Introduction As the third year that followed the year on thousand grew near, there was to be seen over almost all the earth, but especially in Italy and in Gaul, a great renewal of church buildings; each Christian community was driven by a spirit of rivalry to have a more glorious church than the others. It was as if the world had shaken itself, and casting off its old garments, had dressed itself again in every part in a white robe of churches. Raoul Glaber, Historia, c.1003 The Gothic Age (c. AD 1130-1530) marked the end to an age of ch ....