In the thirteenth century, the ecclesiastical hierarchy of Reims could justify the tremendous expense of materials and labor used in the construction and adornment of a new cathedral built in the Gothic style on the grounds that the town was the site of the origin of a Christian kingdom of France.

Unlike Picardy (the region that housed Amiens), where communes had been established early and often without violence, the metropolitan town of Reims remained seigneurial and its lords deeply resistant to burgher efforts to gain a charter of communal liberties.

Scholarly and popular accounts of the rebuilding of Reims Cathedral typically begin with a report of a fire in the existing structure on May 6, 1210 and the ceremonial laying of a cornerstone at the south façade one year to the day later. 

When the Reims cathedral hierarchy quashed the urban insurrections of 1233 and 1238 [See Section I, pt. 3A] the clergy imposed huge reparations.

Stained glass was installed in the high choir of Reims Cathedral by 1241, in the years following the local rebellion, restoration of order, and exertion of clerical control in the city

The coronation has been the leading interpretive model for the Gothic cathedral of Reims. However, such a durable resolution is apparent only in retrospect.