There is a myriad of books expounding the history of Freemasonry authored by historians, would be historians and others who claim knowledge of the Masonic craft that they really don’t possess. The genuine historians are those who we need to take notice of, others we can read with tongue in cheek, which is probably how they wrote, and the rest we can read for amusement. In either event, they will all tell us how, when and where Freemasonry originated, how it has evolved over the years, and where it is headed, even although their theories vary from book to book.

It all started in Mesopotamia at the building of the tower of Babel, or, it started in Egypt with the building of the pyramids, or, Jesus was the first Freemason. It began at the building of KST, or, it had its beginnings in the Goose and Gridiron pub in London, or, it was born from the stonemason’s guild in York, hence York rite Masonry. It was originated by the Knights Templar, or, the first Freemasons were operative stonemasons who specialized in working with a particular type of stone called freestone, I,e, freestone masons. The term Freemason by the way, did have its origins in England. There is an origin there for every student of the Masonic art, take your pick and run with it. But don’t be surprised if you run up against a stone wall. To seek the early beginnings of speculative Freemasonry before the fifteenth or sixteenth century will no doubt prove to be fruitless.

Theorists and would be historians tend to get confused between practical operative masonry and speculative Freemasonry, because operative stonemasons had lodges that appears to suggest that they must have been Freemasons. Lodges are centuries older than Freemasonry. A lodge was a temporary structure on the building site where the stone cutters did their work and the apprentices learned their craft. The lodges were supplied to protect the workmen from inclement weather so that they could continue to work even when it was cold and wet. Permanent lodges in some of the towns were made available  to be used not only as a meeting place for the local operative masons, but as a temporary residence for travelling or journeyman masons.

Myths and legends, although intriguing in themselves, tend to engender leaps of faith that can be, and usually are, misleading. The origins of the craft are hidden in the mists of time and to find them one has to look only at the facts, the written records, evidence which can be seen as infallible as it can be. Supposition and imaginative concoctions have to be discarded as temptations to investigate and research the wrong paths, usually ending up against the afore mentioned stone wall.

Research into the history of the craft is not just interesting, it’s intriguing, rewarding, fulfilling. We are not historians, we have neither the time or the wherewithal to make it a full time occupation, we are obliged to depend on the people who have. So we have to read everything we can get our hands on, written by whoever. We must analyze everything and question everything we read, take nothing for granted, hang on to the good stuff and discard the rubbish, separate the wheat from the chaff so to speak, and finally draw our own conclusions. Those conclusions may not be a perfect history of the craft, but they will be understandable and believable, and they will provide us with a better knowledge of Freemasonry, its import, its symbolism, its intent, and it will assist in making us better Masons and therefore  better human beings.

 

W.B. Bill Douglas

Kenilworth #29 G.R.A.