Timeline of early Freemasonry

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This timeline of early Freemasonry follows selected manuscripts, lodge records, publications and institutional changes through the English union of 1813. Its main subjects are Britain and Ireland, with entries on France, the German lands and North America. Each entry links to an article with fuller discussion.

A manuscript's date is not necessarily the date of the traditions it contains. Similarly, a lodge's earliest surviving record need not mark its foundation. Approximate and disputed dates are identified below; the entries do not imply a single founding date for Freemasonry.

Medieval manuscripts

Date Event and evidence Further reading
First half of the fifteenth century The surviving copy of the Regius poem belongs to this period according to the British Library catalogue. Its verse combines a traditional account of the craft with rules and religious instruction.[1] The Regius manuscript; The Old Charges
Fifteenth century The Cooke manuscript preserves a prose account of geometry and the mason craft, followed by regulations. The British Library dates the surviving manuscript to the fifteenth century; a more precise year should not be treated as certain.[2] The Cooke manuscript

Scottish lodges and seventeenth-century records

Date Event and evidence Further reading
28 December 1598 William Schaw's first statutes set out rules for the organisation and supervision of Scottish masons and their lodges.[3] William Schaw; The Schaw Statutes
1599 Surviving minutes begin at Aitchison's Haven on 9 January and at the Lodge of Edinburgh on 31 July. These are dates of surviving records, not proof that either lodge was founded that year.[4] Early Scottish lodges; Lodge of Edinburgh (Mary's Chapel)
28 December 1599 The second Schaw Statutes address lodge government and the position of Kilwinning, alongside Edinburgh and Stirling. They provide an early written reference to Kilwinning's place in the Scottish lodge system.[5] The Schaw Statutes; Lodge Mother Kilwinning
About 1600–1601 The first St Clair Charter recognises a patronal role for William Sinclair of Roslin. The document is undated: its probable date is inferred from the offices held by its Edinburgh signatories.[6] The St Clair Charters
About 1627–1628 A second St Clair Charter renews support for Sinclair patronage. This document is also undated; Stevenson places it in 1627–1628 from the office-holders named and related lodge evidence.[7] The St Clair Charters
1634 Anthony Alexander, Lord Alexander and Sir Alexander Strachan join the Lodge of Edinburgh. Their admission is evidence of membership extending beyond working stonemasons, while operatives continued to form the lodge's majority.[8] Lodge of Edinburgh (Mary's Chapel); Operative and speculative Freemasonry
1641 Robert Moray is admitted at Newcastle by members of the Lodge of Edinburgh. His membership is one of the documented links between early Freemasonry and a later founder of the Royal Society.[9] Robert Moray; Freemasonry and the Royal Society
1646 Elias Ashmole records his admission at Warrington in his diary. The entry is evidence for an English Masonic gathering decades before the London Grand Lodge.[10] Elias Ashmole
20 December 1677 Canongate Kilwinning receives its charter from Mother Kilwinning. The charter illustrates lodge formation under a Scottish lodge's authority before the national Grand Lodge existed.[11] Canongate Kilwinning; Lodge Mother Kilwinning
22 December 1702 Haughfoot Lodge's first surviving minute records a lodge initially led by local gentry. Its later growth in operative membership complicates the idea of a uniform progression from operative to speculative lodges.[12] Haughfoot Lodge

Grand Lodges and print

Date Event and evidence Further reading
24 June 1717 (traditional date) The conventional account dates the first London Grand Lodge to a meeting of four lodges. The account was published by Anderson in 1738. Its chronology is disputed: Andrew Prescott and Susan Mitchell Sommers argue for formation in 1721.[10][13] The formation of the first Grand Lodge
1723 The Constitutions of the Free-Masons, compiled by James Anderson, is published in London. It combines traditional history, charges, regulations and songs. The London Grand Lodge's surviving regular minute record also begins in this year.[10][14] The 1723 Constitutions; James Anderson
June 1725 A Dublin newspaper reports a Grand Lodge gathering in Ireland, with the Earl of Rosse as Grand Master. This documents an organisation already in existence; it does not establish the exact date of its foundation.[15] Early Irish Freemasonry
1734 Benjamin Franklin prints Anderson's Constitutions in Philadelphia, adapting the 1723 London edition. This is the first Masonic book printed in America.[16] Benjamin Franklin; The 1723 Constitutions
1736 The Grand Lodge of Scotland is formed in Edinburgh. Thirty-three lodges are represented after invitations to about a hundred, showing that the new body did not initially encompass every Scottish lodge.[17] The formation of the Grand Lodge of Scotland
1751 The Antients Grand Lodge is established in London as a rival to the existing English Grand Lodge. Its early membership includes many men of Irish and Scottish origin.[10] Antients and Moderns
1756 Laurence Dermott publishes Ahiman Rezon, the Antients' book of constitutions. It draws substantially on earlier constitutional publications, including Edward Spratt's Irish edition of 1751.[18] Ahiman Rezon; Laurence Dermott

Expansion, reform and union

Date Event and evidence Further reading
1773 The reorganisation of the first French Grand Lodge produces the Grand Orient de France. The reforms establish lodge representation and the election of lodge officers.[19] Early French Freemasonry
1776 The Lodge of the Nine Sisters is established in Paris, with the astronomer Jérôme de Lalande as its first Master. Its membership later includes Benjamin Franklin and Voltaire.[20] The Lodge of the Nine Sisters
1778 The Convent of Lyon, held from 25 November to 10 December, approves codes for the rectified lodges and the Chevaliers Bienfaisants de la Cité Sainte. It is an organisational turning point in the development of the Rectified Scottish Rite.[21] The Convent of Lyon (1778); Rectified Scottish Rite
1782 At the Convent of Wilhelmsbad, delegates reject the claim to be the legitimate successors of the medieval Knights Templar. Their resolutions retain a reformed Christian chivalric organisation; they do not abandon every claimed connection with Templar tradition.[22] The Convent of Wilhelmsbad (1782); The Templar theory of Masonic origins
29 September 1784 The English Grand Lodge issues a charter for African Lodge No. 459 in Boston, led by Prince Hall. The charter reaches Boston in 1787, so its issue and receipt should be distinguished.[23] African Lodge No. 459; Prince Hall
31 May 1801 John Mitchell and Frederick Dalcho establish a Supreme Council in Charleston, South Carolina. The Scottish Rite Southern Jurisdiction dates its foundation to this meeting; higher-degree bodies had already existed in North America.[24] History of the Scottish Rite
1807 Mother Kilwinning and the Grand Lodge of Scotland reach an agreement. Kilwinning takes its place at the head of the roll and gives up issuing its own warrants and charters.[25] Lodge Mother Kilwinning
27 December 1813 The English Antients and Moderns unite as the United Grand Lodge of England. The union ends their institutional rivalry, with further work needed to implement the agreement.[10] The Union of 1813; Antients and Moderns

Further reading

References

  1. ↑ British Library, Royal MS 17 A I, catalogue entry; dates the manuscript to 1400–1449. Accessed 30 September 2026.
  2. ↑ British Library, Add MS 23198, catalogue entry; dates the manuscript to 1400–1499. Accessed 30 September 2026.
  3. ↑ David Stevenson, The Origins of Freemasonry: Scotland's Century, 1590–1710 (Cambridge University Press, 1988), pp. 34–43.
  4. ↑ Stevenson, Origins of Freemasonry, p. 44 and appendix, p. 234.
  5. ↑ Stevenson, Origins of Freemasonry, pp. 44–50.
  6. ↑ Stevenson, Origins of Freemasonry, pp. 52–53.
  7. ↑ Stevenson, Origins of Freemasonry, pp. 57–58.
  8. ↑ Stevenson, Origins of Freemasonry, pp. 198–199.
  9. ↑ Stevenson, Origins of Freemasonry, pp. 167–168, 198.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 United Grand Lodge of England, History of Freemasonry, entries for 1646, 1717, 1723, 1751 and 1813. Accessed 30 September 2026.
  11. ↑ Stevenson, Origins of Freemasonry, pp. 191–192, 207, 234; Lodge Canongate Kilwinning No. 2, About. Accessed 30 September 2026.
  12. ↑ Stevenson, Origins of Freemasonry, pp. 206–207, 234.
  13. ↑ Andrew Prescott and Susan Mitchell Sommers, Searching for the apple tree: revisiting the earliest years of organised English freemasonry, in John S. Wade (ed.), Reflections on Three Hundred Years of Freemasonry (Lewis Masonic, 2017). University of Glasgow repository abstract.
  14. ↑ James Anderson, The Constitutions of the Free-Masons (1723), digitised edition, Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon.
  15. ↑ Quatuor Coronati Correspondence Circle, Ireland, 1723 Constitutions. Accessed 30 September 2026.
  16. ↑ James Anderson and Benjamin Franklin, The Constitutions of the Free-Masons (1734), edited by Paul Royster, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, electronic edition (2006).
  17. ↑ Quatuor Coronati Correspondence Circle, Scotland, 1723 Constitutions. Accessed 30 September 2026.
  18. ↑ Quatuor Coronati Correspondence Circle, Ahiman Rezon, 1723 Constitutions. Accessed 30 September 2026.
  19. ↑ Grand Orient de France, 1773 : Le Grand Orient de France. Accessed 30 September 2026.
  20. ↑ Quatuor Coronati Correspondence Circle, Les Neuf Soeurs, 1723 Constitutions. Accessed 30 September 2026.
  21. ↑ Bibliothèque nationale de France, Convent des Gaules (1778 ; Lyon), authority record FRBNF17976095. Accessed 30 September 2026.
  22. ↑ Le Recès du Convent de Wilhelmsbad, final resolutions (1782), articles II–III; transcription hosted by the Grand Prieuré de Septimanie.
  23. ↑ Quatuor Coronati Correspondence Circle, Prince Hall Freemasonry – Origins, 1723 Constitutions. Accessed 30 September 2026.
  24. ↑ Scottish Rite, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, History, section “Before the Charter: The Pre-1813 Era”. Accessed 30 September 2026.
  25. ↑ Lodge Mother Kilwinning, History, account of the 1807 agreement. Accessed 30 September 2026.

Early Masonic history

Chronology: Timeline of early Freemasonry

Documents: The Old Charges · The Regius manuscript · The Cooke manuscript · The Schaw Statutes · The St Clair Charters · The 1723 Constitutions

Scottish lodges and ideas: William Schaw · Early Scottish lodges · Lodge Mother Kilwinning · Mary's Chapel · Canongate Kilwinning · Haughfoot Lodge · Operative and speculative Freemasonry · The art of memory and Freemasonry · Freemasonry and the Royal Society · The Templar theory of Masonic origins

People: Robert Moray · John Theophilus Desaguliers · James Anderson · William Preston · Andrew Michael Ramsay

Chivalric systems: The Strict Observance · Karl Gotthelf von Hund · Lyon (1778) · Wilhelmsbad (1782) · Jean-Baptiste Willermoz · Rectified Scottish Rite

English Grand Lodges: Formation of the first Grand Lodge · Antients and Moderns · Laurence Dermott · Ahiman Rezon · The Union of 1813

Ireland, Scotland and overseas: Early Irish Freemasonry · Grand Lodge of Scotland · Military and travelling lodges

France and the Jacobites: Early French Freemasonry · Freemasonry and the Jacobites

Atlantic connections: Benjamin Franklin · The Lodge of the Nine Sisters · George Washington · Paul Revere · African Lodge No. 459 · Prince Hall

Research: Sources for studying early Freemasonry · Masonic museums and libraries

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