THE CRAFT GUILDS OF FRANCE.
lies abed, are free of
by order
watch duty
;
but
lie
shall
make
it
known
to
199
him who keeps the watch
of the king.^
A few of the articles
of the above code call for further observation.
Art. I. is probably
throw open the trade of masonry to all properly passed masons without reference
meant to
to their birthplace; some cities were very exclusive in this respect, and rendered it very
If otherwise construed it would have
difficult for a stranger to acquire any local privileges.
allowed a clever amateur to practise in Paris, which was certainly never intended.
have already been commented on.
up two erroneous conclusions which need correction.
and
III.
On
II.
Articles
Art. IV. Fort has built
Tlie
making a nobleman out of plain Master William de Saint Patu. This
important one,
has probably arisen from the prefix de, though the plebeian title of mestre should have warned
is
least
him that it only signified that St Patu was some district or hamlet where Master William was
born. At a time when the commonalty were only just beginning to assume surnames, this was
In one of the various manuscript
the usual mode of distinguishing one William from another.
"
has granted
The King
copies of these statutes the article has been made to read,
.
.
.
the masteriship of the masons to his master-mason ;" and in fact the king's master of the works
officiated in this capacity tiU the last century, and the seat of jurisdiction for the Paris
masons' craft continued to be within the precincts of the Chatelet till the French Eevolution.^
The names
of
two successors of Master William are known
to us, for
another hand has written
"In the year of grace one thousand ccc and xvij on the Tuesday
of this craft, P. de Pointoise [probably Ponfollowing Christmas was appointed warden (jurd)
^
in lieu of Master Eenaut the Breton."
toise, 23 miles north of Versailles], by order of the King
It is somewhat remarkable that no more additions were made, because these statutes
at the foot of the code,
regulated the craft till the dissolution
were ever made for the Paris masons.*
The other mistake
"
"
:
no further ordinances
which Fort has stumbled, is of more consequence, as he manages
This would imply that the Paris masons called their
a form of expression they never used, and with which French artisans
into
lodge
within the palace.
"
to open a
of all guilds at the Revolution
"
—
workshops lodges
have not even yet become familiarised and as a lodge in the palace could merely exist for
the purposes of government, it would very closely resemble our present Freemasons' lodges.
which he has thus contrived to mistranslate, signifies an enclosure or space
The word
;
lof/c,
partitioned
in
ie.,
off,
and survives in the
more modern form. En
within
Ics loges
loge
du
du
theatre, or
box
at a theatre.
JSs
du
loges
palis, or,
of the palace,
patais, simply means, in the enclosures
its precincts.^
and
These statutes were pul.li^heJ in the original Frencb as an .aprendix by G. F. Fort, The Early History
A translation, with notes, appeared in Moore's Freemasons' Montlily Magazine, Boston,
Antiquities of Freemasonry.
1
U.S.A.,
2
May
1863, vol.
.xxii.,
p. 201.
Livre des Metiers,
Depping's Introduction to Boileau, Le
p. 108.
'
Ibid., p. 112.
*
Tbkl,
p.
108.
:—
Fort's commentary, which will be found (m p. 106 of his work
subjoin the original French article, and
" Li
Mestre Guillo de Saint Patu taut
des ma5on3 a
Roy qui ore est, cui Deux donist bone vie, a done la mestrise
le mestier desus dit garderoit
come il li plaira. Lequel Mestre GuiU'^ jura a Paris es loges du Pales pardevant dis que il
come pour le fort, taut come il
bien et loiaument a son povir ausi pour le poure come pour le riche et pour le foible
forme du serement devant dit
le mestier devant dit, et puis celui Mestre GuiUo fist la
plairoit au Roy que il gardast
that Master
tliis Fort remarlcs :-" It was furthermore enacted
Upon
pardevant le prevost do Paris en Chastclet."
' I