The History of Freemasonry

by Mason Bond

I have been interested in the history of Freemasonry since the moment I was initiated. I have constantly read and re-read books, articles and even the comments of the brethren written all over the internet.

In todays world of computers and the internet you would think things would be easier on the amateur historian, for I hold no qualification, diploma and in fact only just managed a GCSE in the subject, but in truth this makes the whole thing so much more difficult. Where as in times gone by only a few could be bothered to put pen to paper, travel to research, now it can all be done from the comfort of a swivel chair and a hard-line to the world wide web. Now we have everyone publishing opinions as fact, fact as fiction, and for every one factual item online there is near on a million pieces of pure fantasy and opinion.

This "free press" effect of the internet causes no end of problems for those looking into the history of anything, not just Freemasonry, as the lazy nature of todays culture means people tend to just believe what they read or see on television rather than find out for themselves, and what is more unfortunate is many do not actually read it properly!

To illustrate my point, visit the websites of the Grand Lodges around the globe, the official sites of Freemasonry in these areas, search Freemasonry via a search engine and visit the sites of Lodges, and Freemasons alike. 99% of all sites will have a page entitled "History of Freemasonry" or similar. Click it and start reading, what you will read is much the same as you will find on the history page of this very site, a copy of that which is found on the United Grand Lodge of Englands website, but unlike this site, and the UGLE site itself, there is one fundamental error which now gets continually posted all over the web, repeated verbatim by Freemasons, used in "factual" books etc It is probably the biggest myth, that is portrayed as fact, that I personally know of. IT IS NOT A HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY! The content of Freemasonry Universals' history page and the UGLE page, which is clearly labelled, is the History of the United Grand Lodge of England, no more no less! The UGLE site clearly states two things, 1) it was formed in 1717 and 2) Freemasonry existed before that, but yet site after site, page after page repeats the history of the United Grand Lodge of England under the false title of "History of Freemasonry".

The truth is no one knows 100% the history of Freemasonry!

I have my theories, others have theirs, some look to prove the history of Freemasonry painting a picture that suits them and their cause, but no one has been able to prove their opinion conclusively, else there would be no question!

Mason Bond Esq.