THE COMPANIONAGE.
Such was the Companionage
existence, and sliowing no signs
now
in
'
231
1841 as described by Perdiguier, then in the prime of its
On the contrary, he remarks, " Some corps liave
of decay.
might be interesting to determine what effect
the Ee volution of 1848, and the introduction of railways have had on the organisation; but it
would not serve any useful purpose with regard to the elucidation of Freemasonry. Our task
ceased to exist
lies in
;
others are
the opposite direction,
It
forming."
viz., to
trace
it
backward
as far as our scanty materials will allow.
Between 1841 and 1651 our knowledge of the Companions appears
to be restricted to the
Between 1G48 and 1651, however,
criminal prosecutions entailed by their perpetual quarrels.
we obtain a further insight into their secrets, and are enabled to form some idea of the
ceremonies of the societies of Maitre Jacques, through the apostasy of the shoemakers.
seen that the leading idea is still that of a betrayal, death, and resurrection,
is not a semi-fictitious personage like Hiram, but no one less than our
Saviour Himself. That much of an indefensible nature took place cannot be denied, but it is
It
will be
although the hero
possible that the information afforded
a highly religious turn of
practices of his fellows,
mind seems
and
to
is
to
A
Companion shoemaker of
prejudiced and one-sided.
have been the first to take offence at the questionable
He
have abjured them.
even went further: he instituted
a body of lay brothers composed of journeyman shoemakers, adopted a pecidiar dress, and
established a rule enjoining
good
them
example, to reform the
to enter the various shops of the craft, and,
manners of
their fellows.
by
instruction and
They took the name of Brothers of
In consequence of
St Crispin, and obtained ecclesiastical authority for their proceedings.
made by him, and those of his way of thinking, the
these measures and the revelations
municipality of Paris interdicted the assemblies in 1648. The societies of the Companionage
took refuge in the Temple, which was under a separate jurisdiction. The clergy also took
the alarm, and used
all
the terrors of the ecclesiastical law to forbid the ceremonies and
institutions.
Some
of their Mysteries were printed and revealed in 1651, and in consequence of renewed
thunders from the pulpit, more revelations succeeded. At length the Companions were foolish
Temple, the Bailli was worked upon by the
were sentenced and expelled by him on the 11th
bishops, and eventually the Companions
The cordwainers (shoemakers) were the first to disclose their secret
September 1651.^
enough
to cause a riot in the precincts of the
ceremonies, 23d
March 1651, and on the 16th
JNlay following, together
with their masters,
solemnly foreswore them; but many of the societies refused to follow their example, and
continued to meet.
Others, however, also divulged their secrets, and addressed a string of
questions to the doctors of the Sorbonne respecting their practices.^ But from the very
wording of these questions and revelations, it is abundantly evident that they were drawn up
by a prejudiced and probably priestly hand, so as to make the replies a foregone conclusion.
greater part of these proceedings, ceremonies, and the views of the Church on the
question, are very succinctly told in three documents attached to an agreement made the
The
21st September 1571 between the shoemakers and cobblers of Piheims.^ These documents
Of the long tirade against
are of course of much more recent date than the agreement.
1
3
Thory, Anuales Originis Magni Galliarum Orientis (1812), pp. 329, 330.
Collection de Documents inedits sur I'Histoire de France; Archives Legislatives de
Varin, pt.
ii.,
tome
ii.,
p.
249.
For the date of these documents, see
p.
236.
"
md.,
la Yille
p. 331.
de Reims, by Pierre