11 Universal Freemasonry
Over the course of the preceding chapters, we have seen how
builders went from country to country and spread their science and art.
The master builder monks of the Carolingian and Romanesque eras
traveled widely, some emigrating from motherhouses to found new
monasteries in far places while maintaining close relations with their
home abbeys. These relations often included sending monks with artis-
tic expertise. The minor abbeys sent their novices to study in those
monasteries that were famous for their inhabitants' knowledge of sci-
ence. Monks, like laypeople, often went on pilgrimages to Rome,
Compostela, and the Holy Land. While journeying, they made numer-
ous stops where they would learn much, thus benefiting from their for-
eign experience. Often the title of master builder was enough to earn a
place in the retinue of lords who made expeditions to distant lands.
Later, lay artists, like monks, traveled great distances. French artists
could be found in all the countries of central Europe. During the twelfth
century, Guillaume de Sens traveled to Canterbury (1174-1179) and in
the thirteenth century, Pierre, served as master builder of the cathedral
of Toledo, while Villard de Honnecourt traveled to Hungary, Etienne de
Bonneuil to Sweden, and Pierre d'Agincourt to the court of Naples. In the
fourteenth century, Mathieu d'Arras worked on the cathedral of Prague
and Jean Mignot, in 1400, traveled from Paris to Milan to correct and