Church building and the economy during Europe’s ‘Age of the Cathedrals’, 700–1500 CE

In a Christian age, churches reflected societies’ material resources as well as their religious and cultural aspirations. Data on the construction history of 1,695 major churches in present-day Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, the Low Countries, and Great Britain are used to infer the trend and pattern of economic activity between 700 and 1500 CE. Across this long and economically formative, but relatively poorly documented era, they are among the few artefacts that can be quantified consistently. This is the first attempt to resolve the methodological challenges entailed in systematically gathering, organising and analysing this information at a supra-national scale. The results imply a transformation in Western Europe from the end of the 10th century with steeply gathering momentum, culminating in the great boom of the 12th century. Fresh light is also shed on the long contraction that set in from the late-13th century. Rising agricultural production and feudal surplus extraction were important drivers early on, but over time construction activity was most vigorous at locations enjoying commercial and especially maritime advantages. By the 15th century, as the impetus of construction was faltering almost everywhere, it was in commercially resilient Brabant and the Netherlands that church building remained most buoyant.