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Montana Freemason May 2014 Volume 90 Number 2

the erudite doctor was followed by Hughan, Gould forth-coming, but W. Harry Rylands and others have
and their colleagues, and his classif cation still holds been of the opinion that the f rst written versions were
in general; attempts have been made in recent years made in response to a general Writ for Return issued
to upset it, but without much success. One of the best in 1388. Rylands’ words may be quoted: “It appears to
charts, based on Begemann, is that made by Brother me not at all improbable that much, if not all, of the
Lionel Vibert, a copy of which will be published in a legendary history was composed in answer to the Writ
future issue of THE BUILDER. for Returns issued to the guilds all over the country,
in the twelf h year of Richard the Second, A.D. 1388.”
T e f rst known printed reference to these Old
Charges was made by Dr. Robert Plot in his Natural (A.Q.C. XVL page 1)
History of Staf ordshire, published in 1868. Dr. A.F.A.
Woodford and William James Hughan were the f rst II. THE TWO OLDEST MANUSCRIPTS
to undertake a scientif c study. Hughan’s Old Charges
is to this day the standard work in English. Gould’s In 1757 King George II presented to the British
chapter in his History of Masonry would probably Museum a collection of some 12,000 volumes, the
be ranked second in value, whereas the voluminous nucleus of which had been laid by King Henry VII and
writings of Dr. Begemann, contributed by him to which came to be known as the Royal Library. Among
Zirkelcorrespondez, of cial organ of the National these books was a rarely beautiful manuscript written
Grand Lodge of Germany, would, if only they were by hand on 64 pages of vellum, about four by f ve inches
translated into English, give us the most exhaustive in size, which a cataloger, David Casley, entered as No.
treatment of the subject ever yet written. 17 A-1 under the title, “A Poem of Moral Duties: here
entitled Constitutiones Artis Gemetrie Secundem.”
T e Old Charges are peculiarly English. No such It was not until Mr. J.O. Halliwell, F.R.S. (af erwards
documents have ever been found in Ireland. Scotch Halliwell-Phillipps), a non-Mason, chanced to make
manuscripts are known to be of English origin. It was the discovery that the manuscript was known to be
once held by Findel and other German writers that a Masonic document. Mr. Phillipps read a paper on
the English versions ultimately derived from German the manuscript before the Society of Antiquaries
sources, but this has been disproved. T e only known in 1839, and in the following year published a
point of similarity between the Old Charges and such volume entitled Early History of Freemasonry in
German documents as the Torgau Ordinances and England (enlarged and revised in 1844), in which he
the Cologne Constitutions is the Legend of the Four incorporated a transcript of the document along with
Crowned Martyrs, and this legend is found among a few pages in facsimile. T is important work will be
English versions only in the Regius Manuscript. found incorporated in the familiar Universal Masonic
As Gould well says, the British MSS. have “neither Library, the rusty sheepskin bindings of which strike
predecessors nor rivals”; they are the richest and the eyes on almost every Masonic book shelf. T is
rarest things in the whole f eld of Masonic writings. manuscript was known as “T e Halliwell”, or as “T e
Halliwell-Phillipps” until some f f y years atf erwards
When the Old Charges are placed side by side Gould rechristened it, in honour of the Royal Library
it is immediately seen that in their account of the in which it is found, the “Regius”, and since then this
traditional history of the Craf they vary in a great has become the more familiar cognomen.
many particulars, nevertheless they appear to have
derived from some common origin, and in the main David Casley, a learned specialist in old
they tell the same tale, which is as interesting as a manuscripts, dated the “Regius” as of the fourteenth
fairy story out of Grimm. Did the original of this century. E.A. Bond, another expert, dated it as of the
traditional account come from some individual or middle of the f f eenth century. Dr. Kloss, the German
was it born out of a f oating tradition, like the folk specialist, placed it between 1427 and 1445. But the
tales of ancient people? Authorities dif er much on majority have agreed on 1390 as the most probable
this point. Begemann not only declared that the f rst date. “It is impossible to arrive at absolute certainty
version of the story originated with an individual, but on this point,” says Hughan, whose Old Charges
even set out what he deemed to be the literary sources should be consulted, “save that it is not likely to be
used by that Great Unknown. T e doctor’s arguments older than 1390, but may be some twenty years or so
are powerful. On the other hand, others contend that later.” Dr.W. Begemann made a study of the document
the story began as a general vague oral tradition, and that has never been equalled for thoroughness, and
that this was in the course of time reduced to writing. arrived at a conclusion that may be given in his own
In either event, why was the story ever written? In all words: it was written “towards the end of the 14th or
probability an answer to that question will never be at least quite at the beginning of the 15th century (not
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