During the thirteenth century Jerusalem surplanted Rome as the inspiration for English architecture. Huge national wealth led to an outburst of building of great creativity and individuality. The new gothic style which emerged by the 1220s was a national style for England creating some of the most remarkable buildings in European history. The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/a-new-jerusalem-reaching-for-heaven-1130-1300 Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. http://www.gresham.ac.uk

Comments

1. The vaults of Gothic cathedrals have subliminal
   symbolism. I inform also with photos, and who will have read, never
   get into a Gothic cathedral and continue seeing the
   temple as before.  http://webspace.webring.com/people/or/ramonetriu/gotico-enigmatico.html
2. Lincolnshire is the most well endowed of all British counties when it comes to elaborate and extravagant churches with even the smallest settlement having churches of extreme grandeur. Nice that he picked out a good few of them, but when you have a mother church like Lincoln it seems only natural... Check out Gedney...and louth
3. Excellent lecture,spoken with clarity and enthusiasm for the subject matter - thank you.
4. Fascinating stuff.
5. Uber-rich men who were allegedly sworn to poverty... no wonder the Church was violently reformed and the monasteries dissolved.
6. 2:00 By the early 1100s, the aristocrats saw themselves as Englishmen??  But they all spoke Norman French...
7. @ammazzamoro: Don't we all like to change history so that it reflects our personal d ideas of today instead of looking at facts. Like rejecting the importance of religion trough history!?
8. 27:00 "Magical" reminds me of nice cultured bigots paroting snidely 'hocus pocus'. A loaced word; a bit of a polemic political bent is it not? I notice the nice fellow never uses the word 'ornamentation' throughout the lecture whole. This also betrays his school of thought.