The word "cathedral" comes from the Latin root "cathedra," literally, a bishop's throne (King 105-107). The Middle Ages in France, particularly the latter days of the medieval era, were virtually rife with cathedrals and religious architecture. This was the era of the Roman Catholic Church, a time when God was with mankind everywhere; when king and peasant alike acknowledged the religious authority of the Pope (albeit sometimes grudgingly); when "the history of the world is the history of the Lord extended through the lengthy annals of human life" (Focillon, Gothic 75). Miracles, angels and saints were a literal part of a medieval Frenchman's worldview. So were demons, devils, Apocalypse and Last Judgement. The cathedral, the bishop's "throne," in its art and architecture was the "encyclopedia in stone" of that worldview (Mirsky 140). More inclusive, in fact, than a mere encyclopedic listing: the cathedral was in itself a whole world, all mankind (Focillon, Gothic 83). In that world, that universe-in-miniature, there was no inconsistency in having God in his tabernacle and a gargoyle on the rain gutter.
The great period of cathedral-building in the French Middle Ages embraces two styles of art and architecture - the Romanesque and the Gothic. Their physical differences will be discussed in detail later, but those matter less than the psychological needs underlying each style, driving the creative force of every French cathedral constructed: Romanesque was the expression of faith, Gothic the expression of piety. French art historian Henri Focillon describes the emotions of the two periods as variations on the same Roman Catholic doctrinal belief in God, but variations with important distinctions::
Romanesque faith, shot through with visions and prodigies, accepted and cherished the mysterious; it moved among superhuman beings; it trembled in anticipation of rewards and punishments; the miracle was its law, and the u...