Freemasonry and its Symbolic Tools
“Philosophy is written in this grand book, the universe, […]
its characters are triangles, circles, and other geometric figures without which it is humanly impossible to understand a single word of it; without these, one is wandering in a dark labyrinth.”
Galileo Galilei, 1623
Figure 6 Freemason Compass by Hindermann, dated 1783 (Tool ref. #318)
In 1268, when Boileau described the trades of construction, the two most powerful servants of the French royal court were the Royal Master of Masons and the Royal Master of Carpentry, both nominated directly by the king. During the age of king Saint Louis (who reigned from 1226 to 1270), they were respectively master Guillaume Saint-Patu and master Foulques du Temple. Each was an active participant in the drafting of his own corporate by-laws for the Book of Paris Trades. Their respective reach was even larger than their title suggested since the master of Masons supervised all trades dealing with stone while the master of Carpentry had authority on all trades dealing with wood, including wheelwrights, woodworkers, coachbuilders, and roofers.
In 1314, in a spectacular turn of events, king Philippe le Bel (Philip IV the Fair) abolished the function of Royal Master of Carpentry and changed the title of Master of Masons to Royal Architect. The mason’s role and function became even more powerful as it claimed authority over the entire construction of all major edifices for centuries to come. To put this in the historical context, one must remember that the year 1314 marked the end of the Knight Templars, who under the leadership of their last Grand Master, Jacques de Molay, had given the masons the right to circulate freely from town to town without having to pay the local tax, hence, their name “free-masons”. It is the very source of freemasonry, as we know it today. It is interesting to note that king Philip IV the Fair needed to assert his power both from the Church and from the Knight Templars. Under the reign of his grandfather French king Saint Louis, the Knight Templars had risen to their apex by becoming bankers to monarchy and the Church and literally a state within the state, strong of a European-wide army of fifteen thousand men, unrivaled in Europe and wealthier than most kingdoms. That posed a threat to the French kingdom itself.
On the night of Friday, October 13, 1307, Philip IV the Fair had all one hundred and forty French Knight Templars arrested and either killed or imprisoned. A long five years later, Philip IV the Fair finally obtained support from the Church that the Knight Templars Order had to be abolished. The Knight Templars liquidation was made official by the Papal Bull of April 3, 1312 with all their wealth confiscated and ordered by the king to be given to the Grand Prieuré de l’Ordre des Hospitaliers de Saint Jean de Jérusalem (also known as the Order of Malta). After a lengthy trial, Jacques de Molay reneged on his deposition and on the guilty plea he had been forced to make to survive. At the order of Philip IV the Fair he was burned alive in Paris on March 19, 1314. The Knight Templars’ motto “Memento Finis” can be interpreted to mean “Think of your end” as per the Christian views or “Think of your Goal” as per Jacques de Molay’s personal views.
The masons had placed themselves under the protection of the Knight Templars, so Philip IV the Fair was adamant to control their trade and have their full allegiance. In fact, he achieved that in giving the Master of Masons the title of Royal Architect with full oversight of all official construction on the French territory. During the 14th to 16th centuries, the masons clearly became the sole and most powerful corporation among all trades. Who else was taking its orders directly from kings and the Church? Who else was in charge of building the most formidable and challenging edifices always rivaling in height, strength, and looks between the neighboring kingdoms? Consequently, the masons’ corporation had its own special privileges. The Royal Architect often appears alongside the king who visits the construction site of his castle on illuminations of 13th and 14th century manuscripts. The mason is generally represented holding a rule or a square, the tools symbolizing his know-how and mastership. The Royal Architect also had an important role as the kings’ advisor in terms of urbanism, development, and building legacy.
When did the mason architects elaborate their codes and signs for identification of their peers? If the by-laws of 1268 give a wealth of details about training and ethical rules of conduct for masons and Compagnons aspiring at becoming master masons, nowhere do they relate to the codes and symbols of the trade. These are all part of an oral tradition from time immemorial. It is not until the year 1390 that a manuscript mentions the art of the mason architect with its rules of ethics and the base for what would become the Constitution of Freemasonry some three centuries later.
Written by an unknown author in approximately 1390, the Regius manuscript was published in print for the first time in 1840. It was spotted in the inventory of a London bookstore in 1670, and then again in 1678, when British king Charles II purchased it. It remained in the British Royal Library (hence its name “Regius”), until 1859, when it gave it to the British Museum where it is kept today. In the Regius, written completely in verse, the masons are referred to as free-trade builders of cathedrals. It confirms their special privilege to circulate freely between cities without having to pay the tolls in and out of any town. Their principles of ethics are fraternity, rightfulness, abiding by trade secrets, faith in the oath, and moral and professional obligations. Their spiritual father is Euclid, the mathematician from Alexandria, credited with founding the science of Geometry in the 3rd century BC. The seven essential arts according to Euclid are Grammar, Dialectic, Rhetoric, Music, Astronomy, Arithmetic, and Geometry, the ultimate achievement. Also mentioned in Regius is Athelstan (895-939), the first king of England who in the year 925 called a meeting of the master masons to elaborate the first by-laws of their trade, under the direction of his son, Edwin. No trace of these by-laws, however, has survived to this day.
Modern freemasonry has largely borrowed its principles and symbols from the Regius manuscript and to a certain extent from the Cooke manuscript written in the year 1425. Both are apparently based on earlier manuscripts. No tangible evidence other than these two manuscripts can bridge the documentary gap between the Book of Paris Trades written in 1268 and the beginnings of print in 1455. An abundance of books and testimonies began to relate the codes and symbols of freemasonry. Before that the oral tradition prevailed. The birth of contemporary freemasonry is most commonly dated June 24, 1717. This is when the members of four active British Masonic lodges met at the Goose & Gridiron Tavern in London to officially launch the first Grand Lodge and elect their first Grand Master, Anthony Sawyer. Quickly thereafter, freemasonry spread throughout Europe: in 1725 in Ireland and in 1728 in France, freemasons established their own Grand Lodge. In the following years freemasonry became an organized group in Germany, The Netherlands, Spain, and Portugal as well. In 1733, the first Masonic Lodge was established in the United States.
Of course, freemasonry existed prior to the formation of these structured organizations. It was lacking formal recognition but was nevertheless active in areas other than the construction of buildings and the training of Compagnons. More significantly, the early 18th century made official the clear distinction between the so-called “operative masons” who built from stone and the non-operative, also known as “speculative masons” who only built spiritual edifices for the mind.
No sooner had these organizations gained political clout and power in their respective countries, that they started becoming oppressed and sometimes deemed illegal by royal decree. This turned out to be the case in The Netherlands in 1735, in France when French king Louis XV banned freemasonry in 1737. In Portugal, it became a crime punishable by death by a decree of 1743. Freemasonry had, too quickly, become a form of counter-power that displeased both the Monarchy and the Church. The most famous symbol of freemasonry, the square and compass crossing each other, started to be displaced on many tools by the royal Fleur-de-Lys. Such is the example in Figure 9, a French ivory rule dated 1735. The explanation lies in the chapter Fleur-de-Lys by Order of the King.
By becoming too structured, powerful, and visible, freemasonry had created its own downfall, hence the obligation to go “undercover” and to become some kind of secret society. The Grand Lodge in London had asked one of its members, Reverend James Anderson, to write a freemasonry Constitution. He published his work in 1723, largely inspired by former Masonic writings, notably the Regius manuscript of 1390. The advent of 18th century freemasonry led to the precise use of symbols relating directly to the tools of the mason. Below is a list of the essential tools of the mason. They are listed in the order in which they are taught by freemasonry itself.
The mallet and the chisel
The mallet, a stone-carving tool in the shape of a large and heavy wooden hammer, is used to direct a chisel on the stone’s surface. Both the concrete function of these tools and the psychological objective of their teaching is to transform raw material into building blocks of stone. The mallet is generally held in the right hand and the chisel in the left. This is the way they are represented in 12th and 13th century stained glass windows and manuscript illuminations showing stone carvers at work. During the training of the Compagnon stone carver and future mason, it is explained that the mallet represents the intelligence of the action from the active right hand. It symbolizes justice, energy, and command. Meanwhile, the chisel symbolizes the intellect, the power of words over matter, hence the expression “chiseled language” referring to words carefully picked and assembled into elaborate phrases. To the newly initiated freemason, the mallet and the chisel form the basis of reflection and consideration; if those tools can transform raw material into any edifice, mastering their use and understanding their power must foster respect for the mason’s trade, its traditions, and its teachings.
The mallet is occasionally presented by the masons to the official who will commemorate the laying of the first stone of a building. More often the trowel will be used for that purpose as illustrated below under the header Trowels. The example of a commemorative mallet shown in Figure 10 was presented on the occasion of the laying of the cornerstone of All Saints Church in Old Swan in 1872.
The mallet is also known in Northern civilizations as the tool of power. In Scandinavia, Thor, the god of thunder, is represented with a mallet in his hand. Thor is the protective god of agriculture. The rain he can create with his mallet is viewed as beneficial. The mallet for stone carving is considered the very first stage of apprenticeship for an aspiring mason. The second tool he will learn to use will be the plumb bob.
The Compass
The compass comes in various shapes and materials depending on the size of the circle that is to be drawn with it. The compass is learned at an advanced stage of training. Through its induced circle, it symbolizes unity, assembly, and research. It is taught as an art that leads to most major figures of geometry, the last and most advanced stage of Euclidian learning.
It represents the spirit of the mason and his know-how. Compasses are often represented on 12th to 15th century manuscripts and stained glass windows of cathedrals. Because of its ability to create single-handedly most geometrical figures, the compass is often deemed as the most powerful tool of architecture.
The square
The square, used to verify the ninety-degree angle of two perpendicular lines, is considered by masons to be the ultimate complement to the compass. Also, a trainee mason learns how to use his square to set both the verticality of stone setting and the horizontality by combining his square with the plumb bob to create a level when necessary (see The Level above). Therefore, with just a compass and a simple square, a trained mason can erect any building. Hence, the combination of compass and square is the most compelling to symbolize the perfection of the art of the mason. The square alone indicates the right angle (ninety degrees) of the stones to be used to build a wall. Without it, the stone blocks might be imperfect and not aligned correctly against each other. With the square, the building is guaranteed its integrity, its rightfulness. The square represents the matter over which the compass has the power of the spirit and unity. In the traditional representations of the square and compass combination used in freemasonry, the compass can be opened at a forty-five degree angle at a minimum and at a right angle at the maximum. The larger the opening of the compass, the deeper is the know-how of the user.
The compass and square crossed together, as most often represented by Compagnons and master masons on their own tools, relate to the advance of learning or degree in the scale established by freemasons within various organizations. Most commonly represented are the three following stages of learning. The square crossing over the two branches of the compass symbolizes...
The Trowel
The trowel, a tool used to apply mortar to stone blocks so they can be set together into a single structure, marks the ultimate phase of the long road of apprenticeship to master Mason. Only after having learned how to carve a block of stone and aligning it into a future wall both vertically and horizontally, can a Compagnon learn the art of the trowel, symbol of Unity. It represents the finished work because it binds all the other components of the edifice. It also symbolizes the maturity of the master in his trade who will be able to maintain the unity of his workers like the army general must maintain the unity of his troops into a single body. It is the utmost symbol of the Mason’s finished work. Paradoxically, the trowel also serves as the symbol of the beginning of construction as it is used to lay the first stone, or cornerstone, of a new structure being erected. The presentation trowels used for laying the first stone in a ceremony are generally kept as precious reminders of the considerable work of all the trades associated with erecting the building, including carpenters, locksmiths, and roofers.