1723 Constitutions

Cambridge Conference

Our Conference marking the Tercentenary of the 1723 Constitutions took place at Queens’ College Cambridge from 22-24 September 2023. An exceptional event, the programme is set out below.
FRIDAY, 22 SEPTEMBER
14.00-14.15 Jonathan Spence, ProGM, & Dr Ric Berman, Conference Chair
‘Context, Content, &  Consequences: The 1723 Constitutions’
Examining the European Perspective
14.15-15.15 Professor Pierre-Yves Beaurepaire: ‘A European Overview’
Professor Olivier Badot: ‘The influences of Anderson’s Constitutions on eighteenth-century French Freemasonry’
15.15-15.45 Professors Cécile Révauger & Margaret C. Jacob
‘Women’s Freemasonry in eighteenth-century France and its legacy’
15.45-16.00 Coffee / Break
16.00-16.30 Lucio Artini: ‘Freemasonry’s Tenets: A threat to Absolutism’
Prof. Olivier Badot & Dr Ric Berman: discussants
16.30-17.40 Leif Endre Grutle, Andreas Önnerfors, Niels Arne Dam & Haukur Óskarsson:
‘Nordic Freemasonry & the Swedish Rite’
Panel Presentation & Discussion
18.30 College Bar – Drinks Reception
SATURDAY, 23 SEPTEMBER
09.15-09.30 Welcome & Introduction
Origins, Britain & America
09.30-10.30 Professor Margaret C. Jacob: ‘Freemasonry & the Enlightenment’
Dr Ric Berman & Prof. Cécile Révauger- discussants
10.30-11.00 Coffee / Break
11.00-12.00 Freemasonry & Culture in Eighteenth-Century Britain, Part I
Dr Andrew Thompson: ‘Hanoverian Britain: Culture & Society’
Dr Patricia Fara: ‘Desaguliers, the Royal Society, & the Scientific Enlightenment’
12.00-13.30 Lunch
13.30-14.15 Freemasonry & Culture in Eighteenth-Century Britain, Part II
Dr Bridgett Orr: ‘Freemasonry, Theatre & the Arts’
Discussion and Q&A
14.15-15.15 Profs. Susan Sommers & Andrew Prescott:
‘James Anderson: Philosophical Imperatives’
Discussion and Q&A
15.15-15.40 Coffee / Break
15.40-16.20 Dr Ric Berman
‘Desaguliers, Anderson and Payne’
16.20-17.00 Akram Elias, PGM, Washington D.C.: ‘The 1723 Constitutions.
The Indispensable Trowel: Cementing America’s Foundations’
Discussion and Q&A
18.30 UGLE Reception, The Old Hall
19.30 Formal Dinner, Cripps Hall
SUNDAY 24 SEPTEMBER
09.00-09.10 Welcome & Introduction
09.10-10.00 ‘Breaking Barriers’
Profs. Pierre-Yves Beaurepaire & Andreas Önnerfors:
‘Freemasonry & Revolutionary Europe’
10.00-10.50 Professor John Kyle Day; Dr Oscar Alleyne & Dr Ric Berman (discussants)
‘Black Freemasonry in America’
Q&A
11.00-11.20 Coffee / Break
11:15-12:30 ‘Inventing the Future’
Discussion &
Concluding Remarks

Photography © The Old Stables Press