Proven History
Jul 1, 2013 9:02:27 GMT 9.5
Post by LorrB on Jul 1, 2013 9:02:27 GMT 9.5
Just came across this snippet - thought some might find it interesting.
Proven History: Pre 1700
So much for legend, what about the facts? It is acknowledged that the Regius Manuscript held in the British Museum is the oldest genuine record of Masonic relevance and was written in @ 1390. Its author was probably a priest and this MS takes the form of an historical and instructional poem. Interestingly, the phrase "So Mote it be" is first quoted from this text. Next, it is important to consider the Cooke Manuscript (also in the British Museum) written by a "Speculative" mason in 1450. This is an important document because many current Masonic usages (e.g. the Constitutions written by Anderson in 1723) have obviously borrowed heavily from its content, which includes reference to the seven Liberal Arts and Sciences and the building of Solomon's Temple. There are approximately 100 manuscripts, collectively known as the "Old Charges", grouped together in four families held by various museums worldwide.
In 1583, a William Schaw was appointed by King James VI (later James I of England) as Master of the Work and Warden General. In 1598 he issued the first of the now famous Schaw Statutes which set out the duties its members owed to their Lodge. It also imposed penalties for unsatisfactory work and prohibited work with unqualified masons. More importantly for Freemasons today, Schaw drew up a second Statute in 1599. The importance of this document lies in the fact that it makes the first veiled reference to the existence of esoteric knowledge within the craft of stone masonry. It also reveals that The Mother Lodge of Scotland, Lodge Kilwinning No. 0 existed at that time. His regulations required all lodges to keep written records, meet at specific times and test members in the "Art of Memory". As a consequence he is regarded by some as the founder of modern Freemasonry as we know it today. On the right is a photo of the ruins of the Chapter House, the site of Kilwinning's first Lodge meetings.
The earliest known record of a Masonic initiation anywhere is that of John Boswell, Laird of Auchenleck, who was initiated in the Lodge of Edinburgh according to the lodge minutes of 8 June 1600. That lodge was Operative and Boswell appears to be an example of one of the earliest Speculative initiations which adds weight to a case for the Transition Theory of Freemasonry, at least in Scotland. The earliest records of an initiation in England include Sir Robert Moray in 1641 and Elias Ashmole in 1646. Abroad, the first native-born American to be made a Mason was probably Jonathan Belcher, in 1704, who was then the Governor of Massachusetts. Ashmole was a renowned author and scholar and knew contemporary "Great Thinkers" of the day including Robert Boyle, Sir Robert Moray, Christopher Wren and Dr John Wilkins - joint founders of the Royal Society. Prior to securing its Royal Charter in 1662, the RS was known as the "Invisible College", an organization at one time led by Francis Bacon. It is understood the "Invisible College" often met in the early years in the Compton Room at Canonbury Tower in North London, a room embellished with wood panel carvings of Masonic significance commissioned by Bacon like the one below.
Given that non stone-masons ("Speculatives") were clearly being initiated from this time in England, some historians believe that Freemasonry was in "transition" at this point from pure "Operative" Masonry to Non Operative or "Speculative" Freemasonry. Equally, it could be argued that around this time, England copied the Scottish Masonic structure and set up an entirely Speculative form of Freemasonry which merely bore allegorical likeness to much earlier Scottish Operative lodges. This view has value when one considers that a disproportionate number of early Grand Masters were Scottish rather than Englishmen.
So why would "Thinkers" and educated classes quietly develop or promote the concept of Freemasonry? To get a flavor of the times in mid Seventeenth Century England, bear in mind that Pepys was a teenager, slavery was still universal, the gunpowder plot was in recent memory and the Great Plague and Fire were around the corner. Galileo was in deep trouble with the Catholic Church by insisting that the earth revolved around the sun, Bacon's works were banned by Rome and The Inquisition and the Courts, at least in Scotland, were still burning witches and heretics. These were still times of fear, state control and comparative intolerance. Personal safety therefore probably demanded that discussion of anything with an esoteric, moral or scientific flavor take place "underground".
Might it be possible that those in opposition to intellectual and political suppression went "underground" and retained their anonymity and safety by clothing themselves with the appearance of an operative organization afforded by an early masonic lodge structure? It is then easy to see that embellishment of this structure by the adoption of old stonemasons' Manuscripts and a perceived pedigree dating back to King Solomon would have given their membership a certain degree of authenticity and appeal.
From Mid Seventeenth Century onwards, the world was changed rapidly and freedom of thought, controlled or oppressed for centuries by state and religion alike, was in the ascendancy with the Renaissance and Rosicrucianism leading the way. Following the Great Fire of London, "Operative" Masonry earned increasing prestige with citizens witnessing the development of new architectural masterpieces (such as St Pauls, Piccadilly and the Royal Exchange) in the glorious era of construction in the late seventeenth Century. No doubt that those magnificent works created an added attraction for prospective "speculative" masons.
www.mcs.ca/vitalspark/2020_schools/310masn00.html
So much for legend, what about the facts? It is acknowledged that the Regius Manuscript held in the British Museum is the oldest genuine record of Masonic relevance and was written in @ 1390. Its author was probably a priest and this MS takes the form of an historical and instructional poem. Interestingly, the phrase "So Mote it be" is first quoted from this text. Next, it is important to consider the Cooke Manuscript (also in the British Museum) written by a "Speculative" mason in 1450. This is an important document because many current Masonic usages (e.g. the Constitutions written by Anderson in 1723) have obviously borrowed heavily from its content, which includes reference to the seven Liberal Arts and Sciences and the building of Solomon's Temple. There are approximately 100 manuscripts, collectively known as the "Old Charges", grouped together in four families held by various museums worldwide.
In 1583, a William Schaw was appointed by King James VI (later James I of England) as Master of the Work and Warden General. In 1598 he issued the first of the now famous Schaw Statutes which set out the duties its members owed to their Lodge. It also imposed penalties for unsatisfactory work and prohibited work with unqualified masons. More importantly for Freemasons today, Schaw drew up a second Statute in 1599. The importance of this document lies in the fact that it makes the first veiled reference to the existence of esoteric knowledge within the craft of stone masonry. It also reveals that The Mother Lodge of Scotland, Lodge Kilwinning No. 0 existed at that time. His regulations required all lodges to keep written records, meet at specific times and test members in the "Art of Memory". As a consequence he is regarded by some as the founder of modern Freemasonry as we know it today. On the right is a photo of the ruins of the Chapter House, the site of Kilwinning's first Lodge meetings.
The earliest known record of a Masonic initiation anywhere is that of John Boswell, Laird of Auchenleck, who was initiated in the Lodge of Edinburgh according to the lodge minutes of 8 June 1600. That lodge was Operative and Boswell appears to be an example of one of the earliest Speculative initiations which adds weight to a case for the Transition Theory of Freemasonry, at least in Scotland. The earliest records of an initiation in England include Sir Robert Moray in 1641 and Elias Ashmole in 1646. Abroad, the first native-born American to be made a Mason was probably Jonathan Belcher, in 1704, who was then the Governor of Massachusetts. Ashmole was a renowned author and scholar and knew contemporary "Great Thinkers" of the day including Robert Boyle, Sir Robert Moray, Christopher Wren and Dr John Wilkins - joint founders of the Royal Society. Prior to securing its Royal Charter in 1662, the RS was known as the "Invisible College", an organization at one time led by Francis Bacon. It is understood the "Invisible College" often met in the early years in the Compton Room at Canonbury Tower in North London, a room embellished with wood panel carvings of Masonic significance commissioned by Bacon like the one below.
Given that non stone-masons ("Speculatives") were clearly being initiated from this time in England, some historians believe that Freemasonry was in "transition" at this point from pure "Operative" Masonry to Non Operative or "Speculative" Freemasonry. Equally, it could be argued that around this time, England copied the Scottish Masonic structure and set up an entirely Speculative form of Freemasonry which merely bore allegorical likeness to much earlier Scottish Operative lodges. This view has value when one considers that a disproportionate number of early Grand Masters were Scottish rather than Englishmen.
So why would "Thinkers" and educated classes quietly develop or promote the concept of Freemasonry? To get a flavor of the times in mid Seventeenth Century England, bear in mind that Pepys was a teenager, slavery was still universal, the gunpowder plot was in recent memory and the Great Plague and Fire were around the corner. Galileo was in deep trouble with the Catholic Church by insisting that the earth revolved around the sun, Bacon's works were banned by Rome and The Inquisition and the Courts, at least in Scotland, were still burning witches and heretics. These were still times of fear, state control and comparative intolerance. Personal safety therefore probably demanded that discussion of anything with an esoteric, moral or scientific flavor take place "underground".
Might it be possible that those in opposition to intellectual and political suppression went "underground" and retained their anonymity and safety by clothing themselves with the appearance of an operative organization afforded by an early masonic lodge structure? It is then easy to see that embellishment of this structure by the adoption of old stonemasons' Manuscripts and a perceived pedigree dating back to King Solomon would have given their membership a certain degree of authenticity and appeal.
From Mid Seventeenth Century onwards, the world was changed rapidly and freedom of thought, controlled or oppressed for centuries by state and religion alike, was in the ascendancy with the Renaissance and Rosicrucianism leading the way. Following the Great Fire of London, "Operative" Masonry earned increasing prestige with citizens witnessing the development of new architectural masterpieces (such as St Pauls, Piccadilly and the Royal Exchange) in the glorious era of construction in the late seventeenth Century. No doubt that those magnificent works created an added attraction for prospective "speculative" masons.
www.mcs.ca/vitalspark/2020_schools/310masn00.html
