What is the purpose of allied degrees in Freemasonry?

Governing bodies for the Allied Masonic Degrees were established primarily to preserve, propagate, and organize detached rituals and side degrees that lacked their own independent governing councils 2. Their purpose was twofold: to actively work and maintain rituals whose beauty or historical interest warranted preservation, while setting aside detached degrees deemed to be lacking in substance 2.

These allied councils assumed authority over a variety of degrees, including St Lawrence the Martyr, the Grand Tiler of Solomon, the Knight of Constantinople, the Secret Monitor, and the Royal Ark Mariner 2. In English working, the degree of St Lawrence the Martyr serves as the foundational degree of the Allied Masonic Degrees 1.

Historically, several of these detached degrees originated to serve practical, fraternal needs 1. Eighteenth-century operative Masons initially used degrees such as St Lawrence and the Royal Ark Mariner to distinguish genuine operative craftsmen from speculative Masons, establishing a framework for mutual aid and fellowship among working brethren who felt hesitant to seek assistance from gentleman speculatives 1. Other degrees later placed under allied governing councils, such as the Secret Monitor, were similarly developed in the nineteenth century to reinforce personal friendship, mutual support, and active oversight between lodge members 1.

Following the 1813 Union of the two Grand Lodges in England, detached degrees were excluded from the official Craft system, prompting the creation of independent councils to salvage and govern these surviving rites 1. Under these allied governing structures, the degrees preserve historical ritual legends and provide additional opportunities for fraternal association outside the core Craft and Capitular systems 121.