High Middle Ages · 1140-1250

Reaching for heaven: the Gothic cathedrals

Around 1140 an abbot near Paris rebuilds his church with pointed arches and walls of colored glass. Students explore the new Gothic style, learn how flying buttresses let walls rise higher, and ask why towns spent generations building cathedrals.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
45 minutes
Ages
11–14
On the map
3 steps, AD 1144 to AD 1248
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

Around 1140 an abbot near Paris rebuilds his church with pointed arches and walls of colored glass. Students explore the new Gothic style, learn how flying buttresses let walls rise higher, and ask why towns spent generations building cathedrals.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Identify the main features of Gothic architecture: pointed arches, rib vaults, flying buttresses and stained glass.
  • Locate Saint-Denis, Notre-Dame de Paris, Chartres and Cologne on the map.
  • Explain who paid for and built the cathedrals, and why.
2

Explore the map

12 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1144

Where Gothic began

Open the map in 1144 and zoom in on Paris. Find Saint-Denis just to the north, where Abbot Suger rebuilt his church. Why might a new style start near a royal city?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1163

Notre-Dame

Set the year to 1163 and turn on Historical Events (Cultural Milestones). Find Notre-Dame de Paris Begun. Look for other building projects in Europe in the same century.

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1248

Six centuries to finish

Move to 1248 and find Cologne on the Rhine, where a great cathedral was begun that year. Then drag the slider to 1880, the year it was finished. How many generations is that?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

14 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Suger wanted his church to be filled with light. Why might light matter so much in a place of worship?
  2. Most people could not read. How could stained-glass windows teach them?
  3. Builders of cathedrals often never saw them finished. Why would anyone start such a project?
  4. At Chartres, groups of tradesmen paid for some of the windows and appear in them. Why would bakers or wine sellers want to be shown in a church?
  5. The name "Gothic" was invented later as an insult. Why might later people have looked down on this style?
4

Game round

9 min

Play Rule History as Saladin, who ruled in the decades when Notre-Dame and Chartres were rising. Afterwards, compare: what did rulers and cities of this age build to show their faith and power?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

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