Bye-Laws Of The York Lodge: No. 236.

father a charter , A . D ., 926 , by virtue of AA'hich all the Masons of the realm Avere conA'ened to a General Assembly at York , where they accordingly met and established a Grand Lodge , AA'hose prerogative it Avas to issue the Laws ancl Charges by Avhich Masons Avere to be thenceforth governed ;

ancl we find this corroborated by MSS . Avhich are at least three hundred years old , and Avhich bear the strongest internal evidence that they are copies of much older documents .

For a long period , the foregoing tradition AA'as unquestioned , but modern research has throAvn considerable doubt on the story . Mr . Turner , the learned author of a Avellknown Avork on Anglo-Saxon History , has raised a weighty objection to it . He states

that a Grand Lodge could not haA'e been convened in York in the year 926 , under the circumstances related above , seeing that Athelstane neA'er had a son . Edwyn Avas his brother , AVIIO , in that same year , conspired against him , ancl Avas put to death

by his order . That the Prince Echvin above referred to Ai'as a real and not a mythical person , is a fact that admits of little or no doubt . In the evidence of tradition there may be a confusion Avith regard to persons bearing

the same name , even Avhen they were not contemporaries ; but , on the other hand , it AA'ill perhaps never be fouud that a Avell ancl Aviclely-establishcd belief in such has

no real foundation , Doubtless , a Prince EdAvin flourished at an early period cf one national history , Avho Avas intimately connected with the establishment of Freemasonry in the City of York , and vras active in the promotion of its benevolent principles .

This difficulty , however , Avas disposed of by Bro . Francis Drake , the historian , of York , as early as 1726 , in his celebrated speech delivered in the Merchants' Hall , in York , before the Grand Lodge of All England . —He says : " But we can boast

that the first Grand Lodge of England was held in this City , Avhen Edwin , the first Christian King of Northumbria , about the year 600 . after Christ , laic ! the foundation of our Cathedral , and sat as its Grand Master . " If this be correctthe antiquity

, of English Masonry must be fully three centuries earlier than the time of Athelstane ; and it is remarkable that the buildings which , according to the MS . of 11-80 ,

Avere said to have been raised by the pseudo Echvin , were in fact erected by Echvin , King of Northumbria ; and it is a wellestablished fact that Auldby was the seat of this same Echvin . Thomas Gent , another local historian of

celebrity , bears testimony in his " History of the famous City of York , 1730 . " " We are told , " he Avrites , " that King Echvin ' s seat of residence Avas Derventio ( Denvent River ) , IIOAV called Auldby , six miles from York : The Freemasons of Avhich ancient

city seeai to dispute the superiority of their Lodge Avith that of London , to Avbich , tho ' , for amity ' s sake , they allow the title of Grand Master of England , yet they claim Totiius An < rlia 3 as their OAVII right , " King Athelstanein due timewas

un-, , questionably a patron of the Craft , for he granted charters not only to Masons , but to other operative Guilds ; ancl it is much more than probable that in his reign a General Assembly of Masons was held in York .

Bro . the Rev . A . F . A . Woodford , M . A ., the well-kiiOAvn Masonic writer , says : " The old Masonic tradition points , I believe , to Echvin or Ediven , King of Northumbria , Avhose rendezvous once was at Auldby , near York , ancl AVIIO in 627 aided in the building

of a stone Church at York after his baptism there , Avith the Roman Avorkmen . " He also Avrites : "Tradition sometimes gets confused after the lapse of time , but I believe the tradition is in itself true , Avhich links Masonry to the Church building at

York by the operative brotherhood under Edwin in 627 , ancl to a Guild Charter under Athelstane in 926 . " There are known to be in existence about tAventy ancient copies of the old Constitutions—these haA e been Avritten at different

times from 1390 to 1711—ancl they are evidently copies of older MS . With two exceptions they all mention the Assembly at York in Athelstane ' s reign ; ancl the tAVO that do not name York , speak of '' the Assembly " and " the City , " thus apparently

agreeing witli the tradition , as Ave may fairly assume they refer to York , and to that great Assembly said to have been hoklen there in or about 926 . The Fabric Rolls of York Minster incontestibly ] irove that a society of Freemasons Avas Avorking under the Chapter in the year 1370 . We find Rules laid clown for the regulation of the various craftsmen , ancl