The Templars and the Parisian Builders 113under Philip the Fair by an act of Parliament in 1314 on the Tuesday
before Palm Sunday.^11
What proves that this suppression was only circumstantial in
nature and targeted only the officeholder is that the position was later
restored. In fact, in the epitaph record of Saint Paul Church we can
read: "Jean, son of Jacques Barbel, known as de Chastrel, sergeant of
arms, carpenter of the king for his kingdom, who died on November
24, 1882" (emphasis mine).
We know what kind of authority over the building crafts was held
by the magister carpentarius, the master carpenter, in the Templar
domain. As a result, Master Fouques had oversight of both carpenters
and masons in the Parisian domain of the Temple. By way of contrast,
in the royal provostship his authority extended only to the carpenters.
This provostship in fact had a king's master mason, at this time
Guillaume de Saint Palu, who held authority over all the masons in the
provostship. The two trades of carpenter and mason were nonetheless
connected throughout the entire city and the influence of the Templars
is equally evident where masons are concerned.
This Templar influence is noticeable in the rule of the masons in the
Livre des Metiers. It was because of the Templars that the masons
enjoyed free status, which, as we have seen, was the rule for all trades
exercised in the jurisdiction of the Temple, whereas in the royal
provostship, the majority of trades had to be purchased. "He who so
wishes can be a mason in Paris, provided that he knows the craft and
that he employ it according to the usages and customs of the trade" (tit.
XLVIII, art. 1). An even rarer privilege characterized the franc metier in
Etienne Boileau's book: The trades of mortar maker and stonecutter
were exempted from watch duties.
The drafting of the Livre des Metiers in 1268 by the king's provost,
Etienne Boileau, did not result in unification of all organizations for a
Particular craft existing in different jurisdictions. The autonomy of
these areas stood in opposition to any such unification. The Livre des
Metiers and the system of sworn confraternities it instituted were appli-
cable only within the jurisdiction of the city's provostship. Even when
the statutes and standards for craft mastership were identical, as was
the case for carpenter mastership, no merger was possible. Master