The Gothic enterprise
Subtitle: a guide to understanding the medieval cathedral
By: Robert A. Scott ; with a new preface
Publisher: University of California Press
Published: 2011
Place of publication: Berkeley
Language: eng
Number of pages: 294
ISBN-13: 9780520269996
Subjects: Cathedrals; Gothic Architecture
Description: The great Gothic cathedrals of Europe are among the most astonishing achievements of Western culture. Evoking feelings of awe and humility, they make us want to understand what inspired the people who had the audacity to build them. This engrossing book surveys an era that has fired the historical imagination for centuries. In it Robert A. Scott explores why medieval people built Gothic cathedrals, how they built them, what conception of the divine lay behind their creation, and how religious and secular leaders used cathedrals for social and political purposes. As a traveler's companion or a rich source of knowledge for the armchair enthusiast, The Gothic Enterprise helps us understand how ordinary people managed such tremendous feats of physical and creative energy at a time when technology was rudimentary, famine and disease were rampant, the climate was often harsh, and communal life was unstable and incessantly violent.
Notes: Originally published : University of California Press, 2003.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 269-279) and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction : a personal journey; title: Part I. A grand undertaking :; title: 1. What is the Gothic enterprise?; title: 2. How were the cathedrals built?; title: Part II. History :; title: 3. Kings, feudal lords, and great monasteries; title: 4. The age of cathedral-building; title: 5. The initial vision; title: 6. "The cathedral crusade"; title: Part III. The Gothic look :; title: 7. What is the Gothic look?; title: 8.  An image of heaven; title: 9.  A pragmatic view of cathedral-building; title: Part IV. The religious experience :; title: 10. Sacred force and sacred space; title: 11. Imagining the cathedral; title: 12. Honoring the dead; title: Part V. The Gothic community :; title: 13. Medieval living conditions; title: 14. The spiritual brokers; title: priests and monarchs; title: 15. Cathedrals and community; title: Conclusion : learning from Stonehenge