Freemasonry: A Very Short Introduction - Andreas Önnerfors 2017
Timeline
1717 |
Alleged founding date of the Grand Lodge of London and Westminster, the ’Moderns’. |
1723 |
Publication of The Constitutions. |
1730 |
Publication of Masonry Dissected, the first exposure on masonic ritual. |
1736 |
Ramsay’s ’Discours’ links freemasonry to Chivalric orders of the Crusades. Between 1740 and 1760, a number of Chivalric degree systems in freemasonry are developed, most prominent being the ’Strict Observance’ (1751—82). |
1738 |
First papal condemnation, In Eminenti. |
1745 |
Publication of L’Ordre des Franc-maçons trahi, first full-text (and visual) exposure, which also contains mention of the female quasi-masonic Order of Mopses. |
1751 |
Foundation of the ’Antients’ grand lodge. |
1772 |
Foundation of the Grand Orient de France (GODF). |
1770s |
First female lodges that are fully accepted. |
1790s |
Conspiracy literature targets freemasonry as precursor of revolutionary and violent political change, which leads to governmental prohibitions and regulations. |
1813 |
Union of the two English grand lodges, ’Antients’ and ’Moderns’, to form the United Grand Lodge of England and Wales (UGLE). |
1820s—80s |
Intensified papal condemnation of and Catholic agitation against freemasonry. |
1822 |
Prohibition of freemasonry in Russia. |
1826 |
The so-called ’Morgan Affair’ unleashes two decades of anti-masonic sentiment in the USA (Anti-Masonic Party 1828—38). |
1877 |
The GODF leaves it to its individual members’ consciences to decide whether or not to take an oath on the Great Architect of the Universe, which causes a schism in international freemasonry. |
1893 |
’Le Droit Humain’, a mixed gender masonic order, is founded in Paris. |
1903 |
Publication of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, targeting freemasonry as a tool for alleged Jewish world dominance. |
1929 |
Principles of grand lodge recognition agreed by UGLE cementing the schism in international freemasonry. |
1920s—40s |
Wave of anti-masonic feeling in European totalitarian states and intensified persecution during Nazi rule and occupation. Prohibition in place in Eastern Europe until 1989. |
1990s |
Political change in Europe leads to re-establishment of freemasonry in Eastern Europe and restitution of seized source material. |
1997—9 |
Publication of two British Home Affairs Committee reports on freemasonry. |
2010 |
The GODF accepts female members. |
2000—16 |
Renewed scholarly interest in freemasonry. |