The best medium of circulation for knowledge was still the mobility of people on a continent without firm borders, as demonstrated by the intervention of the architect William of Sens in Canterbury.
The Opus Francigenum was the result of a collective effort that, notwithstanding a few failures, successfully developed a construction system in Île-de-France that was gradually exported. The elements that made up the language of Gothic architecture—originally understood as an overall structural principle and not as the sum of individual components—became models to be followed and rethought within the various historical, geographical, and socio-cultural contexts of its original French environment. Transmission was fostered by the will of those who commissioned building projects, as well as by tools of diffusion, such as literary descriptions and architectural drawings. The best medium of circulation for knowledge was still the mobility of people on a continent without firm borders, as demonstrated by the intervention of the architect William of Sens in Canterbury. Early modern Europe should therefore be considered as a living space in which ideas and master builders circulated freely, contributing to both the dynamism of regional realities and the definition of a common cultural identity.