The Origins of Freemasonry: Scotland's Century, 1590-1710

This book is a new edition of David Stevenson's classic account of the origins of Freemasonry, a brotherhood of men bound together by secret initiatives, rituals and modes of identification with ideals of fraternity, equality, toleration and reason. Beginning in Britain, Freemasonry swept across Europe in the mid-eighteenth century in astonishing fashion—yet its origins are still hotly debated today. The prevailing assumption has been that it emerged in England around 1700, but David Steven...