Ecclesiastical and Monastic Associations 47Raymond Alfantim, delegated one of its members, Pierre de Regesio, to
go to the Holy See to request that it join with the Templar Order.
Giraud, bishop of Cavaillon, after having given his assent to this
request, rescinded his decision and asked Pope Nicolas III to unite the
Brothers of Bompas with the Hospitallers of Saint John of Jerusalem,
which was done."^9 At this time the Templars also concerned themselves
with the establishment and maintenance of roads and the construction
of bridges and hospices.
Over the course of three or four centuries, the Fratres Pontifices
were responsible for the construction of almost all the bridges of
Provence, Languedoc, Auvergne, Brittany, Lorraine, and the Lyon
region, as well as those of Ratisbonne, Dresden, Luzern, and Prague.
They were considered a religious order but accepted laypeople into
their ranks. As the result of a decree enacted in 1469, individuals
belonging to the order were conferred the status of tradesmen. The
Fratres Pontifices also existed in Lucca, Italy, where they remained until
- The head of the order had the title magister meaning "master."
Jean de Medici was the master of the order in 1562.
Monastic Associations in Great Britain and Ireland,
Including the CuldeesBenedictines spread throughout Great Britain under the impetus of the
monk Austin or Augustine, who came from the monastery in Lerins.
This English apostle became the first bishop of Canterbury in 596. In
England, as on the Continent, the creation of builders associations
allied with monasteries was becoming quite commonplace. Saint
Augustine himself left behind a reputation as a great architect.
What exactly were the relations between the continental
Benedictines, who had traveled to Britain across the English Channel,
and the native Culdees, who had remained on their home soil and were
very much attached to their own traditions? Are there really grounds
for maintaining, as has always been done, the existence of a specifically
Culdeen art and architecture that would have greatly influenced the
Benedictines and their monastic brotherhoods of builders?
As far as this primary role played by the Culdees is concerned, it is