Marysville Cemetery also known as Historic Marysville City Cemetery , is a no longer active city-owned cemetery that was established in 1850, and is located in Marysville, California . Historically this cemetery has been prone to flooding.
122-576: This cemetery is divided into many sections, including the Japanese, Chinese, Chileans, African American, Jewish, Babies’, Masonic , Odd Fellows , the Grand Army of the Republic , and a Potter's field for the indigent or unknown deceased. Marysville Cemetery was founded in 1850, and is 14.5-acres in size with nearly 10,000 burials. Most of the burial records between 1850 and 1870 were stolen by
244-547: A Freemason to explore Masonry further through other degrees, administered separately from the basic Craft or "Blue Lodge" degrees described here, but generally having a similar structure and meetings. There is much diversity and little consistency in Freemasonry because each Masonic jurisdiction is independent and sets its own rules and procedures while Grand Lodges have limited jurisdiction over their constituent member Lodges, which are ultimately private clubs. The wording of
366-524: A Mason, he is qualified to join various "Concordant bodies" which offer additional degrees. These organisations are usually administered separately from the Grand Lodges who administer the Craft degrees. The extra degrees vary with locality and jurisdiction . In addition to these bodies, there are further organizations outside of the more traditional Rites of Freemasonry, that require an individual to be
488-734: A Master Mason before they can join (such as the Rosicrucian Society of England ). Throughout its history, Freemasonry has received criticism and opposition on religious and political grounds. The Catholic Church, some Protestant denominations, and certain Islamic countries or entities have expressed opposition to or banned membership in Free-Masonry. Opposition to Freemasonry is sometimes rooted in anti-Semitism or conspiracy theories , and Freemasons have historically been persecuted by authoritarian states. The Masonic lodge
610-649: A Victorian style brick oven created in 1889, for offerings. In 2017, the cemetery was flooded after water from the Oroville Dam crisis , which submerged the graves underwater and causing some of the grave markers to collapse. Many survivors of the Donner Party can be found at this cemetery, including Charles Covillaud and Harriet Frances Murphy Nye. Freemasonry Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry ) or simply Masonry includes various fraternal organisations that trace their origins to
732-434: A cumbersome Latin loanword. The first vice character on stage, Mischief, immediately picks up on Mercy's excessive Latinisms and continues with this end rhyme in order to mock Mercy's ornate speech: I beseche yow hertyly, leve yowr calcacyon. Leve yowr chaffe, leve yowr corn, leve yowr dalyacyon. Yowr wytt ys lytyll, yowr hede ys mekyll, ye are full of predycacyon (ll. 45-47). Shortly thereafter Mischief fully switches to
854-450: A drake. (As devil doughty, like a dragon on my sack.) I champe and I chafe, I chocke on my chynne, (I champ and I chew and I thrust out my chin;) I am boystous and bold, as Belyal the blake. (I am boisterous and bold as Belial the black!) What folk that I grope thei gapyn and grenne, (The folk that I grasp they gasp and they groan,) Iwys, fro Carlylle into Kent my carpynge thei take, (From Carlisle to Kent, my carping they take!) Bothe
976-467: A four stress line to a faster and more excited two stress line (ll. 610–646), before returning to the four stress line after a scene change. Alliteration is put to wonderful effect in The Castle of Perseverance . It appears in every stanza of more than four lines, though this is not evenly distributed, with later debate scenes employing less alliteration and the characters World, Belial, Flesh, and
1098-645: A given country, state or geographical area (termed a jurisdiction ). There is no single overarching governing body that presides over worldwide Freemasonry; connections between different jurisdictions depend solely on mutual recognition. Estimates of the worldwide membership of Freemasonry in the early 21st century ranged from about two million to more than six million. The fraternity is administratively organised into independent Grand Lodges (or sometimes Grand Orients), each of which governs its own Masonic jurisdiction, which consists of subordinate (or constituent ) Lodges. The United Grand Lodge of England remains
1220-477: A human faculty; supporting characters are personifications of abstract concepts, each aligned with either good or evil, virtue or vice. The clashes between the supporting characters often catalyze a process of experiential learning for the protagonist, and, as a result, provide audience members and/or readers with moral guidance, reminding them to meditate and think upon their relationship to God, as well as their social and/or religious community. Many, but not all, of
1342-508: A lecture, which is usually on some aspect of Masonic history or ritual. At the conclusion of the meeting, the Lodge may hold a formal dinner , or festive board , sometimes involving toasting and song. The bulk of Masonic ritual consists of degree ceremonies. Candidates for Freemasonry are progressively initiated into Freemasonry, first in the degree of Entered Apprentice . At some later time, in separate ceremonies, they will be passed to
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#17327976495771464-496: A literary form that unites the moralities, the Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms offers this definition: "Morality plays are dramatized allegories, in which personified virtues, vices, diseases, and temptations struggle for the soul of Man." The same book defines allegory as "a story or visual image with a second distinct meaning partially hidden behind its literal or visible meaning. The principal technique of allegory
1586-426: A literary form. The plays also resemble each other in regard to thematic content. They feature other common characteristics that are not necessarily common to all texts within the genre. Particularly notable thematic commonalities include: the transitoriness of life in relation to the afterlife, the importance of divine mercy, the use of misprision by vice characters, and the inevitable cycle of sin and penitence found in
1708-479: A medieval morality play, continue to pull at the genre's incohesive threading. There are points of distinction in morality plays, beginning with Everyman , which can generally be attributed to humanism. According to Thomas Betteridge and Greg Walker, the majority of English dramas were religious in some form. However, plays are increasingly divorced from religion, and in particular, the staging of God and priests. While drama continued to contain religious themes, it
1830-408: A much smaller generic portion of humanity, '"every merchant," in juxtaposition to Mankind's earlier, full representation of all humanity. In Skelton's Magnyfycence , Magnificence and the vices that corrupt him represent a particular person, King Henry VIII, and his court 'minions' who were expelled for their poor behaviour. Scholars have long noted that the medieval morality plays were written after
1952-460: A nonsense mixture of Latin and English to continue mocking Mercy's Latinizing, as well as to mangle Mercy's earlier reference to the parable of the wheat and tares: "Corn servit bredibus, chaffe horsibus, straw fyrybusque" (l. 57, translated: Corn serves bread, chaff horses, straw fires). The result of this is not only to show that the formal structures of Latin are nothing more than formal structures that can be spoofed and misused, but also to create
2074-491: A peculiar trait that one will likely notice while reading these plays is the tendency of characters to describe in speech the actions they are (presumably) simultaneously performing as a way of verbally encoding stage directions. For example, in Mankind , the character Mankind says, "Thys earth wyth my spade I shall assay to delffe" (l. 328); this line, meaning, "This earth with my spade I will attempt to dig," appears to serve as
2196-547: A precedent for "shared jurisdiction" between mainstream and Prince Hall Grand Lodges, effectively modifying the traditional interpretation of Exclusive Jurisdiction. By 2024, most U.S. Grand Lodges have recognized their Prince Hall counterparts, establishing a new norm where two Grand Lodges can legitimately operate within the same geographical area, provided they maintain mutual recognition and amity. The evolution of this practice demonstrates how traditional Masonic principles can adapt to accommodate social progress while maintaining
2318-424: A printed text pushes the boundaries of the medieval morality genre; she writes, "It was also one of the very first plays to be printed, and in some respects belongs more to the early Tudor tradition than that of the late Middle Ages." Other English moralities include the fifteenth-century plays Occupation & Idleness and Henry Medwall's Nature , as well as an array of sixteenth-century works like The World and
2440-606: A stage direction for Mankind's actor to literally dig. Besides simple actions, the same thing occurs in slapstick comedy or action scenes: when Mankind fights the vice-characters Nowadays, New Guise, and Nought, Mankind threatens to hit them with his shovel, saying, "Go and do yowr labur! Gode lett yow never the! / Or wyth my spade I shall yow dynge, by the Holy Trinyté!" (ll. 377–376); in response, New Guise says, "Alas, my jewellys! I shall be schent of my wyff!" (l. 381), directly indicating that Mankind has hit him as or right after he
2562-572: A struggle to persuade a protagonist who represents a generic human character toward either good or evil. The common story arc of these plays follows "the temptation, fall and redemption of the protagonist ". Hildegard von Bingen 's Ordo Virtutum (English: "Order of the Virtues"), composed c. 1151 in Germany, is the earliest known morality play by more than a century, and it is the only medieval musical drama to survive with an attribution for both
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#17327976495772684-419: A tone shift from stuffy seriousness to an amusement that "is central to the contemplative logic of the play" by showing how even Latin can be "dragged from the reaches of the church and into the mess of everyday life." There are many such examples of amusing nonsense Latin throughout the play. In what is possibly most memorable of the vices' use of puns to twist good into bad, at one point in Mankind belt out
2806-514: A vibrant ditty on defecation that concludes, in a clear echo of 'holy holy holy,' with "Hoylyke, holyke, holyke! Holyke, holyke, holyke!", quite possibly a pun on 'hole-lick' or 'hole-leak'. Because of how this spoofs liturgical call-and-response worship as well as Nought's invitation, "Now I prey all the yemandry that ys here / To synge wyth us wyth a mery chere" (ll. 333–4), this is likely a moment of audience participation to highlight their own "susceptibilities to seduction by frivolity." Finally,
2928-514: Is 18, but university lodges are given dispensations to initiate undergraduates below that age.) Additionally, most Grand Lodges require a candidate to declare a belief in a Supreme Being (although every candidate must interpret this condition in his own way, as all religious discussion is commonly prohibited). In a few cases, the candidate may be required to be of a specific religion. The form of Freemasonry most common in Scandinavia (known as
3050-476: Is Regular and what is Irregular (and the definitions do not necessarily agree between Grand Lodges). Essentially, every Grand Lodge will hold that its landmarks (its requirements, tenets and rituals) are Regular, and judge other Grand Lodges based on those. If the differences are significant, one Grand Lodge may declare the other "Irregular" and withdraw or withhold recognition. The most commonly shared rules for Recognition (based on Regularity) are those given by
3172-464: Is a historically African-American branch of Freemasonry that maintains its own separate Grand Lodge system parallel to the state Grand Lodge system. Together, these two systems - the conservative Grand Lodges and Prince Hall Grand Lodges make up for a total of 97 UGLE recognized Grand Lodges, sharing jurisdictions in the United States. They represent the main bodies of Masonic governance in
3294-690: Is a system of 33 degrees, including the three Blue Lodge degrees administered by a local or national Supreme Council. This system is popular in North America, South America and in Continental Europe . In America, the York Rite , with a similar range, administers three orders of Masonry, namely the Royal Arch , Cryptic Masonry , and Knights Templar . In Britain, separate bodies administer each order. Freemasons are encouraged to join
3416-549: Is also quite rich: for an explanation of French medieval morality plays, visit the French Misplaced Pages page . While scholars refer to these works as morality plays, the play texts do not refer to themselves as such; rather, the genre and its nomenclature have been retroactively conceived by scholarship as a way for modern scholars to understand a series of texts that share enough commonalities that they may be better understood together. Thus, as scholar Pamela King has noted,
3538-528: Is during this transitional period where one begins to see Justice begin to assume more and more the qualities of a judge. The Justice in Respublica begins to concern himself with administering justice on "the criminal element", rather than with the divine pronouncement on a generic representative of mankind. This is the first instance where one may observe a direct divergence from the theological virtues and concerns that were previously exerted by Justice in
3660-481: Is in amity with the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Connecticut, the principle of Exclusive Jurisdiction does not apply, and other Grand Lodges may recognise both. Likewise, the five distinct kinds of lodges in Germany have nominally united under one Grand Lodge in order to obtain international recognition. The concept of Exclusive Jurisdiction has been significantly challenged in the United States with
3782-456: Is not allowed. There are many reasons one Grand Lodge will withhold or withdraw recognition from another, but the two most common are Exclusive Jurisdiction and Regularity . Exclusive Jurisdiction is a concept whereby normally only one Grand Lodge will be recognised in any geographical area. If two Grand Lodges claim jurisdiction over the same area, the other Grand Lodges will have to choose between them, and they may not all decide to recognise
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3904-401: Is only Everyman that explicitly describes itself as a moral play, both in its incipit ("Here begynneth a treatyse... in maner of a morall playe") and when a character, Messenger, states that this literary work will communicate "By fygure [of] a morall playe" (l. 3). However, one should not interpret these self-reflexive lines as simply moments that identify the genre of morality plays. Although
4026-439: Is personification, whereby abstract qualities are given human shape [...] allegory involves a continuous parallel between two (or more) levels of meaning in a story." While the Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms uses the words allegory and personification in tandem with one another, the link between the two terms is a point of debate among scholars. Walter Melion and Bart M. Ramakers indicate that literary personifications are
4148-537: Is possible that the Macro version was copied from the Digby manuscript, but there is also the possibility that both were copied from elsewhere. Unlike The Pride of Life and the Macro plays, all of which survive only in manuscript form, Everyman exists as a printed text, in four different sources. Two of these four sources were printed by Pynson and two were printed by John Skot. Pamela King notes how Everyman's status as
4270-434: Is progressively taught the meanings of the symbols of Freemasonry and entrusted with grips, signs, and words to signify to other members that he has been so initiated. The degrees are part allegorical morality play and part lecture. These three degrees form Craft (or Blue Lodge) Freemasonry, and members of any of these degrees are known as Free-Masons , Freemasons or Masons . Once the Craft degrees have been conferred upon
4392-420: Is roughly contemporaneous with the Macro plays, suggesting that humanist trends are traceable in the morality play much earlier than Everyman . There is also a general, continuous increase in the individuation and complexity of characters. In Nature , a prostitute is given a regular name rather than the name of a concept. In Everyman , Everyman's mercantile language suggests a generic protagonist that represents
4514-481: Is that each candidate must be "free and of good reputation". The question of freedom, a standard feudal requirement of mediaeval guilds, is nowadays one of independence: the object is that every Mason should be a proper and responsible person. Thus, each Grand Lodge has a standard minimum age, varying greatly and often subject to dispensation in particular cases. (For example, in England the standard minimum age to join
4636-548: Is the Lodge . These private Lodges are usually supervised at the regional level (usually coterminous with a state, province, or national border) by a Grand Lodge or Grand Orient. There is no international, worldwide Grand Lodge that supervises all of Freemasonry; each Grand Lodge is independent, and they do not necessarily recognise each other as being legitimate. Lodges are found around the world and on all populated continents; however due to anti-Masonry and laws that effectively ban
4758-457: Is the annual installation of the Master of the Lodge and his appointed or elected officers. In some jurisdictions, an Installed Master elected, obligated, and invested to preside over a Lodge, is valued as a separate rank with its own secrets and distinctive title and attributes; after each full year in the chair the Master invests his elected successor and becomes a Past Master with privileges in
4880-424: Is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. The Lodge meets regularly and conducts the usual formal business of any small organisation (approve minutes , elect new members, appoint officers and take their reports, consider correspondence, bills and annual accounts, organise social and charitable events, etc.). In addition to such business, the meeting may perform a ceremony to confer a Masonic degree or receive
5002-432: Is upon candidates to ask to join; while they may be encouraged to ask, they may not be invited. Once the initial inquiry is made, a formal application may be proposed and seconded or announced in open Lodge and a more or less formal interview usually follows. If the candidate wishes to proceed, references are taken up during a period of notice so that members may enquire into the candidate's suitability and discuss it. Finally,
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5124-430: Is vulnerable; this is not an untouchable, impregnable Mercy [...] but rather a strikingly vulnerable and human one". Additionally, scholars complicate the notion that morality plays allegorically parallel the audience with the dramatic characters, indicating that the moralities actually incorporate the audience into the dramatic community. For example, writing on The Castle of Perseverance , Andrea Louise Young argues that
5246-531: The Bible , the Quran , or other religious scripture be open in a working lodge, that every member professes belief in a Supreme Being , that no women be admitted, and that the discussion of religion and politics do not take place within the lodge; and Continental Freemasonry , which consists of the jurisdictions that have removed some, or all, of these restrictions. The basic, local organisational unit of Freemasonry
5368-631: The Holy Royal Arch , which is linked to Mark Masonry in Scotland and Ireland, but completely separate in England. In England, the Royal Arch is closely associated with the Craft, automatically having many Grand Officers in common, including H.R.H the Duke of Kent as both Grand Master of the Craft and First Grand Principal of the Royal Arch. The English Knights Templar and Cryptic Masonry share
5490-547: The Landmarks of Freemasonry , which elude any universally accepted definition. Candidates for Freemasonry will usually have met the most active members of the Lodge they are joining before being elected for initiation. The process varies among Grand Lodges, but in modern times interested people often look up a local Lodge through the Internet and will typically be introduced to a Lodge social function or open evening. The onus
5612-497: The Lodge of Edinburgh (Mary's Chapel) No. 1 in Scotland show a continuity from an operative lodge in 1598 to a modern speculative Lodge. It is reputed to be the oldest Masonic Lodge in the world. Alternatively, Thomas De Quincey in his work titled Rosicrucians and Freemasonry put forward the theory that suggested that Freemasonry may have been an outgrowth of Rosicrucianism . The theory had also been postulated in 1803 by German professor; J. G. Buhle . The first Grand Lodge,
5734-595: The Nordic countries , the Swedish Rite is dominant; a variation of it is also used in parts of Germany. Freemasonry describes itself as a "beautiful system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols". The symbolism is mainly, but not exclusively, drawn from the tools of stonemasons – the square and compasses , the level and plumb rule, the trowel , the rough and smooth ashlars , among others. Moral lessons are attributed to each of these tools, although
5856-479: The Swedish Rite ), for example, accepts only Christians. At the other end of the spectrum, "Liberal" or Continental Freemasonry , exemplified by the Grand Orient de France , does not require a declaration of belief in any deity and accepts atheists (the cause of the distinction from the rest of Freemasonry). During the ceremony of initiation, the candidate is required to undertake an obligation, swearing on
5978-608: The United Grand Lodge of England . The Grand Lodge of Ireland and the Grand Lodge of Scotland were formed in 1725 and 1736, respectively, although neither persuaded all of the existing lodges in their countries to join for many years. The earliest known American lodges were in Pennsylvania . The collector for the port of Pennsylvania, John Moore, wrote of attending lodges there in 1715, two years before
6100-760: The United States , Masonic membership is organized in two systems, first through 51 Conservative Grand Lodges - one for each state plus the District of Columbia . While these Grand Lodges once boasted over 4 million members in 1957, membership has declined sharply. According to the Masonic Service Association of North America, current combined membership across these jurisdictions stands at approximately 875,000 members. Additionally, there are 46 Prince Hall Grand Lodges in amity with UGLE, operating across various U.S. states. Prince Hall Masonry
6222-557: The rhyme scheme ABABBCBC whereas "Lucifer prefers a tripping measure with two to five stress and only two rhymes." Other characters speak like Wisdom when under his influence and like Lucifer when under his. This system of contrastive verse is further refined in Mankind (Ramsay cxxxix). This is not the only use of variation in meter. For example, even without having to contrast with a good character's manner of talking, when Mankind ascends to World's scaffold in The Castle of Perseverance , Mundus, Voluptas, and Stultitia briefly switch from
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#17327976495776344-529: The second world war from 33,000 in 1960 to 53,000 in 2023. Relations between Grand Lodges are determined by the concept of Recognition . Each Grand Lodge maintains a list of other Grand Lodges that it recognises. When two Grand Lodges recognise and are in Masonic communication with each other, they are said to be in amity , and the brethren of each may visit each other's Lodges and interact Masonically. When two Grand Lodges are not in amity, inter-visitation
6466-404: The "craft" by being progressively "initiated", "passed" and "raised" into the three degrees of Craft, or Blue Lodge Masonry. During these three rituals, the candidate is progressively taught the Masonic symbols, and entrusted with grips or tokens, signs, and words to signify to other Masons which degrees he has taken. The dramatic allegorical ceremonies include explanatory lectures and revolve around
6588-555: The "cultivation of self-conscious participation in God and of awareness of God's participation in man," while "creating literary experiences that initiate work of spiritual contemplation." Additionally, Julie Paulson explores the plays' investment in relating penitential ritual and community; she writes, "In the moralities, it is impossible to split an interior self from the exterior practices and institutions that define it [...] By dramatizing their protagonists' fall and recovery through penance,
6710-705: The 1860s. Many of the gravestones are in Hebrew and list the place of birth as either Prussia or Germany; the exception being the graves of children born in California. The Chinese portion of the Marysville Cemetery was founded in 1862, and features funerary burners that are over 100 years old, similarly these were also found at the Chinese Cemetery in Auburn, California . The Chinese portion has
6832-540: The Child and John Skelton's Magnificence . Additionally, there are other sixteenth-century plays that take on the typical traits of morality plays as outlined above, such as Hickscorner , but they are not generally categorized as such. The characters in Hickscorner are personified vices and virtues: Pity, Perseverance, Imagination, Contemplation, Freewill, and Hickscorner. The French medieval morality play tradition
6954-473: The Grand Lodge of London and Westminster, later called the Grand Lodge of England , was founded on St John's Day , 24 June 1717, when four existing London Lodges met for a joint dinner. Over the next decade, most of the existing Lodges in England joined the new regulatory body, which itself entered a period of self-publicity and expansion. New lodges were created, and the fraternity began to grow. During
7076-583: The Lodge and Grand Lodge. In other jurisdictions, the grade is not recognised, and no inner ceremony conveys new secrets during the installation of a new Master of the Lodge. Most Lodges have some sort of social functions, allowing members, their partners, and non-Masonic guests to meet openly. Often coupled with these events is the discharge of every Mason's and Lodge's collective obligation to contribute to charity. This occurs at many levels, including in annual dues, subscriptions, fundraising events, Lodges and Grand Lodges. Masons and their charities contribute for
7198-427: The Lodge takes an officially secret ballot on each application before a candidate is either initiated or rejected. The exact number of adverse ballots ("blackballs") required to reject a candidate varies between Masonic jurisdictions. As an example, the United Grand Lodge of England only requires a single "blackball", while the Grand Lodge of New York requires three. A minimum requirement of every body of Freemasons
7320-408: The Macro plays and Henry Medwall's Nature (c. 1495). The emphasis on death in these plays underscores how to live a good life; in the medieval moralities and Medwall's Nature in particular, virtue characters encourage the generic human protagonist to secure a good afterlife by performing good deeds, practicing penitence, or asking for divine mercy before their death. John Watkins also suggests that
7442-507: The Macro plays, show not only a mastery of language but also a light-hearted delight therein. All of the plays are written in some sort of end-rhymed verse, but with much variation, not only between the plays but in individual plays as well. Often verse is used to contrast the personalities of good and evil characters. For example, in Wisdom the characters Wysdom and Anima speak in "dignified, regular rhythm, almost always with four stresses" and
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#17327976495777564-791: The Mark Grand Lodge offices and staff at Mark Masons Hall. The Ancient and Accepted Rite (similar to the Scottish Rite), requires a member to proclaim the Trinitarian Christian faith, and is administered from Duke Street in London. Conversely, the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia is a fully independent esoteric organization that requires members be United Grand Lodge of England Master Masons . In
7686-552: The Premiere Grand Lodge had adopted. As an insult, the self proclaimed "Antient Grand Lodge" coined the term "modern" to designate the Premiere Grand Lodge (historians now use Premiere Grand Lodge and Antient Grand Lodge – to differentiate the two bodies). These two Grand Lodges vied for supremacy until the Premiere Grand Lodge made a compromise with the antient Grand Lodge to return to a ritual that worked for both Grand Lodges. They re-united on 27 December 1813 to form
7808-523: The Prolocutor uses the word game when asking his audience to listen attentively, stating, Lordinges and ladiis that beth hende, Herkenith al with mylde mode [How ou]re gam schal gyn and ende (l. 5-7, emphasis added). In the closing lines of The Castle of Perseverance , the character Pater (meaning The Father) tells the audience, "Thus endyth oure gamys" (l. 3645). While these plays appear to self-reflexively refer to their dramatic form, it
7930-652: The United Grand Lodge of England in 1929: Blue Lodges, known as Craft Lodges in the United Kingdom, offer only the three traditional degrees. In most jurisdictions, the rank of past or installed master is also conferred in Blue/Craft Lodges. Master Masons are able to extend their Masonic experience by taking further degrees, in appendant or other bodies whether or not approved by their own Grand Lodge. The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite
8052-460: The United States, though both have experienced significant membership declines since their mid-20th century peaks. Grand Orient de France , the largest jurisdiction in Continental or Liberal Freemasonry in terms of membership, is over 53,000 members spread across approximately 1,381 lodges for an average of 38 members per Lodges. The Grand Orient de France has been growing in membership since
8174-414: The assignment is by no means consistent. The meaning of the symbolism is taught and explored through ritual, and in lectures and articles by individual Masons who offer their personal insights and opinions. According to the scholar of Western esotericism Jan A. M. Snoek: "the best way to characterize Freemasonry is in terms of what it is not, rather than what it is". All Freemasons begin their journey in
8296-486: The audiences and readers of the play. As one can see, different authors employ the literary terms allegory and personification to argue various conclusions about the plays' separation or unification of abstract and concrete realities. In early English dramas Justice was personified as an entity which exercised "theological virtue or grace, and was concerned with the divine pronouncement of judgment on man". However, as time progressed, more moralities began to emerge; it
8418-456: The bak and the buttoke brestyth al on brenne, (Both the back and the buttocks burst burning unbound,) Wyth werkys of wreche I werke hem mykyl wrake. (With works of vengeance, them wretched I make.) In this speech, many of the alliterated phonemes are "aggressively plosive " and the /tʃ/ of "I champe and I chafe, I choke on my chynne" "requires the speaker to part his lips and bare his teeth, bringing them together in an expression that resembles
8540-446: The building blocks for creating allegory: arguing for "personification as a mode of allegorical signification," Melion and Ramakers state, "As narrative, dramatic, or pictorial characters [personifications] develop a distinct reality," specifically, a reality that connects the literal and metaphorical interpretations of an allegory. However, Michael Silk insists that there is a fundamental difference between personification and allegory, as
8662-401: The character Mercy in Mankind , Pamela King notes, "Mercy the character begs God for the quality he represents, which is, strictly speaking, allegorical nonsense; he stands more for the human aegis by which mercy may be obtained, than for the quality itself." Similarly, Eleanor Johnson explains Mercy's humanity, implying his status as a personified concept: "Mercy suffers, Mercy trembles, Mercy
8784-547: The clenched-tooth grimace of the devil in contemporary iconography." While mostly written in Middle English , some of the plays employ Latin and French to wonderful effect, both thematically significant and just plain humorous. Latin, of course, as the language of the Roman Catholic Church , was naturally important for the sort of religious discourse these plays engaged in. That does not mean that
8906-510: The construction of the Temple of Solomon , and the artistry and death of the chief architect, Hiram Abiff . The degrees are those of "Entered apprentice", "Fellowcraft" and "Master Mason". While many different versions of these rituals exist, with various lodge layouts and versions of the Hiramic legend, each version is recognizable to any Freemason from any jurisdiction. In some jurisdictions,
9028-510: The context of a flamboyant style originating in Franco-Burgundian culture. But that is not all the playwright does with the effect. Clare Wright argues convincingly that alliteration among other formal structures encourages the actors to perform with a "devilish corporeal register." She uses Belyal's first speech as an example: Now I sytte, Satanas, in my sad synne, (Now sit I, Satan, steadfast in my sin,) As devyl dowty, in draf as
9150-593: The course of the 18th century, as aristocrats and artists crowded out the craftsmen originally associated with the organization, Freemasonry became fashionable throughout Europe and the American colonies . Between 1730 and 1750, the Grand Lodge endorsed several significant changes that some Lodges could not endorse. A rival Grand Lodge was formed on 17 July 1751, which called itself the " Antient Grand Lodge of England " to signify that, in their opinion, these lodges were maintaining older traditions and rejected changes that
9272-499: The creation of Arundel's Constitutions in 1407, whereby the Archbishop Thomas Arundel and his legislation sought to limit the preaching and teaching of religious matters, and outlawed any biblical translations into the vernacular. His Constitutions were written in explicit response to the threat of Lollardy . Since the morality plays do contain aspects of religious doctrine, such as the importance of penance and
9394-487: The degree of Fellowcraft ; and then raised to the degree of Master Mason . In each of these ceremonies, the candidate must first take the new obligations of the degree, and is then entrusted with secret knowledge including passwords, signs and grips ( secret handshakes ) confined to his new rank. Although these symbols and gestures are nominally secret, they are readily found in public sources, including those published by Masonic organizations themselves. Another ceremony
9516-467: The detection, arrest, and punishment of Prodigality for the robbery and murder of Tenacity, a yeoman in the country of Middlesex. Virtue states, So horrible a fact can hardly pleaded for favour: Therefore go you, Equity, examine more diligently The manner of this outrageous robbery: And as the same by examination shall appear, Due justice may be done in presence here. ( Liberality and Prodigality 377) The meta phases that Justice undergoes during
9638-414: The early-fifteenth-century moralities as a performer playing the role of a theological virtue or grace, and then one sees him develop to a more serious figure, occupying the position of an arbiter of justice during the sixteenth century. It is a journey of discovery and great change on which Justice welcomes one to embark as one leafs through the pages of morality plays. All of the morality plays, especially
9760-516: The first Masonic lodge in Canada at Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia . Morality play The morality play is a genre of medieval and early Tudor drama. The term is used by scholars of literary and dramatic history to refer to a genre of play texts from the fourteenth through sixteenth centuries that feature personified concepts (most often virtues and vices , but sometimes practices or habits) alongside angels and demons, who are engaged in
9882-457: The first evidence of ceremonial regalia. There is no clear mechanism by which these local trade organisations became today's Masonic Lodges. The earliest rituals and passwords known, from operative lodges around the turn of the 17th–18th centuries, show continuity with the rituals developed in the later 18th century by accepted or speculative Masons, as those members who did not practice the physical craft gradually came to be known. The minutes of
10004-725: The former coroner , Ebenezer Hamilton as blackmail for a larger salary. The missing records were never found. The last body was buried in this cemetery was around 1983. Many burials for the Marysville-area are now held at Sierra View Memorial Park in Olivehurst, California . In 1855, the Jewish portion of the cemetery is located in the southeast corner and was formed by the Marysville Hebrew Benevolent Society and their fundraising efforts through
10126-406: The fundamental aims of regular Freemasonry. Some jurisdictions have formalized this arrangement through written agreements that specifically outline the terms of shared jurisdiction. Regularity is a concept based on adherence to Masonic Landmarks , the basic membership requirements, tenets and rituals of the craft. Each Grand Lodge sets its own definition of what these landmarks are, and thus what
10248-556: The implied staging of the play (which includes the positioning of characters, as well as the placement of scaffolds and banners) encourages audience members to actively engage with the drama in a physical manner: "In moving around the play space, spectators can change the meaning of the drama for themselves and the other spectators." Young notes that the play invites audience members to enter the dramatic space and consequently position themselves through both "their eyes and their bodies," through where they choose to look and move in relation to
10370-448: The increasing recognition of Prince Hall Grand Lodges , a branch of Freemasonry created for African Americans. Historically, many "mainstream" or conservative U.S. Grand Lodges refused to recognize Prince Hall Grand Lodges operating in their states, citing Exclusive Jurisdiction. However, this began to change in 1989 when the Grand Lodge of Connecticut extended recognition to its Prince Hall counterpart. This initial recognition created
10492-403: The judiciary duties previously performed by Justice. This changing of rulers, or preceding justices, is done when Equity declares that his brother Justice has been banished from the country and that he (Equity) will from now on take on the duties of the former monarch, Justice. This change of ruling heads is portrayed in the morality play, Liberality and Prodigality , where Equity serves Virtue in
10614-419: The largest Masonic jurisdiction worldwide. However, its membership has declined dramatically - from about 500,000 members in the 1960s to approximately 175,000 in 2021. The organization is structured into various Provincial Grand Lodges at the local level. Similarly, the Grand Lodge of Ireland has experienced a steep decline, with membership falling from 100,000 in 1960 to around 19,000 members currently. In
10736-558: The law. In most Lodges, the oath or obligation is taken on a Volume of Sacred Law , whichever book of divine revelation is appropriate to the religious beliefs of the individual brother (usually the Bible in the Anglo-American tradition). In Progressive continental Freemasonry, books other than scripture are permissible, a cause of rupture between Grand Lodges. Since the middle of the 19th century, Masonic historians have sought
10858-500: The lines use the word "playe," scholarship remains unsure if Everyman was actually staged as a dramatic performance, or if the text was a literary work intended for reading. The 1901 modern revival of the play, staged by Willian Poem, is the earliest record of the play's production. Additionally, Everyman is a translation of the Dutch Elckerlijc , and, therefore, is not originally an English literary work. Thus, due to
10980-425: The local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 14th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities and clients. Freemasonry is the oldest fraternity in the world and among the oldest continued organizations in history. Modern Freemasonry broadly consists of two main recognition groups: Regular Freemasonry , which insists that a “volume of sacred law”, such as
11102-536: The main themes of each degree are illustrated by tracing boards . These painted depictions of Masonic themes are exhibited in the lodge according to which degree is being worked and are explained to the candidate to illustrate the legend and symbolism of each degree. The idea of Masonic brotherhood probably descends from a 16th-century legal definition of a "brother" as one who has taken an oath of mutual support to another. Accordingly, Masons swear at each degree to support and protect their brethren unless they have broken
11224-478: The manner they find most satisfying. Some will simply enjoy the dramatics, or the management and administration of the lodge, others will explore the history, ritual and symbolism of the craft, others will focus their involvement on their Lodge's sociopolitical side, perhaps in association with other lodges, while still others will concentrate on the lodge's charitable functions. Grand Lodges and Grand Orients are independent and sovereign bodies that govern Masonry in
11346-478: The moralities are not biblical or would not conceive of themselves as such. Although they do not explicitly label themselves with the genre title morality plays, some of the play texts self-reflexively refer to themselves with the term game. While the Middle English spelling of game varies, the noun generally refers to a joy, festivity, amusement, or play. In the opening lines of The Pride of Life ,
11468-432: The morality plays also encourage their audiences and/or readers to reflect upon the importance of penitential ritual. Several academics have written upon these common thematic characteristics. Considering the plays' investment in staging the audience's/reader's relationship to God, Eleanor Johnson writes that Wisdom and Mankind, among several other medieval literary works, dramatically stage acts of contemplation to encourage
11590-483: The morality plays of the fifteenth century. The Justice in Respublica is personified as a "civil force rather than a theological one". An evolution of sorts takes place within the morals and agendas of Justice: he begins to don the Judicial Robe of prosecutor and executioner. Another change envelops in the character of Justice during the sixteenth century in morality plays; Equity replaces Justice and assumes
11712-441: The morality plays' "absolute cohesion as a group" is "bound to be questioned in any attempt to define that form in its individual manifestations and theatrical contexts." As for the history of the term itself in modern usage, premodern plays were separated into 'moralities' and 'mysteries' by Robert Dodsley in the 18th century; he categorized moralities as allegorical plays and mysteries as biblical plays, though nothing suggests that
11834-469: The morality plays' formal depiction of the relationship between the abstract realm of concepts and everyday circumstances of human life. Pamela King notes the "broadly allegorical" form unifying the moralities. King suggests that the plays employ an allegorical framework of personification to metaphorically parallel, and conceptually separate, "the ephemeral and imperfect world of everyday existence" from an abstract "eternal reality". While King indicates that
11956-531: The origins of the movement in a series of similar documents known as the Old Charges , dating from the Regius Poem in about 1425 to the beginning of the 18th century. Alluding to the membership of a lodge of operative masons , they relate it to a mythologised history of the craft, the duties of its grades, and the manner in which oaths of fidelity are to be taken on joining. The 15th century also sees
12078-455: The other plays in the genre. That said, Everyman ' s straightforward focus on death, uninterested in the cycle of sin and penitence found in the Macro plays, resembles the Pride of Life . These two plays are less like the Macro plays than Medwall's Nature , which is not traditionally considered as a medieval morality play. Scholars such as Katherine Little, who claims that Everyman is not
12200-600: The plays show the dramatic action to merely parallel and imitate eternal, abstract concepts, Julie Paulson argues that the moralities use personification allegory to reunite the concrete and the abstract. Paulson writes, "in giving a word such as 'wisdom' or 'mankind' a body and a voice, personification allegory instead returns us to the lived experiences and particular circumstances that give those words their meanings". Additionally, Paulson underscores that plays such as The Castle of Perseverance and Everyman employ protagonists that personify humankind in an allegorical parallel to
12322-471: The plays suggest how the experience of penitential ritual shapes penitents' understandings of the social and moral concepts central to the formation of Christian subjects." It is worth noting that Paulson, in making these summative comments, focuses her analysis on The Castle of Perseverance , the Macro plays, Everyman , and several moralities from the sixteenth century, and thus does not aim to characterize all moralities in her commentary. Working to pinpoint
12444-431: The playwrights were unwilling to play with Latin. For example, in Mankind , the character Mercy has a highly Latinizing manner of speech: in terms of vocabulary and meticulously tidy versification and sentence structure, all of which culminates in what one scholar calls " inkhorn and churchily pedagogical." (Johnson 172). Mercy ends his first speech saying "I besech yow hertyly, have this premedytacyon" (l. 44), ending with
12566-524: The plot summary provided by the introductory banns, featured at the beginning of the play, indicated that the action continued. The Castle of Perseverance , Wisdom , and Mankind are all part of a single manuscript called the Macro Manuscript , named after its first known owner, Cox Macro of Bury St Edmunds. A second copy of the first 752 lines of Wisdom is preserved in MS Digby 133. It
12688-489: The principal vices in medieval morality plays, avarice, pride, extortion, and ambition, throw anxieties over class mobility into relief. Fifteenth-century plays like Occupation and Idleness and later morality plays (commonly considered Tudor interludes, like John Skelton's Magnyfycence ) portray class-mobility positively. Whether for or against class mobility, morality plays engage with the subject. Other, smaller commonalities include audience participation, elaborate costuming,
12810-566: The putative formation of the first Grand Lodge in London. The Grand Lodge of England appointed a Provincial Grand Master for North America in 1731, based in Pennsylvania, leading to the creation of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania . In Canada, Erasmus James Philipps became a Freemason while working on a commission to resolve boundaries in New England and, in 1739, he became provincial Grand Master for Nova Scotia ; Philipps founded
12932-533: The relief of need in many fields, such as education, health and old age. Private Lodges form the backbone of Freemasonry, with the sole right to elect their own candidates for initiation as Masons or admission as joining Masons, and sometimes with exclusive rights over residents local to their premises. There are non-local Lodges where Masons meet for wider or narrower purposes, such or in association with some hobby, sport, Masonic research, business, profession, regiment or college. The rank of Master Mason also entitles
13054-404: The religious volume sacred to his personal faith to do good as a Mason. In the course of three degrees, Masons will promise to keep the secrets of their degree from lower degrees and outsiders, as far as practicality and the law permit, and to support a fellow Mason in distress. There is formal instruction as to the duties of a Freemason, but on the whole, Freemasons are left to explore the craft in
13176-837: The representational figures within literary works are personifications that retain allegorical qualities. Additionally, Silk notes that "Various medievalists correctly insist that in antiquity and the Middle Ages the connection [between allegory and personification] is not made," indirectly complicating the notion that morality plays are allegorical constructions employing personified concepts. While an allegorical literary form implies that literal and metaphorical elements must "continuously parallel" one another, these plays do not always allegorically parallel theological qualities/concepts and concrete action, but rather humanize abstract concepts—thereby emphasizing characters as personifications, but not allegorical constructions. For example, examining
13298-519: The ritual, the number of officers present, the layout of the meeting room, etc. varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Almost all officers of a Lodge are elected or appointed annually. Every Masonic Lodge has a Master, two Wardens, a treasurer and a secretary. There is also always a Tyler , or outer guard, outside the door of a working Lodge, who may be paid to secure its privacy. Other offices vary between jurisdictions. Each Masonic Lodge exists and operates according to ancient principles known as
13420-537: The role that morality plays themselves played in society, continue to be somewhat misunderstood. The recent trend in scholarship of the period in which morality plays were written is to admit the great degree of continuity between late medieval and Renaissance cultures of Europe. Nevertheless, although morality plays reach their apogee in the sixteenth century, religious drama of this sort and in general all but disappeared thereafter. The cause of this change can be traced to both changes in religious sensibilities related to
13542-486: The salvation of the soul, scholars have questioned how it is that morality plays, in both the play-text and play form, continued to thrive throughout the fifteenth century. While scholars have not arrived at a satisfying conclusion, they nonetheless agree the morality plays were not seriously affected by the Constitutions, which suggests that either Arundel's Constitutions, the divide between Lollardy and orthodoxy, or
13664-402: The same one. (In 1849, for example, the Grand Lodge of New York split into two rival factions, each claiming to be the legitimate Grand Lodge. Other Grand Lodges had to choose between them until the schism was healed. ) Exclusive Jurisdiction can be waived when the two overlapping Grand Lodges are themselves in amity and agree to share jurisdiction. For example, since the Grand Lodge of Connecticut
13786-438: The seven sins alliterating nearly all of their lines, a habit the character Mankind learns from them. This is not to imply that alliteration is purely the mark of an evil character, for the bad angel alliterates very little and the neutral flag bearers who provide a summary of events at the beginning of the play script make extensive use of alliteration. At many points this is for ornamental effect: Michael R. Kelley places this in
13908-402: The sixteenth century in morality plays, from "Justice" to "Equity" further illustrates the evolution of Justice; not only did Justice change from a "theological abstraction to a civil servant", but he experienced a corporeal change as well. One may readily observe the evolutionary progression of Justice as portrayed in the plays of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. One encounters Justice in
14030-444: The staged characters. King, Johnson, and Young indirectly show, without explicitly stating so, how the morality plays are not simply allegorical constructions, but rather fluid forms of personification that blur the distinctions between literal and metaphorical elements, characters and audience members/readers. Still, scholarship generally adopts the literary labels allegory , personification , and personification allegory to explain
14152-623: The text and the music. Because there are many formal differences between this play and later medieval moralities, as well as the fact that it only exists in two manuscripts, it is unlikely that the Ordo Virtutum had any direct influence on the writing of its later English counterparts. Traditionally, scholars name only five surviving English morality plays from the medieval period: The Pride of Life (late 14th century), The Castle of Perseverance (c.1425); Wisdom , (1460–63); Mankind (c.1470); Everyman (1510). The Pride of Life
14274-661: The tradition, it does not have a presence in every country. In the spirit of brotherhood and hopefulness, however, Freemasons usually presume that clandestine lodges may nonetheless exist in those countries in which it is banned, even if they may not actually exist. The degrees of Freemasonry are the three grades of medieval craft guilds : Entered Apprentice , Journeyman or Fellow of the craft (now called either “Fellowcraft” or “Fellow Craft” in English speaking jurisdictions, and “Companion” in non-English speaking jurisdictions), and Master Mason . The candidate of these three degrees
14396-399: The uncertainty regarding the play's status as a dramatic work, as well as the play's non-English origins, Everyman ' s self-reflective identification as a "morall playe" cannot confirm that the medieval moralities explicitly name themselves as a cohesive medieval morality genre. Morality plays typically contain a protagonist who represents humanity as a whole, or an average layperson, or
14518-421: The virtue of labour, and the governance of the body/passions by the soul/reason in the service of Catholic virtue, money management, or the proper methods of governing a state. The cohesion of the medieval morality play genre in particular is questionable as their family resemblances are loose in some instances. Despite being treated as the archetypal morality play, Everyman ' s plot has little in common with
14640-547: Was less and less often the case that religion was expressed directly. Betteridge and Walker also note that morality plays began to focus on the importance of education, specifically in regard to classical literature. In Medwall's Nature , the opening speech prompts readings of Ovid and Aristotle . However, a strong focus on education can be found in Occupation and Idleness as well, which stages an errant schoolboy being taught to respect and learn from his teacher—this play
14762-638: Was the earliest record of a morality play written in the English language; the text (destroyed by fire in 1922, but published earlier) existed on the back of a parchment account roll from June 30, 1343, to January 5, 1344, from the Priory of the Holy Trinity in Dublin. However, this textual record was incomplete. The play cut off mid-line, when the character Messenger, at the command of the King, called upon Death;
14884-572: Was threatening. This is not a trait restricted in the period to morality plays: a reason for the existence of this trait suggested by one scholar while discussing the Chester plays is that "A spectator who could see the action without hearing the lines would not have a significantly different experience from someone who could hear them." What binds morality plays together as a genre are the strong family resemblances between them. These resemblances are most strong in regard to personification allegory as
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