76 THE ORIGINS OF FREEMASONRY FROM ANCIENT TIMES TO THE MIDDLE AGES
Nor should we overlook the considerable influence of alchemy. This
science, which took shape in the syncretic milieus of third-century
Alexandria as a synthesis of Egyptian, Chaldean, Jewish, and Hellenic
speculations and practices, evolved rapidly before entering Byzantium
and from there the Arab world, notably in the Fatimid and Ismailian
sects. It was among the Arabs in the thirteenth century that Arnaud de
Villeneuve, Saint Thomas, Raymond Lulle, and Roger Bacon studied
alchemy, which took on considerable importance in Europe during the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. We should also note that its symbol-
ism is closely tied to that of philosophy and construction.
In the architectural domain, European builders were subject to the
direct influence of the Arab world. In fact, masons' marks, those sym-
bolic markings left by European masons on all their work starting at the
end of the twelfth century, had been in common use throughout the
East since the remote past.^29
Those in the East and Muslim Spain were familiar with the broken
arch and the tiers point long before the Europeans. In some portions of
France (especially in central France and the Midi region), in Spain (as
seen in the portal of Santiago de Compostela and the San Pablo del
Campo Cloister in Barcelona), and in Germany, (primarily along the
banks of the Rhine), Romanesque buildings, some of which date to
before the twelfth century, have architectonic forms borrowed from the
Arabs. These forms, which are most often seen above compartments
such as bays, doors, and windows, consist of several sections of circles
combined in various ways. Examples are trefoil arches and arches with
multifoil festoons and two-color archstones. The churches of Auvergne
and of the Velay, particularly the apse and tribunes of Notre Dame du
Port in Clermont Ferrand and the cloister, transept, and chapels of the
cathedral Notre Dame du Puy, provide some characteristic examples
that have inspired several imitations in the surrounding areas.* Other
examples include the triforium of the meridional transept of the Cluny
- Bands, archivolts, modillons a copeaus [the console figures that have a design element.
copeaux, resembling wood shavings], multifoil porches, and polychrome stonework give
Notre Dame du Port and Notre Dame du Puy a resemblance to the mosque in Cordova,
which left such a strong impression on Emile Male (Arts et Metiers du Moyen Age, 33 ff).