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History Sketches in Freemasonry 1

Table of Contents

Prehistoric Masonry

In the study of freemasonry there are two kinds of statements presented to the mind of the student.  These are sometimes in agreement, but much more oftener conflicting, in their character.  These are the historical and the traditional, each of which belongs to Freemasonry but each considers it from a different angle.

The historical statement relates to the institution as we look at it from an esoteric or public point of view;  the traditional refers only to its esoteric or secret character.

So long as its traditional legends are defined to the ritual of the Order, they are not fit subjects of historical inquiry.  They have been invented by the makers of the rituals for symbolic purposes connected with the forms of initiation.  Out of these myths of Speculative Masonry its philosophy has developed.  As they are really to be considered as merely the expansion of a philosophic or speculative idea, they can not properly be placed in the class of recorded events, historical narratives.

But in the published works of those who have written on the origin and progress of Masonry, the legendary or traditional has been mingled too much with the historical element.  The effect of this course has been, on critical minds, to weaken all claims of the institution to an historical existence.  The doctrine of "false in one thing, false in all, " has been rigidly applied, and those statements of the Masonic historian which are fully reliable have been doubted or rejected, because in other portions of his work he has been too easily deceived.

The Legendary History of Freemasonry

For every ancient nation there is a prehistoric and a historic period.  The prehistoric period is then that earlier stage of existences which has left to us no records to prove the truth of the events that have been credited to it.  Such remains as we possess of that period are quite often made up of myths and legends, founded - some of them, in all probability - on a tangling of historical acts, and others are indebted entirely to the imagination for their invention.

The historic period is that which begins with that account of events which is supported by documents, either of the same date as the events themselves or so recently after them as to have nearly all the strength of promptly recorded evidence.  Just such a division of periods as this we find in the history of Freemasonry.

The prehistoric period, to which belongs what is most commonly styled the legendary history, includes the time, remote or more recent, of the rise and progress of the institution, and the legends detailing events said to have occurred, but having no proof of their occurrence other than that of mouth-to-ear tradition unsupported by that sort of documentary evidence which is necessary to give a reliable character to a historical statement.

The historic period of Freemasonry begins with the time from which we have written or printed records to furnish the necessary testimony that the events mentioned did actually occur.

The Old Manuscripts

Anderson tells us, in the second edition of the Book of Constitutions, that in the year 1719, "at some private Lodges several very valuable manuscripts concerning the Fraternity, their Lodges, Regulations, Charges, Secrets, and Usages, were too hastily burnt by scrupulous Brothers, that these papers might not fall into strange hands."

Fortunately, this destruction was not general.  The writings mentioned by Anderson were undoubtedly those Old Constitutions of the Operative Masons, several copies of which, that had escaped the fiery sacrifices described by him, have since been discovered in the British Museum, in old libraries, or in the archives of Lodges, and have been published by those who have discovered them.

These are the documents which have received the title of "Old Records," "Old Charges," or "Old Constitutions."  Their general character is the same.  Indeed, there is so much likeness, and almost identity, to be noted among their contents as to cause the belief that they are copies of some earlier document not yet recovered.

The following list gives the titles and probable dates of the most important of these early manuscripts. (there is a list of nearly eighty of these old manuscripts in the Mackey-Hughan-Hawkins Encyclopedia of Freemasonry with dates and owners)

Name of Old Manuscript                               Probable Date

Nearly all of these manuscripts, the Halliwell being an exception, begin with an invocation to the Trinity.  Then follow remarks on the seven liberal arts and sciences, of which the fifth, or Geometry, is said to be Masonry.  This is succeeded by a traditional history of Masonry, from the days of Lamech to the reign of King Athelstan of England.  The manuscripts conclude with a series of "charges" or regulations, for the government of the Craft while they were of a purely operative character.

The Legend of the Craft

The Halliwell Poem and the Legend

There is one manuscript which varies so much from others in its form and in its contents as to afford the strongest inside evidence that it has come down to us from a source entirely different from that which gave origin to other and later documents. We refer to what is known to Masonic antiquaries as the Halliwell or Rigius MS. As this is admitted to be the oldest Masonic document in existence, and as some very important conclusions in respect to the early history of the Craft are about to be drawn from it, a detailed account of it will not be deemed out of place.

This work was first published in 1840 (the same year that A.F.&A.M. Harmony Lodge #6 was founded in Galveston, Texas, USA) by Mr. James Orchard Halliwell, under the title of "A Poem on the Constitutions of Masonry." from the original manuscript in the King's Library of the British Museum. Mr. Halliwell, who afterwards adopted the name of Phillips, is not a member of the Brotherhood, and Woodford appropriately remarks that "it is somewhat curious that to Grandidier and Halliwell, both non-Masons, Freemasonry owes the impetus given at separate epochs to the study of it archeology and history."

Halliwell says that the manuscript formerly belonged to Charles Theyer, a well-known collector of the 17th century. It is undoubtedly the oldest Masonic MS. there is. Messers. Bond and Egerton of the British Museum consider the date to be about the middle of the 15th century. Kloss 4 thinks that it was written between the years 1427 and 1445. Dr. Oliver claims that it is a copy of the Book of Constitutions adopted by the General Assembly, held in the year 926, at the City of York. Halliwell himself places the date of the MS. at 1390. Woodford agrees with the estimate. We are of the same opinion.

The manuscript is in rhymed verse, and consists of 794 lines. At the head of the poem is the inscription: "Hie incipiunt constituciones artis gemetriae secundum Euclydem." The language is older than that of Wicliffe's version of the Bible, which was written toward the end of the 14th century, but in Bro. Mackey's opinion approaches very nearly to that of the Chronicles of Robert of Gloucester, the date of which was at the beginning of the same century.

The variations which exist between the Halliwell poem or poems, and other Masonic manuscripts of later date, are very important. They indicate a difference of origin, and, by the points of difference, suggest several questions as to the early progress of Masonry in England.

1. The form of the Halliwell MS. differs entirely from that of the others. The latter are in prose, while the former is in verse. The language too, of the Halliwell MS., is far more ancient than that of the other manuscripts, showing that it was written in an earlier stage of the English tongue. It belongs to Early English which succeeded the Anglo-Saxon. The other manuscripts were written at a later period of the language.

2. The Halliwell MS. is evidently a Roman Catholic production, and was written when the religion of Rome prevailed in England. The later manuscripts are Protestant in their character, and many must have been written after the middle of the 16th century, at least when Protestantism was introduced in that country by Edward VI, and by Queen Elizabeth (reigns from 1537-1553 and 1558-1603, respectively).

All these facts concerning the gradual changes in the religious character of the institution, which by putting together the old manuscripts we are enabled to derive from the Legend of the Craft, are supported by historical documents, as will be seen, and thus the "Legend," notwithstanding the many defects and errors as to the dates which deface it, becomes really valuable as an authority.

The Legend of the Craft, as it has been given in this work from the example in the Dowland MS., appears to have been accepted for centuries by the body of the Fraternity as a truthful history. Even at present day, this Legend is exerting an influence in the formation of various parts of the ritual. This influence has even been extended to the adoption of historical views of the rise and progress of the institution, which have, in reality, no other foundation than the statements contained in the Legend.

For these reasons, the Legend of the Craft is of great importance and value to the student of Masonic history, notwithstanding the conflicting periods, and unsupported theories in which it abounds. Accepting it simply as a document which for so long a period claimed and received the fullest faith of the Fraternity whose history it professed to give - a faith not yet dead - it is worthy of our consideration whether we can not, by a careful examination of its general spirit and meaning, beyond the bare story it contains, discover some key to the true origin and character of that old and extensive brotherhood of which it is the earliest record.

Still under construction... please excuse the mess.  

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Information Sources for your Guidance

 1  The above are excerpts from "Mackey's History of Freemasonry" by Robert Ingham Clegg with William James Hughan, 1921.  Copywrited 1898, 1906 and 1921. The Masonic History Company.   Chicago-New York-London.  I rate these publications as both excellent and a MUST READ.  I urge you to obtain and study these volumes ( I own seven, 1-7) should you have further interest in studying this material.*  I do not know if they are still in print... doubt it, but you should be able to find in a good Lodge library.

2  The above are excerpts from "Born in Blood - The Secrets of Freemasonry" by John J. Robinson, 19xx.  Copywrited 19xx. The XXX company.  I rate this publication as excellent and I urge you to obtain this book from your local bookseller should you have further interest in studying this material.*  John J. Robinson was a reknowned medival historian.  He wrote this book as an historian prior to ever becoming a freemason.

3  The above are excerpts from "The Temple and The Lodge" by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh.  Copywrited 1989.  The Arcade Publishing Company-New York and distributed by Little, Brown and Company.  I rate this publication as excellent and I urge you to obtain this book from your local bookseller should you have further interest in studying this material.*  Written by non-freemasons as historical research in freemasonry.

4  The art is from the cover of John Robinson's book, "A Pilgrim's Path."*

5  The above are excerpts from "Dungeon, Fire and Sword - The Knights Templar in the Crusades" by John J. Robinson.  Copywrited 1991.  M. Evans and Company-New York. He wrote this book as an historian prior to ever becoming a freemason.

* Application for permission to present the excerpts from this publication will be made and upon receiving, will complete its construction from the source material.

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