The Medieval Stonemason and the Master Mason
The Men Who Built Castles and Cathedrals in the Middle Ages
Aug 25, 2008
Stonemasonry was a steady trade in the Middle Ages, although workers did have to move around their countries to find work, but a man who reached the pinnacle of the trade, acting as a master mason, would be a wealthy and influential individual.
The Apprenticeship of a Medieval Stonemason
The route to becoming a stonemason was similar to most other medieval trades; via an apprenticeship of up to seven years. The more experienced a stonemason, the finer and more detailed work he could carry out.
A boy could become a stonemason’s apprentice whilst in his teens and would usually live with his master and take all his meals with the master’s family. The boy would learn his trade by watching his master at work and gradually taking on his tasks. On qualifying, he could set up his own business and was entitled to register as a member of his local trade guild.
Working as a Medieval Stonemason
Once a man had qualified, life as a stonemason could be hard and labour-intensive. Workers would spend hours hammering stone to produce the shapes and designs needed for a particular part of a building.
Decorative features such as doorways, window arches and carved figures took hours of work, with the mason regularly needing to stop and assess his work from close quarters and at a distance. At times, the same type of carving would need to be produced again and again, as close as possible each time.
The quantity of stone needed could be huge; at Durham cathedral, more than 1400 pieces of stone were needed to create just one set of transepts in the cathedral’s east end. All of this stone had to be prepared and shaped once it had arrived at the building site. The work was often monotonous, but variety came in the form of different building projects at various locations.
The next step up for a stonemason was work as a supervisor. A mason who qualified as a supervisor would be answerable to the master mason and would supervise groups of men undertaking various tasks on the building site. He would use his years of experience in assessing how many men were needed on one project, how long each task should take and how much materials and labour cost.
The Master Mason in the Middle Ages
Although a master mason was a respected and usually wealthy individual, he first had to prove his worth by going through the ranks as a stonemason and then a supervisor, before being appointed to the highest position in his trade.
A master mason needed the skills to coordinate a building site, liaise with patrons and suppliers and keep the other stonemasons working at an acceptable rate. He could usually expect free food and accommodation for the duration of his work on a site. In the case of a huge project such as a cathedral, one project could last decades.
All craftsmen on the site were answerable to the master mason and he in turn was answerable to the patrons of the project, which in the case of large and important buildings, could include a bishop or monarch.
The craft of building in medieval times was often viewed as a mysterious, even magical process, in which secret forms of knowledge were used to produce majestic structures. However, for most stone workers, the labour involved was hard and unremitting, in all forms of weather and the only satisfaction was that of seeing a building slowly take shape.
Source
Cannon, Jon Cathedral: The Great English Cathedrals and the World That Made Them [Constable, 2008]
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