ABSTRACT
The modern scholar tends to impose his or her own social and ideological agenda upon the cathedral and may neglect aspects of the situation as it existed in the thirteenth century. The ring of great cathedrals around Paris may be understood as a sign of decentralized power—the enormous wealth and power that lay in the hands of the secular clergy, the bishops, and chapters. The construction of Beauvais Cathedral was seen by Robert Lopez, the economic historian, as the destructive force responsible for the vitiation of the economic life of the city, leading to the collapse of the commune. Amiens Cathedral offers the visitor a wonderful example of spatial differencing certainly intended by the founding master mason, Robert de Luzarches. The identity of the master masons responsible for the construction of Amiens Cathedral is announced by an inscription placed in an octagonal plaque at the center of the great decorative labyrinth set in colored marble on the nave pavement.
