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Article THE EARLY BUILDERS. ← Page 3 of 4 →
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The Early Builders.
penalty of death in one of the persecutions . It has always seemed to me that , allowing for the efflorescence of legends , and the anachronisms and errors inseparable from mere traditions , however carefully preserved , a residuum of truth is to be found in the real connection of the Freemasons with the Collegium , or the Gild .
The legend of Edwin is only explicable , I hold , on Drake ' s theory , that the Edwin intended is Edwin or Eadwin of the Deira , ( traditions become confused by lapse of time ) , and that he patronized Paulinus and his Casmentarii . If Athelstan , a great giver of charters , granted a charter to a Mason Gild , we have the simple
explanation of the legend not in itself necessarily untrue . At the Conquest a new style of building , of which , according to William of Malmesbury , a trace occurs in the latter part of the reign of Edward the Confessor , came into full vogue in England , and that , undoubtedly , came from Gaul or Normandy . The legend of Charles Martel , also
found in Depping ' s collections , evinces a real patronage of the Macons in France by Charles Martel . It seems to me , I confess , not to matter much whether the Cs & mentarii came from Rome , or from Rome to Gaul , and from Gaul to England , as the point is not so much the " locus in quo , " as the
continuance from and linking on to the great Roman Gilds , which Mr . Coote affirms were the parents of the Anglo-Saxon Gilds and of the mediaeval Gilds in this country .
In the reign of Richard II ., over 600 Gilds of various kinds made returns to the Chancery , so that they must have been then a very powerful body in our social life . But if their " fans et origo " were from Rome , it certainly is a very curious fact that almost the earliest Gild Legends seem to preserve this old tradition , and we may find in
this Gild history and life a part explanation , at any rate , of the preservation and existence of Freemasonry . But at present , whence the Gild Legend of Albanus came from does not seem to be quite clear . My friend Bro . Rylands seems to think that the two statements contradict , each other ; but if he will think it over again he will see , I
hope , as I do , that the legend of Albanus is the earlier legend , and the history of the introduction of Roman or Gaulish artificers is a little fact of history in no way interfering with the earlier date of the Gild Legend . The earliest legend , the Masonic Poem , alludes to Noah , Babylon ,
Nebuchadnezzar , and in a wonderful interpolation in the "Ars Quatnor , " which is clearly another Gild legend , to Euclyde and Athelstan and the Quatuor Coronati . The additional MS . alludes to Adam , and Cain , and Seth , and Enoch , and Noah , and Nimrod , and the Tower of Babel , and Laniech and his three sons , and Abraham , and Euclid ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Early Builders.
penalty of death in one of the persecutions . It has always seemed to me that , allowing for the efflorescence of legends , and the anachronisms and errors inseparable from mere traditions , however carefully preserved , a residuum of truth is to be found in the real connection of the Freemasons with the Collegium , or the Gild .
The legend of Edwin is only explicable , I hold , on Drake ' s theory , that the Edwin intended is Edwin or Eadwin of the Deira , ( traditions become confused by lapse of time ) , and that he patronized Paulinus and his Casmentarii . If Athelstan , a great giver of charters , granted a charter to a Mason Gild , we have the simple
explanation of the legend not in itself necessarily untrue . At the Conquest a new style of building , of which , according to William of Malmesbury , a trace occurs in the latter part of the reign of Edward the Confessor , came into full vogue in England , and that , undoubtedly , came from Gaul or Normandy . The legend of Charles Martel , also
found in Depping ' s collections , evinces a real patronage of the Macons in France by Charles Martel . It seems to me , I confess , not to matter much whether the Cs & mentarii came from Rome , or from Rome to Gaul , and from Gaul to England , as the point is not so much the " locus in quo , " as the
continuance from and linking on to the great Roman Gilds , which Mr . Coote affirms were the parents of the Anglo-Saxon Gilds and of the mediaeval Gilds in this country .
In the reign of Richard II ., over 600 Gilds of various kinds made returns to the Chancery , so that they must have been then a very powerful body in our social life . But if their " fans et origo " were from Rome , it certainly is a very curious fact that almost the earliest Gild Legends seem to preserve this old tradition , and we may find in
this Gild history and life a part explanation , at any rate , of the preservation and existence of Freemasonry . But at present , whence the Gild Legend of Albanus came from does not seem to be quite clear . My friend Bro . Rylands seems to think that the two statements contradict , each other ; but if he will think it over again he will see , I
hope , as I do , that the legend of Albanus is the earlier legend , and the history of the introduction of Roman or Gaulish artificers is a little fact of history in no way interfering with the earlier date of the Gild Legend . The earliest legend , the Masonic Poem , alludes to Noah , Babylon ,
Nebuchadnezzar , and in a wonderful interpolation in the "Ars Quatnor , " which is clearly another Gild legend , to Euclyde and Athelstan and the Quatuor Coronati . The additional MS . alludes to Adam , and Cain , and Seth , and Enoch , and Noah , and Nimrod , and the Tower of Babel , and Laniech and his three sons , and Abraham , and Euclid ,