Heavenly matters, earthly delights

In his book, Gothic Wonder, Professor Paul Binski explores a period in which English art and architecture pushed the boundaries to produce some of Europe's most spectacular buildings and illuminated manuscripts. Binski's research sets into context the whole gamut of human endeavour: from awesome cathedrals to playfully irreverent grotesques. The British are modest about their achievements in art. My aim is to show to readers here and abroad just how inventive and versatile our arts really were at this time. Paul Binski "I greatly disdain piddling little buildings ( plerumque indignor pusillis edificiis )," wrote a forthright Flemish monk called Goscelin of Saint-Bertin in a book dated around 1080. He went on to declare that: "I would not allow any buildings, however much they were valued, to stand unless they were, in my view, glorious, magnificent, tall, vast, filled with light and thoroughly beautiful." Goscelin, who dedicated his life to documenting the lives of saints, could have been describing the great Gothic cathedrals built to proclaim Christianity in the 12th and 13th centuries, when they played a pivotal role in medieval life. These masterpieces of structure and style remain extraordinary examples of human ingenuity in moulding materials into places that still inspire awe and wonder.