Cathedrals

Europe in the Middle Ages episode 4 – Cities and Cathedrals: Historians considered for a long time the picturesque maze of alleyways in medieval towns to be construction planning gone haywire. New research reveals the surprising fact that many mediaeval towns were conceived on the drawing board by urban planners who were well versed in geometry, for the towns grew and offered a home to many people.     Even outsiders such as swindlers, beggars and charlatans found shelter, for the influence of the feudal lords ended before the town-gates. In the freedom of the towns, the guilds and bourgeois […]