Encyclopedia Masonica

Though he held the title of Abbot, Suger was scarcely to be called a monk but like so many prelates in his period, and because almost the only means for an education were controlled by the church, was a statesman and public leader. He was Abbot at St. Denis, Paris, from 1122 to 1151. He was acting king while Louis VII was away in the East on one of the Crusades. He was one of the few Medieval men to write an autobiography, and if only others had done as he did, and as John of Salisbury did, Medieval history would be less "medieval" than it is. Suger's great fame, however, rests on his epoch-making achievement as a builder, for it was he who raised the funds, created the administration, and superintended the design and construction of the Abbey Church of St. Denis, at about 1140.

In his great Medieval Architecture (2 Vol.) Arthur Kingsley Porter, and after a life-time of studying buildings and records on the spot, declares this Abbey Church to have been the first Gothic building, properly so called.

Porter argues, with an overwhelming weight of sound evidence and reasoning to support him, that the Gothic Style was in essence or principle not a mere bringing into one structure of a number of separate elements which had been discovered here and there, first one and then another, but was a single formula; a coherent, integrated system of principles, each implying the other, understandable only to an architect who grasped the formula as a unit, not understandable piecemeal. In that, it was comparable to the aero-dynamic principle which, once Wilbur Fright had discovered it, enables engineers to design airplanes of any desired type or size. (See works by Lethaby. See also pages 254 ff. in The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century, by Haskins; Art and the Reformation, by Coulton; Gothic Architecture in England, by Francis Bond; works of Rivoira.)

It is accepted as proved that Speculative Freemasonry originated in Medieval Operative Masonry, but that broad fact does not answer the specific question as to how or where or when the peculiar and particular Fraternity of Speculative Freemasons originated.

Architecture did not turn itself into Speculative Freemasonry, for it continues everywhere now as it did in the Middle Ages. Nor was Speculative Freemasonry the only special society or fraternity to originate in Medieval architecture; the present Society of Operative Masons did, so did the German Steinmetzen, so did a branch of the French Compagnonnage, so did the City Companies of Masons, etc. Freemasonry, with its unique philosophy which belongs to itself alone, must have had a special origin all its own at some particular time and place in Medieval architecture—not from architecture in general, but from some special development within architecture. The most reasonable answer to the question is that the Freemasonry which was to continue into our modern Lodges, originated among the Gothic cathedral-building Freemasons. If that be so, there is history as well as poetry in looking back to the Abbot Suger and his Church at St. Denis as a principal source of origin. In any event, the year 1140 is a landmark in the chronicles of Freemasonry.

This church or abbey, was in reality more than church or abbey because it was so much more than any abbey could be, since within its walls regiments of cavalry could camp, and in its rooms and adjacent buildings the King Louis Le Gros was so often present with his court that the abbey was in reality capital of France. Nothing could be wider of the facts than the tediously and tirelessly repeated notion that the Gothic, and with it Freemasonry, was "very simple" and "very crude" in its beginnings; for Gothic began in its very first building full-formed and marvelous at the center of Europe, within the walls around which Paris was to grow, and with a structure that struck as much awe in Europe as if it had been a great miracle.

The man who supervised it was the King of France's first minister; its builders were his colleagues; its designers were the elite of Europe. (Fortunately, more is known about Suger than about any other of the great Masters of Masons down to Inigo Jones and Wren: see The Middle Ages, by Fr. Funck-Brentano; Wm. Heinemann, Ltd.; London; 1922; ch. VI. T'ie de Louis we Gros, by Suger. Louis VI le Gros, by A. Luchaire. The Developxnent of the French Monarchy, by Thompson. Abt. Suger son Saint-Denis, by Cartellieri.)

The Encyclopedia Masonica exists to preserve the wealth of information that has been generated over the centuries by numerous Masonic authors. As Freemasonry is now Speculative and not Operative, the work of a Mason is now conducted in the quarries of symbolism, literature, history and scholasticism. Freemasonry encourages intellectual exploration and academic achievement in its members and many Masons over the years have taken up this calling. The result has been that an incredible amount of philosophy, symbolic speculation and academic insights have been created. However, as Freemasonry teaches, human knowledge is frail and fragile. It is easily lost in the turnings of the ages and unforeseen catastrophes can result in great setbacks to human knowledge.

For too long these great works have sat on forgotten shelves, gathering dust and concealing the light that could be shed on the darkness of our ignorance. The Encyclopedia Masonica has been created to act as an ark, sailing through time, to ensure that future generations of Freemasons have access to the same knowledge that inspired the Brethren that came before them. It will contain the works of such Masonic Luminaries as Albert G. Mackey, Manly Palmer Hall, G.S.M. Ward, Albert Pike and many others. The Encyclopedia Masonica is a living work and the volunteers of Universal Co-Masonry will continue to labor until the most comprehensive Masonic reference work the world has ever seen has been created. The Encyclopedia Masonica is open to any who wish to use it and will remain open so that the treasures contained within may increase the wealth of all those who seek its wisdom.