Whilst ordinary
monks were often the architects-in-chief of the constructions, the
abbats voluntarily accepted the r?le of labourers. During the building
of the Abbey of Bee, in 1033, the founder and first abbat,
grand-seigneur though he was, worked as a common mason's labourer,
carrying on his back the lime, sand, and stones necessary for the
builder. This was Herluin. Another Norman noble, Hugh, Abbat of Selby in
Yorkshire, when, in 1096, he rebuilt in stone the whole of that
important monastery, putting on the labourer's blouse, mixed with the
other masons and shared their labours. Monks, illustrious by birth,
distinguished themselves by sharing the most menial occupations. It is
related of Roger de Warenne that when he retired to Evroul, he took up
quite a serious r?le of this kind in cleaning the shoes of the brethren,
and performing other offices which a mere cottager would have probably
considered degrading.
Occasionally in our school histories we come across the mention of a man
like Dunstan, of whom it is related as a wonderful thing that he was at
the same time a metal worker, architect, and calligrapher; but monastic
biographies abound in such instances. We have already quoted several.
"The same man was frequently," says Montalembert, "architect, goldsmith,
bell-founder, miniaturist, musician, calligrapher, organ builder,
without ceasing to be theologian, preacher, litterateur, sometimes even
bishop, or intimate counsellor of princes.
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