Speculative Freemasonry 245ures, at least with respect to the freemasons. It is also certain that they
intensified the establishment of masonic lodges inside the regiments in
order to create political auxiliaries. In 1689, Scottish and Irish regiments
landed in France with their military and masonic staffs. According to
scholar Gustave Bord, these military staffs were the executive agents
while the masonic personnel were the administrative authority.
When James II was dethroned in 1688, the corporation of masons
was under the authority of Christopher Wren, superintendent of the
royal buildings and an ardent Jacobite. He nonetheless held this posi-
tion until 1695 and regained it in 1698, exercising this authority until
1702 and the ascension of Queen Anne, who reinforced the Protestant
factions. Freemasonry was still so Jacobite at this time that the masons
refused to continue work on the construction of Saint Paul's Cathedral,
which would not be completed until 1710, despite the orders of
William Benson, inspector of the Queen's buildings.^14
It is likely that the Catholic influence on the freemasons remained
significant under the Protestant monarchy of William of Orange. The
text of the 1693 Charter of the York Lodge, which reproduces much
older statutes, states that "the first article of your Instructions is that
you will be faithful to God and the Holy Church, to the Prince, to his
Master, and to the Lady he serves." The same structure is found in
statutes dating from 1704. The term "Holy Church" could refer here to
the official Anglican church, rather than the Catholic church, but it is
likely that in the minds of numerous masons the traditional expression
continued to mean the Holy Catholic Church.
This likelihood seems to be supported historically. It is a fact that
the Orangemen tried to make use of masonic lodges and sought to
change their traditional Catholic orientation. It appears fairly well
established that William III of Orange was initiated as an accepted
mason in 1694 or, more exactly, that some English masonic lodges put
themselves under his protection at that time and that in this role of pro-
tector, he presided over several assemblies held at Hampton Court. This
branch of masonry published new statutes in 1694 in which Article I
was redrafted: "Your first duty is to be faithful to God and to avoid all
the heresies that misinterpret him." This masonry, whose allegiance was
pledged to the Protestantism of William of Orange, simply omitted the