The Secret of the Mediaeval Masons

Abstract

since they were not bound a guild in any specific city. Their vocation forced them wander from place place where churches were erected and stone masons were needed. Thus they were free and had the character of an international society. The same Italian stone masons worked at Speyer in Germany and at Lund in Sweden; French stone masons worked in Germany, and so on. They were nevertheless regionally organized. Only in Germany had an organization been fully developed. Four major lodges became the centers for the smaller ones: Strasbourg, Cologne, Vienna and Bern. In these places disputes were settled by the head master, for the guild had its own jurisdiction. A court was needed for final decisions and this honor was bestowed on the lodge of Strasbourg probably as early as the time of the erection of the nave of Strasbourg Cathedral in the second half of the thirteenth century.' All these lodges had their written rules which probably slowly became unified. In Germany this unification was accomplished when the representatives of nearly all lodges of Germany, including those of Switzerland and Alsace, held a common session in Regensburg in 1459. The rules defined at that eeting were later confirmed by Emperor Maximilian I in 1498. From this document of 1459 we know not only that there was a secret but also what it referred. Paragraph thirteen says: Also no workman, nor master, nor parlier, nor journeyman shall teach anyone, whatever he may be called, not being one of our handicraft and never having done mason work, how take the elevation from the ground plan.2 There were still other secrets but they were intended preserve this main one intact. It was the master's duty keep the book of the lodge and have it read the masons every year. The journeyman who was promoted had take an oath not reveal anyone the secret salutation, etc. Secrets arouse curiosity. We want know what this sentence means: to take the elevation from the ground plan. But there is no need guess for ourselves. Only one generation after the great session of Regensburg the master of the cathedral of this Bavarian town, Matthius Roriczer, published the secret in a small booklet with the consent of the bishop of Regensburg.' Roriczer probably had been

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