THE BUILDER JULY 1918

FURTHER NOTES ON THE COMACINE MASTERS

BY BRO. W. RAVENSCROFT, ENGLAND

In presenting this article we wish again to emphasize that Brother
Newton says of Brother Ravenscroft's work on Page 88 of the March
issue of THE BUILDER. We have no hesitation in saying that this
presentation of the latest researches of our noted English brother
is in our judgment the most important contribution to the subject
of the sources of Freemasonry as it now exists which has been given
to the Masonic world since the organization of this Society. While
perhaps not all Masonic scholars have agreed with the conclusions
of Brother Ravenscroft in his small but monumental book, "The
Comacines," it must be admitted that the new material herewith
presented is of great value in supporting his former contentions.
Members of our Society will find cause for gratification in the
choice of THE BUILDER as the medium through which Brother
Ravenscroft gives us this added light, and we welcome the
opportunity to still further acknowledge our gratitude to our
English brother for his continuing interest in our work.          
EDITOR.

PART I

"You have often heard it said that Scotto was the founder of Art in
Italy. He was not: neither he, nor Cianta Pisano, nor Niccolo
Pisano. They all laid strong hands to the work, and brought it
first into aspect above ground; but the foundation had been laid
for them by the builders of the Lombardic churches in the valleys
of the Adda and the Arno.

"It is in the sculpture of the round-arched churches of North Italy
bearing disputable dates, ranging from the eighth to the twelfth
century, that you will find the lowest struck roots of the Art of
Titian and Raphael."
--From John Ruskin's "Two Paths."

SEVEN years ago I wrote a little book, published by Elliot Stock,
London, with the title, "The Comacines, Their Predecessors and
Their Successors." It closed with the following summary of the
points I wished . __ to emphasize:

1. Centuries before Christ and the foundation of Rome a race of
Hametic descent spread along the Mediterranean shores and afterward
became known in Syria and Asia Minor as Hittites, in Greece as
Pelasgoi, and in Italy as Etruscans.

2. Hittites were engaged in building the Temple at Jerusalem, the
fame of which spread far and wide.

3. The Romans learned their arts of building, decoration and
pottery, etc., from the Etruscans, who were the same race as the
Hittites, and carried with them some at least of their traditions.

4. In Rome developed Collegia of Artificers, and in early Christian
days these had traditions of King Solomon.

5. At the downfall of Rome the Gild of Artificers left and settled
in the district of Como, holding as their centre the Island of
Comacina.

6. That thence they spread their influence over all Western Europe
and even to our own shores.

7. That they merged into the great Masonic Gilds of the Middle
Ages.

8. That as these Gilds died out their forms and ceremonies were
preserved to a great extent in our Masonic lodges; at any rate
those under the English and American Constitutions.

Since my book was published I have continued to make its subject
one of my principal studies and through the courtesy and influence
of Cav. A. G. Caprani, the owner of the island of Comacina, I have
obtained interviews with several Italian archaeologists who gave me
valuable help in my investigations. This resulted in the collection
of notes and drawings which, together with what I have been able to
obtain by personal inspection in many Italian towns and especially
in the Como district, forms the basis of what I have written in the
present paper.

Of what I previously wrote on this subject I have had scarcely any
adverse criticism, but I have seen the Comacines described by one
writer as an "obscure association," while another refers to their
story as a myth. One is reminded thus of the traveler who stated
that he knew the Lake of Como from end to end and could positively
assert that there was no island in it whatever.

It is not my intention here to recapitulate what I have already
written, but rather by added evidence to substantiate the more
important points therein. At the same time by keeping before the
reader the eight points listed at the beginning of this article I
hope as far as possible to make this paper self-contained.

One would not lay too much stress on the first three of these
statements, especially on the first, which one has, of course,
always regarded as more or less hypothetical. The statements
numbered two and three have been repeatedly confirmed by American
as well as English writers, but far as one could find, nowhere
traversed.

The late J. Tavenor Perry, F.R.I.B.A., in an article communicated
to the "Architect" of July 24th, 1914, entitled "The Origin of Lion
Bases," traces direct Hittite influence on the lion bases found
throughout Italy, and so intimately associated with the later
Comacine work, his argument being that the use of beasts in
connection with architecture especially as supporting the columns
of porches, doorways, etc., was popular from the tenth century
throughout Italy and parts of Southern France. These beasts,
although by no means exclusively so, took generally the form of
lions and were certainly much in vogue for a considerable time.

Mr. Tavenor Perry traces a striking likeness between Hittite lions,
as revealed in sculptured remains, supporting pillars and
doorposts, and those of Italy, and, differing from Riviora, who
claims Etruscan source for the latter, concludes that the idea was
brought home by returning Crusaders who, as they passed through the
Hittite country, saw and carried home the recollection of the
beasts in question.

This suggestion that the lion inspiration was originally Hittite,
makes intelligible the associations of lions with King Solomon's
throne, as also the Etruscan development of guardian lions. In this
connection it is worthy of mention that during recent excavations
at Corstopitum, near Corbridge on Tyne and Hexham, a lion,
remarkably like those of the Comacine type, was discovered, of
which the report of the excavation committee said:

"The lion, though in some respects a familiar Roman type, embodies
artistic tendencies which break loose from Roman art and anticipate
the Middle Ages."

The discovery of this lion in English soil properly suggests the
enquiry as to how far it is associated with Comacine work in
England to which a further reference in these pages will be made.
A few notes relating to the Collegia of Artificers will help to
confirm point four.

Pliny in a letter to the Emperor Trajan at the end of the first
century refers to a college of workmen. This is confirmed by
Professor Baldwin Brown in "From Schola to Cathedral" (Douglas,
Edinburgh, 1886), while Villari in "The Barbarian Invasion of
Italy" (Fisher Unwin, London, 1902), refers to there being found
after the sack of Rome no artificers skilled to design buildings
there.

Professor Merzario in his "Maestri Comacini," vol. I, p. 54,
(Milan, 1893), tells us that when Constantine went to Byzantium, A.
D. 328, he was accompanied by artificers who worked in Roman style.
He also says there is reason to believe that unions of architects,
workers in marble, painters, wall builders, joiners and other
workmen existed in Rome to about the year 400 A. D. and that down
to the fall of Imperial Rome there were similar unions in other
important cities of Italy, particularly in Ravenna and Milan, which
for many years were seats of Empire (vol. I, p. 36).

With regard to point five that "At the downfall of Rome the Gild of
Artificers left and settled in the district of Como, holding as
their centre the island of Comacina," there are to hand many items
of interest.

It is to be presumed that no one questions the association of a
Gild of Artificers with the Lake of Como from somewhere about A.D.
500 to the time when they were finally driven from the Island of
Comacina by the men of Como, A. D. 1169. Two charters granted the
Gild by Lombard Kings, that of Rotharis, A.D. 643, and that of
Liutprand, nearly one hundred years later, beside many other
documental references, give evidence of this. Nor will it be denied
that these artificers developed a style of their own which probably
underwent modifications according to the extent to which it was
subjected, from time to time, to external influences.

But what may not be thought conclusive is that these were the men
who, for five centuries at least, made their mark on, nay, were the
chief factors in the development of architecture in Italy and
Western Europe. In other words, that the Comacine Gild practically
fills the hiatus which has been supposed to exist between the
downfall of Rome and the development of what is generally
understood as medieval architecture in Italy and the West. The
point then is to establish that the Comacine influence was as
widespread as is claimed for it.

But first as regards their connection with the Roman Collegia, and
examination of some of their plans and of the detail of their
ornament together with the general use of the semi-circular arch
will render assistance. Wherever else the Comacine Masters may or
may not have worked, they are clearly responsible for the buildings
of their period in the district of Como, and indeed of the Lombardy
plain generally, for the Lombards were no builders, and hence
needed skilled assistance in the construction of their buildings.

Now whether we take the ground-plan of a Comacine Oratory, Church
or Cathedral, we shall find its prototype chiefly at Rome. There is
a small building of the eleventh century in the Comacine district
known as the Oratory of S. Benedetto in Civate, and its plan, as
well as the shaping of its roofs, shows striking similarity to one
of the oldest Christian buildings in Rome, "The Memorial Cella" in
the Cemetery of S. Callisto, each plan consisting of a rectangle
with three semicircular apses placed so as to form a kind of
chancel with transepts; the "Cella" dating from the end of the
third century. The plan of the Comacine Church of Sta. Maria del
Tiglio, at Gravedona on Lake Como, is also similar. And in this
connection it is noteworthy that in one of the oldest but most
recently discovered of the Catacombs at Rome, that of Priscilla,
there is a second century chapel called, because of some of the
inscriptions it contains, the Greek chapel, almost identical in
plan with these. (Figs. 1, 2 and 3.)

In this district also are the Churches of S. Pietro at Monte (Fig.
3a), S. Andrea at Lenno, S. Giacomo at Spurano, the Church of the
Ospedaletto between Campo and Sala, and the Church at Piona, with
many others, all consisting of rectangular aisleless naves and
semicircular apses following the plan of the larger Scholae at
Rome. Then there are Baptisteries, such as that at Lenno, to all
appearance modeled on the plan of early Christian ones in Rome,
some dating from the establishment of Christianity by Constantine.
And there are the larger churches, such as S. Benedetto di Monte
Oltirone, (Fig. 3b), S. Giovanni at Bellagio, S. Eufemia on the
Island of Comacina, S. Abbondio at Como, and hosts of others all
following, with slight modifications, the general type of plan used
for a Christian basilica in Rome in the early centuries of
Christianity. Clearly so far as the general types of plan are
concerned the Comacines, at any rate in their churches close at
home, drew their inspiration from Rome.

In the development of the capitals of columns we get distinct
traces of Roman influence both on the Island of Comacina and the
district around. Three instances will suffice to explain this.

In the ninth century Crypt of S. Stefano at Lenno, with some
variations, occurs the later type of Roman volute--the acanthus and
even the aloe leaves of debased Roman capitals (Fig. 4). The
capitals of some of the columns in the Church of S. Abbondio, Como,
are obviously derived from Roman corinthian capitals and in the
Baptistery at Gravedona the influence of the acanthus is
unmistakable.

In this connection the association of the Comacine Masters with the
Quatuor Coronati perhaps does not count for much, since these four
martyrs were probably not only the patron saints of the Comacines,
but also of other Gilds of Artificers, as certainly they were in
subsequent times; but it is interesting to record the dedication of
Comacine Churches to their memory as four as well as to individual
members of them such as that of S. Carpoforo, just outside Como.

The antiquary, Sig. Ugo Monneret de Villard, who has been for a
considerable time studying the Comacine district and has recently
published the result (1) of his explorations on the Island of
Comacina, and of research in the Archives of Milan and Como, etc.,
relating thereto, all carried out under the authority of the
Italian Government, regards the Comacine Masters as the descendants
of the Roman Collegia, but doubts the correctness of the statement
that they fled from Rome, contending that they had before its fall
established Collegia throughout Lombardy and elsewhere in the Roman
Empire, and that from Rome's enemies rather than directly from
Rome, they fled to Comacina.

He also thinks that the Gild, as such, ended with the twelfth
century, and this would synchronize with the fall of Comacina,
albeit at the dissolution of the Gild the individual members
carried away traditions in many directions.

In this connection it may be desirable to recall the Greek name
given to the Island of Comacina by one Abbot Floriano,
"Christopolis," by reason of its having become a place of refuge
for the many peaceful Romans who fled for security from the Lombard
invasions and from the strife, turmoil, bloodshed and devastation
of which the Lombardy plain and its surrounding districts was the
unhappy scene. Not only would the Island be some little security
against the Lombards, but also against Teutonic invasion from the
Northeast, and from the valleys round the lakes; for the progress
of Christianity in this district was but slow and the formation of
the Episcopal see of Como was comparatively late

Fortified very strongly, the crowded little Island would thus
become as fitting a home as could be found for the Magistri who
made it their centre and marvelously contrived to carry on their
craft in the surrounding district through ages of turmoil and
internecine war. Refugees from their conquerors, they were in
course of time called back when Craftsmen and builders were needed
by the Lombards, and these Craftsmen would bring with them stone,
marble and wood, since the Lombardy plain could not supply such
materials.

Thus much for the relation between the Comacines and the Roman
Collegia, but it is not suggested that the Comacines developed
their style and worked out their buildings unaffected from without
by other influences.

On the contrary it is evident that a Byzantine character was given
to a good deal of their work, especially as it moved Eastward; and
while asserting the claim for individual character in it against
the criticism which complains that they are credited with what does
not belong to them, it cannot be denied that, in the development of
their style, Byzantium had some part. Indeed the suggestion of the
following notes is that it was to a considerable extent through the
Comacines that Byzantine art found expression in the West.

Up to the commencement of the great schism in the eighth century,
it would be natural to expect Eastern influence to be direct and
easy; but from that time onward it would be equally natural to look
for its cessation, or at least diminution. And yet it seems to have
been maintained right through the centuries, even to the twelfth,
in which it is clearly discernable. How was this ?

For the following reasons one would venture to believe that it was
through the Comacines largely and in spite of the separation of the
Churches, that its flow was more or less maintained. First, the
Comacine district proper may be said to have extended from the
plain of Lombardy at least as far as Istria. Secondly, this
district was under the Ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the
Archbishop of Aquileja, and hence looked to Byzantium rather than
Rome. Thirdly, Sig. Caprani says:

"The badge of the former inhabitants of the Island Comacina was
most likely at the time when the town was destroyed (A. D. 1169) a
Byzantine Cross, as they depended in Ecclesiastical matters from
the Patriarch of Constantinople. Their descendants, the people of
Varenna, are still called 'Patriarchini,' by way-of allusion to
their Ecclesiastical allegiance to Byzantium instead of Rome. (2)

"It is supposed that this continued after the fatal year 1169, and
the fact that in the parish of Varenna the Ambrosian Rite is
observed instead of the Roman that is observed in all the parishes
of the province of Como, may be in consequence of their political
lien with Milan as their former adherence to Constantinople, was
probably the reason for not depending from Rome in religious
matters."

As a postscript to the above, Sig. Caprani adds:

"Referring to what I have already brought to your notice of what is
related in the Revista Archaeologia of Como, 1908, I observe that
the Byzantine Cross precedes the inscription found on a capital of
the cloister of Voltorre (on Lake Varess), which includes the
assumption that it was built under the direction of Magister
Lanfrancus, one member of the Comacine Gild.

"This Magister Lanfrancus was perhaps the same who, in 1099, with
increased fame, an acknowledged architect, began the renovation of
the Cathedral of Modena and directed those works, at least until
the end of 1106, called 'Mirabilis artifex mirificus edificator,'
and who, in a tablet placed on the back of the apsis at Modena, is
remembered with the following epitaph:

"Ingenio clarus Lanfrancus
Doctus et aptus est operis
Princepo Hujus Rectorque Magister.

Fourthly. It is a matter of history that in A.D. 553 an Aecumenical
Council was held in Constantinople (the fifth acknowledged by the
Christian Church) and condemned as heresy the writings of three
deceased Bishops known as the "Three Chapters," two of which,
however, had been previously, at the Council of Chalcedon (A. D.
451), acquitted.

It appears that in A. D. 557 the Archbishop of Aquileja called
together his suffragans and rejected the act of this council of
553, thereby estranging themselves in this particular matter from
the Church's accepted view, both Eastern and Western. At the same
time they constituted their Archbishop "Patriarch of Aquileja." At
the close of the sixth century Pope Gregory the Great sought to
bring them into line but they refused to obey his summons to Rome.
In connection with these events there appears on the scene a Bishop
of Como, Agrippinus, who died about 620 A.D., or perhaps, as some
say, a little earlier, and whose seventh century epitaph is still
to be seen in the Church at Isola on the mainland close to Comacina
whence this epitaph was brought, Agrippinus having been buried on
the Island. In this epitaph testimony is given to the part
Agrippinus played in the controversy on the side of Aquileja. Since
that time repeated efforts have been made to bring the district
under the authority of Rome, but until the eighteenth century with
but small, and that intermittent. success.

S. Carlo Borromeo tried it, as many of his predecessors had done,
and yet it remained Eastern in its obedience until Aquileia. in a
re-distribution of authority, lost its importance and ceased to
have its jurisdiction. The point of all this for our purpose is
obvious, since geographically as well as through religious attitude
of its hierarchy this district could not be other than a direct and
easy channel for the flow of Eastern ideas in matters of art as
well as religion.

Lastly, the Church of S. Pietro al Monte di Civate (eleventh
century Comacine work, Fig. 3a) had its altar three-quarters of the
length of the church toward the West, in such a manner as that the
celebrant faced the East and the people, according to the more
ancient and oriental rite. This in the West at so late a date is
very exceptional and a clear indication of the association.
Taking together then these five points and remembering the
connection between the Church and Gilds in the Middle Ages it is
surely justifiable to suggest that its was to a great extent
through the Comacines that Byzantine art owes largely such
acceptance as it found in the West.

(To be continued)

(1) "Isola Comacina."
(2) In an article on Varenna recently published in an Italian
journal occurs the following: Nel 1169 gli abitanti di Cristopoli
(another name for Comacina) dai Comaschi cacciatidale Isola
Comacina si refugiarono a Varenna portandovi il loro rito
patriarchino dicui non sono del tutto estinte le traccie.

"GOING WEST"

In our study paper "Approaching the East," by Brother Haywood,
which appeared in the April Correspondence Circle Bulletin, was
discussed the meaning of the expression "Gone West." Our members,
especially those who belong to lodges or study clubs where our
"Bulletin Course of Masonic Study" is being used, will find the
following item which recently appeared in "The Christian
Commonwealth" of much interest:

In his "First Expedition to Africa," Livingstone tells of his
encounter with a lion, in which he reveals a very interesting fact.
Once the-beast had him by the shoulder, and had shaken him like a
rat, all sense of terror and pain vanished. The shock produced,
naturally, a condition of anesthesia. This seemed to the explorer
a merciful provision of Nature to lessen the pain of death.

A similar, less intense, though more prolonged condition of
anesthesia seems to supervene where men spend days and months in
the presence of imminent death. The presence of death itself seems
to produce an anesthetic effect. In pre-war days death, viewed at
a distance by the average healthy man, had, to say the least, a
very sinister aspect. Today all is changed. Men poke fun and talk
slang in the dread presence. Humanity's propensity for humour will
not stop short even here. Cartoons from the trenches show how true
this is. To hob-nob with death seems to deprive it of the horrors
it assumed when we knew it only as a nodding acquaintance.
Anesthesia is produced by the very thing we feared.

The soldier refers to it in phrases which may well be classed under
the heading of verbal anaesthetics. Take, for example, such a
phrase as "Gone West." Here is a verbal charm before which grimness
and ghastliness disappear. Instead, the mind is filled with
suggestions of golden romance, sunset splendour, and a new world of
distant mysteries.

These, at least, if nothing more definite, are suggested, and these
do draw the sting and sweeten the bitterness a little. It is
surprising what effect even a beautiful phrase may produce. And
this is but one of many verbal anesthetics which we gladly use
today.

It may surprise some of us to be told that "Going West" was a
phrase well known to the old Egyptians, to the men of the Torres
Straits, Fiji, Brazil and India. And they used the phrase with more
definite conceptions than our soldiers do today. Let us see what
some of those conceptions were.

The belief in an under-world, to which the souls of men journeyed,
was common, of course, to the Hebrews, Greeks and Romana Certain
tribes as far apart as South Africa and Mexico had a similar
belief. If such a place existed it was only natural that it should
have an entrance. And speculation, of course, was rife as to where
the entrance was. The Romans believed it to be in the Comitium. In
Ireland there is an old legend, which tells how Sir Oswain and a
monk, Gilbert, discovered the entrance in an island of Lough Derg,
in Donegal.

These, however, were purely local, and there was the suggestion of
an entrance obvious to all. The sun, it was thought, passed into
the under-world at his setting and emerged from it at dawn.
Obviously, then, the sunset was the real entrance to the spirit
abodes.

A conception arose, therefore, in some races that it was essential
to journey with the sun, and under his charge to pass the clashing
gates that guarded the entrance to the land of spirits. Such was
the "Going West" of primitive man in Australia, Polynesia, India
and Brazil. Among the Aryan races such a picture did not, however,
prevail--to the Romans, e. g., it was unknown.

Amid the more primitive peoples it did exist, and was by some
extended to embrace the idea of two worlds. To the idea of the
gloomy underworld was added that of islands of the blessed which
lay in the sunset, and to which went only the virtuous and the
brave. The underworld was for bad men only. The nether world thus
assumed a gloomier aspect. But the islands of the blessed were
happy and fruitful abodes of joy and peace.

No such conceptions as these are present to the modern soldier; and
whether his phrase "Gone West" can be traced back to any such
origin or not, the fact remains that we have here a phrase which
provides an esthetic, hides the terror of death, and suggests
instead the distant glory of a new romance.

THE MEANING OF OUR RED CROSS

The red in our cross stands for sacrifice, for giving life, as the
warm, crimson blood gives life to the body. The cross has the same
length on all four sides of its arms, to signify that it gives life
equally to all, high or low, east or west. It stands alone always,
no words or markings on it, to show that the Red Cross workers have
only one thought--to serve. They ask no questions, they care not
whether the wounded be ours or of another people--their duty is to
give, and to give quickly.

The Red Cross stands on a white ground, because real sacrifice can
come only from pure hearts. Service must come, not from hate, but
from love; from the noblest thoughts and wishes of the heart, or it
will fail. That is why children love this flag. It is drawing them
by millions in the schools of our land, in a wonderful army of
rescue under the President, to make, to save, to give for others.
And some day the children of all lands, under the Red Cross, will
teach the grown people the ways of understanding and of friendship;
the beautiful meaning of the Red Cross which is echoed in their
lives.--H. N. MacCracken.

