The Decorative Sculpture : Vines 289 



to build his church at Hexham, but if not the produce of their hands, 

 then sculptured by artists, possibly native, educated in their school 

 and emulous of their achievements.' ^ Rivoira takes issue squarely 

 with Greenwel] concerning the provenience of the craftsmen : ' It 



Alpes montes talem cedificatam audivimus), expressly gives Wilfrith the 

 credit for the plan {Spiritu Dei doctus, opera facere ezcogitavit). 



Four centuries or so after Eddi wrote, his statements in these two places 

 became expanded and embellished by writers who can have had no infor- 

 mation on the subject save what he furnished them. Thus William of 

 Malmesbury, writing in the first quarter of the 12th century {Gesta Pontificum 

 3. 117: ed. Hamilton, p. 255), although he expressly says that he is following 

 Eddi (Prol. to Bk. 3 : p. 210), observes, with respect to Wilfrith's building 

 at Hexham, arbitratu quidem multa propria, sed et ccementariorum, quos ex 

 Roma spes munificentioe attraxerat, magisterio ; and to this he was perhaps 

 led by his desire to amphfy Eddi's statement by appending to it the second 

 of the two following sentences : ' Ferebaturque tunc in populo celebre, 

 scriptisque etiam est inditum, nusquam citra Alpes tale esse edifitium. 

 Nunc qui Roma veniunt idem allegant, ut qui Haugustaldensem fabricam 

 vident ambitionem Romanam se imaginari jurent.' Later in the century 

 (after 1140) Richard of Hexham seeks to improve upon Eddi's statement 

 in chapter 14 by paraphrasing his omnisque pcene artis inslitorihus, and 

 by having Wilfrith bring his workmen from Rome, Italy, France, and other 

 countries (what ones ?) into England, instead of from the South of England 

 to the North (Raine, Prior ij of Hexham I. 20) : ' De Roma quoque, et Itaha, 

 et Francia, et de aUis terris, ubicumque invenire poterat, caementarios, et 

 quoslibet ahos industrios [sic] artifices, secum retinuerat, et ad opera sua 

 facienda secum in AngUam adduxerat.' Finally, Ailred of Rievaulx, writing 

 after 1154, and describing the church at Hexham, brings the artificers from 

 foreign parts in general, without specification of the country (Raine 1. 175) : 

 ' Verum ubi eam beatissimus prsesul Wilfridus, adductis secum ex partibus 

 transmarinis artificibus, miro lapideo tabulatu, ut inpraesentiarium cernitis, 

 renovavit, et, ad devotionem rudis adhuc plebis conciliandam, picturis et 

 caelaturis multiphariam decoravit.' These later writers may possibly, 

 considering the friendship and association between Wilfrith and Benedict 

 Biscop, have been influenced by Bede's statement concerning the latter 

 with reference to his journey into Gaul in 675 {Hist. Abb. 5) : ' Nee plus- 

 quam unius anni spatio post fundatum monasterium interiecto, Benedictus 

 oceano transmisso GalHas petens, cementarios qui lapideam sibi secclesiam 

 iuxta Romanorum quem semper amabat morem facerent, postulauit, accepit, 

 adtulit.' Or they may have been influenced by their knowledge of the 

 importation of Continental workmen into England in their own time. 



^ Catalogue, p. 59 ; he also says : ' It appears to have been the model from 

 which, in various developments, a class of monuments spread from Hexham 

 and enriched the cemeteries of many and even distant places.' 



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