Western Civilization

dedication to a spiritual ideal. As we have observed

before, the largest buildings of an era reflect the values

of its society. The Gothic cathedral, with its towers

soaring toward heaven, gave witness to an age when a

spiritual impulse still underlay most of existence.

Chapter Summary

The new Europeancivilization that had emerged in the ninth

and tenth centuries began to come into its own in the eleventh

and twelfth centuries, as Europeans established new patterns

that reached their high point in the thirteenth century. The High

Middle Ages (1000–1300) was a period of recovery and growth

for Western civilization, characterized by a greater sense of secu-

rity and a burst of energy and enthusiasm. Climatic improve-

ments that produced better growing conditions, an expansion of

cultivated land, and technological and agricultural changes com-

bined to enable Europe’s food supply to increase significantly af-

ter 1000. This increase in agricultural production helped sustain

a dramatic rise in population that was physically apparent in the

expansion of towns and cities.

Thedevelopmentoftradeandtheriseofcitiesaddeda

dynamic new element to the civilization of the High Middle

Ages. Trading activities flourishedfirstinnorthernItalyand

Flanders and then spread outward from these centers. In the

late tenth and eleventh centu-

ries, this renewal of commercial

life led to a revival of cities. Old

Roman cities came back to life,

and new towns arose at major

crossroads or natural harbors

favorable to trading activities. By

the twelfth and thirteenth centu-

ries, both the urban centers and the urban population of

Europe were experiencing a dramatic expansion. The revival of

trade, the expansion of towns and cities, and the development

of a money economy did not mean the end of a predominantly

rural European society, but they did open the door to new ways

to make a living and new opportunities for people to expand

and enrich their lives. Eventually, they created the foundations

for the development of a predominantly urban industrial

society.

Interior of a Gothic Cathedral.The use of ribbed vaults and

pointed arches gave the Gothic cathedral a feeling of upward

movement. Moreover, due to the flying buttress, the cathedral

could have thin walls with stained-glass windows that filled the

interior with light. The flying buttress was a heavy pier of

stone built onto the outside of the walls to bear the brunt of

the weight of the church’s vaulted ceiling. The flying buttresses

are visible at the right in the photograph of the cathedral of

Notre-Dame at the bottom of p. 217.

Gianni Dagli Orti/The Art Archive at Art Resource, NY

218 Chapter 9The Recovery and Growth of European Society in the High Middle Ages

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