The Norman and Gothic Middle Ages
The massive cathedrals of the Normans were followed by a distinctly English Gothic of soaring spires, fan vaults and embroideries coveted throughout Europe.
After the Conquest of 1066 the Normans built castles and cathedrals at an unprecedented pace. The churches were heavy and Romanesque, with round arches and massive piers. At Durham the rib vaults that would later become the hallmark of Gothic were being tried out as early as around 1100. The stone was meant to show that the new rulers had come to stay, and almost every Anglo-Saxon cathedral was demolished and rebuilt within a couple of generations. The castles were first built of earth and timber but were soon replaced by stone keeps.
From the late 12th century Gothic took over. England developed its own variant, which historians divide into three phases: Early English, Decorated and Perpendicular. The cathedrals became long and low rather than tall as in France. They acquired pointed spires, rich windows and finally the fan vaults found nowhere else. Salisbury, Wells, Lincoln and Gloucester show the phases one after another. Each phase had its own forms for windows, vaults and ornament.
The pictorial arts lived on in books, glass and textiles. English embroidery in gold and silk, opus anglicanum, was sold to popes and kings across Europe. Illuminators created Bibles and psalters in which peasants and jesters from everyday life crowd the margins. Towards the end of the period the Wilton Diptych was painted, one of the most beautiful works of International Gothic. Most medieval church art was later destroyed during the Reformation, which makes what survives all the more precious. The stained glass of Canterbury and York gives a glimpse of how richly coloured the churches once were.