Gothic Topic: Where Goths Get Their Name
Posted: January 8th, 2005, 12:01 am
Gothic Topic: Where Goths Get Their Name
First there was Gothic horror, then the Goth punk/alternative style -- black fingernail polish, dark clothes, eyeliner, and blood-red lips -- but where did the terms “Goth” and “Gothic” come from? These words came to be identified with the macabre in a round-about way that I find fascinating.
I mentioned the word “Goth” to a friend of mine who is a former college professor of architecture, now retired. He told me that Gothic architecture is also called "Christian" architecture. That sounded strange, so I asked him why. Here is the story:
Back in medieval times, around 200 A.D. just before the middle Ages, a tribe of Germanic people called the Goths (similar to the Huns) invaded the Roman Empire. They eventually wiped out the Roman Empire, or as some people see it, the Roman Empire blended in with the Goths. Then, at some point, the Goth leaders converted to Christianity. The churches and other buildings they constructed had high pointed arches, rib vaulting, and other things that gave it a certain style. It was known as "Christian" or "Goth" because it was built by the Goths after their official religion became Christianity.
Now -- fast forward to the 1800's – hundreds of years after the Goth invasions. Writers found that their readers loved “safe danger" – this meant you could read about something really scary and get the thrill of terror, but you knew it was just a story so you enjoyed the rush. Mary Shelly wrote Frankenstein in 1818, Edgar Allan Poe wrote his Tales of Mystery and Imagination in the 1840's, and Bram Stoker wrote Dracula in 1897. There were many others as well.
It just so happened, by coincidence, that in England during the 1800’s, they were discovering a lot of the old Gothic architecture from centuries earlier, much like the pyramids were rediscovered in Egypt. It became popular to copy the old Goth style, or restore some of the old castles and churches. Nowadays we might call it “retro.” Many of the horror stories written in the 1800’s would feature an old Gothic structure for the vampire’s hideout or the madman’s lair. Some of the writers actually referred back to the medieval days and some just wrote about their own time, but Gothic art & architecture became associated with stories of the grotesque, the mysterious, and the desolate.
End
First there was Gothic horror, then the Goth punk/alternative style -- black fingernail polish, dark clothes, eyeliner, and blood-red lips -- but where did the terms “Goth” and “Gothic” come from? These words came to be identified with the macabre in a round-about way that I find fascinating.
I mentioned the word “Goth” to a friend of mine who is a former college professor of architecture, now retired. He told me that Gothic architecture is also called "Christian" architecture. That sounded strange, so I asked him why. Here is the story:
Back in medieval times, around 200 A.D. just before the middle Ages, a tribe of Germanic people called the Goths (similar to the Huns) invaded the Roman Empire. They eventually wiped out the Roman Empire, or as some people see it, the Roman Empire blended in with the Goths. Then, at some point, the Goth leaders converted to Christianity. The churches and other buildings they constructed had high pointed arches, rib vaulting, and other things that gave it a certain style. It was known as "Christian" or "Goth" because it was built by the Goths after their official religion became Christianity.
Now -- fast forward to the 1800's – hundreds of years after the Goth invasions. Writers found that their readers loved “safe danger" – this meant you could read about something really scary and get the thrill of terror, but you knew it was just a story so you enjoyed the rush. Mary Shelly wrote Frankenstein in 1818, Edgar Allan Poe wrote his Tales of Mystery and Imagination in the 1840's, and Bram Stoker wrote Dracula in 1897. There were many others as well.
It just so happened, by coincidence, that in England during the 1800’s, they were discovering a lot of the old Gothic architecture from centuries earlier, much like the pyramids were rediscovered in Egypt. It became popular to copy the old Goth style, or restore some of the old castles and churches. Nowadays we might call it “retro.” Many of the horror stories written in the 1800’s would feature an old Gothic structure for the vampire’s hideout or the madman’s lair. Some of the writers actually referred back to the medieval days and some just wrote about their own time, but Gothic art & architecture became associated with stories of the grotesque, the mysterious, and the desolate.
End