The Role of Church

The Church’s Role within the Community: blessed marriages, births or deaths served in positions in lord’s courts and thus gained political positions reduce fighting even declaring war on Friday through Sunday against the wishes of God supported by a tithe = money or produce given to the church worth approximately one tenth of one’s income With the church so intertwined in life the worst thing for a commoner in the Middle Ages was to be excommunicated = to cancel a person’s membership in the church and thus people could not receive the sacraments (You going to hell!!!)

The Church’s teachings: Salvation = redemption in the eyes of the church and God for any sins in one’s life to get to heaven one must have attained salvation through the sacraments Sacraments = the seven sacred rites administered by the church through the parish priest the alternative to salvation was eternal suffering, that if you did not gain salvation you would be doomed to such fate

Problems with the Church could not control its clergy. The influential churchmen disobeyed the vows of poverty and obedience. They dressed in lavish clothing and entertained kings and noblemen. Spent lots of money – whose money are they spending?

Design – MMMMmmm flying buttresses… Elements of Design There are certain classic ingredients of English Gothic architecture which not only added aesthetically to the cathedrals, but were great structural innovations as well. Every small detail, even a small flower at the top of an arch served a purpose, perhaps placing extra weight to support a weak point in the structure.

Arches This is the point at which the top of the columns meet, shown here Having them meet at an angle rather than a curve added strength This means less need for lots of columns

Vaults These were the internal supports of the cathedral ceiling. Their purpose was to disperse across the ceiling the weight to be carried by the columns.

Flying Buttress The purpose of the flying buttress was to help support from the outside. If there were no flying buttress, then the walls would lean outwards from the pressure of the vaults and the cathedral would eventually collapse

Gargoyle!! Like many of the buildings, the cathedral had many figurines. Some of these figures could be humans, animals, or the gargoyle. The gargoyles were built to look like frightening creatures. When it rained, it would appear that the gargoyles would be spitting water onto the ground.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7Rz9aDhl-k