Muse – Freemasonry: Origins and Early History

The beginnings of Freemasonry are, as with the rest of it , not exactly clear. Finding a coherent source that I trusted to be used as a base for my look was hard. I wanted to avoid the myriad of writings that had the mark of masons on them. Simply because I dislike using sources “from the horse’s mouth”.

Unable to find a good one, I’ve decided to pick one of the various sources that seems to be best as a foundation. My decision was this, a Concise History of Freemasonry. I used other sources for details and cross reference, most of them on sites connected to masonry.

The concise history notes several legends beside the conventional explanation of Freemasonry’s origins, but I’ll focus on the conventional and leave my readers to read the tidbits on the rest.

When this fraternal organization was started is one of the prime things under contention. Details on freemasonry before 1717, when the first Grand Lodge of London and Westminster was formed.

The two oldest pieces of evidence for the existance of Freemasonry before then are the Regius Manuscript(1390 – Large page load) and Cooke Manuscript(1450).

The first is thought to be a writing on Masonic virtues in the form of a rude epic poem. It makes two mentions of King Athelstan, first king of all English, coroneted in 925. That would imply that Masonry could have origins that go back that far. However, there is no clear evidence of how extensive these roots are, if they are real. Both manuscripts are part of the “Old Charges”, a collection of writings from which modern Masonic constitutions were derives. So at the very least modern ideals were gleaned from the old, but anything else is still in question.

It is largely believed that in this time, Masonry was little more than a trade guild for medieval stonemasons. William Schaw, appointed as Master of the Work and Warden General by King James VI(later James I of Englad), is believed to have been the catalyst which changed this.

He initiated statutes(called, of course, the Schaw Statutes) the first in 1583, the second in 1599, which set out duties owed by members to their Lodge, imposed penalties for unsatisfactory work as well as prohibiting work with unqualified stonemasons, required lodges to keep written records, that they meet at specific times and test members in the “Art of Memory”. The second set are notable as they mention the Mother Lodge of Scotland, Lodge Kilwinning No. 0 existed when they were written and first hinted at the existence of esoteric knowledge within the craft of stonemasonry.

Thus he’s considered by many to be the originator of modern masonry. The time afterward was one of transition from ‘Operative’ masonry to the present day ‘Speculative’ masonry. One source notes the difference between them as such: Operative Masonry is physical architecture; Speculative Freemasonry is human architecture. The speculative side was thought to be there in early times, but subordinate to the actual stonemasonry.

It is interesting the suggestion made by my main source, that Masonry’s shift could have been due to the appeal of secrecy with which to discuss possibly inflammatory topics during a time of intellectual and political suppression. An intriguing theory, though still only theory.

In 1717 the four London Lodges(the Apple Tree Tavern in Charles Street, the Goose & Gridiron Ale-house in St. Paul’s Churchyard, Crown Ale-House near Drury Street and the Rummer & Grapes Tavern in Channel-Row, Westminster) formed the Premier Grand Lodge of England. It is suggested this was so because the London Masons wanted to disassociate themselves form their Scottish roots during the Second Jacobite Rebellion of 1715. Their organization being a Jacobite one brought to England by a Jacobite King(James I).

Afterward, the popularity of Masonry grew quickly, as that was also the time when most of the heaviest secrecy over Masonry’s very existence was left behind. The first American Lodge, The Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, was recognized in 1731. It attracted quite a connection of the intellectual and political elite, including Voltaire of France, Montesquieu, Sir Robert Walpole, Robert Burns, Mozart, Darwin, Frederick the Great and from the USA, Franklin, and Washington.

Despite their success and growth, some dissention within the ranks led to a breakaway group who called themselves the Antients in 1751. The others, whose changes drove the Antients to separate from them, were called the Moderns. Onward, for sixty years, there was a great proliferation of rituals and degrees(some estimate over 1400 separate Masonic degrees complete with additional invented or regionalized symbolism), which led to fierce arguments between the factions.

In 1813 a compromise was negotiated and the United Grand Lodge was formed. The reunification wasn’t a simple affair, however, as the different degrees and rituals had to be reconciled quickly.

By and large, that is the early history of Freemasonry. There is a document with information on the spread of Masonry through the US, but I’ve elected to simply include the link, a PDF at the bottom of the Resources list.

From here, I will ask my readers what about Masonry they’d most like me to poke at. I’ve done some preliminary looking at objections to it, but there are few solid, coherent con sites. Most sites I find on the subject are mostly debunking said cons. It might take me a while to find some good sources on that aspect of it.

Any questions?

Resources

Famous Freemasons

The Old Charges of Freemasonry

The Masons Mark

Origins of Freemasonry

Operative and Speculative Masonry Side by Side

Freemansonry: From England to the Colonies to the USA – PDF