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Article HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. ← Page 2 of 3 Article HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY. Page 2 of 3 →
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History Of Freemasonry.
c . viii . was given the validity of a Statute . The year previous to its enactment England had been visited by the " Black Death , " and lost a very large portion of its population by the ravages of that terrible scourge . As a consequence , servants and labourers took occasion to demand
exorbitant wages , and , as we are told , " rather than submit to work npon reasonable terms they became vagabonds and idle beggars , " while , as suggested , their number was probably augmented " by the gradual emancipation of the villeins , which had been proceeding ever since tho
Conquest . This ordinance proving ineffectual , the Statute of Labourers was passed in 1350 . The third chapter is as follows : " Item , that carpenters , masons , and tilers , and other workmen of houses , shall not take by the day for their work , but in such manner as they were wont ; that is to
say , a master carpenter ind ., and another iid . ; a master freestone mason ( mestre mason de franche pere ) iiiid , and other masons iiid ., and their servants id . ob . ; tylers , iiid , and their knaves ( garceons ) id . ob . ; plasterers and other workers of mud walls , and their knaves , by the same
manner , without meat and drink , Is . from Easter to Saint Michael , and from that time less , according to the rate and discretion of the justices , which shonld be thereto assigned ; and that they that make carriage by land or water shall take no more for such carriage to be
made than they were wont the said xx year , and iiii years before . " The seventh chapter provides that the justices should make their sessions four times a year in all the counties of England , namely , at the Annunciation , St . Margaret , St . Michael , and St . Nicholas , and at other necessary times
according to their discretion ; and if any servants , labourers , or artificers should flee from one county to another they were liable to be taken by the sheriffs of the counties to
which they had fled at the command of the sheriffs of those whence they had fled ; the ordinance to be kept in London and other cities and boroughs and other places , both within and without the franchises . In 1360 this statute received
parliamentary confirmation and was enforced with stronger penalties , a standing authority being given to the keepers of the peace—in a subsequent statute described as justices : "to hear and determine and to take sureties for good behaviour , " the commission , however , to include some
" learned in the law . " The following in this confirmatory Statute of 1360 chiefly interests us , to wit , " That as well carpenters and masons ( Maceons ) be comprised in this ordinance , as all other labourers , servants and artificers , and that the carpenters and the masons take from
henceforth wages by the day , and not by the week , nor in other manner ; and that the chief masters ( chefs mestres ) of carpenters and masons take fourpence by the day , and the others threepence and twopence , according as they be worth , and that all alliances and covines of masons and
carpenters , and congregations , chapters , ordinances , and oaths betwixt them made , or to be made , shall be from henceforth void and wholly annulled ; so that every mason and carpenter , of what condition that he be , shall be compelled by his master to whom he serveth to do every work
that to him pertaining to do , or of free stone , or of rough stone ; and also every carpenter in his degree ; but it shall be lawful to every Lord or other to make bargain or
covenant of their work in gross , with such labourers and artificers when please them , so that they perform such works well and lawfully according to the bargain or covenant to them thereof made . "
Passing over the further confirmations of these Statutes and other matter , we come in time to the 3 Henry VI . c . i ., A . D . 1425 , from which the following is taken : "FIRST , Whereas by the yearly Congregations and Confederacies made by the Masons in their general Chapiters assembled ,
the good Course and Effect of the Statutes of Labourers be openly violated and broken , in Subversion of the Law , and to the great Damage of all the Commons : Our said Lord the King willing in this Case to provide Eemedy , by the Advice and Assent aforesaid , and at the special Request of
the said Commons , hath ordained and established , that such Chapiters and Congregations shall not be hereafter holden ; and if any such be made , they that cause such Chapiters and Congregations to be assembled and holden , if they thereof be convict , shall be judged for Felons ; and
that all the other Masons that come to such Chapiters and Congregations be punished by Imprisonment of their Bodies , and make Fine and Ransom at the King ' s Will . " This is most carefully analysed by Bro . Gould who points out in the first place the very common error into which most writers have fallen of translating the original Norman-
History Of Freemasonry.
French—en lour generalx Chapitres assembles—as " in their general Chapters and Assemblies , " so making believe that the language of the " Old Charges" is reproduced , instead of as above , "in their General Chapiters assembled , " to which mistranslation he attributes one-half
of the erroneous conclusions which have been adopted . He next interprets the word " Chapiters " as being used to describe " conventicles , " and he supports his view by evidence drawn from various sources , but especially from a Statute of 1529 against " artyficers orhandycraftes men "
meeting "in any company , felowship , congregacion , or conventycle , " the result of his researches making it clear iu his opinion that " in 1425 there was an English word in common use—conventicle—denoting precisely the same
kind of clandestine meeting as those whioh the Statute was enacted to suppress , " and he leaves the reader " to form his own conclusion upon the point whether the persons , to whom the phraseology of the Statute was entrusted , had in their minds the seditions assemblies" of whioh he had
given examples , " or whether they had reference to societies meeting ' after the manner of a chapter , ' which , indeed , are not otherwise mentioned in the statute-book . " We pass to the year 1427 , when by the 6 Henry VI ., c . iii ., it was " ordained ' that the justices of the peace in
every county , the mayor of the City of London , and the mayors and bailiffs in every city , borough , or town , having such power and authority as justices of the peace have , shall , henceforth , have power and authority to make proclamation in their full sessions , once a year , how much
every servant of husbandry shall take for the year next following , and that they make two times ( deux foitz ) proclamation in two sessions , to be holden betwixt the feasts of Easter and St . Michael , and in every borough and market town , how much every artificer and workman
shall take by the day , and by the week ; and that every proclamation so to be made , be holden as a thing ordained by statute . ' Infractions of the law were declared punishable by fine or imprisonment , and the justices , mayors , and bailiffs were authorised ' to hear and determine such
offences , and to examine by their discretion , as well such servants , artificers , and workmen , as their masters , ' to punish offenders , to direct sheriffs to imprison them : ' and that all the mayors and bailiffs which be keepers of the peace ( gueux sount Qardeins du pees ) in any cities , towns , or
boroughs , shall have like power , correction , and execution of the ( Statute ) and of all Statutes of Labourers within the said towns , cities , and boroughs , as the justices of the peace have in their counties . " This statute , according to KIoss , affords evidence that the Halliwell poem could not
have been written earlier than 1427 , and that its phraseology gives " sense and confirmation " to certain obscure passages in it . Kloss , the author tells us , remarks that , whereas previously justices of the peace had been the sole assessors of the rate of wages and judges of offences against the
several statutes—the sheriffs , bailiffs , & c . being charged with the execution of the warrants , orders , and resolutions of the said justices— " by this new law , besides the justices , the mayor of the city of London , the mayors and bailiffs of every chief city , borough , or county town , all persons of
position and rank , are for the first time empowered to participate in the settlement of the rate of wages , and to make proclamation thereof twice a year . Conjointly they are charged to hear and decide all infractions , and to issue and
grant warrants of arrest , which were to be executed by the sheriff . " Bro . Gould , however , considers Kloss in drawing these conclusions is in error , as the language of this statute shows that the officials it associated with the
justices " already possessed equal powers with the latter . " Further , as to the Halliwell poem , he remarks that we must assume it " was intended for the instruction and guidance of town or of country masons , " but its " entire tenor , " the " class of persons to whom it was addressed—far superior
in their way to the villeins , the labourers in husbandry , and the rude artificers of the shires , the regulations for behaviour at the common meal , all point , in my judgment , to its connection with some urban craft , " in which case the " Statutes of Labourers have very little bearing npon the
question at issue . " He finally disposes of Kloss s criticism in the following passage : "' I cannot bring myself to believe that the masons who plied their trade in remote villages aud hamlets at about the early part of the fifteenth
century were , either by education or intelligence , capable of comprehending the Halliwell poem had it been rehearsed to them . But , putting conjecture wholly aside , and contenting ourselves with the actual expressions to be
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
History Of Freemasonry.
c . viii . was given the validity of a Statute . The year previous to its enactment England had been visited by the " Black Death , " and lost a very large portion of its population by the ravages of that terrible scourge . As a consequence , servants and labourers took occasion to demand
exorbitant wages , and , as we are told , " rather than submit to work npon reasonable terms they became vagabonds and idle beggars , " while , as suggested , their number was probably augmented " by the gradual emancipation of the villeins , which had been proceeding ever since tho
Conquest . This ordinance proving ineffectual , the Statute of Labourers was passed in 1350 . The third chapter is as follows : " Item , that carpenters , masons , and tilers , and other workmen of houses , shall not take by the day for their work , but in such manner as they were wont ; that is to
say , a master carpenter ind ., and another iid . ; a master freestone mason ( mestre mason de franche pere ) iiiid , and other masons iiid ., and their servants id . ob . ; tylers , iiid , and their knaves ( garceons ) id . ob . ; plasterers and other workers of mud walls , and their knaves , by the same
manner , without meat and drink , Is . from Easter to Saint Michael , and from that time less , according to the rate and discretion of the justices , which shonld be thereto assigned ; and that they that make carriage by land or water shall take no more for such carriage to be
made than they were wont the said xx year , and iiii years before . " The seventh chapter provides that the justices should make their sessions four times a year in all the counties of England , namely , at the Annunciation , St . Margaret , St . Michael , and St . Nicholas , and at other necessary times
according to their discretion ; and if any servants , labourers , or artificers should flee from one county to another they were liable to be taken by the sheriffs of the counties to
which they had fled at the command of the sheriffs of those whence they had fled ; the ordinance to be kept in London and other cities and boroughs and other places , both within and without the franchises . In 1360 this statute received
parliamentary confirmation and was enforced with stronger penalties , a standing authority being given to the keepers of the peace—in a subsequent statute described as justices : "to hear and determine and to take sureties for good behaviour , " the commission , however , to include some
" learned in the law . " The following in this confirmatory Statute of 1360 chiefly interests us , to wit , " That as well carpenters and masons ( Maceons ) be comprised in this ordinance , as all other labourers , servants and artificers , and that the carpenters and the masons take from
henceforth wages by the day , and not by the week , nor in other manner ; and that the chief masters ( chefs mestres ) of carpenters and masons take fourpence by the day , and the others threepence and twopence , according as they be worth , and that all alliances and covines of masons and
carpenters , and congregations , chapters , ordinances , and oaths betwixt them made , or to be made , shall be from henceforth void and wholly annulled ; so that every mason and carpenter , of what condition that he be , shall be compelled by his master to whom he serveth to do every work
that to him pertaining to do , or of free stone , or of rough stone ; and also every carpenter in his degree ; but it shall be lawful to every Lord or other to make bargain or
covenant of their work in gross , with such labourers and artificers when please them , so that they perform such works well and lawfully according to the bargain or covenant to them thereof made . "
Passing over the further confirmations of these Statutes and other matter , we come in time to the 3 Henry VI . c . i ., A . D . 1425 , from which the following is taken : "FIRST , Whereas by the yearly Congregations and Confederacies made by the Masons in their general Chapiters assembled ,
the good Course and Effect of the Statutes of Labourers be openly violated and broken , in Subversion of the Law , and to the great Damage of all the Commons : Our said Lord the King willing in this Case to provide Eemedy , by the Advice and Assent aforesaid , and at the special Request of
the said Commons , hath ordained and established , that such Chapiters and Congregations shall not be hereafter holden ; and if any such be made , they that cause such Chapiters and Congregations to be assembled and holden , if they thereof be convict , shall be judged for Felons ; and
that all the other Masons that come to such Chapiters and Congregations be punished by Imprisonment of their Bodies , and make Fine and Ransom at the King ' s Will . " This is most carefully analysed by Bro . Gould who points out in the first place the very common error into which most writers have fallen of translating the original Norman-
History Of Freemasonry.
French—en lour generalx Chapitres assembles—as " in their general Chapters and Assemblies , " so making believe that the language of the " Old Charges" is reproduced , instead of as above , "in their General Chapiters assembled , " to which mistranslation he attributes one-half
of the erroneous conclusions which have been adopted . He next interprets the word " Chapiters " as being used to describe " conventicles , " and he supports his view by evidence drawn from various sources , but especially from a Statute of 1529 against " artyficers orhandycraftes men "
meeting "in any company , felowship , congregacion , or conventycle , " the result of his researches making it clear iu his opinion that " in 1425 there was an English word in common use—conventicle—denoting precisely the same
kind of clandestine meeting as those whioh the Statute was enacted to suppress , " and he leaves the reader " to form his own conclusion upon the point whether the persons , to whom the phraseology of the Statute was entrusted , had in their minds the seditions assemblies" of whioh he had
given examples , " or whether they had reference to societies meeting ' after the manner of a chapter , ' which , indeed , are not otherwise mentioned in the statute-book . " We pass to the year 1427 , when by the 6 Henry VI ., c . iii ., it was " ordained ' that the justices of the peace in
every county , the mayor of the City of London , and the mayors and bailiffs in every city , borough , or town , having such power and authority as justices of the peace have , shall , henceforth , have power and authority to make proclamation in their full sessions , once a year , how much
every servant of husbandry shall take for the year next following , and that they make two times ( deux foitz ) proclamation in two sessions , to be holden betwixt the feasts of Easter and St . Michael , and in every borough and market town , how much every artificer and workman
shall take by the day , and by the week ; and that every proclamation so to be made , be holden as a thing ordained by statute . ' Infractions of the law were declared punishable by fine or imprisonment , and the justices , mayors , and bailiffs were authorised ' to hear and determine such
offences , and to examine by their discretion , as well such servants , artificers , and workmen , as their masters , ' to punish offenders , to direct sheriffs to imprison them : ' and that all the mayors and bailiffs which be keepers of the peace ( gueux sount Qardeins du pees ) in any cities , towns , or
boroughs , shall have like power , correction , and execution of the ( Statute ) and of all Statutes of Labourers within the said towns , cities , and boroughs , as the justices of the peace have in their counties . " This statute , according to KIoss , affords evidence that the Halliwell poem could not
have been written earlier than 1427 , and that its phraseology gives " sense and confirmation " to certain obscure passages in it . Kloss , the author tells us , remarks that , whereas previously justices of the peace had been the sole assessors of the rate of wages and judges of offences against the
several statutes—the sheriffs , bailiffs , & c . being charged with the execution of the warrants , orders , and resolutions of the said justices— " by this new law , besides the justices , the mayor of the city of London , the mayors and bailiffs of every chief city , borough , or county town , all persons of
position and rank , are for the first time empowered to participate in the settlement of the rate of wages , and to make proclamation thereof twice a year . Conjointly they are charged to hear and decide all infractions , and to issue and
grant warrants of arrest , which were to be executed by the sheriff . " Bro . Gould , however , considers Kloss in drawing these conclusions is in error , as the language of this statute shows that the officials it associated with the
justices " already possessed equal powers with the latter . " Further , as to the Halliwell poem , he remarks that we must assume it " was intended for the instruction and guidance of town or of country masons , " but its " entire tenor , " the " class of persons to whom it was addressed—far superior
in their way to the villeins , the labourers in husbandry , and the rude artificers of the shires , the regulations for behaviour at the common meal , all point , in my judgment , to its connection with some urban craft , " in which case the " Statutes of Labourers have very little bearing npon the
question at issue . " He finally disposes of Kloss s criticism in the following passage : "' I cannot bring myself to believe that the masons who plied their trade in remote villages aud hamlets at about the early part of the fifteenth
century were , either by education or intelligence , capable of comprehending the Halliwell poem had it been rehearsed to them . But , putting conjecture wholly aside , and contenting ourselves with the actual expressions to be