Masons

Ken FOLLET, World without end, London : Macmillan, 2008, pag.218:" ...a carpenter could lay a piece of wood on the floor, on top of the drawing, and carve his template exactly to the lines drawnby the master mason."

"Masons in Medieval England were responsible for building some of England’s most famous buildings."  They were very skylled craftsmen and they used to buil cathedrals, castles and churches. They had to move where they were required. In fact, their guild was not linked to any particular city and it was "international". An old mason, at the top of his carrer, could become a "Master mason" who was in charge, during the construction of a building, not only of others masons but of all craftsmen linked to the job,too (carpenters...).

                  
Masons at work  

"They weren't trained in formal geometry, and it's unlikely they made any calculations. They didn't know Euclid, but they worked magic with a compass and square."
cit. John H. Lienhard

Vittorio MARCHIS, Storia delle macchine, Roma-Bari : Laterza, 2009,pag 46:"La mancaza di strumenti raffinati per il calcolo favorisce lo sviluppo di procedimenti per analogia. I modelli per similitudine di forme già sperimentate e collaudate, sulla base dell'esperienza e de lprocedere per <<sbaglia e correggi>>, diviene la regola, il canone delle proporzioni dell'architettura."

See post from reference blog http://machine-history.blogspot.it/2013/04/la-16pt-universale-di-tutte-le.html
Tommaso GARZONI, "La piazza universale di tutte le professioni del mondo"  pag.511 by Tommaso Garzoni    a description of all jobs during 1550s
 Link: http://books.google.it/books?id=55Y_AAAAcAAJ&hl=it&pg=PA511#v=onepage&q&f=false

Last edited 04/06/2013