Is there a German decorated style? Reflections on the church of St Catherine (Oppenheim) and German Gothic architecture in the first half of the fourteenth century

Since Thomas Rickman's first attempt, in 1819, to characterize the different stages in the history of English Gothic architecture, the term 'Decorated style', inappropriate as it may be, has become widely accepted as denoting the style that, emerging out of the Rayonnant rebuilding of Westminister Abbey, succeeded Early English and was replaced by Perpendicular style. It is therefore taken to mean Gothic architecture between the last third of the 13th century and the 1330s in England - and only in England. Surprisingly, very few scholars have ever wondered if this term could not as Well be applied to the changes that occur in Gothic architecture elsewhere in Europe at the same time. This article explores the issues that such a usage of the term would raise, through the example of the 14th-century rebuilding of the collegiate church at Oppenheim.