Masonic history may roughly be divided into three periods:
The Legendary Period
The Mediaeval Period
The Modern Period
According to the legends contained in the rituals of Freemasonry,
the origins of the Masonic fraternity date from the construction of
the Temple of King Solomon, as described in the Bible. The
undertaking was so vast that a new form of organization was required
to ensure that the Temple was completed in a timely and correct
fashion, and this led to the development of organization of the
stonemasons and architects into various grades and classes with
responsibilities as described in the rituals.
 Many of the characters mentioned in the books of Kings and
Chronicles in the Hebrew Scriptures are encountered in the context
of various degrees of Masonry; they include King Solomon himself,
Hiram (King of Tyre, who supplied many of the materials, especially
cedar wood, used to construct the temple), Adoniram, and others.
Some of the degrees of the Scottish Rite and other now-defunct
degrees date to even earlier periods and other cultures, such as the
times of the Israelites' wanderings in the wilderness (Book of
Numbers) and the mythologies of the Ancient Egyptians, as well as
the immediate postdiluvian period of the sons of Noah.
Although some Masonic brothers may take the ritual to be historical
truth, there are no true Masonic authorities who give any credence
to an actual organization of Masons in ancient times.
What is known is that there were fraternal organizations of the
ancient world, both among the pagans and among the Hebrews. In the
former case, the organizations were generally connected with the
so-called mysteries, of which the Eleusinian Mysteries were among
the best known. The most prominent example of the latter is the
group known as the Pharisees.
The Mysteries had rites of initiation, division into lesser and
greater mysteries, with trials to be passed before receiving
knowledge, and secrets to be concealed. The secrets of these
Mysteries were kept well enough that later ages can only guess at
what some of them were. It is possible that knowledge of the nature
of the Mysteries was in the hands of the founders of the Masonic
order and gave form to some of the present-day structure of Masonry.
The Pharisees did not have concealed knowledge, but they did have
limitations on membership and addressed one another as "chaver" (kha
VER), analogous to the usage of Brother or Companion in today's
Freemasonry. New members were also required to take an oath to obey
the Commandments and the Law in the presence of three members. The
Pharisees are viewed quite differently by adherents to Judaism than
by Christians; to the latter the term "Pharisee" is given an
extremely negative connotation, nearly synonymous with hypocrite. To
the Jew, the Pharisaic structure is essentially that which
constitutes Judaism of the past 2000 years; the Pharisees were seen
as the group that prevented the religion from becoming extinct with
the final destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem. A full exploration
of the historical circumstances for this divergence of opinion is
beyond the scope of this document.
However, some knowledge of Pharisaic practices may have been
available to the founders of Masonry; it is also possible that there
is only one really effective way to organize a fraternity, and that
that way has been persistently and independently discovered
repeatedly.
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The generally accepted origin of Freemasonry, until recently, has
been in the stonemason's guilds of the Middle Ages. The term "free"
in Freemason indicated that the Mason was not bound to the land as a
serf, or otherwise restricted as in villeinage or socage, but was
free to travel about the country, as was necessary for one whose
trade might require construction in many different locations. This
was remarkable in an age when almost no one traveled more than
twenty miles from his home during his entire lifetime.
Masons in the Middle Ages constructed many edifices, but
particular attention has always focussed on the great cathedrals
built during that period. In order to construct such marvels, it was
necessary to have considerable education in the principles of
geometry, arithmetic, and engineering, and the guild of stonemasons,
including the architects, became one of the few repositories of
learning outside the clergy.
As the wave of cathedral building ebbed and the Renaissance
began, it is supposed that the Freemasons of the time sought to
maintain their organizations by accepting into membership for
discussion of the philosophical and other knowledge of the Lodge,
certain gentlemen and members of the upper classes who were not
actual workers in stone. It is this process of acceptance, along
with the original freedom, that the term "Free and Accepted Masons"
comes from. These lodges are then supposed to have evolved into the
modern, purely philosophical (or "speculative," as the Masonic term
has it) Lodges.
However, two other theories of the mediaeval origin of
Freemasonry have recently been advanced. One, whose best known
advocate was the late John Robinson (author of Born in Blood),
suggests that the Masons were descendants of the Knights Templar.
The Templars were a powerful and wealthy order of knights during the
Crusades who were suppressed by the King of France and the Pope
during the early 14th century. Many Templars were put to death, but
some survived. Some of the Masonic degrees and orders deal with
these events. It is hypothesized that the former Templars preserved
their fraternity by disguising it in the form of Freemasonry.
An even more recent theory traces the origin of Masonry not to
the stonemason guilds, most of which appear to have simply ceased to
exist, rather than converting into speculative lodges, but to
persecuted Catholics of the conflict that raged in England during
much of the 17th century. Cyril Batham, of the famous Quatuor
Coronati Research Lodge in England, suggests that these individuals
founded Lodges as a way to preserve their contacts while hiding from
the Anglicans during the various Jacobite upheavals. The lengthy
hostility of the Catholic Church to Freemasonry would appear to cast
doubt upon this thesis, but Batham's reputation is so prodigious
that his work deserves serious consideration.
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In Europe
The modern period of Freemasonry dates from the founding of the
first Grand Lodge on St. John's Day, 1717, in London. Four "old
lodges" gathered together at the Goose and Gridiron Ale House and
organized the first Grand Lodge.
The time was ripe for an institution of free-thinkers such as
Masonry to spread in the Western world. The Enlightenment was
beginning on the Continent, while England itself was still in
transition to a more liberal state, having cast off the
"divine-right" concept of monarchy with James II only a few years
previously; the insurrection of "The 15" was just past, with that of
"the 45" yet to come. The organizations of Masonry spread rapidly
from England to the Continent, particularly to France,
Austria-Hungary, and the Germanic states. Shortly, lodges would be
organized in the New World as well.
Rival English Grand Lodges
The first Grand Lodge in England was soon to be challenged by a
rival organization. Some authors have termed this a schism, but
other recent scholarship claims that the rival Grand Lodge
originated from Lodges in other parts of the British Isles, notably
Ireland. Whatever the case, the new organization sought to attract
members by claiming greater authenticity through the use of the term
"Antient" as part of their name. The Antient (or Ancient) Masons
were also known as "Athol" Masons, from the Duke of Athol being one
of their early Grand Masters.
Lodges in the New World
The Ancient and Modern Lodges in England were eventually merged
into one organization, the United Grand Lodge of England, in 1813.
By this time, however, both groups of Masons had been chartering
lodges in the New World. This fact accounts for the great diversity
of ritual content among the states in America, although the precise
nature of the ritual cannot be determined by examining whether a
particular Grand Lodge styles itself as "Ancient Free and Accepted
Masons" or merely "Free and Accepted Masons." There is considerable
disagreement among scholars as to what the various origins are, in
fact, but it appears to this author that the "Ancient" ritual is
considerably briefer than the "Modern" version; the Grand Lodge of
Pennsylvania probably has what is closest to the pure Ancient ritual
in use, while a number of states near and along the northern border
of the US (e.g., Connecticut, Minnesota, Wisconsin) seem to have the
most lengthy form of ritual. A significant difference among states
is whether the ritual is kept unwritten or whether a cipher of the
ritual is permitted to be used; the presence of a cipher indicates
influence by the Modern organization, although recent changes in the
introduction of ciphers in some jurisdictions have undermined this
particular distinction. (Note that some parts of the ritual, termed
the monitorial or exoteric work, have always been permitted to be
printed.)
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Masonry in Canada
In 1738 the first Masonic Lodge in Canada is duly constituted at
Annapolis, Nova
Scotia. The founder a soldier administrator, Erasmus James Philipps,
in whose
memory the Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia issued its well known
medallion.
More
details here.
The first Upper Canada lodge
Masonry was introduced to the Niagara frontier by the Lodge of the
8th or Kings Own Regiment of Foot. This lodge was issued a field warrant (No. 255 E.R.) in
 1755. The regiment came to Canada in 1768 and was garrisoned at Fort
Niagara from
1773 to 1785. Several settlers from the west side of the river were
initiated the earliest recorded being in 1780.
The first civilian lodge of which there is a record was St. John's
of Friendship.
It was warranted in 1782 or before, probably by the P.G.L. of New
York
(Ancients). It seems to have drawn its membership from those
initiated into the
Lodge of the 8th Regiment and probably from the United Empire
Loyalists. This
lodge was re-warranted in 1795 by the First Provincial Grand Lodge
of Upper
Canada (Ancients) as No. 2. This lodge became Niagara No. 2 in 1845
and retained
that name and number when it joined with other lodges in 1855 to
form the Grand
Lodge of Canada.
The first Provincial Grand Lodge of Upper Canada
The P.G.L of Upper Canada owed its existence to the zeal and
enthusiasm of a
number of brethren in Quebec, the most notable of whom was Bro.
Alexander Wilson.
There were in that Province three lodges which held their warrants
from the
Ancient Grand Lodge of England. These lodges felt that the Craft in
Canada would
be more prosperous if there were a governing body on this side of
the Atlantic
Ocean. Accordingly Bro. Wilson requested the Grand Lodge of England
to warrant a
P.G.L. for Canada. The brethren assumed that there would be a single
P.G.M. for
Canada and a Substitute Grand Master for each of Upper and Lower
Canada.
In 1791, however, the Constitutional Act divided Canada politically
into Upper
and Lower Canada, and the Grand Lodge of England chose to follow
this pattern.
On 07 March 1792 the Grand Lodge of England named His Royal Highness
Prince
Edward as Provincial Grand Master for Lower Canada and William
Jarvis as P.G.M.
(or more properly, Substitute Grand Master) for Upper Canada.
Although both men
had the title P.G.M., only Prince Edward was given the authority to
issue
warrants for lodges, whereas Jarvis could only grant dispensations
for the
holding of lodges. The earliest record of activity was not until
July 1795 When a
meeting of the P.G.L. was called in Niagara.
In 1797 the seat of government for Upper Canada was moved from
Niagara to York
(now Toronto). Jarvis, as a government official for Upper Canada,
moved to York
as well; he took with him his warrant as P.G.M. This created a
problem. Without
the warrant the Brethren in Niagara could not legally act as a P.G.L.
Due to the
long absence of Jarvis the Brethren in Niagara elected and installed
Bro. George
Forsyth as P.G.M. in December 1802 to replace Jarvis, thus creating
the
Schismatic Grand Lodge at Niagara.
The new P.G.M., Simon McGillivray, arrived in Canada in July 1822.
He was an able
man, and an experienced Mason, but a grim set of problems confronted
him. The
first P.G.M., William Jarvis, had been empowered to only grant
one-year
dispensations for the holding of lodges, but not to issue warrants.
Within four
months McGillivray had brought order out of chaos, and restored
brotherly love
across the Province. In 1823 the book of Constitutions was printed
in Kingston.
The Grand Lodge of Canada
Due to the vast distance separating Canada from England, continued
dissatisfaction with the tardiness of the Mother Grand Lodge of
England in
forwarding warrants, certificates, etc., was finally brought to a
head.
William Mercer Wilson observed "A Grand Lodge cannot create a Grand
Lodge". If
independence was to be achieved, there was no alternative to
rebellion. The die
was cast in Hamilton on 10 October 1855. A notice of the meeting was
communicated
to every lodge in Canada and just under half sent delegates to
Hamilton. Forty
one lodges, from Montreal to Great Western No. 47 in Windsor, were
represented.
A resolution calling for the formation of a Grand Lodge for Canada,
free from the
Mother Grand Lodge, was ruled out of order by Deputy Grand Master
Ridout. (Sir
Allan Napier MacNab, Provincial Grand Master, was opposed to the
plan and did not
attend). However, after adjournment, a meeting was held and the
Grand Lodge was
formed by the Brethren, naming W. Bro. W. M. Wilson Grand Master,
and on the
morning of the 11th the officers were elected, confirming W. Bro.
Hon. H.T. Backus, Past Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Michigan,
on November 2nd, 1855. Back
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