The Corporative Masonry of Great Britain 189actively work to the best of his ability, without any deceit or secrecy
whatsoever, and that he would hold and observe all points of the law
thus laid down." Unless this reference was inserted into the text at a
later date, it leads to the conclusion that, just like those who followed
the Livre des Metiers in Paris, the then-Catholic English masons
required an oath on the Bible, a point we shall revisit.
Another document, dated February 2, 1356 and known as the
Articles of London, is a complete, professional, masonic instructional
composed in French. The eight rules it lists stipulate that the duration of
the apprenticeship period is seven years and that it is the master's respon-
sibility to see that apprentices are justly paid. It also states that infractions
are liable to incur penalties involving fines and imprisonment.^6
One final document of statutes that we will consider from this time
is the Ordinances of the Norwich Carpenters' Guild (1375), which
contains a variety of social and religious directives that all masons
were subject to equally. It opens with a plea for protection addressed
to the Very Holy Trinity and a substantial invocation to God and all
the saints. One of the directives it contains deserves particular empha-
sis here: that which commands the brothers and sisters to gather
together on the Saturday following Ascension to give prayers in honor
of the Holy Trinity and in favor of the Holy Church, "for the peace
and union of the country and for the peaceful repose of the souls of the
departed, not only those of brothers and sisters, but those of friends
and of all Christians."^7 The mention of sisters here proves that women
were accepted as members into the builders associations, an important
fact given that modern Anglo-Saxon Freemasonry regards the admis-
sion of women with hostility. We should also note that at the end of
the seventeenth century, English Freemasonry, which was speculative
at this time, still continued to admit women members. Proof of this can
be found in the 1693 Statutes of the Lodge of York. Here we read:
"Hee or shee who would be made a mason, lays their hands upon the
Book, [the Bible] and then Instructions are given."*
* Hiram (May-July 1908). It has been noted that this text contains the original Latin ille
vel illi (he, singular and plural), words that were incorrectly translated as Hee or Shee.
See A. Mellor, Les Grands Problemes de la Franc-Maconnerie d'aujourd'hui (Paris:
Belfond, 1971), 108. But is this translation an error or rather an evolutionary translation
accepted by custom at that time, with the original Latin reflecting to an earlier time?