Thus, though there is no certain proof that the Comacines were the veritable stock from which the pseudo-Freemasonry of the present day sprang, we may at least admit that they were a link between the classic _Collegia_ and all other art and trade guilds of the Middle Ages. They were called Freemasons because they were builders of a privileged class, absolved from taxes and servitude, and free to travel about in times of feudal bondage. The term was applied to them both in England and Germany. Findel quotes two old English MSS., one of 1212, where the words "_sculptores lapidum liberorum_" are in close conjunction with _cœmentari_, which is the oldest Latin form for builder; and another dated 1396, where occurs the phrase "_latomos vocatos fremaceons_." In the rolls of the building of Exeter and Canterbury cathedrals the word _Freimur_ is frequent, and no better proof can be given of the way the early Masonic guild came into England. The Italian term _liberi muratori_ went into Germany with the Comacine Masters, who built Lombard buildings in many a German city, before Gothic ones were known; thence it passed Teutonized as _Freimur_ into England.[10] Cesare Cantù (_Storia di Como_, vol. i. p. 440) thus describes the Guild-- "Our Como architects certainly gave the name to the Masonic companies, which, I believe, had their origin at this time, though some claim to derive them from Solomon. These were called together in the _Loggie_ (hence Lodge) by a grand-master to treat of affairs common to the order, to accept novices, and confer superior degrees on others. The chief Lodge had other dependencies, and all members were instructed in their duties to the Society, and taught to direct every action to the glory of the Lord and His worship; to live faithful to God and the Government; to lend themselves to the public good and fraternal charity. In the dark times which were slowly becoming enlightened, they communicated to each other ideas on architecture, buildings, stone-cutting, the choice of materials and good taste in design. Strength, force, and beauty were their symbols. Bishops, princes, men of high rank who studied architecture fraternized with them, but the mixture of so many different classes changed in time the spirit of the Freemasons. The original forms of building were lost when the science fell into the hands and caprice of venal artisans."[11]