PREHISTORIC MASONRY

CHAPTER XX
THE ANDERSONIAN THEORY
THE Legend or theory of Dr. Anderson is detailed first in the edition of the Book of Constitutions which was edited by him and published in the year 1723, and was then more extensively developed in the subsequent edition of the same work published in 1738. Anderson was acquainted with the more recent Legend of the Craft, and very fully cites it from a manuscript or Record of Freemasons, written in the reign of Edward IV, that is, toward the end of the 15th century. If Anderson's quotations from this manuscript are correct, it must be one of those that has been lost and not yet recovered. For among some other events not mentioned in the manuscripts that are now extant, he states that the charges and laws of the Freemasons had been seen and perused by Henry VI. and his council, and had been approved by them. He does not appear to have met with any of the earlier manuscripts, such as those of Halliwell and Roberts, which contain the Legend in its older form, for he makes no use of the Legend of Euclid, passing over the services of that geometrician lightly, as the later manuscripts do, (1) and not ascribing to him the origin of the Order in Egypt, which theory is the peculiar characteristic of the older Legend. But out of the later Legend and from whatever manuscripts containing it to which he had access, Anderson has formed a Legend of his own. In this he has added many things of his own creation and given a more detailed narrative, if not a more correct one, than that contained in the Legend of the Craft.
(1) In the slight mention that he makes of Euclid, Anderson has observed the true chronology and placed him in the era of Ptolemy Lagus, 300 years B.C.

Anderson's Legend, or theory, of the rise and progress of Masonry, as it is contained in the first edition of the Book of Constitutions, was for a long time accepted by the Craft as a true history of the Order, and it has exercised a very remarkable influence in the framing of other theories on this subject which from time to time have been produced by subsequent writers. To the student, therefore, who is engaged in the investigation of the legendary history of Masonry, this Andersonian Legend is of great importance. While the Legend of the Craft in its pure form was very little known to the great body of Masonic writers and students until the manuscripts containing this Legend in its various forms were made common to the Masonic public by the labors of Halliwell, Cooke, and, above all, by Hughan and his earnest collaborators in Masonic archoeology, the Legend of Anderson was accessible and familiar to all, and for a century and a half was deemed an authentic history, and even at the present day is accepted by some over-credulous and not well-informed Masons as a real narrative of the rise and progress of Masonry. Anderson, in his history of the origin of Masonry, mindful of the French proverb, to "commencer par la commencement," begins by attributing to Adam a knowledge of Geometry as the foundation of Masonry and Architecture, words which throughout his Legend he uses as synonymous terms.
These arts he taught to his sons, and Cain especially practiced them by building a city. Seth also was equally acquainted with them and taught them to his offspring. Hence the antediluvian world was well acquainted with Masonry, (1) and erected many curious works until the time of Noah, who built the Ark by the principles of Geometry and the rules of Masonry.
(1) Oliver has readily accepted this theory of an antediluvian Masonry and written several very learned and indeed interesting works on the subject.

Noah and his three sons, who were all Masons, brought with them to the new world the traditions and arts of the antediluvians. Noah is therefore deemed the founder of Masonry in the post-diluvian world, and hence Anderson called a Mason a "true Noachida" or Noachite, a term used to the present day.
The descendants of Noah exercised their skill in Masonry in the attempted erection of the Tower of Babel, but were confounded in their speech and dispersed into various countries, whereby the knowledge of Masonry was lost. (1) It was however, preserved in Shinar and Assyria, where Nimrod built many cities. In those parts afterward flourished many priests and mathematicians under the name of Chaldees and Magi, who preserved the science of Geometry or Masonry, and thence the science and the art (2) were transmitted to later ages and distant climes. Mitzraim, the second son of Ham, carried Masonry into Egypt, where the overflowing of the banks of the Nile caused an improvement in Geometry, and consequently brought Masonry much into request.
Masonry was introduced into the Land of Canaan by the descendants of the youngest son of Ham, and into Europe, as he supposes, by the posterity of Japhet, although we know nothing of their works. The posterity of Shem also cultivated the art of Masonry, and Abraham, the head of one branch of that family, having thus obtained his knowledge of Geometry and the kindred sciences, communicated that knowledge to the Egyptians and transmitted it to his descendants, the Israelites. When, therefore, they made their exodus from Egypt the Israelites were "a whole kingdom of Masons," and while in the wilderness were often assembled by their Grand Master Moses into "a regular and general Lodge."
On taking possession of Canaan, the Israelites found the old inhabitants were versed in Masonry, which, however, their conquerors greatly improved, for the splendor of the finest structures in Tyre and Sidon was greatly surpassed by the magnificence of the Temple erected by King Solomon in Jerusalem. In the construction of this edifice, Solomon was assisted by the Masons and carpenters of Hiram, King of Tyre, and especially by the King of Tyre's namesake Hiram or Huram, to whom, in a note, Anderson gives the name of Hiram Abif, which name he has ever since retained among the Craft."

(1) This part of the Legend has been preserved in the American rituals, wherein the candidate is said to come "from the lofty Tower of Babel, where language was confounded and Masonry lost," and to be proceeding "to the threshing-floor of Orneu the Jebusite (the Temple of Solomon) where language was restored and Masonry found."
(2) By the science is meant geometry, and by the art architecture - a distinction preserved in the Middle Ages; and the combination of them into "Geometrical Masonry," constitute the Mystery of the Freemasons of that period.
(3) In the first edition of this Legend, Anderson makes no allusion to the death of Hiram Abif during the building of the Temple. He mentions, however, in the second edition of the "Constitutions" published fifteen years afterward. But this does not absolutely prove that he was at the time unacquainted with the tradition, but he may have thought it too esoteric for public record, for he says, in the very place where he should have referred to it, that he has left " what must not and cannot be communicated in writing."

Anderson gives in this Legend the first detailed account of the Temple of Solomon that is to be found in any Masonic work. It is, however, only an appropriation of that contained in the Books of Kings and Chronicles, with some statements for which he was probably indebted to his own invention. It has exerted a considerable influence upon other Legends subsequently framed, and especially upon all the rituals, and indeed upon all the modern ideas of speculative Masons. (1) After the construction of the Temple, the Masons who had been engaged in it dispersed into Syria, Mesopotamia, Assyria, Chaldea, Babylonia, Media, Persia, Arabia, Africa, Lesser Asia, Greece, and other parts of Europe, where they taught the art to many eminent persons, and kings, princes, and potentates became Grand Masters, each in his own territory.
The Legend then passes on to Nebuchadnezzar, whom it calls a Grand Master, and asserts that he received much improvement in Masonry from the Jewish captives whom he brought to Babylon after he had destroyed that city and its Temple. Afterward Cyrus constituted Zerubbabel the leader of the Jews, who, being released from their captivity, returned to Jerusalem and built the second Temple.
From Palestine, and after the erection of the Temple, Masonry was carried into Greece, and arrived at its height during the Jewish captivity, and in the time of Thales Milesius, the philosopher, and his pupil, Pythagoras, who was the author of the 47th Proposition of Euclid, which "is the foundation of all Masonry," Pythagoras traveled into Egypt and Babylon, and acquired much knowledge from the priests and the Magi, which he dispensed in Greece and Italy on his return.
(2) The Legend now speaks, parenthetically as it were, of the progress of Masonry in Asia Minor, and of the labors of Euclid in Egypt, in the reign of Ptolemy Lagus, in the methodical digestion of Geometry into a science.
(1) The peculiar details of the doctrine of Anderson have not been always respected. For instance, it is a very prevalent opinion among the Craft at this day, that there was a Master Mason's Lodge at the Temple, over which Solomon presided as Master and the two Hirams as Wardens, a theory which is not supported by Anderson, who says that King Solomon was Grand Master of the Lodge at Jerusalem, King Hiram Grand Master of that at Tyre, and Hiram Abif Master of Work. Const., 1st ed., P. 14.
(2) It was probably this part of the Andersonian Legend which gave rise to a similar statement made in the spurious production known as the Leland MS.

It next dwells upon the great improvement of Masonry in Greece, whose Masons arrived at the same degree of skill and magnificence as their teachers the Asiatics and Egyptians. From Sicily, from Greece, from Egypt and Asia, Masonry was introduced into Rome, which soon became the center of learning, and disseminated the knowledge of Masonry among the nations which it conquered. The Emperor Augustus became the Grand Master of the Lodge at Rome, and established the Augustan style of architecture. During the prosperous condition of the Roman Empire, Masonry was carefully propagated to the remotest regions of the world, and a Lodge erected in almost every Roman garrison.
But upon the declension of the empire, when the Roman garrisons were drawn away from Britain, the Angles and lower Saxons, who had been invited by the ancient Britons to come over and help them against the Scots and Picts, at length subdued the southern part of England, where Masonry had been introduced by the Romans, and the art then fell into decay.
When the Anglo-Saxons recovered their freedom in the 8th century Masonry was revived, and at the desire of the Saxon kings, Charles Martel, King of France, sent over several expert craftsmen, so that Gothic, architecture was again encouraged during the Heptarchy. The many invasions of the Danes caused the destruction of numerous records, but did not, to any great extent, interrupt the work, although the methods introduced by the Roman builders were lost. But when war ceased and peace was proclaimed by the Norman conquest, Gothic Masonry was restored and encouraged by William the Conqueror and his son William Rufus, who built Westminster Hall. And notwithstanding the wars that subsequently occurred, and the contentions of the Barons, Masonry never ceased to maintain its position in England. In the year 1362, Edward III. had an officer called the King's Freemason, or General Surveyor of his buildings, whose name was Henry Yvele, and who erected many public buildings.
Anderson now repeats the Legend of the Craft, with the story of Athelstan and his son Edwin, taking it, with an evident modification of the language, from a record of Freemasons, which he says was written in the reign of Edward IV. This record adds, as he says, that the charges and laws therein contained had been seen and approved by Henry VI and the lords of his council, who must therefore, to enable them to make such a review, have been incorporated with the Freemasons. In consequence of this, the act passed by Parliament when the King was in his infancy, forbidding the yearly congregations of Masons in their General Assemblies, was never enforced after the King had arrived at manhood, and had perused the regulations contained in that old record.
The Kings of Scotland also encouraged Masonry from the earliest times down to the union of the crowns, and granted to the Scottish Masons the prerogative of having a fixed Grand Master and Grand Warden. (1) Queen Elizabeth discouraged Masonry, and neglected it during her whole reign. She sent a commission to York to break up the Annual Assembly, but the members of the commission, having been admitted into the Lodge, made so favorable a report to the Queen, of the Fraternity, that she no longer opposed the Masons, but tolerated them, altbough she gave them no encouragement. Her successor, James I., was, however, a patron of Masonry, and greatly revived the art and restored the Roman architecture, employing Inigo Jones as his architect, under whom was Nicholas Stone as his Master Mason.

Charles I. was also a Mason, and patronized the art whose successful progress was unhappily diverted by the civil wars and the death of the king.
But after the restoration of the royal family, Masonry was again revived by Charles II., who was a great encourager of the craftsmen, and hence is supposed to have been a Freemason.
In the reign of James II., Masonry not being duly cultivated, the London Lodges "much dwindled into ignorance."

But on the accession of William, that monarch "who by most is reckoned as a Freemason," greatly revived the art, and showed himself a patron of Masonry. (1) From this it appears that Anderson was acquainted with the claim of the St. Clairs of Roslin to the hereditary Grand Mastership of Scotland, a point that has recently been disputed.

His good example was followed by Queen Anne, who ordered fifty new churches to be erected in London and its suburbs, and also by George I., her successor. With an allusion to the opinion that the religious and military Orders of knighthood in the Middle Ages had borrowed many of their solemn usages from the Freemasons, (1) the Legend here ends. Upon a perusal of this Legend, it will be found that it is in fact, except in the latter portions, which are semi-historical, only a running commentary on the later Legend of the Craft, embracing all that is said therein and adding other statements, partly derived from history and partly, perhaps, from the author's invention.
The second edition of the Constitutions goes more fully over the same ground, but is written in the form rather of a history than of a legend, and a review of it is not, therefore, necessary or appropriate in this part of the present work which is solely devoted to the Legends of the Order. In this second edition of Anderson's work, there are undoubtedly many things which will be repudiated by the skeptical student of Masonic history, and many which, if not at once denied, require proof to substantiate them. But with all its errors, this work of Anderson is replete with facts that make it interesting and instructive, and it earns for the author a grateful tribute for his labors in behalf of the literature of Masonry at so early a period after its revival.

(1) It will be seen hereafter that the Chevalier Ramsay greatly developed this brief allusion of Anderson, and out of it worked his theory of the Templar origin of Freemasonry.