THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY.
page
6,
"
where he
says,
It
was Abbot William who introduced the
Germany," and on the same page he says, "he was formerly
{Bauhutte) of St Emmeran at Eegensburg" (Ratisbon).
into
ni
institution of lay brothers
at the
head of the lodge
eleventh century the monks in Germany first copied their
liretliren in Gaul by instituting lay brotherhoods attached to the convent, and that the Abbot
Marqiiardt of Corvey made use of this institution to procure builders for his new convent.
Fallou^ asserts that in the
Schauberg, however, refers to Springer (" De Artificibus Monachis," Bonn, 18G1) as proving
not lay brothers of the
that throughout the Middle Ages the chief artificers were laymen
and that even at Corvey the great majority of the artists were laymen.- I can,
convent,
—
—
indeed, see no proof that these lay brotherhoods were builders; on the contrary, they
probably consisted of nobles, knights, and rich burghers, as is clearly pointed out
more
by a
on the same page, that in the year 1140 the Cistercians of
Walkenried (in Brunswick, at the foot of the Hartz Mountains, on the Wieda) instituted
such a fraternity, and boasted that they could travel thence to Eome, and dine each day
further assertion of Fallou's,
This most certainly discloses the
with one lay brother, and sup and sleep with another.
nature of these fraternities, and it is impossible to connect them in any way with the building
craft: they were not lay brothers in the ordinary sense, and evidently did not reside in
the convent.
On
brotherhood to a
page 198, however, he
still earlier
date
—say
is
inclined to attribute
a.d. 1080,
the institution of a lay
when William, Count
Palatine of Scheuren,
was elected Abbot of Hirschau (on the Nagold, in the Black Forest, Wiirtemberg), and
of whom it was reported that he was so famous that crowds fiocked to his convent, praying
for admission.
These petitioners were all admitted as lay brothers, and speedily taught the
so that in
1082 he was enabled to undertake the
various manipulations of masonry,
etc.
;
reconstruction of the monastery.
At
that time no fewer than three hundred
monks and
laymen dwelt in the convent under his orders. He instituted a rule for them, partitioned
out their hours of labour, rest, worship, and refreshment, inculcated above all things brotherly
love, and enjoined strict silence at work, unless desirous of communicating with the master.
His school of
from
art rapidly acquired
all parts of
Europe
such extended fame that he was overwhelmed by entreaties
to furnish architects
and
artists for building operations.
Nevertheless,
constantly drafted off elsewhere, he was enabled to see
his convent completed before his death, a.d. 1091.
Thus far Fallou. As he unfortunately omits to quote his authorities, we can only assume
in spite of his best
that he has
man
drawn
workmen being
his facts from
some monkish
chronicle.
That Abbot Wilhelm was a great
St Anselm, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, visited
day is indisputable.
and the ruins of his splendid monastery ai'e still in evidence. But the above
1084;^
account scarcely justifies the deduction that he was the originator of the craft of stonemasons.
him
in his
in
It is perfectly evident
of skilled artificers
;
—
That the lapse of time was totally insufiBcient to create a large class
no trace here of divisions into grades, such as apprentice,
(2.) We have
(1.)
and
As regards the first point. In 1080 he succeedetl to his post, and in 1082
he was enabled to commence reconstruction. It is tlierefore evident that many of the laymen
who are reported to have joined him were already skilled masons (two years being wholly
fellow,
and master.
'
Fallou, Mysterien der Freimaurer, p. 157.
'
Schauberg, Vergleichendes Handbuch der Syiiibolik der Freimaurerci,
Heidelolf, Die Haubutte des Mittelalters, p. 5.
'
p. 274.