Gothic Cathedrals: Architecture, Society, and Innovation

Introduction to Gothic Architecture

Gothic cathedrals are some of the most beautiful and enduring buildings in Europe. They have survived for centuries as testaments to the workmen who created them and the architects who designed them. These ornate buildings are as impressive today as when they first rose on the skyline, and they represent a high point in the culture and society of the Middle Ages.

Gothic architecture, perhaps one of the most famous and ornate forms of architecture of any period, began in northern Europe as early as the twelfth century and spread throughout the continent. It gradually replaced the Romanesque style, which had grown in popularity throughout Europe beginning around the millennium year of 1000. Romanesque buildings offered many of the same intricate details as the Gothic cathedrals, owing to evolving building practices and better tools, such as the stone saw (Calkins 100). Romanesque buildings incorporated intricate arches and vaulting, along with repetitive bay systems and flat and round ribs, but they had their limitations. One architectural historian wrote, "Reliant on the sheer power of mass to abut and restrain the tremendous outward thrust of thick nave barrel vaults, Romanesque architecture could not open up to the light" (Roth 288). As a result, the interiors of Romanesque buildings were often dark, because the walls and supports required were so massive. Romanesque style continued to influence architecture, but because of these limitations it gradually fell out of favor and was replaced by the more versatile Gothic architecture.

The Gothic period incorporated many innovations first developed during the Romanesque period, refining and extending them to create even more massive cathedrals with a more open and airy interior. While many people credit Gothic architecture with the grand vaults and arches used throughout Gothic cathedrals, the only innovation wholly attributed to Gothic architecture is the flying buttress arch, used so effectively in the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris. There was also another important dramatic innovation in Gothic architecture: the opening up of the walls to allow stained glass to be installed. Historian Roth explains, "Thus, in stone and colored glass, the entire building became a bible for the illiterate, and what was especially important, the visual imagery was known and accessible to all — lord, merchant, servant, and serf alike" (Roth 294). This not only created a visual "Bible" on the walls of the church; it also made the interior far more light and airy, so that worshippers entering one of these breathtaking buildings felt as though they were entering heaven itself.

Social and Economic Role of Gothic Cathedrals

Gothic cathedrals played an important part in medieval society, which is why they were so richly designed and covered such an enormous footprint. Gothic cathedrals served one primary purpose — a spiritual one. Therefore, the city with the largest and most impressive cathedral was considered the most spiritual and devout (and its citizens had the most wealth to contribute to the building fund), and so the buildings took on massive proportions. Other medieval buildings of the time began to display some features of Gothic architecture, but they never rivaled the cathedrals in form or design, because the churches represented the apex of the building movement and the apex of society and culture. One historian wrote, "Their form was largely dictated by the developing liturgical requirements of Christianity, such as processional spaces, centralized martyria, and radiating chapels, while their size and structural solutions were encouraged by the wealthy patronage of the church, royalty, or Holy Roman Empire" (Calkins 290). Thus, Gothic cathedrals were a testament to the success of the town or city in which they were built.

Gothic cathedrals dominated the landscape, but they also dominated the local economy, because they required enormous amounts of labor and took many years to complete. The first building and trade unions grew out of the cathedral labor pool, and entire families were often employed at various tasks on the building site. Historian Calkins notes, "By the end of the Middle Ages, the master mason belonged to a mason's guild or lodge, a term derived from the stone cutter's shed next to the building site, and adhered to strict regulations or ordinances concerning his training and activities. The earliest mention of a mason's lodge occurs in 1258" (Calkins 307). The construction thus played a major part in the local economy, as tradesmen were well paid and spent their wages in the towns where they worked and lived. Because so many workmen lived and worked together, they also formed their own distinct social groups. As Roth observed, "Gothic architecture was also the physical expression of a new, assertive positive outlook on life here and now, as contrasted to the emphatic focus of the Romanesque period on a life in the hereafter that was certain to be better than life now" (Roth 291). Great growth from towns into cities also occurred during this period, and as more people moved to urban centers, cities became the focus of culture and life in Europe. Feudal culture was gradually replaced by an urban, more refined culture composed not of farmers but of builders and intellectuals. The Gothic period was incredibly important in European society and culture, and the Gothic cathedral is a lasting reminder of this transformation.

Notre-Dame de Paris: Innovation and Design

Notre-Dame de Paris may be the most illustrious Gothic cathedral ever built. Its dramatic silhouette is recognized around the world and has been immortalized in song, fiction, and theatrical productions. Begun in 1163 and finished in 1250, it incorporated the first use of the elegant flying buttress arch. The flying buttress came into use because builders wanted to increase the size of the gallery windows, which required additional structural support. Roth explains:

"Previously, oblique tilted arches, resisting the outward thrust of the nave vaults, had been hidden under the side aisle roofs, but now they would need to be placed above the aisle roof, outside and exposed, sloping from the upper nave wall to vertical extensions of the buttresses of the side aisle walls. Thus flying buttresses were created" (Roth 296).

Many other cathedrals incorporated these innovative designs after they were first used in Paris, including Chartres, Rouen, and Reims (Roth 296). The buttresses themselves stretched like arms along the outside of the building. One writer describes them this way: "They were great stone arms stretched above the roofs of the aisles on a level with the springers of the diagonal ribs and the transverse arches of the central nave" (Kaye 29). By the time Reims was built, Gothic architecture had evolved into High Gothic, which utilized all of the most celebrated aspects of the Gothic period, including pointed arches, broken rib vaulting, a skeletonized structure, and the flying buttress (Roth 296).

The cathedral in Paris opens into a low nave arcade, but the smaller first level allows the spacious galleries above to appear even larger and more impressive. Inside is a traditional double-aisled choir with ambulatory. The main transepts have no aisles, but the long nave again has double aisles, supported by two towers flanking the western end. The vaults are sexpartite, and the elevation is divided into four deliberate stages. The main arches spring consistently from columns, while the tribune galleries carry the wall-buttresses that abut the thrust of the high vaults. High above, there is a triforium pierced by rose windows to light the roofs of the tribune galleries. Architects used an alternation of pier and column — except in the central nave — and carried this pattern over to the arcades dividing the double nave aisles, where simple columns alternate with columns surrounded by vaulting shafts built up in courses. The shafts correspond to the springing of the transverse arches and principal diagonal ribs of the sexpartite vault of the central nave (Kaye 46). Thus, the arches, ribs, and vaults of the Romanesque period were transformed into a larger, airier church, lit with beautiful stained glass and opened up to the heavens. It is worth noting that many cathedrals bear the title "Notre-Dame," as it was a common custom to dedicate new cathedrals to "Our Lady" — the Virgin Mary.

References

Calkins, Robert G. Medieval Architecture in Western Europe: From A.D. 300 to 1500. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.

Kaye, Nicholas. Gothic Cathedrals of France and Their Treasures. London: N. Kaye, 1959.

Roth, Leland M. Understanding Architecture: Its Elements, History, and Meaning. 1st ed. New York: Westview Press, 1993.