gothic elements in architecture

Wenzel Hollar [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Wenzel Hollar was a Bohemian etcher who lived from 1607 to 1677. Hollar is living in the days of the Thirty Years War ( 1618 - 1648 ) and while it was mostly a war fought in Germany it also changed the values of much of Europe. This was a war waged by the Bohemian Ferdinand II of the House of Habsburg and other royals who were Catholic oriented. The Bohemian king was looking to close down Protestantism and with the Jesuit was enforcing conversion to his religion.  The Protestants meanwhile were revolting. Meanwhile Lord Abbot of Fulda was leading an inquisition in search of wicked witches. The wickedness of this witch hunt was ruthless and has been told in many Gothic tales where torture dungeons, medieval castles, and dark methods of all types are involved.

King Gustavus II of Sweden was a protestant and Sweden was an opulant country strategically well placed to take advantaged of the Dutch trade routes. Both Ferdinand II and Gustavus II were looking to monopolize the countries inside this trade route. With the emerging markets of North America, control of Dutch trade was very lucrative. It was such a prospect that in time the war became about money more than about religion where Catholic France allied with the Gustavus protestant against the Catholic Habsburg and Jesuits.

The Hollar engraving above is of the Mainz Cathedral which was initially built in the Romanesque style but which came to incorporate many Gothic features over the course of it's existance.

Basically three elements of composition separates Romanesque architecture from the Gothic style. The Franks like pointed arches, ribbed vaults, and flying buttresses. These were all elements that were eventually part of the Mainz Cathedral

Also in Romanesque style a story is told to the visitors, who are generally illiterate, through the use of bas-relief which is a form of sculpture that slighly rises out of the wood, stone, etc. The Goth influence takes that Romanesque bas-relief type of story telling into more three dimensional works. The Renaissance is a revival of classicals which was extremely three dimensional.

flying buttresses on Basilica of Saint Remi
c. 1170

Flying buttresses are those wing like columns used to hold the building together. In 1211 a fire destroys a church which was built on the basilica site. A new church is erected and named Notre Dame de Reims, aka. Our Lady of Rheims.
The story of the original church goes back to Remy who was bishop of Reims in 496 AD. Remy converts the Franks to Nicene Christianity starting with the baptism of Clovis who was at this time King or the Franks. The doors of the Cathedral of Notre Dame of Reims are great examples of pointed arches and Gothic architecture. ( Reims was a city founded by the Gauls and the Gauls were the competition of the earliest Romans. Remi was the name of a Belgic tribe at this time and the tribe of Remi are the Gauls of Rheim - according to some theorists Remi finds its roots in Remus who was the brother of Romulus. That legend goes that Romulus killed Remus while deciding what to name the city of their new world ideology). 

So the Gothic architectural style of the Franks includes wing like flying buttresses and pointed arches that point to the heavens.

The Goths also had ribbed vaults. The making of a ribbed vault involves setting up two or three barrel vaults. These barrel vaults were used as far back as ancient Egypt and Sumer construction. Barrel or tunnel vaulting is seen alot in the underground tunneling of the old world.

This image from wikimedia shows the three gothic architectural elements working together.

These gothic elements are common starting in the mid 1100's.