The Cathedral Builders Part 9

[66] Anglicized from Bigeri Thorlacii et Sebastiani Ciampi. "_De septentrionalium gentium antiquitatibus, et literis runicis._"--Epistolae Mediolani._

[67] _Architettura d'Italia_, Fig. 119, p. 201.

[68] Cattaneo, _L' Architettura in Italia_, p. 79.

[69] Ermelind was from England, which suggests a very early intercourse between the Lombards and Britain.

[70] Cattaneo, _L' Architettura in Italia_, p. 167.

CHAPTER V

COMACINES UNDER CHARLEMAGNE

MASTERS OF THE CARLOVINGIAN ERA

---+-------+--------------------------+------------------------------- 1. 805 Magister Natalis A Lombard, employed at Lucca to build a church and make a ca.n.a.l.

2. 900? M. Johannis de Men.a.z.io Built the church of S. Giacomo (and many other Masters at Pontida.

from Como) 3. " A "famous Magister" Worked at S. Zeno at Verona, from Como (name not and built S. Zeno at Pontida.

given) 4. " M. Adami Sculptured the capitals in the atrium of S. Ambrogio at Milan.

We may safely say that Charlemagne, who was more a warrior than a man of aesthetic tastes, had no influence whatever on Italian architecture; neither the form nor the symbolism was changed by him. The Italians were always conservative, and clung to old traditions. The Roman basilica, and not the Eastern mosque, still continued to be the plan of the Italian church. Ricci a.s.serts that by the end of the eighth century all imitation of Oriental architecture had disappeared from Italian churches. It was not the same, however, with the ornamentations, in which the frozen Byzantine forms became vitalized under hands less technically skilful, but more natural.

[Ill.u.s.tration: DOOR OF A CHAPEL IN S. PRa.s.sEDE, ROME.

_See page 83._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLUTEUS FROM S. MARCO DEI PREc.i.p.aZI, NOW IN S. GIACOMO, VENICE.

_See page 84._]

Charlemagne did not even alter the Longobardic laws, and he certainly did not interfere with the freedom and privileges of the Comacines or _Liberi Muratori_. In fact he ratified the Lombard code (the laws of Rotharis and Luitprand), only adding a few others which are known as _Capitolari_.

They do not, however, refer specially to our _Magistri_, but to jurisprudence in general. The older laws still held good for the Comacines, and they went on building their Basilican churches, which were at the same time cla.s.sic in form, solid in style, and fanciful in decoration--a curious and characteristic mixture. But Charlemagne certainly patronized the Comacines, and not only employed them himself, but sent them to restore Roman churches for Pope Adrian, and to fortify Florence.

The early Carlovingian churches in Italy have so much a.n.a.logy with the Longobardic ones, that it is very difficult to distinguish precisely to which era certain churches belong.

Rumhor instances the Florentine Basilica of S. Scheraggio, which was much used as a meeting-place for civil councils in the early days of the Republic. This is usually said to have been a Carlovingian church; but either it was pure Lombard, as the barbarous name _Scheraggio_ implies, or else Charlemagne employed the Lombard architects.[71]

Padre Richa, who saw the ruins of it, gives a design of the church, which was the usual Lombard form, three naves, the central one wide, and an apse to each. The columns and capitals were from some Roman building.

The architecture was entirely similar to that of S. Paolo in ripa d'Arno, close to Pisa, which has also been styled Carlovingian. The chronicle of the monk Marco, written in 1287, preserved in the archives of Vallombrosa, shows that although the guide-books date S.

Scheraggio as twelfth-century architecture because a papal bull of that time refers to the name, it belonged to the Vallombrosian monks long before, having been given to them by Countess Beatrice in 1073,[72] and was probably founded in the ninth century.

We must not omit to mention the most interesting of Comacine churches, that of San Donato in Polenta, where Dante wors.h.i.+pped, and near which Paolo and Francesca lived. It was built in the eighth century, and is mentioned in a doc.u.ment of 976. It is of the usual triple-apsed form.

The columns have diverse capitals, some square, some diminished, ornamented with foliage and interlaced work; some have grotesque figures, and animals in low relief, with a rude technique. Here are men like monkeys, hippogriffs, sea monsters, etc. It has been graphically described in Sapphic verse by Carducci, as follows--

To that gaunt Byzantine there crucified, Whose hollow eyes gaze from his livid face, The faithful pray for blessings on their Lord,[73]

And glory to Rome.

From every capital dread shapes obtrude And memories bring of ancient sculpturing hands Whose works show visions weird, and horrors from The dreadful North.

The eastern gleam from pallid altar lamps Falls on degenerate inhuman forms, Writhing around in many-coiled embrace Like things of h.e.l.l.

Rude monsters spew above the kneeling flock.

Behind the very font, crouching beast Red-haired and horned, and demonlike Doth gaze and grin.

The original runs thus--

Al bizantino crocefisso, atroce Ne gli occhi bianchi livida magrezza, Chieser merce de l'alta stirpe e de la Gloria di Roma.

Da i capitelli orride forme intruse A le memorie di scapelli argivi, Sogni efferati e spasimi del bieco Settentrione.

Imbestiati degeneratamente Ne l'Oriente, al guizzo de le fioca Lampade, in turpi abbracciamenti attorti, Zolfo ed inferno.

Goffi sputavan su la prosternata Gregge: di dietro al battistero un fulvo Picciol cornuto diavolo guardava E subsannava.

This church, so full of poetic and historic interest, was lately going to be destroyed, but the priest, Don Luigi Zattini, appealed to the Inspector of Monuments for the province of Forli, who had recourse to the _Deputazione Storica Romagnola_. Efforts were made to save it, and instead of being pulled down, it is now only to be restored, which may be as fatal. The castle of Guido da Polenta, husband of Francesca da Rimini and brother of Paolo, is now ruined, but a cypress on a plateau of the grounds is still called Francesca's cypress.

It was about this era that the Comacines began their many emigrations, and spread throughout Italy. The church-building Longobards, being subjugated themselves, had no longer the power to employ them, so this large guild had to look further afield for their work.

Hitherto they seem to have been almost exclusively employed in the Lombard kingdom and its dukedoms, except the few who went to England and Germany in the seventh century. But Charlemagne had a wider rule in Italy; and good architecture was needed in other parts. Some doc.u.ments quoted by Professor Merzario[74] not only prove these travelling days of the _Magistri_, but connect them with many of the finest and most interesting churches in Central and South Italy. One is a deed of gift for the weekly distribution of bread and wine to the poor at Lucca in 805. It begins--"Ego Natalis, h.o.m.o transpada.n.u.s, magister casarius, Christo auxiliante, aedificavi Ecclesiam in honori Dei et Mariae et B. Petri Apostoli, intra hanc civitatem"--"I, Natalis, a man from beyond the P, being a master builder, by Christ's help have constructed within this city, a church in honour of G.o.d, of Mary, and of the blessed apostle Peter."[75] Here we see the Comacine Master settled as leading architect in Lucca, far from his native land beyond the P, and so flouris.h.i.+ng that he can dispense large charities. He seems to have done some public works too; there was a ca.n.a.l called the Fossa Natale, which ran through the city, and had a bridge over it.

There must have been others of the guild in Lucca, before Natalis, working at the churches of S. Frediano and S. Michele.

The latter building was not long prior to the era of Magister Natalis.

It was founded in 764 by the Lombard Teutprandus or Iutprand, and his wife Gumbranda. It coincides with S. Frediano in its plan of the Latin cross. Here, however, we find no Roman capitals, as in S. Frediano, but the twelve columns which sustain the arches of the nave are of rough white marble, from the neighbouring mountains of Carrara. They are of the same size upward, not narrowed at the top. The capitals are of somewhat composite order, with a leaning to Orientalism. The eight columns in the nave have simple arches _a sesto intero_ (semi-circular) springing from them; the four which support the tribune are heightened by piers of a Gothic form, flanked by pilasters, which raise the arch over the central nave. This seems to be the first instance of an attempt to render the sanctuary of the high altar more grand and majestic than the rest of the building. The facade is of quite a different epoch, and has nothing to do with the interior. It was the work of Guidectus in 1188, who also built the cathedral of Lucca.

The windows show the same divergence of style. In S. Frediano they are large and cla.s.sical, in S. Michele narrow and Neo-Gothic.

The other doc.u.ment is less decisive, but has its significance. An ancient mediaeval _Memoriale_, in the monastery of Pontida,[76] has the following entry--"Guglielmo de Longhi di Adraria built the church of San Giacomo di Pontida, employing Magister Johanne de Men.a.z.io et multis aliis de episcopatu comensi." This was finished in 1301, and was consequently later than the building of S. Zeno at Pontida, of which another MS. in the same monastery relates a fact, which the chronicler says happened _avanti il mille_ (before the year 1000).

"A master very famous in the art of building, who came 'de regione juxta lac.u.m c.u.manum' (from the region about Lake Como), met with robbers at Cisano, as he returned from Verona to his native place. The which Master being struck with terror, recommended himself, calling with all his heart on the blessed Zeno, and made a vow that if the saint brought him safe and sound out of that deadly peril, he would build a church in his honour. As soon as he had spoken the words, the horse on which he was mounted took fright and galloped away, so that the robbers could no more harm him. Thus he escaped safely with all his belongings ('pote scampare sano con tutte le sue cose'), and returning the following year with his workmen, he began the building of the church of S. Zeno at Valle Ponzia (now Pontida), the people of the neighbourhood lending him aid, both in money and in labour."

We may be excused for jumping at conclusions if we opine that as he was returning from Verona after a long sojourn, he had been employed there. Probably it was at the church of S. Zeno; particularly as he felt he had a special claim on the help of that saint.

There is very little left of the first church of S. Zeno at Verona (which was rebuilt entirely in the twelfth century), except the curious mausoleum in the crypt, which is supposed to be King Pepin's tomb. Our Comacine who escaped the brigands may possibly have made that, as the era (before the year 1000) corresponds. Or he might have been working at the church which Bishop Lothaire, aided by Bertrada, mother of Charlemagne, built 780 A.D., and dedicated to S. Maria Matricolare, and which the Bishop Ratoldo (802-840) chose as the cathedral. Of this, too, little remains now, it having been rebuilt in the twelfth century, but some indications of the old building were found in the excavations made in 1884. At the depth of two metres, in the Lombard cloister adjoining it, a mosaic pavement was discovered with a design of foliage, animals, and inscriptions. There was also a fallen column, which they were able to stand on its own base with its capital. Cattaneo[77] thinks that these are the remains of Lothaire's church, as the capital of the column is undoubtedly of the eighth century. It has a rigid abacus, and the form is rudely Corinthian, with solid straight leaves curled back, instead of the usual acanthus.

The same style is seen in S. Salvatore of Brescia, and S. Maria in Cosmedin in Rome, both Comacine works.

[Ill.u.s.tration: COMACINE CAPITALS.

_See page 96._]

Another Carlovingian church in Verona is that of S. Lorenzo, said to have been founded by Pepin. Some interesting bits of its primitive architecture remain, and are precious relics. There is, for instance, a little spiral stairway in the wall, which led to different divisions of the women's gallery.[78]

At this era a change in the form of windows may be observed; they were narrowed and heightened, a first step towards the Gothic form.

In Carlovingian times the Comacines worked much in Rome. Cattaneo[79]

says that there exist letters from Pope Adrian I. to Charlemagne, begging him to send architects (_Magistri_) from the north of Italy, to execute some works in Rome. Now these _Magistri_ could be no other than the Comacine Guild of Lombardy, who with the Longobards had lately become subjects of Charlemagne, and were without doubt the finest builders in Italy, if not monopolists of the art. The buildings which they designed and erected in Rome at that time were the churches of S. Maria in Cosmedin, S. Lorenzo in Lucina, S. Saba on Mount Aventine, and the residence of the Patriarch near S. John Lateran. The door of a chapel in S. Pra.s.sede with its Comacine _intrecci_ is a standing proof of their work there in the ninth century.