The integration and evolution of the flying buttress into the architecture of high gothic cathedrals was the defining paradigmatic entity that shaped structural organization, and lead to the establishment of the period’s aesthetic typological identity. Innovative architectural elements such as these allowed the iconic structures of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries to soar to staggering heights and establish significance within architecture’s historical narrative. The advent of the flying buttress was a fundamental mechanism in early French gothic architecture which subsequently facilitated additional structural experimentation in French cathedral architecture, resulting in many expressive features of the High Gothic.