Longobard rule explains why the Comacine Masters of the thirteenth century were known as Lombards, and the architecture of that time as the "Lombard style." In the same way they were called Franchi when Charlemagne was their king; and Tedeschi when the German dynasty conquered North Italy; if indeed the words artefici Franchi do not merely signify Freemasons, which I strongly suspect is the true meaning.
To understand the connection of this guild of architects with little Como we must glance backwards at the state of that province under the Romans, when it was a colony ruled by a prefect. Junius Brutus himself was one of these rulers, and Pliny the Younger a later one. At this time Como was a large and flourishing city. It had in Cæsar's time a theatre whose ruins were found near S. Fedele; a gymnasium for the games, which was near the present church of Santa Chiara. A document dated 1500 speaks of the Arena of Como as then still existing. The campus martius was at S. Carpoforo, where several Roman inscriptions, urns, and medals were found. This valuable collection of Latin inscriptions, found in and about Como, proves the successive rule of emperors, prefects, military tribunes, naval prefects, Decurions, etc. We have records also of Senators, Decemviri, and other municipal magistrates. The inscriptions also show that there were temples to Jove, Neptune, the Dea Bona, the Manes, the Dea Mater, Silvanus, Æsculapius, Mars, Diana, Hygeia, and even Isis.
Some Cippi are dedicated to Mercury and Hercules; and one found near S. Maria di Nullate was inscribed by order of the Comacines to Fortuna Obsequente, "for the health of the citizens." To this day a Prato Pagano (pagan field) exists near Como. All these proofs, together with Pliny's testimony, go to show that Como was in Roman times an important centre, and as such was likely to have its own Collegia or trade guilds, to one of which probably Pliny's builder, Mustio, belonged, and to which the Roman refugees naturally fled as brethren.
Pliny the Younger at that time lived at Como, in his delightful villa, Comedia. In his grounds, on a high hill, were the ruins of the temple of the Eleusinian Ceres, and he determined to restore this temple, as devotees flocked there during the Ides of September, and had no refuge from sun or rain.[16] His letter to "Mustio," a Comacine architect, gives the commission for this restoration, and after explaining the form he wished the design to take, he concludes—"At least unless you think of something better, you, whose art can always overcome difficulties of position." For Pliny, fresh from Rome, to give such praise to an architect at Como, shows that even at that time good masters existed there.
Another letter of Pliny's (Lib. X. Epist. xlii.) speaks of the villa of his friend Caninus Rufus, on the same lake, with its beautiful porticoes and baths, etc., and of the many other villas, palaces, temples, forums, etc., which embellished Como and its neighbourhood.
Catullus lived here when the poet Cæcilius, whose works have now perished, invited him to leave the hills of Como, and the shores of Lario, to join him in Verona.
Pliny seems to confirm the existence of guilds,[17] as he speaks of the institution of a Collegium of iron-workers, who wished to be patented by the Emperor, but Trajan refused to form new guilds, for fear of the Hetæriæ or factions which might infiltrate into them.
Mommsen, in his work De Collegiis et Sodalitiis Romanorum, says that under the emperors no guild was allowed to hold meetings, except by special laws, yet though new companies were not to be formed, the existing ones of architects and artisans were permitted to continue after public liberty was lost. Several documents prove that the chief scope of these unions was to promote the interests of their art, to provide mutual assistance in the time of need, to succour the sick and poor, and to bury the dead.
The trade guilds in London, the Arti in Florence, and the town clubs kept up in England till lately, seem to be all survivals of these ancient classical societies.
Besides the Builders' Society, Como had, in Roman times, a nautical guild. An inscription is extant, dedicated to C. Messius Fortunatus by the Collegium nautarum Comensium. This guild sent twenty ships of war to Venice in Barbarossa's time.
But besides having privileged societies, Como and its Comacine islands were a privileged territory, and might almost have been called a republic. We have, it is true, no documentary evidence of this dating back to pre-Longobardic times, but as Otho in 962[18] confirmed the islands in all former privileges granted by his predecessors on the Imperial throne, we may fairly suppose the privileges dated from times far anterior to himself.
This is an anglicized version of his decree, which was granted on the petition of the Empress Adelaide—
"In the name of the Holy and indivisible Trinity, Otho, by the will of God, august Emperor. If we incline to the demands of our faithful people, much more should we lend our ear to the prayers of our beloved consort. Know then, all ye faithful subjects of the Holy Church of God, present and future, that the august Empress Adelaide, our wife, invokes our clemency, that for her sake we receive under our protection the inhabitants of the Comacine islands, and surrounding places known as Menasie (sic), and we confirm all the privileges which they have enjoyed under our predecessors, and under ourselves before we were anointed Emperor, viz. they shall not be called on for military service, nor have arbergario (taxes on roads and bridges), nor pay curatura (tax on beasts), terratico (tax on land), ripatico (on ships), or the decimazione (tax on householders) of our kingdom, neither shall they be obliged to serve in our councils, except the general assembly at Milan, which they shall attend three times a year. All this we concede, etc. Given on the 8th before the calends of September, in the year of the Incarnation 962, first year of the reign of the most pious Otho."—Indiction V. in Como.
The hypothesis that this decree refers to a long-existing liberty is confirmed by the history of Como in the time of Justinian I. Up to the middle of the sixth century a certain Imperial Governor of Insubria, named Francione, who had seen Rome sacked and his own state taken, fled to Comacina as a free place of refuge when Alboin invaded Italy. He helped the Comacines to hold out against the barbarians for more than twenty years, and so secure was the place considered that the island was by Narses and others made the depositary of infinite treasures. With him multitudes of Romans had taken refuge there, but finally even this fell into the hands of the Longobards. We are told that Autharis subjugated Istria, and after a six months' siege, possessed himself of the very strongly fortified island of Comacina on the lake of Como, where he found immense treasures, doubtless part of the traditional wealth amassed by Narses, and which as well as much private property had been deposited here for security by the neighbouring peoples.[19]
Here then, four centuries before Otho's decree, we have Comacina as a place of refuge in troublous times, chosen because, being a free city, it was considered more safe than other towns. We need not then consider it improbable, if in the dark centuries when the Roman Empire was dying out, and its glorious temples and streets falling into ruin under the successive inroads of half-savage despoilers; when the arts and sciences were falling into disuse or being enslaved; and when no place was safe from persecution and warfare, the guild of the Architects should fly for safety to almost the only free spot in Italy; and here, though they could no longer practise their craft, they preserved the legendary knowledge and precepts which, as history implies, came down to them through Vitruvius from older sources, some say from Solomon's builders themselves.
Among the treasures must have been works of Greek and Roman art, that kept alive the old spirit among the guild of builders gathered there; but alas! after the long generations when art was decaying, and uncalled for, their hands lost their skill, they could no longer reproduce the perfect works.
It was here the Longobards found them, and in their new Christian zeal soon furnished them with work enough.
LONGOBARD KINGS
| 568. | Alboin conquers Italy; he was poisoned by his wife Rosamund for compelling her to drink out of her father's skull. |
| 573. | Cleoph (assassinated). |
| 575. | Autharis (poisoned). |
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