Name Date Class

Human-Environment Interaction: Gothic Cathedrals

w,//~\ "7"hether lifting our eyes to the soaring nave vaults, or peering

into the depths of the aisles, the whole atmosphere is one of

religious mystery.... [One] cannot but experience a little of

that unearthly joy so keenly felt by the devotees of our cathedral." What

impression do these words by Etienne Houvet, curator of Chartres, give of

this French cathedral?

Reflecting the central role of the Church inpeople's lives during the Middle Ages, cathe-drals were built for the glory of God. During theA.D. 1100s, a new system of construction thatoriginated in France signaled a change in archi-tectural style from Roman to Gothic. The Gothicstyle of architecture would allow people toachieve new heights in honoring God.

A fine example of Gothic ar< hitecture, Our

Lady of Chartres was rebuilt following a fire inA.D. 1194. The new structure, with a vault thatreaches 11 stories into the sky, attests to the suc-cess of medieval builders in devising new waysto distribute the weight of cathedral walls.Ribbed vaults, pointed arches, and flying but-tresses allowed stained-glass windows to fill theinterior with light and the walls to stretch to theheavens.

I

at

Romanesque

FLYING BUTTRESSES helped"open up" the interior space.These stone beams supported the

main "walls which could thenenclose stained-glass windows.

GOTHIC DESIGN BROKE FREE of the thick central•walls and heavy, rounded arches that characterizedRomanesque cathedrals.

RIBBED VAULTS brought new height to

cathedral ceilings with support from pointedarches. The arches were fanned by narrow

stone ribs that extended from tall pillars.

Geography and History Activities

Name ' Date Class

Focus on Human-Environment Interaction

People's ability to modify their surroundings has grown as they haveimproved their technology. Improvements have been made in tools,transportation, and materials. Gothic cathedrals represent an improve-

ment in design discovered during the Middle Ages. This architectural innova-tion revolutionized construction and focused the energies of towns andentire regions. Stonemasons, architects, and other skilled workers con-tributed to this innovation.

1. How can people's use of technology affect their ability to modify their physical environments?

2. Describe how this ability has increased through the use of technology.

3. Give examples of how architecture and engineering have modified physical environments.

4. Are there any developing technologies that may affect your physical environment? Explain.

Critical Thinking5. Making Inferences Medieval cathedrals were centers of religious, educational, and social activi-

ties during the Middle Ages. Why do you think it was so important to have such magnificentbuildings?

6. Making Comparisons Compare changes in architectural styles during the Middle Ages with morerecent examples of people's modification of their physical environments.

Activity7. To understand how technology can be used to modify physical environments, form three groups

to conduct research on physical changes in your community during the past 50 years. The firstgroup will read local newspapers to determine how new technologies were described. The secondgroup will interview members of their families and neighbors to determine the human response tomodifications. The third group will contact local officials to discuss how technology has been usedto alter the community's physical environment. Each group should present its findings to theclass.

1a

26 Geography and History Activities

Name Date Class

C R I T I C A L T H I N K I N GA c t i v i t y 12

Expressing Problems Clearly

As you read about world history, you will find that many specifichuman actions were taken to solve a problem. Ask yourself whatproblem was solved by the actions taken. Then evaluate the solution

and decide what possible new problems might be created by the solution.The following excerpt is a translation from the twelfth-century poem,"The Round Table," by a writer called Lawman. It describes the originof King Arthur's Round Table. Read the excerpt, then answer the questionsthat follow.

There came to him then one who was a skill-fid carpenter and met the king and greeted himgraciously.

"Hail to you, Arthur, noblest king. I am yourown man. Many a land have I traveled through.In woodwork I am master of wondrous manyskills. I have heard tell over the seas new tidings,that your knights at your table began to fight ona midwinter's day. Many fell there; out of theirhigh pride they wrought deadly sport, andbecause of their high lineage each wished to beinnermost.

"But I will construct for you a most conve-nient table, at which sixteen hundred men andmore may sit down, all in turn around, so thatnone will be outermost—outer and inner, manopposite man. When you wish to ride forth, you

1. What problem prompted the carpenter to approach the king?

can take it with you and set it up where you willaccording to your wish; and you need never fear,to the length of the world, that any proud knightwill ever make strife at your table, for there thehigh shall be equal with the low. Allow me togather the lumber and begin the table."

By the end of four weeks the work was com-pleted. On a festival day the people were sum-moned, and Arthur himself came at once to thetable and ordered all his knights to the tableforthwith. When the knights were all seated fortheir meal, then each spoke to the next as if itwere to his brother. They were all seated around;there was no one outermost. Every rank of knightwas very well treated. They were all as one, thehigh and the low. . . .

2. What three physical qualities does the carpenter say the table will possess?

3. What is the ideology behind the shape chosen for the table?

4. What effect does the table have on the knights?

Look at the illustrauon orNhe table in a BenedicJine monastery on page 3Q41irypur textbook andread the descriptions of monastic life on pag£s 304^305. (a) Describe true seating arrangement atthe table and the reason for it. (b) What problems mifeht arise if the solution to Kityg Arthur'sproblem was rnjlplemented ii the monastery? A /

12 Critical Thinking Activities

Name Date Class

U N I T

World Literature Reading 1 flat

I he Canterbury Tales, one of English literature's first master-pieces, was written by the poet, Chaucer, in the 1390s. The tales areabout an assorted group of pilgrims bound for the shrine of St. Thomasa Becket at Canterbury, England. They include a knight, a prioress(nun), a Franklin (countryman), a monk, and others.

Directions Read the selection below and answer the questions that follow. Useanother sheet of paper if necessary.

from The Canterbury TalesBy Geoffrey Chaucer

r r hen in April the sweet showers fallAnd pierce the drought of March to the root, and allThe veins are bathed in liquor of such powerAs brings about the engendering of the flower.When also Zephyrus [west wind] with his sweet breathExhales an air in every grove and heathUpon the tender shoots, and the young sunHis half-course in the sign of the Ram [Aries] has run,And the small fowl are making melodyThat sleep away the night with open eye(So nature pricks them and their heart engages)Then people long to go on pilgrimagesAnd palmers [pilgrims] long to seek the stranger strandsOf far-off saints, hallowed in sundry lands,And specially, from every shire's endOf England, down to Canterbury they wendTo seek the holy blissful martyr, quickTo give his help to them when they were sick.

It happened in that season that one dayIn Southwark, at The Tabard [inn], as I layReady to go on pilgrimage and startFor Canterbury, most devout at heart,At night there came into that hostelrySome nine and twenty in a companyOf sundry folk happening then to fall

(continued)

World Literature Human Heritage 33

Name Date Class

U N

I 8 iLiterature Reading 1 (continued)

In fellowship, and they were pilgrims allThat toward Canterbury meant to ride.The rooms and stables of the inn were wide;They made us easy, all was of the best.And, briefly, when the sun had gone to rest,I'd spoken to them all upon the tripAnd was soon one with them in fellowship,Pledged to rise early and to take the wayTo Canterbury, as you heard me say.

But nonetheless, while I have time and space,Before my story takes a further pace,It seems a reasonable thing to sayWhat their condition was, the full arrayOf each of them, as it appeared to me,According to profession and degree,And what apparel they were riding in;And at a Knight I therefore will begin.There was a Knight, a most distinguished man,Who from the day on which he first beganTo ride abroad had followed chivalry,...

45 lines from "The Prologue" in THE CANTERBURY TALES, by Geoffrey Chaucer, translated by Nevill Coghill (PenguinClassics, Revised Edition, 1977), copyright © Nevill Coghill, 1951,1958,1960,1975,1977. Reproduced by permission ofPenguin Books Ltd.

Understanding the Literature1. What is the goal of the Canterbury pilgrims?

2. During what time of the year is the pilgrim's trip taking place?

3. Critical Thinking Do you think the poet wants the reader to admire the knightor not? Explain.

34 Human Heritage World Literature

Name Date Class

C R I T I C A L T H I N K I N GA c t i v i t y 13

Evaluating Information

Evaluating information means analyzing what you read and then draw-ing conclusions about it. It may also involve recognizing whether theauthor is biased in any way, even in descriptions. The following passage

from Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales describes a medieval monk.After you have read the excerpt, evaluate the information given in the poem.

IQ?=x

1o

There was a monk; a nonpareil was he,Who rode, as steward of his monastery,The country round; a lover of good sport,A manly man, and fit to be an abbot.He'd plenty of good horses in his stable,And when he went out riding, you could hearHis bridle jingle in the wind, as clearAnd loud as the monastery chapel-bell.Inasmuch as he was keeper of the cell,The rule of St. Maurus or St. BenedictBeing out of date, and also somewhat strict,This monk I speak of let old precepts slide,And took the modern practice as his guide.He didn't give so much as a plucked henFor the maxim, 'Hunters are not pious men,'Or 'A monk who's heedless of his regimenIs much the same as a fish out of water,'In other words, a monk out of his cloister.But that's a text he thought not worth an oyster;And I remarked his opinion was sound.What use to study, why go round the bendWith poring over some book in a cloister,Or drudging with his hands, to toil and labourAs Augustine bids? How shall the world go on?You can go keep your labour, Augustine!So he rode hard—no question about that—Kept greyhounds swifter than a bird in flight.Hard riding, and the hunting of the hare,Were what he loved, and opened his purse for.I noticed that his sleeves were edged and

trimmedWith squirrel fur, the finest in the land.For fastening his hood beneath his chin,He wore an elaborate golden pin,Twined with a love-knot at the larger end.

1. What does this monk like more than any-thing else?

2. What does this monk think of the rules of hisorder?

3. What does this monk look like? What is hewearing and what animals does he have?

4. Look at Section 4 on "The Troubled Church"and meVeasonspvhy there were calls forrefomn. Bvaluat; the\descriptfon of the monk,in te rms cWh) might a re

the qorrufttion of the Church. •ormer object to the monk's

app( !aranc s and behavior? You may want tolookfor

back it Chapter 12 and pages 304-305description of monastic life.

Critical Thinking Activities 13

Name.... Date. Class

A C T I V I T Yft i s t o r i c a l-"• n. . ~ .i g n i t i c a n c e 12The Beginnings of the Middle Class

In the twelfth to fourteenth centuries, towns began toexpand and so did the middle class. The middle classgained its income from buying and selling goods. Today,

in many countries the middle class makes up most of thepopulation. Read this twelfth-century description ofmedieval Londoners and an early take-out restaurant, thencomplete the chart below.

Those engaged in the several kinds of busi-ness, sellers of several things, contractors for sev-eral kinds of work, are distributed every morninginto their several localities and shops. Besides,there is in London on the river bank, among thewines in ships and cellars sold by the vintners, apublic cook shop; there eatables are to be foundevery day, according to the season, dishes ofmeat, roast, fried and boiled, great and small fish,coarser meats for the poor, more delicate for therich, of game, fowls, and small birds. If there

should come suddenly to any of the citizensfriends, weary from a journey and too hungry tolike waiting till fresh food is bought and cooked.. . there is all that can be wanted. However greatthe multitude of soldiers or travellers enteringthe city, or preparing to go out of it, at any hourof the day or night,—that these may not fast toolong and those may not go supperless,—theyturn hither, if they please, where every man canrefresh himself in his own way... .

—From The Medieval Reader edited by Norman F. Cantor

Fill in the chart to compare and contrast the description of medieval take-out to take-out today.

Location

Foods

Customers

Reasons forPurchasing

Middle Ages Today

8.

±

12 Historical Significance Chapter Activities World History

Name Date Class

U N I T

World Literature Reading 2 fe|

/vs the author of Robin Hood and King Arthur and the Knights ofthe Round Table, Antonia Fraser shares the drama of history and leg-ends with us. This selection from the Robin Hood legend describesthe political rivalries between Normans and Saxons. In this adventureRobin again meets his longtime enemies the Sheriff and Sir Guy ofGisborne.

Directions Read the selection below and answer the questions that follow. Useanother sheet of paper if necessary.

•ft

from Robin Hood: A Narrow EscapeBy Antonia Fraser

'ow all attention was concentratedon the contest for the silver arrow, the lastcontest of the day.

Forty stout archers stepped forward inanswer to the herald's command. Amongthem were Robin Hood, Will Scarlet andWalter of Weybridge, wearing the badge ofthe Sheriff's service, as well as a host ofother young men eager to try their skill....

"It would be a fine thing to win the sil-ver arrow on the eve of my birthday," saidRobin to Will. "But if you win it, Will, I vowI will not bear a grudge against you, for welearned archery together."

"If I win, Robin," cried Will gaily, "I willbestow it on you for a birthday gift."

So saying, he stepped forward andloosed his arrow: amid the applause of thecrowd it landed a bare inch from the bull's-eye. Then it was Walter of Weybridge's turn,and the man-at-arms, with the practice bornof long years in the Sheriff's service, landedhis arrow a fraction of an inch inside Will's.

A great sigh of regret went up from thecommon people, who hated the Sheriff'sretainers. Finally, Robin Hood stepped for-ward, and with careless grace, loosed hisgreen-feathered arrow at the target. Amoment's silence, then a great shoutwent up.

"A Hood! A Hood! Robin of Locksleywins the day!"

The Mysterious Arrow

Even as the shout died away, a series ofthings occurred all at once so quickly thatafterwards no man could rightly rememberwhich happened first. One moment Robinwas standing with his bow loose in hishands, gazing joyfully at the target, with itscenter transfixed by his green-tipped arrow.The next moment a great crowd had surgedround him.. .. The moment after that, all inthe twinkling of an eye, an arrow wasspeeding truly and surely towards the royalbox itself!

(continued)

World Literature Human Heritage 35

Name Date Class

U N

World Literature Reading 2 (continued)

Had Oswald Montdragon not fixing thePrince aside, the arrow would surely haveembedded itself in his heart!

Not one person present failed to noticethat the arrow had green feathers!"Treachery!" cried Guy. of Gisborne. "Toarms! Seize the traitor! 'Tis Robin ofLocksley who has attacked our Prince inthis dastardly fashion. Behold, the greenfeather of Locksley!"

. .. Now half a dozen Norman soldiersflung themselves at Robin Hood, as hestood, half-dazed by the quickness ofevents, in the center of the square.

"Guard yourself, Robin," yelled thefaithful Will. "Look behind you!"

Robin Hood sprang back, just in time toavoid the onrush of the soldiery, and withonly his woodsman's dagger to protect him-self, he began to hack his way violentlythrough the menacing Norman crowdwhich surrounded him. Twice it seemedthat his body would fall beneath the weightof their onslaught: for how could one youthprevail against a dozen soldiers? But stillRobin kept himself free, although his leftarm was bleeding from a nasty wound,...Robin managed to free himself tempo-rarily from the clutches of the soldiers, anddespite the blood pouring from his wound,he sprinted valiantly across the square, towhere he saw Will holding his horse... .

From Discovering Literature, Macmillan Literature Series. Copyright © 1991 by the Glencoe Division of Macmillan/McGraw-HillPublishing Company. t

Understanding the Literature1. What personal event is Robin about to celebrate?

o1

2. What unexpected event causes Robin to flee from the match?

3. Critical Thinking Why do you think people enjoy reading adventure storiesabout characters such as Robin Hood?

36 Human Heritage World Literature