This magisterial study of Gothic architecture traces the meaning and development of the Gothic style through medieval churches across Europe. Ranging geographically from Poland to Portugal and from Sicily to Scotland and chronologically from 1093 to 1530, the book analyzes changes from Romanesque to Gothic as well as the evolution within the Gothic style and places these changes in the context of the creative spirit of the Middle Ages.

In its breadth of outlook, its command of detail, and its theoretical enterprise, Frankl’s book has few equals in the ambitious Pelican History of Art series. It is single-minded in its pursuit of the general principles that informed all aspects of Gothic architecture and its culture. In this edition Paul Crossley has revised the original text to take into account the proliferation of recent literature—books, reviews, exhibition catalogues, and periodicals—that have emerged in a variety of languages. New illustrations have also been included.

Paul Frankl, who taught at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, was the author of The Gothic: Literary Interpretations Through Eight Centuries. Paul Crossley is senior lecturer at the Courtauld Institute, University of London. He is the author of The Architecture of Kasimir the Great: Architecture in Lesser Poland, 1320–1380.