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Article MAY CHEPWORTH: A CLEVELAND SKETCH. ← Page 4 of 4 Article FREEMASONRY AND THE EARLY ENGLISH GILDS. Page 1 of 5 →
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May Chepworth: A Cleveland Sketch.
time that portion of Scripture * Avas too sadly realised which says : — " Boast not thyself of to-morrow ; for thou knowesfc not Avhat a clay may bring forth . " ' Rose Cottage , Stokeslcy .
Freemasonry And The Early English Gilds.
FREEMASONRY AND THE EARLY ENGLISH GILDS .
BY ALBERT G . MACKEY , M . D . WE need no apology for repeating this interesting communication of our esteemed ancl learned brother Albert G . Mackey . As earl y as the eleventh century Ave find in Englandassociations of men
, , united together for mutual assistance , to assist poor and helpless members , and to bury the dead . ' These associations Avere called GILDS .
It is unnecessary to trace the word to the various deviations Avhich have been suggested by different writers on the subject . It is sufficient to say that in the old French , the Teutonic , and the Scandidavian languagesGilde signified a -
, corpo ration or societ y having a common contributed stock , or as Co well defines it , " a fraternity or company combined together , by orders ancl laws made among themselves . "
Perhaps the best idea of a gild , that could be furnished to a cursory reader would be obtained from the description given by Brentano , in his History and Development of Gilds , ef one of the oldest that existed in England about the beginof the eleventh
ning century . " This Gild , " he says , " was founded and richly endoAved b y Orey , a friend of Canute the Great at Abbotsbury , in honour of God and St . Peter . Its object , according to the statutes , appears to have been the
support aud nursing of infirm Gild-brothers , the burial of the dead and the performance of religious services ancl the saying of prayers for their souls . The association met every year , on the feast of St . Peterfor united worshiin honour of
, p their patron saint . " The salient points in this descri ption would equally apply to every Gild that was formed from that day to the time of their
dissolution . Each waa erected in honour of God and of some particular Saint . Each Avas gOA'erned by a form of statutes , or as it Avas most frequently called , Ordinations or Constitutions . Each Avas
intended for the support of infirm brethren . Each met at an annual feast which was on the day of the Saint to Avhom the Gild Avas erected . The reader will be impressed with the general resemblance that lodges of Freemasons bear in their organization to these
Gilds . Ancl hence , it is that the now A'ery generally accepted theory of the history of Freemasonry , traces it back to the corporations of Stonemasons AVIIO , in the Middle Ages , were common over Europe and Avhich Avere nothing more nor less than Craft Gilds .
The object of the present paper is not to trace this historical connection , but only by a comparison of the Constitutions of the various Gilds Avith the laws which regulate the government of Masonic Lodges to SIIOAV the strong analogies which exist between the tAvo institutions .
Materials for this comparison are very ample . To say nothing of the German and French authorities , the former especially , who have Avritten copiously aud almost exhaustively on this subject , we have in the Avork of the late Toulmin Smith
, edited by his daughter Miss Lucy Toulmin Smith and published by the Early English Text Society , a collection of the original ordinances or constitutions of more than one hundred of the Early English Gilds .
This collection consists of the ordinances of Social and Religious Gilds , of Merchant Gilds , and of Craft Gilds , but does not embrace the Gilds or Corporations of Masons , for Avhich we will be indebted to the labours of Halliwell , Cooke , WOODFORDand especially of HUGHAN . These
, latter , will not , howeA'er , constitute any part of the present paper , which will be devoted entirely to a comparison of the laws Avhich governed the non-masonic Gilds of the Middle Ages in England , with the Laws which govern the modern
Society of Freemasons . "An examination of the close connection between "the laws and usages which prevailed among the early Masonic Gilds or Corporations of Stonemasons ancl the organizations of modern Masonic Lodges will furnish
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
May Chepworth: A Cleveland Sketch.
time that portion of Scripture * Avas too sadly realised which says : — " Boast not thyself of to-morrow ; for thou knowesfc not Avhat a clay may bring forth . " ' Rose Cottage , Stokeslcy .
Freemasonry And The Early English Gilds.
FREEMASONRY AND THE EARLY ENGLISH GILDS .
BY ALBERT G . MACKEY , M . D . WE need no apology for repeating this interesting communication of our esteemed ancl learned brother Albert G . Mackey . As earl y as the eleventh century Ave find in Englandassociations of men
, , united together for mutual assistance , to assist poor and helpless members , and to bury the dead . ' These associations Avere called GILDS .
It is unnecessary to trace the word to the various deviations Avhich have been suggested by different writers on the subject . It is sufficient to say that in the old French , the Teutonic , and the Scandidavian languagesGilde signified a -
, corpo ration or societ y having a common contributed stock , or as Co well defines it , " a fraternity or company combined together , by orders ancl laws made among themselves . "
Perhaps the best idea of a gild , that could be furnished to a cursory reader would be obtained from the description given by Brentano , in his History and Development of Gilds , ef one of the oldest that existed in England about the beginof the eleventh
ning century . " This Gild , " he says , " was founded and richly endoAved b y Orey , a friend of Canute the Great at Abbotsbury , in honour of God and St . Peter . Its object , according to the statutes , appears to have been the
support aud nursing of infirm Gild-brothers , the burial of the dead and the performance of religious services ancl the saying of prayers for their souls . The association met every year , on the feast of St . Peterfor united worshiin honour of
, p their patron saint . " The salient points in this descri ption would equally apply to every Gild that was formed from that day to the time of their
dissolution . Each waa erected in honour of God and of some particular Saint . Each Avas gOA'erned by a form of statutes , or as it Avas most frequently called , Ordinations or Constitutions . Each Avas
intended for the support of infirm brethren . Each met at an annual feast which was on the day of the Saint to Avhom the Gild Avas erected . The reader will be impressed with the general resemblance that lodges of Freemasons bear in their organization to these
Gilds . Ancl hence , it is that the now A'ery generally accepted theory of the history of Freemasonry , traces it back to the corporations of Stonemasons AVIIO , in the Middle Ages , were common over Europe and Avhich Avere nothing more nor less than Craft Gilds .
The object of the present paper is not to trace this historical connection , but only by a comparison of the Constitutions of the various Gilds Avith the laws which regulate the government of Masonic Lodges to SIIOAV the strong analogies which exist between the tAvo institutions .
Materials for this comparison are very ample . To say nothing of the German and French authorities , the former especially , who have Avritten copiously aud almost exhaustively on this subject , we have in the Avork of the late Toulmin Smith
, edited by his daughter Miss Lucy Toulmin Smith and published by the Early English Text Society , a collection of the original ordinances or constitutions of more than one hundred of the Early English Gilds .
This collection consists of the ordinances of Social and Religious Gilds , of Merchant Gilds , and of Craft Gilds , but does not embrace the Gilds or Corporations of Masons , for Avhich we will be indebted to the labours of Halliwell , Cooke , WOODFORDand especially of HUGHAN . These
, latter , will not , howeA'er , constitute any part of the present paper , which will be devoted entirely to a comparison of the laws Avhich governed the non-masonic Gilds of the Middle Ages in England , with the Laws which govern the modern
Society of Freemasons . "An examination of the close connection between "the laws and usages which prevailed among the early Masonic Gilds or Corporations of Stonemasons ancl the organizations of modern Masonic Lodges will furnish