History of Freemasonry - Histories of Freemasonry

Histories of Freemasonry

The oldest known Masonic text, The Halliwell Manuscript, or Regius Poem, has a brief history in its introduction, stating that the "craft of masonry" began with Euclid in Egypt, and came to England in the reign of King Athelstan. The Cooke Manuscript traces masonry to Jabal son of Lamech (Genesis 4, 20-22), and tells how this knowledge came to Euclid, from him to the Children of Israel (while they were in Egypt), and so on through an elaborate path to Athelstan. Most of the older texts contain a similar history.

Shortly after the formation of the Premier Grand Lodge of England, James Anderson was commissioned to digest these "Gothic Constitutions" in a palatable, modern form. The resulting constitutions are prefaced by a history more extensive than any before, again tracing the history of what was now freemasonry back to biblical roots, again forging Euclid into the chain. The 1737 lecture of Chevalier Ramsay added the crusaders to the lineage. William Preston's "Illustrations of Freemasonry" enlarged and expanded on the masonic creation myth.

The rational study of masonic history started in Germany, with George Moss in 1847 (Geschichte Freimaurerei in England, Irland und Schottland). Findel's History of Freemasonry was translated from German to English, and published in 1865. In the last quarter of the nineteenth century, the study of masonic history matured under figures such as Woodford, Gould and Hughan in England, Murray-Lyon in Scotland, and Mackey in America.

Modern Freemasonry employs an allegorical foundation myth in its ritual, involving King Solomon’s Temple and its chief architect, Hiram Abiff. Authors have sought to attribute this allegory to actual historical events. The origin of Freemasonry has variously been attributed to: King Solomon and the construction of the Temple in Jerusalem, Euclid or Pythagoras, Moses, the Essenes, the Culdees, the Druids, the Gypsies, or the Rosicrucians, not to mention the intellectual descendants of Noah. Some of the more popular theories include Freemasonry being an offshoot of the ancient mystery schools, or that it is an institutional outgrowth of the medieval guilds of stonemasons, or that it is a direct descendant of the Knights Templar.

There are other lesser-known theories, such as:

• The construction of the Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland (1440–1490) provided the interface between the Knights Templar and Freemasonry. Accordingly, the First Degree and Mark Masonry was introduced by William Sinclair, the alleged first Grand Master and founder of Freemasonry.
• Freemasonry is the intellectual descendant of the Roman Collegia.
• Freemasonry is the intellectual descendant of the Comacine masters.
• Freemasonry had its beginnings particularly in the German Steinmetzen, or the French Compagnonnage.
• Freemasonry was created by Francis Bacon, Oliver Cromwell, or the Stuart pretenders to the British Crown.
• Freemasonry was a result of Sir Christopher Wren and the rebuilding of St. Paul's Cathedral.