The Making of a Mason

“By the 13th century, masons and other craftsmen were almost invariably laymen. The man in overall charge of the building site was the master mason. He was a remarkable individual: designer, engineer and contractor all in one. Medieval builders did not distinguish between the roles of what would nowadays be the work of three different professionals…The master mason was essentially a builder, who received his training at the quarry and on the building site. The best or most ambitious masons also learned design skills, rising through the ranks of ordinary masons — journeymen — to become masters and take charge of building projects…The master mason often contracted to provide a team of journeymen masons himself. Yet even when he did so, there is only occasional evidence that they formed a coherent group, moving as a team from site to site.”