Freemasons For Dummies: Oldest Masonic Manuscripts All In One Place

Thursday, May 19, 2016

Oldest Masonic Manuscripts All In One Place

French Masonic author and researcher Guy Chassagnard has recently put up an extensive website featuring 33 of the earliest known manuscripts and exposures of operative and speculative Freemasonry, dating all the way from 1248 up through "Masonry Dissected" in 1730. They come from Italian, French, English, Scottish, and German sources.

Go here: www.theoldcharges.com

I believe this is actually an English translation of Brother Chassagnard's book, Les Anciens Devoirs: Maçons opératifs et maçons acceptés.

Previously, hunting down these manuscripts from various sites was a tedious task. So, to have them collected all in one place is a godsend to researchers. Many thanks to Brother Guy for posting this!

One word of warning: when you first click on the site, there's a music track that blares out at you at full volume. Hit the pause button under the square and compass image on the right side of the page to shut it off.

3 comments:

John ArfordMay 19, 2016 4:33 PM
Wonderful to have these made available for our Masonic education.
John Arford, PM
Leo Lodge #224
Leo, Indiana
ReplyDelete
Ali ScottMay 19, 2016 7:23 PM
Thanks. I've had particular trouble tracing an online copy of the Graham MS.

Francophones might also want to have a look at this lot. Berne is the earliest complete ritual for the first two degrees, and the Marquis de Gage the earliest third online. It pretty much agrees with the early 1740s third published by Bernheim.
These are Modern's rituals, with the reversed passwords in the 1st and 2nd. I believe this form was only used by a few London Lodges, but thanks to Desaguliers and Richmond it is still the dominant form in France.
http://reunir.free.fr/fm/rituels.htm
ReplyDelete
jundeaconAugust 27, 2018 12:00 PM
You can find a good selection of Masonic Manuscripts in my elibrary at https://mega.nz/#F!IY9nWB5C!7gcJQLPmfhEE4wFxguavhw
Regards
Keith A Carpenter
ReplyDelete

Add comment

ATTENTION!
PLEASE sign or otherwise identify yourself in your comment posts. I have been FLOODED for months with spam comments, and I've been forced to laboriously screen every post now. Anonymous postings on Masonic topics have the same status as cowans and eavesdroppers as far as I am concerned, and may be deleted if I don't recognize you or if I'm in a grumpy mood.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

A mythic past.
A visionary future.
A legendary brotherhood.

Freemasonry is the largest, oldest and best-known gentleman's fraternity in the world. Historically, it is based on the Medieval stonemason guilds who built the great castles and cathedrals of Europe. Mythologically it is founded upon the building of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, as told in the Old Testament of the Bible. Modern Freemasons likewise use the tools, traditions and terminology of those earlier stonemasons as allegories for building Temples in the hearts of men.

It's said that we are a secret society. We do indeed have secrets—secrets that each individual man has to discover for and about himself.

At its core, Freemasonry is simply an attempt to make the world a better place, one man at a time. For each man, it can become as simple or as complicated as he himself desires.

It's not for everybody.

Maybe it's for you.

"Brother Chris Hodapp's [blog]...is thought provoking and is often the first place on the web where new ideas and matters of interest are posted."

—Jim Tresner, Scottish Rite Journal

About Chris

Christopher L. Hodapp is the author of Freemasons For Dummies, the worldwide, best-selling introduction to the Masonic fraternity; Solomon's Builders: Freemasons, Founding Fathers and the Secrets of Washington D.C. ; and Deciphering the Lost Symbol.

His most recent book, Heritage Endures, was published in January 2018.

Chris is also the co-author with Alice Von Kannon of The Templar Code For Dummies and Conspiracy Theories And Secret Societies For Dummies.

Chris received his higher education at Indiana University, the University of Southern California, Los Angeles Valley College, California State University at Northridge, and Indiana/Purdue University at Indianapolis.

He spent twenty-three years in advertising as a commercial filmmaker for Dean Crow Productions, shooting and editing close to 1,000 commercials, music videos and feature films. He has written scripts for corporate and non-profit clients, and his voice has appeared in countless television and radio commercials.

For those who really care about such things, as a Freemason Chris is a Past Master of Broad Ripple Lodge #643 and of Lodge Vitruvian #767, Free & Accepted Masons of the State of Indiana; and a member Internet Lodge #9659 in the Province of East Lancashire of the United Grand Lodge of England.

He is an honorary member of Vincennes Lodge No. 1, Plymouth-Kilwinning Lodge #149, Ancient Landmarks Lodge #319, Garfield Lodge #569, and Logan Lodge #575 in Indiana; Ancient York Lodge No. 89 in Nashua, NH; African Lodge #459, Prince Hall Affiliation, in Boston, Massachusetts; and the Grand Lodge of New Mexico AF&AM.

Chris is a 33° Mason in the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite (NMJ), Indianapolis Valley. He is a founding member of Levant Preceptory, a medieval Knights Templar period recreation degree team in the York Rite, and he is an officer of the Indiana College of the Societas Rosicruciana in Civitatibus Foederatis. He is also member of numerous other Masonic appendant organizations.

As a Masonic author, in 2012 he was named as Friar No. 101 in the Society of Blue Friars. Chris is a Founding Fellow of The Masonic Society, and was the founding Editor in Chief of The Journal of The Masonic Society. He remains a regular contributor today, and its Editor Emeritus.

He was the editor and a contributor in 2004-5 to "Laudable Pursuit: A 21st Century Response to Dwight Smith" by the Knights of the North, a Masonic leadership think-tank focussing on modern lodge solutions. He has written for Indianapolis Monthly, Masonic Magazine, Templar History, the Scottish Rite Journal, the Knight Templar Magazine, the Indiana Freemason , the Phylaxis, and numerous other publications.

Hodapp and Alice Von Kannon developed episode outlines for the History Channel program, Brad Meltzer's Decoded in 2010, and contributed material on conspiracies and secret societies for TruTV and the American Heroes Channel. They have both appeared on National Public Radio, the History Channel, Discovery, National Geographic, Smithsonian, and the American Heroes Channel - most recently in 2017 on America: Facts vs Fiction.

Chris and Alice live in Indianapolis with their very French poodle Wiley, who has them both answering to basic commands.

M.A.T.S.O.L.

The Worldwide Exemplification
of Freemasonry
Online Video Lecture Series

Presented by
Masonic Awareness At The Speed of Light
• • •
Endorsed by the Grand Lodge of Indiana

CLICK HERE

Are you a Traveling Man?
If you are a Freemason who travels anywhere, you need to download the Amity app to your smartphone. Immediately.

Instantly identify lodges in all mainstream and Prince Hall U.S. jurisdictions, Canada, and more than 50 other countries. Determine a lodge's Masonic regularity immediately, and whether your own grand lodge is in amity with theirs, all on your phone.Apart from my own books, I don't advertise products here as a rule, but this service is absolutely free of charge, created by and for Freemasons, and with the cooperation of grand lodges all around the world.For more information, CLICK HERE.

Legal Crap

Christopher L. Hodapp is the author of "Freemasons For Dummies"

"Freemasons For Dummies" ©2005-18 by Wiley Publishing Inc. The 'For Dummies' logo and artwork are trademarks of Wiley Publishing Inc. and all rights are reserved.
This website is the Author's property, and is neither officially connected with nor endorsed by the Publisher in any way.

All content, unless otherwise attributed to other sources, is copyright ©2005-2018 by Christopher L. Hodapp, and all rights are reserved by the author. For permission to reprint, or to suggest corrections in material appearing here, contact Christopher L. Hodapp at hodapp@aol.com

I am a Freemason and a member of both the regular, recognized Grand Lodge of Indiana F&AM and the United Grand Lodge of England. However, unless otherwise attributed, the opinions expressed in this blog are my own, or of others expressing theirs by posting comments. I do not in any way represent the official positions of my lodges or Grand Lodges, any associated organization of which I may or may not be a member, or the fraternity of Freemasonry as a whole.

Be aware that no one person may speak on behalf of Freemasonry or present their opinion as being the "official" position of the fraternity, unless it is a grand master, and then, only within his own jurisdiction. While Freemasonry is a global fraternal organization, there is no single, authoritative, administrative Masonic body or figurehead anywhere in the world.

The unauthorized appearance of content from this site, in whole or in part, in links, aggregators, forums, comments or other websites does not express or imply an endorsement by the author.

If you are a Freemason and are lifting material from this website without attribution, shame on you.

PRIVACY INFORMATION

The author of this site does not in any way collect any data whatsoever from readers or posters, does not share any reader information with other sites or advertisers, and does not make use of any data collected by any embedded resources. However, this site is hosted by Google's Blogger platform, and is subject to Google's terms of service, as well as their data collection policy.