The Gothic Period and Church-State Relations

This page serves as a guide to the formation Gothic arts and architecture in Western Europe from 1000 - 1399 AD.  As such it represents the articulation and forms of art and architecture in a period of intensive power negotiations between the church and state and their elites over cultural formation.  We'll examine the production of art forms and architectural projects in the context of social, political and economic formation.  As the form and structure of Gothic styles of highly embellished architectural forms and projects accelerated in Western European cities, it also coincided with the expansionary wars and military campaigns of the Crusades.  As a result a corollary development of military architecture and castle building accompanied the higher stylistic forms of Gothic designed cathedral and palace construction.  At the end of this period we witness the impact of the Mongol invasions in the East, the loss of the Crusader kingdoms and the impact of the plague or Black Death in the late 1340s.  The social and economic realignment following this period of crisis framed a reemphasis on urban forms of intellectual and artisanal development that afforded new forms.  These new forms were officially embraced, produced and consumed as art works and experiments in the 15th century, that is now categorized as the Renaissance period.  See the tab on Renaissance arts and architecture.