Post by Azaziel on Oct 6, 2008 16:01:17 GMT 10
New Book by Revd Neville Barker Cryer and new theory re Templar transmission to freemasonry,
I Quote
"Could it be that any link between those knightly orders ( Templars & Malta ) and accepted freemasonry was not one created by the knights but by traditions handed on by the stonemasons they employed?One important fact can be easily overlooked.Because the Cistercian monks, and thence the templars who were an offshoot of them, purposely built their properties in the most remote places at the time, they were permitted to maintain their own stonemasons as lay brothers in house. For the monks to have had to rely on passing or travelling masons would have been too hazardous. Templar masons were part of the whole outfit.
The next question then is, to whom did the masons and any descendants turn to for employment after 1307 when the templars were disbanded?Many would be taken in by the Cistercians and Hospitallers and there they could serve until those houses were dissolved in 1536/7. At that point some of those monastic stonemasons could become guild masons in the nearby cities of England. If all this is so then we have a viable connection that can be understood and even studied.What that now needs is someone who can apply himself to the task."
We know from the Shaw Statutes that stonemasons were in lodges in mid 1550"s in scotland, so a leap here of a few years is not great.
Regards
Terry
I Quote
"Could it be that any link between those knightly orders ( Templars & Malta ) and accepted freemasonry was not one created by the knights but by traditions handed on by the stonemasons they employed?One important fact can be easily overlooked.Because the Cistercian monks, and thence the templars who were an offshoot of them, purposely built their properties in the most remote places at the time, they were permitted to maintain their own stonemasons as lay brothers in house. For the monks to have had to rely on passing or travelling masons would have been too hazardous. Templar masons were part of the whole outfit.
The next question then is, to whom did the masons and any descendants turn to for employment after 1307 when the templars were disbanded?Many would be taken in by the Cistercians and Hospitallers and there they could serve until those houses were dissolved in 1536/7. At that point some of those monastic stonemasons could become guild masons in the nearby cities of England. If all this is so then we have a viable connection that can be understood and even studied.What that now needs is someone who can apply himself to the task."
We know from the Shaw Statutes that stonemasons were in lodges in mid 1550"s in scotland, so a leap here of a few years is not great.
Regards
Terry
