n 1277.

The ancient church foundation of Strasburg was peculiarly arranged,
after a manner most unusual in a cathedral church. The ground-plan of
the ecclesiastical establishment was not unlike those of the monkish
communities which were so plentifully scattered over Europe, but it was
built for use as a church, and for the bishop and his clerics, instead
of being merely a secular monastery.

The following diagram explains this unusual arrangement.

The masonic theory with regard to the construction of these mediaeval
ecclesiastical monuments is of much interest in connection with
Strasburg. The lodge at Strasburg was the earliest in the north of which
we have any knowledge, and Ervin von Steinbach himself seems to have
been at the head of it, which fact proves that he was one of the first
of secular architects engaged upon a great religious work.

[Illustration: _Ancient Church Foundation, Strasburg_

A--Habitation of bishops and clerics
B--Cour commune
C--Part assigned to women
D--Part assigned to men
E--For preaching
F--For penitents
G--Doors
H--Altars
I--Pulpits
K--Choir for clergy
]

Great opportunities and privileges were conferred upon him by Rudolph of
Hapsburg, and the masonic lodge of which he was the head had the power,
over a wide extent of territory, to maintain order and obedience among
the workmen under its jurisdiction.

In 1278 Pope Nicholas III. issued a bull, giving the body absolution,
and this was renewed by his successors up to the time of Benedict XII.

Iodoque Dotzinger, master of the works at Strasburg in 1452, formed an
alliance between the different lodges of Germany.

It was an appreciative Frenchman--and all Frenchmen are appreciative and
fond of Strasburg, because of what it once was to them--that said: "_La
cathedrale est un merveille unique au monde_." Continuing, he said:
"Those who have not seen it know not the _gaiete lumineuse_ of a Gothic
church."

All of this is of course quite true from some points of view.

There is, however, something pitiful about the general aspect of this
great Gothic church. Its lone spire, standing grim and gaunt against a
background of sky, makes only the more apparent the incompleteness of
the structure.

Its facade is certainly marvellous, quite rivalling those of Reims and
Toul, not so very far away across the French border.

The triple porch of the facade is rich in sculpture, the most remar