Medieval Architecture

and seldom or never does manual labor, but nevertheless he receives higher pay than the others. So there are many in the Church who possess fat benefices, but God knows what good they do; they work by their tongue alone, saying 'thus you ought to do,' but themselves do not so at all." 1

This last text, it should be noticed, is of the XIV century, and the increased dignity for the office of master builder that it implies is part of a distinct evolution of which we catch glimpses now and then across the darkness of the centuries. In the early part of the XII century the master builder seems to have been merely a workman not distinguished from his fellows by the chroniclers. At the end of the same century William of Sens had risen to a certain amount of importance, but was still distinctly an artisan. In the XIII century Villard de Honnecourt was an educated man; he traveled over most of Europe and was able to write. The master builder had ceased to be a laborer and had become a man of profession. From this moment he stepped more and more into prominence; he occupied an everincreasing space in literary records, and in the flamboyant period very frequently signed his work by an inscription placed in a conspicuous position upon the edifice. In the period of the Renaissance the evolution of the modern architect was completed.

Nothing could be more interesting than to know to just what extent the master builder of the XIII century supervised the carving of the sculpture and floral ornament. Did he merely turn over to separate artisans the spaces to be adorned with sculptured ornament, and allow these artists to execute designs of their own fancy? The assertion has been many times repeated by modern writers. I should, however, hesitate to affirm it. Although the evidence that has come down to us of this subject is scarcely sufficient to permit a positive judgment, the sketch book of Villard de Honnecourt certainly seems no less occupied with studies for statues and ornamental sculp

1 Operantur aliqui solo verbo. Nota. In istis magnis aedificiis solet esse unus magister principalis qui solum ordinat ipso verbo, raro aut nunquam apponit manum et tamen accepit majora stipendia aliis. Sic multi sunt in ecclesia qui habent pinguia beneficia et Deus scit quantum faciant de bono; operantur in ea solum lingua dicentes, “Sic debetis facere" et ipsi nihil horum faciunt. - Vib. Nat. fo. 30, col. 2, no. 16490.

ture than with mechanical engines and architecture proper. This fact certainly implies that in the thought of the Middle Ages the arts were not separated. The strict unity of architecture, statuary, and ornament so noticeable in the early buildings rather confirms this impression.' But to decide definitely this question we should have to know much more than it is probable that we ever can know about the workmen of the Middle Ages, and their methods.

For the medieval laborer has left few traces on the page of history. Who were these masons? Were they local workmen or, like the master builders, did they move about from place to place? Were there several degrees and qualities among them, one mixing mortar, another carrying stone, a third carving capitals, a fourth executing sculpture? Unless some long forgotten text, hidden among the musty chronicles, be discovered to reveal these secrets, however much we may conjecture, we can never know the inner workings of the construction of the Gothic cathedral.

A chance fact that has come down to us here and there serves only to make more confusing the maze that would mean so much, could it only be unraveled. It is known, for example, that the masons, like the tanners, the bakers, or the butchers were united in guilds or corporations. Unfortunately, however, this particular guild seems to have left little trace of its nature and peculiarities. The usual character of the medieval guild is familiar enough - a body of artisans who possessed the monopoly of trade in a particular town,3 banded together to

1 This thought has been finely expressed by Herr Vöge:- Was sich jedoch aus der kunstlerichen Kritik dieser [Chartreren] Skulpturen unmittelbar abnehmen lässt, ist nicht die mönchische Herkunft, sondern die unbedingte Unterordnung der Künstler unter die Architektur. Wenn die Werkmeister, die hier nacheinander die plastischen Arbeiten für das Portal geleitet haben, wenn der Chartrerer Hauptmeister und der "Meister der beiden Madonnen" nicht geradezu zu identificieren sind mit den Baumeistern die zu der selben Zeit an der Kathedrale thätig waren, so standen sie jedenfalls unter ihrer unmittelbaren Leitung. Dass sich die Skulpturen als eine abgeschlossene Kaste von Künstlern aus der Menge der übrigen Werkleute heraushoben, dafür fehlt, wie wir sahen, jeder Anhalt. Die technische Leitung der Bauten lag hier aber allem Anschien nach in der Hand von Laienbaumeistern denn wir finden bereits in der ältesten Redaktion des Chartrerer Necrologiums mehrere Künstler der Kathedrale bei Namen genannt.” p. 282.

2 The little which is known of the guild of masons has been ably summarized by M. Enlart, Man. d'Arch. I, 68.

3 Uniformity did not exist in the Middle Ages in the organization of labor. It is usually

advance their common interests. The guild was headed by a chief officer, usually elected by vote, whose duty it was to protect the interests of the association. These corporations were often "close" and "hereditary"; that is to say, no one might practise the given trade unless he belonged to the corporation, and none could belong to the corporation unless his father had belonged before him, and unless he himself had served a long period of apprenticeship. The members of the guild lived in a separate quarter or street, and formed, in fact, a community by themselves.

It seems as if the guild of the masons could not have conformed very closely to this general type. This guild, it is known, was "free" - that is, no fee was demanded of those who entered the trade. But with the exception of the legitimate sons of masters, each novice had to serve an apprenticeship of six years, and no master was allowed to have more than one apprentice. The great number of skilled workmen required to construct a cathedral could hardly have found sufficient work to support them in the city when works on the church were not in progress. It is therefore probable that, like the master builders, they moved about from place to place, probably with their wives and families. But did they move in mass, in great bands? The fact of the corporation seems to imply it, for it is difficult to see how a guild could exist, if the members were constantly shifting from one city to another. And in what relationship could the master builder have stood to these corporations? Was he merely the chief man of the band elected by his fellows? What is known of the master builders seems to contradict such an hypothesis.

But it is the part of wisdom to trim sail at this point and to venture no farther upon that sea of conjectures which the mysteries of this period open up to us. For once launched upon these unknown waters - especially if the helmsmen be of a sentiimagined that all the trades were formed into "close" corporations, that is to say into privileged companies having the absolute monopoly of manufacture and sale. This is an error even for the XV century; much more so for the XII or XIII. The organization of a close corporation did not by any means always imply the suppression of independent artisans. The guilds, moreover, were often not hereditary until the XV century, although sons might follow their fathers' calling. Lavisse, Hist. de France IV,2 pp. 132, 136, 137.

mental turn of mind, there is no telling on what imaginative shores we may not bring up. Hidden away beneath the dust and mould of centuries, there doubtless yet survives many a medieval manuscript unknown and unpublished. Some day there may be brought to light one of these that will reveal much that is now dark in the methods and customs of the medieval

builders. Until such time we can only wait solaced, perhaps, by the negative comfort that this is far from being the only mystery enclosed beneath the silent vaults of the medieval cathedral. These venerable monuments indeed are full of mysteries — mysteries so deep and incomprehensible that their very existence has been unsuspected. Every year the world is surprised when the researches of some scholar bring to light some new perfection, some unexpected beauty; and however much these piles are studied, however carefully they are scrutinized, there seems always to remain an inexhaustible supply of new beauties undiscovered. And even should the last and most minute of the detailed perfections - some day in the very far future — be disclosed, yet, after all, the chief mystery, the miracle of miracles - the Gothic cathedral itself would still remain to baffle men; for this mystery, in all its complexity, in all its symbolism, in all its manifold beauty, the human mind is hardly large enough or broad enough to master.

MONUMENTS OF THE TRANSITION

FIRST CLASS MONUMENTS

ST. DENIS, Seine. Abbaye. (Ill. 169, 191, 246.) This, the most important of all transitional monuments, is surpassed in historical, archaeological, and artistic interest by few churches of Europe. Founded by Dagobert (628-638), St. Denis has ever been the royal abbey of France, enriched by the munificence, and protected by the favor, of her kings, who almost without exception here found their burial place. There was a tradition that the basilica which Suger rebuilt in the XII century was the very church erected by Dagobert, and this pious legend Suger, with the characteristic diplomacy of the Church, did not correct, although several of the numerous texts which prove that the edifice was reconstructed at the end of the VIII century must have been before the eyes of the venerable abbot. Thus a couplet of Alcuin records: "This beloved house of God was renewed with great splendor, as thou seest, reader,

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in his [Fulrad's († 784)] time". Another text refers to .. the church of St. Denis where that precious master with his disciples rests in body, and over which rules the abbot Fulrad, a church which, by the aid of Christ, we [Charlemagne] built anew, and ordered to be dedicated with great splendor." A third states that: "When the basilica of the saints, which had been begun by King Pippin after the first church was detroyed, had been rebuilt in greater splendor by Charlemagne his sucand when the tower had been finished, the bells, as is customary, were hung. This church of c. 780 with its bell towers doubtless stood until the middle of the XII century, when Suger determined to erect a new edifice. That abbot himself has left us no less than two works relating in great detail the story of this reconstruction; of these it is possible to quote here only a few of the more significant passages: - "The glorious and famous king of the Franks, Dagobert, . . . with remarkable generosity ordered that the church of the saints be built with regal munificence, and he not only made splendid the building with a marvelous variety of marble columns, but he also enriched it with bountiful treasures of the purest gold and silver, and caused to be hung on the walls and columns and arches tapestries woven with gold and adorned with many sorts of jewels. This church, as far as its ornaments went, seemed to excel all others, and in every way to shine with incomparable radiance, and to surpass in gorgeous decoration the beauty of the whole world; and yet in this one thing alone was lacking, that it did not have the large dimensions needful. Not that the devotion or good will of the founder was in any way blameworthy, for doubtless at that early time no church had yet been built greater, or even as great. . . . Therefore, with the help of God, we energetically set to work in the front part of the church, on the north side by the central doorway of the main portal, whose span was narrowed on both sides by twin towers, for these towers, not high nor especially beautiful, threatened ruin; and here we laid very firm foundations for a new entrance and new twin towers. . . . Meanwhile, we became anxious about the harmony of the edifice, fearing that a lack of unity between the old and the new work might be apparent. Therefore we took thought, and devised, and searched through different regions of remote countries, seeking columns of marble or something to take their place. When we found nothing, one resource only seemed left to us in our perplexity, and that was to have columns sent to us from the city (for at Rome in the Palace of Diocletian and in the other baths we had often seen wonderful columns) 1 Haec domus alma dei magno est renovata decore, Ut cernis, lector, tempore quippe suo.

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Medieval Architecture: Its Origins and Development, with Lists of ..., المجلد 2