Page:History of the German people at the close of the Middle Ages vol1.djvu/187

 ARCHITECTURE 175 from a fourth a cow, and so on, to be disposed of for the "benefit of the building fund. Helmets, coats of mail, weapons, and so forth, were hung in the choir of the church and sold for the same purpose. Here a citizen offers his jewellery, there a landed proprietor makes contributions of tithes ; others bring building materials, others subscribe the money they would have paid as entrance-fee to a club or association ; a man-servant gives a few small coins, a poor old woman some pennies. The very masons employed gave with one hand what they received as wages with the other. The same feelings prevailed in Frankfort-on-the- Main. When the building of the cathedral was pro- ceeding, the Brotherhood of St. Bartholomew appointed a person who sat all day by the picture of ' The Agony in the Garden ' in the cemetery to receive contributions. The poor people brought not only money, but house- hold articles and clothing as contributions. Calves, pigs and poultry were given as donations, and these the Brotherhood undertook to care for until they were fit to be killed and sold. Every Saturday the collector put the goods up for auction. Not unfrequently a man would give his harness or his best coat, or a woman some of her wearing apparel, to be disposed of. In a manuscript chronicle of the Cathedral of Ulm we find it related that near the parish church building office a hut was erected to which each might bring his or her offerings. ' No apron, bodice, or necktie should be disdained.' All the articles were to be disposed of at a certain market to the best advantage for the benefit of the church. Certain citizens engaged to supply horses and men to work for periods varying from a year to a month. In this manner the work progressed at such a rate that by the year 1488 the magnificent temple, with