Daily life literally revolved around it. As in many medieval towns, the western gates of the cathedral formed one sid of a great opeuare. In the middle ages this was the place where the townspeople could meet the farmers and produce of the countryside could be bought and sold. Here, too, they could mingle with tinkers and peddlers, salt sellers dealers in relics, and the whole gallery of nefarious characters who thronged the roads of christendom at that time. The important rituals of peoples lives centered in the church. In the church, the infant was baptized, the young were married. And prayers were offered for the souls of the dead. The tremendous outpouring of skill, labor, and faith represented in the age of gothic cathedrals needs to be understood in light of the great changes happening in western europe between 1100 and 1300. The most important of these was a dramatic population boom. As europe grew more stable and more prosperous, men and women seem to have married younger and h
And the whole gallery of nefarious characters who thronged the roads of christendom at that time. The important rituals of peoples lives centered in the church. In the church, the infant was baptized, the young were married. And prays were offered for the souls of the dead. The tremendous outpouring of skill, labor, and faith represented in the age of gothic cathedrals needs to be understood in light of the great changes happening in western europe between 1100 and 1300. The most important of these was a dramatic population boom. As europe grew more stable and more prosperous, men and women seem to have marri younger and had bigger families. The population of the west increased threefold in those two centuries and in the richest parts up to tenfold. Hundreds of new towns were founded and the old ones thrived as local and longdistance ade flourished. At the same time there were new intellectual impulses, evidenced best of all in the founding of the great universities paris, oxford, and
In 1194, the church was again burned down, leaving only the great west gate, the western towers, and the ancient crypt. Miraculously, their most sacred relic, the tunic of the virgin mary, survived intact in the crypt, to the joy of the people. Even more miraculously, the entire church was rebuilt in 27 years. That is the church that we can still see today. What the cathedral meant to the people who lived in these streets in the 13th century is very different from what it means today. Then the cathedral was the center of Spiritual Life and the focus of civic pride. Daily life literally revolved around it. As in many medieval towns, the western gates of the cathedral formed one sid a great opesquare. In the middle ages, this was the place where the townspeople could meet the farmers and produce of the countryside could be bought and sold. Here, too, they could mingle with tinkers and peddlers, salt sellers, dealers in relics, and the whole gallery of nefarious characters who thronged th