viii PREFACE
the order—for how can anyone claim to discuss this subject without
touching upon this question?—have largely contributed insights only to
the various fragmentary aspects their individual studies may have
addressed. Far too often these studies have consisted of only an iso-
lated, contemporary, and literal reading of documents with which most
students of this subject are already familiar. Symbolism, which is the
capital rule of Freemasonry, has often been either systematically over-
looked or cursorily addressed on the broader historical plane. Some
scholars have even believed Freemasonry's symbolism and history to be
two separate domains, while others, conversely, have confused symbol-
ism and history, boiling down both to a single reduction and seeking to
deduce the meaning of one from the other. The veil formed by these
symbols—words, figures, and signs— has concealed the structures and
realities from them.
We must hasten to pay a well-deserved homage to this research,
however, specifically to the remarkable works published since 1886 by
the London Study Lodge Quatuor Coronati no. 2076, which has
brought to light a significant number of old, specifically British docu-
ments. Myriad brilliant authors have applied themselves to the presen-
tation and analysis of these texts, including R. F. Gould, D. Knoop, G.
P. Jones, D. Hamer, Lionel Vibert, F. L. Pick, G. N. Knight. Harry Carr,
and John Hamil. Their works are quite valuable for their probity, the
precision of their notes, and their observations relevant to the factual
study of the beginnings of Freemasonry in Great Britain.
This intellectual harvest has encouraged me to intensify the search for
a way to better situate the masonic institution and its origins in their gen-
eral historical and structural context, especially given that the facts
related to the institution are inseparable from the social context, mind-
sets, and motivations surrounding it. Further, while modern Freemasonry
has grown directly from an exclusively British framework, its origins and
development extend far beyond Great Britain and that nation's history in
both time and space, a fact that deserves some exploration.
My investigations on this subject have been quite extensive. I have
made a point of attending to findings made in earlier works, incorpo-
rating those opinions whose premises were supported with proof.
Research based on historical sources in all their complexity has been my