Bridge Brothers
The Bridge Brothers ( French Frères pontifes , Latin Fratres pontifices ) are said to have been a medieval religious brotherhood, which was mainly based in southern France.
legend
According to the alleged tradition, the order was created in the 12th century. Its foundation is attributed to the legendary Saint Bénézet , who is venerated today as the bridge saint and patron saint of Avignon , where he began the construction of the famous Rhone bridge. The order dealt in particular with the construction and maintenance of bridges, ferries, roads and hospices for travelers and pilgrims. Among other things, he created bridges in Bonpas , Lourmarin , Mallemort and Mirabeau . 1189 a confirmation of the order by Pope Clement III. be done. It was divided into knights, monks and workers who lived without a cloister and vows under the leadership of grand masters. The brothers would have dressed in white. Her identification was a pointed hammer on her chest. The order had achieved great wealth and prosperity. In the 15th century it was finally repealed by Pope Pius II .
The Pont St. Bénézet in Avignon, built between 1177 and 1185, is considered to be one of the first bridges of the order. With a length of around 900 meters, it was the largest European bridge of its time.
Literature on the legend
- Brockhaus' Kleines Konversations-Lexikon, fifth edition, Volume 1, Leipzig 1911, p. 275
- Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon, Volume 3, Leipzig 1905, p. 485
Web links to the saga
history
Historians today are of the opinion that an order in the traditional way never existed. There are no historical sources for the existence of the order and no evidence of any of the numerous bridges that the order is believed to have built.
It is not credible that a 12-year-old boy with any followers without previous knowledge should have built a stone bridge around 900 m long, at a time when there was no longer any tradition for such large and difficult construction projects and any kind of manual activity was strict was regulated.
Back then, when there were neither bank notes nor banks and certainly no book money , the financial resources required for such building projects could practically only be raised through donations and alms, and later also through letters of indulgence . This required the initiative of interested people, often the city's leading merchants, who came together for a "confrèrie" (which in modern terms could be translated as a community of interests or a non-profit association) in order to collect the necessary money over the long construction period. It had nothing to do with a religious order or a monastic community. Again and again monasteries were commissioned to control the use of funds, as one of the few institutions that was able to do so at all. The actual construction work was carried out by professionals who did not belong to any order.
The title "Pontifex Avenione / Pontife d'Avigon" first appeared in 1665. The myth of François-René de Chateaubriand (1768–1848) was vividly shaped . Eugène Viollet-le-Duc (1814–1879) probably contributed to this, in the period of Romanticism others made the order active throughout Europe as far as Sweden and Great Britain (although there have been no reports of this extensive activity).
The "Frères Pontifes" are a myth.
The most amazing thing about it is the fact that it has found its way into the Brockhaus and Meyer's Konversations-Lexikon.
Individual evidence
- ^ Jean Mesqui: Le Pont en France avant le temps des ingénieurs . Picard, Paris 1986, ISBN 2-7084-0322-2 , pp. 30-35
- ^ Alain Girard: Overture du Pont Saint-Esprit . ( Digitized on Archives de France)