"Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century."
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Freemasonry
The Masonic Square and Compasses.
(Found with or without the letter G)Part of a series of articles on
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Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure
origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists
in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at
around 5 million, including just under two million in the United
States and around 480,000 in England, Scotland and Ireland.[1][2] The
various forms all share moral and metaphysical ideals, which include,
in most cases, a constitutional declaration of belief in a Supreme
Being.[3]
The fraternity is administratively organised into Grand Lodges (or
sometimes Orients), each of which governs its own jurisdiction, which
consists of subordinate (or constituent) Lodges. Grand Lodges
recognise each other through a process of landmarks and regularity.
There are also appendant bodies, which are organisations related to
the main branch of Freemasonry, but with their own independent
administration.
Freemasonry uses the metaphors of operative stonemasons' tools and
implements, against the allegorical backdrop of the building of King
Solomon's Temple, to convey what has been described by both Masons and
critics as "a system of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by
symbols."[4][5]
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History
Main article: History of Freemasonry
The origins and early development of Freemasonry are a matter of some
debate and conjecture. A poem known as the "Regius Manuscript" has
been dated to approximately 1390 and is the oldest known Masonic text.
[6] There is evidence to suggest that there were Masonic lodges in
existence in Scotland as early as the late sixteenth century[7] (for
example the Lodge at Kilwinning, Scotland, has records that date to
the late 1500s, and is mentioned in the Second Schaw Statutes (1599)
which specified that "ye warden of ye lug of Kilwynning [...] tak
tryall of ye airt of memorie and science yrof, of everie fellowe of
craft and everie prenteiss according to ayr of yr vocations").[8]
There are clear references to the existence of lodges in England by
the mid-seventeenth century.[9]
Goose and Gridiron, where the Grand Lodge of England was foundedThe
first Grand Lodge, the Grand Lodge of England (GLE), was founded on 24
June 1717, when four existing London Lodges met for a joint dinner.
This rapidly expanded into a regulatory body, which most English
Lodges joined. However, a few lodges resented some of the
modernisations that GLE endorsed, such as the creation of the Third
Degree, and formed a rival Grand Lodge on 17 July 1751, which they
called the "Antient Grand Lodge of England". The two competing Grand
Lodges vied for supremacy – the "Moderns" (GLE) and the "Antients" (or
"Ancients") – until they united 25 November 1813 to form the United
Grand Lodge of England (UGLE).
The Grand Lodges of Ireland and Scotland were formed in 1725 and 1736
respectively. Freemasonry was exported to the British Colonies in
North America by the 1730s – with both the "Antients" and the
"Moderns" (as well as the Grand Lodges of Ireland and Scotland)
chartering offspring ("daughter") Lodges, and organising various
Provincial Grand Lodges. After the American Revolution, independent
U.S. Grand Lodges formed themselves within each State. Some thought
was briefly given to organising an over-arching "Grand Lodge of the
United States", with George Washington (who was a member of a
Virginian lodge) as the first Grand Master, but the idea was short-
lived. The various State Grand Lodges did not wish to diminish their
own authority by agreeing to such a body.[10]
Although there are no real differences in the Freemasonry practiced by
lodges chartered by the Antients or the Moderns, the remnants of this
division can still be seen in the names of most Lodges, F.& A.M. being
Free and Accepted Masons and A.F.& A.M. being Antient Free and
Accepted Masons.
The oldest jurisdiction on the continent of Europe, the Grand Orient
de France (GOdF), was founded in 1728. However, most English-speaking
jurisdictions cut formal relations with the GOdF around 1877 – when
the GOdF removed the requirement that its members have a belief in a
Deity (thereby accepting atheists). The Grande Loge Nationale
Française (GLNF)[11] is currently the only French Grand Lodge that is
in regular amity with the UGLE and its many concordant jurisdictions
worldwide.
Due to the above history, Freemasonry is often said to consist of two
branches not in mutual regular amity:
the UGLE and concordant tradition of jurisdictions (mostly termed
Grand Lodges) in amity, and
the GOdF, European Continental, tradition of jurisdictions (often
termed Grand Orients) in amity.
In most Latin countries, the GOdF-style of European Continental
Freemasonry predominates,[citation needed] although in most of these
Latin countries there are also Grand Lodges that are in regular amity
with the UGLE and the worldwide community of Grand Lodges that share
regular "fraternal relations" with the UGLE. The rest of the world,
accounting for the bulk of Freemasonry, tends to follow more closely
to the UGLE style, although minor variations exist.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freemasonry
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History of Freemasonry
The history of Freemasonry studies the development, evolution and
events of the fraternal organization known as Freemasonry. This
history is generally separated into two time periods: before and after
the formation of the Grand Lodge of England in 1717. Before this time,
the facts and origins of Freemasonry are not absolutely known and are
therefore frequently explained by theories or legends. After the
formation of the Grand Lodge of England, the history of Freemasonry is
extremely well-documented and can be traced through the creation of
hundreds of Grand Lodges that spread rapidly worldwide.
From origin to 18th century Freemasonry
Origin theories of speculative freemasonry
In its ritual context, Freemasonry employs an allegorical foundation
myth: the foundation of the fraternity by the builders of King
Solomon’s Temple.
Beyond myth, there is a distinct absence of documentation as to
Freemasonry’s origins, which has led to a great deal of speculation
among historians and pseudo-historians alike, both from within and
from outside the fraternity. Hundreds of books have been written on
the subject. Much of the content of these books is highly speculative,
and the precise origins of Freemasonry may very well be permanently
lost to history. Some believe the scant evidence that is available
points to the origins of Freemasonry as a fraternity that simply
evolved out of the lodges of operative stonemasons of the Middle Ages.
Others have disputed whether stone masons were ever organized formally
into guilds, and have criticized the suggestion that Freemasonry
evolved out of such organizations as a trite myth, stemming merely
from the fact that the fraternity uses stone masonry as the core
allegory for the organization of its symbolism. In any event, the
matter of the origins of Freemasonry continues to puzzle and mystify
historians.
The origin of Freemasonry has variously been attributed to: King
Solomon and the construction of the Temple at Jerusalem,[1] Euclid or
Pythagoras, Moses, the Essenes, the Culdees, the Druids, the Gypsies,
or the Rosicrucians,[1] not to mention the intellectual descendants of
Noah.[2]
Some of the more popular theories include Freemasonry being an
offshoot of the ancient mystery schools,[3][4] or that it is an
institutional outgrowth of the medieval guilds of stonemasons, [5][6]
or that it is a direct descendant of the "Poor Fellow-Soldiers of
Christ and the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem" (the Knights Templar).
[2][7]
There are other lesser-known theories, such as:
Freemasonry is an administrative arm of the Priory of Sion,[8]
Freemasonry is the intellectual descendants of the Roman Collegia[9]
Freemasonry is the intellectual descendant of the Comacine masters
[10]
Freemasonry had its beginnings particularly in the German Steinmetzen,
or the French Compagnonage[1]
Freemasonry was created by Oliver Cromwell, or the Stuart Pretender to
the British Crown; Lord Francis Bacon, Viscount St. Alban, Baron
Verulam[1]
Freemasonry was a result of Sir Christopher Wren and the rebuilding of
St. Paul's Cathedral[1]
Name origins
The medieval stonemasons were sometimes known as "freemasons."[11]
Historians have suggested several origins of the term:
From the French term franc Maçon, a mason working in a Lodge that has
been granted a franchise by the Church to work on Church property and
free from taxation or regulation by the King or the local Municipality.
[12]
From the French "frere Macon" literally meaning "brother Mason"
From Free Men, that is they were not serfs or indentured, and free to
travel from one work location to another.
From working in "freestone," a type of quarry stone, and they were
therefore Freestone Masons.[13]
From historical foundation to 1717
The early development of Freemasonry has two distinct growth periods:
[14]
Stage 1. Operative Freemasonry - associated with the craft guilds.
Ritual elements are simple and there is no evidence beyond a
rudimentary philosophical outlook.
Stage 2. Freemasonry of the late 16th Century and into the 17th
Century. Surviving Scottish Lodge records, as early as the 1630s, show
a gentrification process - a transition from Operative to Speculative
Freemasonry - evidenced by increasing non-operative notable gentleman
within the membership. [15] Virtually no records of English lodges
survive prior to the, speculative, Grand Lodge period of 1717 onwards.
The purely speculative ritual and lectures of William Preston
(1742-1818) demonstrate an increasing use of a ritual infusion of
Enlightenment philosophy.[16]
A credible historical source asserting the antiquity of Freemasonry is
the Halliwell Manuscript, or Regius Poem - believed to date from ca.
1390. This makes reference to several concepts and phrases similar to
those found in Freemasonry.[17] The manuscript itself seems to be an
elaboration on an earlier document, to which it refers.
There is also the Cooke Manuscript, an undated manuscript constitution
from the mid-15th century, the oldest of the Gothic Constitutions.[18]
The first statutory use of the word 'Freemason' in England appears in
the Statutes of the Realm enacted in 1495 under Henry VI, although the
archaic term "frank mason" had been used fifty years earlier. Prior to
that, the earliest use of the term "ffre Masons" was in a 1376
reference to the "Company of ffre Masons," one of the numerous craft
guilds of London.[19]
By 1583, the date of the Grand Lodge manuscript,[17] the documentary
evidence begins to grow. The Schaw Statutes of 1598-99 are the source
used to declare the precedence of Lodge Mother Kilwinning in
Kilwinning, Ayrshire, Scotland over Lodge of Edinburgh (Mary's Chapel)
in Edinburgh. These are described as Head and Principal respectively.
As a side note, following a dispute over numbering at the formation of
the Grand Lodge of Scotland (GLS) - Kilwinning is numbered as Lodge
Mother Kilwinning Number 0 (pronounced 'Nothing'), GLS.
Quite soon thereafter, a charter was granted to Sir William St. Clair
(later Sinclair) of Roslin (Rosslyn), allowing him to purchase
jurisdiction over a number of lodges in Edinburgh and environs.[17]
This may be the basis of the Templar myth surrounding Rosslyn Chapel.
The Regius Poem and Cooke manuscript, about 1390 and 1410
respectively, are written in the dialects of the west and southwest of
England, and may have been written for the school of masonry
associated with Salisbury Cathedral.
Early operative Freemasons, unlike virtually all Europeans except the
Clergy, were Free - not bound to the land on which they were born. The
various skills required in building complex stone structures,
especially churches and cathedrals, allowed skilled masons to travel
and find work at will. They were lodged in a temporary structure -
either attached to, or near, the main stone building. [20] In this
lodge, they ate, slept and received their work assignments from the
master of the work. To maintain the freedom they enjoyed required
exclusivity of skills, and thus, as an apprentice was trained, his
instructor attached moral values to the tools of the trade, binding
him to his fellows of the craft.[citation needed]
Freemasonry's transition from a craft guild of operative, working
stonemasons into a fraternity of speculative, accepted, gentleman
Freemasons began in Scottish lodges during the early 1600s. The
earliest record of a lodge accepting a non-operative member occurs in
the records of the Lodge of Edinburgh (Mary's Chapel), 8 June 1600,
where it is shown that John Boswell, Laird of Aucheinleck, was present
at a meeting. The first record of the initiation of a non-operative
mason in a lodge is contained in the minutes of the Lodge of Edinburgh
(Mary's Chapel) for 3 July 1634, when the Right Honourable Lord
Alexander was admitted a Fellowcraft.[13] The first record of the
Initiation of a non-operative on English soil, was in 1641 when Sir
Robert Moray was admitted to the Lodge of Edinburgh (Mary's Chapel) at
Newcastle.
From the early 1600s references are found to Freemasonry in personal
diaries and journals. Elias Ashmole (1617-1692) was made a Mason in
1646 and notes attending several Masonic meetings. There appears to be
a general spread of the Craft, between Ashmole's account and 1717,
when four English Lodges meeting in London Taverns joined together and
founded the Grand Lodge of London (now known as the United Grand Lodge
of England). They had held meetings, respectively, at the Cheshire
Cheese Tavern, the Apple-Tree Tavern, the Crown Ale-House near Drury
Lane, the Goose and Gridiron in St. Paul's Churchyard, and the Rummer
and Grapes Tavern in Westminster.[17]
With the foundation of this first Grand Lodge, Freemasonry shifted
from being an obscure, relatively private, institution into the public
eye. The years following saw new Grand Lodges open throughout Europe.
How much of this growth was the spreading of Freemasonry itself, and
how much was due to the public organization of pre-existing private
Lodges, is uncertain.
Creation of the First Grand Lodge in London
English Masonic historians place great importance on 24 June 1717 (St.
John the Baptist's day) when four London lodges came together at the
Goose and Gridiron Ale House in St Paul’s churchyard and formed what
they called The Grand Lodge of England. Although Freemasonry had
existed in England since at least the mid-1600s and in Scotland since
The Schaw Statutes were enacted in 1598 and 1599, the establishment of
a permanent Grand Lodge in London in 1717 is traditionally considered
the formation of organized Freemasonry in its modern sense.
Notes
^ a b c d e Coil, Henry W. (1967). Freemasonry Through Six Centuries.
2 vols., Vol. I, pg. 6. Richmond, Va: Macoy Publ. Co.
^ a b The History of Freemasonry by Albert G. Mackey, Gramercy Books,
1996.
^ Knight, Christopher, and Robert Lomas. The Hiram Key: Pharaohs,
Freemasons and the Discovery of the Secret Scrolls of Christ. London,
1997.
^ Redding, Moses W. The Illustrated History of Freemasonry. New York:
Redding and Co., 1910. pp. 19-60. Reprinted 2004 by Lushena Books.
ISBN 1930097719.
^ Stevenson, David. The Origins of Freemasonry: Scotland's Century,
1590-1710. Cambridge, 1990.
^ Stewart, Trevor. English Speculative Freemasonry: Some Possible
Origins, Themes and Developments. The Prestonian Lecture for 2004 in
Ars Quatuor Coronatum 2004 London, 2005.
^ Hodapp, Christopher L. "A crash course in Templar history" from
Freemasons for Dummies. Indianapolis: Wiley Publishing, 2005. pp.
203-208. sec.
^ Baigent, Michael, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln. The Holy Blood
and the Holy Grail. London, 2005.
^ Freemasonry and the Roman Collegia by H.L. Haywood, The Builder,
1923 — Freemasonry and the Roman Collegia
^ Freemasonry and the Comacine masters by H.L. Haywood, The Builder,
1923 — Freemasonry and the Comacine Masters
^ Ridley, Jasper. "The Freemasons." New York. Arcade Publishing. 2001.
p. 3.
^ Naudon, Paul (1991). Les Origins de la Franc-Maçonnerie: Le Sacré et
le Métier. Paris: Éditions Dervy.
^ a b Coil, Henry W. (1961). Article: "Free-Mason; Freemason," pp.
272-273. Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia (ref. ed. 1996). Richmond, Va:
Macoy Publ. Co.
^ English Speculative Freemasonry: Some Possible Origins, Themes and
Developments. The Prestonian Lecture for 2004 in Ars Quatuor Coronatum
2004 by Trevor Stewart, pub London 2005
^ Stevenson, David (1988). The Origins of Freemasonry: Scotland's
Century 1590-1710. Cambridge Univ. Press.
^ Articles
^ a b c d The United Grand Lodge of England - Home Page
^ Coil, Henry Wilson; "Gothic Constitutions," pp. 292-297; Coil's
Masonic Encyclopedia; publ. 1961, 1996, Richmond Va.
^ Coil, Henry Wilson; "Free-Mason," pg. 272; and "Masons Company of
London," pg. 410; Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia; publ. 1961,1996,
Richmond Va.
^ The History Channel, Mysteries of the Freemasons: America, video
documentary, August 1, 2006.
^ Paper read before the Manchester Association for Masonic Research in
May 1924 by Bro. Heiron, author of Ancient Freemasonry and the Dundee
Lodge No.18 1722-1920)
^ Samuel Pritchard, "Masonry Dissected" (1730), in D. Knoop, G.P.
Jones & D. Hamer, The Early Masonic Catechisms (Manchester University
Press, 1963).
^ Coil, Henry W. (1961). Article: "Degrees; 17. Master Mason," pp.
195-196. Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia. (rev. ed. 1996). Richmond, Va:
Macoy Publ. & Masonic Supply Co. Inc.
^ Coil, Henry W. (1961). Two articles: "England, Grand Lodge of,
According to the Old Institutions," pp. 237-240; and "Saints John,"
pp. 589-590. Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia. (rev. ed. 1996). Richmond,
Va: Macoy Publ. & Masonic Supply Co. Inc.
^ a b Jones, Bernard E. (1950). Freemasons' Guide and Compendium,
(rev. ed. 1956) London: Harrap Ltd.
^ Batham, Cyril N. (1981). "The Grand Lodge of England According to
the Old Institutions, otherwise known as The Grand Lodge of the
Antients." The Collected Prestonian Lectures, 1975-1987, Vol. Three.
London (1988): Lewis Masonic.
^ Revolutionary Brotherhood, by Steven C. Bullock, Univ. N. Carolina
Press, Chapel Hill, 1996
^ Coil, Henry W. (1961) Article: "England, Grand Lodge of, According
to the Old Institutions," pp. 237-240. Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia.
(rev. ed. 1996). Richmond, Va: Macoy Publ. & Masonic Supply Co. Inc.
^ American Freemasons: Three Centuries of Building Communities Mark A.
Tabbert, New York University Press, New York: 2005, pp. 33-47.
^ The Paris Commune - IX. The Freemasons, the Committee of Public
Safety, and Rossel, byE. Belfort Bax. Found at www.marxists.org.
^ a b see Masonic U.S. Recognition of French Grand Lodges in the
1900s, Paul M. Bessel. Accessed November 14, 2005
^ Anderson's Constitutions, accessed November 14, 2005.
^ "On 10 September, 1878, the Grand Orient, moreover, decreed to
expunge from the Rituals and the lodge proceedings all allusions to
religious dogmas as the symbols of the Grand Architect, the Bible,
etc. These measures called out solemn protests from nearly all the
Anglo-American and German organs and led to a rupture between the
Anglo-American Grand Lodges and the Grand Orient of France. As many
freethinking Masons both in America and in Europe sympathize in this
struggle with the French, a world-wide breach resulted." from Masonry
(Freemasonry) from the Catholic Encyclopedia
External links
Craft, Trade or Mystery by Dr Bob James (Revised 2002). Provides
extensive discussion on the operative and speculative origins of
Freemasonry, including extensive citations.
The Constitutions of the Free-Masons written by James Anderson and
published "For the Use of the Lodges" in 1723 in London, and in 1734
by Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia. Contains a mythical-biblical-
historical account of the order, as well as "charges" and general
regulations for members and lodges.
The Web of Hiram at Bradford University An electronic database of the
Masonic material held in many of the University's Special Collections
Freemasonry History section of PS Review of Freemasonry
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