French Churches Built in the 11th and 12th Centuries

Here are some videos of churches built in Western Europe during the 11th and early 12th centuries, some of them with stories of their history:

Conques Abbey

Also see the video of Saint Pierre de Moissac of the Cluniac monks here, which I cannot embed.

Vézelay, la Madeleine;

Chartres Cathedral - West Wall:
The 3 lower windows and the royal portals beneath them, shown in the next video of the west wall of Chartres Cathedral, date back to the mid- twelfth century.  The rose window above them is more recent, as is most of the present building.

Comments

[Georg Hausherr]

Bonjour Theresa,

That is certainly a very exhausting article about the building of the Chartres cathedral.

However, you do not give your personal opinion about the question "did Christianity start the "Dark Ages"?

Georg

[Teresa Polk]

Bonjour, Georg. My opinion about the question "did Christianity start the Dark Ages" is given in Parts I through III of the series. Christianity did not start the Dark Ages. Moreover, in Part IV, I gave my opinion that Christianity was actually instrumental in bringing Western Europe out of the Dark Ages during the time of rebuilding. In this Part V, I did not summarize all of that at the ending because I wanted to write here about building and endurance, despite the fires, and not about the decline.