The Masonic Mystery
Freemasonry, as it stands today, entered the public record in 1717. Prior to that date, the historical trail becomes far less clear.
The formation of the Grand Lodge of England on St. John the Baptist’s Day marked a turning point. Four independent lodges, meeting in taverns known as the Apple-Tree, the Crown Ale-House near Drury Lane, the Goose and Gridiron in St. Paul’s Churchyard, and the Rummer and Grapes in Westminster, united to form the first Grand Lodge of Freemasonry.
That governing body would reshape the fraternity and spark a conflict later known as the 62-year Masonic Civil War.
But why?
What was the need? And why did a larger body of Freemasons later rise up to oppose them?
Was it simply organization?
Or was it a similar style of conflict to the one Dante had witnessed four hundred years earlier?