帝国征程44

But I rather think it was a big deal. Imagine the county gentry of England - priests, squires, judges - all wiped out overnight, half of them dead, the rest humiliated, broken, replaced by an alien class. They speak differently, they look different, they take what they want when they want, and then rubber-stamp the decision in your courts. They also build differently. Ely Cathedral is one of those places where the intimate scale of Saxon churches was replaced by a statement of massive triumphalism. These columns speak of authority and raw power. They command obedience and reverence. They are, in the most literal sense, awesome.

但我却认为这很重要。想象一下，英格兰各地的贵族们，牧师，乡绅，法官，一夜之间被推翻，半数惨死。幸存者只得任人羞辱，变得一文不名，地位早被外族替代。他们说着不同的语言，长着不同的面孔。只要想要，他们就会夺走一切，在你的宫廷之内肆意妄为。他们的建筑风格也炯然不同，伊里大教堂就是这样一处地方。撒克逊人建造的小型规模的教堂，被大量宣扬必胜主义的建筑所取代。这些圆柱象征了权威和原始力量，他们使人顺从，使人敬畏。他们的的确确，很了不起。