Wellington Freer is great grandfather of Stan Freer, Web Page Organizer) England, France's real competitor for domination of northern Europe, however, was the developing maritime nation of England. The Renaissance had arrived especially late there. After an almost abortive introduction of Palladianism by Inigo Jon es in the early 17th century, the development was suspended until Sir Christopher Wren's appointment as surveyor of the king's works in 1669. He was the last scholar-architect, having pursued mathematics and astronomy before becoming involved in building. He became one of the most brilliant and prolific architect-bureaucrats of the age. Before his death in 1723 he had designed 52 London churches (after the 1666 fire), carried through the construction of St. Paul's Cathedral from foundation to cupola-top between 1673 and 1710, extended several palaces, and built two huge military hospitals at Chelsea and Greenwich. He is chiefly remembered for St. Paul's. It is French in its severity but original in its Gothic plan (insisted upon by the cathedral chapter) and ingenious in its vaulting and dome. From Wren's office emerged Nicholas Hawksmoor who, together with the gentleman-architect Sir John Vanbrugh, erected a series of huge ducal palaces in the early 18th century, notably Blenheim Palace near Oxf ord (begun 1705). | |
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