Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Art And The Builders Of Monte Cassino, Ceremonious Dedications, Master Workmen, Etc., In The Middle Ages.
into whose hands nearly all such work was gradually sequestered , and who , as contrasted with Monachic craftsmen , required fixed pay . At what era such transformation was actually begun , is , it is believed , impossible to approximate with accuracy . Doubtless the transaction was in its inception anterior to this century , but gradually assumed
afterwards the well-known proportions of Masons' Gilds of later times . At all events , I find an entry in a year book under the date of 1108 , setting forth the fact that the Abbot of Saint Troin purchased a tripartite pledge of real property from a stonecutter ' s estate
" operarius L ' apidum " whose heirs were in indigent circumstances . The celebrated masters of the Medieval Freemasons appear to have maintained an indomitable hauteur and the pompous pride of a privileged class . Wherever the chronists of those remote ages allude
to them as arrayed in antagonism to the suggestions of patronsprinci ] 3 ally the clergy—their demeanour and tone are both high and unmistakeable . Thus , for an example : In the year 1299 the Prior of the preceding Abbey summoned thither a certain distinguished Mason , " quondam famosum Lapicidam , " to reconstruct a dilapidated
turret . When this Master had finished his estimates , according to the plans suited to the proper re-building oi the tower , the Abbot refused to accept them , as involving a greater expense than he would concede . Whereupon the haughty and austere builder , said : " Since these drafts as I have conceived them do not suit you , I am satisfied
that another Master of the Craft should be procured , who will , perhaps , submit rather to your wishes than to the correct construction of the work . " They then parted , and another Craftsman superintended the new structure , which however was only carried up the chimes .
It is worthy of note that five years later , in the municipality appurtenant to this Ketherland monastery , a chapel with an altarpiece of great magnificence was constructed in honour of St . Eloi , the principal patron of gold-workers , while at the same time , in the year 1304 , a gild of the Craftsmen , at whose expense this edifice was
erected , took its formal commencement in the town " et g-ulda fraternitatis dictorum oritur . " In the middle ages the signification of the word Fabrii was transmuted from that of the ancient builders to iron or other metal workers , whose handicraft brought them into close intimacy with the Masons , and in some localities , especially in Italy ,
appeared to have shared with them the profits of their mutual labours . cr — - *—•>—*—• : * « - * .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Art And The Builders Of Monte Cassino, Ceremonious Dedications, Master Workmen, Etc., In The Middle Ages.
into whose hands nearly all such work was gradually sequestered , and who , as contrasted with Monachic craftsmen , required fixed pay . At what era such transformation was actually begun , is , it is believed , impossible to approximate with accuracy . Doubtless the transaction was in its inception anterior to this century , but gradually assumed
afterwards the well-known proportions of Masons' Gilds of later times . At all events , I find an entry in a year book under the date of 1108 , setting forth the fact that the Abbot of Saint Troin purchased a tripartite pledge of real property from a stonecutter ' s estate
" operarius L ' apidum " whose heirs were in indigent circumstances . The celebrated masters of the Medieval Freemasons appear to have maintained an indomitable hauteur and the pompous pride of a privileged class . Wherever the chronists of those remote ages allude
to them as arrayed in antagonism to the suggestions of patronsprinci ] 3 ally the clergy—their demeanour and tone are both high and unmistakeable . Thus , for an example : In the year 1299 the Prior of the preceding Abbey summoned thither a certain distinguished Mason , " quondam famosum Lapicidam , " to reconstruct a dilapidated
turret . When this Master had finished his estimates , according to the plans suited to the proper re-building oi the tower , the Abbot refused to accept them , as involving a greater expense than he would concede . Whereupon the haughty and austere builder , said : " Since these drafts as I have conceived them do not suit you , I am satisfied
that another Master of the Craft should be procured , who will , perhaps , submit rather to your wishes than to the correct construction of the work . " They then parted , and another Craftsman superintended the new structure , which however was only carried up the chimes .
It is worthy of note that five years later , in the municipality appurtenant to this Ketherland monastery , a chapel with an altarpiece of great magnificence was constructed in honour of St . Eloi , the principal patron of gold-workers , while at the same time , in the year 1304 , a gild of the Craftsmen , at whose expense this edifice was
erected , took its formal commencement in the town " et g-ulda fraternitatis dictorum oritur . " In the middle ages the signification of the word Fabrii was transmuted from that of the ancient builders to iron or other metal workers , whose handicraft brought them into close intimacy with the Masons , and in some localities , especially in Italy ,
appeared to have shared with them the profits of their mutual labours . cr — - *—•>—*—• : * « - * .