The Cathedral Builders Part 3

701. Ragimbert.

701. Aribert II. (son).

712. Ansprand elected.

712. Luitprand (son); a great prince, favourite of the Church.

744. Hildebrand (nephew), deposed.

744. Ratchis, Duke of Friuli, elected, but afterwards became a monk.

749. Astolfo (brother).

756. Desiderius, quarrelled with Pope Adrian, who invited Charlemagne to Italy. He defeated and dethroned Desiderius, and put an end to the Lombard kingdom.

FOOTNOTES:

[2] "Si Magister Comacinus, c.u.m collegis suis, domum ad restaurandum, vel fabricandum super se placito finito de mercede susceperit, et contigerit aliquem per ipsam domum aut materiam, aut lapide lapso moti, aut quodlibet d.a.m.num fieri, non requiratur domino, cuius domus fuerit, nisi Magister Comacinus c.u.m consortibus suis ipsum homicidium aut d.a.m.num componat, qui postquam fabulam firmatam de mercede pro suo lucro susciperit, non immerito sustinet d.a.m.num."

[3] "Si quis Magister Comacinum unum aut plures rogaverit, aut conduxerit ad operam dictandum, aut solatium diurnum praestandum inter suos servos ad domum aut casam faciendam et contigerit per ipsam casam, aliquem ex ipsis Comacinis mori non requiratur ab ipso, cuius casa est. Nam si cadens arbor, aut lapis ex ipsa fabrica, et occiderit aliquem extraneum, aut quodlibet d.a.m.num fecerit, non reputetur culpa magistro, sed ille qui conduxit, ipsum d.a.m.num sustineat."--From the _Edict of Rotharis_--edited by Troyes.

[4] Stieglitz, _Geschichte der Baukunst_, 1827, pp. 423, 424. See also Hope's _Historical Essay on Architecture_, 1835, pp. 229-237.

[5] See Hope's _Historical Essay on Architecture_, 3rd edition, 1840, chap. xxi. pp. 203-216.

[6] E mandaro al Senato di Roma, che manda.s.si loro i piu sofficienti maestri, e piu sottili (subtle) che fossero in Roma: e cosi fu fatto.--_Storia_ di G. Villani. Libro primo, cap. xlii.

[7] Ca.s.siodorus, _Variorum_, Lib. VI. Epist. vi. _Ad Prefectum Urbis De Architecta Publicorum_.

[8] Morrona, _Pisa ill.u.s.trata nelle Arti del Disegno_, p. 160. Pisa, 1812.

[9] _Inst.i.tuzioni, riti e ceremonie dell' ordine de' Francs-Macons, ossia Liberi Muratori._--In Venezia MDCCLx.x.xVIII, presso Leonardo Ba.s.saglia, Con Licenza de' Superiori.

[10] The Charter Richard II. for the year 1396, quoted in the _Masonic Magazine_ (1882), has the following entry--"341 Concessimus archiepiscopo Cantuar, quod, viginti et quatuor lath.o.m.os vocatus ffre Maceons et viginti et quatuor lath.o.m.os vocatos ligiers ... capere ...

possit." Here then at Canterbury is the same thing as at Milan, and all other ancient cathedral-building cities,--the master builders are Freemasons, _i.e._ of the great and universal guild,--the underlings who a.s.sist them have not the same rank and privilege. The Act Henry VI., c. 12, 1444, says in queer mixed parlance--"Les gagez ascun frank mason ou maister Carpenter nexcede pas par le jour IIIJ d. (denari) ovesque mangier & boier ... un rough mason and mesne Carpenter ... III d. par le jour." Here we recognize the same distinction of grades between the master who has matriculated and the mason of lower grade.

It is interesting also to note that the master carpenter is equally a Freemason as well as the master builder. In Italy the same peculiarity is noticeable; the _magister lignamine_, whose work was to make scaffoldings and roofs, is a member of the _Maestranze_, just as much as the _magister lapidorum_, and yet a master in wood is never a stonemason. The members seem to have been grounded in all the branches, but only graduated in one of them. The author of the article "Freemason" in the _New English Dictionary on Historical Principles_, seems to be perplexed over the expression "_maestre mason de franche peer_" ("master mason of free-stone"); but this is merely the equivalent of the Latin _magister lapidus vivum_, from _Saxum vivum_, free-stone, which merely means a sculptor, in distinction to an architect, who was _magister inzignorum_.

[11] At one era in Lombard times a law was made that no marble was to be used in building, except by royal persons--which accounts for all the Lombard churches being sculptured in _Saxum vivum_, or free-stone.

There may have been a similar custom in England where marble was scarce.

[12] There were other five martyrs of the Masonic guild, whose names have been given as Carpoferus, Severus, Severa.n.u.s, Victoria.n.u.s, and Symphorian. I have taken the four "Coronati" from the statutes of the Venetian _Arte_.

[13] Mrs. Jameson finds the Santi Quattro ill.u.s.trated in a predella in Perugia Academy. In one scene they are kneeling before the Emperor with their implements in their hands. In another they are bound to four columns and tortured. In a third they are in an iron cage and being thrown into the sea. In their own church they are represented as lying in one sarcophagus with crowns on their heads. In sculpture they also occur on the facades of several early churches; on the Arco di S.

Agostino, and lastly on Or San Michele at Florence, where Nanni di Banco had so much trouble in squeezing the four of them into one niche, that Donatello had to help him. These sculptures were placed by the _Arte_ of masons and stone-cutters, and they naturally chose their patron saints.

[14] _Gregor. Epist._ Tom. III. Epist. iv. an. 755.

[15] Pietro Giannone, an exile from Naples, contemporary of Muratori, was the first to mention this _Memoratorio_, which he said he had seen among the precious codices of the monks at Cava dei Tirreni; that it contained 152 laws, seven of which were added specially for the Comacine Masters.

[16] See _Epistola ad Mustio_, 39, lib. ix.

[17] Lib. X. Epist. xliii.

[18] Muratori, _Novus Thesaurus veterum Inscriptorum_, Vol. I. chap.

vii. p. 526.

[19] _Antiq. Long. Mil._ Tom. I. chap. i. p. 17.

CHAPTER II

THE COMACINES UNDER THE LONGOBARDS

LONGOBARD MASTERS

-----+------+-------------------------+------------------------------- About 1. 712 Magister Ursus Sculptured the altar at Ferentilla, and a ciborium at S. Giorgio di Valpolicella, for King Luitprand.

2&3. 712 M. Ivvintino and Ivviano. Disciples of Ursus.

(Joventino and Joviano) 4. " Magister Giovanni Made the tomb of S. c.u.mia.n.u.s.

5. 739 M. Rodpert Worked at Toscanella, and bought land there.

6. 742 M. Piccone Architect employed by Gunduald at Lucca: he received a gift of lands in Sabine in 742.

7. M. Auripert A painter patronized by King Astolph.

It was on April 2, 568, that the Longobards under Alboin, with their wives and children and with all their belongings, "_colle loro mogli e figli, e con tutte le sostanze loro_," first came down and took Friuli. Alboin gave the government there to Gisulph, his nephew, leaving with him many of the chief and bravest families, and a high-bred race of horses (_generosa razza di cavalli_).

Next he took Vicenza and Verona, and in September 569 pa.s.sed into Liguria--which then extended from the Adda to the Ligurian Sea,--and conquered Milan. To this add Emilia, and later, Ravenna and Tuscany, and the first Lombard kingdom was complete.

From this kingdom depended the three dukedoms of Friuli, Spoleto, and Beneventum. The last was added in the time of Autharis (575-591) when, like Canute, he rode into the sea at Reggio in Calabria, and touching the waves with his lance, cried--"These alone shall be the boundary of the Longobards."[20]

This Autharis married Theodolinda, a Christian. He was an Arian, but by her means he became Catholic. After his death, in 590, she chose Agilulf, who reigned with her twenty-five years.[21]

Paulus Diaconus gives the following very pretty account of Theodolinda's two betrothals--

"It was expedient for Autharis, the young King of the Lombards, to take a wife, and an amba.s.sador was sent to Garibald, King of Bavaria, to propose an alliance with his daughter Theodolinda. Autharis disguised himself as one of the suite, with the object of seeing beforehand what his bride was like. She was sent for by her father and bidden to hand some wine to the guests. Having served the amba.s.sador first, she handed the cup to Autharis, and in giving him the serviette after drinking, he managed to press her hand. The princess blushed, and told the incident to her nurse, who in a prophetic manner a.s.sured her that he must be the king himself, or he would not have dared to touch her.

"Soon after, on the Franks invading Bavaria, Theodolinda with her brother fled to Italy, where Autharis met her near Verona, and the marriage was solemnized on the Ides of May, A.D. 589.

"Amongst the guests were Agilulf, Duke of Turin, and with him a youth of his suite, son of an augur; in a sudden storm a tree near them was struck by lightning, on which the young augur said to Agilulf--'The bride who has arrived to-day will shortly wed you.' Agilulf was so angry at what seemed a disrespect to the king and queen, that he threatened to cut off his page's head, who replied--'I may die, but I cannot change destiny.' And truly, when a few years after Autharis was poisoned at Pavia, Theodolinda's people were so attached to her, that they offered her the kingdom if she would elect a Longobard as husband.

"Destiny had decreed that she should choose Agilulf. The same ceremony of offering him a cup of wine was gone through, and he kissed her hand as she gave it. The queen blus.h.i.+ng said--'He who has a right to the mouth need not kiss the hand.' So Agilulf knew that he was her chosen king.

"She was a Christian, and a favourite disciple of Gregory the Great.

Her good life and prayers were able to convert Agilulf to orthodox Christianity, for like many Longobards of the time he had fallen into the Arian heresy. In grat.i.tude for this she vowed a church to St. John Baptist, and a miraculous voice inspired her as to the site at Modcia, or '_oppidum moguntiaci_.'"

It was under these Christianized invaders that the Comacine Masters became active and influential builders again, and it is here that the actual history of the guild begins.