gether
unknown.

It was bishop Conrad of Lichtenberg who undertook to rebuild the
parts that were still in a state of ruin and thus at last to
accomplish this great work of the Cathedral[1].

[1] "... _Ipsa ecclesia in meliorum statuum reedificetur_ ..."
(See a charter of bishop Conrad of Lichtenberg, published by M.
L. SPACE 1841, p. 6).

In order to execute this design, he published indulgences all
over the country; and after collecting large sums of money in the
town, he applied to the ecclesiastics of his diocese, asking
their own gifts and offerings as well as those of the faithful
under their direction; in a synod held in the diocese, the clergy
agreed to give up, during four years, a fourth part of their
revenues. Conrad entrusted the direction of this work to Master
Erwin of Steinbach, who, according to some old documents, was a
native of Mayence. This great architect began by rebuilding the
nave, the arch-roofs of which were completed in 1275. Then he
commenced the facade of the church and its towers from a plan so
bold and sublime that the conception of it places Erwin for ever
at the head of the architects of the middle age[1]. In 1276 they
laid the foundation of the northern tower; to consecrate the
spot, the bishop walked solemnly round it, then took a trowel in
his hand and thrust it into the ground, as a sign for beginning
the work. They relate that a quarrel having occured between two
workmen who both wished to work with the trowel the bishop had
held in his hand, one of them was killed. This murder was
considered as a very bad omen; Conrad ordered their labour to be
suspended for nine days; they were only resumed after he had
consecrated the place anew. The following year, on saint Urban's
day (25th May), Conrad himself laid the first stone of the tower.
In the midst of his warfares, this bishop always entertained much
affection for his Cathedral, as he beheld the gradual rising of
this _glorious work_, as an old inscription terms it[2]; in his
heartfelt joy he used to compare it to the flowers of May that
bloom in the sun[3]. To the very end of his life Conrad of
Lichtenberg neglected nothing to urge on the progress of his work
of predilection; after his death, in 1299, he received in it a
sepulchre worthy of him; his statue is still to be seen in saint
John's chapel. Yet, during the life of Conrad, the Cathedral was
shaken by several earthquakes in 1279, 1289, 1291; that of 1289
was so vi