THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY.
Art. 14, besides placing gi-eat hindrances in
trade elsewhere and wished
mason
shall use oil colour,
which
is
fined.
punished by the
craft,
of a craftsman
way
who had
learned his
makes the curious provision
to exercise it at Cologne,
that no
to be left for the painters to
employ.
a master or fellow execute a work in such a manner as to raise
Art. 15 provides that if
discord amongst the workmen, he shall
and be heavily
tlie
i/i
sit in
the tower for one month, eat bread and water,
According to the Ordinances, such a case ought to be tried and
and would be almost important enough to be carried to Strassburg
they certainly do not contemplate having it decided by the Town Council.
If the Town Council require to erect a building, and summon
Art. 16 is very strong.
thereto any master or fellows, they are at once to comply, "because we, the council, are
itself;
the chief authority which grants
all
trade charters, and
we
"
shall even be
—a
allowed,
if
we
privilege which
fit, to employ strange masters and fellows
(that is,
was not granted to a resident master).
And, finally. Art. 18 provides that the masters shall swear to observe this code once
a year before the burgomaster and council, and to cause it to be read to and observed by their
think
non- citizens
craftsmen.
On
were confirmed, but the rate of pay of
the 12th September 1608, these Articles
and apprentices was
The
apprentice was also required
to remain with his former master as journeyman for two years, unless he wished to travel.
This code of rules was in force till at the least 1760 it having been cited as late as that
masters, fellows,
raised.
perfect
;
was therefore drawn up between the first
of 1563, and regulated the trade of the stonemasons,
year in the various magisterial proceedings.^
Ordinances of 1459, and the latter
carpenters,
What
etc.,
up
It
to a very recent period.
is to be drawn from these
It is evident that in
conflicting laws ?
at least as early as 1478, the regulations of the craft were subordinate to those of
Cologne,
conclusion
and we may assume that this was the case even earlier in other cities, as
was one of the latest to wrest its complete independence from the patrician
Cologne
The stonemasons themselves acknowledge their limited power in the preamble of
guild.
the 1462 Ordinances " And when the Lords will not have it so, then shall it not be so "
the council;
and
in Art.
—
— "Then
(1563),
;
those
who
are of our craft, being in a majority, alter
may
such Articles according to the times and the necessities of the land, and the course of affairs."
I.
The Ordinances therefore assume a new form to our eyes; they are no longer the picture
of what was universal, but of what to the stonemasons was desirable.
They already felt their
power, importance, and independence as a corporation slipping away from them, with tlie
increase of order and civilisation, and strove to prop the edifice by forging extra bonds of
and in the hope of success obtained confirmations of their Ordinances from the
But the free towns of
Emperors, thus opposing the imperial to the local authority.
union;
Germany, although willing enough to support the Emperor against the clergy or nobility, were
too strong to be overawed by any imperial edict, where it clashed with their own interests.
These confirmations were numerous.
The first, apparently, was that of Frederick III. at
Eatisbon, a.d. 1459
Maximilian
Charles V.,
I,
reconfirmed by
;
.
.
.
.
.
.
'
all his successors.
Strassburg,
Barcelona,
...
.
.
Latomia, Quarterly Magazine (Leipsic, 1862),
3d October 1498.
15th April 1538.
.
ji.
219.