Post by Tamrin on Sept 29, 2012 8:01:28 GMT 10
French masonic history and its historiography
Presented at Canonbury Masonic Research Centre by Pierre Mollier on 9 Jun 1999
(Excerpt)
Presented at Canonbury Masonic Research Centre by Pierre Mollier on 9 Jun 1999
(Excerpt)
When I start giving a lecture about masonic history in France, I usually quote, as a precious advice, this wonderful sentence of the great French historian Marc Bloch: There is a mortal sin for historians: anachronism. Being a Freemason in France is of course a quite different thing at different times — 1760, 1830, 1905 or 1999. When, in circumstances similar to this one, where I am giving a public lecture in France, I tell those present “Please, if you want to understand this lecture, forget what you know as a Freemason living in Paris in 1999”. Of course anachronism is a danger in all fields of historical research, and it is worth noting that Marc Bloch never dealt with masonic history. But I do think that masonic historians are, more than their colleagues in other branches of historical research, exposed to this “mortal sin”… especially in France. There is another difficulty which we face here today — I have heard that here in Britain, there is an organisation which is also called Freemasonry even if it appears to be quite different from what we, the French consider Freemasonry to be! So the word Freemasonry could be a concept that the French and English do not agree about. Of course, I am teasing the audience — but scholars should be careful about the differences which exist between the various masonic traditions. So, what could be the origin of interest for a British scholar to study French masonic history? I will try to convince you that there are some good reasons for you to look at French masonic history.
1848 Compagnonnage illustration (T.B.?)
Note Cybele, accompanied by three men (G.M.s?), in her chariot drawn by lions
(the goddess Cybele was known as Asherah in Israel)