186 ROMAN PAVEMENTS AND INTRECCI. 



Syriac churches ; and afterwards, in Sicily, they absorbed much 

 from the Normans. 



The Italian interlacements that most resemble our own are in 

 the churches of S. Ambrogio, Milan, and of S. Prassede, Rome, 

 both of the IX. cent. It was during the dynasty of the Lombard 

 Kings, which began in 568 and lasted 200 years, that such 

 intrecci attained their greatest vogue in Italy. It is well, there- 

 fore, to consider who these men were who made themselves 

 masters of that country, and whose dependants the Comacine 

 Guild became ? Who were those princes who took with them 

 their guards and their court, and the decorated arms and 

 equipment of wealth and fashion ? 



Gibbon suggests that the Lombard Kings were Scandinavians ; 

 but Latham points out that the names of the first four of them 

 were Anglo-Saxon : Edwin, Elfwin, Clapa, and Edgar : and 

 recalls that in the Anglo-Saxon Travellers Song ^Elfwine and 

 Eadwine are given as the royal names for Lombardy. 



Spylce ic paes on Eatule Also I was in Italy 



Mid yElfpine with Elfwin 



Se haefde mon-cynnes who had, of all mankind, 



heortan unhneapeste the amplest heart 



hringa gedales in the giving of rings, 



beorhtan beaga, of bright bracelets, 



beam Eadpines * this child of Edwin. 



The argument is capable of much extension, did time permit. 

 It is only possible to adduce, in conclusion, three cogent facts. 

 i. Early Irish churches differ from Italian churches of the 

 Lombard style in many particulars. They are diminutive in size 

 and are not basilican in form. The sanctuaries have square ends 

 and not a rounded apse. The jambs of the doors incline towards 

 each other at the top ; and there is no example of an open 

 arcade. 2. Early English churches were enriched by baluster 

 shafts of stone, turned on the lathe, instead of by short Roman 

 columns. These balusters have been found at Dover, at Worth 



* Scald's Talc, Codex. Exon., Thorpe, p, WL 



