Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
An Historical Account Of Master And Free Masons.
The title of Avehitectvia Angustornm Avas borne by Q . Cissonius , during the reigns of Severus and M . Antoninus . * Previously to the foundation of Constantinople , ' * the magistrates of the most distant provinces Avere directed , by a royal edictto institute schoolsto appoint
pro-, , fessors , and by the hopes of rewards and privileges to engage in the study and practice of architecture , a sufficient number of ingenious youths , Avho had receiA'ed a liberal education . " ' ! A similar mandate was issued by the Emperor Theodosius . t
Such were the apparent origin of a scientific institution among the Romans j but as the foregoing remarks are merely preliminary , or incidental , I hasten to the Gothick field , from Avhence a view may present itselfnot only of masonic
estab-, lishments , but of many eminent mastermasons Avhose names and works have been obscurely noticed , or Avithout chronological classification . In giving this series , the leading purposes of inquiry will be , to ascertain those who were employed in our own
country . There is a certaindoeument which proves , that in the eighth century , Charlemagne had invited artificers || from every country of Europe in Avhich they Avere established , to erect his magnificent church at Aix la
Chapelle . His asra may be therefore fixed upon as that least liable to contradiction or doubt , as that of the best authority of such a body on the Continent .
After the Norman conquest , the prelates Lanfranc and Gundul pk brought over to England not only the style of architecture Avhich Avas peculiar to their oAvn native province , but the artificers themselves . These had been chiefly employed in building the
two great churches at Caen , and that likewise of vast dimensions , attached to the Abbey of Bec . § Gundulph Avas no less eminent for his military architecture , and his designs were executed by the same hands .
The first master-mason whose Avorks are extant in England , and his name authenticated , is William of Sens . f AVIIO Avas assisted and succeeded by William the Englishman in the completion of the choir of Canterbury cathedral , in the year 1179 .
At the commencement of the next century , Ave may consider the fraternity to have been consolidated in this kingdom , as it had been for some years previously both in Germany and France . Besides the abbey church of Westminsterthere Avere
, not a few sumptuous and extensive ecclesiastical structures , which , at that time , were making a contemporary progress . Authors maintain distinct opinions as to the priority of the German schools , from Avhence it is contended that the
mastermasons Avith their confreres , or operatives , have emigrated into France and Italy . *' Certain it is , that several architects Avere employed in both those countries , and perhaps before their own countrymen , both
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
An Historical Account Of Master And Free Masons.
The title of Avehitectvia Angustornm Avas borne by Q . Cissonius , during the reigns of Severus and M . Antoninus . * Previously to the foundation of Constantinople , ' * the magistrates of the most distant provinces Avere directed , by a royal edictto institute schoolsto appoint
pro-, , fessors , and by the hopes of rewards and privileges to engage in the study and practice of architecture , a sufficient number of ingenious youths , Avho had receiA'ed a liberal education . " ' ! A similar mandate was issued by the Emperor Theodosius . t
Such were the apparent origin of a scientific institution among the Romans j but as the foregoing remarks are merely preliminary , or incidental , I hasten to the Gothick field , from Avhence a view may present itselfnot only of masonic
estab-, lishments , but of many eminent mastermasons Avhose names and works have been obscurely noticed , or Avithout chronological classification . In giving this series , the leading purposes of inquiry will be , to ascertain those who were employed in our own
country . There is a certaindoeument which proves , that in the eighth century , Charlemagne had invited artificers || from every country of Europe in Avhich they Avere established , to erect his magnificent church at Aix la
Chapelle . His asra may be therefore fixed upon as that least liable to contradiction or doubt , as that of the best authority of such a body on the Continent .
After the Norman conquest , the prelates Lanfranc and Gundul pk brought over to England not only the style of architecture Avhich Avas peculiar to their oAvn native province , but the artificers themselves . These had been chiefly employed in building the
two great churches at Caen , and that likewise of vast dimensions , attached to the Abbey of Bec . § Gundulph Avas no less eminent for his military architecture , and his designs were executed by the same hands .
The first master-mason whose Avorks are extant in England , and his name authenticated , is William of Sens . f AVIIO Avas assisted and succeeded by William the Englishman in the completion of the choir of Canterbury cathedral , in the year 1179 .
At the commencement of the next century , Ave may consider the fraternity to have been consolidated in this kingdom , as it had been for some years previously both in Germany and France . Besides the abbey church of Westminsterthere Avere
, not a few sumptuous and extensive ecclesiastical structures , which , at that time , were making a contemporary progress . Authors maintain distinct opinions as to the priority of the German schools , from Avhence it is contended that the
mastermasons Avith their confreres , or operatives , have emigrated into France and Italy . *' Certain it is , that several architects Avere employed in both those countries , and perhaps before their own countrymen , both