Non nobis, Domine, non nobis, sed nomini tuo da gloriam
(Prayer of the sculptors at Troyes, engraved as a signature on the church of Pont Hubert, 12th century)

Following the great passions of the Crusades came the explosion of the construction of religious edifices throughout Europe. The religious links between the Universal Architect who is God and the architects who imagined and created these churches and cathedrals are extremely ancient. Every stone, every arch, every soaring spire, was designed to remind man of the striving to rise beyond the earthly, and it is this synthesis of allegory and stone, this material representation of elevated religious feeling which makes the architecture truly mystical and its creators mystics.
    Whence came these masons so imbued with the drive and knowledge to construct such uplifting, illuminating churches and cathedrals? One line of research suggests that it was from the abbeys and monasteries themselves, where the brothers were dedicated to both prayer and manual work. In particular, it was the Benedictine Order (on whose Rule the Cistercians based their monasteries), which attached great importance to manual work in its Rule, as well as to prayer : “In the 12th century we saw the builders emerge from the cloisters. The liberal arts, the sciences and literary arts had taken refuge there.” (M.Deville) It was at Cîteaux in 1119 that the rules were established which related to those brothers who worked on physical tasks such as construction.
    The masons had expert knowledge of building techniques as well as the art of transmutation exemplified in glass-making. This ‘mason’s glass’ had various legends and rituals attached to it. It was also called ‘Augustinian’s glass’ following a discovery of buried glass in 1945 beneath the ruins of an Augustinian church at Rouen, destroyed during the war. A veil was found with the glass, perhaps indicating a liturgical use.
    According to medieval texts there was a ritual whereby glass would be buried at certain moments and recovered at others. It is interesting to note that there existed a para-liturgical Norman custom of hiding the new wine in the Autumn to bring forth at the Easter Festival. Was the exhumation of glass linked to Easter and the Passion of Christ? The feast day of the Quatuor Coronati is on November 8th. It would be interesting to know where else this ceremony existed.
    The huge abbey church of St Ouen in Rouen was built by Benedictine monks, a work begun by William the Conqueror’s cousin, Nicolas de Normandie. A 15th century legend states that the church’s architect, Alexandre de Berneval, murdered his apprentice Colin out of jealousy when he saw his apprentice’s plan for the rose window. This ‘symbolic’ murder is rendered more interesting by the fact that the apprentice was his own son, who succeeded him as Master Builder at St Ouen and can still be seen by his father’s side on the tombstone (see photo) to be found in the northern ambulatory behind locked gates. Their rose windows, high above, blaze with glory as the sun casts his light through the exquisite stained glass; the rose seems to turn like a wheel. The earlier window in the north transept, presumably the work of the father, shows a striking pentagram (above left), while that of the apprentice, in the south, reveals petal-like shapes unfurling in the glory of daybreak. Around the choir windows we can also enjoy an abundance of bearded heads, green men and a selection of saints from The Golden Legend.
    The Great Architect has throughout time guided the hands of his earthly collaborators. Did He not reveal to Noah the dimensions of the Ark, to Moses those of the Tabernacle, to Solomon those of the Temple of Jerusalem, to Ezekiel the measure of the new Temple? Were not these builders then interpreters of the Eternal? Revelation is delivered by prophetic intermediaries, but it is also present in the laws of Nature. To pierce Her mysteries is to come closer to a knowledge of God.

Nicole Dawe lives in Devon and is currently researching a PhD on the influence of Sufism on medieval French literature while writing a book on the Cistercians.