The history of Freemasonry distinguishes the traditions of the building craft, symbolic narratives and documentary evidence for the emergence of speculative Masonry. The first eighteenth-century Grand Lodges, followed by the development of rituals and additional degrees, provide major landmarks. Its origins remain a field of research in which sources should be compared, rather than treated as proof of a single uninterrupted lineage.
Historical library
- Douglas Knoop & G. P. Jones — A Short History of Freemasonry to 1730 (1940) — PDF
- Richard Andrew Berman — The Architects of Eighteenth Century English Freemasonry, 1720–1740 (2010) — PDF
- Roger Dachez — Les origines de la Maçonnerie spéculative : état des théories actuelles — PDF
- Fred L. Pick & G. Norman Knight — The Pocket History of Freemasonry — PDF
- Brève chronologie de la Maçonnerie — PDF
These documents retain their original language. The chronology brings together traditions, legends and documented events, which require critical reading.