Antients and Moderns

The Antients and Moderns were two rival English Masonic Grand Lodges whose eighteenth-century schism and differing practices shaped modern Freemasonry until their union in 1813 [4][7]. The older body, labeled the "Moderns" by its critics, originated in 1716 or 1717 when four London lodges met at local ale-houses and constituted themselves into a Grand Lodge [1]. In 1751, a group of Irish Freemasons in London established a competing body known as the "Grand Lodge of England according to the Old Institutions," whose members were designated as the "Antients" or Atholl Freemasons [4][8]. Far from being mere epithets of reproach, both groups willingly adopted these terms for distinctiveness [2].

The divide between the two factions turned primarily on ritual practices, degree structures, and claimed historical authority [3][4][9]. Antient writers such as Laurence Dermott argued that the Moderns had abandoned the Ancient York Constitution and introduced improper alterations to traditional lodge customs [1][3][9]. Systematically, the Antients preserved the regular order of words in the First and Second Degrees and conferred the Royal Arch as the natural complement to the Third Degree, whereas the Moderns transposed these degree words and refused to recognize the Royal Arch [3][4]. While Dermott maintained that the Moderns formed a self-created, defective assembly [1], historical authorities note that both titles appeared in Grand Lodge records as early as 1735 [2]. Following decades of rivalry, the two Grand Lodges formally reconciled on December 27, 1813, establishing in their Articles of Union that pure Ancient Masonry consists of three symbolic degrees including the Holy Royal Arch [7][8].

Drawn from Laurence Dermott, Ahiman Rezon; or, A Help to All That Are, or Would Be Free and Accepted Masons, pp. 21-21 · Albert C. Mackey, Encyclopedia of Freemasonry and Its Kindred Sciences, pp. 155-155 · Laurence Dermott, Ahiman Rezon; or, A Help to All That Are, or Would Be Free and Accepted Masons, pp. 21-26 · Albert C. Mackey, Encyclopedia of Freemasonry and Its Kindred Sciences, pp. 131-136 · Carl Claudy, Introduction to Freemasonry: Fellowcraft, pp. 25-25 · Albert C. Mackey, Encyclopedia of Freemasonry and Its Kindred Sciences, pp. 131-131 · Laurence Dermott, Ahiman Rezon; or, A Help to All That Are, or Would Be Free and Accepted Masons, pp. 41-48