The Cathedral Builders: The Story of a Great Masonic GuildScott, Leader
History
The Cathedral Builders: The Story of a Great Masonic Guild
Scott, Leader
Cathedrals; Church architecture; Guilds
and petition of Magister Arrigo (Henry), son of Magister Ottaccio, who
was the son of Anselmo aforesaid; and in the presence of the
aforementioned Signori, Bishop, and Archpriest, and of the subscribing
witnesses, promises and agrees that to the said Magister Arrigo, for
himself and his sons and heirs, and for Magister Alberto and Magister
Jacopo, his paternal uncles (_patruis suis_), and the sons and heirs
of the same, shall be given over and above to them, and to their said
sons, or successors, who shall be masters in that art (_qui magistri
fuerint hujus artis_), eight imperials for each day they work, from
the calends of April to the calends of October. In the days of the
remaining months in which they shall have worked at the will of the
Administrator of the building, they should, and shall have, only six
imperials, receiving nevertheless their food from the said lodge, not
only on festal days, but on all others, as they have from the
beginning been accustomed to have. And if at the will of the said
Administrator they shall bring other competent Masters necessary to
the said works, these shall receive seven imperials for each day, from
the said calends of April to those of October, but in other months
only five imperials per diem."
This deed was drawn up in the Canonica of Modena, and duly signed by
witnesses.
Tracing the predecessors of Arrigo of Campione, father and
grandfather, back from 1244, we come very near the time of the first
Lanfranco; and following his descendants from Arrigo, head architect
in 1244, to his grandson, who finished the tower of the Dome,[145] and
made the marble pulpit in the cathedral in 1322, we get a family line
of builders lasting unbroken for nearly two hundred years. There still
exists an inscription in bad Latin on the cornice of the pulpit, which
says that Tomasino di Giovanni, treasurer of the _Fabbriceria_, S.
Gemignano, had the pulpit carved, and the tower built by Arrigo or
Enrico, the Campionese sculptor (_actibus Henrici sculptoris
campionensis_). It would be difficult now to assign his due share to
each of this long line of master-builders; but the Italian critic,
Marchese Ricci, gives Lanfranco the credit of the interior, which is
in pure Romano-Lombard style, with two aisles and a nave. The nave is
much higher than the aisles, and is supported on columns with high
Corinthian capitals from some ancient Roman temple. Lanfranco has
given a clumsier Lombard air to them by a very large abacus. The crypt
is supported on sixty columns, the capitals of which are all Lombard,
and of endless variety of form and sculpture. In the centre is the ark
(tomb) of S. Gemignano. The wall of the façade, with its little
pillared gallery, is also of Lanfranco's time.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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