[4] Flamboyant is characterized by double curves forming flame-like shapes in the bar-tracery, which give the style its name;[5][6] by the multiplication of ornamental ribs in the vaults; and by the use of the arch in accolade.

[15] In the late 15th and early 16th centuries, Flamboyant forms spread from France to the Iberian Peninsula, where the Isabelline style became the dominant mode of prestige construction in the Crown of Castile, the portion of Spain governed by Isabella I of Castille.

[22] The ongoing war provided many opportunities for cultural exchange, as evidenced by the fireplace in the ducal palace in Poitiers and the panelled, screen-like upper parts of the west façade of Rouen Cathedral.

The term "Flamboyant" was coined in the early 19th century, primarily to refer to French monuments [25] with flame-like, curvilinear tracery that were constructed between circa 1380 and 1515.

[31] The church, which is referred to as "monumental architecture in the miniature", has double-tiered flying buttresses, fully developed transept façades with portals, curvilinear rose windows, and a projecting polygonal west porch with openwork ogee gables.

[32] The influence of Pierre Robin's design lasted into the 16th century,[10] when Roulland Le Roux oversaw work on the upper parts of the Tour de Beurre ("Butter Tower") (1485–1507) and the central portal (1507–1510) of Rouen Cathedral.

Royal figures including Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1415), Louis XI of France (1475), and Anne of Brittany (1494) also visited the abbey-church.

Additional ornamentation in the form of naturalistic vegetation, gables, pinnacles, and delicate sculpture niches are further testaments of the talents of the masons' workshop.

A good deal of Gothic decoration is apparent at the Château de Blois but it is totally absent from the tomb of Louis XII, which is housed in the abbey-church of Saint-Denis.

This date is generally considered to be the starting point of the period of interaction between the Flamboyant Gothic and early French Renaissance styles.

The creation of the School of Fontainebleau in 1530 by Francis I is generally considered the turning point of the acceptance and establishment of the Renaissance style in France.

[41] Early evidence of the intermingling of Flamboyant and classicizing decorative motifs can be found at the Château de Meillant, which was transformed by Charles II d'Amboise, governor of Milan, in 1473.

The structure remained fully medieval but the superposition of the windows in bays connected to each other by extended, cord-like pinnacles foreshadows the grid designs of the façades of early French Renaissance monuments.

Other notable features include the entablature with classical egg-and-dart motifs surmounted by a Gothic balustrade and the treatment of the upper part of the helical staircase with a semi-circular arcade equipped with shells.

[44] The maison des Têtes (1528–1532) in Valence is another example of Flamboyant blind tracery and foliage mixing with classicizing figures, medallions, and portraits of Roman emperors.

The incorporation of Flamboyant Gothic with the classicizing forms of Italy produced eclectic, hybrid structures that were rooted in traditional French building practices yet modernized through the application of imported antique motifs and surface decoration.

They were among the last great statements of Gothic style as the Renaissance gradually came to Northern Europe, and were designed to showcase the wealth and splendour of their cities.

He perfected a method by which the drawings for large constructions allowed ordering virtually all natural stone elements from quarries on later Belgian territory, then at the destination needing merely their cementing in place.

Before the unification of Spain, monuments were constructed in the Flamboyant style in the Crown of Aragon and Kingdom of Valencia, where Marc Safont was among the most important architects of the Late Middle Ages.

[47][page range too broad] Also notable is the Chapel of Sant Jordi (1432–34), which has a striking façade consisting of an entry portal flanked by windows resplendent with blind and openwork Flamboyant tracery.

Following the 1428 Catalonia earthquake, a replacement Flamboyant rose window on the west façade of the church of Santa Maria del Mar, Barcelona, was completed by 1459.

In the kingdom of Castile, representative examples of civil Gothic architecture include the Infantado Palace in Guadalajara, the Casa de las Conchas in Salamanca or the castle of Manzanares el Real.

Spain was united by the marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile in 1469, and saw the conquest of Granada, the last stronghold of Moorish occupation, in 1492.

The building includes elements borrowed by the English Perpendicular style, tracery inspired by French Flamboyant, and German-inspired openwork steeples.

[51] In 1495, Portuguese navigators opened a sea-route to India and began trading with Brazil, Goa, and Malacca, bringing enormous wealth into Portugal.

King Manuel funded a series of new monasteries and churches that were covered with decoration inspired by banana trees, sea shells, billowing sails, seaweed, barnacles, and other exotic elements as a monument to the Portuguese navigator Vasco de Gama and to celebrate Portugal's empire.

An important early example from the late 15th century is the west rose window of the royal chapel, Sainte-Chapelle (1485–98), depicting the Apocalypse of St John.

[27] The addition of sumptuous Flamboyant façades and porches provided new public faces to older monuments that survived the Hundred Years' War.

[66] Façades and porches often used the arc en accolade, an arched doorway that was topped by short pinnacle with a fleuron or carved stone flower, often resembling a lily.

[7] Elision—the elimination of capitals—coupled with the introduction of continuous and "dying" mouldings, are additional noteworthy characteristics of which the parish church of Saint-Maclou in Rouen is a key example.