Following the Romanesque period, the Gothic period emerged in northern France. The centres of religious and intellectual authority moved from a rural-monastic environment to urban centres.
The Gothic ribbed vault, because it was light and thin, allowed for a new aesthetic to develop in which lux nova defined the new architecture. “New light” was communicated through the uplifting vaults and the stained glass that illuminated the new lofty spaces made technologically possible by flying buttresses on the exterior that provided support for the thin walls. Phillip II (r.1180-1223) built Paris into the capital of Gothic Europe. He paved the streets, embraced the city with walls, and built the Louvre to house the royal family.
Thomas Aquinas, an Italian monk, came to Paris in 1244 to study at the renowned university. He began, but never finished, the Summa Theoligica in the Scholastic model being taught in Paris. Based on