Builders Corporations in Italy. Germany, and Switzerland 175assembly in that city to coordinate on measures that should be taken
relative to accusations and the dangers threatening free masons. The
result would have been a kind of charter, dated June 24, 1535, written
in Latin, drawn with masonic characters, and addressed in the form of
a circular by the Chosen Masters of the Order of Saint John to all the
lodges of their society." But this document would not be produced until
1819 by Prince Frederic of Nassau, who had in mind a reformation of
Dutch and Belgian Freemasonry, for which he was the grand master.
The resulting charter, known as the Cologne Charter, did, however,
indicate the existence of a masonic hierarchy of five grades (apprentice,
journeyman, master, chosen master, sublime master) and was meant to
serve the prince as the basis for the reforms he contemplated.* It would
have been signed by nineteen illustrious individuals such as Coligny,
Bruce, Falk, Melanchton, Virieux, and Stanhope. These signatories
were all present there as delegates from the lodges of London,
Edinborough, Vienna, Amsterdam, Paris, Lyon, Frankfurt, Hamburg,
and other cities. They decried the imputations of which masonry stood
accused, notably the accusation of seeking to reestablish the Templar
Order. They believed it necessary to reveal the origin and purpose of
masonry, so that subsequently, when better circumstances prevailed, it
could be reconstructed after having been forced to suspend its work on
the original foundations of its institution. They specified that masonic
society was Christianity's contemporary, and that in the beginning it
was known by the name of the Brothers of John. They also explicity
stated that nothing indicates that they may have been known under any
other name prior to 1440, the year in which they took on the title of
the Brotherhood of Free Masons, mainly in the Flemish city of
Valenciennes because it was during that time that hospices began to be
constructed in Hainaut on behalf of the brothers of this order to care
for the poor who had been afflicted with Saint Anthony's Fire.
The signatories went on to list the two guiding principles for all
the brothers' activities: "Love and cherish all men as if they were your
- This is enough of an anachronism to cast doubt on the charter, unless it was inserted
later. It should he added that antiquarian scholars intended to examine the original doc-
ument produced by Frederic of Nassau. Unfortunately, whatever conclusions they may
have reached were never made public and no one knows what became of the document.