In Episode 222 of Masonic Muscle: The Origin War, we investigate Frederick W. Seal-Coon’s Conspiracy to Fellowship Theory, published in Ars Quatuor Coronatorum in 1979.
Seal-Coon proposed that some early English Masonic gatherings may have provided discreet association for Royalists during the political turmoil of the seventeenth century—and that after the Restoration of Charles II, their purpose may have shifted toward fellowship, unity and sociability.
But a compelling story is not the same thing as demonstrated history.
We examine four important witnesses:
• Elias Ashmole
• Randle Holme III
• Robert Plot
• John Aubrey
And we apply a simple investigative test:
DOCUMENTED. INFERRED. SPECULATIVE.
What do the surviving records actually establish?
Where does historical interpretation begin?
And where might a theory be asking the evidence to carry more than it can support?
No verdicts.
The purpose of Campaign Two is to give every theory its strongest hearing, expose the difficult questions, and let you investigate the evidence for yourself.
SOURCE USED
Frederick W. Seal-Coon, “The Birth of Freemasonry (Another Theory),” Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, Vol. 92 (1979).
Roeinton B. Khambatta, Ars Quatuor Coronatorum of the Twentieth Century, summarizing Seal-Coon’s theory and the evidence surrounding Ashmole, Holme, Plot and Aubrey.
CONTINUE THE INVESTIGATION
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Read the sources. Challenge the assumptions. Decide what the evidence can carry.
The Origin War has begun.
