Despite serfdom, siege, sickness and starvation, the inspiration, dedication and determination of tough, talented human beings labouring under what must have been dauntingly difficult circumstances, enabled them to create magnificent, crowning structures called cathedrals.

It is impossible to embellish or romanticize the medieval period during which many of these monumental structures were built. It was an age when savage brutality was the norm and not a day passed, "but bones were smashed on the wheel or eyes were blinded in prisons." Serfs were little better than slaves exploited by their lords. Despite these harsh and heavy times, carvers, master masons and simple labourers using primitive, basic instruments and approaches, transformed stone, timber, lead, iron, sand and such into awe-inspiring works of art.

The common community effort of labourer, lord, merchant, artist, serf and villein managaged, as if by magic, to create the splendour of
"Christ in Concrete."
The uniqueness of the Middle Ages was neither its battles nor its castles, but its cathedrals, great churches open to and accepting of all.

Soaring Spires of Notre Dame de Rouen photo by G. Wilson

By a complex evolution, the simple basilica resulted in the Romanesque style of architecture, which developed in Italy and western Europe during the period from about 800 A.D. to 1100 A.D. The term Romanesque was first applied in the 19th century. Romanesque or great Norman churches are characterized by the round Roman arch and the barrel vault. Their plain, massive style is solid, sombre, heavy and ponderous, with decorations said to include figures of saints and Christ that were awesome, judging and looking towards the Last Judgement. These "squat and gloomy edifices," were soon to be replaced by towering monuments of light and stone that stretched straight up to heaven.

Romanesque Architecture St. Peter's in Rome.

Romanesque Architecture in England

The adjective 'Gothic' is derived from the name of a tribe of barbarians from beyond the Rhine and Danube frontiers of Europe who sacked Rome. It is used to describe something rough, rude, crude, primitive or unpolished. Transformed by tastes and time, it is applied to the much-admired style of architecture that highlights light and height, as though "exalted by the thought of heaven." It encompases pointed arches, flying buttresses, soaring ceilings, pinnacles,turrets, walls which are almost porous and ribbed vaults.

Gothic architecture blasted barriers to allow light to enter through large windows, whose splendorous stained glass feature figures of saints and Christ that are soft and sympathetic. The infusion of light encouraged stained panes that softened, suffused and coloured any light entering the church.

Gothic Styles

There are several principal styles of English architecture.

Gothic Ribbed Vaulting

The Christian church was almost always oriented with the head or apse pointing eastward - toward Jerusalem. The most important part of a Gothic cathedral is its interior space where space and light melded to create an image of God's house. While the outside appearance mattered, the primary objective was the illumination of interior spaces. The label Gothic first appeared in the fifteenth century and was used ironically pejoratively to mean something crude, rustic, coarse and uncivilized.

The Gothic church is always in the middle of a town. It was built with the aid of funds provided by the laity, generally resulted from communual effort of the rich and the poor and reflected intense general enthusiasm. Cathedrals were churches in which to worship, not places of monastic seclusion. Their sculptures and glass reflecting this, were more universal and humane and intended to encourage, support and instruct worshippers. They directed one's thoughts to life rather than death. Scenes from Christ's life represented the ideal to be emulated and to help humans along on the road of life, not to lay stress on the perils of the Last Judgement.

Gothic flowering occurred in the early part of the 12th century in the Greater Paris Basin. Abbot Suger, (c. 1081 - January 13, 1151) a French abbot-statesmen and historian, was the first influential patron of Gothic architecture. He was a man of refined tastes, who while living simply, considered it no sin to love beautiful things and to adorn his church with them. He gathered artists and artisans "from all lands" to raise and adorn a new home for France's patron St. Denis and to house the tombs of the kings of France. King Louis VII contributed the funds for the structure. "Following our example," said Suger, "they took the rings from their fingers" to pay for the expensive designs.

Suger's architectural work at the Abbey Church of St. Denis dating from around 1144 is classified as transitional, but it featured many of the concepts now wholly Gothic - height, pointed arches and ribbed vaults. Development of the design continued throughout Europe in fits and starts for the next 400 years. Cathedral construction thrived and between 1050 and 1350, more stone was cut for church construction in France alone than at any period in the entire history of Egypt.

At a time when the population was relatively small, most were poor and times were hard, what motivated men and women to fund such fantastic structures at great cost? Suger St. Denis said the population flocked to worship. He declared that churchgoers were so numerous, "women were forced to run toward the altar on the heads of men as a pavement." Even allowing for Suger's hype and hyperbole, church attendance was an important part of everyone's life. The public believed and they gave their mite without remorse for the house of the people was the house of God.

Priests, monks and bishops did not design the cathedrals. They decided on their needs, conceived the general plan, secured the site and raised the funds. Design was the purview of the architect, a title not used until 1563. The medieval name for the building designer was master builder or master mason which denotes the origin. Initially he was an artisan who was physically involved in the labour he directed. As edifices became larger and grander, he confined his contribution to designing plans, estimating costs, procuring materials and hiring artists and artisans.

The master mason took responsibility for executing the grand design of the architect. His main aim was to ensure that light flooded into the interior, so he had to to devise new ways of constructing ceiling vaults, buttresses and arches that would allow him to open the side walls for windows.

These audacious visionaries command our admiration, respect and wonder that they could manage such magnificent accomplioshments of physical and creative effort at a time when life was "nasty, brutish and short." Technology was rudimentary, famine and disease rampant, the climate was often harsh and life was unstable and violent. Yet women and men existing on a meagre standard of living managed to make the immense investment in capital called for by these great edifices. Their dauntless determination sustained building projects that often spanned centuries and resulted in structures whose beauty continues to amaze all who behold them.

French Gothic Saint-Maclou Rouen photo by G. Wilson

A cathedral is the seat of a bishop who serves a diocese. The bishop was once a great lord, a prince and as such he demanded that people take notice of him. For him a new cathedral was a feat, a victory, a battle won by a military leader. It was this urge to acquire personal prestige that accounted for the wave of emulation which in the space of a quarter century swept over each and every bishop of the royal [French] domain. Bishops compared what they had built or planned to build with what other bishops had done or planned to do. Thus it became a sign of one's place in the church and society to boast that the height of the nave of one's cathedral, the magnificence of its tower or spire, the grandeur and beauty of its stained glass windows, the length of its nave, its overall mass - anything about it - was greater, bigger, better and more audacious than any that had preceded it.

Suger of Saint-Denis on a medieval window

Abbey St.Denis Burial Site of Most of the Kings of France

Cathedral Church of St. Peter at Exeter photo by G. Wilson

Hitler's Heinkel bombers droned through the night, their destination Exeter, a city in southwestern England just a short flight from the Nazi bomber base across the Channel at Cherbourg, France. The German pilots were guided by the same moon that directed the Danes to England's shores a thousand years before. Early in the morning of May 4th, 1942 the planes reached Exeter they off-loaded their cargo of death and destruction.

Altar of Exeter Cathedral photo by G. Wilson

Nave of Exeter Cathedral Displaying its ribbed vault, one of the greatest examples of English Gothic. English Cathedrals by Patrick Cormack

Exeter Cathedral, the main architectural and artistic feature of the city, received an indirect hit. Its St. James Chapel was destroyed and a huge hole ripped in the aisle of the south choir. Unscathed just metres away was a memorial to a

Maker of Canada,
John Graves Simcoe

Simcoe Monument Photo Courtesy of Keith Barker Steward, Exeter Cathedral Monument executed by John Flaxman and dedicated to Simcoe by the county of Devon.

The monument bears the following inscription.

Sacred to the memory of
John Graves Simcoe
Lieutenant General in the Army
And Colonel of the 22nd Regiment of Foot
Who died on the 26th of October, 1806
Aged 54
In whose life and character the virture of
the Hero, the Patriot and the Christian were
So Eminently Conspicuous that it may justily by said
He served his King and his Country with a zeal
Exceeded only by his piety towards
His God

Notre-Dame Cathedral was constructed on an island in the Seine River in Paris. The choir and transepts were built in 1163-82; the nave in 1182-96; the western-most bays and towers in 1218-23. The cathedral was finished in 1235. The cathedral embodied the ideas that dominated Gothic architecture in France with its immense height. By reducing wall space the resulting enlarged windows permitted the entry of lots of light.

The Western Facada of Notre Dame Cathedral photo by G. Wilson

The remaining walls, which were little more than piers between the windows, were strengthened by flying buttresses. The buttress was an old device, a pillar of masonry externally added at points of special strain. The flying buttress carries the thrust or strain of the ribs over an open space downward to the ground. The completion of Notre Dame ended the transition; Gothic came of age.

Notre Dame's Flying Buttresses photo by G. Wilson

Bayeux Cathedral

Bayeux is a Norman town a few minutes from the landing beaches of lore. In its cathedral, which was begun in the eleventh century, William the Conqueror compelled Harold to swear an oath of allegiance to him over some sacred relics. This oath led to the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. The church is famous for the Bayeux Tapestry, an embroidery in wool on a background of linen, 230 feet long and 20 inches high (70 metres x .50 m.). It depicts events leading up to the military invasion of England and the expedition itself lead by William, Duke of Normandy. Thought to have been commissioned by William's half-brother, Odo, for display in his cathedral, the tapestry bears witness to life in the world of the XIth century.

Bayeux Cathedral Odo Bishop of Bayeux's Church William the Conqueror's half-brother photo by G. Wilson

Inside Bayeux Cathedral photo by G. Wilson

Chartres Cathedral photo by G. Wilson

Chartres, a small town in central France some fifty-five miles southwest of Paris. Its magnificent cathedral has been described simply as, "the most perfect cathedral ever created." The architect's name is unknown, working drawings have never been found and no one knows the order in which the huge structure was built. This beautiful gothic cathedral, the largest in France, is located on high ground, its great spires dominating the view when approached from any direction. It sits on the site of three previous cathedrals, all of which burned to the ground. Despite the fires. faith was rekindled by the papal legate and work began anew and by 1224 Chartres Cathedral was completed. The crowning glory of the carved stonework also features fame within, for the sculpture and brilliant, richly-coloured stained glass, is said to reach perfection at Chartres. To see this great cathedral dominating the distance as we approached was truly an awe-inspiring sight.

When not being used for services, citizens apparently make themselves right at home within the great edifice, meeting friends, eating meals and for the poor, finding refuge from the winter winds. At one time merchants sold their products from inside the cathedral to avoid taxes imposed by the town.

Mom amid the Mums at Chartres Cathedral photo by B.Wilson

North Spire of Chartres photo by G.Wilson

Chartres Cathedral photo by G. Wilson

Chartres Cathedral from the bus photo by G. Wilson

Rouen Cathedral photo by G. Wilson

Begun in 1211 and completed in about the middle of the century, Rheims Cathedral is one of the very few churches constructed at that time to be completed as it was designed. It represents the culmination of French Gothic with its great towers 267 feet high, its vast area of window space, its multiple piers and tall, elegant flying buttresses along with the mass of sculpture that decorates its whole exterior. Its rose window is 40 feet in diameter. It served as the coronation church of the kings of France and it was here that heroic Jeanne d'Arc made it possible for her ungrateful and undeserving sovereign, Charles VII, to be crowned King of France.

Rheims Cathedral

Rheims Cathedral

Rheims Cathedral

Caen Cathedral (St. Peter's Church) photo by G.Wilson

Statue of Mary and Child St. Peter's Church photo by G. Wilson

Burgos Cathedral (Catedral de Burgos) Spain

Burgos Cathedral El Cid Campeador [ A Castilian nobleman born here in 1026.]

El Cid Campeador

Coffin of El Cid Campeador in Burgos Cathedral

Toledo Cathedral Spain

Toledo Cathedral

Built from 1226 to 1493, Toledo Cathedral in Toledo, Spain, is ranked among the greatest Gothic structures in Europe. Inside, the cathedral contains important masterpieces including a spectacular baroque high altar and two paintings by El Greco.

St. John of the Kings Isabella, Spain, photo by G. Wilson

Hanging from the side of the Toledo Cathedral are chains that were once used by Moslims to bind their Christian prisoners. When the Christians were finally freed, they hung the chains that bound them on the sides of this cathedral in gratitude to God for their deliverance from bondage.

Koln's Gothic Cathedral, a five-aisled basilica, is the largest in Germany. Construction commenced in 1248 and with interruptions it was not completed until 1880. It is Cologne's most famous landmark and is described by UNESCO as an "exceptional work of human creative genius." It was a worship-place of the Holy Roman Emperor. The relics of the Three Magi were brought to Cologne in 1146 by Archbishop Reinald von Dassel. They attracted pilgrims from many countries to Cologne.

The spires of Cologne Cathedral are visible from almost any point in the city. At one time it was the tallest building in the world. The colossal façade, blackened by the steam engines that once passed through the nearby train station, swallows the stream of visitors that swarm around the pavement outside like ants. Inside, it’s easy to imagine how the cathedral’s vast dimensions would seem otherworldly to the medieval mind. It was constructed because the archdiocese needed a larger building to serve the flood of visitors that poured into the city after it acquired the remains of the Three Magi, Christianity’s first pilgrims. The relics are housed in a magnificent sarcophagus, encrusted with jewels and embossed with gold and silver. The front of the reliquary includes a panel that, when removed each year on Epiphany, reveals three gold-crowned skulls. Pilgrims once touched pieces of cloth to the skulls in hopes of imbuing them with special healing or protective powers.

Koln Cathedral

Koln Cathedral Left: Knight on Mosaic Floor photo by G. Wilson Right: Window - Knights; Known for Red Glass photo by G. Wilson

Koln Cathedral St.Christopher carrying Jesus photo by G. Wilson

Xanten cathedral was founded above two tombs of martyrs who died as Christians and soldiers at the time of the last period of Christian persecution during the Roman occupation of the Rhineland under Emperor Julian Apostata (A.D. 361-363). Excavations uncovered them untouched in 1933. The medieval town of Xanten developed around the cathedral.The foundation stone of this Gothic cathedral was laid in 1263. The final new building which followed six earlier churches was connected to the Romanesue West Front (1165-1213) and was completed around 1520.

Cathedral of Xanten Church of St. Victor, Germany

Antwerp's cathedral is the largest Gothic church in the Low Countries. It was built on a site where a chapel had stood since before 1124. Construction of the cathedral began in 1352. The cathedral has survived various crises in its lifetime including disastrous fire, iconoclastic fury when it was plundered and massive destruction during the French Revolution.

Cathedral of Our Lady Antwerp, Belgium

Paintings in Cathedral of Our Lady Antwerp, Belgium

Brugge Cathedral, Belgium

Brugge, Venice of the North,

Left: Brugge Cathedral photo by G. Wilson Right: Virgin with the Infant Jesus (1501) by Michelangelo. . This priceless sculpture was stolen from the Church of Our Lady twice: first by the French during the French Revolution and then by the Nazis during World War II.

The most famous Gothic structure in England which is not a cathedral is Westminster Abbey. Once one of the great abbey churches whose monasteries Henry VIII dissolved, it was converted into a cathedral by him and it served as such for ten years. This medieval shrine drew pilgrims for centuries. It contains the tomb of the saintly Edward the Confessor, whose death in 1066 resulted in the invasion of William the Conqueror. William was crowned here along with all other British monarchs except Edward V, one of the prince's in the Tower, and Edward VIII. It is said that Westminster Abbey is most closely associated with the nation's consciousness. Just inside its west door is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, one of the thousands who fell on the battlefields of Europe in World War I. This soldier was brought here on the 11th of November, 1920. French soil fills the grave, a slab of black Belgium covers it and "a frame of Flanders poppies lies like a splash of blood on the floor."

Westminster Abbey photo by G. Wilson

Master masons were often the architects of the Gothic structures and one of these, Henry Yevele, who designed Westminster Abbey and Canterbury Cathedral, is considered to be the foremost architect of all time. The Abbey is considered to be the culminating achievement of Early English Gothic. Henry III, whose patron saint was Edward the Confessor, had its predecessor Norman church rebuilt to house Edward's bones. For this purpose he raised by taxation 750,000 pounds, the equivalent today of some $90,000,000. Built in the French style it followed the design of Rheims and Amiens.

In England Canterbury Cathedral galvanized the Gothic church-building endeavours. This site, where in the words of Chaucer, "the holy blissful martyr for to seek," is considered by many to be the cradle of English Christianity for it has been for centuries one of the greatest centres of pilgrimage in Christiandom. Augustine came there in 597, sent by Pope Gregory the Great to minister to the Anglo Saxons. King Ethelbert was baptized here.

Four years after the murder of Thomas Becket at Canterbury (1174), the choir of the cathedral burned down and it was said the people of the town beat their heads against the walls in anger and bewilderment that the Almighty had permitted such a disaster to a shrine of religious pilgrims. Its rebuilding was the work of a French architect, William of Sens. He worked at his task from 1175 to 1178 when a fall from a scaffolding disabled him. The rebuilt choir was an important example of the Early English Gothic design. It included high pointed arches, flying buttresses, and rib vaulting. Later, William the Englishman added the Trinity Chapel as a shrine for the relics of St. Thomas the Martyr. The Corona ('crown') Tower was built at the eastern end to contain the relic of the crown of St. Thomas's head which was struck off during his murder. Over time other significant burials took place in this area including Edward Plantagenet (The 'Black Prince') and King Henry IV, the only king to be buried there.

Canterbury Cathedral

Canterbury Cathedral photo by G. Wilson

Canterbury Cathedral photo by G. Wilson

12th Century Canterbury Choir Above Crypt

Turner's view of Salisbury Cathedral featuring its splendid tower.

Details of the roof of the nave in Salisbury Cathedral

Liverpool Cathedral The largest Christian cathedral in the world after St. Peter's in Rome.

Liverpool Cathedral exemplifies a Gothic revival church. It is considered one of the two finest and most magnificent buildings in the Gothic style erected in Britain since the Middle Ages. Begun in 1904 it was not completed until 1978.

"What feats of human engenuity and perseverance enabled ordinary human beings using rudimentary tools and technologies and working under extremely difficult circumstances, to transform blocks of stone, lengths of timber, ingots of lead, pieces of iron, mountains of sand and quicklime and other commonplace materials into such majestic works of art."

And they built those with these.

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