CHAPTER II
THE COMACINES UNDER THE LONGOBARDS
LONGOBARD MASTERS
| About | |||
| 1. | 712 | Magister Ursus | Sculptured the altar at Ferentilla, and a ciborium at S. Giorgio di Valpolicella, for King Luitprand. |
| 2&3. | 712 | M. Ivvintino and Ivviano. (Joventino and Joviano) | Disciples of Ursus. |
| 4. | " | Magister Giovanni | Made the tomb of S. Cumianus. |
| 5. | 739 | M. Rodpert | Worked at Toscanella, and bought land there. |
| 6. | 742 | M. Piccone | Architect employed by Gunduald at Lucca: he received a gift of lands in Sabine in 742. |
| 7. | M. Auripert | A painter patronized by King Astolph. |
It was on April 2, 568, that the Longobards under Alboin, with their wives and children and with all their belongings, "colle loro mogli e figli, e con tutte le sostanze loro," first came down and took Friuli. Alboin gave the government there to Gisulph, his nephew, leaving with him many of the chief and bravest families, and a high-bred race of horses (generosa razza di cavalli).
Next he took Vicenza and Verona, and in September 569 passed into Liguria—which then extended from the Adda to the Ligurian Sea,—and conquered Milan. To this add Emilia, and later, Ravenna and Tuscany, and the first Lombard kingdom was complete.
From this kingdom depended the three dukedoms of Friuli, Spoleto, and Beneventum. The last was added in the time of Autharis (575-591) when, like Canute, he rode into the sea at Reggio in Calabria, and touching the waves with his lance, cried—"These alone shall be the boundary of the Longobards."[20]
This Autharis married Theodolinda, a Christian. He was an Arian, but by her means he became Catholic. After his death, in 590, she chose Agilulf, who reigned with her twenty-five years.[21]
Paulus Diaconus gives the following very pretty account of Theodolinda's two betrothals—
"It was expedient for Autharis, the young King of the Lombards, to take a wife, and an ambassador was sent to Garibald, King of Bavaria, to propose an alliance with his daughter Theodolinda. Autharis disguised himself as one of the suite, with the object of seeing beforehand what his bride was like. She was sent for by her father and bidden to hand some wine to the guests. Having served the ambassador first, she handed the cup to Autharis, and in giving him the serviette after drinking, he managed to press her hand. The princess blushed, and told the incident to her nurse, who in a prophetic manner assured her that he must be the king himself, or he would not have dared to touch her.
"Soon after, on the Franks invading Bavaria, Theodolinda with her brother fled to Italy, where Autharis met her near Verona, and the marriage was solemnized on the Ides of May, A.D. 589.
"Amongst the guests were Agilulf, Duke of Turin, and with him a youth of his suite, son of an augur; in a sudden storm a tree near them was struck by lightning, on which the young augur said to Agilulf—'The bride who has arrived to-day will shortly wed you.' Agilulf was so angry at what seemed a disrespect to the king and queen, that he threatened to cut off his page's head, who replied—'I may die, but I cannot change destiny.' And truly, when a few years after Autharis was poisoned at Pavia, Theodolinda's people were so attached to her, that they offered her the kingdom if she would elect a Longobard as husband.
"Destiny had decreed that she should choose Agilulf. The same ceremony of offering him a cup of wine was gone through, and he kissed her hand as she gave it. The queen blushing said—'He who has a right to the mouth need not kiss the hand.' So Agilulf knew that he was her chosen king.
"She was a Christian, and a favourite disciple of Gregory the Great. Her good life and prayers were able to convert Agilulf to orthodox Christianity, for like many Longobards of the time he had fallen into the Arian heresy. In gratitude for this she vowed a church to St. John Baptist, and a miraculous voice inspired her as to the site at Modœcia, or 'oppidum moguntiaci.'"
It was under these Christianized invaders that the Comacine Masters became active and influential builders again, and it is here that the actual history of the guild begins.
It is apparent that what are called Lombard buildings could not have been the work of the Longobards themselves. Symonds realized this difficulty, but had not solved the question as to who built the Lombard churches, when he wrote[22]—"The question of the genesis of the Lombard style, is one of the most difficult in Italian art history. I would not willingly be understood to speak of Lombard architecture in any sense different from that in which it is usual to speak of Norman. To suppose