Depending on how much money the bishop and the town
had, limited the size of the cathedral. Most of the large cathedrals in Europe were built
too large because their bishop was a very rich man and the towns' people were very
generous when it came to funding the cathedral. Some examples of this would be the
cathedrals in Wells, Cologne, Paris, and Orvieto.
Interesting Fact: Before a person died, the bishop or one of the
church workers would go over to the dying and ask if they would give all of their
possessions over to the effort to build the cathedral.
Bibliography:
1. Maculay, David. Cathedral: The Story of Its Construction, Boston, Houghton
Mifflin Company, 1973
2. Perdrizet, Marie-Pierre, and Eddy Krahenbuhl. People of the Past: The Cathedral
Builders. Brookfield, The Millbrook Press, Inc. 1990
3. Watson, Percy. Building the Medival Cathedral, Minneapolis, Lerner Publications
Company, 1976
Photographs of the Washington National Cathedral are provided by Alex Lee and his father.
