support small windows. Many speculate that the rose window came from the Wheel a Fortune from the northern facade of a, Saint-Étienne, Beauvais in 1072. Wheel window style The wheel window style refers to when architects started to putting glass within the oculi structure creating an actual window. This was due to when architects tried increasing the diameter of the oculi to let in more light, the problem of wind and rain became very apparent. They became the standard for the rose window, becoming the base of which other styles that would be created. Example(s): Worms Cathedral (1110 A.D.) Saint-Etienna, Beauvais (1150 A.D.) Castle Hedingham churches Plate tracery style “Tracery” refers to the pattern within the window itself. Over the course of time tracery will evolve and change into three different distinct patterns: geometric, flower, and flame. “Plate” refers to a technique that came about in the 5th and 6th century in Syria, where when carving designs, an artist would take a single flat slab or piece of stone and carve one complete design with it. Example(s): Strasbourg Cathedral (1015–1439 A.D.) Consider to be the first Gothic church, the Abbey Church of Saint-Denis, was completed in 1144 A.D, as the Gothic period was beginning. It also is the first known church to have stained glass rose windows around 1200 A.D. The first rose windows that used dividing pieces and adornments first appeared basically at the same time in Italy at San Zeno at Verona, in Tuscany and in France at Saint-Denis and Saint-Etienne at Beauvais. At this time it was just as much of a useful structure tailored for interior drama as it was for exterior decoration. Rose windows gained major popularity in the middle of the 12th century. Early Gothic (around 1150–1250 A.D.) Flying buttresses were an architectural “god-send” for rose windows. The invention of flying buttresses helped support the heavy stone walls of structures. It allowed for less weight on the windows, permitting architects to make them bigger. The Gothic period is considered to be the birthplace of the “true” traditional rose window. Plate tracery style Example(s): Notre-Dame de Paris (1163–1345 A.D.) Notre-Dame was considered a great architectural accomplishment in many ways including the rose window. The west rose window is nearly 33 ft in diameter with a spider web like frame for great support. It also has one of the highest ratio of glass and stone of