William of Schyren

None of the ancient Counts of Scheyern bore the name William or Wilhelm. There were, however, several dukes of the later Wittelsbach period with the name William. Little is written about William I of Bavaria (1333 – 1389 EV). William IV of Bavaria (1493 – 1550 EV) is noted for his opposition to Lutheranism when nearly all of the neighboring nobility were embracing it, and for inviting the Jesuits to Bavaria, who established their headquarters at the university of Ingolstadt. William V of Bavaria (1548 – 1626 EV) is noted for his alliance with the Habsburgs and expansion of Bavarian territories. Duke Otto II of Bavaria (1206 – 1270 EV) is said to have been one of the patrons of the unnamed minnesinger known only as “der Tannhäuser.”

When the Counts of Scheyern moved to Wittelsbach, they converted Castle Scheyern to a Benedictine Abbey, temporarily populating it with monks from the Abbey of Hirsau (Hirschau) under Abbot William of Hirsau (c. 1026 – 1091 EV).  William of Hirsau had established Hirsau’s reputation as a center of learning, and is still remembered as a notable mystic, monastic reformer, and scholarly researcher in astronomy and music theory.

William of Hirsau, or William the Blessed, is a figure of some historical importance in German Freemasonry.  Architect and architectural historian Carl Heideloff, in 1844 EV, erroneously asserted that William was not only abbot of Hirsau but also a Count Palatine (Pfaltzgraff) of Schyren, Scheuern, or Schyern; and other authors followed him in this later.  William’s connection to the Abbey of Scheyern was actually very slight; not long after he installed 12 monks at that remote castle, he and the new monks decided that they couldn’t stand the isolation and harsh winters, so they returned to Hirsau. 

However, one of William’s notable activities at the Abbey of Hirsau was to instigate and manage major construction works, which included training his subordinate monastic brothers in the arts and sciences associated with architecture and stonemasonry.  He also developed statutes pertaining to the harmonious and cooperative management of construction activities in brotherly unity, which were widely acclaimed.  The success of these endeavors led to orders from many countries throughout Christendom to come and build monasteries.  To comply with these orders, he took on a large number of lay brothers into his monastic construction corps, who gathered in local lodges or “huts” known as Bauhütte.   Several Masonic authors have asserted that the Bauhütte played a significant role in the development of the guilds of operative masonry that ultimately developed into Speculative Freemasonry. 

I am indebted to Frater Superior Hymenaeus Beta for his research into German Freemasonic sources, finally leading to the positive identification of William of Hirsau as Gnostic Saint “William of Schyren.”

References

• American Council of Learned Societies; Dictionary of the Middle Ages, Scribners, NY 1989

• Benton, William (Publ.); Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1768/1973

• [Blake, Edith] The Realities of Freemasonry, by Mrs. Blake, Chapman and Hall, London 1879

• Findel, J.G.; Geschichte der Freimaurerei von der Zeit ihres Entstehens bis auf die Gegenwart,  Luppe, Leipzig 1861

• Glaser, Hubert (Ed.); Wittelsbach und Bayern: Die Zeit der Frühen Herzöge, von Otto I. zu Ludwig dem Bayern, Hirmer Verlag, München 1980

• Gould, Robert Freke; The History of Freemasonry, Thomas C. Jack, London 1887

• Heideloff, Carl; Die Bauhütte des Mittelalters in Deutschland, 1844

• Knecht, R.J.; Francis I, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1982

• Mackey, Albert G.; An Encyclopaedia of Freemasonry and its Kindred Sciences, Masonic History Company, 1913

• McDonald, William J. (Ed. in Chief); New Catholic Encyclopedia, McGraw Hill, NY 1967