184 FROM THE ART OF BUILDING TO THE ART OF THINKING
and free men. The term master was also used to designate any free man
who took on an apprentice.
Here we pause for consideration of the term free man. It is proba-
bly more effective for our purposes to use the ancient French term franc
homme, with its connotations that we have already established: This is
the franc hons who is neither a serf nor villain but has become a free
bourgeois, independent of any lord. Going further along these lines, we
come upon the free man craftsman called a free burgess, which comes
from franc bourgeois and means a bourgeois who by feudal law "nei-
ther owes nor pays the lord anything for the right to his bourgeois sta-
tus and is thus free and clear of him."
The sole members of the guild who could become free men were
those whose apprenticehip had been satisfactory and who had fulfilled
the obligations of their contracts. A penalty was imposed upon anyone
who took on a young man and taught him the craft without making
him undergo the apprentice stage. A specific ceremony was performed
during corporation meetings for the admission of a new apprentice. It
was forbidden for any master to take on an apprentice of servile status.
Those who knew the craft but had not undergone the obligatory
stages were called day laborers or servants; free men could hire them on
condition they their names were inscribed in the company's records.
Furthermore, these day laborers could find employment only from a
free man. In the Exeter stonecutter guild, men from this class of worker
called themselves free cutters. The free men who sought to hire such
workers had to acquire a special right of admission for them, and this
admission became the occasion for a special ceremony. Day laborers had
the right to designate supervisors as their representatives in certain cases.
However, these supervisors were not on equal footing with free men.
Finally, there were restrictions concerning the number of servants
or apprentices a free man could take on. Sometimes he was not allowed
to have any if he himself did not hold a certain position.
The Origin of English Craft FreemasonryContrary to what took place in associations in France, in England there
was no duplication of duties between the professional association and