Master masons "protomastores" and engineers of the medieval fortifications of Rhodes

Abstract

Rhodes, as it can be deduced from the sources, was heavily fortified from at least the 13^th century. The Hospitallers took advantage of that fact when they became lords of the island in 1309. The town of Rhodes from the second half of the 14^th century started expanding to thewest and south of its former Byzantine fortifications. This process with successive extensions and remodelling of the existing fortifications continued until the mid 15^th century. The building projects undertaken from the end of the 15^th century and up to the beginning of the 16^th century were pertinent mostly to repairs and transformations of the walls into bastions. Local masons or «protomastores» were used in all these construction works, as it can be inferred from a marble slab embedded on the walls of the town of Rhodes. However, the archival sources explicitly mention the presence of Western engineers and architects, mostly from France and Italy, who were also working in Rhodes. In this case, it should probably be assumed that the latter were in charge of designing and supervising the works in progress.