Stenhuggarnas organisation i medeltidens Östergötland

Resumé

The stonemasons organisation in medieval Östergötland
By Gunilla Gardelin

In a study of stonecutting techniques, the author has shown that these can be used as historical source material, for investigation of how masons were organised during different periods in medieval times. From the study it appears that masons, during the first half of the 12th century, were contracted by the social elite to build the first stone churches in Östergötland. Masons were therefore travelling be-tween building projects. These masons worked the stone with an axe or a chisel. During the period 1140 to 1250, the building of stone churches increased immensely, which meant that several quarries could have provided the building sites with stone. During this period more people from the aristocracy had the possibility to invest in the building of churches, providing them with dressed stone in portals, window frames and bases. This can probably be explained by the fact that the large early manors could have been divided among more people. The building of the monastery at Alvastra, during the 1140s, probably had a great influence on the building of parish churches. Through their work on the monastery, the masons mastered the technique of using a broad chisel to dress the stone with regularly placed marks over the surface. During the 13th century it was above all the institutions, such as the cathedral in Linköping and the monasteries, that contracted masons for projects, but also the bishops invested in dressed stone in churches and secular buildings. The technique used during the 13th and 14th centuries, working the stone with a claw, is to be found in the eastern parts of the area around Linköping. A great many facts indicate that the large scale workshop in Linköping was the centre of stonecutting. During the 15th century two large building projects were taking place in Östergötland, the building of Vadstena Abbey started during the 1390s, and the building of a new chancel at the cathedral in Linköping started in 1408. No buildings outside these towns were provided with dressed stone during the 14th and 15th centuries.