The Secret History of Freemasonry

122 THE ORIGINS OF FREEMASONRY FROM ANCIENT TIMES TO THE MIDDLE AGES

territory. The increased peopling of the area seems to have been a direct

result of the arrival of brothers of the Militia of the Temple. In fact,

population growth in this area was so great that in 1220 it proved nec-

essary to create a new parish cemetery.

In 1399 the church was expanded:

The church wardens of Saint Nicolas des Champs... decided,

after obtaining the consent of the priest and the bishop of Paris

and the counsel of the king's sworn representatives of masonry and

carpentry—masons Kenton du Temple [emphasis mine], Jehan

Filleul, Regnault Lorier, and Adam Ravier (known as de Moret),

and carpenters Robert Focuchier and Philippe Milon—to see to the

construction of the masonry of the three chapels in the alley

between said church and the hostel of said priest.. P

The mention of Remon du Temple, sworn master mason, must be
singled out. This master, better described as an architect and sculptor,
practiced between 1363 and 1404. He was the master builder of Notre
Dame in Paris and built the famous Beauvais College on rue des
Carmes. His seal depicted a shield bearing a hammer flanked by a
square and trowel, with both crowned and flanked by fleurs de Iys.^24
While working on the Louvre and performing construction miracles
there, he drew the recognition of Charles V, who called him his
"beloved sergeant of arms and mason."*
At this time there could be no question of any kind of alliance with
an order that had been suppressed since 1312. Master Remon must
have belonged to an operative organization of the Temple, such as the
one that survived in Saint Gervais Parish in the seventeenth century.
Builders continued to show an affection for the church and parish
of Saint Nicolas des Champs for years to come. The entire quadrilateral

• With regard to Notre Dame, it should be noted that two of its most famous architects,
  Jean de Chelles and Pierre de Chelles, were natives of Chelles, where the Templars had
  one of their centers. During the thirteenth century, Chelles was considered a franche
  commune, a franchise similar to that of the Templars that went back to Louis VI. After
  the dissolution of the Order, this franchise was lost in 1320 by an act of the Parliament
  in Paris, at which time it fell under the subordination of the women's abbey that also
  existed in Chelles. (Cf. Georges Poisson, Evocation du Grand Paris. La Banlieue Nord-
  Est (Paris: Editions de Minuit, 1961), 398.