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The oldest demonstrably Masonic document in the world is known as the “Charter of Bologna” and dates from 1248. Its original name is “Statuta et Ordinamenta Societatis Magistrorum Tapia et Lignamilis”. It was originally written in Latin by a public notary, under order of the Mayor of Bologna, Bonifaci di Cario, on August 8, 1248. In its content it is clear that this Italian Operative Freemasonry was already traditional, ancient, containing a solid structure and hierarchy , well before the date of registration of the Charter.
Let us reflect: Bologna is just over 300km away from Rome. Is there any reason to doubt that this ancient Association of Builders of Bologna is the evolution of one of the main Roman Guilds?
The Letter of Bologna is 142 years before the “Poema Regius” (1390), 182 years before the “Cooke Manuscript” (1430), 219 years before the “Strasbourg Manuscript” recognized at the Congress of Regensburg in 1459 and authorized by the Emperor Maximilian in 1488, and 59 years to the “Preambolo Veneziano dei Taipiera” (1307). All these ancient Masonic documents not only prove the existence of Operative Freemasonry and its historical evolution, but mainly its social evolution, including the special attention of kings and the growing interest of intellectuals and nobles.
The Charter has attachments. Among them, there is a “registration list” registered in 1272, which contains 371 names of Master Masons (Maestri Muratori), of which 2 were public scribes, another 2 were friars and 6 were nobles. This is the clearest historical proof that, in the thirteenth century, the transformation of Freemasonry from Operative to Speculative was already underway. The existence of these and other ancient documents completely discards the theories that Freemasonry was born with the end of the Order of the Templars or during the French Revolution or even with the Enlightenment.
The documents prove that Freemasonry is well before the 13th century and reinforce the theory of Egyptian origin, learned by the Jews when in captivity in Egypt, and spread to the world when their descendants were under Roman domination and influence, incorporated into the Guilds.
The “Letter from Bologna” confirms the text of Anderson's Constitutions, 1723, when Anderson says he drafted them after consulting old statutes and regulations of Operative Freemasonry in Italy, Scotland and England. Reviewing the text of “Statuta et ordinamenta societatis magistrorum tapia et lignamiis”, there is no doubt that this was one of the statutes and regulations consulted by Anderson to draft the Constitution of our Speculative Freemasonry.
The document attached to the Charter, dated 1257, also informs that it was decided to separate the “Mestres do Muro” and the “Mestres da Madeira”, which until then were a single Corporation, but separated since before in the work of the corresponding Assemblies having , however, the same Chiefs. This is a very strong indication of when and how Carbonarian Freemasonry arose.
It is evident that the Bologna Charter is one of the most important historical documents of our Sublime Institution, and the presence of the “Accepts” in Freemasonry of the “Ancients and Free” is more than proven at least 800 years ago.