On cathedrals and medieval piety was: Re: Chomsky News Network

[Wojtek Sokolowski]

At 07:33 PM 5/31/2002 -0500, Carroll wrote:
>is a bit oversimplified, there is another point here. I think the
>exploitation visible in the cathedrals is not that of those who built
>them -- but of those from whom the resources for the building (including
>the food of the builders) was wrung. Agricultural productivity was
>rather low, and it took a good deal to feed all those workers, who were
>hardly building cathedrals with one hand and producing their own food
>with the other???

Perhaps the cathedrals were the symbols of the growing importance of the 
cities over the rural feudalism in Europe - which in itself is a sign of 
progress (cf. Robert Brenner, Agrarian Class Structure and Economic 
Development in Pre-Industrial Europe, _Past and Present_ 97 
(1987)).  Eastern Europe and Russia - where feudalism remained in power 
until 1862 are visibly short on urban centers (and cathedrals).

Wojtek