Rough Mason, Mason, Freemason, Accepted Mason

Rough Mason, Mason, Freemason, Accepted Mason
Author: Oscar Patterson
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 259
Release: 2017-08-09
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0761869611

Modern Freemasonry in the United States and Great Britain celebrates its 300th anniversary in 2017 tracing its direct history from the Grand Lodge of England founded in 1717. This text is intended to provide a theory of origin for the Fraternity. It is based on available sources, many of which are not Masonic in nature, but cover the disciplines of history, religion, ethics, economics, politics, and labor development. The book begins with an overview of how the Fraternity initiated members in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, and includes the ancient Legend of Noah. It then reviews how history is written and exams the utilization of Biblical and legendary accounts in the development of a country’s, peoples’, or organization’s history. The text moves on to the transition from craft guild to fraternal organization and gives the full text of Freemasonry’s four oldest documents: Regius Poem, Cooke Manuscript, Graham Manuscript, and Schaw Statutes. This is followed by a description of the London Masons’ Company based on the assumption that this city-wide organization of craftsmen chartered in 1481 may have been the administrative precursor of the Grand Lodge of England. The author then reviews the demise of craft guilds and the rise of fraternal societies in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Additional chapters review the Masonic approach to ritual, education, and ethical decision making. The text closes with a discussion of the philosophy of Freemasonry as well as comments and suggestions regarding Freemasonry’s future. The last chapter is a Scottish Charge appropriate to all men, not just Freemasons.

The Shadow King

The Shadow King
Author: Lauren Johnson
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 555
Release: 2019-05-07
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1643131656

A thrilling new account of the tragic story and troubled times of Henry VI, who inherited the crowns of both England and France and lost both. Firstborn son of a warrior father who defeated the French at Agincourt, Henry VI of the House of Lancaster inherited the crown not only of England but also of France, at a time when Plantagenet dominance over the Valois dynasty was at its glorious height. And yet, by the time he died in the Tower of London in 1471, France was lost, his throne had been seized by his rival, Edward IV of the House of York, and his kingdom had descended into the violent chaos of the Wars of the Roses. Henry VI is perhaps the most troubled of English monarchs, a pious, gentle, well-intentioned man who was plagued by bouts of mental illness. In The Shadow King, Lauren Johnson tells his remarkable and sometimes shocking story in a fast-paced and colorful narrative that captures both the poignancy of Henry’s life and the tumultuous and bloody nature of the times in which he lived.