[JRFF 3.

2 (2012) 296–297] ISSN (print) 1757–2460

http://dx.doi.org/10.1558/JRFF.v3i2.296 ISSN (online) 1757–2479

Book Review

BERMAN, Ric, The Foundations of Modern Freemasonry: The Grand Architects – Political
Change and the Scientific Enlightenment, 1714–1740 (Eastbourne: Sussex Academic
Press, 2012), 320 pp., Hbk, £55.00, ISBN: 978-1-84519-479-6.

Reviewed by: Róbert Péter, Department of English Studies, University of Szeged,

H-6722, Szeged, Egyetem u. 2, Hungary.
Email: rpeter@lit.u-szeged.hu

The study of the controversial origins of freemasonry has attracted increasing

academic and popular attention in recent decades. For instance, in David Stevenson’s
The Origins of Freemasonry: Scotland’s Century, 1590-1710 (1998), Margaret Jacob’s
The Origins of Freemasonry: Facts and Fictions (2006). In his doctoral thesis entitled
‘The Architects of Eighteenth-Century English Freemasonry, 1720-1740’ (University
of Exeter, 2010), Berman sought to re-examine this well-studied phase of British
freemasonry. Having compared the thesis to the book under review, the two are
essentially the same apart from some minor modifications such as the rearrangement
of some sections, the title and the addition of portraits. Although this is the first
book by the author, he bravely questions and refines the interpretations of noted
authorities on the subject.
Berman aims to illuminate both academics and his fellow freemasons about the
eighteenth-century political and social origins of English freemasonry by drawing on
largely unexplored primary sources, many of which have recently become available
in digital archives. Following in the footsteps of Margaret Jacob, he provides
strong evidence for the pro-Hanoverian and Whig affiliations of many influential
freemasons who had close associations with the government.
Berman’s first chapter sheds new light on the so-called ‘transition theory’ con-
cerning the evolution of freemasonry from the emergence of the medieval operative
lodges to the ‘spiritual’ or ‘speculative’ (the distinction between the two is not defined)
‘Free and Accepted Masonry’ of the early eighteenth century. This ancient debate in
the historiography of freemasonry entirely depends on the definitions of the terms
‘freemason(ry)’ and ‘speculative’. The author contends that the formation of Grand-
Lodge Freemasonry cannot be regarded as a revival or natural extension of the
seventeenth-century ‘Acception’. His second chapter concentrates on the background
and education of John T. Desaguliers, the self-promoting ‘Homo Masonicus’. Berman’s
image of the prime mover of institutionalized freemasonry clearly differs from that
of Audrey Carpenter in her recent book on the Newtonian physicist: John Theophilus
Desaguliers: a Natural Philosopher, Engineer and Freemason in Newtonian England
(Continuum, 2011). Berman’s third chapter, which is undoubtedly the most innovative
and ground-breaking part of the book, investigates the careers and political connections
of Desaguliers’ masonic collaborators and examines for the first time the extensive
networks of the London magistracy, especially the members of the Westminster
and Middlesex benches. Berman identifies a number of magistrates as freemasons
and argues that the pro-Hanoverian and pro-establishment facets of Grand Lodge

© Equinox Publishing Ltd 2014.

 Péter Book Review 297

Freemasonry were crucial to its success (p. 93). The following chapter sheds new light
on the well-known connections between the Royal Society and freemasonry. It also
considers how the members of other professional societies such as the Royal College
of Physicians and the Society of Antiquaries were involved in this pro-Whig masonic
nexus. He then looks at how the personal, governmental and military networks of the
aristocratic Grand Masters influenced and shaped the public image of the fraternity.
Berman’s last chapter is concerned with the contribution of freemasonry to the
‘scientific Enlightenment’ by analysing how Desaguliers popularized Newtonian
science in private lectures and demonstrations.
Berman joins those eighteenth-century scholars who prefer to place a defining adjec-
tive before the general concept of the Enlightenment. These days it is fashionable to talk
about, among many others, Benedictine, Arminian, Super and Citra Enlightenments. I
have some reservations about Berman’s own invention, ‘the scientific Enlightenment’,
especially when it is used in the context of the British Enlightenment. Due to the work
of Roy Porter, Margaret Jacob, John Gascoigne and Paul A. Elliott, just to name but
a few, we know that science and (the) Enlightenment were strongly interwoven in
eighteenth-century Britain. The new scientific methods and discoveries, popularized
by the heroes of this book such as John Desaguliers and Martin Folkes, essentially
contributed to and became an integral part of the culture of the Enlightenment.
The author provides brief biographies of many well-known and lesser-known free-
masons such as George Payne. At certain points the reader has the feeling that s/he is
reading a biographical dictionary. When reconstructing the memberships of masonic,
scientific, judicial, intellectual and military networks, the author sometimes gets
bogged down in unnecessary details. I would suggest providing elaborate accounts
of what family members inherited according to the wills of freemasons such as Payne
(p. 74) is irrelevant to the overall argument of the book.
In the appendices, we find useful information for further research such as the list
of military lodges and the masonic membership of selected professional societies.
It would have been helpful if the first appendix on the Grand Officers of the Grand
Lodge of England, 1717–40 had also included lists of the Senior and Junior Grand
Wardens, Grand Treasurers and Grand Secretaries of the period.
Berman’s book is not devoid of typographical errors or inaccuracies, for instance,
David Stevenson’s name is misspelled five times (pp. 65–66, 321) and the precise title
of Andrew Prescott’s farewell lecture given at the University of Sheffield in 2007 is ‘A
History of British Freemasonry, 1425–2000’ (p. 9). As regards the format, the layout
of the text and the reproduction of the images are of a high quality. However, there
are some sections (e.g. William Jones and William Stukeley) that start with a one-line
half sentence at the very bottom of a page (p. 107) which is unfortunate from a layout
perspective.
Overall, this thoroughly-researched and well-written book contributes considerably
to the contextualization of early English freemasonry in the broader political, social
and scientific milieu. Berman’s work, based on his doctoral thesis, is not meant to be an
introduction to the study of English freemasonry. Still, it will be an indispensable work
on any university course on the subject, especially at graduate level, and should be
required reading for amateur masonic historians in order to dispel the long-established
myths about the apolitical and neutral nature of their fraternity.

© Equinox Publishing Ltd 2014.