ANTIENT—MODERN SCHISM
The most significant split in English Freemasonry since the founding of the first Grand Lodge in 1717, the schism between the Antients (or Ancients) and…
Category: Freemasonry
Ancient Noble Order of Gormogons
A short-lived rival to Freemasonry, the Ancient Noble Order of Gormogons surfaced in the fall of 1724, announcing itself to the world in a London…
ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED SCOTTISH RITE [AASR]
The most influential of the concordant bodies of Freemasonry in the United States and one of the most important Masonic rites worldwide, the Ancient and…
Aldworth, Elizabeth
According to contemporary accounts, Elizabeth Aldworth (née St Leger), the daughter of Viscount Doneraile, was the first woman to be initiated into Freemasonry. In 1710,…
ADOPTIVE MASONRY
A system of quasi-Masonic rites for women, Adoptive Masonry appeared in France in the middle of the eighteenth century; the first known Lodge of Adoption…
ACCEPTED MASON
An accepted mason is a member of a lodge of Masons who is not an operative Mason – that is, a working stonemason – but…
MASON WORD
In the original, operative Masonry of Scottish stonemasons’ lodges, a series of signs of recognition by which one Mason could identify another without any obvious…