The Secret History of Freemasonry

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The Templars and the Parisian Builders 123

formed by the streets rue des Archives (the former rue du Grand
Chantier), rue des Quatre Fils (formerly the Quatre Fils Aymon), rue
Vielle du Temple, and rue des Francs Bourgeois (the current site of the
national Archives) was long occupied by the workshops of entrepre-
neurs and retained the name of Worksite of the Temple.^25
The church of Saint Nicolas des Champs was also the seat of a con-
federation of carpenters dedicated to Saint Joseph.^26 In 1588 one of this
church's chapels was granted to Jean Jacquelin, treasurer of the king's
buildings. In it we can read the epitaphs of Robert Marquelet, concierge
and guard of the king's furnishing in his palace of the Tuileries, sworn
servant of the king in the office of masonry, and bourgeois of Paris (April
20, 1625); Charles de la Champagne, sworn representative of the king for
works of carpentry (May 25, 1608); Barthelemi Camuset, merchant in
the roofing of houses and bourgeois of Paris (May 5, 1601); Marguerite
du Saussay, his wife (February 13, 1587); Jean Camuset, their son, roofer
(16??); Marie Aubert, his first wife (Kuly 16, 1594); Blaise de la
Champagne, his second wife (16??); Barthelemy Beaulieu, master mason
and bourgeois of Paris (October 10, 1572); Thomasse Leger, his wife
(October 11, 1571); Jean de la Vallee, master mason and bourgeois of
Paris (April 22, 1600); Anne Le Roy, his first wife (September 30, 1597);
Jean Fessart, master mason and bourgeois of Paris (16??); Elisabeth
Davy, his wife (March 26, 1639); Louis Le Rambert, keeper of the king's
marble and bourgeois of Paris (August 12, 1614); Madeleine Maillard,
his wife (September 21, 1610); Francois Angoulvant, Lord of Launay and
Gasserant and master builder of locks for the king's buildings (December
18, 1603); Charles Prevost, master mason and bourgeois of Paris (16??);
Fleurie Le Gendre, his wife (April 3, 1606); Guillaume Cheron, master
mason and bourgeois of Paris (n.d.); Antoinette du Chaume, his wife
(April 9, 1608).* Paul Lacroix added another name to this list: Nicolas
the Younger, mason (December 13, 1608).^27



  • For more on the epitaph records of Paris, see the Bibliotheque Historique de la ville de
    Paris, ms CP 5484, an interesting copy of almost all the city's important epitaphs. There
    are also several manuscripts in the Bibliotheque Nationale and the Bibliotheque d'Arsenal.
    See also E. Raunie, Epttaphier du Vieux Paris, 1890-1918, 4 volumes, and A. Lesort and
    H. Verlet, Epitaphier du Vieux Paris, 1890-1918, vol. 5. Earlier we have Cocheris's addi-
    tions to Abbe Lebeuf's Histoire de la Ville et du Diocese de Paris (Paris: Editions Cocheris,
    1883). All of these works, however, remain incomplete. It should be noted that these epi-
    taph records make no mention of individuals buried before the sixteenth century.

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