Secular Brotherhoods: The Germanic and Anglo-Saxon Guilds 53new economic, social, cultural, and political needs and aspirations.
In France, north of the Loire River, the most remarkable and elo-
quent illustration of this enormous evolution is apparent in the con-
struction of cathedrals and churches. In this era, religious sentiment
asserted itself and was symbolized in monuments that also reflected the
life and soul of the Middle Ages. These works were executed by thou-
sands of volunteers sharing the same piety and persevering together in
a common effort, which strengthened the ideas of union and solidarity.
Next in significance to all the merchants and artisans who ensured the
necessities of subsistence and daily life were masons and workers who
built the large churches and who founded brotherhoods that were both
mystical and corporate in nature. It was in Saint Denis between 1130 and
1140, then in Chartres in 1145, that we can first detect the organization
of these popular brotherhoods. In Chartres, history has preserved the
name of one of the most skilled of the secular architects, Beranger, who
worked on the cathedral and died in 1180. The example of the faithful
church builders of Saint Denis and Chartres was immediately copied at the
abbey of Saint Pierre sur Dives (Calvados) and, soon after, throughout Ile
de France and Normandy. The cathedrals of Strasbourg, Laon, Noyon,
Senlis, and Soissons were cradles of similar associations, whose members
were both ardent Christians and artists beyond compare.
In a letter of 1140 addressed by the abbot Aymon to the masons of
Tuttebury in England, we have testimonies of the bursts of faith that
animated these men.* This piece of correspondence provides us with
- Hist. Litt. de la France par les Religteux Benedictines, vol. 12 (Paris: M. Paulin,
1865-1866), 356; Mabillon, Ann. Benedict., vol. 128, (Paris: Billaine, 1668-1701), n. 67.
It should be noted that the English legend places among the ancestors of the order a cer-
tain Aymon, son of Hiram, who was the greatest of master masons. Should we view as a
coincidence the fact that the elements of the legend of Hiram are also present in the earlier
chanson de geste, "The Four Sons of Aymon"? In this text we see Renaud de Montauban,
who, after following a life that has been hardly edifying and wishing to atone for his sins,
hires on to the construction of the cathedral of Cologne. His uncommon strength and dex-
terity create a situation about which all the masters argue. But then his fellow workers
become alarmed and find common cause: They fear he will spoil their trade. They plot to
knock him over the head with a hammer when he is not looking and then put his body in
a sack, and throw it into the Rhine. At the time they customarily eat, when "the master
masons and the top workers" leave the construction site to go to osteaux (vespers), they
put their plan into operation. Their crime does not remain a secret for long, however. The
fish in the Rhine, gathered together by a miracle, push up the body, now lit by three tapers.
The murderers, in complete confusions, have no alternative but to make penitence.