num_pages: 404
description: The popular image of the traditional western city has usually been dominated by the cathedral whose sheer size seemed to create an isolated physical and spiritual focal point. In this iconoclastic study the author sets out to reverse some of the romantic myths which have accrued about the medieval cathedral in particular that the cathedral was a separate entity self-sufficient sublime and apart. Here the cathedral is shown to be a dynamic evolving and unpredictable force in the development of the medieval city. Taking France as the main focus but including material on England Germany Italy Spain and Bohemia the author describes the growth of diocesan authority and the consequent experiments in the layout of cathedral plans. Full use is made of recent archaeological research to show how architectural social financial and religious considerations combined to form a structure that was above all a practical functioning concern a 'city within a city'.
language: English
title: The Cathedral: The Social and Architectural Dynamics of Construction
publisher: Cambridge University Press