That King Desiderius also employed the Masonic guild in civil as well as ecclesiastical architecture seems implied by the tradition of his palace at S. Gemignano. Certain it is that a solid mediæval building with decidedly Lombard windows and Lombard arches under the machicolations, exists at S. Gemignano, but whether it was really built by and for Desiderius, I leave wiser antiquaries to judge. The style is that of the times.
As a rule, Lombard houses had small rooms. This seems to have applied even to royal and public buildings, for, as mentioned above, all public meetings had to be held in a church, or in its ante-portal. When Desiderius convoked a Diet at Pavia, each prince or bishop was assigned a house which had a church or oratory near, in which he could meet his committee.
The different methods and processes of house-building are very plainly enumerated in the laws of Luitprand, of which we have given the headings on a previous page. It would seem that since the reign of Agilulf, the Masters of the Guild had become overbearing, and by Luitprand's time required to have special legislation to limit their prices. Luitprand's code of laws regulated the strength of the external walls of a building, in regard to the different height, construction, and material.
Art. 160 speaks of two different constructions, the Roman mode, and the Gallic style. It begins—"Similiter romanense si fecerit, sic repotet sicut gallica opera." (Roman work shall be accounted of equal value to Gallic work.) This distinction of terms has caused great argumentation among commentators. Prof. Merzario[50] says that "two national terms cannot apply to any small distinction of masonry," and he takes them to mean the Roman style with the round arch, in which most Lombard churches are built, and the Gothic with the pointed arches. As, however, Charlemagne's church, the father of the Gothic, was not yet built in Luitprand's time, we should be more inclined to take the opinion of Marchese Ricci and Troya, who interpret the phrase opus gallicum to mean the style which they say was introduced into Ravenna by Theodoric and his Goths, and which they brought from Gaul. It was the most solid style imaginable, seemingly a remnant of Cyclopean building; if so it was not Gallic at all, but came from the Pelasgi through the Etruscans, and so was a natural sequence of Italian architecture; the Etruscans having taught the Romans. It consisted of hewn stones of large size and perfect fitness, still further strengthened with cement. "Mirum opus manu gothica, et quadris lapidibus," it was said of the builders of S. Oveno at Rouen. If this definition be admitted, then the other term opus romanum would mean building with flat bricks, which was equally practised by the Comacines, especially in Lombardy.
Luitprand's laws speak of the asse, tavolati,[51] scindule (Longobardic term) by which the houses were internally divided, and of a cheap species of house-building called by the Gauls pisè, probably from the same root as pigiato (pressed together). According to that method, the walls were composed of masses of earth pressed, and then bound together so as to form a solid mass. The same method is still used in Africa and Spain, and in Italy by the peasants in the subalpine regions near Alessandria (Piedmont).
In Clause II., De Muro, where they use the term si arcum volserit, it cannot refer to vaulted roofs, which were then unknown, but to the slight arch of the window or door in the thickness of the wall, often only a sloping off of stones. The roofs were supported on wooden beams, and the laws determine the size and value of these, according to whether they are scapitozzati or capitozzati, i.e. hewn or carved. They also decide the quality of the wood for beams or planking, and the cost of roofing in regard to the number of wooden slabs or tiles required in a raised roof.
Thus any Longobard who wished to build himself a house, might consult the laws of Luitprand, and count the cost beforehand.
These laws also decide the strength of the defensive walls of a city. Law IV. gives the trade price of this sort of work; for those built in massa, or per maxa, the builder shall for every sixty feet be paid in solidum unum (one soldo, a gold coin). Ricci adds—"This per maxa is the same construction which the Greeks and Romans styled implectans, i.e. conglomerate."
They had several kinds of walls, some of brick, others with a base of stone (nella base a sassi), like the walls of Milan, which have lasted till now.
Luitprand assigns different money for different kinds of work. Thus at times the Magistri Comacini were paid solidum unum for every foot of wall, sometimes solidum vestitum, a distinction of soldi which has puzzled commentators very much; some opining that vestitum refers to a coin on which the emperor is represented as regally clad, and others that it means a copper coin plated (vestito) with gold.