From the booklet – “PENETRATING THE VEIL”
– by David C. Bradley–Grand Master–1989-1990
This month’s issue is titled –
“PENETRATING THE VEIL: SOCIAL CONDITIONS.”
(As the presentations in this website are available to all readers, items involving the Second and Third Degrees will be excluded.)
SOCIAL CONDITIONS
As early as the mid-fourteenth century the life of the operative mason was being affected by changes in social changes and in the law. The Black Death of 1348 carried off over a third of the population of England and returned in the 1360s, though with lessened intensity.
The resultant shortage of labour caused wages to rise sharply. The government enacted Statutes of Labourers in 1350 and in 1360 to maintain an orderly system. Further statutes were passed in 1425. These, together with the previous ones, were consolidated and codified in 1563 during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1. The Great Plague killed one fifth of the population in 1665 and, one year later, two thirds of London’s houses and almost a hundred churches, including St. Paul’s, were destroyed in the Great Fire of London.
A survey of the period since the time of the operative mason shows many changes occurring slowly and steadily until the nineteenth century, when pace of change quickened. The emergence of the English as a nation began in the fourteenth century. This was caused partly by the influence of Chaucer who, in his Canterbury Tales, gave a distinct Englishness to the written word. Agricultural methods improved and farm produce was exported. The country was prosperous and the merchants, because of their financial strength, began to wield more power. England had become a seafaring nation. Overseas trade developed rapidly as seamanship improved. Courts of law were created which preserved order by ensuring that the administration of the law was fair to all inhabitants. The iron trade flourished in central England and coal was being mined in various parts of the island.
The centuries had not been placid. Internal wars such as the War of the Roses, although not involving everyone, were still disruptive. The Parliamentary Revolution caused a greater turmoil, pitting family against family and ending with the beheading of a King and a period of rule by a Protector of the Realm. The subsequent restoration of the monarchy produced a new renaissance in theatre and literature. Overseas wars fought by paid soldiers did not impinge directly upon everyday living, though trade was disrupted to some extent. Smallpox which had killed many people was brought under control by the discovery of vaccination. This expansion of knowledge increased in all fields: technology, medicine, science. The most significant change was the grasping towards progress and a better future. This prompted many political outbursts.
R.W. Bro. Robert South