In 1199, Peter de Colechurch was appointed grand master; and the society
continued to increase and flourish in the successive reigns of Henry III.,
Edward I., Edward II., and Edward III. This last prince revised the
constitutions of the order, and appointed deputies to superintend the
fraternity, one of whom was William a Wykeham, afterwards Bishop of
Winchester. He continued grand master under the reign of Richard II.; was
succeeded by Thomas Fitz Allen, Earl of Surrey, in Henry IV.'s reign; and
on Henry V.'s accession, Chichely, Archbishop of Canterbury, presided over
the society. We have records of a lodge held at Canterbury, under his
patronage, where Thos. Stapylton was master, and the names of the wardens
and other brethren are given. This was in 1429, four years after an act of
parliament, passed early in the reign of Henry VI., against the meetings of
the society, which was caused by the enmity of Cardinal Beaufort, Bishop of
Winchester, towards Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, the king's uncle, a great
patron of the craft. But this act was never enforced, and in 1442 the king
was himself initiated, and he patronised the society.
In the meantime, under the auspices of James I. of Scotland, masonry
flourished in that country.
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