Seeds of the Renaissance

Romanesque cathedrals were sustained by the sheer mass of the walls, imposing thanks to breadth as much height. The new Gothic style soared upwards in an interlacing of arched ribs above splendid columns, held together by lateral thrusts and flying buttresses.

Though northern snow demanded high-pitched roofs, the pointed arches owed much to Middle East architecture, and the scale of the new cathedrals was far out of proportion amid the rustic society that built them.

The greatest of them all was begun in Chartres in 1194. The cathedral in Salisbury in England was built in 1220. By the end of the century, they were everywhere in Europe.

The Church was not altogether pleased: People were earning divine credit just by building churches, rather than relying on the favour of the Bishop of Rome.

Beginning at the end of the 10th century, the Church's absolute power rested mainly in the hands of the politically influential Theophylactus family. The mother and two daughters were powerful enough to elevate and depose at least eight popes.

Meanwhile movements sprang up, particularly in the south of France, which claimed to be more Christian in belief and practice.

The Church established a tribunal to act against perceived heresy and other offences against canon law, beginning with the Cathars, on whom Pope Innocent III declared unofficial war in 1208.

The Papal Inquisition of the 1230s set the tone for those that followed, often using torture to extract confessions from the accused. Anyone deemed guilty could be burned alive or, at the very least, exiled after being stripped of wealth and position.

Ultimately siege was laid to the Cathars' fortified city, in which the sole water source was poisoned, killing all of the inhabitants.

The inquisitions became a useful means for getting rid of anyone considered undesirable, and continued into the mid-1800s.

In 13th-century Italy, protests arose at the universities where humanism was taught, but the scholars who spoke loudest were swiftly persecuted too - locked underground and forgotten, or boiled to death in oil or wax.

The surviving documentation of these practices is in the archives of local authorities and the Vatican. In 2000 Pope John Paul II called for an Inquisition Symposium and opened the Vatican archive. Historians found records showing that thousands of accused witches were put to death - though the worst offenders were Protestant realms, where 100,000 women were put on trial and burned alive for "sorcery".

In 1542 Pope Paul III changed the name of the office of Papal Inquisition to the Congregation of the Holy Office of the Inquisition. In 1908 it became the Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office, and in 1965 the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

It still operates, presided over by a cardinal, currently William Levada, who succeeded Cardinal Josef Ratzinger when he became Pope in 2005.

Around 1250 Islam was Christianity's great enemy, but it was also the foundation for a culture in many ways superior. This is why Islamic forces often had the advantage in battle during the crusades. The survivors returned to Europe with new wisdom born of defeat.

Christianity gained a foothold on the Iberian Peninsula in the eighth century, only to have Muslims of mixed Berber and Arab blood conquer most of the territory and rule for almost 800 years.

These were the Moors, who retained the knowledge of the ancients in the arts, literature and architecture. They lived in harmony among Christians and Jews, but the Church mounted more than 20 crusades to drive them back to North Africa, finally succeeding in 1492.

Some historians argue that the Moorish occupation saw the birth of the Renaissance, even suggesting a "premature birth".

But many agree that, by the 12th century, the Renaissance as we think of it today was already in the incubator, waiting for the right moment to fledge.

The first part of this article appeared on Friday's Arts & Culture page.