THE STONEMASONS OF GERMANY.
as already mentioned,
those
who
we
find this clause
are not of this craft,
and wish
"
:
The same conditions
169
shall be submitted to
to join the society or brotherhood."
by
^
We
have thus examined the history of the stonemasons as revealed by their own documents.
have learned what they desired to be, what they claimed as their exclusive rights and
We have seen that amongst other matters they asserted the right to vest in their
privileges.
We
own body
the settlement of all disputes concerning masonry, and evidently strove to render
themselves totally independent of the laws of the realm or of the municipalities where they
resided.
They intended, in fact, to form an impcriuvi in impcrio. But did they succeed ?
Emphatically No! In troublous times they may have approached more or less closely to
their ideal, b