The Foundations of Modern Freemasonry

Following the appointment of its first aristocratic Grand Masters in the 1720s and its connections to science and the Enlightenment, 'Free and Accepted' Masonry became part of Britain's national profile and the largest and most influential of its many clubs and societies. The organisation did not evolve naturally from the mediaeval guilds and religious orders but was reconfigured radically by a self-appointed inner core of members of London's most influential lodges. Freemasonry became a vehicle for their philosophical and political views and the 'Craft' attracted an aspirational membership across the middling and gentry. Through an examination of previously unexplored primary documents, The Foundations of Modern Freemasonry contributes to an understanding of English political and social culture and explores how Freemasonry became a mechanism that promoted the interests of the Hanoverian establishment and connected the metropolitan and provincial elites. Ric Berman explores multiple networks centred on the aristocracy, parliament, the learned and professional societies, and the magistracy, and provides pen portraits of key individuals. This third, extended edition includes an examination of the origins of Antients Freemasonry and the seminal influence of Laurence Dermott and the London Irish, taking the reader through to 1813, when the Moderns and Antients grand lodges merged to form the United Grand Lodge of England. The Foundations of Modern Freemasonry has been described as one of the most important books on Freemasonry published in recent times, providing 'a precise, social context for the invention of English Freemasonry'. Ric Berman has delivered an essential reference work that throws a new and original light on the formation and development of what would become a national and international phenomenon.

Pagina's: 317, Paperback, The Old Stables Press