Freemasonry From AD 1600 to the Grand Lodge Era: Foundations of Freemasonry Series (Unabridged‪)‬

With his focus on Great Britain, Scotland, and Ireland, noted masonic scholar William Hughan cites numerous examples of early Lodge minutes, in order to show a direct connection to and prove that the Freemasons of today are lineal descendants of those operative builders from the 17th century and perhaps more importantly, descendants of early speculative members, often noblemen, who otherwise had no connection with the physical labor of the masonic craft. This, he asserts, rather than the frequent claim that the fraternity originated in the much more recent year of 1717.