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The Regius Manuscript
arranged by Bro Furokh Santoke

According to a philosophical study undertaken by British Museum experts , the Manuscript dates from approximately 1390 . Published by James O. Halliwell in 1840, it was mentioned in an inventory of John Theyer’s library in 1670. The latter was sold to Robert Scott, with a new inventory dated 1678. The Manuscript then became the property of the Royal Library until 1757 (hence its name Regius), at which time it was donated to the British Museum by King George II.

The Regius Manuscript is made up of several sections as follows:

- Foundation of Masonry by Euclide (1) in EEgypt
- Introduction of Masonry into England undeer King Athelstane (2)
- The Moral Duties, fifteen articles
- The Moral Duties, fifteen points
- Another ordinance of the art of geometry<
- The story of the Four Crowned Ones
- The Tower of Babylon
- The Seven Liberal Arts
- An admonishment about Mass and how to behhave in Church
- An instruction on Good Manners

Summary of the fifteen articles

Article 1 The master mason must be worthy of the confidence of the lords (3) ; he must pay the fellows a fair wage with the lord's money.
Article 2 Every master mason must attend a general assembly, unless he can give a good excuse.
Article 3 The master mason shall not take on an apprentice for less than seven years and must lodge him during his apprenticeship.
Article 4 The master mason must not take any serfs as apprentice.
Article 5 The master mason shall take on neither immorals nor cripples.
Article 6 The apprentice shall be paid less than the fellows, but his salary shall increase as he progresses.
Article 7 The master mason shall employ neither thieves nor murderers.
Article 8 The master mason may discharge an incompetent worker and replace him with another.
Article 9 The master mason must make sure that the foundation of the building is well-laid.
Article 10 The master mason must never take over, or meddle with, the work of another master mason, or be fined a penalty of ten pounds.
Article 11 A mason shall not work at night, except to study.
Article 12 One shall not disparage the work of one's fellows.
Article 13 The master mason must give his apprentice a complete education.
Article 14 The master mason shall not take on an apprentice unless he has enough work for him.
Article 15 The master mason must not leave his fellows astray, because he must care about their souls.

Summary of the fifteen points

1st point A man of the craft must love God and the holy church as well as his fellows.
2nd point Masons must be paid for holidays.
3rd point The apprentice must keep secret all that his master tells him and all that he hears or sees in chamber.
4th point The apprentice shall not be false to his craft, nor to his master or fellows, since the same law as theirs applies to him.
5th point Masons must receive their salary from their master humbly. The master must discharge a mason before noon if he has no more work for him.
6th point Quarrels between masons must be settled amicably, after the day’s work is done or on a holiday.
7th point A mason shall not sleep with the wife of a master nor a fellow’s wife or concubine.
8th point A master can allow a fellow to mediate between himself and other fellows.
9th point Fellows must take turns serving at table, buying the food and accounting for what they spent.
10th point A mason shall not support anyone who persists in wrongdoing; they shall be called before an assembly and excluded from the craft.
11th point A mason must teach another, whose work is imperfect, in a friendly manner.
12th point Masters, fellows, lords and local authorities shall agree in assembly to promulgate laws for the craft, and punish those who do not respect them.
13th point A mason shall swear never to steal, nor be accomplice to a thief.
14th point A mason must swear to be true to his master, his fellows and his king.
15th point He who disobeys the laws of the assembly shall be called before it to make amends. If he persists in his fault he shall be excluded from the craft and imprisoned, and his goods confiscated.

The Four Crowned Ones: Martyrs (8 November)

The four crowned ones were Severius, Severian, Carpophorus and Victorian. The Roman Emperor Diocletian ordered them to be beaten to death with leaded rods. For a long time their names were not known, and for that reason the Church decided to celebrate their saint's day on the same day as that of five other martyrs, Claudius, Castor, Symphorian, Nicostratos and Simplicius, who were martyred two years later. These five martyrs were sculptors who, because they refused to sculpt an idol for Diocletian, were sealed alive in lead-coated barrels and thrown into the sea, in the Year of Our Lord 287. Thus it is on the saint's day of these five martyrs that Pope Melchiades proclaimed the commemoration of The Four Crowned ones, the four whose names were not known. And later, though the names of the four saints became known by divine revelation, the custom of calling them by the collective name of the Four Crowned Ones remained.

To view the text of the original version, click here

To view the text of the translated version, click here