Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 5.djvu/128

86 DESCRIPTION OF THE ANCIENT PLAN ing it this time ahove ground, between the altar and the wall, having tilled up the grave which it formerly occupied. He constructed over the coffin a lofty arch, according to the usual fashion ^ A certain priest named Othmar obtained authority from Charles Martel, the father of Pepin and Car- loman, by virtue of which he introduced the Benedictine rule into this monastery, and was made the first abbot (in 720.) He constructed various edifices for the use of the monks. A complete rebuilding of the church and monastery was commenced by Abbot Gozpertus at the beginning of the ninth century; and it is to his period that the plan of the monastery, which is the })rincipal object of the present paper, must be refen-ed. We know very little of the state of the church before this rebuilding. We are not told whether Othmar enlarged or altered the oratory of St. Gall ; and indeed our only sources of information are certain scattered hints in the book of the miracles of St. Gall, which was writ- ten by Walafrid Strabus, abbot of the neighbouring monas- tery of Augia. He was a contemporary of Gozpertus, and wrote the biographies of St. Gall and St. Othmar at his re- quest. However, as Strabus mentions that these miracles partly happened in his own period b, the allusions to the numerous lights in the church, the glass windows, the crypt, &c., which are to be found in these tales, may be probably referred to the new basilica. Gozpertus began this new basilica in the year 829", having previously pulled down the old one. He completed it in seven years, and dedicated it in the ninth year. Evidently the new church stood on the same site as the old " " Samens loeiilum, in quo sanctum lesque Dei famulos in onini arte et virtu- corpus erat, posuit super terram inter pa- turn stemmate rediniitos ibi viderim. Sed rieteni et altare, et desuper ut inoris est neque in sedificiis construendis ex omni arcliam altiorem construxit, fossam vera materia tam industrios viros, vel raro us- terra replevit." — Vit. S. Galli, lib. ii. cap. quam repperi, sicuti bene in nido apparet, 2. G. pp. 257, 258. quales volucres ibi inhabitant. Cerne ba- " Vit. S. Galli, lib. i. cap. 35. G. p. silicam et ccenobii claustrum, et non mi- 25(). raris quod refero. Et ne omnibus sileam, ^ Ilatperti, de origine et cas. Mon. S. quid est Winiiiartus, nisi ipse Daedalus? Galli, cap. 6. "Ad augmentum quoque vel quis Isenricus nisi Beseleel secundus? nostri monasterii, veteri destructa iiovam in cujus manu versatur semper dolabrum, S. Gallo coepit sedificare basilicam," &c. excepto quando stat ad altaris sacri minis- G. p. 25. The monks themselves acted as terium." He speaks also of a certain the workmen. In the " Analecta" of Gozpertus, the nephew of the Abbot Goz- Mabillon (tom. iv. p. 329) is a fragment pertus, (p. 335.) Keller suggests that by Ermtnricus, a monk of Augia, and co- this may be the Gozpertus alluded to in teTTiporary of the Abbot Grimaldus, in the inscription upon the plan. Winihar- which he praises the monastery of St. tus is also mentioned as the builder of the Gall. " Longum est sane per singulos church in some lines by Notkerus, quoted nominatim velle discurrere, quantos, qua- in the Benedictine Annals, p. 570.