The History of Freemasonry

by Albert Gallatin Mackey

Chapter 9 - The Early English Masonic Guilds

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TO Brother William James Hughan are we indebted, more than to any other person, for the collection and publication of all the Masonic Guild ordinances that have been preserved in the British Museum, in the archives of old Lodges, or in private hands.

In the beginning of his work on The Old Charges of the British Freemasons (a book so valuable and so necessary that it should be in the library of every Masonic archaeologist), Brother Hughan says:

"Believing as we do that the present Association of Freemasons is an outgrowth of the Building Corporations and Guilds of the Middle Ages, as also a lineal descendant and sole representative of the early, secret Masonic sodalities, it appears to us that their ancient Laws and Charges are specially worthy of preservation, study and reproduction. No collection of these having hitherto been published we have undertaken to introduce several of the most important to the notice of the Fraternity."

As Brother Hughan is distinguished for the accuracy and fidelity with which he has himself made, or caused to be made by competent scribes, copies of these Constitutions from the originals, I shall select from one of the earliest of them the ordinances or regulations, which shall be collated with those of the early Saxon Guilds, specimens of which have been given in the preceding chapter.

An account of these Old Records, as they are sometimes called, will be found in the first part of this work, where the subject of the Legend of the Craft, which they all contain, is treated. It will be unnecessary therefore to repeat here that account.

I might have selected for collation the statutes contained in the poem published by Halliwell, or those in the Cooke manuscript, as both are of an older date than any in the collection of Hughan. But as they are all substantially the same in their provisions, and the latter have the advantage of greater brevity, I shall content myself with referring occasionally, when required, to the former.

The manuscript which is selected for collation is that known as the Landsdowne, whose date is supposed to be 1560. The date of the manuscript is, however, no criterion of the date of the Guild whose ordinances it recites, for that was of course much older. It is thought to be next in point of antiquity to the poem published by Mr. Halliwell, to which the date of 1390 is assigned, and Hughan says that "the style of calligraphy and other considerations seem to warrant so early a date being ascribed to it." In copying the statutes from the copy published by Brother Hughan, I have made an exact transcript, except that I have numbered the statutes consecutively instead of dividing them, as is done in the original, into two series. This has been done for convenience of collation with the Guild ordinances inserted in the preceding chapter and which have been numbered in a similar method. The orthography, for a similar reason, has been modernized,

CHARGES IN THE LANDSDOWNE MANUSCRIPT.

1. "You shall be true to God and Holy Church and to use no error or heresy, you understanding and by wise mens teaching, also that you shall be liege men to the King of England without treason or any falsehood and that you know no treason or treachery but that you amend and give knowledge thereof to the King and his Council; also that ye shall be true to one another (that is to say) every Mason of the Craft that is Mason allowed, you shall do to him as you would be done to yourself.

2. "Ye shall keep truly all the counsel of the Lodge or of the chamber and all the counsel of the Lodge that ought to be kept by the way of Masonhood, also that you be no thief nor thieves to your knowledge free; that you shall be true to the King, Lord or Master that you serve and truly to see and work for his advantage; also you shall call all Masons your Fellows or your Brethren and no other names.

3. "Also you shall not take your Fellow's wife in villainy, nor deflower his daughter or servant, nor put him to disworship; also you shall truly pay for your meat or drink wheresoever you go to table or board whereby the Craft or science may be slandered."

These are called "the charges general that belong to every true Mason, both Masters and Fellows." Then follow sixteen others, that are called "charges single for Masons Allowed." The only difference that I can perceive between the two sets of charges is that the first set refer to the moral conduct of the members of the Guild, while the second refer to their conduct as Craftsmen in the pursuit of their trade. The former were laws common or general to all the Guilds, the latter were peculiar to the Masons as a Craft Guild. The second set is as follows:

4. "That no Mason take on him no Lord's work, nor other mens, but if he know himself well able to perform the work, so that the Craft have no slander.

5. "That no Master take work but that he take reasonable pay for it, so that the Lord may be truly served and the Master live honestly and pay his Fellows truly; also that no Master or Fellow supplant others of their work (that is to say) if he have taken a work or else stand Master of a work that he shall not put him out without he be unable of cunning to make an end of his work; also that no Master nor Fellow shall take no apprentice for less than seven years and that the apprentice be able of birth that is freeborn and of limbs whole as a man ought to be, and that no Mason or Fellow take no allowance to be made Mason without the assent of his Fellows at the least six or seven and that he be made able in all degrees that is freeborn and of a good kindred, true and no bondsman and that he have his right limbs as a man ought to have.

6. "Also that a Master take no apprentice without he have occupation sufficient to occupy two or three Fellows at least.

7. "Also that no Master or Fellow put away lords work to task that ought to be journey work.

8. "Also that every Master give pay to his Fellows and servants as they may deserve, so that he be not defamed with false working.

9. "Also that none slander another behind his back to make him lose his good name.

10. "That no Fellow in the house or abroad answer another ungodly or reprovably without cause.

11. "That every Master Mason reverence his elder; also that a Mason be no common player at the dice, cards or hazard nor at any other unlawful plays through the which the science and craft may be dishonoured.

12. "That no Mason use no lechery nor have been abroad whereby the Craft may be dishonoured or slandered.

13. "That no Fellow go into the town by night except he have a Fellow with him who may bear record that he was in an honest place.

14. "Also that every Master and Fellow shall come to the Assembly if it be within fifty miles of him if he have any warning and if he have trespassed against the Craft to abide the award of the Masters and Fellows.

15. "Also that every Master Mason and Fellow that have trespassed against the Craft shall stand in correction of other Masters and Fellows to make him accord and if they cannot accord to go to the common law.

16. "Also that a Master or Fellow make not a mould stone, square nor rule to no lowen nor set no lowen work within the lodge nor without to no mould stone. (1)

17. "Also that every Mason receive or cherish strange Fellows when they come over to the country and set them on work if they will work as the manner is (that is to say) if the Mason have any mould stone in his place on work and if he have none the Mason shall refresh him with money unto the next Lodge.

18. "Also that every Mason shall truly serve his Master for his pay.

19. "Also that every Master shall truly make an end of his work task or journey which soever it be."

Now, in the collation of these "Charges" with the ordinances of the early Guilds we will find very many points of striking resemblance, showing the common prevalence of the Guild spirit of religion, charity, and brotherly love in each, and confirming the

(1) The Freemason must not make for one who is not a member of the Guild a mould or pattern stone as a guide for construction of mouldings or ornaments, whereby he would be imparting to him the secrets of the Craft. The word "lowen," which is found in no other manuscript, is supposed to be a clerical error for "cowan." It is just as probable that it is a mistake for "layer," a word used in other manuscripts and denoting a "rough mason." The stone-mason and the bricklayer are at this day separate trades. But whether the correct word be "cowan" or "layer," the object of the law was the same, namely, that a member of the Guild should not work with one who was not.

opinion of Hughan, and the hypothesis which has been constantly advanced, that the one was an outgrowth of the other.

The religious spirit which pervaded all the Guilds is here exhibited in number 1, which requires the Mason to be true to the Church and to use no error or heresy.

The charge in number 2, to keep the counsel of the Lodge, is met with in nearly all the Guild ordinances. Thus in the ordinances of the Shipmen's Guild, of the date of 1368, it is said:

"Whoso discovereth the counsel of the Guild of this fraternity to any strange man or woman and it may have been proved . . . shall pay to the light two stone of wax or shall lose (forfeit) the fraternity till he may have grace. That is he shall be suspended from the Guild until restored by a pardon."

The same regulation is found in the ordinances of several other Guilds, whose charters have been copied by Toulmin Smith. In those of the Guild of St. George the Martyr, dated 1376, there is no option afforded of a pecuniary fine. The words of the statute are that "no brother nor sister shall discover the counsel of this fraternity to no stranger on the pain of forfeiture of the fraternity forevermore." Nothing short of absolute expulsion was meted out to the betrayer of Guild secrets.

In the "Charges of a Free Mason," said to be "extracted from the ancient Records," published by Anderson in 1723, and adopted by the Grand Lodge, soon after the Revival, for the government of the Speculative Masons, this principle of the Guilds has been preserved. It is there said, in Charge VI., sec. 5, that the Mason is "not to let his family, friends, and neighbours know the concerns of the Lodge." It is at this day an almost unpardonable crime to disclose the secrets of the Lodge. The spirit of the Guild has been preserved in its successor, the modern Lodge.

The prohibition in the fourth charge, to dishonour a brother, or "put him to disworship," is found in the earliest of the Guilds. That of Orky, for example, prescribes a punishment to any member who "misgretes," that is, insults, abuses, or injures another member. The Guild was always careful to preserve a feeling of brotherly love and harmony among its members, a disposition which is also the characteristic of the Masonic fraternity. Hence we find the tenth point of these Masonic charges declaring that "none shall slander another behind his back." But the very language of the fourth point of the charges would appear to have been borrowed from the ordinances of some of the Guilds.

In those of the Guild of the Holy Trinity, whose date is 1377, we meet with these statutes:

"No one of the Guild shall do anything to the loss or hurt of another, nor allow it to be done so far as he can hinder it, the laws and customs of the town of Lancaster being always saved.

"No one of the Guild shall wrong the wife or daughter or sister of another, nor shall allow her to be wronged, so far as he can hinder it"

From the fifth to the twentieth charge, the regulations principally relate to the government of the Craft in their work. There is some difficulty in comparing these with the early Craft Guilds, from the paucity of charters of the latter which have been preserved. But wherever there are any points common to both, the analogy and resemblance between the two is at once detected.

Thus in the Charter of the Guild of Fullers at Lincoln, which Guild was begun in 1297, it is said that "none of the Craft shall work at the wooden bar (full cloth), with a woman, unless with the wife of a Master or his handmaid."

Toulmin Smith says that he cannot explain this restriction. But it was in fact only an effort of the Guild spirit common to all the Craft Guilds, which forbade one who was a member or freeman of the Guild from working with one who was not a member.

The Guild of the Tailors of Exeter had an ordinance that "no one shall have a board or shop of the Craft unless free of the city." And in the charter of the Guild of Tylers or Poyntours (pointers of walls) of Lincoln it is said that "no Tyler or Poyntour shall stay in the city unless he enters the Guild."

The same spirit of exclusiveness is shown in the seventeenth point of the Masonic Constitutions, which forbids a Master or Fellow from working with a Cowan, or one who was not a "Mason Allowed," that is to say, one who has been admitted into the fraternity or Guild.

This exclusion from a participation in labour of all who were not members of the sodality was a regulation common to all the Craft Guilds, but was perhaps more fully developed and more stringently urged in the Constitution of the Masonic Guild than in those of any of the others. It is from this principle of exclusiveness that the modern Lodges of Speculative Masonry have derived their strict regulation of holding no communication with Masons who have not been "duly initiated," or with Lodges which have not been "legally constituted."

Contumacy, rebellion, or disobedience to the laws of the Craft or of the Guild was severely punished. The ordinances of the Smiths' Guild of Chesterfield prescribed that any brother who is "contumacious or sets himself against the brethren or gainsays any of these ordinances" shall be suspended, denounced, and excommunicated. A similar regulation is to be found in other Guilds.

According to the Landsdowne Statutes, a Mason is required to be true to every member of the Craft, and to reverence his elder or superior, and in the points of the statutes of the Masonic Guild, as set forth in the Halliwell MS., it is said that the Mason must be "true and steadfast to all these ordinances wheresoever he goes."

Suits at law between the members were discouraged and forbidden, except as a last resort, in all the Saxon Guilds.

The Shipmen's Guild provided that the Alderman (or Master) and the other members should do their best to adjust a quarrel, but if they were unable, then the Alderman should give them leave "to make their suit at common law."

In the Guild of the Holy Cross it was declared that no brother or sister of the Guild should go to law for a debt or a trespass until he had asked leave of the Alderman and of the men of the Guild.

The Statutes of the Guild of St. John the Baptist, enacted in, 1374, are more explicit. There it is said that a member "cannot sue until he has shown his grievance to the Alderman and Guild brethren that are chief of the Council," and it adds that "the Alderman and the Guild brethren shall try their best to make them agree; and if they cannot agree they may make their complaint in what place they will."

The same provision is met with in all the Constitutions of the Masonic Guild. The earliest of them, the Halliwell MS., prescribes in case of a dispute a "love-day" or arbitration. The Landsdowne says that when a wrong is done by one of the members to another, the other Masters and Fellows must try to make them agree, and if they cannot agree they may then "go to the common law," which is the very expression used in the Shipmen's Guild above cited.

It is a very strong proof of the connection between the early Guilds and the modern Lodges that this reluctance to permit the brethren to carry their personal disputes out of the Craft and into the publicity of the courts was fully developed in the "Charges of the Speculative Masons," adopted in 1723. In these it is said, in the true spirit of the old Guilds to which Speculative Masonry succeeded, that, "with respect to Brothers or Fellows at law, the Master and Brethren should kindly offer their mediation, which ought to be thankfully accepted by the contending brethren; but if that submission is impracticable, they must, however, carry on their process or law-suit without wrath and rancour."

It is needless to extend these comparisons. Sufficient has been done to show that there is a close resemblance in their mode of organization, method of action, constitution, and spirit between the Saxon Guilds and the modern Masonic Lodges, which actually are, under another name, only Masonic Guilds. This resemblance indicates an historical connection between the two, and this connection may be more closely traced through the civic companies of London and other cities of England. That these latter were the direct off-shoot from the former is a fact generally admitted by writers on the subject, and of it there can be no doubt. " In the Trade Guilds," says Mr. Thorpe, "we may see the origin of our civic companies." (1)

To these civic companies, and to one of them particularly, the Masons' Company in Basinghall Street, the reader's attention must be invited.

(1) "Diplomatarium Anglicum Evi Saxonici," Preface, p. xvi.

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