The Cathedral Builders Part 15

8. Gregory would be likely to choose architects for the mission from the Comacine Order, which held the old Roman traditions of building, rather than those of a Byzantine guild, and the record of their work in Britain proves that he did.

9. In Saxon as in the earlier Comacine carvings, there are frequent representations of fabulous monsters, symbolical birds and beasts, the subjects of some of these carvings being suggested, apparently, by the "Physiologus," which had a Latin origin.

10. In the writings of the Venerable Bede, and Richard, Prior of Hagustald, we meet with phrases and words which are in the Edict of King Rotharis of 643, and in the _Memoratorio_ of 713 of King Luitprand, which show that these writers were familiar with certain terms of art used by the Comacine Masters.[122]

FOOTNOTES:

[101] This chapter was written by my brother in England, with different sources of information to the Italian ones used by myself.

It did not reach me till the first half of my work was complete, and it was very gratifying to find our different sources of study had led to almost identical conclusions. I have altered no fact or argument in either. (Leader Scott.)

[102] See chapter i., Merzario, _I Maestri Comacini_.

[103] _Ibid._

[104] Care must be taken not to confuse the signification of the word Greek, as used in two different eras. To the ancient Roman, Greek architecture would mean the cla.s.sic style of the Parthenon, etc.; to the mediaeval Italian, Greek art and architecture meant simply Byzantine, an entirely different thing. (Leader Scott.)

[105] "According to Muller (_Archaeologie der Kunst_) corporations of builders of Grecian birth were allowed to settle in foreign countries, and to exercise a judicial government among themselves according to the laws of the country to which they owed allegiance; the principle was recognized by all the legal codes of Europe, from the fall of Rome to late in the thirteenth century. Such a.s.sociations of builders were introduced into southern Europe during the reigns of Theodoric and Theodosius."

[106] Prof. Merzario, in his _Maestri Comacini_, Vol. I. cap. ii. pp.

87, 88, gives as his reference for this Bede's _Ecclesiasticae Historiae gentis Anglorum libri quinque_, "Vita S. Benedicti Biscopi Abbatis Vuiremuthensis primi ecc." (L. S.)

[107] "Vita Sancti Hugonis Episcopi Lincolniensis."

[108] "Vita S. Moduennae virginis Hibernicae."

[109] Montalembert, _I Monaci dell' Occidente_, p. 152.

[110] See Plate, Interior of Fiesole cathedral.

[111] _Conc. Laodic._, c. 15.

[112] Pa.s.sio S. Cadoci.

[113] See Chapter II., "The Comacines under the Longobards," which proves Mr. Barnes' conjectures to be true.

[114] Alcuin (lib. v. 1488) describes the appointments of the Saxon church at York, which were on a scale of great magnificence. There were two altars covered with plates of gold and silver, and a profusion of gems; the tapestries were of the richest, and the walls of the sanctuary were adorned with foreign paintings.

[115] Description of the church built in the monastery of Hexham by Saint Wilfrid, 674-680. See the Appendix to the "Life of St. Wilfrid"

in Montalembert's fine work on _The Saints of the West_.

"Igitur profunditatem ipsius ecclesiae criptis et oratoriis subterrancis et viarum anfractibus inferius c.u.m magna industria fundavit.

"Parietes autem quadratis et bene politis columpnis suffultos et tribus tabulatis distinctos immensae longitudinis et alt.i.tudinis erexit. Ipsos etiam et capitella columpnarum quibus sustentantur et arc.u.m sanctuarii, historiis et ymaginibus et variis coelaturarum figuris ex lapide prominentibus et picturarum et colorum grata varietate mirabilique decore decoravit. Ipsum quoque corpus ecclesiae appent.i.tiis et porticibus nardique circ.u.mdixit quae, miro atque inexplicibili artificio, per parietes et cocleas inferius et superius distinxit. In ipsis vero cocleis, et super ipsas, ascensoria ex lapide, et deambulatoria, et varios viarum anfractus, modo sursum, modo deorsum, artificiosissime ita machinari fecit, ut innumera hominum mult.i.tudo ibi existere et ipsum corpus ecclesiae circ.u.mdare possit, c.u.m a nemine tamen infra in eo existentium videri queat.

Oratoriaque quam plurima, superius et inferius, secretissima e pulcherrima, in ipsis porticibis c.u.m maxima diligentia et cautela const.i.tuit, in quibus altaria in honore Beatae Dei genitricis semperque Virginis Mariae, et Sancti Michaelis Archangeli, sanctique Johannis Baptistae et sanctorum Apostolorum, Martyrum, Confessorum, atque Virginum, c.u.m eorum apparatibus, honestissime praeparari fecit.

Unde etiam, usque hodie, quaedam illorum ut turres et propugnacula, supereminent. Atrium quoque templi magnae sp.i.s.situdinis et fort.i.tudinis muro circ.u.mvallavit. Praeter quem in alveo lapideo aquaeductus, ad usus officinorum, per mediam villam decurrebat."--Richardi, _Prioris Historia Hagulstadensis Ecclesiae_, c. iii., Ap. Twysden, _Historiae Anglicanae Scriptores decem._, et Raine's _Priory of Hexham_, p. 2.

[116] See Chap. V., "Comacines under Charlemagne."

[117] Sermo beati Bedae in natale sancti Benedicti Abbatis.

[118] There is a much easier explanation than this. Lombardy was at that time part of Gaul--Cisalpine Gaul. The Comacines appear to have gone to France with Charlemagne; see Chap. V. (Leader Scott.)

[119] Dr. Raine of Durham believed, on the authority of the Chronicles of Symeon of Durham, that the churches of Monkswearmouth and Jarrow were rebuilt by the monks of Durham after 1075, and that the church of Wearmouth could not have been built on the same site, because in the account of the House at Wearmouth, 1360, the old church is mentioned incidentally as used for a barn or storehouse (Parker's Introduction); but allowing that to be the case, it is by no means improbable that the old doorway was retained and removed to the new church.

[120] "Ibi dificia minaci alt.i.tudini murorum erecta multi proprio, sed et cmentariorum quos ex Roma veriunt allequant ut qui Hagulstadensem fabricam vident, ambitionem romanam se imaginari jurent."--_Malmesbury, De Gest. Pontiff._ I. iii., f. 155.

[121] This is a decidedly Comacine form of building. All the earliest apses of Italian churches have these perpendicular shafts. At S. Piero in Grado they show signs of having been originally covered with marble. (Leader Scott.)

[122] Merzario, _I Maestri Comacini_, Vol. I. chap. ii. pp. 87-89.

CHAPTER IV

THE TOWERS AND CROSSES OF IRELAND

The saints or early missionaries seem to be as closely connected with the first church-building in Ireland as they were in Gaul, Normandy, and England; only by some curious circ.u.mstance, Ireland became christianized and built her churches some centuries earlier than England and Normandy. It is my conviction that in casting off the legends connected with saints, we have also cast off much real history belonging to the early missions. Now, the preceding chapter shows that it is precisely to these first missionaries that we are indebted for the imported architecture of the pre-Norman date in England, and presumably also in Ireland. This architecture has been an enigma and a stumbling-block to archaeologists for ages; because while rejecting everything connected with the saints as legend, they also reject the only reasonable hypothesis of the genesis of these first stone buildings, which sprang up in a country as yet only accustomed to build in wood or earth.

The Round Towers of Ireland, for instance, have formed a greater puzzle to antiquaries than the churches of Hexham or Lindisfarne--partly because of their antiquity, and partly from their unlikeness to any local buildings of the time. The theories in regard to them are wild beyond all probability. They have been attributed: (1) By Henry O'Brien to the Tuatha De Danaan, a Persian colony which is supposed to have built them for phallic worship. (2) By Vellaney to the Phnicians, the buildings being afterwards used by the Druids as fire-towers. (3) By Dr. Lynch, Peter Walsh, Molyneux, etc., to the Danes, as war-towers.

Petrie, with clearer arguments, claims them as Christian. In his Prize Essay on the origin and uses of the Round Towers (A.D. 1820) he proves that no buildings except these towers were known to have cement in pre-Christian Ireland. For the Pagans and Druids have left us the great fortresses of Dun aengus, and Dun Connor on Aran Mor, and the great sepulchres of Dowth and New Grange, all built without cement and of unhewn stones. Now the Round Towers are of hewn stones closely fitted and cemented, till they are solid as a rock, standing firm as ever, after their fifteen centuries of existence. They are called in Ireland by the generic name of "cloic-theack," or bell-house, and are invariably found close to the ruins of a monastery or a church. In some cases, like the one at Clonmacnoise, the church has entirely disappeared, leaving only the graveyard to mark its site, and in the graveyard a veritable Comacine cross!

It cannot be proved that the towers belong to an earlier age than the churches attached, for we have a witness in the ruins themselves. The masonry of the tower and the remaining walls of the church at Kilmacduagh is identical, as are the later tower and church-porch at Roscrea--_i.e._ good, solid _opus gallic.u.m_.

Miss Stokes and the Rev. John Healy uphold the theory[123] of their being towers of refuge in warlike times. They may well have been used as such, on account of their strength, and also their proximity to the churches, which were always, in the Middle Ages, inviolable cities of refuge. This, however, does not affect our question as to how the towers came into Ireland, and whence came their builders. In the first place, where can similar towers be found dating from times contemporary? The answer is decided: in Italy. In Ravenna and Lombardy, from the date A.D. 300 to the fifth and sixth centuries; and they show just that Eastern touch which distinguishes the Byzantine-Roman architecture at Ravenna, and has caused authors to seek the origin of the Round Towers further east than Italy.

The next question that arises is: What was the point of contact between Ireland and Italy? As in England and Normandy we shall, I believe, find it in the first missions. The first Irish missionary was doubtless St. Patrick, A.D. 373-464, who has been taken as the sign and symbol of Celticism. Yet he was not an Irishman by birth. His father was a Christian named Calphurnius, his mother was niece to St.

Martin of Tours; he was consequently of continental origin. His birthplace was Nempthur near Dumbarton, and while yet a boy he was carried a prisoner to Ireland, and the heathendom there appealed so strongly to his feelings, that after his release he was haunted by visions foretelling his future mission to convert Ireland. Pope Celestin I. gave him his mission in about A.D. 430, and he settled in Armagh, where he laboured more than thirty years converting and baptizing both kings and people. He founded schools and built churches. Probably the first worship was conducted in the open air, where a cross was set up, as by the English missionaries. The cross was of the Byzantine form used at that time in Italy; but on its adoption by the northern saint-missionaries it became known in Britain as the Irish cross. The ancient Italian one, once in the Forum at Rome, is of identical style, though of earlier date. St. Patrick's influence remained and spread. Many of his followers in the ministry made the pilgrimage to Rome which he had made, and so great was the fame of sanct.i.ty of these Irish preaching brethren, that they were reverenced in Italy even more than in their native land.

S. Fredia.n.u.s became Bishop of Lucca, and Columban was Abbot of Bobbio.

It is to these later missionaries rather than to St. Patrick himself that we must look, as having introduced Italian or Comacine architecture into Ireland. That they were addicted to church-building is evident from their at once setting to work wherever they went; S.

Fredia.n.u.s building a church and monastery at Lucca; St. Columban doing the same at Bobbio.

And what architects did they employ? Surely some members of the Comacine Guild, or their monk colleagues. They had seen them at the court of the Longobardic kings where they tarried and were entertained during their journey to Rome. And seeing the beautiful churches and towers in Italy, all made by the magic hands of this guild, is it not most likely that the Pope, who patronized the guild as one of the most practical instruments in christianization, should have counselled them to take back some _Magistri_ with them to Ireland? There is, I presume, no doc.u.mentary proof of this, but there are more imperishable witnesses in the works themselves. The only difference between the Round Towers of Ireland and those of Italy in the first five centuries after Christ is the conical roof, which is due entirely to exigencies of climate. The hewing of the square stones, the close-fitting masonry, the Roman cement, the simple arches of the windows with their solidly cut supports, are all pure Lombard-Roman of the time when S.

Fredia.n.u.s and Columban were in Italy. It is true that with this similarity there is also a certain clumsiness of workmanship in the Irish towers, which suggests that either the Italian architects imported by the Irish missionaries were the less skilful men of the guild, or, what is more probable, they were few, and had to train native and unskilled workmen to a.s.sist them; but the style they aimed at, and the forms they used, are the early Italian ones of from A.D.

300 to 500.

In Cormac's chapel at the Rock of Cashel we get the square tower such as later Comacines used from the sixth to the tenth centuries, with the double-arched window of the period; and the church beside it has the same signs. Here are the string courses supported by the row of little arches, the projecting apse, and the double-light windows, with only that same northern desideratum--the high gable and sloping roof.

Cormac was an early Bishop of Cashel, who was killed in 907 A.D.

Look at the shrine of the Bell of St. Patrick, which I presume dates from about the eighth century, _i.e._ the time of Fredia.n.u.s, and you will see a fine collection of Comacine _intrecci_ or interlaced work in sculpture. As for the crosses of Ireland, one may trace in them the development of Comacine work, from the early Christian Roman style to the mediaeval Lombard.

The beautifully ill.u.s.trated article in the _Studio_ for Aug. 15, 1898, by J. Romilly Allen, F.S.A., shows the whole line. In the earliest form of Irish cross, _i.e._ that where the cross and Christian symbols are merely cut into the face of a slab of stone, such as in the cross at Reask, Co. Kerry, we see precisely the primitive style of art shown in the Catacombs. The "Gurmarc" stones have their prototype in the earliest Longobardic carving, such as the _pluteus_ of Theodolinda's first church at Monza. The smaller of the three inscribed circles has an even more advanced Comacine _intreccio_ enclosed within the circle, while the cross of Honelt at Llantwit Major (Fig. 5) has a splendid Comacine knot such as one sees on every Longobardic church, placed beneath a very Byzantine geometrical design in which circles, crosses, triangles, and three-fold knots are marvellously intermingled. These are all stones merely incised, and foreshadow the predilection of the Irish converts for the symbolism of the time, the cross of Christ within the unending circle of eternity. The next development shown by Mr. Romilly Allen is the upright cross slab at St. Madoes in Perthshire, where the cross and the circle are in distinct relief and not merely incised. Here, instead of the circle enclosing the Greek cross, it has become subordinate, and is placed behind the arms of a Latin cross. In fact a complete Irish cross in relief. But how is it adorned?--with splendid Comacine _intrecci_, and all the symbolism so familiar to us in early Italian art. Here are the coiled serpent and the dove above, with the four mystic beasts of the Apocalypse below, two on each side of the stem of the cross; and the workmanship and designs are literally identical with those of the sculptures on the facades of the first church of S. Michele at Pavia, and S. Zeno at Verona, and that of S. Pietro at Spoleto, all of the fifth and sixth centuries. (Spoleto church was rebuilt in 1329, but the ancient Lombard sculptures around the doorway were preserved.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: DOOR OF THE CHURCH OF S. ZENO AT VERONA. A.D. 1139.

_See page 166._]