1. MedievWorld1_fm_4pp.qxd

masons and masonry 481

Further reading:James Beck, Masaccio, the Docu-
ments(Locust Valley, N.Y.: J. J. Augustin, 1978); Bruce
Cole, Masaccio and the Art of Early Renaissance Florence
(Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1980); Paul
Joannides, Masaccio and Masolino: A Complete Catalogue
(London: Phaidon, 1993).

masons and masonry Masons did the stonework or
brickwork on building projects throughout the Middle
Ages and some may have functioned as architects.
Masons employed several types of instruments and tools.
With a compass with mobile legs, they designed plans but
also traced patterns for executing detailed designs on
stone and drawing surfaces. Using such a simple device,
they could measure, divide, and reproduce lengths and
trace curves. A square was also used in tracing designs, as
well as laying cut stones. Ropes were used for laying
foundations, for verifying distances, for tracing curves

and straight lines. Weighted cords served as plumb lines

for verifying the directions and angles of elements along

with levels. As stonecutters they used hammers and chis-

els of different types.

Masons also had measuring rods and wooden or

metal templates corresponding to stone faces and mold-

ings. For transporting materials, the workers had hand

barrows and wheelbarrows from the 14th century. Shov-

els and trowels were used to mix and spread mortar,

which was composed of lime and sand and transported in

wooden buckets or troughs.

Further reading:Nicola Coldstream, Masons and

Sculptors(Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1991);

John Harvey, English Mediaeval Architects: A Biographical

Dictionary Down to 1550: Including Master Masons, Car-

penters, Carvers, Building Contractors and Others Respon-

sible for Design(Gloucester: A. Sutton, 1987); Douglas

Knoop, The Mediœval Mason: An Economic History of

English Stone Building in the Later Middle Ages and Early

Masons at work from The Story of Alexander the Great,by Quintus Curtius Rufus, illumination by Liedet, Loyset, or Louis (15th
century), Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris(Snark / Art Resource)