origins and medieval masonry
by
A. J. Chapman
Presented on 28th June, 1945
Published in Selected Papers, Vol.2
United Masters Lodge No. 167, Auckland, N. Z.
It may be truthfully said that the beginnings of Freemasonry are
unknown, and that the actual history of Freemasonry, as we know it
today, can strictly be considered to commence only from that period
which gives us reliable information by means of Lodge records. The
earliest minute books relating to Scottish Masonry are dated 1599,
and no Lodge records in England are known to exist, even as late as
the 17th century. There is only the record of a single Lodge (Alnwick)
between 1700 and the date of the formation of the first Grand Lodge
in 1717.
The object of this paper is to trace as far as possible the growth
of Freemasonry, from the earliest date at which the organisation is
traceable, down to the time when operative masonry began to develop
into speculative in the 17th and early 18th centuries, at the same
time indicating as far as can be ascertained, the conditions and
customs of our early brethren.
That there have been masons from earliest times is evident. Such
remains as have been left to us from the period between Roman times
and the Norman Conquest, in the form of stone churches, crosses and
other monuments, prove their existence, but no record remains of the
system of training, organisation if any, or the working conditions
of the very early craftsman. No doubt their numbers were small, as
wood and clay were the ordinary building materials in Britain at
that period, buildings erected in stone being comparatively rare.
The art of building in squared stones and mortar was almost
certainly introduced by the Church, and seems to have required the
importation of craftsmen from the Continent. Bede informs us that
soon after the founding Wearmouth in 674, Benedict Biscop sought in
Gaul for masons to build him a stone church. St. Wilfrid also, who
die din 709, is recorded as having brought masons form Rome to build
his church.
After the Norman Conquest (1066, building activity greatly
increased; kings, nobles and churchmen were very active supporters
of the building industry, and the probability is that Freemasonry
had its first beginnings about that time, and that some form of
organisation existed among the increasing number of workmen. By the
13th century large and elaborate buildings were being erected, and
from this time onward we are able to trace Freemasonry as a
continuous institution. We need not look for an exactly similar
institution, as in the passage of time, changes must inevitably take
place.
The long series of some 1500 building accounts kept in the Public
Records Office, relate to every reign from Henry III (1216-1272) to
the 17th century. From these building records it is possible to gain
much information which enables us to draw a fairly accurate picture
of the early building industry.
The earliest mention of a Lodge, as far as can be ascertained, is in
a record of Vale Royal Abbey, 1278, but no doubt Lodges existed at a
much earlier period. Primarily the Lodge was a workshop and store,
and a necessity to every building of any size. It probably served
several other purposes. A working day was very long and some meals
were of necessity partaken. It was also a custom to take a siesta at
mid-day, and they also had their "drinking times", and as no doubt
the Lodge would be used for these purposes, it would all tend to
develop a social aspect.
From old building accounts for materials for building the Lodge, the
picture we get is of a closed wooden shed roofed with boards, straw,
reeds, or tiles, and normally accommodating from twelve to twenty
masons. There are instances on record of two or more Lodges being
erected at one building at the same time, as at Vale Royal Abbey
(1279) probably three, at York Minster (1412) two, and Westminster
(1413) two. Lodges were also often established at the quarries,
sometimes far distant from the building. It is not until we reach
the seventeenth century that the word "Lodge" sometimes came to be
used in the sense of a body of masons associated with a particular
town instead of with a particular building.
The winter working hours were from daylight to dark, with one hour
for dinner, and fifteen minutes for "drinking" in the afternoon. The
summer hours were from sunrise to thirty minutes before sunset, with
one hour for dinner, thirty minutes for "sleeping" and thirty
minutes for "drinking." The average working hours would thus be bout
8 3/4 in the winter months, and 12 1/4 in the summer months. One
recorded complaint is that "divers artificers and labourers waste
much part of the day in late coming unto their work, early departing
therefrom, long sitting at their breakfast, dinner and noon meat,
and long time sleeping after noon."Mediaeval wage rates are
generally expressed as so much per day, week or fortnight, and
occasionally as much as per annum. There appears to be a
differentiation in the daily rate of pay as the days lengthened.
Thus the London regulations of 1275-1296 fixed the masons' daily
wage ad 3d in winter, 4d in spring and autumn, and 5d in summer.
Living accommodation, is some cases at least, was provided but
whether within or outside the Lodge is not clear. Occasionally an
allowance of beer was made. Taking a general average of the daily
rate of pay, we find a gradual upward tendency, although at times
fluctuating, from 4d per day in the 13th century, to 2/4 per day at
the beginning of the 18th century. The lost of the ancient mason was
not always happy as the gradual increase in wages was often quite
disproportionate to the greatly increased cost of food, as in the
decade 1613-1722 when food prices were five times the 1510 level,
and wages hardly doubled. From the 13th century various Statutes of
Labourers had endeavoured to fix wages, but a new Statute of
Artifices in 1563 provided that masons' wages were to be determined
with reference to the price of food thus, in theory at least,
embodying one of the most important points in the Regius and Cooke
Mss. that of fixing wages according to the cost of victuals. From
official records we can arrive at an approximate estimate of the
cost of some of the work done by our ancient brethren. There were in
England and Wales between 900 and 1000 Monasteries, Colleges,
Churches and hospitals, many of stupendous proportions. To these
must be added thousands of parish churches, castles, town walls,
municipal buildings and bridges. Eton College in one year (1443-44)
required over 1,000,000 bricks. Vale Royal Abbey (1278-80) required
15 quarrymen and 31 carters. Beaumaris Castle at one period employed
400 masons, 30 smiths and carpenters. The building of Vale Royal
Abbey cost in three years over £1,500 in the currency of that day,
equal to about £126,000 in normal times in this part of the world
and exclusive of stone and timber which seem to have been supplied
from Royal quarries and forests. Caernarvon, Conway and Harlech
Castles cost in one year (1291) over £14,000, equivalent to well
over £1,000,000 today (1945). When we remember that the erection of
many of these buildings occupied a great number of years, some idea
of their ultimate cost may be gained.
Owing to the difficulty in procuring sufficient local labour, the
system of impressments was often used, a power similar to the rights
of purveyance to obtain timber, etc. for building, or to the
press-gang to obtain recruits. Apparently opposition was encountered
or expected, as power was given to imprison those who resisted.
(Evidently they had their man-power problems in those days). For
this reason, and also that the mason's trade was usually carried on
outside cities and towns, a craft gild was presumably not a suitable
organisation to control the industry. While in the later Middle Ages
the authorities sought to control trade and industry usually through
Municipal Craft Guilds, it must be noted that nowhere except in
London is there any record of a masons' craft ordinance before the
16th century. It is however, only reasonable to suppose that some
organisation existed to control the masons' activities and we can
only assume that they held some form of Assembly as described in the
Regius and Cooke Mss. Be that as it may, we have evidence of masons'
assemblies in Statutes of 1360 and 1425, which attempted to prohibit
congregations or confederations of masons, but the probability is
that these were in the nature of illegal assemblies for the purpose
of attempting to gain increased wages.
Leaving for the moment the matter of organisation, we should briefly
consider the different grades among masons. Broadly these may be
divided into three, viz., journeymen masons, apprentices and master
masons. The working mason or journeyman was essentially a wage
earner, with relatively little prospect of attaining to a higher
position, although it was possible to rise from the ranks to become
a foreman or overseer, called an apparator or warden, or to secure
what may be termed a staff appointment as master mason.
Just how the masons received their training is not clear. No doubt
fathers taught their sons, while others had servants or labourers
who later became masons. Another source was from the quarries where
much preparatory work was often done and the more expert quarries
would attain sufficient skill to make the transition possible.
Presumably there was no systematic method of training, which points
to the absence of any strong organisation among masons. Normally, on
important works a master mason was in charge, sometimes called
master of the fabric. His chief business was to hire and dismiss
workmen, determine the quantities of materials, make the plans, and
generally supervise the architectural details. The office of master
mason was one of dignity as a sign of which he received annually,
gloves, a robe, or a sum of money additional to his daily
maintenance. There is numerous mention of plans and designs prepared
by master masons. They drew their "plot, platt, portraiture, and
uprights" and part of a Lodge equipment comprised tracing boards for
the master mason. In some cases a tracing or tracery house was
provided. The master mason continued to act as architect through the
Middle Ages up to the 17th century, at which period the old and the
new system of architecture as a separate profession existed side by
side.
The apprenticeship system seems to be a late development among
masons. Previously it was very limited, as only masters appear to
have had apprentices, and as usual there was only one master mason
on each job, the number of apprentices would thus be relatively
small. There is no record of a mason's apprentice in any building
record prior to 1350, and few between 1350 and 1450. The instruction
given was no doubt in that part of the work which only such as a
master mason would known, and they would also doubtless be bound by
their indentures to keep their master's secrets. The first
indication of any ceremony attached to apprenticeship seems to be in
the Apprentice Charge appearing in certain versions of the Ms.
Constitutions, dating from the second half of the 17th century, and
while operative in character, there is no evidence that it was ever
used among operative masons.
Direct evidence n connection with masons' craft guilds in the 14th
and 15th century is very slight. Such guilds have been assumed to
exist because guilds existed in other trades. This lack of
organisation was no doubt due to the necessity of moving from place
to place, which would preclude their having such associations as
those by which other trades were controlled, and for which a local
habitation was necessary. It is not clear that any sharp line of
distinction existed between so-called Cathedral Masons, and those
employed in towns, sometimes called Gild Masons. Records show that
masons were drawn from all classes of work and from all districts as
required. Some trace of organisation among journeymen masons is
found in London records of 1306, when certain newcomers were
threatened with a beating if they worked for lower wages than the
city craftsmen.
Municipal records of 1356 informs us of disputes between hewers and
layers, and the statement that "the trade had not been regulated in
due manner by the folk of the trade" implies that there was no craft
guild operating at that time.
The first definite reference to an organisation occurs in 1376, so
that the guild must have been established at some time between 1356
and 1376. In 1389 William Hancock, mason, bequeathed twelve pence to
the fraternity of Masons, London, and in 1419 Walter Walton gave a
legacy of 6/8 to the fraternity and his livery coat to a brother
mason.
It is doubtful whether this organisation ever was a genuine
democratic craft guild, or that a working mason could aspire to
become a member of it. It is possible that it was mainly composed of
building contractors. Gulds practically came to an end in 1547 when
they were suppressed but we have evidence of an operative Lodge at
Alwick in 1598.
Any organisation which existed among our early brethren was probably
due to the existence of certain customs and traditions, a knowledge
of which had been handed down to us in the form of manuscripts.
These rules and traditions were preserved and from time to time
written down and further copies made. There are no less than one
hundred known versions of the Manuscript Constitutions of Masonry,
and of these the importance of the Regius and Cooke Manuscripts (two
of the oldest known versions, dated approximately 1390 and 1420
respectively) cannot be over-estimated as a link uniting ancient
operative masonry with modern speculative masonry. These early
manuscripts inform us that 14th and 15th century masons were subject
to recognised customs, embodied in so-called "charges". Almost
without exception they each contain the same two elements, viz., the
legend of history of the building industry and the regulations or
charges to be obeyed by master, fellows and apprentices. In the 16th
and 17th centuries these legends and customs were incorporated in
successive versions of the Manuscript Constitutions of Masonry, and
modern "Speculative Masonry" is the outcome of this. When the Grand
Lodge of England was formed in 1717 there appear to have been copies
of the Mss. In possession of several Lodges, and some of these were
no doubt used by Dr. Anderson in compiling the first Book of
Constitutions (1723).
We do not know to what extent the early operatives possessed a
ritual, but all the evidence obtainable from the Ancient Charges,
and from what knowledge we have of the Operatives, leads to the
conclusion that our present system, both in practice and symbol, is
the successor or operative masonry.
It is difficult to conclude a paper of this nature without
traversing the period of the merging of operative into speculative
masonry. It is, however, a big subject, and time will not permit.
And now a word in connection with the origin of the word
"Freemason". Opinions differ, but it seems likely that the freemason
was so called on account of the material in which he worked. While
Mediaeval builders used a great variety of stones ranging from the
hardest of granite to perishable chalk, the building stones most
widely used were he various limestone which were fond extensively in
a broad belt stretching from the Yorkshire coast to Dorset, and
commonly called free-stone. Free-stone is the name given to any fine
grained sandstone or limestone that can be easily worked or carved
in any direction, and the mason who worked this stone was often
known as a freestone mason. The earliest known reference to a
freemason, or freestone mason, is contained in the London Assize of
Wages, 1212. In 1361 forty "freestone masons" were ordered to work
at Windsor Castle. In 1396 the Archbishop of Canterbury was
authorised to impress twenty-four "freemasons", and it would appear
that the term "freestone mason" became abbreviated to "freemason"
just as the words "Freemason" and "Mason" are often used to mean the
same thing.
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