For four hundred years, the Gothic style, which originated in the wealthy monasteries of the Paris area, dominated European art and architecture. Essentially, from the reign of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine until 1485, the Plantagenet monarchs controlled England, and many of them were renowned supporters of the arts (Stokstad & Cothren, 2018). The French Gothic style affected English architecture and manuscript illumination throughout this period, although these influences were moderated by locally available materials, techniques, customs, and preferences. The Gothic architectural style first arose in England, introduced by Cistercian and Norman builders and itinerant master masons. Nonetheless, there was less focus on height in England than in France. The naves of English churches are long and broad, with screen-like facades. Salisbury’s thirteenth-century cathedral (Fig. 17-25) is a good demonstration of English Gothic (Stokstad & Cothren, 2018). Salisbury’s layout is unusual (Fig. 17-26), with broad projecting twin transepts, a square east end with a solitary chapel, and a colossal sanctuary (Stokstad & Cothren, 2018). Stokesay Castle (Fig. 17-28), for instance, is a spectacular fortified manor castle on the Welsh border (Stokstad & Cothren, 2018). Thus, cathedrals were not just Gothic constructions in England.
As in England, the French Gothic style, which is enthusiastically adopted throughout the western Germanic territories, demonstrates regional modifications and improvements. The growing prominence of preaching in church services drove architects in Germany in the thirteenth century to construct the hall church, a form of open, light-filled internal space that had developed throughout Europe in the early Middle Ages. The Church of St. Elizabeth of Hungary (Fig. 17-29) in Marburg was possibly the first genuine Gothic hall church and one of the first Gothic constructions in Germany (Stokstad & Cothren, 2018). The hall-church design was frequently used in civic and private structures in Germanic areas and in Jewish architecture.
The Gothic era was characterized by communicative accomplishment and societal transformation. The contact of so many individuals living side by side also spurred intellectual life. As centers of study, universities like Bologna, Padua, Paris, Cambridge, and Oxford succeeded in monastic and cathedral schools. These universities generated Scholasticism, a system of reasoned analysis aimed at harmonizing Christian theology with classical philosophy. For instance, the most famous Scholastic, Thomas Aquinas, used Aristotelian reasoning to understand religion’s supernatural components. Moreover, scholastics have suggested a link between the evolution of these new ways of thinking and the mathematical order that pervades Gothic cathedral architecture.
As centers of religious culture and patronage, urban cathedrals surpassed rural monasteries. Their exorbitant cost and certain bishops’ invasive displays of authority sparked dissatisfaction, even rioting. Nevertheless, Gothic was popular until around 1400 and, in some areas, much longer (Stokstad & Cothren, 2018). It was modified for use in various constructions, including Christian churches. The light reflected in stained-glass windows provided a beautiful image and interior mood that must have charmed worshipers whose daily lives were devoid of color. The detail from the Good Samaritan Window at Chartres Cathedral (Fig. 17-1), constructed in the early thirteenth century, features scenes from Genesis, the first book of the Bible (Stokstad & Cothren, 2018). The window depicts God’s creation of Adam and Eve and their eventual temptation, fall into sin, and banishment from the Garden of Eden’s paradise. Gothic cathedrals were transformed into splendid jewel-encrusted homes of God, evocative of heavenly Jerusalem and encouragement to a faithful life.
Reference
Stokstad, M., & Cothren, M. W. (2018). Art history (6th ed.). Pearson Education.