Cathedrals and Castles: Building in the Middle Ages

by Alain Erlande-Brandenburg, Rosemary Stonehewer (Translator)

Photographs, drawings, and details of manuscript illuminations tell the story of the birth of the building trades and the changes in society they reflected, revealing how Gothic cathedrals, great castles, bridges, houses, and city walls were designed and built. Original.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Architecture, Medieval, Art, Travel, Medieval History

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[Emely · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this little book. Small chapters, excellent writing, extensive research and TONS of photos and drawings make this book a great read for all who want to learn more about how castles, cathedrals, bridges, houses, city walls etc. came to be extravagant monuments and historical witnesses of the past. Very much recommended!

P.S.: I personally loved the small format of this 176-page paperback copy because it fits comfortably in a purse, and so, I was able to take it with me wherever I went. Huge plus if you are me. :)

[Gabriel Ménard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un très bon ouvrage, agrémenté de très nombreuses illustrations : cartes, croquis, enluminures ... Une lecture plaisante, rapide mais détaillé, des cathédrales médiévales.

Le travail d'Alain Erlande-Brandenburg est exemplaire, nous permettant de saisir toutes les nuances relatives aux cathédrales et à leurs bâtisseurs.

Enfin, un corpus documentaire est présent à la fin de l'ouvrage, permettant au lecteur d'appréhender quelques sources premières utilisé par l'historien. Ces quelques chartes et textes médiévaux, choisis minutieusement par l'auteur, sont complétées par une courte analyse.

[Millie Yule · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very much enjoyed this little book. I liked how it was very dense with information but also written in an accessible way. There were lots of pictures from manuscript sources and lots of photographs which both demonstrated the point nicely and showed the reader where the author got his information. There was also a nice bit at the back that had a load of extracts from documents, but I personally couldn’t be bothered to read that. My main criticism is that this book is just too old, but then that’s hardly the book’s fault.

[Sylvia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely little book with a lot of colored illustrations which accompany the author's description of how in the Middle Ages cathedral, castles and fortresses were build.
Here not the awe about what we see, but how it was made. What was necessary to achieve such are great work. The author has explored old documents and contracts in which the patrons and architects have written down their agreement, sometimes very detailed. The content of some of these contracts are included in the second part of this book.
It is not a guide, but rather intended as an addition and deepening of knowledge about great buildings which today still stands.

A list of great cathedrals in Europa has been added at the end of the book.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fascinating look at the history and construction of European cathedrals, and how their facades were originally painted bright colors. (Purchased at Chartres, France.)

[Young Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jes'us Christ (Chr-i'st: Gr[e]at-one), the Goth-ic Cath-e-dr'als…

They are just maj'estic. While the old Shaman world was eradicated by the succeeding Christian rule, these grandiose structures stretching tall towards the Heaven "pre-serve" in themselves the old Shaman world-view and men't-al'ity (mun'd-o, mon'd[e], min'd, mir and m'in/ m'un[o]/ m'on[e]/ m'an/ m'en = worl'd).

Look at their amazing columns which are the shapes copied from the tall tree trunks, just like those of ancient Greek temples, and the web-like branches in the ceiling together sustaining the whole structure of old Shaman way of understanding the world "order" with Heaven and Earth along with the trees with birds perched on them as the bridge between the Heaven and Earth.

It was copied by the "new" Christianity world-view, just like the Shaman Heaven's representative to rule the Earth, the K'ing (read like K'an in French and many other Eurasian tongues: sons and messengers of Heaven = Gab[a/ u]ri'el, cav'alry, gov'ernor, cap-tain, kep'i, chief, scep-tre, sov'ereign, prin-ceps, cov'er, cup or keep'er) with his or her "en-light'ened", "wis[e]" and "witt-y" chief adviser (ad-vis'er/ 'or = wiz'ard or witc'h), replaced by bish'op in Christianity, by viz'ier in Islam, and later by vic[e]-president (wis, vis, wiz, witc, bish, viz, vic[t'ory]/ big/ vik[ing]/ kn[ight]/ Chr[ist]/ gr[and]/ gl[ory]/ gl[obe]/ gre[at]/ gre (uur'iting, kn'ow-ledge, kn, cn, cr, cur, core, or (on[e], g'ol[d]), al[l] (perfect: knowing, beautiful, egg (King's birth), no angle, round, Sun, gold, light, life, sir[e], sur[e], s'ol[e]), wh'ol[e], h'ol-y) = light as in vis'ion or vid'eo).

The e-vid'ence is all around us...in the standing structures we live in, and the words we hear and use everyday.

Here 's how our Christian world began to rule.

[Ken Nilsestuen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had higher hopes, but this is still an interesting book. My low rating is mostly because of the small format. The type font for the basic text was just okay, but the font for picture captions was teeny, tiny. When I got to the final section, Documents, the faint black type on buff paper was completely unreadable for me. Otherwise, it was fun to let my imagination add to his text, having seen a couple dozen European cathedrals.

[Daniel B-G · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice little history book about the construction of cathedrals. It's a little unclear, the structure is not particularly well done, but it still does the job.

[Nina Misson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very nice read, filled with illustrations. The chapter "Documents" is a little gem. The only thing I was missing were footnotes containing sources of information, presented in the text.

[George Foord · Rating 4 out of 5]

a good read with some good illustrations

[Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was good, but focused more on architects than the construction workers and where they came from, etc.

[Kristi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was interested in the book because I had visited the Cathedrals in Rouen, Chartres, London, and of course Notre Dame long before the fire. I was disappointed that there was not information about Mont Saint Michel. Kristi & Abby Tabby

[Mal Gormley · Rating 3 out of 5]

A small, oddly written but informative book. Illustrated.

[Sheldon Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dry and disorganized.

[Anatolikon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This little book is packed full of astute information on the construction of the medieval cathedrals. The primary focus lies on the actual construction and the lives of the people who built them, all written by an elite scholar on the topic. The book is brilliantly illustrated with pictures from manuscripts and modern photographs of cathedrals, all of them relevant. As an introductory work, this book is exceptionally. It is bright, brilliant and written by someone knowledgeable in the field. It is very easy to read.

What detracts from this book is that it is too short, covers too many topics and just too little is present. At only 175 pages, many loaded in pictures and including the index, there just isn't a whole lot of content to be had. At times, it feels like it was designed as a tourists handbook, rather than an introductory work in the field. The addition of primary texts at the back is a nice touch, but this book had so much potential.

Great, brief read, but unfortunately it won't last through the afternoon. The pictures are nice, and the prices are generally decent. If you want a pretty introduction, read this. It may lack depth, but it is easy, accessible and cheap.

[Snail in Danger (Sid) Nicolaides · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, what a stunning little book. Actually, "little" may be its chief drawback. It reproduces excellent manuscripts, illustrations, architectural plans, seals, drawings, documents (mainly contracts), masons' marks, relevant artifacts and archaeological sites — but the pages are about 5 inches by 7 inches, so much detail is lost.

I'm not sure I completely agree with the sociohistorical narrative, but there is a ton of useful information in here for someone who is curious about medieval construction techniques. It's very information-dense.

[John E · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I was cleaning out my archetecture books to send to a nephew who is an architect, I found this and since it was small I read it. Great pictures and illustrations, minimal text, and nice selection of documents. I was a bit tough to read as the text was so intermixed with the illustrations. Makes one appreciate the skills involved in building the masterpieces of the Middle Ages.

[Linniegayl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beautiful little book containing gorgeous illustrations on nearly every page. Of course "little" is the key, as it provides merely an overview of the building of cathedrals during the middle ages. While it's definitely not for someone who is truly a scholar in the area, it provided me with a nice overview.

[Stacy Croushorn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, but short, introduction to the history of medieval architecture. If only the knowledge the Roman's had hadn't been lost and had to be re-discovered, we would have saved so much time.

[Kathy Sebesta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating information on the who and the how of middle ages cathedrals. Have visited many of them, over-awed by what people did with tools that seem, at this remove, to be totally inadequate. I especially liked the official disagreement between the designers - "It's a perfect design - look at Aristotle" - and the people brought in to assess its stability - "Gonna fall down if you don't fix it." And so politely said. It's still here, so I guess the latter had their way.