THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY.
ij3
ceremonies, relied upon by Falloii, appear to have had no existence outside the pages of his
work, and, indeed, his statements on this head are positively contradicted by more than one
writer of authority.^
We thus
see that from the sixth (perhaps fifth) century
onwards up to the twelfth, when
most of the monasteries were completed, they afforded the means of acquiring skill in tlie
manipulation of building materials, and may thus be looked upon in Germany as the earliest
school of masonry and the cradle of architecture, furnishing large numbers of cunning artificers
and experienced master builders, but not contributing in any way towards the organisation of
For the origin of this sodality we must look to the trade guilds which,
beginning in the towns as early as tlie tentli century, or even earlier, had meanwhile been
until, in the twelfth, we find them fully
acquiring increasing importance and extent
the stonemasons.
;
;
A very short sketch of the rise of the craft guilds will be
developed throughout Germany.
sufficient for our purpose.
When the German tribes first appear on the pages of history, we
them consisting of perfectly free and independent members only subject in matters of
external policy and war tp a chief of their own election, who is described generally as their
those cases in which the dignity descended from
king, but whose office was not hereditary
find
;
—
father to son, arising solely from the superiority of the son to the other
Even the
great Attila's
the patriarchal
kingdom
every
;
assistance to every other
member
member
and extended over a wider
fell to
pieces on his death.
owed
of a family
territory,
allegiance and support to
of the tribe.
of society
was
head, and
its
In course of time as the families grew larger
of union was loosened, and voluntary
of the family.
associations of neighbours, having a
members
The great bond
bond
their
community of
interests,
took
its place.
When
Charlemagne
established his supremacy in the ninth century he introduced the feudal system, and from
feudal retainers
smaller
this time we find German society divided into feudal lords
—
and
freeholder 0