Chap. II. MEDI/EVAL ARTIFICERS.

127
312. Tlio remarks by tlis present editor, On. t'le Supetintendei.U
of
Eii(;I!.sh BitUdhigs in
the Middle At/es contains tiie first classified account of tlie oHicial situations of peisons
eng iged, with some general idea of their duties. This list includes the terms: I,
Arcliitect
; 2, Ingeniator; f!, Supervisor; 4, Survej'or ; .5, Overseer; 6, INIaster of the
Works
; 7, Keeper of the Works; 8, Keeper of the Fabric; 9, Director; 10, Clerk of the
^Vorks
; 11, Uevizor
;
1 2, Master mason ; and 13, Freemason and mason, or inferior work-
man. It will be impossible here to give more than a brief outline. 'I'o commence with
the freemasons: In 1077, Robertus, cementarius, was employed at St. Albans, and for
liis skill and labour, in which he is stated to iiave excelled all the masons of his time, he
had granted to him and iiis heirs, certain lands and a liouse in the town. In 1113, Ar)iold,
\ lay brother of Croyland Abbey, is designated ''of tl;e art of masonry a most scientific
master." William of Sens, employed at Canterbury, was a layman and v/as called
"
magis-
ter"
; the history of his work has been preserved to us in the well written account by the
monk Gervase, who details the burning and rebuilding of that cathedral. A number of
eliosen cementarii were assembled at St. .Mbans in 12 JO, of whom the chief, magister Hugo
de Goklclif, proved to be a
"
djceitful but clever workman. " Very many other names of
masons are noticed, but tliese cannot all be here given. In 1217, a writer uses the syno-
nyms maszun for cementarvis ; artificer is a word also used in the same century ; inarmoi arius,
cr niarbler ; and latjinus or lathomus, stone-cutter, also occur. In 1360, a mason dc fraunche
})ere ou de grosie pere is named in the Statutes; while it is not until I39b' that the terms
'
lathomos vocatos tfremaceons," and
"
lathomos vocatos ligiers," are used to designate tlio
masons who were called free( stone )masons, and the masons called layers or setters. In the
fal)ric rolls of Exeter catiiedral, the term sime.tarius is used before, and the term freniasoii
after, the above-named jieriod of 1395. Thus tlie derivation of the term freemason, from a
freestone worker, appears more probable than tlie many fanciful origins of it so often quoted.
What becomes then of the "travelling bodies of freemasons" who are said to have erected all
the great huildiags of Europe ? Did they ever exist ? The earliest mention of them appears
to have been promulgated by Aubrey, some tims before 16S6, wiio cited Sir William Dug-
dale as having told him *' many years since, that about Henry Ill's time (121G-72),
the Pope gave a hull or jiatents to a company of Italian fivemasons to travel up and down
over all Europe tJ build churches. From tiiem are derived the fraternity of Adopted
Masons." No evidence has been adduced in support of this statement; searches have been
made in the Vatican library without success. Wren's Parentulla gives an account of these
personages to the same purport, though somewhat enlarged, {par. 401), and this has been
quoted as an authority. I-'rom a careful comparison of circumstances, Dugdale's in-
f.)rmation to Aubrey most probalily referred to the
"
Letters of Indulgence "of Pojjc Nicho-
las 1 II., in 1278, and to others by his successors as late as the Hth centm-y, granted to the
lodge of masons working at Strasburg cathedral, as al.so noticed on page 131 herein.
313. Concerning the Fratre? Pontis, or the Cutifrattriiite des /wh<s, already referred to,
{far. 310), much has been written during the last one hundred years asserting that this
brotherhood had been founded for the express purpose of travelling far and wide to build
bridges. Even as regards France, only a notice is found of such a troo]) having been
formed by St. Benezet, for building the bridge at Avignon, and that of St. Esprit,
over the Rhone, during the 12th and 14th centuries, (11 78 1188 and 1265-1309). In
England no such companies are found recorded ; but wherever a bridge was built, a chapel
appears to have been founded, to which a priest was attached to pray foi* the soul of the
founder, to receive passage money, and sometimes to j.ray witli tlie passenger for the safe
termination of his journey. Two instances only, of an early date, liave been )iut forward
i)f so called fraternities of masons ; the first is that Godfrey de Lucy, bishop of Winchester,
formed in 1202, a confraternity for repairing his church during the Hve years ensuing.
"
Siicli," says Milner, "was probably the origin of tlie Society of Freemasons." 'i'he
second, as asserted by Anderson, (Coiist't"t!ons of the Free and Accepted Masons, 1738), but
not since authenticated, is tliat the register of William Molart or AJolash, prior of Can-
terbury cathedral, records that a respectable lodge of freemasons was held in that city in
1429, under the patronage of Henry Cliichele, the archbishop, at which were present
Tliomas Stajiylton, master, the warden, fifteen fellowcrafts, and three entered apprentices.
It does not tlien appear to have Iieen known that each cathedral establishment possessed a
permanent staffof officers, with certain workpeople, and
"
took on
"
additional hands wlien-
ever the edifice was to receive additions, or to be rebuilt. The monarch al.so had an oflfice
for carrying out t!ie repairs and rebuildings at the palaces and royal houses. A guild of
masons was undoubtedly in existence in London, in 137,5, 49th Edward III , and in 1376
two companies of masons and of freemasons were in existence. The ."Masons' Company of
London was incorpjrated in 1411, and Stow says
"
they were formerly called freemasons."
The masons, during the 17th and ISth centuries, often became designers or architects,
as witness Nicholas Stone, George Dance tlie elder. Sir Robert Taylor, and others.
.314. At this date of 1375, some writers have placed the origin of that wonderful society,
caused, as they urge, by tlie masons combining and agreeing on certain signs andlokcnsby