24 THE ORIGINS OF FREEMASONRY FROM ANCIENT TIMES TO THE MIDDLE AGES
The question arises as to what legal form builders associations
assumed in the Visigoth and Burgundian kingdoms. In the absence of
texts we are forced to envision the most plausible hypothesis. We can
theorize that these associations were nothing more or less than Roman
collegia adapted to new circumstances. Put forth by A. Esmein, this
notion, which remains a doubtful explanation for those associations in
the Frankish regions, does appear acceptable for the regions south of
the Loire, where Roman institutions persevered.
These collegia, or at least their remnants, probably continued at
least until the seventh century. At that time they were forced if not to
disappear, then at least to transform. Even in lands where Roman law
survived, however, it is not possible to speak of collegia in the strict
sense of the term, for we must take into account the social, economic,
and political evolution that led to the formation of feudal society. In the
feudal world, individuals and groups must be envisioned in light of the
bonds of suzerainty and vassalage that characterized the society of that
time. There was no legal framework permitting the existence of
autonomous professional associations. More important, individual
freedom no longer guaranteed the work of the independent craftsman.
An individual could become only a serf. The remnants of the collegia
no longer offered any refuge except that provided by the bishops, who
remained builders, and they were integrated primarily into monasteries,
which were multiplying throughout the Christian world.
The bishop's authority or conventual grip extended even into the
cities. Withdrawing into themselves in response to the shock of inva-
sions, cities had become veritable fortresses almost everywhere. The
possessions of the Church expanded there until the secular populace
became a minority and urban life took on an increasingly clerical
nature.^6 All of these factors explain the formation of the monastic asso-
ciations, which we will look at in chapter 3.
The Fate of the Collegia in ItalyIn 493 the Ostrogoths became masters of all Italy. They maintained
Roman laws there just as did the Visigoths and the Burgundians in their
kingdoms. But when it came to the question of adaptation, the