The Masonic Trowel

... to spread the cement of brotherly love and affection, that cement which unites us into one sacred band or society of brothers, among whom no contention should ever exist, but that noble emulation of who can best work or best agree ...


[What is Freemasonry] [Leadership Development] [Education] [Masonic Talks] [Masonic Magazines Online]
[
Articles] [Masonic Books Online] [E-Books] [Library Of All Articles] [Masonic Blogs] [Links]
 [
What is New] [Feedback]

 Masonic quotes by Brothers



Search Website For


Add To Favorites

Help Me Maintain OUR Website!!!!!!


List of Contributors


PDF This File


Print This Page


Email This Site To ...


MASONRY IN NORMAN ENGLAND

CHAPTER IX

the arcane schools
John Yarker


WE made mention in our last Chapter of a series of Masonic legends which are, in some measure, historically opposed to the old Saxon Constitutions.  These first appear in written documents of about 1450 A.D., but as these are copies of still older MSS., may well date into the 12th century in this country.  There are two old MSS. the laws of which differ in essential points: in the elder or "Cooke MS." those legends which imply a Semitic origin and actually represent our present Craft Rites, form the Preface, or Commentary, to an actual Saxon Charge; whilst the later, or "Wm. Watson MS," is a copy of a much older document, and itself over two centuries old, is complete in itself, with a modified series of charges: the second part might belong to a Guild which had a traditional preference to a Saxon Constitution, and the first to a later compiler, one who had accepted the Norman system, and its Rites.  We will endeavour in this Chapter to supply such reliable information, as can be gathered, to account for the legends superimposed upon the older.

   It is in Norman times, adding French details, that this matter shews itself, and as there is yet no established view on the subject, it may be examined in various aspects.  In the first place these legends may have been fixed in France by the conquests which the Saracens made in that country; or 2ndly, they may have reached that country through the Moorish conquests in Spain; or 3rdly, and a probable view, they might have been brought {295} from the East, by those Masons who returned in the train of the Crusaders; lastly, but upon this we place small credence, some of our able critics have held that the Oriental legends are collected from books of general history by the first compiler of this version of the Charges, though admitting that the author had old Masonic Charges to guide him.

   A very elaborate paper, which may be classed with the first of these views, has been written by Brother C. C. Howard, of Picton, New Zealand, and he relies upon the fact that this new Charge draws its inspiration from Roman Verulam and the erection of St. Albans by Offa, King of Mercia, circa 793, and that one Namas Graecus, under various spellings, is given as the teacher of Masonry in France.  Offa is supposed, by Brother Howard, to have brought Masons from Nismes, or Nimes, in Southern France, for the purpose in view, hence the derivation of Namas Graecus.

   A theory such as that of Brother Howard would well account for all that is peculiar in this Constitution.  The present Nimes is a very ancient Greco-Roman town, and has perfect remains of the work of their architects; moreover it was for two centuries in the hands of the Saracens, until Charles Martel, who was the traditional patron of French Masons and the Hammer of the Saracens, drove them out of that town, and may then have appointed a Duke or prince to rule it.  The "Cooke MS" like the Strasburg Statutes speak of Charles II., but this is an error, and it is noteworthy that the "Charges of David and Solomon," are invariably united with the French patronage, proving that we derive these Masonic views from French sources.  At whatever date these Constitutions first appeared in this country they eventually superseded the English version.

   The Saracens were large builders in the East, and even the Mausoleum of Theodric of Ravenna, erected in the 6th century, is considered by de Vogue to be the work of Syrian Masons brought forward by Byzantines.  It is {296} said that about the year 693 they assembled 12,000 stonecutters to build the great Alamya at Damascus.<<Condes "Arabs in Spain.">>  The Tulun Mosque at Cairo which was built in the 9th century, has all the main features of Gothic styles, and the same race erected numerous magnificent works in Spain.  Gibbon informs us that between 813-33 the Moors brought into Spain all the literature which they could obtain in Constantinople, and that between 912-61 the most celebrated architects were invited from thence.  We learn from a catalogue of the Escuriel library that they possessed 70 public libraries, and that the MSS. handed down includes translations from Greek and Latin and Arabic writers on philosophy, philology, jurisprudence, theology, mysticism, talismans, divination, agriculture, and other arts.  They gave us astronomy, alchemy, arithmetic, algebra, Greek philosophy, paper-making, the pendulum, the mariners' compass, and our first notions of chivalry, and armed-fraternities.  Whether they gave us Gothic architecture may be doubtful but the durability of their own buildings is astounding, and Cordova, the seat of empire, covered a space 24 miles by 6 miles, even in the 8th and 9th centuries, and was filled with magnificent palaces and public edifices.  Roger Bacon probably derived gunpowder through their intermediary.

   It is possible that Syrian fraternities of Masons continued to exist until its invasion by the Saracens, and they themselves, as we have seen, had secret fraternities analogous to Freemasonry, and as the Koran accepts the history of the Jewish Patriarchs such a system as we now possess is in accord with their feelings, and might possibly be acceptable to a French fraternity who were Christians and had derived building instructions from a Moslem race.  If the Saracenic theory in regard to Nismes is inadmissable, or the derivation of the French Charges under Norman introduction, when the system had consolidated under the "Sons of Solomon;" there are two other views we may notice.  The possibility of a derivation from the {297} Spanish Moors; or through the Crusaders who returned from Palestine after erecting endless works with the assistance of the native Masons.  Neither of these two views will account fully for the fact that the Constitutions of the period of this Chapter connect the Charges of David and Solomon with the Namas Graecus "who had been at the building of Solomon's temple," with Charles Martel, or even Charles II.  But this is not a great difficulty, for Namas does not appear until circa 1525, and was always a trouble to the Copyists, sometimes he is Namas, at others he is Aymon, or the man with a Greek name, and on one occasion he is Grenaeus.  Again building, in Europe, was a clerical art down to the 12th century and laymen were subject to them; but the religion of the Saracens was of a different cast, and admitted from the very first, of the continuance of independent schools of Architecture attached to no Sheik-ul-Islam, Mollah, or Dervish.  On the whole we seem to be led by these considerations to the Norman-French introduction into this country of a species of Masonic rules, rites, and legends which existed in Southern France, and which were still further influenced in the 13th century by Masons from the East; but the reader can judge of this upon reading all the facts.

   When Abdur-Rahman built the great Mosque of Cordova in the short space of ten years, he said, -- "Let us raise to Allah a Jamma Musjid which shall surpass the temple raised by Sulieman himself at Jerusalem."  This is the oldest comparison which we have of Solomon's erection as compared with mediaeval erections, and coming from a Moslem is eminently suggestive.  Some 30 years ago Bro. Viner Bedolphe brought forward some cogent arguments to prove that though our Craft Masonry had been derived from the Roman Colleges the 3rd Degree of Modern Masonry had been added, in its second half, by Moslems.  But as a matter of fact the existing Jewish Guilds have a ceremony from which our Modern 3rd Degree is derived through the ancient Guilds, and it is quite possible that the work {298} men of Abdur-Rahman found it of old date in Spain, as we shall see later; and that a Guild of them was employed at Cordova.  Mecca has had for ages a semi-Masonic Society which claims its derivation from the Koreish who were Guardians of the Kaaba; namely, the Benai Ibraham.  For some hundreds of years our Constitutions have asserted that Nimrod was a Grand Master and gave the Masons a Charge which we still follow.  Its first degree is the  "Builders of Babylon," and is directed against Nimrod and his idols, and against idolatry in general.  Its second degree is the "Brothers of the Pyramids," and teaches, as do our own Constitutions, that Abraham taught the Egyptians geometry, and the mode of building the pyramids.  The third degree is "Builders of the Kaaba," in which the three Grand Master Masons Ibrahim, Ishmael, and Isaque, erect the first Kaaba, on the foundations of the temple erected by Seth on the plans of his father Adam.  At the completion of the Kaaba, the twelve chiefs or Assistants of the three Grand Masters are created Princes of Arabia.  The Society was clearly ancient in A.D. 600 as al Koran alludes to the legendary basis on which it is formed.

   There is a very interesting French romance of the 12th century by Huon de Villeneuve which seems to have a bearing upon the names of our old Masonic MSS., or at least on a corrupt version of them; and which moreover commemorates the Masonic death of a person who is supposed to have battled with the Saracens in France and Palestine.  Either the work may veil legends of the Compagnonage, or, with less probability, these latter may have drawn something from it.  This romance is entitled Les Qualre Fils Aymon.  Charlemagne returns victorious from a long and bloody war against the Saracens in Easter, 768, and has to listen to accusations against Prince Aymon of the Ardennes, for failing to perform his fealty in not warring against the Saracens.  Charlemagne has as colleagues Solomon of Bretagne, and his trusty friend the Duke of Naismes.  Renaud, Allard, Guichard, and {299} Richard, the "four sons of Aymon," depart from the Court in quest of adventure.  They defeat Bourgons the Saracen chief before Bordeaux, cause him to become a Christian, and after that restore Yon, King of Aquitaine, to his throne;  Renaud marries his daughter Laura and erects the Castle of Montauban.  Yon fears the anger of Charlemagne, persuades the four Aymons to solicit his grace, and they set out "with olive branches in their hands," but are treacherously waylaid by their enemies, and would have been slain but for the arrival of their cousin Maugis, and the "cyprus was changed for the palm."  Richard is taken prisoner, and condemned to death, but Maugis disguises himself as a Pilgrim, hangs the executioner, carries off Richard, and also the golden crown and sceptre of Charlemagne, who thereupon resolves to attack Montauban.  After a due amount of battles, peace is restored on condition that Renaud departs on a pilgrimage to Palestine.  On arrival there he is surprised to meet Maugis, and between them they restore the old Christian King of Jerusalem to the throne.  After an interval Renaud is recalled to France and on his arrival finds his wife dead of grief, as well as his aged father Aymon and his mother.  His old antagonists -- Naismes, Oger, and Roland have been slain at Ronciveux.  Five years later Charlemagne visits Aix-la-Chapel, with the three brothers Aymon and their two nephews, and the following is a literal translation of what occurred: "'Hollo! says the Emperor, to a good woman, what means this crowd?' The peasant answered, -- 'I come from the village of Crosne, where died two days ago a holy hermit who was tall and strong as a giant.  He proposed to assist the Masons to construct at Cologne the Church of St. Peter; he manoeuvred so well that the others who were jealous of his ability, killed him in the night time whilst he slept, and threw his body into the Rhine, but it floated, covered with light.  On the arrival of the bishop the body was exposed in the Nave, with uncovered face that it might be recognised.  Behold what it is that draws the {300} crowd.'"  The Emperor approached and beheld Renaud of Montauban, and the three Aymons, and two sons of Renaud, mingled their tears over the corpse.  Then the bishop said: -- Console yourselves!  He for whom you grieve has conquered the immortal palm."  The Emperor ordered "a magnificent funeral and a rich tomb."  In the translation of Caxton it is the bishop who does this and also Canonises him as "St. Renaude the Marter."  In the time of Charlemagne, and even much later, there existed a great number of pre-Christian and Gnostic rites, and the Emperor is credited with reforming, or establishing, in Saxony, the country of Aymon, whose memory was held in great veneration even down to the 19th century, a secret fraternity for the suppression of Paganism, which has most of the forms of Modern Freemasonry.  Hargrave Jennings holds that the fleur-de-lis may be traced through the bees of Charlemagne to the Scarab of Egypt, and is again found on the Tiaras of the gods of Egypt and Chaldea.  After the Culdee Alcuin had assisted in building the Church of St. Peter at York, he went over to France, and became a great favourite at Court, having the instruction of the Emperor himself whom he terms a builder "by the Art of the Most Wise Solomon," who made him an Abbot.  Apart from the significance of this romance in a Masonic sense, which appears to have drawn on existing Masonry, there are some peculiar correspondences.  The body of Osiris was thrown into the Nile, that of Renaud into the Rhine.  The address of the bishop to the mourners is almost identical with that of the old Hierophants to the mourners for the slain sun-god.  As before stated the "branch" varied in the Mysteries, as the erica, the ivy, the palm, the laurel, the golden-bough.  As in the case of the substituted victim for Richard the Moslems held that a substitute was made for Jesus.  The romance confuses the time of Charlemagne, if we accept it literally, with that of a Christian King of Jerusalem, as the Masonic MSS. confuse the date of Charles of France with an apocryphal Aymon who was at the building {301} of Solomon's temple.  Possibly the Masons confused the Temple of Solomon with that existing one which Cardinal Vitry and Maundeville inform us was "called the Temple of Solomon to distinguish the temple of the Chivalry from that of Christ;" they allude of course to the house of the Knights Templars.  These legends may well represent some ancient tradition, and we know not what MSS. have perished during the centuries.  A curiously veiled pagan Mythology may be traced in Paris; comparing St. Denis to Dionysos.  The death of St. Denis takes place on Montmartre, that of Dionysos on Mount Parnassus; the remains of Denis are collected by holy women who consign them with lamentations to a tomb over which the beautiful Abbey was erected; but he rises from his tomb like Dionysos, and replacing his severed head walks away.  Over the southern gate of the Abbey is also sculptured a sprig of the vine laden with grapes which was a Dionysian symbol, and at the feet of the Saint, in other parts, the panther is represented, whose skin was in use in the Rites of the Mysteries.

   Other attempts to identify Namas Graecus may be given.  Brother Robert H. Murdock, Major R.A., considers that this person is the Marcus Graecus from whose MS. Bacon admits in De Nullitate Magiae, 1216, that he derived the composition of gunpowder.  There is one old MS. in the early days of the Grand Lodge that has adopted this view.  Here again we run against the Saracens, for Duten shews that the Brahmins were acquainted with powder from whom it passed to the Lulli or Gypsies of Babylon, the Greeks and Saracens, and it is thought to have been used by the Arabs at the siege of Mecca in 690; again Peter Mexia shews that in 1343 the Moors used explosive shells against Alphonso XII. of Castile, and a little later the Gypsies were expert in making the heavy guns.  Very little is known of Marcus Graecus but early in the 9th century his writings are, erroneously, supposed to be mentioned by the Arabian physician Mesue.<<The "Cyclo. of" Eph. Chambers, art. "Gunpowder.">> {302} The acceptance of Marcus of gunpowder notoriety as identical with Namas or Marcus of Masonic notoriety, necessitates one of two suppositions: (1) either he was the instructor, or believed to be so, of Charles Martel in Military erections; or (2) the fraternity of Masons had a branch devoted to the study of Alchemy and the hidden things of nature and science: much might he said in its favor, but unless there was some MS. of a much earlier date that mentions Namas or Marcus, and is missing, the introduction is probably only of the 16th century when Masons were actually Students of Masonry and the secret sciences.  Another theory has been propounded by Brother Klein, F.R.S., the eminent P.M. of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge, namely that Haroun al Raschid's son the Caliph al Mamun is "the man with a Greek name."  He shews that in the time of this Caliph the books of Euclid were translated into Arabic for the Colleges of Cordova, and it was not until the 12th century that Abelard of Bath rendered them into Latin.  The original Greek MS. was lost for 700 years when it was found by Simon Grynaeus, a Suabian and co-labourer of Melancthon and Luther.  In 1530 he gave the MS. to the world, and we actually find that in some of our MSS. Graecus is transformed into Green, Grenenois, Grenus, Graneus.  Caxton printed the "Four Sons of Aymon" in the 15th century, and we find some scribes transforming Namas into Aymon.  Here we have a later attempt to identify the personality mentioned; he was a man of whom nobody knew anything, and each scribe sought to develop his own idea, if he had any.

   Charlemagne was a contemporary of the Haroun al Raschid here mentioned who sent him a sapphire ornament and chain by his ambassador.

   Green in his Short History of the English People (London, 1876) says: -- "A Jewish medical school seems to have existed at Oxford; Abelard of Bath brought back a knowledge of Mathematics from Cordova; Roger Bacon himself studied under the English Rabbis" (page {303} 83).  Bacon himself writes: "I have caused youths to be instructed in languages, geometry, arithmetic, the construction of tables and instruments, and many needful things besides."  The great work of this mendicant Friar of the Order of St. Francis, the Opus Majus, is a reform of the methods of philosophy: "But from grammar he passes to mathematics, from mathematics to experimental philosophy.  Under the name of Mathematics was enclosed all the physical science of the time."

   It is beyond doubt that after the Norman conquest in 1066 the predominant genius of Masonry was French; the oversight and the design were French, the labour Anglo-Saxon; but the latter were strong enough as shewn, by an eminent architect, to transmit their own style in combination with that of the French.  It must also be borne in mind that if the English towns have some claims to Roman succession, that feature is doubly strong in France, even to the language.  Long after the conquest of the country by the Franks, and even until modern times, the people were allowed to continue Roman laws, privileges, colleges, and Guilds; pure Roman architecture exists to this day, and notably at Nimes.  Lodges, though not perhaps under that name, must have existed from the earliest times, for we find that in the 12th century, the Craft was divided into three divisions; we may even say four, for besides the Passed Masters Associations, there were Apprentices, Companions or Journeymen, and perpetual Companions, or a class who were neither allowed to take an Apprentice, or to begin business as Masters; that is they could employ themselves only on inferior work.  The eminent historian of Masonry, Brother R. F. Gould, shews this, and also that the so-called "Fraternities" of France were the Masters' Associations, but that the Companions and Apprentices had to contribute to the funds that were necessary for their maintenance.  The qualification necessary to obtain Membership of this Association was the execution of a Master-piece, which was made as expensive as possible, {304} in order to keep down the number of Masters.  It will be seen at once that this is a very different organisation to the Constitution of the Assemblies of our last Chapter, and the reader must keep this distinction in mind, as well as the fact that there came over to this country a class of men impressed with these discordant views.

   It would extend far beyond the scope of this book to give more than a very slight account of the numerous Abbeys, Monasteries, Churches and Castles which were erected after the Norman conquest; it is, however, necessary, in our inquiry after the Speculative element, to say something of these, and of the persons who erected them.  Doctor James Anderson states that King William the Bastard employed Gundulf, bishop of Rochester, and Earl Roger de Montgomery in building, or extending, the Tower of London, Castles of Dover, Exeter, Winchester, Warwick, Hereford, Stafford, York, Durham, Newcastle, also Battle Abbey, St. Saviour's in Southwark, and ninety other pious houses; whilst others built forty two such, and five cathedrals.  Battle Abbey was in building 1067-90, the architect being a Norman Monk who was a noted arrow-head maker and therefore named William the Faber, or Smith.  Between 1070-1130 Canterbury Cathedral was in course of erection.  In 1076 Archbishop Thomas began the re-erection of the Cathedral of York, which had previously been burnt in contest with the Normans.  Between 1079-93, Winchester Cathedral was in progress.  The White or Square tower on the Thames is of this period and Jennings mentions one of the main pillars which has a valute on one side, and a horn on the other, which he considers to have the same significance as the two pillars of Solomon's temple, that is symbolising male and female.  It is evident that Masons must have now been in great demand and that whether Saxon or Norman were sure of employment; the following are of interest, and as we meet with any particulars, which have a distinct bearing upon the Masonic organisation, we will give them. {305}

   The New Castle, whence the name of that town is taken, was built by a son of the Bastard, and thenceforth became, as in Roman times, a place of great strength, and also the chief home of the Monastic Orders, for Benedictines, Augustinians, Carmelites, Franciscans, Hospitallers of St. John, and Nuns all built houses here, and their conventual buildings within its walls, and many an Hospitium for wayfarers, many Guilds, and many a chapel of black, white and grey Friars were founded.  The Percys had a town residence here in the narrow street called the Close.

   In 1074 Lincoln Cathedral was begun by Remgius Foschamp, the Norman Bishop, who had it ready for consecration in 8 years.  It was destroyed by fire in 1141, but Bishop Alexander restored it to more than its former beauty.  Where the Castle now stands existed an ancient fortress which the Bastard converted into a Norman stronghold.

   In 1077 Robert the Cementarius, or Mason, had a grant of lands in reward for his skill in restoring St. Albans; and we may find in this circumstance the origin of the St. Alban Charge combined with that of Charles Martel and David and Solomon; including the Norman fiction that St. Alban had for his Masonic instructor St. Amphabel out of France.  We say fiction because Britain at that day sent Masons to Gaul.

   In Yorkshire a Godifried the Master-builder witnesses the Whitby Charter of Uchtred, the son of Gospatric.  These are Danish names and the Marks of Yorkshire Masons, in this and the following century, are strong in the use of letters of the Runic or Scandinavian alphabet.

   Baldwin, Abbot of St. Edmund's began a church in 1066 which was consecrated in 1095.  Hermannus the Monk, compares it in magnificence to Solomon's temple, which is the first Masonic reference we have to that structure, and in Norman times.

   Paine Peverell, a bastard son of the King, built a small round church at Cambridge which was consecrated in {306} 1101, this form being a model of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem.  He also began a castle in Derbyshire, on a peak inaccessible on three sides one of which overlooks the Peak Cavern, which Faber supposes was used in the Druidical Mysteries.

   A round church was erected at this period in Northampton, probably by Simon de St. Luz.  An ancient sun-dial is built into its walls; the tooling of the building is Saxon chevron style, in contradistinction from the Norman diagonal axe work.

   There is a curiously mystic monument at Brent Pelham to Piers Shonke, who died in 1086.  Weever calls it "a stone whereon is figured a man, and about him an eagle, a lion, and a bull, having all wings, and an angell as if they would represent the four evangelists; under the feet of the man is a cross fleuree."  We must not hastily confound these emblems with the present quartering in the Arms of Freemasons.

   During the reign of Rufus the great palace of Westminster was built, and thirty pious houses.  In 1089 the King laid the foundation of St. Mary's Abbey at York.  In the same year the Bishop of Hereford laid the foundation of the Gothic cathedral at Gloucester, and it was consecrated in 1100.  In 1093 William of Karilipho, Bishop of Durham, laid the foundation of his cathedral, in the presence of Malcolm King of Scots and Prior Turgot.  Surtees says that it "was on a plan which he had brought with him from France."  In the same year the church of the old Culdee settlement of Lindisfarne was erected, and Edward, a monk of Durham, acted as architect.

   In 1093 Hugh Lupus, Earl of Chester, sent for Anselme, Abbot of Bec, "by his conseile to build the Abbey of St. Werberg at Chester."  It contains an old pulpit of black oak which is full of heraldic carving which has been mistaken for Masonic emblems.<<Past Grand blaster Smith, U.S.A.>>  It was in this Monastery {307} that Ralph Higden compiled the Polychronicon, a history often referred to in the "Cooke MS."

   The work of Durham Cathedral was continued by Bishop Ranulf de Flambard from 1104 and completed before the year 1129.  Under Bishop William de Carilofe the grant which Waltheof, Earl of Northumberland, had made to the See of Durham was confirmed, of the Priory of Teignmouth to the Church of Jarrow, which was built by Benedict Biscop in 689 and of Wearmouth 8 years later.  Also Robert de Mowbray brought monks from St. Albans to rebuild the Priory Church, which was completed in 1110.  Anything connected with these Northern provinces is Masonically important, for Northumberland and Durham had many Operative Lodges long prior to the G.L. of 1717, and any legitimacy which that body can have it owes to those Northern Lodges, which eventually joined its ranks.

   Northumberland is studded with fortified piles or towers and fortified vicarages which must have given much employment to Masons.  Elsden possessed one of these and also two folc-mote hills, where in old time, justice was administered in the open air, as in the Vehm of Westphalia, dating back one thousand years.

   Oswold the good Bishop of Salisbury built the Church of St. Nicholas at Newcastle about the year 1004.  In 1115 Henry I. made grants to the Canons regular of Carlisle.  Many parts of the Church of St. Andrew are earlier than St. Nicholas, but its erection is of later date.

   The Church of St. Mary, Beverley, is supposed to have had upon its site, a Chapel of Ease dedicated to St. Martin by Archbishop Thurston, of York, between 1114-42; it is certain, however, that it was constituted a Vicarage of St. Mary in 1325.  The Nave was built about 1450, and consists of six bays and seven clerestory windows, but in 1530 the upper part of the central tower fell upon the Nave with much loss of life.  Its pillar was erected by the Guild of Minstrels, which like that of the Masons, claimed to date from Saxon times; it has upon the fluted {308} cornishes five figures of the Minstrels with their instruments, of which only two respectively with guitar and pipe are intact; and stands on the north side facing the pulpit.  The Misere stalls in the chancel are of the 15th century, with carved bas reliefs under the seats; one of these represents a fox shot through the body with a woodman's arrow, and a monkey approaching with a bottle of physic.

   In regard to symbolism Brother George Oliver, D.D., mentions an old church at Chester, which he does not name, containing the double equilateral triangles; also the same in the window of Lichfield Cathedral.  Mr. Goodwin states that the triple triangles interlaced may be seen in the tower of a church in Sussex.  We are now approaching the period of the Crusades, and it may be noticed that Cluny and other great French Abbeys are usually considered the centres of action whence proceeded the builders that accompanied the armies of the cross to Palestine.  Here an enormous number of buildings were erected, between 1148-89, in which Europeans directed native workmen, and in which the former learned a lighter style of architecture which resulted in pointed Gothic; a style which had early existence in the East, for Professor T. Hayter Lewis points out that the 9th century Mosque at Tulun in Cairo has every arch pointed, every pier squared, and every capital enriched with leaf ornament; this style the returned Masons began to construct and superintend in the West.

   Mr. Wyatt Papworth mentions that a Bishop of Utrecht in 1199 obtained the "Arcanum Magisterium" in laying the foundation of a church, and that he was slain by a Master Mason whose son had betrayed the secret to the Bishop.  About this time was begun the old church at Brownsover, near Rugby; when it was restored in 1876 two skeletons were found under the north and south walls, in spaces cut out of the solid clay, and covered over with the oakblocks of two carpenters' benches.  A similar discovery was made in Holsworthy parish church in 1885; {309} in this case the skeleton had a mass of mortar over the mouth, and the stones were huddled about the corpse as if to hastily cover it over.  There is no doubt that in this and many other cases the victims were buried alive as a sacrifice.<<"Builders' Rites and Ceremonies," G. W Speth, 1894.>>  They are instances in proof of a widespread and ancient belief of a living sacrifice being necessary.

   King Henry I., 1100-35, built the palaces of Woodstock and Oxford, and fourteen pious houses, whilst others built one hundred such, besides castles and mansions.  The Bishop of Durham confirmed and granted privileges to the Hali-werk-folc who would be Saxon artificers.

   In 1113 Joffred, Abbot of Croyland, laid the foundation of that Abbey; about 22 stones were laid by Patrons, who gave money or lands.  Arnold is described as "a lay brother, of the art of Masonry a most scientific Master."  About this time, or a little earlier, the seven Liberal Arts and Sciences are designated the Trivium and Quadrivium, and the Chronicler gives us the following illustration of the first division: -- "During this time Odo read lessons in Grammar to the younger sort, Terrick Logic to the elder students at noon; and William Rhetoric in the afternoon; whilst Gilbert preached every Sunday, in different churches, in French and Latin against the Jews, and on holiday evenings explained the Scriptures to the learned and clergy."  In Essex's Bibliotheca Topographia, 1783 (vol. iv.) we find it stated that the builders of this portion cut rudely at the west end of the south aisle, a pair of compasses, a lewis, and two circular figures, which, he supposes, are intended for sun and moon; in 1427, however, there were repairs in progress, not of this part, but in the west and north aisles.  This Abbey possessed a library of 900 books, and save that Joffrid, or Gilbert, exhibited so much animosity against the Jews, is so consonant with the first part of the "Cooke MS." that we might have taken it as a proof that the Semitic Rites existed in 1113.  They probably did in France and parts of Spain.  The bronze candelabrum of {310} Gloucester was made in 1115, and has the double triangles and much other Masonic symbolism; it is of Byzantine design and approximates to old Egyptian work and symbolism.

   King Stephen, 1135-54, employed Gilbert de Clare to build four Abbeys, two Nunneries, and the Church of St. Stephen at Westminster, whilst others built about ninety pious houses.  Jesus College at Cambridge was founded in this reign, and a very remarkable church was erected at Adel near Leeds.  It is recorded of a soldier of King Stephen, named Owen or Tyndal, that he received a species of religious Initiation at the Culdee Monastery in Donegal, placed in a pastos of the cell; he then went on a pilgrimage to the Holy-land, and on his return, as has been recorded of Renaud of Montauban, assisted in building the Abbey of Bosmagovsich.  The Marks of Birkenhead Priory of this date have been collected and printed by Brother W. H. Rylands, also those of St. John's Church in Chester, the Cathedral, Chester, and the walls, some of which are Roman work.<<"Ars Quat. Cor.," 1894.>>

   In 1147 Henry de Lacy laid the foundation of Kirkstall Abbey in Yorkshire; it is of pointed Gothic.  Roche Abbey was built between this date and 1186, and these two are believed to be by the same architect.  Rivaulx and Fountains Abbey were begun in 1199 and 1200.  At this time Adam, a Monk of Fountains Abbey, and previously of Whitby, was celebrated for his knowledge of Gothic architecture, and officiated at the building of the Abbeys of Meux, Woburn, and Kirkstede; it is not said whether he was lay or cleric.  York Cathedral was again destroyed by fire in 1137, and Archbishop Roger began to re-erect it in 1154.

   In Normandy the Guilds were travelling about like those of England and were of importance in 1145, and had a Guild union when they went to Chartres.  At this time Huges, Archbishop of Rouen, wrote to Theodric of Amiens informing him that numerous organised companies {311} of Masons resorted thither under the headship of a Chief designated Prince, and that the same companies on their return are reported by Haimon, Abbe of St. Pierre sur Dive, to have restored a great number of churches in Rouen.

   The Priory of St. Mary in Furness was commenced by Benedictines from Savigney.  In 1179 the Priory of Lannercost was founded by Robert de Vallibus, Baron of Gillesland.  Bishop Hugh de Pudsey rebuilt the Norman Castle of Durham, dating from 1092 to 1174.  Between 1153-94 this Prelate was the great Transitional Builder of the north, and he began the erection of a new church at Darlington in 1180 on the site of an old Saxon one.  The great Hall of the Castle of Durham was the work of Bishop Hadfield in the reign of Richard III. on an older Norman one.

   Henry II. between 1154-89 built ten pious houses, whilst others built one hundred such.  It is the era of the advent of the "transitional Gothic."  In the first year of this King's reign, 1155, the "Poor Fellow Soldiers of Jesus Christ, and of the Temple of Solomon," began to build their Temple in Fleet Street, London, and continued at work till 1190.  It is a round church in pointed Gothic to which a rectangular one was added later.  By Papal Bull of 1162 these Knights were declared free of all tithes and imposts in respect of their movables and immovables, and their serving brethren had like favours, indulgences, and Apostolic blessings.  James of Vitry says that they had a very spacious house in Jerusalem, which was known as the Temple of Solomon to distinguish the Temple of the Chivalry from the Temple of the Lord.  In the Rule which Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, drew up for them, he speaks of the poverty of the Knights, and says of their house that it could not rival the "world renowned temple of Solomon"; in chapter xxx., he again speaks of the poverty of the house of God, and of the temple of Solomon."  As a fraternity he designates them "valiant Maccabees."  Sir John Maundeville visited the house, and {312} speaks of it in 1356 thus: "Near the temple [of Christ] on the south is the Temple of Solomon, which is very fair and well polished, and in that temple dwell the Knights of the Temple, called Templars, and that was the foundation of their order, so that Knights dwelt there, and Canons Regular in the temple of our Lord."  As Masonic symbolism is found in their Preceptories, this would be a channel from which to deduce both our Solomonic legends, and the alleged Papal bulls, which Sir William Dugdale asserted were granted to travelling Freemasons; but this view has never met with favour from Masonic historians, who aim chiefly at writing things agreeable to their patrons and rulers.  Brother Oliver states that the high altar has the double triangles, at any rate these appear on the modern embroidered cover; there is the anchor of the Virgin, also the Beauseant of black and white, which Vitry interprets that they are fair to their friends but black to their enemies, but Jennings says: "This grandly mystic banner is Gnostic, and refers to the mystic Egyptian apothegm that light proceeded from darkness."  He further mentions these symbols in the spandrels of the arches of the long church -- the Beauseant; paschal lamb on a red cross; the lamb with the red cross standard triple cloven; a prolonged cross issuing out of a crescent moon, having a star on each side.  The arches abound with stars, from which issue wavy or crooked flames; the winged horse, white, on a red field, is one of their badges.  He adds that there is a wealth of meaning in every curve of the tombs, which appear in the circular portion.

   Ireland has many works erected during this period, and Mr. Street says of them: "I find in these buildings the most unmistakable traces of their having been erected by the same men, who were engaged at the same time, in England and Wales."  The same remark will apply to Scotland.

   The ancient Preceptory of the Temple at Paris contained (says Atlanta xi. p. 337) "24 columns of silver {313} which supported the audience chamber of the Grand Master, and the Chapel hall paved in Mosaic and enriched by woodwork of cedar of Lebanon, contained sixty huge vauses of gold."  The fortress was partially destroyed in 1779.

   Batissier in his Elements of Archaeology (Paris, 1843), says that the name Magister de Lapidibus vivis was given in the middle ages to the Chief artist of a confraternity -- Master of living stones.  Or the person was simply termed Magister Lapidum, and he refers on both these points to some statutes of the Corporation of Sculptors quoted by Father de la Valle.  For the origin of the first of these terms consult the Apocryphal books of Hermas, but the term has more in it than appears on the surface, for in Guild ceremonial the candidate had to undergo the same treatment as the stone, wrought from the rough to the perfect.  Amateurs were received, for the 1260 Charte Octroyie is quoted by the Bishop of Bale thus: "The same conditions apply to those who do not belong the Metier, and who desire to enter the Fraternity."

   A Priory of the Clunic order of Monks was founded in 1161 at Dudley by Gervase Pagnel, and they had others at Lewes, Castleacre, and Bermondsey.

   A fire having occurred at Canterbury, Gervasius, a Benedictine Monk, in 1174, consulted "French and English Artificers," who disagreed in regard to the repair of the structure.  The account which Gervaise gives is highly interesting and instructing.  The work was given to William of Sens, "a man active, ready, and skillfull both in 'wood and stone.'  "He delivered models for shaping the stones, to the sculptors"; he reconstructed the choir and made two rows, of five pillars on each side; but in the fifth year he was so injured by the fall of his scaffold that he had to appoint as deputy a young Monk "as Overseer of the Masons."  When he found it necessary to return to France the Masons were left to the oversight of William the Englishman, a man "small in body, but in workmanship of many kinds acute and {314} honest."  The Nave was completed in 1180, and Gervaise informs us that in the old structure everything was plain and wrought with an axe, but in the new exquisitely sculptured with a chisel.

   We gather two points of information from this account of 1160; first we have the information that William of Sens issued Models to the workmen, which explains a law of the Masonic MSS. that no Master should give mould or rule to one not a member of the Society; we see, in the second place, that the chisel was superseding the axe.  We will also mention here that there is Charter evidence of this century, that Christian the Mason, and Lambert the Marble Mason had lands from the Bishop of Durham for services rendered.  The fall of Jerusalem in 1187 brought back from the East many artisans to the West, whose influence is traceable in the early pointed style, or as it is termed the "Lancet," or "Early English."

   A noteworthy movement, which extended to other countries had place in France at this period.  A shepherd of the name of Benezet conceived the idea of building a bridge over the Rhone at Avignon; the bishop supported his scheme and superintended its erection between 1171-88.  Upon Benezet's death, in 1184, Pope Clement III. canonised him, and sanctioned a new Fraternity of Freres Pontives -- bridge builders.

   In 1189, Fitz Alwine, Mayor of London, held his first assize, from which we learn that the Master Carpenters and Masons of the City were to be sworn not to prejudice the ancient rights ordained of the estates of the City.

   Between 1189-1204 Bishop Lacey was engaged in adding to Winchester Cathedral.

   There are references worthy of note in Scotland at this time.  In 1190 Bishop Jocelyne obtained a Charter from William the Lion to establish a "Fraternity" to assist in raising funds wherewith to erect the Cathedral of Glasgow; it is supposed to imply the existence of a band of travelling Masons.  The same bishop undertook the erection of the Abbey of Kilwinning.  The Templar {315} Preceptory of Redd-Abbey Stead was erected at the same time, and an ancient Lodge of Masons existed here last century.

   In the reign of John, 1200-16, about forty pious houses were erected. Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln, about 1200, wrought with his own hands at the choir and transept of the Cathedral, the designs being by Gaufrids de Noires, "constructor ecclesiae."  The Masons' Marks are numerous; and it is asserted by Brother Emra Holmes that, from the central tower, may be seen three large figures of a monk, a nun, and an angel, each displaying one of the signs of the three degrees of Masonry.  The Cathedral has also an ancient stained glass window, which has the double triangles in four out of six spaces, an engraving of which appears in the Historical Landmarks of Brother George Oliver.  Brother Fort asserts that the Masons of the middle ages must have received their technical education from the Priories, and that a tendency continually reveals itself to use the abstruse problems of Geometry as the basis of philosophical speculations, thus blending the visible theorems with unseen operations of the spirit.  He considers that the building operations of the Masons were canvassed in the Lodge and worked out mathematically, the plan of the building serving as the basis of instruction.  These views mean in two words that Masonry in all times was Operative and Speculative, but the identical system prevails to-day in some still existing Stone Masons' Guilds.

   In 1202 Godfrey de Lucy, Bishop of Winchester, formed a "Fraternity" for repairing his church during the five years ensuing.  There is nothing to disclose the nature of these Fraternities; it may mean no more than a committee for collecting the means, possibly the Masters' Fraternities of the French may have given the idea.  At this period Gilbert de Eversolde was labouring at St. Albans' Abbey, as the architect, and Hugh de Goldcliffe is called a deceitful workman.  In 1204 the Abbey of Beaulieu in Hants was founded by King John, and {316} Durandus, a Master employed on the Cathedral of Rouen, came over to it by request.  In 1209 London Bridge, which was begun by Peter de Colchurch, was completed.  There is a slab, of this period, in the transept of Marton Church, W.R. Yorkshire, which has upon it a Calvary cross, a cross-hilted sword, and a Mason's square and level, pointing to the union of arms, religion, and art.

   In 1212 a. second Assize was held in London by Mayor Fitz Alwyne, when owing to a great fire it was thought necessary to fix the wages.  At this time a horse or cow could be bought for four shillings.  Masons were granted 3d. per day with food, or 4 ½d. without; Labourers had 1 ½d. or 3d.; cutters of free-stone 2 ½d. or 4d.; the terms used are "Cementarii," and "Sculptores lapidam Liberorum."  John died in 1216, and Matthew of Paris, and others, write his epitaph: "Who mourns, or shall ever mourn, the death of King John "; "Hell, with all its pollutions, is polluted by the soul of John." (i. 288)

   In the reign of Henry III., 1216-72, thirty-two pious houses were erected, and the Templars built their Domus Dei at Dover.  The beginning of this King's reign is the period when Laymen, emancipating themselves from the Monasteries, come to the front as builders, and leaders of working Masons.  It is also the commencement of a more highly finished style of pointed Gothic introduced by the Masons who returned from Palestine.  During this reign flourished the celebrated Friar Roger Bacon, who, as member of a sworn fraternity, gave himself to the investigation of the hidden things of nature and science.

   In the reign of Henry III. the Monks of Teignmouth raised a masterpiece of architecture in their new conventual church, which they completed by 1220, and were engaged in constant contention with the claims to jurisdiction of the Bishops of Durham; and then followed disputes with the burgesses of Newcastle, owing to the Monks fostering the trade of North Shields.  The Prior's officers were in the habit of meeting those of the common {317} law on the hill of Gateshead, or beneath a spreading oak in Northumberland, when they came to hold assizes in Newcastle.

   In 1220 the foundation of Salisbury Cathedral was laid by Bishop Poore; Robert was Master Mason, and Helias de Berham, one of the Canons, employed himself on the structure.  Its base is the Patriarchal cross, its erection occupied 38 years, and it is the only Gothic cathedral in England built in one style of architecture.  The five-pointed star is found in the tracery of the arcades, and heads of 32 windows, and the equilateral triangle is the basic design of the parapet.  In 1220 Peter, Bishop of Winchester, levelled the footstone of Solomon's porch in Westminster Abbey.  He is the same person as Peter de Rupibus, a native of Poictiers, who served with Coeur de Lion in Palestine, and was knighted by him, created Bishop of Winchester in 1204, Chief Justice in 1214, went on a Pilgrimage to Palestine and returned in 1231.  Amongst his architectural labours is a Dominican convent in Winchester; the Abbey of Pitchfield; part of Netley Abbey; a pious house at Joppa; and the Domus Dei in Portsmouth.  He died in 1238, and his effigy, which is a recumbent figure in Winchester Cathedral, has the right hand on the left breast, and his left hand clasping a book.<<Ars Quat. Cor.>>

   From 1233-57 the Close Rolls give numerous details of the King's Masons who were employed at Guildford, Woodstock, and Westminster.  In 1253 the King had consultations with Masons, "Franci et Angli."  It is also the period of origin of the "Geometrical" style.

   There is a document of 1258 which, though French, has an important bearing on English Masonic legends, referring amongst other things to Charles Martel, and which, though traditional, was accepted as sufficient to secure important freedoms.  In this year Stephen Boileau, Provost of the Corporation of Paris, compiled a code of "Regulations concerning the arts and trades of Paris, {318} based upon the Statements of the Masters of Guilds," and amongst these we find the following in regard to the Masons, which gives them a double title to the term "Free," for they were free-stone cutters and free of certain duties: xxi.  The Masons (Macons) and plasterers are obliged to do guard duty, and pay taxes, and render such other services as the other citizens of Paris owe to their King. xxii.  The Mortar-Makers are free of guard duty, as also every stone-cutter since the time of Charles Martel, as the ancients ("Prudolmes" or wise men) have heard, from father to son."  The question arises here whether Masons and setters, who, were not free of duty, though cutters and sculptors were, use the term Carolus Secundus in England as a claim for the Masons and Setters.  The Prudomes were the Wardens under the "Master who rules the Craft," and we are further told that this Master had taken his oath of service at the Palace, and afterwards before the Provost of Paris.  It is also said that, after six years' service the Apprentice appeared before "the Master who keeps the Craft," in order to swear "by the Saints," to conform to Craft usage.  He thus became a Journeyman, or Companion, but could not become a Master, and undertake the entire erection of a building, until he had completed such a "Master-Piece" as was appointed him, and which entailed much outlay; but if this was Passed he became a member of the "Masters' Fraternity."  The difference between the Saxon and the French custom appears to be this: that whilst in the former case the acceptance of a Master rested with the same Assembly as that to which the Journeyman belonged, in the latter case the Masters' Fraternity was now a separate body, with independent laws.  The custom of Montpelier, according to documents printed by Brother R. F. Gould, would seem to have developed somewhat differently.  Here, after an Apprentice had served three years, he was placed for another four years to serve as a Journeyman, under a Master.  At the end of this period he might present his Master-piece, and if it was approved he took the oath to {319} the Provosts and only such sworn Master was permitted to erect a building from the basement; but it was allowable for a Journeyman to undertake small repairs.  Thus as city customs varied confusion must at times have arisen in journeying abroad.  There is mention in 1287, when the Cathedral of Upsala in Sweden was begun, that Etienne de Bonneuill took with him from Paris "ten Master Masons and ten Apprentices"; possibly some of the Masters or some of the Apprentices, were what we call Fellows, but there is nothing to warrant any classification.  It is important to shew the secret nature and the import of the French organisation, and Fraternities, and we quote the following from Brother J. G. Findel's History of Freemasonry: -- "The Fraternities existing as early as the year 1189 were prohibited by the Council of Rouen ("cap." 25); and the same was most clearly expressed at the Council of Avignon in the year 1326, where (cap. 37) it is said that the members of the Fraternity met annually, bound themselves by oath mutually to love and assist each other, wore a costume, had certain well known and characteristic signs and countersigns, and chose a president (Majorem) whom they promised to obey."  Nothing very vile in this.

   In 1242 Prior Melsonby made additions to Durham Cathedral, and others were made by Bishop Farnham before 1247, and by Prior Hoghton about 1290.  At Newcastle the church of All Saints was founded before 1296, and that of St. John in the same century.  The church of St. Nicholas was rebuilt in the 14th century, but the present tower only dates from the time of Henry VI.  Clavel says that the seal of Erwin de Steinbach, Chief Master of Cologne, 1275, bears the square and compasses with the letter G.

   Turning to the North of England we find that at York in 1171, 1127, 1241, and 1291, the choir, south transept, and nave of the Minster were either completed or in course of erection, and the workmanship is infinitely superior to later portions of the building.  In 1270 the new church of {320} the Abbey of St. Mary in York was begun by the Abbot Simon de Warwick, who was seated in a chair with a trowel in his hand and the whole convent standing around him.  There is also a Deed of 1277 with the seal of Walter Dixi, Cementarius, de Bernewelle, which conveys lands to his son Lawrence; the legend is "S. Walter le Masun," surrounding a hammer between a half-moon and a five-pointed star.  In this same year, 1277, Pope Nicholas II. is credited with letters patent to the Masons confirming the freedoms and privileges, said to have been granted by Boniface IV. in 614; if such a Bull was issued, it has escaped discovery in recent times.

   In these somewhat dry building details it will have been noticed that references are made to French designers, and to consultation with French and English Masons, and with this enormous amount of building there must necessarily have been a constant importation of French Masons, with the introduction of French customs.

   On the symbolism of this period there are some interesting particulars in the Rationale of Bishop Durandus, who died in 1296.  The "tiles" signify the protectors of the church; the winding-staircase "imitated from Solomon's temple" the hidden knowledge; the stones are the faithful, those at the corners being most holy; the cement is charity; the squared stones holy and pure have unequal burdens to bear; the foundation is faith; the roof charity; the door obedience; the pavement humility; the four side walls justice, fortitude, temperance, prudence; hence the Apocalypse saith "the city lieth four square."<<"Ars Quat. Cor.," x, p. 60.>>  The custom is Hindu, French, British.

   In a paper recently read before one of the learned Societies Professor T. Hayter Lewis has shewn that the builders of the early "Pointed Gothic "of the 13th century were of a different school to those who preceded them in the 12th century; he shews that the Masons' marks, the style, and the methods of tooling the stones, differ from the older work, and whilst the older was wrought with diagonal tooling, the later was upright {321} with a claw adze.  He traces these changes in methods and marks through Palestine to Phoenicia.  This new style, he considers, was brought into this country by Masons who had learned it amongst the Saracens, and though Masons' marks were in use in this country long before they were now further developed on the Eastern system.<<Ibid, iii, also v, p. 296>>  There is as well tangible evidence of the presence of Oriental Masons in this country; two wooden effigies, said to be of the time of the Crusades, were formerly in the Manor house of Wooburn in Buckinghamshire, of which drawings were shewn to the Society of Antiquaries in 1814, and have recently been engraved in Ars Quatuor Coronatorum.<<Ibid, viii. 1895.>>  These effigies are life size, one represents an old man with quadrant and staff, the other a young man with square and compasses, and "the attire, headdress, and even features, indicate Asiatic originals."  It has been thought that the Moorish Alhambra at Grenada indicates the presence of Persian Masons, and we find the translator of Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered in every case substitutes the word Macon for Mohammed, but this is only a provincial abbreviation for Maometto.

   Though supported in a superior manner, the theory of Professor Hayter Lewis is not new to Freemasonry, as in the 17th century Sir Wm. Dugdale, Sir Chris. Wren, and others fix upon the reign of King Henry III. as the period when the Society of Freemasons was introduced into England by Travelling Masons, protected by Papal Bulls, and Wren is said to have added his belief that pointed Gothic was of Saracenic origin, and that the bands resided in Huts near the erection upon which they were working, and had a Warden over every ten men.  But Elias Ashmole held that whilst such a reorganisation actually took place, it was upon a Roman foundation.  Dugdale probably derived his views from some monastic document, or tradition, whilst Ashmole as a Mason, with better information followed the old MS. Constitutions, as we {322} have done in these chapters.  Brother Gould is of opinion that the alleged Bulls were given to the Benedictines and other monkish fraternities who were builders, and that they only apply to Masons as members, or lay brothers of the Monasteries; and, we may add, Templars.

   It must be clear to all who have eyes to see, that with this importation into England of the foreign element a new series of legends were engrafted upon.the original simple account of the old English Masons.  Such are the Charges of Nimrod, of David and Solomon, and of Charles Martel, and though we have no MSS. of this period to confirm us, there is no doubt that they are of this period; equally we have no contemporary text of the Charges by which the newly imported Masons were ruled.  The information already given enables us to see that there was a difference both in legends and laws between the two elements and that it was a sectarian difference.

   English MSS., of more modern date, refer to "Books of Charges," where those of Nimrod, of Solomon, of St. Alban, and of Athelstan are included, and if they actually existed, as we see no reason to doubt, they were of this century.  Moreover the references to Carolus Secundus, or to Charles Martel, must be of this period (though there can be no doubt that this refers to Carolus Magnus or Charlemagne) as small importations of French Masons in Saxon times would not have influenced the older legends, nor stood a chance of adoption by the English.  In regard to the laws by which the French Masons were governed, we are, however, informed in the more modem MSS. that they differed but little, or "were found all one" with the Roman, British, and Saxon Charges.  It is very evident that the early foreign element had a Charge of their own referring to Nimrod, David, Solomon, and Charles of France, applicable to their own ceremonies, and that in England, they united therewith the "Charges" of Euclid, St. Alban, and Athelstan in a heterogeneous manner; and these are found in two, or more, MSS. to which we refer {323} later, as having been approved by King Henry VI., and afterwards made the general law.

   There is one piece of evidence which might enable us to settle certain difficult points if we could rely upon it.  Professor Marks, a learned Jew, has stated that he saw in one of the public libraries of this country a Commentary upon the Koran of the 14th century, written in the Arabic language, with Hebrew characters, referring according to his view, to Free Masonry, and which contained an anagrammatical sentence of which each line has one of the letters M. O. C. H., and which he reads: "We have found our Lord Hiram" (Chiram); but the Dervish Sects have a similar phrase, which would read: "We have found in our Lord rest" (Kerim, or Cherim).  We must therefore hold our minds in reserve until the book has been re-found and examined.  In any case it seems to add a link to the chain of evidence as to the Oriental origin of our present Rites.  We may feel assured that the Masons who returned from the Holy-land were of a class calculated to make a marked impression on the Society.  The word to which the foregoing alludes, in modern Arabic, might be translated "Child of the Strong one."  Several modern writers, both Masons and non-Masons, hold to the opinion that there were two Artists at the building of Solomon's temple: Huram the Abiv, who began the work, and Hiram the son, who completed what his father had to leave undone.  Succoth, where the brass ornaments for the Temple were cast, signifies Booths or Lodges, and Isaradatha means sorrow or trouble.<<Vide "Light from the Lebanon Lodge."  Joel Nash.>>  Josephus says that Hiram was son of a woman of the tribe of Napthali, and that his father was Ur of the Israelites.  The account that we have of him, in the Bible, is that he was expert in dyeing, and in working in gold, and in brass; which makes him a chemist and metallurgist, rather than a Mason.  There were many Arts in which the ancients were our superiors.  A very important {324} lecture on this point has recently appeared from the pen of the Rev. Bro. M. Rosenbaum.

   After this long digression we will return to architecture in general.  Mr. Wyatt Papworth points out the use of the term Ingeniator, in various documents, between 1160-1300 referring to castles repaired or constructed.  Some of these were undoubtedly Architects and not Engineers, whose duties were the construction of warlike machines; and though gunpowder had not yet come into use in this country, the connection with Masoning might, at a later period, lead to the introduction of Marcus Graecus into our MSS.

   In the reign of Edward I., 1272-1307, Merton College in Oxford, the cathedral of Norwich and twenty pious houses were founded; the noble Gothic style had reached its climax.  Between 1291-4 several crosses were erected; and there are mentions of Masons who were employed by the King, some items of expense refer to timber, "to make a Lodge for Master Michael and his Masons."  Peter de Cavalini designed the "Eleanor Crosses;" the one in Cheapside was begun by Richard de Crumble, and completed by Roger de Crumble; it was of three stories, decorated with Niches having Statues executed by Alexander le Imaginator.  A still more beautiful one was the Charing Cross.  From 1290-1300 West Kirkby Church was building, and the Marks are recorded by Brother Rylands, as well as those of Eastham, and Sefton Churches.<<Ars Quat. Cor. vii.>>  In 1300 Henry the Monk, surnamed Lathom, Latomus, -- Mason or Stone-cutter, rebuilt part of the Abbey of Evesham.  In 1303 the Mayor and 24 Aldermen of London, made ordinances for the regulation of the Carpenters, Masons and labourers; the Mayor was Gregory de Rokeslie, and the Mazounes Mestres, or Master Masons, and Master Carpenters are mentioned, in conjunction with their servants.  From 1308-26 William Boyden was employed in erecting The Chapel of the Virgin at the Abbey of St. Albans. {325}

   In the reign of Edward II., 1307-27, Exeter and Oriel Colleges in Oxford, Clare Hall in Cambridge, and eight pious houses were built.  During this King's reign we have the advent of the "Curvilinear," or "Decorated" style, which held its ground for near a century.  In 1313 the Knights Templars were suppressed with great brutality in France; in England their property was confiscated to the Knights of St. John, their leading Preceptories being at London, Warwick, Walsden, Lincoln, Lindsey, Bollingbroke, Widine, Agerstone, York, Temple-Sowerby, Cambridge, etc.; they were distributed throughout the Monasteries, or joined the Knights of St. John; those of York had lenient treatment by Archbishop Greenfield, and were relegated to St. Mary's adjacent to the Culdee hospital of St. Leonard.  Their Lay brethren, amongst whom would be a numerous body of Masons, were liberated; a circumstance from which might spring more than a traditional connection.  Some of the Knights returned to Lay occupations, and even married to the great annoyance of the Pope.  In Scotland the Knights, aided in their aims by the wars between that country and England, retained their Preceptories and though they seem to have united with the Order of St. John in 1465 they were as often distinguished by one name as the other.  The Burg-laws of Stirling have the following in 1405, -- "Na Templar sall intromet with any merchandise or gudes pertaining to the gilde, be buying and selling, within or without their awn lands, but giff he be ane gilde brother."<<"Freem. Mag." xvi, p. 31.>>  Thus implying that the Knights had actual membership with the Guilds.  The Templars, at the like date (1460) are mentioned in Hungary.<<Malczovich -- Ars Quat, Cor. Yarker.  Also 1904, p. 240.>>  In Portugal their innocence of the charges brought against them was accepted, but to please the Pope their name was changed to Knights of Christ.  In an old Hungarian town, where the Templars once were, the Arms are a wheel on which is the Baptist's head on a charger. {326}

A bishop of Durham, circa 1295-1300 named Beke had required more than the accustomed military service from the tenants of St. Cuthbert, who pleaded the privileges of "Haly-werk folc, not to march beyond the Tees or Tyne," and Surtees explains that "Halywerk folc or holywork people, whose business, to wit, was to defend the holy body of St. Cuthbert, in lieu of all other service"<<"Hist. Durham, Genl." xxxiii.>>, are here alluded to, but of Culdee original the term implied an art origin.  Sir James Dalrymple, speaking of Scotland, says, -- "The Culdees continued till the beginning of the 14th century, up to which time they contended for their ancient rights, not only in opposition to the whole power of the primacy, but the additional support of papal authority."  Noted Lodges exist from old times at Culdee seats, such as Kilwinning, Melrose, Aberdeen, and as the period when this was shewn was that of the suppression of the Templars, and the Scotch generally never allowed themselves to be Pope-ridden, we have one reason why the name of Templar was continued in that country.  There was everywhere a growing discontent against the Church of Rome secretly indicated, even in the art of the Masonic Sodalities.  Isaac Disraeli alludes to it in his Curiosities of Literature.  In his Chapter entitled, "Expression of Suppressed Opinion," he states that sculptors, and illuminators, shared these opinions, which the multitude dare not express, but which the designers embodied in their work.  Wolfius, in 1300 mentions, as in the Abbey of Fulda, the picture of a wolf in a Monk's cowl preaching to a flock of sheep, and the legend, "God is my witness, how I long for you all in my bowels."  A cushion was found in an old Abbey, on which was embroidered a fox preaching to a flock of geese, each with a rosary in its mouth.  On the stone work and columns of the great church at Argentine, as old as 1300, were sculptured wolves, bears, foxes, and other animals carrying holy-water, crucifixes, and tapers, and other things more indelicate.  In a magnificent {327} illuminated Chronicle of Froissart is inscribed several similar subjects, -- a wolf in a Monk's cowl stretching out its paw to bless a cock; a fox dropping beads which a cock is picking up.  In other cases a Pope (we hope Clement V.) is being thrust by devils into a cauldron, and Cardinals are roasting on spits.  He adds that, at a later period, the Reformation produced numerous pictures of the same class in which each party satirised the other.

   Over the entrance to the Church of St. Genevieve, says James Grant in "Captain of the Guard" (ch. xxxiii.), at Bommel is the sculpture of mitred cat preaching to twelve little mice.  There is a somewhat indecent carving at Stratford upon Avon.  The Incorporated Society of Science, Letters, and Art, in its Journal of January, 1902, contains a paper by Mr. T. Tindall Wildbridge upon the ideographic ornamentation of Gothic buildings.  He observes that there were Masons who possessed the tradition of ancient symbolic formula, and that whilst the Olympic Mythology is almost ignored, the "Subject being (by them) derived from the Zodiacal system," and it is, he observes, that this symbolisation, often satirical, holds place on equal terms with the acknowledged church emblems.  He instances some of these at Oxford and elsewhere, one of which is the symbol of Horus in his shell, and in a second instance reproduced as a "fox" with a bottle of holy water.  The altar of the Church of Doberan in Mecklenburg exhibits the priests grinding dogmas out of a mill.

   In 1322 Alan de Walsingham restored Ely, himself planning and working at the building.  The 1322 Will of Magister Simon le Masoun of York is printed in the Surtees Society's collection.  Of 1325 is the tomb of Sir John Croke and Lady Alyne his wife at Westley Wanterleys in Cambridgeshire; upon it is the letter N, with a hammer above it, and a half-moon and six-pointed star on each side; the N is an old Mason's mark, and also a pre-Christian Persian Symbol.  Of this period there is a stone-coffin lid at Thornton Abbey in Lincolnshire, which {328} has upon it a shafted floriated Greek cross, and besides the shaft a square -- religion and art united; a similar one occurs at Blidworth in Northamptonshire having upon it a square and axe.  At Halsall in Lancashire is a three-step cross on one side of which is a square, and on the other an ordinary set-square.  There is also in Lincoln Cathedral a gravestone of this century representing Ricardus de Gaynisburg, Cementarius, or Mason, on each side of whom is a trowel, and a square.  Chartres Cathedral in France has a window containing the working tools of masons.  Mr. Wyatt Papworth observes that at the end of the 13th century, and beginning of the 14th, there is mention of the Magister Cementarii and his Socii, or Fellows.  There is documentary evidence of the term Freemason in 1376, and it may have been in use at an earlier date.  Brother F. F. Schnitger argues, on the evidence of a Nuremberg work of 1558, that the prefix indicates a free art, as sculpture, which the ancients say that handicraft is not, but that the former is, "the use of the square and compasses artistically."<<Vide "Ars Quat. Cor." ii., p.141.>>  Brother G. W. Speth advocated, with a little hesitancy, that as the travelling Masons moved about they adopted the term "Free" to indicate that they were outside, or free from, any Guild but that established under their own Constitution.  It does not, necessarily follow, however, that the term "Free" had everywhere the same import.<<"Ibid" vii.>>

   Scotland has many important documents.  The Chevalier Ramsay, in his Paris Oration of 1737, states that James, Lord Steward of Scotland, in 1286 held a Lodge at Kilwinning and initiated the Earls of Gloucester and Ulster into Freemasonry.  What authority there is for this statement no one now knows, but Tytler in his History of Scotland shows that these two Earls were present at a meeting of the adherents of Robert Bruce at Turnbury Castle, which is about 30 miles west of Kilwinning Abbey, and were concerting plans for the vindication of his claims to the Scottish throne. {329}

   The rebuilding of Melrose Abbey in Scotland was begun in 1326 under King Robert the Bruce, who seems to have been a protector of the Templars.  There is a legend in regard to a window which is said to have been wrought by an Apprentice who was slain by his Master out of jealousy, and the same myth applies to similar work in other countries.  The structure is full of recondite symbolism both within and without; the Chapel is interpreted to represent the human body in all its parts; in Symbols there is a pelican feeding its young, and the phoenix rising from its ashes.  It contains a later inscription on the lintel of the turret stairs, as follows, and there are others of like import: -- 

              "Sa gays ye compass royn aboute,

               Truith and laute do but doute,

               Behold to ye hende q. Johne Morvo." 

A second on the west wall of the south transept is a shield inscribed to the next John Moray, or Murray, who was son of Patrick, bearing two pairs of compasses laid across each other between three fleur-de-lis, though his own arms were three mullets, in chief, and a fleur-de-lis in base.  The older of the two inscriptions refers to a John Moray who died 1476, a Mason but also Keeper of Newark Castle in 1467; and whose son Patrick had the same status until 1490.  The epitaph of the second of the name is thus read: --<<lbid v, p. 227; also ix, p. 172>>   

"John Morow sum tym callit           -gu Melros and Paslay of

  was I and born in Parysse           Nyddysdayll and of Galway,

  certainly an had in kepyng           Pray to God, and Mari baith.

  all Mason work of Sant An-         And sweet Sant Tohn to keep this

  droys ye hye Kyrk, of Glas-         haly kirk fra Skailh." 

This John Moray had grants of lands from James IV. in 1490 and 1497, was Sheriff of Selkirk 1501, and assassinated on his way to the Sheriff's Court in 1510.

   In the reign of Edward III., 1327-77, we are told by Anderson that Lodges were many and frequent, and that great men were Masons, the King patronising the arts {330} and sciences.  He says that it is implicitly implied, in an old record, "that in the glorious reign of King Edward III., when Lodges were many and frequent, the Grand Master with his Wardens, at the head of Grand Lodge, with consent of the Lords of the Realm, then generally Free-masons, ordained -- That for the future, at the making or admission of a brother, the Constitutions shall be read and the Charges hereunto annexed."  Such specific statement is not at present known and is doubtless a paraphrase of the existing MSS.  The King founded the Abbey of Eastminster, and others built many stately mansions and about thirty pious houses, in spite of all the expensive wars of this reign.

   The south transept of Gloucester Cathedral was begun about the year 1330, and is traditionally said to be by "John Goure, who built Camden Church and Gloster Towre."  He is believed to be represented in a monument, of which an engraving appears in Ars Quatuor (vol. ii.); it is in form of a Mason's square, and the builder is represented as if supporting it; his arm is in the position of hailing his Fellows; below the man's effigy is a budget of tools.  Until a recent restoration of the ancient Church of the Dominicans in Limerick, there was, on the gable end, the half length figure of a person in Monkish dress; the right hand was clutching the heart, and the left arm, kept close to the side, was raised with the palm outward, index and second finger raised.<<The Kneph. C. M. Wilson, J.P.>>

   In 1330, Thomas of Canterbury, a Master Mason, began work at St. Stephen's Chapel, Westminster.  The Abbey-gate of Bury St. Edmund's contains the double triangles, and is of this period.  On the carved bosses of a Gothic church at Linlithgow are these emblems: -- (1) a double circle within which is a book upon which are square and compasses; (2) a double square within which are two circles, and in these a double lozenge in the centre of which is the letter G.<<Freem. Mag., May 1853.>>  The brass of John de Bereford at Allhallows, Mayor 1356-7 of Oxford, contains a shield {331} on which are square and compasses.  At Dryburgh Abbey there is a tomb, late this century, on which is a cross-hilted sword, surrounded by a wreath of ivy, and on each side of the sword, the square and compasses; this, and others of like nature, might imply the Initiation of a person of Knightly rank.

   The condemnation of the 1326 Council of Avignon would seem to have had its influence in England, for upon the "black death" of 1348, when near half the population died, an Ordinance of 1350 confirmed by Statute law in 1360, forbade "all alliances, covines, congregations, chapters, ordinances, and oaths," amongst Masons, Carpenters, and artisans, and this Statute was endorsed by others of a like nature in 1368, 1378, 1414, and 1423.  These laws are, however, rather directed against Journeymen, Apprentices, and labourers, and, in any case, from their repetition at long intervals, had little effect upon the Masonic Assemblies.

   A much more important bearing upon the Masonic organisation is a record of 1356.  At this period there was a dispute in existence between the "Layer Masons or Setters," and the "Mason squarers."  Six members of each class appeared before the Mayor, Sheriff, and Aldermen of the city of London, to have their organisation defined in order that the disputes, which had arisen between them might be adjusted, "because that their trades had not been regulated by the folks of their trade in such form as other trades are."  That is, they had not yet been so regulated in the city of London.  Amongst these representatives of the Mason squarers was Henry Yeveley; the "Free-masons" as opposed to the "Layer Masons," who were perhaps derived from the ancient body of the Kingdom, who would suffer in status by French importations, and would prefer, elsewhere, the Saxon Constitution.  The Mayor, after consultation with these two sections, drew up a code of ten rules, which appears in full in Gould's History of Freemasonry, and which virtually allowed the two bodies identical privileges, {332} and rules, mutually with a seven years Apprenticeship.  In either case a Master, taking any work in gross, was to bring 6 or 4 sworn men of the "Ancients" of his trade, to prove his ability and to act as his sureties; and they were to be ruled by sworn Overseers.  Twelve Masters were sworn, which virtually united both bodies, and made a uniform rule for both, thus establishing the London Company of Masons.  Such a union of the Christian Masonry of York and the Semitic Masonry of the Normans, coupled with the grant of Royal Charters to the Masters, might lead to the recognition of the Rites of the Harodim-Rosy Cross as the unification of the two, which it actually is.  It is quite probable that this judicious action of the Mayor saved London a repetition of the disturbances which occurred in France amongst the sects of the Compagnonage.

   In the middle of the 14th century Ranulf Higden had compiled his Polychronicon in the Benedictine Monastery of St. Werberg, Chester, which is here noted as it constituted the authority for all the Masonic Charges as to Jabal, Jubal, Tubal, and Naamah; Nimrod and his cousin Ashur, the two pillars of Enoch, the origin of Geometry, etc., and which introduced into the Saxon Charge by the author of the "Cooke MS.," whoever that may have been, became the basis of all the later Charges which have come down to us.

It is quite probable that the old 17th century Lodge, of which Randle Holmes was a member, dates from the earliest period of Norman architecture in Chester, if not beyond; its prior antiquity is proved by the fact that it had in the 17th century ceased to have any practical object in relation to architecture.  The ancient Scotch Lodges in most cases advance such claims.

   This era was the beginning of the "Rectilinear" or "Perpendicular" style of architecture, which continued in vogue down to 1550 From 1349 works were in progress at Windsor, and John de Spoulee, Master stone-cutter to whom Anderson has given the title of "Master of the {333} Ghiblim," though in Ashmole's Order of the Garter the term used is Stone-cutter, had power given him to impress Masons; he rebuilt St. George's Chapel where the King instituted the Order of the Garter in 1350.  In 1356 William of Wykeham, who was made Bishop of Winchester in 1367, was appointed Surveyor, and in 1359 Chief Warden and Surveyor of various castles, and employed 400 Free-Masons at Windsor.  In 1360 the King impressed 360 Masons at his own wages, and attempts were made to punish those who left work, and this is the year in which the Statute law was passed against all alliances, covines, and oaths, so that the one may have influenced the other.  About this year William Edington, Bishop of Winchester, erected a very beautiful church at Edington.  In 1362 writs were issued for the King's works to impress 302 Masons and delvers of stone, and the counties of York, Devon, and Salop were to furnish 60 men each.  These arbitrary proceedings of the King have an explanatory bearing upon both the Statute laws and the Masonic Charges.  In 1365 Henry Yeveley, already referred to as a Mason-cutter, was director of the work of St. Stephen's Chapel, now the House of Parliament, and according to Anderson is "called at first, in the old Records, the King's Free Mason"; he built for the King the London Charter-house, King's Hall in Cambridge, and Queensborough Castle.  In 1370 William de Wynnesford, Cementarius, was sent beyond sea to retain divers Masons for the service of the King.  In 1375, Robert a Barnham at the head of 250 Free Masons completed St George's great Hall; and Simon Langham, Abbot of Westminster, repaired the body of that cathedral.

   In Prior Fossour's time, 1341-74, the great West window of Durham Cathedral was placed, and the Altar-screen finished in 1380 to which Lord Neville of Raby contributed 600 marks.

   Green, in his History of the English People, has some remarks on the English Guilds which we may run over here.  He says that "Frank-Pledge," and the "Frith-Guild" {334} sprang out of kinship and were recognised both by Alfred and Athelstan.  The Merchant Guild of London sprang out of various Guilds in the city which were united into one by Athelstan.  But this led to a Craft Guild struggle, for their Wardens had the Inspection of all work done, all tools used and everything necessary for the good of their several trades.  Apart from the Masons who had their own records, not mentioned by Green, the first to secure royal sanction was the weavers who had their charter from Henry I., though the contest went on during the reign of John, for the control of trade in the 11th century had begun to pass from the Merchant Guild to those of the Craft.  It may also be added that the Masons had begun to pass from Monastic control and were becoming secularised.  A constant struggle was taking place between the "Prudhommes," or Wise, and the Commune; those Craftsmen who were unenfranchised united in secret Frith-guilds and Mobs arose, but the open contest did not begin until 1261, when the Craftsmen invaded the Town-mote, set aside the Aldermen and chose Thomas Fitz Thomas for their Mayor.  The contest continued until the time of Edward III., who himself joined the Guild of Armourers.  Charters had now been granted to every trade, and their ordinances duly enrolled in the Mayor's Court, and distinctive Liveries assumed.  Green adds that the wealthier citizens now finding their power broken sought to regain their old influence by enrolling themselves as members of the Trade-guilds (p. 189-95).

   With the exception of the Masons' Guild at York, which was continuously employed on the Minster, and other churches in York, and as these sent Guilds to other distant parts which ceased to exist when their work was done, it is impossible to trace old Guilds in permanency.  When they had completed their labours they would report to York, and as workmen were required elsewhere, a Guild with the proper complement of Apprentices, Fellows, and Passed Masters would be sent there.  In some cases, in small towns, a remnant would remain in permanence, and {335} it is to such as these that we owe a special Charge distinct from that of the General Assembly.

   In 1377 the Guilds of London were reconstituted and became known as "Livery Companies," from their special Livery or dress.  In place of "Guild," we now have "Crafts and Mysteries," and for "Aldermen," the Masters or Wardens.  The Masons had sent 4 members and the Free Masons 2 members to the Municipal Council, but an old list shews that this distinction had been done away with and an erasure is made to credit the delegates as "Masons."  The oath of the Wardens is preserved; they swore, well and truly to Oversee the Craft of Masonry, to observe its rules, and to bring all defaulters before the Chamberlain of the City; to spare no man for favour, nor grieve any man for hate; to commit neither extortion nor wrong, nor in anything to be against the peace of the King or city.  The Oath concludes, as in the French formula before mentioned, "So help you God and all Syntes."  The title of the London Company of Masons, at this time, was "The Craft and Fellowship of Masons."  The Court Rolls of the Manor of Long Benynton, county of Lincoln, the lord being Thomas of Woodstock, the youngest son of Edward III., has John Playster and John Freemason in this year.<<Coleman's Catalogue, 1882, xviii, No. 150.>> The Charters of City Companies of Masons was clearly a legalised usurpation of the Saxon right of Assembly, and modelled upon the older "Fraternities" of France; where such City Companies were chartered the result might be the withdrawal of the Masters into the Livery, leading to the continuation of the Assembly by journeymen and amateurs.  To put the question in other words, some Assemblies may have become Livery Companies, whilst York, and other northern towns, continued the ancient right of Masonic Assembly; and in regard to this the views of Brother Speth that the Masonic Assembly, and the Charges belonging thereto, is a claim that they were free from the Guilds is worthy of close consideration.  Brother Gould {336} has mentioned several instances where Journeymen attempted to establish Guilds for their own enjoyment and protection, but were speedily suppressed by the Masters; in 1387 three Cordwainers had been promised a Papal brief for this purpose, but only obtained the privilege of the London prison of Newgate; a similar attempt of the Journeymen Saddlers was suppressed in 1396; the same befel the Journeymen Tailors in 1415; also the Journeymen Guild of St. George at Coventry in 1427.  Unfortunately all the documents of the London Company of Masons prior to 1620 have been lost, or we should have had valuable information as to the working of that Guild.  Brother Edward Conder has shewn that the Company at the earliest period of its records had a speculative Lodge meeting at its hall, which was not confined to Masons by profession; and that a Master's grade such as is spoken of in the "Regius" and "Cooke" MSS. was the appanage of the Fellowship, by which "accepted" or non-operatives became qualified for the rank of Liverymen and Assistants who composed the governing Council, and thus the esoteric or symbolic branch was allied with the exoteric one on the Council.

   We will now return, in a few notes, to works in progress at this period.  In the reign of Richard II., 1377-99, about fifteen pious houses were built. Between 1380-86 the building of the new College, in Oxford, was accomplished by William of Wykeham; the Wardens and Fellows, 14th April, 1386, made solemn entrance, marching in procession with the cross borne before them and chanting Litanies.  Between 1387-93 the same architect founded Winchester College; it contains the arms of the Architect, which have a peculiarity worthy of notice; they are -- two chevronels or carpenters' couples between three roses; motto, Manners makyth man.  It is probably but a coincidence that if we reverse a Master Mason's apron, it is a copy of the arms of Wykeham, whilst the motto, as previously noted, is found in the "Regius" MS., and in a book on etiquette styled "Urbanitatis," of which it is {337} possible he may have been author.  His Master Mason was William de Wynnesford, mentioned here in 1370, and his portrait as William Wynfor, lathomus, appears in stained glass, with that of the Master Carpenter, and Dominus Simon Membury, Supervisor or Clerk of the Works.  In the old Masonic Charges there is a law that no Fellow shall go into the town at night, without a Fellow to bear him company, as witness of his good conduct; and Brother F. Compton Price, who has executed the beautiful facsimiles of Masonic MSS., points out that Wykeham had the same law for the Monks and Canons, who were prohibited from going abroad without leave of the Prior, and without a Companion.

   From 1389-91 the celebrated poet Geoffrey Chaucer, was Clerk of the Works over the King's Masons, and it is possible that our old Charges may have had some influence upon his poetical works.  Romsey Abbey has a pillar in the south aisle, upon the capital of which is sculptured certain figures supposed to represent the Dedicators of the Church; it has a trowel and a large square said to contain the words: "Rohert me fecit."  Between the years 1389-91 two very beautiful churches were erected, one at the village of Shottesbrook in Berkshire, and the other at Winnington in Beds, but the "Perpendicular "style had not reached these places.  St. Michael's Church in Coventry was completed in 1395; St. Nicholas in Lynn, 1400; the Collegiate Church in Manchester was in progress, and it has been supposed the builders met at the adjacent "Seven Stars," a very ancient hostelry.

   Works were in constant progress at York from 1349-99, and even down to 1520.  In the year 1352, the Chapter of the Minster issued regulations for the Masons employed, which are interesting in themselves, and indicate to us various particulars which shew how carefully old Masonic customs have been handed down to us.  It would be an error to suppose that such Lodges as are described herein were the York Assembly; that body was an annual Assembly drawn from all the Masons within a wide circle.  {338} Such Lodges might possibly receive Apprentices.  The document from which we quote the following particulars is part of the Fabric Rolls, printed by the Surtees' Society: 1352, "The first and second Masons, who are Masters of the same, and the Carpenters," took an oath to carry out these regulations.  After work, between May and August, breakfast was to last half an hour, "and then the aforesaid Masters, or one of them, shall knock upon the door of the lodge, and forthwith all shall go to their work."  After dinner they shall sleep within their lodge, and when the Vicars have come from the Canons' dinner table, the Master Mason, or his substitute, shall cause them to rise and come to their work.  Then they were to work from the first bell for Vespers, and then drink within the lodge until the third bell of St. Mary's Abbey called le longe bell.  "The aforesaid two Master Masons and Carpenters of the Fabric shall be present at each drinking time, and these shall notify to the Keeper of the Fabric, and to the Controller thereof, all failures and absences."

   In 1370 the Dean and Chapter issued another Code of regulations under which none were allowed to go away above a mile, under penalty of a fine.  A new workman was to be tested for a week, and if "he is foundyn conisant of his werke, be recayde ye commune assent of ye Mayster, and ye Keper of ye werke and of ye Mastyr Masoun, shall swere upon ye boke yet he shall trewle ande bysili at his poure, for out anye manner gylary, fayntis, outher desayte, hald, and kepe holy, all ye poyntes of ys forsayde ordinance in all thynges yt him touches or may touche, fra tyme yt he be recavyde."  In this same year Master Robert de Patryngton, and 12 Masons appeared and received Articles to this tenor: - "Lords, if it be your wyles, we grant for to stand at our workes trewly, and at our power."  In the following year we find that this Master had under him 35 Masons and Apprentices, 18 labourers, and the church found them Livery of tunics, aprons, gloves, and clogs. {339}

   In 1389 the Masters and Wardens of Guilds were ordered by the Crown to make a return of their laws, oaths, feasts, meetings, and if they possessed charters to  produce them, and the existence of both social and Craft Guilds is admitted by issue of separate writs.  A body such as the London Fellowship of Masons, says Bro. R. F. Gould, would not be affected by such writs, for it had the governance of the London Craft, and Anderson expresses an opinion, in 1723, that its members had first been received according to well-known Masonic forms.  Masons in many parts, who had no Charters, would no doubt be affected by the Writs of 1389, and it is very probable that the order may have led to the compilation of a series of Constitutional Charges, which were, again and again, recopied and handed down to us in later MSS.; but it is clear that such scribes did not hesitate, at any time, to introduce supposed improvements of their own.  Whether or not such a recompilation originated thus, the laws of the country shew that Assemblies continued to be held down to the 15th century, and Masonic documents prove their later continuance, and the variations in the MSS. lead us to believe that if there were Masons who preferred a Norman French Charge, there were others who preferred their ancient Saxon privilege of a right of Assembly to obligate Fellows, and pass Masters, and we will give particulars of two such documents shortly, both of which embrace legends of this date.

   We will now say a little upon the Symbolism of the time both English and Foreign.  Dr. Inman, of Liverpool<<"Ancient Faiths in Ancient Names.", has the following: -- "The ancient parish church of Bebington, Cheshire, has not only the solar wheel, the spikes of which terminate in the phallic triad, as one of the adornments of the reredos, but abounds with deltas, acorns, Maltese crosses, enfolding triangles, and Virgins who, like the ancient Isis, are crowned with the inverted crescent, the chaplet being still further adorned with the  {340} seven planets."  A very interesting series of Marks, cut between 1120-1534 has been collected by Brother Rylands.<<"Ars Quat. Cor." 1894.>>  At Great Waltham there are some well carved panel heads of open seats, the tops of which in triplicated form contain the five-pointed star, with a ball in the centre.  The pavement of Westminster Abbey contains the double triangle, each angle containing a small one, whilst three triangles separated appear in the centre.  During last century certain leaden medals designated Moralli were disinterred at Dover, and believed to be travelling tokens from one Monastery to another, ensuring welcome, some bore a five-pointed star, others had a dot at each angle, and the letter G in the centre.<<Feem. Mag., 1863, viii, p. 86.>>  Masons as a necessity were travellers, and could not carry work to their shop.  The Rev. Bro. A. F. A. Woodford, whose ability as a Masonic authority is unquestioned, has several times stated in print that there was found in the Minster Yard in York an ancient token or seal, undoubtedly of the 14th century, which had upon it words only known to Masons and Hiramites.

   By a Statute of Henry VI. (1406) the Liverymen of Guilds were permitted to wear girdles of silk, embroidered with silver and gold.  The date to the Will of John Cadeby is indecipherable, but earlier than 1451, as one of the persons mentioned in it died in that year.  Bro. G. F. Fort in his treatise on builders' marks quotes Matthew of Arras and Peter Arler, whose images in the Cathedral of Prague, of the end of the 14th century, wear in the former case his mark on a keystone set in a semi-circle, depending from a broad band of blue, and Peter Arler's is a perfect square.  A Guild Mason would say that the Mark of Matthew of Arras proves him to have belonged to an "Arch" Guild, though blue is a Craft colour.

   The inventory of the Will here named of John Cadeby, of Beverley, Mason, has mention of several Zonas, which though literally girdles, may be interpreted Aprons: -- {341}

   One silk zona, green and red, silver mounted, weight 17 oz., 32s. 8d.

   One silk zona, silver mounted, with leaves and ivy, weighs 7 1/4 oz., 40s. 8d.

   One silk zona, silver mounted, with Roses, weighs 9 3/4 oz., 16s. 3d

   One damaged silk zona, silver mounted, with letters B and I in the middle, weight . . . .

   One zona, of mixture, silvered, ornamented with stars, 3s

   One zona, of black and green silk, weight 3 oz., 3s

   The Girdle, then an article of clothing in general use, was appropriate to a Master.

    The foreign churches of the 14th century are equally suggestive in Symbolism common to Masonry.  The dome of Wurtzburg, in front of the chamber of the dead, has two columns, which are supposed to date from 104o but may be later; on one is the letters IAC-HION, and BOO-Z.  There is an old church in Hanover which was building from 1284-1350, and which contains the circle, double triangles, and pentagon; in this church is also a statue of St. George with the red cross, and one of St. James the Pilgrim; at one time it possessed a charger with the Baptist's head; an inscription says: "The fire was a sore thorn to Stoics and Hebrews," which a Chronicle of 1695 refers to the fact of the burning of the Templars, 1310-3, a remark which would seem to imply a belief that these Knights were guilty of Monotheistic heresy.  Hargrave Jennings says that in old representations of the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, the sun and moon, with other emblems, are placed respectively on the two porches.

    The Church of Doberan has many double triangles, placed in a significant manner; three vine-leaves united by a cord, and symbolic cyphers; there is also a painting in the same church, in which the Apostles are represented in Masonic attitudes.<<Hist. Freem. J. G. Findel.>>  Fort asserts that in one of the churches of Florence are life size figures in Masonic attitudes.  Many paintings of the old Masters are said to {342} exhibit similar characteristics.  The Church of Santa Croce, Florence, over the main portal has a figure of Christ, holding in the hand a perfect square; he it was who told Peter that "upon this stone (petra) I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."  Clavel states that the figure of Christ in the Church of St. Denis has the hand placed in a position well known to Freemasons; at the beginning of this chapter we gave other information hereon.  The Abbey Church of St. Owen in Rouen begun in 1318, and completed by Alexander Berneval, who died in 1440 and was buried in the church, has a legend in regard to a very fine Rose-window which is identical with that of Melrose; the five-pointed star appears in the stone tracery, and Murray says that there is a tradition that it was made by an Apprentice whom Berneval, the Master mason, slew out of jealousy because he had surpassed himself.  Other edifices at Rouen contain the pentagon.  This general identity of Symbolism in various countries tends to prove a secret understanding amongst all Masons as to its meaning, and a similar Initiation of the builders everywhere, which as they travelled about ensured a brotherly welcome.

   Victor Hugo in his novel of Notre Dame says that "there is an intimate connection between architecture and the Hermetic philosophy."  He further alleges an alchemical symbolism in the sculpture attributed to Bishop William of Parys in the great Portal; he also instances the Virgins with their lamps turned down, and those turned up; the opening of the book (of philosophy); some naked figures at the foot of Mary; one with wings on the heels (Mercury); the Sower; Job (the philosopher's stone, tortured to become perfect); a dragon with its tail in a bath from which rises smoke and a king's head, demons and dragon's head; and Abraham offering his son Isaac.

   In the reign of Henry IV., 1399-1413, six pious houses were built; the Londoners erected their Guild Hall, and the King founded Battle Abbey in Shrewsbury, and afterwards that of Fotheringay.  In 1399 Hugh de Hedon {343} had employed at York 28 Masons; but fuller information will be found in the Fabric Rolls.

   In the reign of Henry V., 1413-22, eight pious houses were built, and the King rebuilt the palace, and the Abbey of Sheen, under the direction of Henry Chichley, Archbishop of Canterbury.  At York, "our dred lord the King" had, in 1416, given them William de Colchester from Westminster Abbey; the appointment must have been an unpopular one, for, in the third year of his Mastership, certain stone-cutters assaulted and did grievously injure him and his assistant; the work continued here down to 1520.  Cattrick Bridge was constructed in 1413, and the three Masons were to have a gown "according to their degree," but this will mean employment rank.  Cattrick Church was begun in 1421, and the Masons were to have "a Luge of tre," with four rooms of "syelles," and of two "henforkes."

   The reign of Henry VI. lasted from 1422-61, and he was an infant upon his succession.  It is tolerably certain that in his reign the Masons were dabblers in the Hermetic sciences.  During the time of Henry IV. Alchemy was made felony, by an act of 1404, which continued in force during the reign of Henry V.   Henry VI. took the art under his protection and obtained the consent of Parliament, empowering three Lancashire gentlemen, "lovers of truth and haters of deception," to practise the art.<<Vide Scientific and Relig. Mysteries.  Yarker. 1872. p. 62.>>  An Act of Parliament was passed in 1425 alleging that by the "yearly congregations and confederacies of the Masons in their general Chapters assembled," the good effect of the Statutes of labourers was violated and prohibited all such meetings; no effect was given to this act, and it remained a dead letter on the Statute book until the reign of Queen Elizabeth, when it passed into oblivion, being annulled by other Acts.

   In 1424 Prior Wessington repaired the tower of Durham Cathedral, and spent  1,454 Pounds of the money of the time.

   In 1426 the Masons erecting Walberswick steeple were {344} to be provided with a house to work in, to eat and drink, and to lie in and to make "mete" in, to be built near the place of working.  In 1427, William of Warmington began the rebuilding of the western tower of Croyland Abbey, and the vaulting with stone of the north aisle; his memorial stone, which has been engraved in Ars Quatuor<<A.Q.C. v, p. 146.>>, represents him as holding a square in his right hand, and a pair of compasses in his left; there are other Masonic symbols carved here, for which consult the reference under the date 1113.  There was a Lodge of Masons attached to the Priory of Canterbury at this time; as the Register of William Molash, in 1429, mentions Thomas Stapylton, the Master, John Morys the Custos, or Warden, both of whom rank as Esquires; and 16 Masons; all receive their livery, or clothing.  Chichley also had livery, and these extracts prove that Christ Church Convent had a considerable body of Masons working at the building.  St. Mary's Church, Bury, was begun 1424.

   In the contract with Horwood for building the Nave of Fotheringay Church in 1434 it is enacted, "that if the two said letters, or any of them, be noght profitable ne suffisant workmen for the lordys availle, then by oversight of Master Masons of the countie, they shall be denyd."  If Horwood did not fulfill his engagements, "he shall yielde his body to prison at my lordy's will (Duke of York), and all his moveable goods and heritages be at my said lordy's disposition and ordinance."  In 1439 the Abbot of St. Edmundsbury contracts with John Wood for the restoration of the great bell tower, "in all manere of things that longe to Free-masonry, and to have borde for himself as a gentleman, and his servant as a yeoman, and thereby two robys, one for himselfe after a gentleman's livery."<<Archaelogia, xxiii, p. 331.>> Southwold Church was begun 1440.

   In 1436 an Act was passed which required the Masters, Wardens, people of the Guilds, fraternities, and other companies incorporate, to produce their letters Patent to the Justices and others, where such Guilds and fraternities {345} be, for their approval.  This Act is directed against such bodies making their own laws, and it mentions the Chief Master as distinct from the Masons under him.  It is a very valid supposition that it was this circumstance which led to the production of the Masonic Constitution for the sanction of the King, as several old copies known last century assert that it was.  It has been suggested that the King's Master Mason of our large cities might be the head of the Masonic Assemblies to whom the rest were responsible.

   There is a Catechism purporting to be the examination of a Freemason by Henry VI., which admits Occult studies; it was given to the world last century under the name of the antiquaries Leland and John Locke, and though possibly a forgery, in its present shape may have been the actual Catechism of some lodge given to these studies.  There, is, however, ancient and genuine testimony to the practice of Alchemy by the Masons.  We instanced in our Chapter (VI.) on the Hermetic Schools, the nature of the Symbolism of Jacques Coeur, 1450 and that of Basil Valentine.  Whatever uncertainty there may be about this there is none in the fact that Thomas Norton classes the Free Masons by name as giving themselves to Alchemical studies.  One Richard Carter in this year 1476, had granted him a license to practise Alchemy.

   During this reign Wainfleet, Bishop of Winchester, and Archbishop Chichley superintended the erection of various buildings in Oxford, Cambridge, and others built twelve pious houses.  Fuller says of King's College in Cambridge, founded by Henry VI., in 1441, that it is "one of the rarest fabrics in Christendom."  Churches begun, St. Mary's Redcliffe, 1440; Tattershall 1455.

   In Scotland William St. Clair built Roslyn Chapel in 1445, and Mr. James Ferguson considers that the builders were from North Spain.  Within it is a very beautiful Pillar called the Prentice's Pillar, to which a legend is attached which says that whilst the Master went to Rome for instruction, an Apprentice completed the work in his {346} absence and that out of envy at seeing the beauty of the workmanship he slew the Apprentice by a blow on the forehead.  Three heads are shewn in the Chapel as representing those of the Master, the Apprentice, and the widowed Mother, but it has been suggested that they may equally represent Joseph, Jesus, and Mary, in their application to the Rites of Harodim-Rosy Cross.  A similar Apprentice legend is attached to Cologne, Strasburg, Rouen, Melrose, Lincoln, and to other places, and though it has a distinct esoteric reference easily understood by all Masons, may possibly be carried forward to an Asiatic superstition that a building intended to endure must be cemented by the sacrifice of life.  Brother Speth is of opinion that in addition to a foundation-sacrifice, previously mentioned, there was a completion-sacrifice made at the crowning of the edifice, and that it was a custom obtaining amongst the Teutonic and other races, of which he gives many examples.

   Two documents, actually copied at this period, deserve ample reference here; one is the "Cooke MS.," written about 1450; and of the other there are several duplicates, the "Wm. Watson MS.," which we shall take as our reference; the duplicates being the "Heade MS.," dated 1675; another is quoted by Dr. Plot in 1686, and Dr. James Anderson, between 1723-38 had seen a copy.  Bro. Dr. W. W. Begemann has investigated the "Cooke MS.," and considers that it is copied from one about the year 1410, whilst the second part or book of Charges is much earlier, by at least a century; the Preface being compiled in a west Midland County.  Upon the "Watson MS., a valuable Commentary by Brother C. C. Howard, of Picton, has been printed, with a facsimile, and he shews very forcibly that it is a more complete and unabridged version than the Preface to the "Cooke MS.," but this also has been taken from a copy at least three removes from the original compilation, which served both for the "Cooke" and the "Watson" MSS., which again might be amplified copies of still older MSS.  It is probable that {347} modifications may have been made to adapt it for presentation to Henry VI., and the "Lords of his honourable Council," about the year 1442; and it may have been slightly modified in the next reign, when again copied, as little changes are made in all copies, no two being verbally alike.  It will be convenient to place the two copies side by side, and to distinguish where the variations occur, to suit them to two different Masonic schools.

   These MSS. begin with a description of the Seven Liberal Arts and Sciences, upon which all Crafts in the world were founded, and especially Geometry, which is the basis of all other arts, for there is "no handicraft but it is wrought by Geometry."  The author's legendary origin of the Craft begins with Adam, -- before Noah's flood there was a man called Lamech who had two wives, -- "one hight Adah, and another Zillah, by the first wife, that hight Adah he begat two sons, that hight Jabal, and the other hight Jubal."  Jabal was "Cain's Master Mason and governor of all his works, when he made the city of Enoch, that was the first city."  Jubal was the founder of Music.  "Lamech begat upon his other wife, that hight Zillah.  . . . Tubal Cain . . . and his daughter Naamah. . . . This son Tubal Cain was the founder of Smith's Craft. . . Naamah was the founder of weaver's Craft."  Being forewarned of the deluge they wrote the sciences upon two manner of stones, marble and latres, one of which would not burn, nor the other sink.  "A great clerk that was called Putugoras found that one, and Hermes the philosopher, found the other."  Nimrod began to build the tower of Babel and taught the workmen Craft of measures, and had 40 thousand Masons whom he loved and cherished well.  Nimrod sent to his cousin Asur 30 hundred of Masons, and gave them a Charge.  Abraham "a wise man and a great clerk" taught Geometry to the Egyptians, and had a worthy clerk called Euclid as his pupil.  A relation, varied in terms, from the more ancient form, is given as to Euclid's governance.  The author then tells us that the Children {348} of Israel learned Masonry when they were in Egypt, that "King David loved well Masons, and he grave them (Charges) right nigh as they be now" and "Solomon confirmed the Charges that David his father had given to Masons."  Thence the worthy Science passed into France where was a worthy King called Charles the Second; "he was a Mason before he was a King and gave them Charges."  Up to this point the two MSS. are in perfect agreement, allowing for copyist's errors, but they now diverge in a remarkable manner, and we give a summary, side by side, the "Watson" MS. complete in itself, the "Cooke" having an older part attached: --

 

WATSON MS. 

 

    In the Watson MS. the account given of a charge by St. Alban is very full.  It gives Athelstan for authority that "Amphabell came out of France," and converted St. Alban to Christendom, he was Steward of the King and built the walls of Verulam; cherished Masons, and "made them good pay," and gave Charges "as Amphabell had  

brought them out of France."    

   

   Edwin (son of Athelstan) purchased from his father the right of Assembly and "correction within themselves," and held an Assembly at York.         

 

   The style of Cbarges differ from the "Cooke MS.," and yet allusions are made in these legends to "Books of Charges," as if existing, which embrace Nimrod, Solomon, Euclid, St. Alban, Athelstan.        

           

   A general series of Charges has been collected out of these, which do not differ so much in substance from the Saxon Charge, as they are differently arranged.  Certain of the Points, such as duty to King, and           

Church, and Employers, are Charges to "Masons in general."  There is also no distinction between Masters ARTICLES, and Fellows POINTS, but this might be work of a later Scribe.     

      

   Stewards of the Lodge, Chamber, or Hall, are mentioned as in the "Regius MS." The "Cooke MS." may have an imperfection, as the duties appear but not the word Steward, to which evidently the duties are intended to apply.

COOKE MS.

 

    In the Cook MS. the Charge and account of St. Alban is much abridged.  It says "soon after that came St. Adhabell into England, and converted St. Alban to Christianity, who gave them Charges," . . . "And after that there was a worthy King in England that was called Athelstan, and his youngest son

loved well the Science of Geometry, . . . wherefore he drew him to Council and learned the practice of that Science to his speculative, for of speculative he was a Master, and he loved well Masonry and Masons." It is an abridgement of the "Watson MS.," and goes on to say that this unnamed son purchased a free Patent of the King "that they should make Assembly when they saw a reasonable time."   This omission of the son's name, partially avoids 

 

{349}

 

 

a difficulty, as Athelstan had no son, but he had a younger brother Edwin, who went to sea in a leaky boat and was drowned, and in later times attempts were made to fix his death upon King Athelstan.  The MS. concludes with the remark that as to the manner of Assembly "as it is written and taught in the Book of our Charges wherefore I leave it at this time."

 

    The author attaches an actual Book of Charges, which is admittedly of an older date than the Preface of the MS. to the point at which it leaves off.

 

 

 

 

          

   The closing lines, which precede the Charges of the "Watson MS." are as follows: -- "These Charges have been seen and perused by our late Soveraigne Lord King Henry ye Sixth, and ye Lords of ye Honourable Councell, and they have allowed them well, and said they were right good and reasonable to be holden; and these Charges have been drawn and gathered out of divers ancient books, both of ye old Law, and new Law, as they were confirmed and made in Egypt, by ye King, and ye great Clerk Euclidus, and at ye making of Solomon's temple by King David and Salom his sonn, and in England by St. Alban, who was ye King's Steward yt was at yt time, and afterwards by King Ethelstone yt was King of England, and his son Edwin yt was King after his father, as it is rehearsed in many and diverse histories and stories and Chapters."

   To some extent the false chronology of these MSS. might be reconciled if we substitute Hermes for Euclid, {350} and Chaldeans for Abraham, but this latter would only be correct at a certain period of Egyptian history, when the Shepherd Kings were in power, and scarcely historically accurate.  The chronology has been disarranged apparently by adding the Euclid Charge in a document to which it does not belong.  The introduction into the Albanus legend of Amphibulus with Charges from France, betrays the work of an Anglo-Norman, for Britain supplied France with Artisans at that remote period.  The whole basis of the "Watson MS." and the first part of the "Cooke MS.," point to a French original, and the laws might be considered more applicable, as given in the "Watson MS.," to a Chartered Company which had the supervision of Lodges of the Craft; we consider, as we have before stated, that the "Watson MS.," may represent the union of two Sects, and the amalgamation of their Constitutional Charges.  Our learned Brother the late W. H. Upton, Past Grand Master of Washington, U.S.A., thinks that Hermes may have been first described as "Lucis Pater," and that Euclid may have been described as pupil of Hermes, until some one destroyed the context by interpolating Abraham.  In reference to the Alban legend he supposes that Amphibalus may be a later gloss; and that the Saxon text might be accommodated thus, -- "the good rule of Masonry was destroyed until the time of Knight Athelstan (a worthy son of King Edward), and he brought the land into good rest and peace, and he (Athelstan) loved Masons more than his father."  The Edwin legend thus arising by substitution of the short Edwd. of the father.  He would restore the Saxon thus, -- or tid cnihte aedlstanes daegs hwele weorthfull sunne cyninge Eadwearde waes, ond se sunu brohte . . . ond he lufode Craeftinga mare d oune his faedr (Eddwd.).  Other emendations will be found noticed in the Appendix, with which we close this book.

   Architecture is said to have been much neglected during the 17 years of the Wars of the Roses, but in the reign of {351} Edward IV., 1461-83, the walls of London were rebuilt, and seven pious houses erected.  Wakefield Church, Yorkshire, was begun in 1470; St. Stephen's, Bristol, same year; Blithborough Church, Suffolk, was completed in 1472,; St. Laurence, Norwich, in the same year; Swaffham, Norfolk, 1474; St. Mary's, Oxford, and St. Mary's, Cambridge, in 1478; Long Melford, Suffolk, 1481.  Heswell Church tower, Cheshire, was in course of erection, and its Masons' Marks were printed in 1894 by Brother Rylands.  The King in 1475 expresses general disapprobation against "the giving of livries, signs, tokens, retainers of indenture, promises, oaths, and writings," and this is about the date when the original of the "Watson MS." was made.  John Islip, Abbot of Westminster, finished the repair of the Abbey in 1483.  In 1472 "the hole Craft and Felawship of Masons" had coat armour granted, -- "sable, a chevron argent engrailed, between three castles, garnished with doors and windows of the field, on the chevron a compass, sable.  Crest, -- A castle triple towered as in the arms."  The oldest motto, -- God is our guide, which later gave place to this, -- In the Lord is all our trust.  With slight differences the Lodges generally adopted these arms.  Brother Conder informs us that the Company, at one time, possessed the Constitutions of the Fellowship, presented to them in the Mayorality of John Brown in 1481; these were the laws of their own body as a Company, but are now lost.

   Germany. It is known that the Emperor Rudolph I. even in the year 1275, authorised an Order of Masons, whilst Pope Nicholas III. in the year 1278 granted to the Brotherhood of Stonemasons at Strasburg, a letter of Indulgence which was renewed by all his successors down to Benedict XII. in 1340.  The oldest order of German Masons arises in 1397, next follow the so-called Vienna witnesses of 1412, 1434, 1435.  Then the Strasburg Order of Lodges in 1464; that of Torgau 1462, and finally 16 different orders on to 1500, and the following centuries, for Spiers, Regensburg, Saxony, Altenburg, Strassburg, {352} Oesterrich, and Ungarn.  "Geschichte der Freimaurerei in Oesterreich und Ungarn, Ludwig Abafi, Budapest, 1890-1).  The German statutes of Ratisbon 1459 and of Strasburg 1464, confirmed by the Emperor Maximilian I. on the 1st May, 1498, are but a more ornate version of those of England.  They were to be kept secret by the Master upon his Oath, and were his authority, as he had Charge of the (Contribution) book, and they were to be read yearly to the Fellows in the Lodge, and the "Brotherhood book" of 1563 mentions 22 towns where copies were kept.  This book contains the following: -- LIV. . . . . 

"Every Apprentice when he has served his time, and is declared free, shall promise the Craft, on his troth and honor, in lieu of oath, under pain of losing his right to practise Masonry, that he will disclose or communicate the Masons' greeting and grip to no one, except "to him to whom he may justly communicate it, and also that he will write nothing whatever."  LVI. . . . "And every Master having aforesaid Apprentices, shall earnestly enjoin and invite each one when he has thus completed the above written five years to become a Brother by the Oath which such one has taken to the Craft, and is offered to each."

   Vicentius in the "Mirrour of the World." printed by Caxton in 1480, contains short descriptions of the Seven Liberal Arts and Sciences, similar to the description in the Masonic Charges, but adding to each an explanatory woodcut.  A book was published by Veldener in Holland in 1486 which is said to contain symbolism of Craft and Egyptian Initiation.

   The book of Ludwig Abafi says of Bohemia and Hungary that they had other Mystic Brotherhoods "Die Bruder von Reif und Hammer" -- Brothers of the Circle and Hammer.  "Die Hackbruderschaft" -- Brotherhood of the Hatchett.  "Die Freund vom Kreuz" -- Friends of the Cross, which spread to Netherlands and were still holding meetings in 1785 in Wallachia, Transylvania, and other places.  {353}

   The Torgau Ordinances of 1462 indicate clearly the German qualification for granting a Mark, enacting, in Article 94, that no Fellow shall qualify if he "has not served his time or has bought his Mark, and not honestly earned it."  By Article 25, at his Freedom he demanded a Mark from his Workmaster, and had to make a payment for the service of God.  Article 12 enacts that if any one communed with a harlot he should retire from the Lodge, "so far as one may cast a gavel."

   Of the reign of Richard III., 1483-5, nothing noteworthy is recorded.

   In the reign of Henry VII., 1485-1509, various royal works were in progress, and about six pious houses were built.  Reginald Bray, raised the middle chapel of Windsor, and rebuilt the palace of Richmond.  The Savoy was converted into a hospital, and in 1500 the Knights of St. John elected the King as Protector.

   In 1495 the law forbade the giving of liveries, signs, tokens, etc., being an official enforcement of the Complaint made to the Star Chamber in 1475.  Various minor works were in progress which we need not particularise here; we may mention that John Hylmer and William Virtue contracted, in 1507 for the groined roofing of St. George's Chapel at Windsor; and in 1509 Robert Jenyns, Robert Virtue, and John Lobins, are styled "Ye King's III Mr. Masons."

   The palace of Sheen was rebuilt after the fire of 1500 in the Burgundian style.  Additions were made to Windsor, also to Hundsden, Bridewell, and Newhall or Beaulieu in Essex.

   Edward Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, began the palace of Thornbury, in Gloucestershire, but went to the scaffold before completion.  The King in 1544 gave a Patent to John of Padua as "designer of his Majesty's buildings," and a noted engineer, and Gothic architect, -- Sir Richard Lea, was employed as a Master Mason, and had a grant of the Manor of Topwell in Hertfordshire.  The Church of St. Mary at Beverley -- already mentioned {354} -- was rebuilt, in the reign of Henry VIII.  It has upon the 6th Pillar: "This pillar made the Minstrels."  The city usually had five officials of this character; the Chief Minstrel had a long loose coat trimmed with fur, and the costume of the others was a yellow jacket, long brown hose, blue belts, and a heavy gold chain round the neck.

   A new style in domestic architecture termed the Tudor had arisen and is said to be Burgundian.  The Rev. Wm. Benham says that Richard IlI. left an illegitimate son, 16 years of age at his father's death, who got his living as a Mason, and was buried in Eastwell, Kent, thus recorded: -- "Richard Plantagenet was buried the 22nd day of December ut Supra" (1650), so that he must have been 81 years of age.  Drake (Eboracum p. 117) states that he was knighted by his father at York.

   The reign of Henry VIII., 1509-47, was more remarkable for other things than Masonry, Charles Dickens disposes of the King as a blot of blood and grease on the page of English history.  Cardinal Wolsey and Thomas Cromwell built several great works, -- Hampton Court, Whitehall, Trinity College in Oxford, the College of Ipswich, St James' Palace, Christ's Hospital in London, Esher in Surrey, and Greenwich Castle.  Lord Audley built Magdalen College, and Audley-end.  In 1512 the "Master of Works" at Christ's Church College in Oxford was Nicholas Townley, a priest.  In 1520 York Minster was completed, and at the erection of St. Michael le Belfry, 1526, the Master Mason was John Freeman with 13 Masons, 2 Apprentices, 1 Intailer, and 17 labourers.  In 1530 the London "Craft and Fellowship of Masons," adopted the title of "Company of Freemasons."  There was in building at this date, and at the period of the Reformation: -- St. James' Church, Bury; Lavenham, Suffolk, Bidston Church tower, the Marks of which were collected in 1894<<Ars Quat. Cor. 1894.>>, St. Stephen's, Norwich; Whiston, Northamptonshire, 1534; Bath Abbey Church, 1539; Trinity College Chapel, Cambridge, 1539.  Of this {355} century there is in Winchester Cathedral, a carved stone of the Freemasons' Arms, and containing also the square, level, and compasses.<<Ibid, i.>>

   Brother H. R. Shaw points out in the Banner, some interesting symbolism in the pavement of Printing-house Square, London, which would be of value, had it been shewn to be ancient.  The manager of the Times told him the site was that of old Blackfriars' Monastery, and, after the Reformation, of the King's printing-house.  The square is slightly oblong and divided with granite cubes, by diagonally crossed lines, so as to form four triangles, each of which has a circle of cubes and in the centre an emblem: in the east is a "cross," or it may be a pair of diagonals; in the west is a five-pointed star.<<Freemason. 7 Sep., 1594.>>  An interesting find was made in digging a drain, near Arreton, in the Isle of Wight, in 1856, -- a basin of a species of bell-metal, which has on the outside of the base the double triangles, a tau cross within three circles, and at each of the six outer angles a star, and a seventh in the Centre, near the Cross.<<Freem. Mag., 1856, p. 845.>>

   The German Rivius, in his Steinmetzen Grund, 1548, terms the circle and triangle "the two most distinguished principles of stone Masons," and he also adds that "the dimensions of the equilateral triangle are the primitive and most distinguishing marks of ancient cathedrals," of the period treated in this Chapter.  As practical symbols they typified arithmetic and geometry, and were treated as the standpoints of all created matter.  It is somewhat remarkable that an ancient emblem of the theological trinity of Egypt, the triangle with an eye in it, passed into the Christian Church, and is yet used as an emblem in the Oriental churches.  It was carved in 1173 on the Sarcophagus of Bishop Eusebius who was interred at Mount Athos, we have also seen it upon an old Armenian sword.

   The regulations of the Masons and other Crafts for {356} the City of Norwich are given in the 1903 volume of Ars Quatuor Coronatorum.  The Corporation possessed a "Book of Customs" from the 13th or 14th century.  The Bailiff and some 12 to 24 members of each Craft had the examination, with power to levy fines, of the Craft guilds.  All apprentices were to be indentured for seven years, and some of the 15th century are preserved.  The Smith's Craft was at this period united with the Masons, and some regulations were made in 1469 because of faults "used by the Masons to the dishonour of their Craft," and it is stated in 1491 that no Masters or Wardens had been sworn to make search for defective work.  An Apprentice roll from 1512 is preserved and there are lists of Wardens until the middle of the 18th century.  In the Mystery plays they had to perform the part of Abel and Cain.  Each member paid an annual penny to the priest of the Chapel of St. John who "sang for the prosperity of the brethren who are alive, and the souls of those departed."  Some changes took place at the dissolution of Guilds in 1548 but the "feasts" and "fellowships," and the priest's salary, were continued.  In 1572 rules for the Masons are drawn in the "Assembly Book," and the Limeburners are included, with the fines each had to pay for various faults.  The Masons were to assemble every year with their two Wardens and headmen, and were to elect 12, 11, 10, 9, or 8 of the members, and these had to elect new Wardens, headman, a beadall, annually, and fines are imposed for not attending meetings, when summoned by the latter.  If necessary the fines were recoverable by distress, half of which went to the town and half to the Society.  These regulations do not differ very materially either from the London Livery Companies, or the Scottish Incorporated Masters, nor from the trade Incorporations granted by the Bishop of Durham.  There is no doubt such bodies had usually a Speculative Lodge held of them, as at London and as at Newcastle in 1581.  In other cases such assemblies granted an annual commission, say of five, to Initiate.  {357}

   Scotland.  We will now hark back a little to examine the system which prevailed in Scotland; it embraces the features of the English Livery Companies and the French Fraternities of Masters, with a much stricter control over its members than the English Companies found it convenient to enforce; and probably, at a later period, and even to this day through the Grand Lodge, may have had an influence upon the English Society of Free Masons, though the term Mason is always used in Scotland.  There is no doubt that at an early period Scotland had its Masonic Assemblies,but early in the 15th century, a cause was at work which modified the Assemblies, by withdrawing the Masters into bodies, similarly to the English Companies.  A Statute was passed in the reign of James I., 1424, empowering handicraftsmen to elect a "Wise Man of the Craft" as "Dekyn or Kirk Master;" and it was found necessary to bring Craftsmen from France, Flanders, Spain, Holland, and England; the reason assigned being that all Scottish Men of Craft had been slain in the wars.  The powers granted were obnoxious and abolished 2 years later.  There followed upon this the constitution of Masters' Incorporations granted by "Seal of Cause," upon a petition to the Lord provost and town Council.  The Masons, Wrights, and Weavers received their Charter in 1475, which would confirm their older self-made regulations; the Hammermen in 1475; Butchers, 1488; Cordwainers, 1489.  The members of these Incorporations had to contribute "a weekly penny," to support the altar and priest, equally a custom of the French Masters' Fraternities.  Trial-pieces, "essays," or examinations, equally with France, were exacted upon application for admission to the Masters' Incorporations.  On opening and closing the meeting prayer was offered up by the Deacon, as the Master was termed.  An oath was required which embraced secrecy, obedience to their own and the Burgh laws, and to the Deacon of their own trade, and also to a higher Officer that began to be constituted in various towns, namely the {358} Deacon Convener, loyalty to the King and the whole Craft.

   The "Convenery" was established somewhat later than the "Incorporations," the object being to unite the whole of the trades or Arts of a town under one head and Assembly, composed of the Deacons or Masters of the various "Incorporations;" these elected their own president or "Convener" thus providing a supreme central authority.

   We thus see the gradual transformation of the primitive Assemblies into Lodges of Apprentices and Journeymen; Incorporations of Masters; Conveneries of all trades; which were recruited by an accepted trial-piece; the private Lodges being held in subjection to the Masters-Fraternity initiated by "Seal of Cause."  These various bodies never lost their legal status, and the Incorporations of the Masons and Wrights exist to this day; but many of the private Lodges, which were subject, or subordinate to them, went under the Grand Lodge of Scotland when it was established in 1736.<<Vide Ars Quat. Cor. ii, p. 160; also v, p. 126.>>  It forms no part of our labours to give a history of Scottish Masonry, but some information is necessary in regard to countries other than England.

   The Burgh records of Aberdeen afford evidence from 1483-1555, that the Craft dealings with their employers, without reference to esoteric Lodge work, resembled that of the 14th century Freemasons employed in York Minster.  In 1483 the Masons at work are "obligated be the faith of thare bodies," and there is mention of the Luge.  In 1484 it was ordered that the Craftsmen "bear their tokens" on their breasts on Candlemas day; in 1496 that every Craft have their standard.  In 1498 Matheu Wricht agreed "be his hand ophaldin to make good service in the luge," also "that Nicol Masone and Dauid Wricht oblist thame be the fathis of thar bodies, the gret aith sworne to remain at Sand Nicholes werk in the luge. . . . . to be leil and truve in all points."  In 1532 a "Seal {359} of Cause," established a Masters' Incorporation; and in 1555 it was ordered that "thair be na craftsman made fre man to use his craft except he haf seruit a Prentis under one maister three yeiris, and he found sufficient and qualified in his Craft to be one Maister."  How are we to read this?  After serving an apprenticeship he had to be made free of his Lodge, and could only become a Master and a Member of the "Incorporation," after an "essay."  It is an instance of the loose language so often found in Masonic documents, by which we are necessarily led away in reasoning upon Masonic rites and laws.  A law of the Incorporation was in force in 1587 that Journeymen and Prentices, though not members of the Society, were to be entered in the books of their Craft, whilst apprentices were to be entered in the books of the Town, to enable them to obtain the rights of Freedom of Craft, as free Burgesses.  It seems like a side blow at the Lodges, and the same custom was in force in the chief towns of England.  In 1599 a Convenery of all the trades was established, and their rules of 1641 enact that all Indentures between Masters and Prentices shall be presented to the Town Clerk, within 21 days, for registry.  Of course all this legislation, and the foundation of special bodies for the Masters, must have affected the status and position of the Scottish Lodges materially, and the same in England where Lodges were established in towns in which there was a Chartered Livery Company.

   Powers which had been granted 1424 were restored 1555.  A Dicreet Arbitral was issued by James VI. in 1580 by which the Council consists of:

"The auld Provost, four auld Baillies, the Dean of Guild, and Treasurer of the next year preceding, and three other Merchants to be chosen to them, and also to consist of eight Craftsmen thereof, six Deacons, and the other Craftsmen, mak, and in the hail, the said Council eighteen persons."

Regulations follow as to the form of Apprenticeship.  In 1590 the same King, 25 Septr., appointed Patrick Copeland of Udaucht "Warden and Justice" of {360} the Masons, but in 1601-2 the Freemen Maisons request the St. Clairs to procure from the King the office of Patron and Judge, and the document having perished by fire, the Lodges confirm it in 1628.  In 1598 and 1599 William Schaw, "Maister of Wark" to King James, granted Constitutions to Edinburgh and Kilwinning districts, and perhaps also to Stirling and others at these dates; these have already been mentioned.

   There is a tomb in the Chapel Royal of Holyrood of the year 1543 upon which is a stepped-cross; on one side of it is a compass and some other emblem beneath, on the other side a square and below that a square-headed gavel.  In Glasgow Cathedral, on the inside of a stone window-sill of the south side of the choir and carved over the date 1556, is an eye, crescent moon, three stars, hand pointing a finger, ladder of five steps, square and compasses; these were pointed out by Brother W. P. Buchan who casts doubt, we think unnecessarily, upon the date given.<<Freem. Mag., 1869 (engraved).>>  It may be noticed here, that the Lodge of Mary's Chapel, Edinburgh, has minutes from 1599, and was old then, and that these minutes, those of the Incorporation, and those of the Convenery are independent of each other, and confirm what we have stated, and which we shall refer to more fully.  In the year 1543 the Castle of Wark in Northumberland, was repaired by an Italian of the name of Archan.  Soon after 1549 the Wark Lodge sent a contingent Guild to Haddington, which afterwards went on to Aitchinson's Haven, and St. John's Kilwinning Lodge, at Haddington, claims to be an offshoot of the Wark Lodge.<<Some old Scot. Lodges, 1899, Liverpool, Bro. Jobn Armstrong.>>

   The Belgian Masons, Tilers, etc., had a Guild-house of the "Four Crowned," erected at Antwerp in 1531, the walls of which were decorated with the 4 Statues, and with seven large pictures representing their martyrdom; the Guild is mentioned in 1423, and their Incorporation by the Magistrates dates from 1458.  At Brussels at this {361} date the ranks alluded to are Apprentices, Fellows, and Masters, but the Antwerp laws of 1458, allows an Apprentice, at 18 years of age, who has served 4 years, to make his trial-piece and become a Master.<<Ars Quat. Cor. 1900. pt. 2. Bro. Count d' Alviella. P.G.M.>>

   A recent history of Spanish Freemasonry, by Brother Nicholas Diaz y Perez states that in 1514 Mosen Rubi established a Masonic temple in Avila, and that the celebrated Admiral Coligny initiated a large number of Spanish personages in Catalonia, and later in the army.  We give this last with reserve.  In Danver's Portugese in India is an engraved portrait, of which there is a copy in the British Museum, representing Prince Henrique, surnamed the Navigator, in the upper left hand corner of which is the level, square, plumb-line and weight, and open compasses: it was printed about 1620 by Simon van de Paes.

   In Sebastian Munster's Cosmography, printed in 1554, is the square and compasses in which is the letter G as a marginal ornament.  "The Enemie of Idleness," by W. F. (Wm. Fleetwood), London, 1578, mentions a work on architecture and the science of building by Baptista Leo, a Florentine, and his "Secrete and hid discipline."

   The compilation of this Chapter is much indebted to the collections of the late E. W. Shaw, and Mr. Wyatt Papworth, also to the Histories of Anderson and Gould, and the various papers of Ars Quatuor Coronatorum.  The particulars, though interesting in themselves, relate rather to the Craft in its operative and exoteric aspect; but they also shew the nature of the speculative and esoteric Symbolism, the plan of the Societies' organisation, the nature of an esoteric ritual, the fact that Assemblies continued to be held; and that all things of the period of this Chapter point to a perfect conformity with what is known of Guild Masonry, and its imitation in the Free Masonry of to-day.  The Statute law and the chartering of Livery Companies or Masters' Fraternities, seems to have gradually shorn the Assemblies of much of {362} their prestige and privileges, and contributed to make the more extensive Assemblies stationary town Lodges, with a modified Constitution.  The abandonment of Gothic Art about 1550, and the death of the operative Masters of that Art about 1580 accomplished the rest and left Free Masonry what it was in 1700.  The Gothic arcanum had died out; its Lodges had become mere social clubs; but a counter movement was in progress under Inigo Jones to restore the arcanum of the Classical architecture of Italy.

   We cannot conclude better than with the following quotation from Robert Fabian's Concordance of Histories, which appeared in 1516 (Pynson).  The writer was Sheriff and Alderman of London, 1493-1502; and died about 1511, but his book was not printed until 1516 by Pynson.  The following is from his prologue of 28 Stanzas of which this is the 5th and 6th.  He may have been a member of the Mason's Company: -- 

        "And I, like the Prentice that heweth the rought stone,

         And bringeth it to square, with hard strokes and many,

         That the Master after, may it oeur gone

         And prynte therein his figures and his story,

         And so to work after his propornary

         That it may appear, to all that shall it see,

         A thynge right parfyte, and well in eche degree;

         So have I now sette oute this rude worke,

         As rough as the stone that comen to the square,

         That the learnede and the studyed Clerke,

        May it oeur polysshe, and clene do it pare,

         Flowyrsshe it with eloquence, whereof it is bare,

         And frame it to ordre that yt is out of joynt,

         That it with old authors may gree in every poynt." 

   We will only add that we think that this Chapter clearly proves that there was engrafted upon the simple Anglo-Saxon Constitution of Masonry a series of Semitic legends, and their compliment in the Free-Masonic ceremonies, which entered this country from the East in {363} Anglo-Norman times, with an improved style of building, of Saracenic origin.

   Whence England derived its Semitic ceremonies of Free Masonry is not very definite but circumstances point very clearly to a direct importation from Palestine, extended by French Masons who came over from time to time and it is in that country that we find the earliest allusion to the Solomonic legends, and it is evidenced in this Chapter that these legends were introduced into the older Saxon Charges from that country.  {364} 

back to top


[What is Freemasonry] [Leadership Development] [Education] [Masonic Talks] [Masonic Magazines Online]
[
Articles] [Masonic Books Online] [E-Books] [Library Of All Articles] [Masonic Blogs] [Links]
 [
What is New] [Feedback]


This site is not an official site of any recognized Masonic body in the United States or elsewhere.
It is for informational purposes only and does not necessarily reflect the views or opinion
of Freemasonry, nor webmaster nor those of any other regular Masonic body other than those stated.

DEAD LINKS & Reproduction | Legal Disclaimer | Regarding Copyrights

Last modified: March 22, 2014