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Article THE OLD MASTER MASONS. ← Page 2 of 4 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Old Master Masons.
an old chronicle you can take up which does not bear unmistakeable witness to this fact , as a fact ; and as our own guild legends attest , both inferentially and even distinctly , the same reality , for once history and tradition run kand-iiihand , or as we often like to say , " on all fours . " It may be difficult to point out , for instance , where the Ecclesiastical builders end and really operative Masons begin ; but then , as Dallaway points out , there is no use in blinking
the truth that such terms in the old chronicles as " fabricavit , " " construxit , " " cedificavit , " " inchoavit , " " perfecit , " " fecit sedificari , " " cedificationes novo genere fecit , " "fieri fecit banc fabricam , " are continually found , equally applied to monks as directors or builders , just as to operative Masons . Of the old ecclesiastical "Master Masons , " " builders , " " designers , " " architects , " whatever you like to call them , we have undoubtedly Augustine , Wilfred , Benedict ,
Biscop , Deinstall , Swithiu ; Gundulph , of Rochester ; William , of Wykeham ; Read , of Chichester ; Alan de Walsingham , Prior of Ely ; Quivil , of Exeter ; Robert Tully , of St . David ' s ; Leon , Bishop of Tours ; Germanns , Ethelwald , Ednoth , Aelfric ; William , of Dijon ; Baldwin , of St . Edmunds , and many more . For instance , Viberius and Gratulus , probably monks , are two early French architects in the eleventh century . Wa heartooof Peter de
Cole-, , churehe , who built London Bridge , Chaplain , in 1163 ; of Wimbolde ; of Abbot Suger , in 1137 , who is stated to have been " a skilled architect ; " of Adam , a monk of Fountains , who presided at the building of Woburn Abbey ; etc . Of Gundulph , Bishop of Rochester , it is declared that , " in opere cesmentario plurirnum sciens et efficax erat , " and that he brought into England with the conquest "novum asdificandi genus . " Of Alan de Walsingham it is recorded
that he was " vir venerabilis et artificiosus frater . " One of the earliest architects we hear of in the Christian Era is Fulbert , a monk , constructor of the Cathedral of Chartres , 1029 . Two other French builders , Hugues and Gerard , probably also monks , are mentioned in this century at Clugny . Paulinus , the sacrist , built the church of Trindsbury , in Kent , in 1125 , and we also hear of a certain William at Ferrara , in 1135 , in these
lines—El mite cento trempta cinque nato , Lo quesfco templo a Yorsi consecrate , Lo Nioolao seulptore , E Glillmo fo lo autore . Some difficulty no doubt occurs in the old chronicles as to the exact Latin words employedand the difference existing between the "master of the work "
, , the " architect , " and the " Master Mason . " In the early records , the Masons are termed indifferently opifices , operararii , laborantes , ccementarii , latomi . In French chronicles we find the words " tailleurs de pierre . " the exact rendering of the Greek words which are represented by " Latomi , " properly " Lithotomi or Lupicidre . " Later we hear of rnacons , raaconns , masouns , massounsmaysons . The Master Mason is called ruagister ccementarius ister
, , mag latomus , maistre maeon , maystermassoun . We also read of a "magister operis , " " operarum magister tedificans , " " solutor operis , " " supervisor , " and "depositor operis , " one literally who lays a foundation and gives a plan .. Jean de Chelles built the south porch of Notre Dame in 1257 , probabl y a Master Mason and monk , and we hear of Alexandre de Berneval , of whom the same may be said . We are expressly told that he was " maitre des ceuvres de
maconnerie" at Rouen . In the epitaph of the Master Mason at Caen , it is said , " Gulelrmis fecit , petrarum summits in arte . " In the fifteenth century we now know of Thomas Mapylton , Master of the Loge Latomorum at Canterbury , and of " John Gowere , who built Camden Church and Gloucester Towre . " An epitaph is recorded of T . Wolvey : " Latomus Summits in arte , Mason , Armiger , Ricardi Secuudi Regis Anglice , ob . 1430 . " Many other inscriptions of Master Masons may be found , and
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Old Master Masons.
an old chronicle you can take up which does not bear unmistakeable witness to this fact , as a fact ; and as our own guild legends attest , both inferentially and even distinctly , the same reality , for once history and tradition run kand-iiihand , or as we often like to say , " on all fours . " It may be difficult to point out , for instance , where the Ecclesiastical builders end and really operative Masons begin ; but then , as Dallaway points out , there is no use in blinking
the truth that such terms in the old chronicles as " fabricavit , " " construxit , " " cedificavit , " " inchoavit , " " perfecit , " " fecit sedificari , " " cedificationes novo genere fecit , " "fieri fecit banc fabricam , " are continually found , equally applied to monks as directors or builders , just as to operative Masons . Of the old ecclesiastical "Master Masons , " " builders , " " designers , " " architects , " whatever you like to call them , we have undoubtedly Augustine , Wilfred , Benedict ,
Biscop , Deinstall , Swithiu ; Gundulph , of Rochester ; William , of Wykeham ; Read , of Chichester ; Alan de Walsingham , Prior of Ely ; Quivil , of Exeter ; Robert Tully , of St . David ' s ; Leon , Bishop of Tours ; Germanns , Ethelwald , Ednoth , Aelfric ; William , of Dijon ; Baldwin , of St . Edmunds , and many more . For instance , Viberius and Gratulus , probably monks , are two early French architects in the eleventh century . Wa heartooof Peter de
Cole-, , churehe , who built London Bridge , Chaplain , in 1163 ; of Wimbolde ; of Abbot Suger , in 1137 , who is stated to have been " a skilled architect ; " of Adam , a monk of Fountains , who presided at the building of Woburn Abbey ; etc . Of Gundulph , Bishop of Rochester , it is declared that , " in opere cesmentario plurirnum sciens et efficax erat , " and that he brought into England with the conquest "novum asdificandi genus . " Of Alan de Walsingham it is recorded
that he was " vir venerabilis et artificiosus frater . " One of the earliest architects we hear of in the Christian Era is Fulbert , a monk , constructor of the Cathedral of Chartres , 1029 . Two other French builders , Hugues and Gerard , probably also monks , are mentioned in this century at Clugny . Paulinus , the sacrist , built the church of Trindsbury , in Kent , in 1125 , and we also hear of a certain William at Ferrara , in 1135 , in these
lines—El mite cento trempta cinque nato , Lo quesfco templo a Yorsi consecrate , Lo Nioolao seulptore , E Glillmo fo lo autore . Some difficulty no doubt occurs in the old chronicles as to the exact Latin words employedand the difference existing between the "master of the work "
, , the " architect , " and the " Master Mason . " In the early records , the Masons are termed indifferently opifices , operararii , laborantes , ccementarii , latomi . In French chronicles we find the words " tailleurs de pierre . " the exact rendering of the Greek words which are represented by " Latomi , " properly " Lithotomi or Lupicidre . " Later we hear of rnacons , raaconns , masouns , massounsmaysons . The Master Mason is called ruagister ccementarius ister
, , mag latomus , maistre maeon , maystermassoun . We also read of a "magister operis , " " operarum magister tedificans , " " solutor operis , " " supervisor , " and "depositor operis , " one literally who lays a foundation and gives a plan .. Jean de Chelles built the south porch of Notre Dame in 1257 , probabl y a Master Mason and monk , and we hear of Alexandre de Berneval , of whom the same may be said . We are expressly told that he was " maitre des ceuvres de
maconnerie" at Rouen . In the epitaph of the Master Mason at Caen , it is said , " Gulelrmis fecit , petrarum summits in arte . " In the fifteenth century we now know of Thomas Mapylton , Master of the Loge Latomorum at Canterbury , and of " John Gowere , who built Camden Church and Gloucester Towre . " An epitaph is recorded of T . Wolvey : " Latomus Summits in arte , Mason , Armiger , Ricardi Secuudi Regis Anglice , ob . 1430 . " Many other inscriptions of Master Masons may be found , and