The Gothic building style uses rib vaulting, plain “lancet” shaped windows and clustered pillars to create a massive, light-filled space.

It is said to have started in France, at the Abbey of St Denis, completed in 1144 in a village near (and now swallowed up by) Paris, and at Sens Cathedral, whose sanctuary was completed in 1176.   Durham Cathedral politely disagrees with this claim to be first, pointing out that their rib vaulting was started significantly earlier, from 1128-1133, but the French will retort that Durham’s lower levels are still Romanesque.

Durham has a useful site here with little diagrams showing how different types of vaulting works and plenty of other pages to keep you busy.

Craftsmen travelled to develop their skills (the origin of the word “journeyman”) and the French developments came over to England, to sites in Canterbury, Wells and Salisbury.  Whereas the French building focused on vertical lines, the English style is more horizontal.  For example, while Salisbury’s nave is 82’ high, Amiens Cathedral which was built at the same time is 139’ high – but Salisbury Cathedral is 35′ longer than Amiens. Take a look at these two pictures (Salisbury is on the left).

As the masons became more expert in the complex geometries which lie behind rib vaulting, they were able to create patterns in the windows and in the vaults themselves. The “early” style is the plainest, and some (perhaps biased) might say the least fussy.

So that is a quick overview of Early, English, and Gothic but it raises some more questions:

• How do you build a rib vault?
• Did those tall cathedrals ever fall down?
• Why does Salisbury Cathedral look darker than Amiens?

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