Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1998. Vol. 2. Eger Journal of English Studies.(Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 26)

Studies - Endre Abkarovits: Teaching the Englishness of English Gothic cathedral architecture

We have also seen how closely the different factors of life (political and military events, the state of the economy, major epidemics, the contribution of outstanding individuals, both patrons and artists, etc) are linked with the development of arts. It is not by chance that France was the leading country in architecture when the principalities united under the leadership of the king, there was economic boom in the country, the Crusades contributed to the growing wealth of the towns and their citizens. And it is not by chance either that when from the second half of the thirteenth century the economic boom was over and military defeats weakened the French kingdom, opportunities to build new cathedrals from scratch also dried up. And similarly, the relative stability under Henry III (1216-1272) and Edward I (1272-1302) in England, with the military victories and the increasing prosperity of trade, etc, largely contributed to a situation in which arts could flourish. And it is no sheer coincidence either that Decorated Gothic came to an end when the Black Death halved the population of England and the initial victories of the Hundred Years' War were followed by defeats. So, without understanding the historical background, learning about political, military events, economic, cultural, religious tendencies, etc it is unthinkable to understand the development of arts, should it be literature or fine arts, least of all architecture. These are the considerations why I think a complex study of a specific age or/and of the whole historical process comprising all major aspects of life would be necessary to understand the development of British culture and civilisation. A course that might be called 'A Cultural History of England' (or 'Cultural Studies') could serve this purpose best. But as it is an extremely complex area, few tutors may feel competent and confident to teach all major periods and fields of English culture. I can see two possible solutions. One is to devide the lectures on the various epochs (eg, using terms of history of art, Norman, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, etc England) among specialists of these periods from different institutions of higher education. (We have talked about the possibility of this kind of 'travelling circus' at national conferences organized by the British Council, but this idea has not been put into practice yet for organizational difficulties.) The other solution is to divide this complex area into specialised courses either according to historical periods or the fields of culture, and teach only those where a specialist is available. There have been tentative attempts at the latter in Hungarian higher education in recent years. I myself started teaching optional courses to introduce students to English arts almost a decade ago. It seems students have also realized the need of such a course and its popularity is constantly increasing. A number of students have chosen 63