THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY.
io8
And who were
They were the
ties of
with
Steinmetzen.
Wliat manner of
?
They
an
edifice, satisfied to
know
who
contentedly worked for a
that although they might never see
would carry on the work
the worship of the Most High.
successors
temple to
Whence came they ?
?
workmen, bound together by strong
midst master builders whose minds were stored
mathematical knowledge of those days, and
the
lifetime at
men were they
were a class of simple
brotherhood, but containing in their
all
their
these builders
to
a
glorious
and
conclusion,
its
completion,
one more
raise
Before proceeding to inquire into their origin, it may be as well to form a clear idea of
and it has very generally
Stein undoubtedly means stone
the significance of their name.
;
been assumed that mdzcn
Meitzcl, a chisel
;
as stonecutters.'
is
derived from the same Teutonic root as Messcr, a knife, and
hence Steinbrenner,
The probable
root
p.
and Fort constantly refers to them
however, mcssen, to measure hence the
46, calls them,
of the word
is,
;
—
in all points with our own
English translation would be stone-measurers identical
stonemason. As to their origin, this is a question which will always be most difficult to
term
literal
The German
satisfactorily determine.
of the
writers are
many who have
written of the craft guilds
jMiddle Ages, and have therefore necessarily touched on the
German stonemasons
;
but they have been content with describing them as revealed by their own and contemporary
They take up their history
documents, without instituting any inquiry into their origin.
when they were already in the high tide of their prosperity, and therefore afford us little
The writers on architecture and art incidentally mention them, but
information to the point.
which they
always in the same manner, and have mainly derived the few particulars with
favour us from the preceding class.
Early masonic writers have merely compared their
institutions with those of the English Freemasons (Vogel, Krause, Kloss, Heldmann, etc.),
attempt to unravel their early history is Fallou, in his
In many points this author is untrustworthy, as
"Mysterien der Freimaurer" (1848).^
he has sacrificed every other consideration to his grand aim of proving that our present
system of Fieemasonry is directly attributable to the German stonemasons. In hardly any
and the
first
of this
class
one case of importance
many
of his
is
to
his testimony strengthened
statements are, to say the
they must be very
charily used.
hardihood of assertion
least,
so
an authority, and
that without such reference
by a reference
startling,
Winzer^ has walked in
and Findel, Steinbrenner, and
footsteps with even greater
his
Fort,
to
have more or
less
placidly
followed their lead, without any attempt at verification.
Nevertheless, to Fallou must be
assigned the credit of having first shown where the Steinmetzen probably originated, and in
;
what manner they developed, althoiTgh some of his deductions are undoubtedly wTong.
That the first seeds of architecture in Germany were planted by the Christian missionaries
We need not assume that the German tribes in their wanderings had
is indisputable.
purposely destroyed every sign of Roman civilisation, including their massive stone edifices.
They would hardly have taken the trouble to pull down Eoman masonry, but probably
what the fire had spared, the hand of neglect and time finally ruined and the tribes
;
being a distinctively warlike race, not given to the arts of peace, it is very doubtful whether
in the sixth century even the dwellings of their chiefs were more than rude huts, decorated
'
G. F. Fort,
"
The
'
J.
first
The Early History and Antiquities of Freemasonry, p.
work appeared in 1848, but all quotations
edition of this
Winzer, Die Deutsehen Brudersehaften.
145.
are
made from
that of 1859.