54 THE ORIGINS OF FREEMASONRY FROM ANCIENT TIMES TO THE MIDDLE AGES
some very valuable clues: It seems that any individual, regardless of per-
sonal status, could become a member of one of these brotherhoods. At
this time, there was one in every diocese of Normandy. An individual of
proven virtue stood at the head of each one and the Most Holy Virgin
was selected as the patron saint of each. In order to be accepted it was nec-
essary for an individual to meet three conditions: sacramental confession,
the fulfillment of whatever penitence was imposed following this confes-
sion, and reconciliation with any personal enemies. When word went out
about a new church to be built, the brotherhoods traveled in groups to
the designated site. Their first concern was to form a wall with the carts
that had carried them there, and then settle inside as if it were a spiritual
campground. There they spent the first night, singing hymns in the light
cast by hundreds of torches. Once they had begun work, there was not a
single task, no matter how painful, to which they did not submit with
good heart and unshakable steadfastness. During working hours, silence
and order reigned, and the time of rest was devoted to prayer, charitable
acts toward the sick, and pious discourse. Abbot Aymon began his letter
like a man completely stupefied at the sight of so much abnegation
among his colleagues. He described their manner of living as "a com-
pletely new kind of piety that is unknown to all the centuries."
Piety and fervor do not explain everything, however. These folk
migrations and regroupings also implied economic, social, political, and
juridical causes and effects. The construction of religious edifices is a
phenomenon that cannot be separated from the general context in
which it occurs.
Enthusiastically erected with extraordinary fervor, churches and
cathedrals were not merely places of prayer. Built to the scale of their
respective cities that were constructed and organized around them, peo-
ple gathered there to argue freely about matters that concerned them.
They were houses of the people placed under a benevolent and tutelary
protection. As much if not more than the belfries, they were the centers
and guarantors of freedom. Even political assemblies concerning the life
of the kingdom were held at cathedrals, notably Notre Dame of Paris,
as was the case in 1302 with the famous assembly of the General
Estates. In a society dominated by the sacred, it was logical that the
temple was, for all actions playing a determinative role in social life, the