For many, 1066 is the date when the Middle Ages began. Centuries
of castles, cathedrals and churches followed, busy with
chivalry, the Crusades and crop-rotation, all ending some time
around 1500. This, of course, is an over-simplification, just as
the term Middle Ages itself is. For a long time, the
civilisations of the Romans and the Renaissance were admired;
everything in between – the ages in the middle - was regarded as
inferior, a period of decline, disease and instability. Only
with the Victorians was there some attempt to reconsider these
centuries. They, like us, were transfixed by the imaginative
leaps of medieval buildings and their intense spirituality.
Certain themes dominate medieval architecture. First, the church
was central to everyday life. Usually the most impressive
building in the neighbourhood was the parish church, and the
finest buildings created were the great stone cathedrals.
Secondly, society was strictly ordered. For most of the Middle
Ages, the hierarchy of the Feudal System domi