Editing Freemasonry (section)

===Origins===
Since the middle of the 19th century, Masonic historians have sought the origins of the movement in a series of similar documents known as the [[Old Charges]], dating from the [[Regius Poem]] in about 1425<ref>[http://www.freemasons-freemasonry.com/prescott07.html Andrew Prescott, "The Old Charges Revisited"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927124756/http://www.freemasons-freemasonry.com/prescott07.html |date=27 September 2013 }}, from Transactions of the Lodge of Research No. 2429 (Leicester), 2006, ''Pietre-Stones Masonic Papers'', retrieved 12 October 2013</ref> to the beginning of the 18th century. Alluding to the membership of a lodge of [[Operative Freemasonry|operative masons]], they relate it to a [[Masonic myths|mythologised history]] of the craft, the duties of its grades, and the manner in which oaths of fidelity are to be taken on joining.<ref>A. F. A. Woodford, preface to William James Hughan, ''The Old Charges of British Freemasons'', London, 1872</ref> The 15th century also sees the first evidence of ceremonial regalia.<ref>{{Cite book | author = John Yarker | title = The Arcane Schools | location = Manchester | year = 1909 | pages = 341–342}}</ref>

There is no clear mechanism by which these local trade organisations became today's Masonic Lodges. The earliest rituals and passwords known, from operative lodges around the turn of the 17th–18th centuries, show continuity with the rituals developed in the later 18th century by accepted or speculative Masons, as those members who did not practice the physical craft gradually came to be known.<ref>Robert L.D. Cooper, ''Cracking the Freemason's Code'', Rider 2006, Chapter 4, p. 53</ref> The minutes of the [[Lodge of Edinburgh (Mary's Chapel) No. 1]] in Scotland show a continuity from an operative lodge in 1598 to a modern speculative Lodge.<ref>David Murray Lyon, ''History of the Lodge of Edinburgh (Mary's Chapel) No 1'', Blackwood 1873, Preface</ref> It is reputed to be the oldest Masonic Lodge in the world.<ref>{{cite book|last=Stevenson|first=David|title=The Origins of Freemasonry|year=1988|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0521396549|pages=38–44}}</ref>
[[File:Room at Masonic Hall Bury St Edmunds Suffolk England.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Royal Arch Chapter in England, beginning of c20|View of room at the Masonic Hall, [[Bury St Edmunds]], Suffolk, England, early 20th century, set up for a Holy Royal Arch convocation]]
Alternatively, [[Thomas De Quincey]] in his work titled ''Rosicrucians and Freemasonry'' put forward the theory that suggested that Freemasonry may have been an outgrowth of [[Rosicrucianism]]. The theory had also been postulated in 1803 by German professor; [[Johann Gottlieb Buhle|J. G. Buhle]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.masonicdictionary.com/rosicrucian.html|title=Rosicrucians and Freemasonry {{!}} Masonic Dictionary |last=Dafoe|first=Stephen|website=www.masonicdictionary.com|language=en|access-date=14 June 2017|archive-date=28 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200128202245/http://www.masonicdictionary.com/rosicrucian.html|url-status=usurped}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-ffW5P6NW1kC&q=Freemasonry+is+an+outgrowth+of+rosicrucians&pg=PA395|title=The Secret Teachings of All Ages: An Encyclopedic Outline of Masonic, Hermetic, Qabbalistic and Rosicrucian Symbolical Philosophy|last=Hall|first=Manly P.|date=2010|publisher=Courier Corporation|isbn=978-0486471433|language=en}}</ref>

The first Grand Lodge, the Grand Lodge of London and Westminster, later called the [[Premier Grand Lodge of England|Grand Lodge of England]], was founded on [[St. John's Day, Masonic feast|St John's Day]], 24 June 1717,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.ugle.org.uk/about-freemasonry/history-of-freemasonry |title=History of Freemasonry timeline |publisher=United Grand Lodge of England |access-date=12 June 2018 |archive-date=26 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180826142101/https://www.ugle.org.uk/about-freemasonry/history-of-freemasonry |url-status=live }}</ref> when four existing London Lodges met for a joint dinner. Over the next decade, most of the existing Lodges in England joined the new regulatory body, which itself entered a period of self-publicity and expansion. New lodges were created, and the fraternity began to grow.

During the course of the 18th century, as aristocrats and artists crowded out the craftsmen originally associated with the organization, Freemasonry became fashionable throughout Europe and the [[European colonization of the Americas|American colonies]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Greer |first=John Michael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c-T7DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA26 |title=Druidry Handbook: Spiritual Practice Rooted in the Living Earth |date=2021|publisher=Weiser Books |isbn=978-1-63341-224-8 |pages=26 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Bergreen |first=Laurence |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3B6zCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA119 |title=Casanova: The World of a Seductive Genius |date=2016 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-4767-1652-7 |page=119 |language=en}}</ref>

Between 1730 and 1750, the Grand Lodge endorsed several significant changes that some Lodges could not endorse. A rival Grand Lodge was formed on 17 July 1751, which called itself the "[[Antient Grand Lodge of England]]" to signify that, in their opinion, these lodges were maintaining older traditions and rejected changes that the Premiere Grand Lodge had adopted. As an insult, the self proclaimed "Antient Grand Lodge" coined the term "modern" to designate the Premiere Grand Lodge (historians now use Premiere Grand Lodge and Antient Grand Lodge – to differentiate the two bodies).<ref>{{cite web |title=Ars Quatuor Coronatorum – A Revised Style Guide |url=https://www.quatuorcoronati.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/AQC-Revised-Style-Guide-5-August-2011-2.pdf |website=[[Quatuor Coronati Lodge|Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076]] |access-date=19 November 2024 |pages=12–13 |archive-date=19 January 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250119120924/https://www.quatuorcoronati.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/AQC-Revised-Style-Guide-5-August-2011-2.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> These two Grand Lodges vied for supremacy until the Premiere Grand Lodge made a [[Emulation Lodge of Improvement|compromise]] with the antient Grand Lodge to return to a ritual that worked for both Grand Lodges. They re-united on 27 December 1813 to form the [[United Grand Lodge of England]].<ref>{{Cite book|author=[[S. Brent Morris]]|title=The Complete Idiot's Guide to Freemasonry|publisher=Alpha/Penguin Books|isbn=1-59257-490-4|page=[https://archive.org/details/completeidiotsgu00morr/page/27 27]|year=2006|url=https://archive.org/details/completeidiotsgu00morr/page/27}}</ref><ref name="Clarke">[http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/aqc/ancients.html I. R. Clarke, "The Formation of the Grand Lodge of the Antients"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170623084114/http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/aqc/ancients.html |date=23 June 2017 }}, Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, vol 79 (1966), pp. 270–273, ''Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon'', retrieved 28 June 2012</ref>

The [[Grand Lodge of Ireland]] and the [[Grand Lodge of Scotland]] were formed in 1725 and 1736, respectively, although neither persuaded all of the existing lodges in their countries to join for many years.<ref>[http://www.freemasons-freemasonry.com/uk_grand_lodges.html H. L. Haywood, "Various Grand Lodges"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140730172543/http://www.freemasons-freemasonry.com/uk_grand_lodges.html |date=30 July 2014 }}, ''The Builder'', vol X no 5, May 1924, ''Pietre Stones'' website, retrieved 9 January 2014</ref><ref>Robert L.D. Cooper, ''Cracking the Freemason's Code'', Rider 2006, Chapter 1, p. 17</ref>