Mackey A G - Encylopedia of Freemasonry - The Grand Masonic ...

162 COMACINE
COMACINE
I, also, wish to take exception to theirpo sition
and conclusions, for in the success of my
exceptions lies the potency and possibility of
my subject, the Comacine Masters, who lived
and built at this period, having descended
from branches of the Roman Colleges of Artificers
who had come to Como as colonists or
had fled to this free republic for safety during
barbaric invasions, creating and developing
what is called Lombard architecture, and
forming a powerful gild which later not only
influenced, but had a connection with the
gilds of France and Germany at the Re-'
naissance, thereby establishing a direct line of
descent of Rbman Colleges to the operative
gilds that grew into Speculative Masonry .
It can be understood bow a tribe or a small
section of people may, from various causes,
recede in letters, science and civilization, but
how the world could do so is difficult to comprehend,
yet the historians and literature
attempted to confirm this in describing the
"gloom when the sun of progress was in a
total or partial eclipse from the fifth to the
twelfth centuries," or, between the period of
ancient Classic Art of Rome and that early
rise of Art in the twelfth century, which led
to the Renaissance . Leder Scott says that
"this hiatus is supposed to be a time when Art
was utterly dead and buried, its corpse in Byzantine
dress lying embalmed in its tomb at
Ravenna. But all death is nothing but the
germ of new life . Art was not a corpse ; it
was only a seed laid in Italian soil to germinate
and it bore several plants before the great
reflowering period of the Renaissance ."
Those who produced these several plants
which it bore before the great Cathedral
Building period that followed the Renaissance,
will furnish the subject of this article,
and trust it will be as interesting and important
to the Masonic student as it is new in
the literature of Masonry.
Most things will I trust, become more and
more clear as we follow up the traces of the
Comacine Gild from the chrysalis state, in
which Roman Art hibernated during the dark
winter of the usually called Dark Ages, as
Scott says "through the grub state of the
Lombard period to the glorious winged flight
of the full Gothic of the Renaissance ."
Many historians, Masonic and profane, who
wrote as long as a generation ago, are inclined
to give the impression that there was but little
or nothing that transpired during the so-called
Dark Ages which was essential to the world's
progress at the time, or worthy of contemplation
at present . Had their views of the importance
of historical matter prevailed, we
would now know very little of what transpired
from the Fall of the Western part of the
Roman Empire to the Renaissance . We know
that many cities in Italy were rebuilt after
they had been sacked and partly destroyed
by the Goths and Huns . Many cathedrals
were built during this period, some of which
work lasts till to-day, and is worthy workmanship.
The historical architects have approached
this period from another angle and
the results of their efforts now make this article
possible and open up a new and important
field for Masonic students .
Toward the end of the fifth century a new
wave of barbaric invasions swept over the
West. North and East Gaul-all not previously
held by the Visigoths-fell into the
hands of the Franks (486) . Theodoric and the
Ostrogoths wrested Italy from Odoacer and
established the Ostrogothic Kingdom in Italy,
with its capital at Ravenna. This kingdom
was established and governed on exceptionally
enlightened lines. Theodoric, often called TJie
Great, was the most broad-minded and advanced
of all the German conquerors. He was
a man of culture, yet some have said that he
could not read . He had been educated from
his eighth to his eighteenth year at Constantinople.
His rule was, therefore, more like
the revival of Roman ideas than a barbarous
conquest. Accordingly we need not be surprised
to find him decorating his capital city,
Havenna, during the period of his occupation,
(493-526) with a series of monuments which,
although strongly tinctured with Byzantine
influence, yet constitute, perhaps, the finest
examples we possess of the early Christian
style . Theodoric was an Aryan and opposed
to the Bishop of Rome. This fact and his
education at Constantinople are sufficient to
explain the strong Byzantine elements so
noticeable even in those monuments at Ravenna,
which antedate the Byzantine conquest .
Charles A . Cummings in his History of Architecture
in Italy says : "One of the earliest acts
of Theodoric after his accession to the throne
was the appointment of an architect to have
charge of all the public buildings-including
the aqueducts and the city walls-of Ravenna
and Rome putting at his disposal for this purpose,
yearly, twelve hundred pounds of gold
two hundred and fifty thousand bricks, and
the income of the Lucrine Haven . A remarkable
letter from Theodoric to this official on
his appointment is preserved by Cassiodorus,
who was the minister of the Empire. `These
excellent buildings,' he says, `are my delight .
They are the noble image of the power of the
Empire, and bear witness to its grandeur and
glory . The palace of the sovereign is shown
to ambassadors as a monument worthy of
their admiration, and seems to declare to them
his greatness. It is then a great pleasure for
an enlightened prince to inhabit a palace
where all the perfections of art are united, and
to find there relaxation from the burden of
public affairs . . I give you notice that our
intelligence and talents have determine me
to confide to your hands the care of my palace .
It is my wish that you preserve in its original
splendor all which is ancient, and that whatever
you add to it may be conformable to it in
style. It is not a work of small importance
which I place in your hands, since it will be
your duty to fulfill by your art the lively desire
which I feel to illustrate my reign by
many new edifices ; so that whether the matter
in hand be the rebuilding of a city, the
construction of new castles, or the building of