The Creation of Gothic Architecture is an illustrated thesaurus – a comprehensive pictorial history of the Early Gothic churches in the limestone region of northern France known as the Paris Basin.

Volume 3 in Part B of The Ark of God concentrates on the development of Early Romanesque carving and architecture prior to the seminal work at Chartres and Saint-Denis. It complements Part A and, with the later volumes, aims to establish from all the evidence a comprehensive chronology for the creation of Gothic architecture.

This volume contains an almost complete collection of all the capitals carved in the Paris Basin before the 1130s, few of which have ever been published before.

From this has come a most promising analysis: That these carvers pursued what might be called a Quest for Order, a quest that grew into an obsession over the next two generations. By following each step in this quest in all the dateable buildings in France, Italy and Britain, James has dated nearly every campaign in the Paris Basin to within ±5 years - a unique achievement made possible only because every one of the 147 remaining works have been studied.

This holistic approach provides the evidence that pointed arches and rib vaults were both being employed in the Paris Basin from the mid-1080s, a generation or more earlier than most have considered possible.

Dr JOHN JAMES is a world authority on the history of medieval architecture. He has published over sixty books and articles on Gothic architecture, especially the churches of the Paris Basin and the cathedral of Chartres.

4,000 black and white illustrations; 736pages, 0 95960 059 0, 20 April 2006