Masonic Rivalries and Literary Politics

Freemasonry had a major influence on politics and literature in eighteenth-century Britain, but many historical accounts have been limited by an overly Anglo-centric focus, which omitted the importance of Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and Europe in its development. The persistent "conventional wisdom" that the fraternity was non-political ignored the intense Jacobite-Hanoverian and Tory-Whig rivalries that continued from the 1690s. The assumption that Freemasonry generally espoused a rationalistic Enlightenment agenda omits the Hermetic, Cabalistic, and chivalric themes that infused the cossais (Scottish-French) higher degrees which expanded rapidly in Europe and eventually in Britain itself. These rivalries and polarizations were reflected in the Tory-Jacobite writings of Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, Moses Mendes, Eliza Haywood, Chevalier Ramsay, and many others, while Whig-Hanoverian authors such as Daniel Defoe, Jean-Theophilus Desaguliers, "Orator" Henley, and Henry Fielding supported the loyalist agenda of the Grand Lodge of England. By providing a detailed, chronological account of these developments, this book fills many gaps in eighteenth-century Masonic history. Marsha Keith Schuchard, Ph. D has written extensively on eighteenth-century Cabalistic and "illuminist" Freemasonry and its influence on Swift, Ramsay, Swedenborg, and Blake. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia. Table of content

Introduction

Chapter 1 - The Ruined Temple and the Flight of Knights (1685-1691)

Chapter 2 - Freemasons, Rosicrucians, and Radical Clubs (1691-1703)

Chapter 3 - Jacobites, Williamites, and Disputed Architectural Traditions (1695-1703)

Chapter 4 - Judaized Scots, Jacobite Jews, and the Problem of "False Brothers" (1702-1712)

Chapter 5 - Building Castles in the Air, at Home and Abroad (1710-1716)

Chapter 6 - The Swedish-Jacobite Plot and the Grand Lodge of London (1716-1719)

Chapter 7 - Scottish-Swedish Masonic Traditions and English Innovations (1719-1722)

Chapter 8 - Atterbury, Wharton, and "Combinations of Workmen" (1722-1723)

Chapter 9 - Chinese and Cabalistic Threats to the Grand Lodge (1723-1724)

Chapter 10 - Masonic Rivalries and International Ramifications (1725-1726)

Chapter 11 - A New King, Yet Old Corruption (1727-1730)

Chapter 12 - International Expansion of Chivalric Masonry (1730-1732)

Chapter 13 - Masonic Politics and "A Babel of Religions" (1732-1733)

Chapter 14 - Outbreaks of "Hyp" at Home and Abroad (1734)

Chapter 15 - Riots in Britain, Wars in Europe, Charges of Masonic Conspiracy (1735-1736)

Chapter 16 - Rival Claimants to the "Higher Order" and "Ancient Footing" (1737)

Chapter 17 - Two Young Pretenders to the British Throne (1738-1739)

Chapter 18 - Masonic Cabalists and the Opposition Cabal (1740-1742)

Chapter 19 - Mock Masons, Royal Arch Rebels, and Invasion Fears (1743-1744)

Chapter 20 - Rebuilding the Temple in the North (1745)

Chapter 21 - Early Jacobite Victories, Apparent Hanoverian Triumph (1745-1746)

Chapter 22 - Rival Grand Masters, Beheadings, and Boastings (1746-1748)

Chapter 23 - Disappearance of One Young Pretender, Emergence of the Other (1748-1750)

Epilogue - Schisms: Antients versus Moderns, Royalists versus Republicans, Nationalists versusImperialists (1751-1788)

Abbreviations

Bibliography

Index