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Of interest here, as a kind of bridge between old legend and the early history of the
order in England also as a different version of the legend itself, er document dating far
back. There
was a discovered in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, about 1696, supposed to have
been written
in the year 1436, which purports to be an examination of a Mason by King Henry VI,
and is allowed by all to be genuine. Its title runs as follows: Certain questions with
answers to the same concerning the mystery of masonry written by King Henry the
Sixth and faithfully copied by me, John Laylande, antiquarian, by command of his
highness." Written in quaint old English, it would doubtless be unintelligible to all but
antiquarians, but it reads after this fashion:
What mote it be? - It is the knowledge of nature; and the power of its various
operations; particularly the skill of reckoning, of weights and measures, of
constructing buildings arid dwellings of all kinds, and the true manner of forming all
things for the use of man.
Where did it begin? - It began with the first men of the East, who were before the first
men of the West, and coming with it, it hath brought all comforts to the wild and
comfortless.
Who brought it to the West? - The Phoenicians who, being great merchants, came first
from the
East into Phoenicia, for the convenience of commerce, both East and West by the Red
and Mediterranean Seas.
How came it into England? - Pythagoras, a Grecian, traveled to acquire knowledge in
Egypt and Syria, and in every other land where the Phoenicians had planted Masonry;
and gaining admittance into all lodges of Masons, he learned much, and returned and
dwelt in Grecia Magna, growing and becoming mighty wise and greatly renowned.
Here he formed a great lodge at Crotona, and made many Masons, some of whom
traveled into France, and there made many more, from whence, in process of time, the
art passed into England.
III
With the conquest of Britain by the Romans, the Collegia, without which no Roman
society was complete, made their advent into the island, traces of their work
remaining even to this day. Under the direction of the mother College at Rome, the
Britons are said to have attained to high degree of excellence as builders, so that when
the cities of Gaul and the fortresses along the Rhine were destroyed, Chlorus, A. D.
298, sent to Britain for architects to repair or rebuild them. Whether the Collegia
existed in Britain after the Romans left, as some affirm, or were suppressed, as we
know they were on the Continent when the barbarians overran it, is not clear.
Probably they were destroyed, or nearly so, for with the revival of Christianity in 598
A. D., we find Bishop Wilfred of York joining with the Abbott of Wearmouth in
sending to France and Italy to induce Masons to return and build in stone, as he put it,
"after the Roman manner." This confirms the Italian chroniclists who relate that Pope
Gregory sent several of the fraternity of Liberi muratori with St. Augustine, as, later,
they followed St. Boniface into Germany.
Again, in 604, Augustine sent the monk Pietro back to Rome with a letter to the same
Pontiff, begging him to send more architects and workmen, which he did. As the
Liberi muratori were none other than the Comacine Masters, it seems certain that they
were at work in England long before the period with which the Old Charges begin
their story of English Masonry.* Among those sent by Gregory was Paulinus, and it is
a curious fact that he is spoken of under the title of Magister, by which is meant, no
doubt, that he was a member of the Comacine order, for they so described their
members; and we know that many monks were enrolled in their lodges, having
studied the art of building under their instruction. St. Hugh of Lincoln was not the
only Bishop who could plan a church, instruct the workman, or handle a hod. Only, it
must be kept in mind that these ecclesiastics who became skilled in architecture were
taught by the Masons, and that it was not the monks, as some seem to imagine, who
taught the Masons their art. Speaking of this early and troublous time, Giuseppe
Merzaria says that only one lamp remained alight, making a bright spark in the
darkness that extended over Europe:
(* See the account of "The Origin of Saxon Architecture," in the Cathedral Builders
(bk. ii, chap. iii), written by Dr. W. M. Barnes in independently of the author who was
living in Italy; and it is significant that the facts led both of them to the same
conclusions. They show quite unmistakably that the Comacine builders were in
England as early as 600 A. D., both by documents and by a comparative study of
styles of architecture.)
It was from the Magistri Comacini. Their respective names are unknown, their
individual works unspecialized, but the breadth of their spirit might be felt all through
those centuries, and their name collectively is legion. We may safely say that of all
the works of art between A. D. 800 and 1000, the greater and better part are due to
that brotherhood - always faithful and often secret - of the Mugistri Comacini. The
authority and judgment of learned men justify the assertion.*
Among the learned men who agree with this judgment are Kugler of Germany, Ramee
of France, and, Selvatico of Italy, as well as Quatremal de Quincy, in his Dictionary
of Architecture, who, in the article on the Comacine, remarks that "to these men, who
were both designers and executors, architects, sculptors, and mosaicists, may be
attributed the renaissance of art, and its propagation in the southern countries, where it
marched with Christianity. Certain it is that we owe it to them, that the heritage of
antique ages was not entirely lost, and it is only by their tradition and imitation that
the art of building was kept alive, producing works which we still admire, and which
become surprising when we think of the utter iguorance of all science in those dark
ages." The English writer, Hope, goes further and credits the Comacine order with
being the cradle of the associations of Freemasons, who were, he adds, "the first after
Roman times to enrich architecture with a complete and well-ordinated system, which
dominated wherever the Latin Church extended its influence."** So then, even if the
early records of old Craft-masonry in England are confused, and often confusing, we
are not left to grope our way from one dim tradition to another, having the history and
monuments of this great order which spans the whole period, and links the fraternity
of Free-masons with one of the noblest chapters in the annals of art.
(* Maestri Comacini, vol.1, chap. ii.
** Story of Architecture, chap. xxii.)
Almost without exception the Old Charges begin their account of Masonry in England
at the time of Athelstan, the grandson of Alfred the Great; that is, between 925 and
940. Of this prince, or knight, they record that he was a wise and pacific ruler; that
"he brought the land to rest and peace, and built many great buildings of castles and
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