714 



MASONRY. 



preserve their knowledge in forms otherwise foreign 

 to it, if they wished to escape persecution.* Tle 

 great importance which architecture assumed in 

 those times, is to be accounted for from the enthu- 

 siasm for splendid houses of worship, in which the 

 religious spirit of those times displayed itself to an 

 unparalleled degree. The history of these cor- 

 porations, as here given, and their connexion with 

 the present society of free-masons, appears from 

 what we know of antiquity, from the history 

 of England, and from the agreement of the con- 

 stitutions, symbols, and customs of the present 

 free-masons with those of the above corporations. { 

 Three documents have also been preserved, which 

 further prove that historical connexion, as well as 

 the doctrines and customs of those corporations of 

 the middle ages, in great perfection, and which must 

 be considered as valuable portions of the history of 

 that period. See Die drei altesten Kunsturkunden 

 tier Freimaurerbruderschaft (2 vols., Dresden, 1819.) 



Before we speak of these documents, we may 

 mention that some writers talk of the Culdees as 

 having formed a Christian church in England for 

 some centuries before the Saxon conquest (in 449), 

 and sent bishops to the most ancient councils. This 

 church was, together with the Roman civilization, 

 suppressed by the Picts and Saxons. The Culdees 

 were obliged to seek refuge in the wildernesses of 

 M'ales and Scotland, in Ireland, and in the small 

 islands between Great Britain and Ireland, chiefly in 

 Anglesey and Mona, where they continued their 

 apostolic institutions and usages, related to those of 

 the Oriental church. They tried in vain to convert 

 the rude Saxon kings, but they had not the same 

 means as Augustin, who was sent by the pope, with 

 forty monks, in 597, to Britain. The Culdees were 

 now again bloodily persecuted by the adherents of 

 the pope. In their persecution, they maintained the 

 spirit of Christianity, and studied in solitude. They 

 at last found access to Alfred and Athelstan. The 

 latter gave employment to many architects, in build- 

 ing convents, castles, &c., and the Culdees made use 

 of their organization, and the independence guaran- 

 tied by the king, to teach them their truly apostolic 

 principles. Usher, Ledwich, and Grose treat of this 

 subject. The old writers on the papal side of the 

 question, are said to have purposely avoided making 

 mention of the Culdees. A further cause is thus 

 assigned for the superior morals which distinguished 

 the architectural societies in the middle ages. 



The eldest of the documents above mentioned, 

 is the constitution confirmed, in 926, to all the cor- 



* It is by no means improbable that, in these barbarous 

 ages, their secret doctrines may have degenerated, and become 

 mixed with corrupt notions, as was the case with the Society 

 of Templars. 



t The architects, with their assistants and pupils, formed 

 nssociationa, railed Hutten, or lodges. At an assembly held at 

 Katisbon, in 1459, it was agreed that a grand lodge should be 

 formed at Strasburg, as the place of general assembly, and that 

 the architect of that cathedral, for the time being, should be 



oigua VI I fi |(^ ill nun. Ill lull- UUU 111);;, uii'ic \VI-IC J^i-lli-I.ll 



assemblies at Strasburg ; but they were afterwards neglected 

 for some time, until the emperor Maximilian I., being at that 

 city in 1498, granted them certain privileges, by charter or 

 diploma, which were renewed and confirmed by subsequent 



Ulal, 111 it 1 nl'~L WJtII LI I [111* 1UCH3, "I WIIU'II lilf LWU IMUeaL 



masons kept the keys, so that it required the presence of all 

 before the chest could be opened. These documents were 

 iut existence until the French revolution, when they were 

 destroyed, with many other papers, to prevent their falling 

 into the hands of the Jacobin commissioners. Their rules 

 inculated the necessity of leading moral lives ; submission to 

 the masters, whom the companions served for five or seven 

 years; attention to their religious duties; and charity to the 

 poorer brethren, &c. Among the symbols were the square, 

 the plumb-rule, and the compasses, which are distinguishing 

 marks of the officers of a free-mason't lodge at this day. 



porations of architects, by king Athelstan, through 

 his brother Edwin, at York, the original of which, in 

 Anglo-Saxon, is still preserved in York. The begin- 

 ning reminds the reader immediately of the most 

 ancient Oriental church. Then follows a history of 

 architecture, beginning with Adam, and comprising 

 quotations from some rabbinical tales, respecting the 

 building of Babel, the temple of Solomon, with men- 

 tion of Hiram, limited, however, to the information 

 contained in the Bible ; then passing over to the 

 Greeks and Romans; mentioning particularly Pytha- 

 goras, Euclid, and Vitruvius. Then the history of 

 architecture, and the oldest corporations in Britain, 

 is told, agreeably to the accounts of the best histo- 

 rians, and, among other things, is mentioned, that 

 St Albanus, an honourable Roman knight, patronised 

 the art about A. D. 300, settled the fundamental 

 institutions of the masons, procured them employ- 

 ment, wages, and a charter from the emperor Ca- 

 rausius, according to which they should form a society 

 in Britain, under the government of architects. The 

 devastation of the country, and the destruction of the 

 edifices by the northern tribes and the Angles and 

 Saxons, is related, and how the pious Athelstan had 

 resolved to restore the ancient and venerable society. 

 After this follow the sixteen most ancient laws, 

 which agree exactly with every thing that careful 

 investigation can find in the corpus juris relating to 

 the college of architects. This constitution was 

 preserved in England and Scotland, in its essential 

 features, until" the fourteenth century, when the so- 

 cieties passed over into the stationary corporations 

 in cities. It is proved by historical documents, that 

 in Scotland and England, lodges, labouring according 

 to these constitutions, existed in an uninterrupted 

 series, and often admitted, as members, learned or 

 influential men, who were not architects, including 

 even kings (accepted masons} . The society of masons 

 decreased, and sank more and more, as the times 

 changed. In 1717, we find four lodges existing, in 

 which the old symbols and customs were still pre- 

 served; most of their members were merely accepted 

 masons. So far extends the first period of masonry. 

 In 1717, an essential change was made by three mem- 

 bers belonging to some of the four lodges just men- 

 tioned, Desaguliers, James Anderson, and George 

 Payne. They changed the society into one which 

 had nothing more to do with building,J but of which 

 " brotherly love, relief, and truth " were to be the 

 essential characteristics. By retaining the name and 

 customs of the ancient fraternity, the new lodges 

 retained the privileges and charters of those socie- 

 ties. They further thought it well to establish a 

 centre of union and harmony in one grand-master, 

 the eldest mason, who, at the same time, was a 

 master of a lodge ; to constitute themselves, pro tern- 

 pore, one grand lodge ; to renew the quarterly com- 

 munications of the brethren ; to hold the annual 

 meeting and the festival; and to elect a grand-master 

 from among them, until they should have a brother 

 of high rank at their head. In 1721, James Ander- 

 son was charged to remodel the old constitutions, 

 and to form thus a general book of constitutions, 

 which alone should be valid for all the special lodges, 

 in future to be established under the authority of this 

 grand lodge. The constitution of York was made, 

 by him, the basis, though he compared a number of 

 other constitutions. In 1721, his draft was accepted, 

 with some changes, acknowledged, and printed in 

 1723. In 1738, a new edition was printed. In the 

 editions of 1756, 1784, and in the latest book of con- 

 stitutions of the grand lodge of old masons at Lon- 



J Sir Christopher Wren was the last grand-master of 

 ancient fraternity. 



