The Cathedral Builders Part 12

It is true that many ecclesiastics were, like the monks of S.

Guillaume at Dijon and other Dominicans, members of the Masonic guilds, and were accordingly versed in the science of architecture. In that case the monk, when he became bishop or abbot, might furnish a plan, and very often did so. Fra Sisto and Fra Ristori built Santa Maria Novella in Florence; but they were connected with the Florentine lodge, so their doing so would certainly be no proof that the Masters of the guild could not have done equally well themselves.

That the oldest churches in Normandy have a great affinity to Lombard buildings is evident on examination. See the Lombard-shaped windows in the towers of St. Stephen's at Caen; the exterior of the circular apse of St. Nicholas, Caen, which still keeps its original hexagonal form, with pilasters like slight columns running from ground to roof at each division, and a colonnade surrounding it of perfect Lombard double-arched form, with a small pillar in the centre of each. (_See_ Fergusson's _Architecture_.)

The local Norman developments are equally well defined in this building; the usual little Lombard gallery beneath the roof has given way to large, deep, circular-headed windows, and the roof has taken the high pitch natural to the climate. Both of these are climatic distinctions; the northerner aiming at more light, the southerner trying to shut out the sun: the damp climate, of course, necessitated the sloping roof.

Now, before the Normans came back to Italy they had made Italian architecture their own, and impressed on it their own character, rugged and robust, and it was so different to the buildings in South Italy with which they have been accredited, that I think this theory will have to be revised. The arts were certainly not influenced in Sicily by the first Norman invasion in 1058 under Roger I., son of Tancred, he being entirely a bellicose and rough warrior. It was when the Normans had taken root there, had become more softened, and had formed a settled government; in fact, after Roger II. had been crowned King of Apulia and Sicily in 1130, that they began to give their minds to artistic architecture. This was a century and a half after Abbot Guillaume took his countrymen over to build at Dijon. The first stone of the Duomo of Cefalu was laid in 1131, and the royal palace of Palermo begun during the next year. Under Roger's successors the fine churches of Martorana, and the cathedral of Monreale in 1172, the cathedral of Palermo (1185), and the palace of Cuba arose. An Italian writer, La Lumia, is very enthusiastic over the Duomo of Monreale--"that visigoth (_sic_) art which had in Normandy erected the cathedrals of Rouen, Bayeux, etc., multiplied in Monreale the ogival forms which had been known and practised in Sicily since the sixth century,[91] and took its upward flight in towers and bold spires. In the mosaics and decorations the majestic Arabic art espoused Byzantine and Christian types. The varied and multiplex a.s.sociation has impressed on these works an _imp.r.o.nt_ both singular and stupendous.

The columns show the ruins of pagan cla.s.sicism, the incredible profusion of marbles, verd-antique, and porphyry speak of a rich and florid political state; while the solemn mystery of those sublime arcades, profound lines and symbolic forms; the dim religious light, the ecstatic figures of prophets and saints with the gigantic Christ over the altar offering benediction to men, all shadow forth the mediaeval idea of Christianity--full and ingenuous faith, vivified by conquest."

Then he goes on grandiloquently to say--"The names of the builders are unknown to us, and we need not trouble to seek them: a generation and era is here with all its soul made visible, with all its vigorous and fruitful activity."

But if we cannot find the names it would at least be interesting to know whether the Norman-Siculo architecture were entirely the work of the Normans or not. Gravina, Boit, and other Italian writers think that the Normans took a similar position in Sicily to that of the earlier Longobards in the north, _i.e._ that they were the patrons, and employed the artists whom they found in Sicily.

Merzario,[92] giving as his authority Michele Amari,[93] brings forward as a suggestive fact, that precisely at the time of the Norman occupation, there was a large emigration into Sicily of members of the Lombard or Comacine Guild. Amari thinks that the feudal government of the Normans at that time did not allow their subjects to emigrate from land to land (excepting of course their armies for purposes of conquest), while in North Italy feudalism was going out, and with the establishment of republics the movement of the inhabitants was freer.

"This," he says, "accounts for the so-called colonies of Lombards, which came to Sicily at that time, but of which, unfortunately, we have no reliable historical evidence."

These Lombardo-Siculan colonies, however, have been clearly traced by an Italian writer, Lionardo Vigo, in his _Monografia critica delle colonie Lombardo sicule_.[94] He has proved that there were four Lombard colonies in Sicily. That the first went down with Ardoin and Mania, between 1002, when, on Otho's death, Ardoin was elected King of Italy, and his retirement to S. Benigno in 1013 after his long struggle with Henry II. The second was during the Norman conquest of Sicily in 1061; the third later in the century, at the time of the union of the Norman and Swabian dynasties; and the fourth about 1188 under the Emperor Frederic,--this colony was led by Addo di Camerana.

The first two colonies left no lasting traces in the island, but the third founded the town of Maniace, and the last planted a settled colony which has left its mark, not only in the language, but in the many Lombard place-names. Thus there are in Sicily villages named Carona, Gagliano, Novara, Palazzolo, Padern, Piazza, Sala, and Scopello, all of which are names of older places in the Comacine territory. Another name, "Sanfratelli" (the holy brethren), is very suggestive of the patron saints of the Lombard Guild, the "Quattro Incoronati." It is in this district precisely that Signor Vigo finds a special language, which has no affinity with Sicilian, or central Italian, and which he describes as a "hybrid, b.a.s.t.a.r.d language; a decayed Longobardic, only intelligible to those who use it; a frightful jargon and perfectly satanic tongue."

In the same volume of the _Archivio Storico Siciliano_ is another collection of doc.u.ments, regarding an episode of the war between the Latin and Catalonian factions at Palermo in the time of Ludovico of Aragon, about 1349. It shows in a list of volunteers, several names of _Magistri_ which seem to be familiar to us. Here is Magister Nicolao Mancusio, Magister Guillelmo, Magister Nicolao de Meraviglia, Magister Chicco, Magister Juliano Guzu, Magister Roberto de Juncta (Giunta), Magister Vitalis, both from the Pisan lodge, Julia.n.u.s Cuccio, Salvo di Pietro, etc. We find that Benedictus de Siri, a Lombard, was paid for twenty soldiers for ten days. Again on July 31, 1349, among the payments made to those who fought to defend Vicari during the siege, we find Magister Vanni di Bologna, Paulo de Boni, Magister Gaddi, Magister Benedicto de Lencio (Lenzo near Como), and Johanni de Gentile, and various others, all mixed up with ordinary folks who have no magic _Master_ before their names. This seems to imply that the Lombard colony at that time had been long enough in Sicily to be nationalized, and that they furnished men for the war like any other citizens.

In some cases the payments are made to the heirs of Magister Johanne or Vitale, thus proving them to have become possessed of property.

This was a privilege accorded to the Comacine Masters even in feudal times, when other cla.s.ses were bound and enslaved. From the example of Magister Rodpert, the Longobard who sold his land at Toscanella many centuries before, we judge that when the Comacine remained long in a place, he made use of his earnings to buy land. Indeed in those days when no banks existed, landed property was the only secure disposition for wealth. And having bought his house and vineyards, it was but natural that he should name the estate after his own native place in Lombardy.

It is gratifying to find these direct proofs of the constant presence of the Lombard Masters in Sicily during the whole Norman and Swabian dynasties. It accounts for so much. It accounts for the so-called Norman architecture in Sicily having so much more affinity to Italian forms than to French-Norman; and it accounts for the Saracenic cast which Lombard architecture took after that era. The influence was a lasting one, and showed itself in all the subsequent work of the guild, during the eleventh and twelfth centuries.

Was this influence imbibed by the Normans who are said to have caused it? Evidently not.

Was Norman architecture proper, in the north of Europe, immediately changed? Not at all. It remained the same through all the Norman rule from Robert Guiscard to the fall of the line. It was not till the thirteenth century that the elegant pointed Gothic found its way into England--but not through Normandy--and took the place of the solid round-arched, short-pillared buildings introduced by William the Conqueror. We have seen that this round-arched style was first taught the Normans by the Italian builders whom the Abbot Guillaume brought northward with him.

But the Lombard influence in France was not confined to Normandy nor to Aix-la-Chapelle. Hope, the English authority on Lombard architecture, who spent eight years studying European churches, finds many a sign of Lombard handiwork on French soil. At Tournus is an abbey church of extremely interesting Lombard form. Fergusson[95] thus describes it--"Its antiquity is manifested by the rudeness both of its design and execution. The nave is separated from the aisles by plain cylindrical columns without bases, the capitals of which are joined by circular arches at the height of the vaults of the aisle. From the capitals rise dwarf columns supporting arches thrown across the nave.

From one of these arches to another is thrown a tunnel vault which runs the cross way of the building, being in fact a series of arches like those of a bridge extending the whole length of the nave." Here we have, I believe, the first step towards the vaulted roof of the later Gothic buildings. The church of Ainay at Lyons, is said by Fergusson to be very similar to this.

Then there is the cathedral of Avignon in Provence, with its octagonal cupola, and its porch of Charlemagne's era in Romano-Lombard style. It is not unlikely that the earliest Provencal churches were built by Italian architects, for Avignon was closely connected with the Papacy at that time, and the Popes as we know were the especial patrons of the Masonic guild.

In the church of S. Trophime at Arles we have distinct signs of the Comacines, in the lion-supported columns of the central porch, and the frieze of sculpture above. There are three richly-sculptured porches; the central door is divided in two like a Lombard window, by a slight column which rests on kneeling figures, and has angels carved in the capital. The richly ornate architrave has lions on each side of it.

The church at Cruas in Provence has three apses with Lombard archlets round them all. Its dome is surrounded by a colonnade, and a superimposed round turret with Lombard windows. The tower has the usual double-arched windows.

Provence shows some beautiful specimens of Italian cloisters, at Aix, at Arles, and at Fontifroide. The latter has a row of arches supported by double columns of elegant slightness, and with foliaged capitals of varied form and great freedom of design. Fergusson says that the freedom and boldness are unrivalled. The cloister at Elne is still more varied and unique; the capitals mix up Egyptian, cla.s.sic, and mediaeval art in a manner truly unique.

As for towers, those left in Provence show a distinctly Lombard style.

The tower at Puissalicon near Beziers is perfect in every particular, with its pillared Lombard windows increasing in width and lightness as they ascend.

From Provence, the land of the Popes, the Comacines penetrated further into France. The church of S. Croix at Bordeaux, attributed to William the Good, Duke of Aquitaine, who died in 877, has its round-arched porch, decorated with a profusion of Comacine _intrecci_ of intertwined vines; and spiral pilasters grouped at the angles. Hope quotes the facade of the cathedral of San Pietro at Angouleme, as the finest Lombard one existing. There are numerous files of round arches, on elegant little columns, statues in niches, rich bas-reliefs, friezes, and arabesques. The nave is divided into three portions, each with a cupola. In this we see another step forward towards the vaulted roof. At Tournus the arches are simply thrown across the three divisions of the nave; here they are arched into the shape of a dome.

The tower is entirely Lombard in form. There are Lombard churches at Poictiers, Puy, Auxerre, Caen, Poissy, Compiegne, etc., in all of which the style is perfectly distinct from the Norman, as it was then developed; and also from the later Gothic.

FOOTNOTES:

[89] "Coeperunt ex sua patria, hoc est Italia, multi ad eum convenire.

Aliqui lyteris bene eruditi: aliqui diversorum operum magisterio edocti: alii scientia praediti; quorum ars et ingenium huic loco profuit plurimum."--Chron. S. Benigni Divion, quoted by D'Archery in _Spicilegio_, vol. ii. p. 384.

[90] Thomas Hope, _Storia dell' Architettura_, ch. x.x.xviii. p. 263.

[91] The Saracens invaded Sicily in 832; the author must mean the ninth century.

[92] _I Maestri Comacini_, Vol. I. chap. iii. p. 121.

[93] _Storia dei Mussulmani di Sicilia_, Vol. III. chap. i. p. 222, _et seq._

[94] See _Archivio Storico Siciliano_, Nuova serie. Anno ix. 1884.

[95] Fergusson, _Handbook of Architecture_, p. 652.

CHAPTER II

THE GERMAN LINK

The heading of this chapter implies nothing that can impugn the claims of the Teutons to the perfecting of the Gothic style, which claims are undoubtedly fair. It only implies that the pointed Gothic architecture was not an invention of the Germans, so much as a national development of some earlier form; and, like all developments, must have had some link connecting it with that earlier source. Was the Comacine Guild that link? Legends and traditions pointing to it are many, but, as usual, absolute proofs are few. Some proofs might be found if, with a clue in one's hand, search could be made among the archives of the German cities in which round-arched Lombard-style churches were built before the pointed Gothic and composite style came in. Some German _savant_ should sift out certain traditions, which, from want of authorities and unfamiliarity with the language, I am not able to do.

These are--

Firstly: That St. Boniface came to Italy before proceeding on his mission to Germany in A.D. 715, and that Pope Gregory II. gave him his credentials, instructions, etc., and sent with him a large following of monks, versed in the art of building, and of lay brethren who were also architects, to a.s.sist them.[96] This is the precise method in which St. Augustine and St. Benedict Biscop were equipped and sent to their missions in England, and S. Guillaume to his bishopric in Normandy. What resulted in England from the missions of St. Augustine, St. Wilfrid, and St. Benedict? The cathedral of Canterbury, the abbeys of Hexham, Lindisfarne and others--all distinctly Lombard buildings.

What did S. Guillaume do in Normandy? He built the churches of Caen, Dijon, etc., also in pure Lombard style, not in the heavier Norman by which the natives followed it. So in Germany we hear that among the bishoprics founded by St. Boniface were Cologne, Worms, and Spires,[97] precisely the cities which have remains of the earliest churches in Lombard style. There are many other German churches, now fine Gothic buildings, whose crypts and portals show remains of older round-arched buildings.

Secondly: It is necessary to discover the precise connection of the Emperors Charlemagne, Otho, and the German monarchs who successively ruled in Lombardy, with the Masonic guild there. Whether, as they employed them in the Italian part of their kingdom, they did not also employ them across the Alps.

Thirdly: To find out whether, when Albertus Magnus went back to Cologne from Padua, he had not become a _Magister_ in the Masonic guild, as many monks were, and whether he propagated the tenets of the brotherhood in Germany.

Certain proof exists that he designed the choir of the cathedral there, if nothing more. He also wrote a book ent.i.tled _Liber Constructionum Alberti_, which afterwards became the handbook for Gothic work. It is probable that this was in great part borrowed from an earlier Italian work on the construction of churches, named _L' Arcano Magistero_. This, however, was a secret book of the guild, and was kept most strictly in the hands of the _Magistri_ themselves.

Kugler relates that in 1090 a citizen of Utrecht killed a bishop, who had taken _L' Arcano Magistero_ away from his son who was an architect.

I am strongly of opinion that Albertus Magnus was much connected with the importation of Freemasons into Germany.

Fourthly: To discover whether in the cities where great buildings went on for many years, there remains any trace of the same threefold Masonic organization, which we find in the Italian cathedral-building towns; and whether the administration thereof was jointly managed by the _Magistri_ or head architects, and the patrons or civic authorities of the city in which the buildings were carried on.

All these things can only be verified, in case the works of contemporary chroniclers still exist, or if there remain any traces of archives of so early a date.

As far as style in building goes to prove anything, the Lombards certainly preceded the native Gothic architects in Germany. Hope enumerates several churches, such as those at Spires, Worms, Zurich, and several old ones at Cologne, built before or about the Carlovingian era, which have every sign of Lombard influence.

The Gross Munster of Zurich was begun in 966 as a thank-offering of the Emperor Otho for his victories in Italy, and its plan, arches, windows, towers (excepting only the climatic addition of the pointed roofs) are all in Lombard style. The cloister adjoining it is very Italian, with its double columns and its sculptured capitals. Now, as Otho granted a special charter to the Masonic guild of Lombardy, it is natural to suppose that when he wanted a church built, he would employ this valuable cla.s.s of his new subjects. At Basle we have a distinct sign of the Comacine Masters in the _intrecci_ and other symbols sculptured round the _Gallus-pforte_ of the cathedral, while in the crypt are two carved lions which were once beneath the columns of the door. They were removed in the restoration of the cathedral, after the earthquake of 1356. These lions are precisely the counterparts of those in the doorways of Modena and Verona. But it is at Cologne, the city of Albertus Magnus, that the Lombard style is unmistakable. Can one look at the three apses of the churches of the Apostles and of St.

Martin, with the round arches encircling them, and little pillared galleries above, or at the double-arched windows in the towers, without at once recalling the Romanesque churches of Lucca, Arezzo, and Pisa, in the eleventh and twelfth centuries?[98]

Santa Maria del Campidoglio at Cologne, which was founded by Plectrude, wife of Pepin, has the same Lombard galleries running round the apses, and Cunibert's church in its western door shows not only pure Comacine sculpture, but the characteristic lion of Judah between the column and the arch. S. Andrea and S. Pantaleone, both founded in 954 by Bishop Bruno, brother of Otho the Great, were in the same style. This group of buildings all in one city, and all founded under the Emperors who ruled in Italy, surely suggest that when Charlemagne took over the builders for Aix-la-Chapelle, they as usual left their school and _laborerium_ there, and that Otho and his successors in their turn had not far to go for architects.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PALAZZO DEL POPOLO AND PALAZZO COMUNALE, TODI.