Universe of Stone shows that the Gothic cathedrals encode a far-reaching shift in the way medieval thinkers perceived their relationship with their world. For the first time, they began to believe in an orderly, rational world that could be investigated and understood. This change marked the beginning of Western science and also the start of a long and, indeed, unfinished struggle to reconcile faith and reason.
By embedding the cathedral in the culture of the twelfth century—its schools of philosophy and science, its trades and technologies, its politics and religious debates—Philip Ball makes sense of the visual and emotional power of Chartres. Beautifully illustrated and written, filled with astonishing insight, Universe of Stone argues that Chartres is a sublime expression of the originality and vitality of a true "first renaissance," one that occurred long before the birth of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, or Francis Bacon.
Introduction
In 1204 some of the finest churches in Christendom were ransacked and the precious icons and relics were divided up among the plunderers. They snatched reliquaries from altars, forced open chests filled with holy treasures, stripped gold and silver metalwork from church fixtures. In their haste they spilled the sacramental wine over the marble floor, where it might mingle with the blood of any priest who stood in their way.
But these marauders were not infidels. They were Christian knights of the West, the flower of Europe's chivalry, bearing the sign of the cross that identified them as Crusaders. For this expedition, the Fourth Crusade, went not to the Holy Land and Jerusalem but to Constantinople, the capital of the eastern Holy Roman Empire, where the schismatic Greek rulers refused to recognize the authority of Pope Innocent III.
This was not the only crusade underway at that time. There was another afoot in Europe itself, and it was concerned not with sacking churches but with building them. Just as the knights of F ... read full excerpt from Universe of Stone ebook
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Operating System: Microsoft Windows 98 platforms, Microsoft Windows NT4 SP6, Microsoft Windows 2000 platforms, Microsoft Windows XP, and Microsoft Windows Me. Processor: Pentium 75 or higher microprocessor Memory: 16 MB RAM Hard Disk: Approximately 19 MB free hard drive space (Microsoft Reader is 3.6 MB, but additional hard disk space is required for installation) Browser: Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 with Service Pack 1 or higher
MS Reader for Pocket PC
Operating System: Pocket PC 2002 / 2003 Memory: 2.236 MB free RAM Additional Software: Microsoft ActiveSync® 3.5 or later
MS Reader for Tablet PC
Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition - Microsoft Reader for Tablet PC will not work on any other operating system or device.
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