Part 4
As a consequence of the earthquake of January 25, 1348, a good part of the church fell down on October 19. Constant wars prevented the patriarch from having money to spend on its restoration. A document of 1354 reveals a lamentable state of things--the population was but 100--worshippers did not come, and the clergy had fled to save themselves from sickness and death; no one came to the services of Holy Week because the roads were under water, &c.; with a final request that Udine might be named as the seat of the patriarchate. The rebuilding was commenced under Lodovico della Torre (1360) and finished under Marquard da Randeck (1365-1380), the architect being unknown. At this time the nave arcade was made pointed, and some of the super-abaci carved with Gothic foliage. After Venice had expropriated the patriarch (in 1420) money was spent upon the cathedral. In 1479 the choir seats were renewed. In 1493, under Nicolò Donato, the winter choir was renewed. In 1495 the high-altar was erected, upon which Antonio di Osteno, Bernardino di Bissone, and Domenico di Udine were employed. Work was also done in the crypt, in connection with the better preservation of the relics of some saints. In 1498 the tribune appears to have been made, under Domenico Grimani. This is a very decorative arrangement, with a central feature, flanked by two flights of steps, and side platforms furnished with a balustrade, which project some way into the transepts, and are carved elaborately with graceful arabesques. In the centre below is a niche with shell-head and grated window, through which the inside of the crypt is visible. To the right is a ciborium altar, with a relief of Christ in the tomb half-length, supported by the Virgin and S. John, flanked by two scroll-bearing angels. An inscription describes it as an oratory, where relics of the saints are venerated. The pillars bear an architrave--a shell-he ad beneath, an arch above, and a gable termination of early Renaissance shape--above a shallow cornice. The effect is heavy. The left side was used as a singing-gallery. In the apse hangs a picture by Pellegrino di S. Daniele (which was put up in 1503), a good deal repainted--a Risen Christ with SS. Peter and Herniagoras. The fine frame was carved by Giovanni Pietro di Udine in 1500, and gilded two years later by Antonio de' Tironi of Bergamo. Before 1484 the floor was of beaten earth; at that time a pavement of red Veronese marble was commenced, completed in 1544. The aisles are at a slightly higher level than the nave. The Gothic roof was remade on the pattern of those of SS. Zeno and Fermo, Verona, in 1526 (signed Giuliano q Vivente of Udine), and restored in 1560. It is now painted in chequers. Beams resting on corbels beneath the windows cross the nave, while the aisles have a flat panelled roof, with bosses at the intersections of the framing.
The font is supported by four small pillars surrounding a larger central one. In the north aisle is a circular building with a conical wooden roof supported upon a little colonnade--work of the fifteenth century in its present form. There was, however, a "sepolcro"--a copy of the Holy Sepulchre--here, with a flat cupola, mentioned in 1077, and described as being near the grave of Patriarch Sigeard, and in 1085 an altar was consecrated within it by Patriarch Frederick II. The ceremony of carrying the Host thither on Good Friday and locking and sealing the door, from which it was brought out on Easter Day, lasted till the suppression of the patriarchate in 1751.
[Illustration: NARTHEX OF THE CATHEDRAL, AQUILEIA
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At that time the treasure and archives were divided between the bishoprics of Görz and Udine. The precious objects were stolen from Udine, and have disappeared, but at Görz there still remain several. There is a bishop's crozier of the end of the twelfth century, Romanesque in style, decorated with seven pieces of rock-crystal arranged diagonally, and with a knop of the same, set at a later date. The crook is set with precious stones, rubies, turquoises, aquamarine, and lapis lazuli. Within is the Lamb holding a cross; under it the whorl finishes with a dragon. A much older bishop's staff is of worm-eaten wood--set in metal at a later date to preserve it from destruction--said to have been given to S. Hermagoras by S. Peter or S. Mark. There is also a great crucifix of gilded silver on a wood basis worked with a rough naturalism free from Byzantine influence. The cross is made into a tree, from which grapes hang; the nimbus is set with large amethysts and small rubies. Of the same period is a fine book-cover of gilded silver with the subject of the Ascension. Christ enthroned in a vesica is supported by two angels; below is the Madonna as _orante_, surrounded by the Apostles. The border consists of fine leaf-scrolls, late twelfth century in character. A silver statuette of the Madonna and Child is of the fourteenth century. The Child is nude, tall, and thin, and wears a crown decorated with pearls and trefoils. The naked portions are matt silver, the draperies are gilded. It stands on a pedestal of three ornamented steps. The fate of the precious objects is reversed in the case of the documents. Those sent to Görz have disappeared, whilst Udine still preserves a considerable number. At Aquileia the only object remaining from the treasury is a statue of the Madonna and Child, of Istrian marble, heavily painted. The work resembles in style the carving at S. Giovanni in Fonte, Verona.
The campanile must have been built by Poppo, although the base looks like Roman masonry, since the mosaics go right under it, but it was added to later, and the octagonal bell-chamber is inscribed: "MD · XLVIII TADEVS · LVRANVS · HOC · O · FECIT." It is 39 ft. square and the walls are over 7 ft. thick. The entrance is approached by 27 steps. It is 70 ft. to the floor of the bell-chamber.
The narthex has three thick antique pillars, part granite and part marble, with heavy early Christian Corinthian caps and super-abaci with crosses upon them. The baptistery lies to the west of the narthex, united to it by a building known as the Chiesa dei Pagani. This consists of three bays with a descent of three steps from the first, over which there was once a cupola. The other bays are cross-vaulted, and there are several round-headed windows. In the pavement is a curious pierced stone. It has a cross with the Agnus Dei in the centre (pierced), and four little window shapes in the angles with round-headed tympana and oblong piercings below. There was a second story; part of the wall of this remains, constructed of ancient tiles, which were much used in Aquileia in the Middle Ages; an inscription records a restoration in 1738. The baptistery was originally a Roman building, square externally and octagonal within, with four niches, one of which is partially preserved. Remains of the others have been found outside the octagon. There was an hexagonal font in the centre, and in the angles of the walls are the springings of vaults; there are also six pillar-stumps of different thicknesses. Most of the present building is modern, the result of several restorations. On each side of the baptistery and Chiesa dei Pagani were halls with mosaic floors of the Christian period, of which that to the south was least damaged when discovered; it had three patterned fields, with borders. The open hall between was stone-paved--a bit of the paving was found a foot deeper than the original floor of the baptistery.
[Illustration: STATUE OF VENUS, MUSEUM. AQUILEIA
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[Illustration: ANTIQUE STATUE IN THE MUSEUM, AQUILEIA]
The museum contains a quantity of exceedingly interesting objects, the fruit of excavations, which the director, Signor Maionica, most kindly piloted me through, calling attention to the various objects of special interest and giving me details about them of which otherwise I should have been ignorant. The collection of objects in amber, many of them stained a fine red, is the finest in existence, though the most splendid examples have gone to the British Museum, to Udine and Görz. The sculptured objects include a very beautiful youthful Venus, a girl apparently of about 17, a draped statue of the Emperor Claudius in Greek costume, one of Tiberius as Pontifex Maximus (both found near the theatre),one of Livia, showing the arrangement of the back hair, and marble wigs to place upon the heads of statues to keep them in the fashion. There is also a draped Venus with a Cupid hiding beneath her robe, a copy of the Aura (Spring-rain) of Scopas, of which another is in the museum at Trieste, and a most interesting sculptor's model for use in the studio, showing how arms and legs of other pieces of marble were affixed to statues. A pedestal shows the life of Priapus, from his birth in the spring to his winter's inactivity; others have winged Cupids bearing torches and bestriding dolphins, the idea being of a voyage to the Islands of the Blest. A panel shows Bacchanalian Cupids; one desires to drink, one is drinking from a crater, another, supported away, inebriated; the robed master of the feast bears a sceptre and is playing the Pan-pipes. Another relief represents a banquet in a triclinium. One man sounds a double pipe, another carries food to the guests, one of whom is singing an obscene song, which disgusts the women, who make the sign of displeasure at him. In a relief of the time of Heliogabalus a meteoric stone is seen carried in procession, preceded by duumvirs, lictors, &c.--an evidence of an Oriental cult practised in Aquileia. Five great medallions from the same building show busts in very high relief of Jupiter, Mercury, Vulcan, Venus, and Minerva. A stone table with a sundial and windrose engraved upon it has a low seat on three sides, but the fourth free, so that the hour may be seen at all times of the day without the annoyance of dodging one's shadow. The letters of the inscription point to the second century A.D. as the date of its production. Many sarcophagi come from the north-east of Aquileia near Columbara, where a monument was found much resembling those of Petra and Baalbek in its forms. Inscriptions name clothiers, fullers, joiners, linen-weavers, builders and servants, purple-dyers, pikesmiths, a silver-worker, an Oriental pearl merchant with a sign of the city of Rome, &c. In the eighteenth century the Mint was discovered, with bars of silver and baskets of coin. A fine plate of beaten silver, with the story of Triptolemus, found here is now at Vienna.
Many pieces of ornament are preserved, often very finely modelled and also with traces of colour. The larger pieces, many of which are coarse in workmanship, are housed under a long shed in the open; among them are slabs of ninth-century ornament, lead coffins, and pipes with pointed covers to keep the sand out, urns for ashes, &c. There appears to have been a Roman rococo at Aquileia, earlier than at Spalato or Florence. Here, too, are some of the early Christian mosaics found during
the excavations in and around the cathedral. Especially beautiful are the fragments with peacocks and other birds, and lambs, with freely growing scrolls of vine. An asbestos net, found at Monastero, used to wrap round the body during cremation and so keep the bones together, is interesting, as are lachrymatories misshapen by the flames, small bottles of rock-crystal beautifully cut, a few enamelled objects and carvings in ivory, principally children's toys. Rings set with gems were made of gold for the nobles and of iron for the citizens, who at a later period used silver and even gold. Over 40,000 coins have been found in the course of the excavations, and lamps bearing no less than 800 different makers' marks. The marks are the same as those found all through Istria, Dalmatia, and the islands, proving a large export trade. The most important were those of C. Vibio Pansa, whose stamp (or those of his successors) is found in conjunction with imperial names till the time of Constantine. In the delta of the Isonzo, near Monfalcone, a portion was called "Insula Pansiana" even in the Middle Ages. A river in the bay of Monfalcone is still called Panzano, and near there is a place of the same name. There were also glass works at S. Stefano, Aquileia, where fragments of coloured glass have been found.
Ruskin refers to a curious ceremony, instituted in the twelfth century, which was observed in Venice till 1549 "in memorial of the submission of Woldaric, patriarch of Aquileia, who, having taken up arms against the patriarch of Grado, and being defeated and taken prisoner by the Venetians, was sentenced, not to death, but to send every year on 'Giovedi Grasso' sixty-two large loaves, twelve fat pigs, and a bull, to the Doge; the bull being understood to represent the patriarch and the twelve pigs his clergy; and the ceremonies of the day consisting in the decapitation of these representatives, and a distribution of their joints among the senators; together with a symbolic record of the attack on Aquileia, by the erection of a wooden castle in the rooms of the Ducal Palace, which the _Doge and the Senate_ attacked and demolished with clubs." Mutinelli quotes the decree.
The patriarchate reached the zenith of its power under Volfkertis of Cologne, known to the Italians as Volchero. He was elected in 1204, and ruled till 1218. His dioceses included seventeen bishoprics of Venice on terra firma, stretching as far as Como and Trent, and six in Istria. The Venetian island bishoprics, by the convention of 1180, were under the Patriarch of Grado. In 1208 his dominions were so much increased that they almost exceeded those of the Pope in extent. He held the duchies of Carniola and Friuli, as well as the marquisate of Istria. He struck his own coins, of which there are two types, one closely resembling those of Aix-la-Chapelle and Cologne, and governed constitutionally with the assistance of a parliament of three estates.
IV
GRADO
From Aquileia a steam-launch plies back and forth to Grado, a distance of some six or seven miles, at first along a canal with grassy banks plentifully besprinkled with giant snowdrops in the spring, then through wide stretches of lagoon along a channel, marked by piles, sometimes approaching the fishermen's huts, which occupy the summit of slight elevations rising but little above the surface of the water. These huts are mere shelters of reeds, and, one would think, quite unfit for human habitation, but close by them the nets may be seen drying, and perhaps food in course of preparation over an open fire, while the boat, thrust into a creek or tied to a stake, occupies the foreground. These wide-spreading lagoons, the resort of many kinds of water-fowl in their passage from north to south and _vice versâ_, are very pictorial. The enclosures in which fish brought in by the tide are retained, the beds of reeds and rushes with yellow water-lilies, the figures of women and children wading and seeking fishy treasures, provide excellent material for the artist. Occasionally a boat passes in which a woman is taking fish to Aquileia, leaving behind it a long trail of ripples. The two great campanili, of Grado which we are nearing, and of Aquileia passing into the distance behind us, each with its cluster of low buildings around, are prominent against the horizon showing dark against the fine cumulus clouds, which are heaped in sharply defined masses against the blue of the upper sky and rise in threatening billows like exhalations from some vast cauldron, soon to fade away innocuously in the late afternoon.
Grado is on one of the islands of which a chain stretches from the mouth of the Isonzo to that of the Brenta right across the northern border of the Adriatic. Its port was one of the harbours of Aquileia, at first for purposes of war, but later for those of commerce. The town was square in plan, walled, and full of people. Cassiodorus speaks of its material conditions. The modern town is most picturesque, with narrow streets and numerous courtyards, with outside staircases, quaint shops, and fascinating plays of light and shade, and so much of the life of the people passes in the open air that there is always interesting matter for observation. It is a seaside resort, visited a good deal for bathing during the summer months, and there is also, as at Rovigno, an establishment for scrofulous children. But its chief attraction for us is archæological, for it contains early Christian antiquities of considerable importance.
[Illustration: A CORNER IN GRADO
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Its greatest prosperity was between the time of the great wanderings of the peoples and the descent of the barbarians into Italy. Its patriarch took the lead in establishing the government of the islands from which the Venetian Republic sprang. In 460 Nicetas called all the bishops, clergy, and leading officials of the islands together to deliberate on the question of government, and, after discussion, they agreed to establish one under the directorship of Tribunes. The first tribune was to live at Grado, with three others, called "maggiori," but depending upon him, one for Rivoalto, one for Candeana, and one for Dorsea, living at Rialto, Eraclea, and Torcello respectively. They had charge of the administration of justice, presided over the execution of the laws, enforced discipline, and met at times in council to discuss propositions laid before them. Grado lost its supremacy in 696, when the assembly held at Eraclea gave it to that city, though the Patriarch of Grado, Cristoforo, was given equality with the three tribunes which Eraclea then had. The next year the first doge, Paolo Lucio Anafesto, was elected. It was by means of Fortunatus of Trieste, Patriarch of Grado (803-825), that the cry of the Istrians, oppressed by the Frankish duke and his supporters, came to the ears of Charlemagne, with the result that after a strict inquiry held at Risano in 804, when the representatives of the cities and castella exposed the odious proceedings of the bishop, the duke, and their adherents, they obtained redress. In 875 the Saracens attacked Grado, but were repulsed. The next year a similar attack was made by the Slavs of Croatia and Dalmatia, but the Doge Orso met them, defeated them, and gave back to several Istrian towns objects of which they had been robbed.
Between Grado and Aquileia there was a constant struggle for supremacy, which was in reality a contest between Venice and the empire, Aquileia standing for the latter and Grado for the former. A formal peace was concluded between them during the Lateran Council of 1180, by which the Patriarch of Grado renounced all claims over the Istrian bishoprics, except as regards the hundred amphoras of wine sent by Capodistria from 1075, given as a personal honour to the Doge Pietro Candiano, and by him handed over to the Patriarch of Grado. In 452 the Patriarch of Aquileia fled to Grado from the Huns, returning after they had passed, and in 578, when Aquileia had become Lombard, Paulinus transferred his seat to Grado, thus putting himself under Byzantine protection. In 579 a synod was held in the church. From 607 there were two patriarchs--one in Grado and one in Aquileia--established for political reasons by the Lombards; they were schismatical, that is to say, adherents of the "three chapters." During the continuance of this schism, in 610, three Istrian bishops were taken from their very churches by the military, and carried off to Grado, where they were compelled to bend to the Imperial will in the matter. Gregory III. sanctioned the division of the two patriarchates in 731, both having become orthodox, Aquileia in 698 and Grado in 715. In 1451 the patriarchate of Grado was transferred to Venice, where the patriarch had been living for a long time.
The foundations of the cathedral were laid under Nicetas (456) by the architect Paulus, who was sent to him by Pope Leo I. The plan is Romanesque, a basilica with nave and aisles and no transept, the nave terminating in an apse eastward. It has two western doors, which open into a portico of almost the whole breadth of the church, part being cut off by the campanile, which is nearly 20 ft. square and over 160 ft. high. The clerestory and low-pitched wooden roof of the nave are supported by two piers and ten columns on each side. The columns are antique, but of varied material--cipollino, white and black and white-veined marble, and granite; and there is one of a rosy and white breccia. The caps vary both in design and size, and have been repaired with stucco. Some of them are decadent Roman and the rest Byzantine: the bases are hidden by a square wooden boxing. The eleven arches of the nave arcade are round. The round-headed windows of both nave and aisles had pierced slabs of stone in them, but in 1740 the openings were made lunette-shaped. One pierced slab of the ninth century has been found, and is now placed high up in the apse above the patriarch's throne. Under Fortunatus and John the Younger, about the beginning of the ninth century, the church appears to have been beautified; and again, in the second half of the tenth, under Vitalis. It is related that the relics were then provided with fresh receptacles and inscriptions. The choir occupies three bays of the nave, with a modern enclosure raised by several steps. Just outside the rail, by the fourth column on the left, stands the interesting pulpit, which has a later canopy, but itself appears to be of the ninth century, judging by the columns, two of which are twisted, and by the carving of the symbols of the Evangelists, which seems to be rather later. On the other hand, there is a square O in the inscription on S. John's book, of which other instances occur at Cattaro in an inscription of the ninth century, and in one of the seventh at Spalato. The pulpit is sexfoil in plan; one side is open, and one has a large cross carved upon it. The canopy has six fourteenth or fifteenth-century octagonal colonnettes, supporting ogee trefoiled arches with a domical termination, coloured in red and white chequers, and with scrolls and rosettes of red on the spandrils of the arches below. The shape and decoration show Arab influence strongly.
[Illustration: PULPIT IN THE CATHEDRAL, GRADO
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