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N A L G R
I G O AND LODGE
The Ashlar E R Vol. XV Issue III
Thirdly, there are several known or fancied Aubrey, to the effect that" about Henry the
bodies of operative builders or architects, Third's time the Pope gave a Bull or diploma
who have been suspected of having handed to a Company of Italian Architects to travell
down and propagated moral teachings and up and downe over all Europe to build
symbolism which finally came into the Churches. From these are derived the
possession of the medieval operative Fraternity of Free-Masons. This, again, is
Masons, to blossom at last into the Craft as not impossible; but, in spite of intensive
we have it today. There are three main search in Papal archives and elsewhere, no
"theories" (if such a term is permissible); evidence is yet available in support of the
and, as the technique of operative masonry statement. We can safely, therefore, dismiss
has undoubtedly been handed down from it as a guess, at the same time emphasising
generation to generation for perhaps several that, though much research has been
thousand years2 we cannot ignore entirely carried out in recent years on operative
the possibility that some esoteric teaching documents, there is still no reason for
has come to us through the same channels. supposing that any special body of Masons
The three main theories will be dealt with was ever employed exclusively on Church -
separately. or Abbey - building in this country. On the
The "Collegia" were part-religious, part- contrary, a Mason took any job which came
social and part-craft "clubs" which his way, whether Church or Castle.
flourished, encouraged by the Roman Lastly, much has been said and written of
authorities, at the height of the Empire. It is recent years of a supposed body of Masons
quite likely (but there is no evidence) that who called themselves the "Comacine
such bodies, 7 primarily devoted to the craft Masters," so-called, it is said, because their
of building, accompanied or followed the original headquarters were situated on an
Roman armies to Britain in mid-first century; island in Lake Como. Now it is certainly true
and that when the Romans withdrew from that the early development of Romanesque
this country towards the end of the fourth architecture was much influenced by
century, some of the personnel remained Lombard builders, who were in wide demand
behind, so that their teaching survived and in western Europe, and whose work in some
was handed down until it found utterance (j~ of its characteristic features is distinctive.
again among the stone-builders of the But it is extremely doubtful if they ever
Anglo-Saxon period. It is not impossible that formed an organized body; while, even if
this may have been the case; but as there is they did so, there is no reason Whatever for
no evidence that the Collegia possessed any supposing that they possessed any of the
esoteric teaching; as there was an almost features, such as symbolic teaching or
complete break of several centuries in secret signs or words, which are among the
stone-building after the departure of the peculiarities of the Freemasons.
Romans; and as there is no evidence even of Consequently, though the rather attractive
craft-organization among the Masons until idea that we had found here our lineal
the to tenth century (and then only very ancestors gained a considerable hold thirty
slender evidence), the chances of an or forty years ago, it has long since been
inheritance from the Collegia would appear abandoned as a working hypothesis.
highly remote. The Steinmetzen.
Again, there is a remark of Dugdale, the The theory that our fraternity derived from
seventeenth century antiquary and herald, the Steinmetzen, or stonecutters, of
recorded somewhat casually by John Germany became very popular about a

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