Bringing the Holy Land Home: The Crusades, Chertsey Abbey, and the Reconstruction of a Medieval Masterpiece

Who made this?

By Reuben Reyes '23


The person who carved this particular spandrel is unknown. It was likely a highly skilled French stone-mason from Vézelay who carved a griffin under the instruction of the master mason (the architect of the particular cathedral). Stone masons were typically well paid and traveled a fair amount because their skills were in demand for building churches and cathedrals, especially during the Crusades. They usually stayed in lodges with other stone masons where they could hone their craft and learn from other highly skilled masons techniques and methods they could implement in their own craft. Medieval stone masons were highly regarded because they were essentially sub-creators of God's work; while God was the grand architect of the universe, stone masons reproduced God's work in the form of elaborately designed and decorated churches and cathedrals. 

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