Gothic is an extinct Germanic language that was spoken by the Goths. It is known primarily from the Codex Argenteus, a 6th-century copy of a 4th-century Bible translation, and is the only East Germanic language with a sizable text corpus. All others, including Burgundian and Vandalic, are known, if at all, only from proper names that survived in historical accounts, and from loanwords in other languages such as Portuguese, Spanish and French.
As a Germanic language, Gothic is a part of the Indo-European language family. It is the earliest Germanic language that is attested in any sizable texts, but lacks any modern descendants. The oldest documents in Gothic date back to the 4th century.
The language was in decline by the mid-6th century, due, in part, to the military defeat of the Goths at the hands of the Franks, the elimination of the Goths in Italy, and geographic isolation (in Spain the Gothic language lost its last and probably already declining function as a church language when the Visigoths converted to Catholicism in 589).
The language survived as a domestic language in the Iberian peninsula (modern Spain and Portugal) as late as the 8th century, and in the lower Danube area and in isolated mountain regions in Crimea apparently as late as the early 9th century. Gothic-seeming terms found in later (post-9th century) manuscripts may not belong to the same language.
Crimean Gothic was a Gothic dialect spoken by the Crimean Goths in some isolated locations in Crimea until the late 18th century. The existence of a Germanic dialect in the Crimea is attested in a number of sources from the 9th century to the 18th century.
However, only a single source provides any details of the language itself: a letter by the Flemish ambassador Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, dated 1562 and first published in 1589, gives a list of some eighty words and a song supposedly in the language.
Busbecq’s information is problematic in a number of ways: his informants were not unimpeachable (one was a Greek speaker who knew Crimean Gothic as a second language, the other a Goth who had abandoned his native language in favour of Greek); there is the possibility that Busbecq’s transcription was influenced by his own language (a Flemish dialect of Dutch); there are undoubted misprints in the printed text, which is the only source.
Nonetheless, much of the vocabulary cited by Busbecq is unmistakably Germanic.
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture.
Originating in 12th-century France and lasting into the 16th century, Gothic architecture was known during the period as Opus Francigenum (“French work”) with the term Gothic first appearing during the latter part of the Renaissance. Its characteristics include the pointed arch, the ribbed vault and the flying buttress.
Gothic architecture is most familiar as the architecture of many of the great cathedrals, abbeys and churches of Europe. It is also the architecture of many castles, palaces, town halls, guild halls, universities and to a less prominent extent, private dwellings.
It is in the great churches and cathedrals and in a number of civic buildings that the Gothic style was expressed most powerfully, its characteristics lending themselves to appeals to the emotions, whether springing from faith or from civic pride.
A great number of ecclesiastical buildings remain from this period, of which even the smallest are often structures of architectural distinction while many of the larger churches are considered priceless works of art and are listed with UNESCO as World Heritage Sites. For this reason a study of Gothic architecture is largely a study of cathedrals and churches.
A series of Gothic revivals began in mid-18th-century England, spread through 19th-century Europe and continued, largely for ecclesiastical and university structures, into the 20th century.
The forerunners of Gothic architecture are of Armenian origin
In 933, The fortress-city of Kars was proclaimed as the new capital. Finally in 961, the capital of Armenia was proclaimed the City of Ani, which would become one of the greatest cities in Armenian history. The city at its height had nearly 200,000 inhabitants and was one of the largest of its era. This was at a time, when many of the current European capitals, including London and Paris, were relatively small, compared to that of Ani, which later on due to the number of many splendid churches was dubbed as “the city of 1001 churches.”
Josef Strzygowski, the renowned Austrian art historian, in his magnum opus, The Architecture of Armenia and Europe, outlined the influence of Armenian art and architecture upon Europe, including upon early Medieval architecture of Europe. Strzygowski was amongst the first to point out early Gothic styles that were applied in Armenian architecture of Ani and elsewhere which later on were transmuted to Europe by Armenian architects, many of whom were personally employed by a number of European kings.
Trdat the Architect (circa 940s – 1020; Latin: Tiridates) was the chief architect of the Bagratuni kings of Armenia, whose 10th century monuments are the forerunners of Gothic architecture which came to Europe several centuries later.
The belltower at Haghpat Monastery
After a great earthquake in 989 ruined the dome of Aya (Hagia) Sophia, the Byzantine officials summoned Trdat to Byzantium to organize repairs. The restored dome was completed by 994. Trdat is also thought to have designed or supervised the construction of Surb Nshan (Holy Sign, completed in 991), the oldest structure at Haghpat Monastery.
Even [Hagia] Aya Sophia, the cathedral, was torn to pieces from top to bottom. On account of this, many skillful workers among the Greeks tried repeatedly to reconstruct it. The architect and stonemason Trdat of the Armenians also happened to be there, presented a plan, and with wise understanding prepared a model, and began to undertake the initial construction, so that [the church] was rebuilt more handsomely than before.
Ani Cathedral moder by Toros Toramanian
In 961, Ashot III moved his capital from Kars to the great city of Ani where he assembled new palaces and rebuilt the walls. The Catholicosate was moved to the Argina district in the suburbs of Ani where Trdat completed the building of the Catholicosal palace and the Mother Cathedral of Ani. This cathedral offers an example of a cruciform domed church within a rectangular plan.
Ani
The cruciform domed church, or the cross inscribed in a rectangle, was not frequently used in the following centuries; we have, however, an outstanding example in the cathedral of Ani, built by the architect Trdat between the years 989 and 1001.
The side apses are almost entirely screened by short walls, as at Mren and St. Gayane, but the dome, instead of being placed over the middle of the rectangular space created by these short walls and the west wall, is brought closer to the main apse. From the powerful, clustered piers rise pointed and stepped arches supporting the dome on pendentives. Recessed pilasters are placed against the north and south walls, facing the clustered piers. Ten small semi-circular niches open into the main apse wall.
The clustered piers, the pointed arches and vaults, which had also been used by Trdat in the churches of Argin and Horomos, remind one of early Gothic architecture, but these forms appear in Armenia about a hundred years before they come into use in Western Europe.
Though of moderate size, the cathedral of Ani is imposing in the interior through the harmony of the proportions. The blind arcade with slender columns and ornate arches, the delicate interlaces carved around the door and windows add to the beauty of the exterior, and this church deserves to be listed among the important examples of medieval architecture.
The forerunners of Gothic architecture are of Armenian origin
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