Event Details

The Department of French  and Francophone Studies cordially invites you to join us for the 2022 Phi Beta Kappa Lecture by Prof. Howard Bloch on Thursday April 14 at 4:45 PM in Humanities 401.

Gothic cathedrals were great engines of urban renewal in the High Middle Ages. The great religious work projects contributed to the revival of trades and to the new institutions of medieval towns. Not the least of these was the University of Paris, which grew out of the cathedral school of Notre-Dame in the second half of the twelfth century. Using three sculptural programs on the outer walls of Notre-Dame alongside the example of Abelard, we shall examine the ways in which stories carved in stone— the Miracle of Theophilus, the martyrdom of Saint Stephen, and scenes of student life— affirm the power of disputation, writing, and the book culture which flourished just up the street.