Timeline of Freemasonry
Six centuries in one view — from the Regius Poem to the digital lodge library.
Dates every student of the Craft should know. Each links into the deeper pages of this platform.
c. 1390The Regius Poem, oldest document of the English masons’ craft — duties, legend and moral charge in verse.
1598–99The Schaw Statutes organize Scottish lodges; continuous lodge minutes begin — the oldest in the world.
1646Elias Ashmole initiated at Warrington — landmark of the speculative transition.
1717Four London lodges form the first Grand Lodge at the Goose and Gridiron.
1723Anderson’s Constitutions published — the Craft’s first law book.
1725 / 1736Grand Lodges of Ireland and Scotland constituted.
1730sLodges in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands — the European family is born.
1738First papal bull against the Craft; Frederick the Great initiated the same year.
1751The Antients’ Grand Lodge founded; rivalry with the Moderns spreads lodges worldwide.
1775–84Prince Hall and the African Lodge — the founding of Black Freemasonry in America.
1784Mozart initiated in Vienna; the great age of lodge music.
1813Union of Antients and Moderns: the United Grand Lodge of England; ritual standardized.
1822Tsarist decree bans lodges across the Russian Empire, including Ukraine — the Craft goes underground.
1870s–1900sGolden age of journals, songbooks and great temples; research lodge Quatuor Coronati No. 2076 founded 1886.
1919The Grand Lodge of Ukraine is consecrated during the short-lived independence — soon driven into darkness under the Soviet regime, where the Craft stays hidden for the rest of the century.
1920s–40sFascist and Nazi suppression; lodges dissolved, brethren persecuted across continental Europe.
1945–Post-war rebuilding; United Grand Lodges of Germany; worldwide membership peaks.
1989–Freemasonry re-founded across Eastern Europe after communism.
2005The Grand Lodge of Ukraine returns to light — re-consecrated in 2005 after the Soviet darkness; the Craft works again in Kyiv, Lviv and Odesa.
TodayThe digital era: archives like Almoner put three centuries of sources in every member’s hands.
Grand Lodges of Europe — consecration & revival
The consecration of each country’s national Grand Lodge, with the year it returned to light where the Craft was suppressed and later revived. Russia and Belarus aside, this is the European family today — Turkey included. Years mark the principal national Grand Lodge; where a country has both an older liberal obedience and a younger regular one, both are noted.
1717England — premier Grand Lodge 1717; the United Grand Lodge of England by the union of 1813.
1725Ireland — Grand Lodge of Ireland, the oldest in continuous existence.
1733France — Grand Orient de France; the regular Grande Loge Nationale Française followed in 1913.
1736Scotland — Grand Lodge of Antient Free and Accepted Masons of Scotland.
1740Germany — first Grand Lodges at Hamburg and Berlin; reunified as the United Grand Lodges of Germany in 1958.
1756Netherlands — Grand East of the Netherlands.
1760Sweden — Swedish Order of Freemasons, working the Swedish Rite.
1781Poland — National Grand Lodge of Poland; reconstituted 1920, suppressed 1938, revived 1991.
1802Portugal — Grande Oriente Lusitano; banned under Salazar 1935, revived 1974; the regular body dates from 1991.
1805Italy — Grande Oriente d’Italia; suppressed by Mussolini 1925, revived 1945; the regular body from 1993.
1811Greece — Grand Lodge of Greece (modern line from 1867–68; this name from 1936); closed under occupation 1941–45.
1833Belgium — Grand Orient of Belgium; the Regular Grand Lodge of Belgium dates from 1979.
1844Switzerland — Grand Lodge Alpina of Switzerland.
1858Denmark — Danish Order of Freemasons (first lodge 1743).
1880Romania — National Grand Lodge of Romania; banned under communism 1948, reconstituted 1993.
1886Hungary — Symbolic Grand Lodge of Hungary; suppressed under Horthy and communism, revived 1989.
1891Norway — Norwegian Order of Freemasons; abolished under occupation 1940, re-established 1945.
1909Turkey — Grand Lodge of Turkey, re-formed 1909; banned 1935, labour resumed 1948, the regular Grand Lodge from 1956.
1917Bulgaria — United Grand Lodge of Bulgaria; dormant from 1940, reunited 2001.
1918Austria — Grand Lodge of Austria; suppressed by the Nazis 1938, revived 1945.
1919Ukraine — Grand Lodge of Ukraine; hidden under the Soviet regime, returned to light in 2005.
1919Serbia — successor to the Grand Lodge “Yugoslavia” of Belgrade; dormant from 1940, revived 1990.
1923Czech Republic — founded as the Grand Lodge of Czechoslovakia; closed under Nazi and communist rule, revived 1990.
1924Finland — Grand Lodge of Finland, working the Anglo-American rite.
1926Luxembourg — Grand Lodge of Luxembourg (central lodge from 1844).
1951Iceland — Icelandic Order of Freemasons, consecrated from Denmark.
1994Croatia — Grand Lodge of Croatia, consecrated under Austria.
1999Slovenia — Grand Lodge of Slovenia, consecrated under Austria.
1999Estonia — Grand Lodge of Estonia, the country’s first national Grand Lodge.
1999Moldova — National Grand Lodge of Moldova (light rekindled 1997).
2002Lithuania — Grand Lodge of Lithuania.
2003Latvia — Grand Lodge of Latvia.
2004Malta — Sovereign Grand Lodge of Malta, consecrated from Ireland.
2005North Macedonia — Grand Lodge of Macedonia, consecrated by England.
2005Bosnia and Herzegovina — Grand Lodge of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
2006Cyprus — Grand Lodge of Cyprus.
2007Montenegro — Grand Lodge of Montenegro.
2009Slovakia — Grand Lodge of Slovakia.
2011Albania — Grand Lodge of Albania.