Educational rationale--By filling out this worksheet, students will understand the importance of religion and architecture in the Middle Ages. Have your students use Gargoyles in Medieval Gothic Art, The History of Gargoyles, or other web sites, listed on this page, to fill out this sheet. This is a good exercise for middle school students.

Before assigning this worksheet, emphasize to the students that the DEVIL, as a symbol of the powers of darkness and evil, was a strong force in medieval thinking, and the church MANIPULATED those fears as it sought, often fanatically, to subvert the pagan world of the early Middle Ages. The promise of heaven and the prospect of the fires of hell were constant themes in the art and architecture of the Middle Ages.

1. Today gargoyles are usually thought of as statues of strange animals, but gargoyles were originally intended as_________________________ to keep _________________________from damaging the foundation of buildings.
   
   
2. The term gargoyle comes from the Latin word __________________ and the Old French word _________________.
   
   
3. The French word in question 2 means _______________________ or the ____________________ sound made by water as it ran through the figure.
   
   
4. Unusual animal mixtures were called_______________________ or ________________________________ and did not usually act as __________________________________.
   
   
5. Gargoyles contributed to the religious education of the medieval society by telling stories, from the roofs and sides of churches, because most people in the Middle Ages could not __________________ and were therefore ________________________________.
   
   
6. Gargoyles were often scary and bizarre because of the belief that frightening figures on the side of the
   church or cathedral would _________________ away_______________________________.
   
   
7. One possible reason for using gargoyles on a cathedral came from the story of a dragon named__________________________.
   
   
8. Explain who Romanus was and explain what he did to the dragon. ___________________________________________________________________
   
   ___________________________________________________________________.
   
   
9. What does the story of Romanus and the dragon have to do with the medieval practice of placing gargoyles on churches and cathedrals? ___________________________________________________________________
   
   ___________________________________________________________________.
   
   
10. The idea of gargoyles have been around for almost __________ years and the use of gargoyles or grotesque figures came from the _______________________.
    
    
11. What are the four terms that Greeks sometimes used to describe gargoyles or grotesques? _______________, ________________________, ________________________ and ________________________.
    
    
12. In Greek architecture, gutters were added to the ends of a building's roof to project rainwater away from the building. The Greeks used carved marble heads of animals at the ends of the gutters and the rainwater ran through the mouths and off the sides of the buildings. What animals did the Greeks use as their models for the first gargoyles? ______________________________________________________________________
    
    
13. Why did the Greeks choose these animals? ___________________________________________________
    
    ______________________________________________________________________________________
    
    
14. Gargoyles were very symbolic and represented many different things. Gargoyles of humans with open mouths represented the __________________ of _________________. Gargoyles with mixed bodies represented _______________________.
    
    
15. During the Middle Ages, why were only skilled craftsmen allowed to create gargoyles and grotesques? ____________________________________________________________________________________
    
    ____________________________________________________________________________________