86 THE ORIGINS OF FREEMASONRY FROM ANCIENT TIMES TO THE MIDDLE AGES
also obligated to the responsibilities (the watch and so forth) demanded
of them by the city.
Along with the trades performed by free men were the free and
exempted crafts performed by francs metiers, meaning those entirely
free and exempt from the majority of taxes and mandatory services. In
Flanders, a land where the Templars had established some of their first
and most important commanderies, the four cities of Bruges, Gand,
Audenarde, and Alost, where crafts operated in franchise, were
metonymically known as the "four free crafts."* One canton [adminis-
trative district] in Bruges long retained the name of Franc and in 1579
it still included a jurisdiction called the Chambre du Franc de Bruges.^3
The terminology relating to the franchises of crafts and free crafts
stands out in Etienne Boileau's Livre des Metiers (1268). As we shall
see, the texts it codifies apply only in the case of the royal provostship,
meaning a unique part of Paris where free crafts were the exception.
Thus, when speaking of pewtersmiths, Boileau writes, "Whosoever
desires to be a potter in pewter in Paris can do so freely so long as he
does good and loyal work." The same expression can be found refer-
ring to some forty other crafts, among which are cutlers, silver- and
goldsmiths, smelters, tapestry makers, dyers, clothes tailors, image mak-
ers, lantern makers, button makers, saddlers, hatters, and bowers (or the
makers of bows and arbalests). In their edition of the Livre des Metiers,
Lespinasse and Bonnardot write: "To be freely master of a craft is to
have the right to set up an establishment and take on apprentices."^4
For the duke of Levis Mirepoix of the French Academy, craftsmen
who exercised freely in this way fell under the category of francs
metiers. "Within the crafts," he writes, "some individuals are 'francs,'
meaning that the only requirement is that they show suitable proof of
their ability to become a master. Others purchased at a set price the
right to perform their trade, with this fee being determined by regula-
tions or by the lord who allegedly holds the ownership of the craft in
question."^5
This does not correspond entirely to the definition of franc metiers
- La Curne de Saint Palaye, Dict. hist. de l'ancien langage francais (1879), who quotes
here a text by Froissart. In the ancient custom of Alost we find the expression francs
bateliers [free boatmen].