Fraternity and Biography
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jrff.34715Keywords:
Historiography, biography, freemasonry, fraternalismAbstract
For a considerable part of the postwar period, biography did not have a good press at all in historiography: in the 1950s and 1960s vanguard historians usually rejected the format as a typical example of an old fashioned way of writing history, i.e. merely event-related and focussed almost exclusively on great (white) men. Since the 1970s however, microhistory and cultural turn helping, the biographical perspective has gradually returned as a legitimate format of historical research and new reflexive approaches towards its objects, goals and practices have come to the fore. In the history of freemasonry and fraternalism, biographies have been written as well (be it far less in number where non-masonic fraternities are concerned), but epistemological debate about its merits and methods has remained largely absent. This article makes a concise overview of theoretical debates about biography in current historiography and points at innovative approaches of biography writing that can inspire its application to the fraternal field at large.
References
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Berger, Joachim. ‘Local—National—Transnational Heroes? Hero-Worship in Western European Freemasonries (c. 1870–1914)’, Claus Overhauser & Wolfgang Knapp, ed. Hinter den Kulissen. Beiträge zur historischen Mythenforschung. Innsbruck: University Press, 2012, 115–28.
Brown, Walter. A Life of Albert Pike. Fayetteville, AR: University of Arkansas Press, 1997.
Carpenteq GF., Dr, Audrey. John Theophilus Desaguliers: A Natural Philosopher, Engineer and Freemason in Newtonian England. New York: Continuum, 2011.
Davis, Natalie Zemon. Trickster Travels. A Sixteenth-Century Muslim Between Worlds. London: Faber & Faber, 2006.
Delacroix, Christian, François Dosse, Patrick Garcia, & Nicolas Offenstadt, eds. Historiographies. Concepts et débats. Paris: Gallimard, 2010, 2 volumes.
Denslow, William R. 10,000 Famous Freemasons. Richmond, VA: Macoy Publishing & Macoy Supply Co., 1957, 4 Volumes.
De Spiegeleer, Christoph. Een blauwe progressist. Charles Potvin (1818–1902) en het liberaal-sociale denken van zijn generatie. Brussels: ASP, 2011.
D’haeninck, Thomas, Nico Randeraad & Christophe Verbruggen. ‘Visualizing Longitudinal Data. Rooted Cosmopolitans in the Low Countries’, CEUR Workshop Proceedings (2015), 116–21 (online).
Dierkens, Alain., ed. Eugène Goblet d’Alviella, historien et franc-maçon. Brussels: Editions de l’Université, 1995.
Dosse, François. L’histoire en miettes. Des ‘Annales’ à la ‘nouvelle histoire’. Paris: La Découverte, 1987.
—Le pari biographique. Paris: La Découverte, 2005.
Ellis, Havelock. Selected Essays. London: J.M. Dent & Sons, 1936.
Ferrer Benimeli, José A., ed. La masonería española en la época de Sagasta. Zaragoza: Gobierno de Aragon, 2007, 2 volumes.
Gädicke, Johann Christian, ed. Freimaurer-Lexicon. Berlin: Gebrüder Gädicke, 1818.
Gaudart de Soulages, Michel with Hubert Lamant. Dictionnaire des francs-maçons français. Paris: Albatros, 1980/Paris: J.-C. Lattes, 1995.
Gaudart de Soulages, Michel, with Hubert Lamant & Karl-Heinz Hoffmeister. Dictionnaire des francs-maçons européens. Paris: Dualpha, 2005.
Hannesschläger, Vanessa, & Katharina Prager, ‘Ernst Jandl and Karl Kraus. Two Lives in Bits and Pieces’, CEUR Workshop Proceedings (2015), 1–7 (online).
Hill, Christopher. God’s Englishman. Oliver Cromwell and the English Revolution. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1970.
Hobsbawm, Eric. Interesting Times. A Twentieth-Century Life. London: Allen Lane, 2002.
Lee, Sidney. Principles of Biography. The Leslie Stephen Lecture delivered in the Senate House, Cambridge on 13 May 1911. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1911.
Lennhoff, Eugen & Oskar Posner. Internationales Freimaurerlexikon. Zürich: Amalthea-Verlag, 1932.
Leuillot, Paul. ‘La franc-maçonnerie, “fait social’’’, Annales ESC 8.2 (1953): 241–44. https://doi.org/10.3406/ahess.1953.2172
Ligou, Daniel, ed. Dictionnaire de la franc-maçonnerie. Paris: Quadrige/PUF, 1987.
Loriga, Sabina. ‘La biographie comme problème’, Jacques Revel, ed. Jeux d’échelles. La micro-analyse à l’expérience. Paris: Seuil/Gallimard, 1996, 209–31.
—‘The Role of the Individual in History. Biographical and Historical Writing in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Century’, Hans Renders and Binne de Haan , ed. Theoretical Discussions of Biography. Approaches from History, Microhistory, and Life Writing. Lewiston, ME: Edwin Mellen Press, 2013, 113–41.
Maes, Anaïs. ‘Charles Magnette, Belgian Grand Master in 1914: Cosmopolitan or Nationalist Icon?’; Journal for Research into Freemasonry and Fraternalism 1.1 (2010): 94–117. https://doi.org/10.1558/jrff.v1i1.94
Mackey, Albert. A Lexicon of Freemasonry. London & Glasgow: R. Griffin & Co., 1860.
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Macoy, Robert. General History, Cyclopedia and Dictionary of Freemasonry. New York: Masonic Publishing Co., 1872.
Melos dos Santos, Bruna. ‘Hipólito José da Costa e o Correio Braziliense: a idealização de um tipode sociabilidade maçónica’, Revista de Estudios Históricos de la Masonería Latinoamericana y Caribeña, 3.1 (2011): (online).
Moore, William. ‘Darius Wilson: Confidence Schemes and American Fraternalism 1869–1926’, Journal for Research into Freemasonry and Fraternalism, 3.1 (2012): 8–32.
Mossdorf, Friedrich, ed. Encyclopädie der Freimaurerei, nebst Nachrichten über die damit in wirklicher oder vorgeblicher Beziehung stehenden geheimen Verbindungen, in alphabetischer Ordnung, von C. L. Lenning. Leipzig: F.A. Brockhaus, 1822–28, 3 Volumes.
Panter, Sarah, ed. Mobility and Biography. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2015. (Jahrbuch für Europäische Geschichte/European History Yearbook, 16). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110415162
Porset, Charles & Cécile Révauger, eds., Le monde maçonnique des Lumières (Europe-Amérique & Colonies). Paris: Champion, 2013, 3 Volumes.
Reinalter, Helmut, ed. Freimaurerische Persönlichkeiten in Europa. Innsbruck: StudienVerlag, 2014.
Renders, Hans & Binne de Haan, ed. Theoretical Discussions of Biography. Approaches from History, Microhistory, and Life Writing. Lewiston, ME: Edwin Mellen Press, 2013.
Roberts, John M. ‘Freemasonry: Possibilities of a Neglected Topic’, The English Historical Review 84.301 (1969), 102–104. https://doi.org/10.1093/ehr/LXXXIV.CCCXXXI.323
Romein, Jan. De biografie. Amsterdam: Querido, 1951.
—Historische lijnen en patronen. Een keuze uit de essays. Amsterdam: Querido, 1976.
Rosé, Isabelle. ‘Reconstrucción, representación gráficay analysis des las redes de poder en la alta edad media. Aproximación a las practices sociales de la aristorcracia a partir del ejemplo de Odón de Cluny (+942)’, Redes. Revista Hispana para el Análysis de Redes Sociales, 21.5 (2011): 139–217 (online).
Saunier, Eric, ed. Encyclopédie de la franc-maçonnerie. Paris: Livre de Poche, 2000.
Schletter, Hermann T., & Moritz A. Zille, eds. Allgemeines Handbuch der Freimaurerei. Zweite, völlig umgearbeitete Auflage von Lenning’s Encyklopädie der Freimaurerei. Leipzig: F.A. Brockhaus, 1863–67, 3 Volumes.
Schrans, Guy. Vrijmetselaars te Gent in de XVIIIe eeuw. Ghent: Liberaal Archief, 1997 & revised 2007.
Sommers, Susan M. ‘Robert Thomas Crucifix Redux’, Journal for Research into Freemasonry and Fraternalism, 3.1 (2012): 72–96.
Sommers, Susan M. Thomas Dunckerley and English Freemasonry. London: Routledge, 2015.
Stevens, Albert C. ed. The Cyclopaedia of Fraternities. New York: Hamilton Printing and Publishing Co., 1899.
Tyssens, Jeffrey. ‘“Father” Upchurch: A Founding Myth and a Founder’s Cult in American Freemasonry’, Journal for Research into Freemasonry and Fraternalism, 3.1 (2012): 33–59. https://doi.org/10.1558/jrff.v3i1.33
—‘Venerating Brother Nobody: Hero Worship in American Fraternalism in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Century’, Journal for Research into Freemasonry and Fraternalism 5.2 (2014): 172–99. https://doi.org/10.1558/jrff.v5i2.31327
van de Sande, Anton. Prins Frederik der Nederlanden (1797–1881). Gentleman naast de troon. Nijmegen: Vantilt, 2013.
Verein Deutscher Freimaurer, ed. Allgemeines Handbuch der Freimaurerei. Dritte, völlig umgearbeitete und mit den neuen wissenschaftlichen Forschungen in Einklang gebrachte Auflage von Lennings Encyklopädie der Freimaurerei. Leipzig: Max Hesse Verlag, 1900–1901, 2 Volumes.
Pierre-Théodore Verhaegen. L’homme, sa vie, sa légende. Bicentenaire d’une naissance. Brussels, Editions de l’Université, 1996.
Volk, Peter. ‘Christoph Martin Wieland (1733–1813)’, Zeitschrift für Internationale Freimaurerforschung 16.35 (2016): 9–20.
Berger, Joachim. ‘Local—National—Transnational Heroes? Hero-Worship in Western European Freemasonries (c. 1870–1914)’, Claus Overhauser & Wolfgang Knapp, ed. Hinter den Kulissen. Beiträge zur historischen Mythenforschung. Innsbruck: University Press, 2012, 115–28.
Brown, Walter. A Life of Albert Pike. Fayetteville, AR: University of Arkansas Press, 1997.
Carpenteq GF., Dr, Audrey. John Theophilus Desaguliers: A Natural Philosopher, Engineer and Freemason in Newtonian England. New York: Continuum, 2011.
Davis, Natalie Zemon. Trickster Travels. A Sixteenth-Century Muslim Between Worlds. London: Faber & Faber, 2006.
Delacroix, Christian, François Dosse, Patrick Garcia, & Nicolas Offenstadt, eds. Historiographies. Concepts et débats. Paris: Gallimard, 2010, 2 volumes.
Denslow, William R. 10,000 Famous Freemasons. Richmond, VA: Macoy Publishing & Macoy Supply Co., 1957, 4 Volumes.
De Spiegeleer, Christoph. Een blauwe progressist. Charles Potvin (1818–1902) en het liberaal-sociale denken van zijn generatie. Brussels: ASP, 2011.
D’haeninck, Thomas, Nico Randeraad & Christophe Verbruggen. ‘Visualizing Longitudinal Data. Rooted Cosmopolitans in the Low Countries’, CEUR Workshop Proceedings (2015), 116–21 (online).
Dierkens, Alain., ed. Eugène Goblet d’Alviella, historien et franc-maçon. Brussels: Editions de l’Université, 1995.
Dosse, François. L’histoire en miettes. Des ‘Annales’ à la ‘nouvelle histoire’. Paris: La Découverte, 1987.
—Le pari biographique. Paris: La Découverte, 2005.
Ellis, Havelock. Selected Essays. London: J.M. Dent & Sons, 1936.
Ferrer Benimeli, José A., ed. La masonería española en la época de Sagasta. Zaragoza: Gobierno de Aragon, 2007, 2 volumes.
Gädicke, Johann Christian, ed. Freimaurer-Lexicon. Berlin: Gebrüder Gädicke, 1818.
Gaudart de Soulages, Michel with Hubert Lamant. Dictionnaire des francs-maçons français. Paris: Albatros, 1980/Paris: J.-C. Lattes, 1995.
Gaudart de Soulages, Michel, with Hubert Lamant & Karl-Heinz Hoffmeister. Dictionnaire des francs-maçons européens. Paris: Dualpha, 2005.
Hannesschläger, Vanessa, & Katharina Prager, ‘Ernst Jandl and Karl Kraus. Two Lives in Bits and Pieces’, CEUR Workshop Proceedings (2015), 1–7 (online).
Hill, Christopher. God’s Englishman. Oliver Cromwell and the English Revolution. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1970.
Hobsbawm, Eric. Interesting Times. A Twentieth-Century Life. London: Allen Lane, 2002.
Lee, Sidney. Principles of Biography. The Leslie Stephen Lecture delivered in the Senate House, Cambridge on 13 May 1911. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1911.
Lennhoff, Eugen & Oskar Posner. Internationales Freimaurerlexikon. Zürich: Amalthea-Verlag, 1932.
Leuillot, Paul. ‘La franc-maçonnerie, “fait social’’’, Annales ESC 8.2 (1953): 241–44. https://doi.org/10.3406/ahess.1953.2172
Ligou, Daniel, ed. Dictionnaire de la franc-maçonnerie. Paris: Quadrige/PUF, 1987.
Loriga, Sabina. ‘La biographie comme problème’, Jacques Revel, ed. Jeux d’échelles. La micro-analyse à l’expérience. Paris: Seuil/Gallimard, 1996, 209–31.
—‘The Role of the Individual in History. Biographical and Historical Writing in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Century’, Hans Renders and Binne de Haan , ed. Theoretical Discussions of Biography. Approaches from History, Microhistory, and Life Writing. Lewiston, ME: Edwin Mellen Press, 2013, 113–41.
Maes, Anaïs. ‘Charles Magnette, Belgian Grand Master in 1914: Cosmopolitan or Nationalist Icon?’; Journal for Research into Freemasonry and Fraternalism 1.1 (2010): 94–117. https://doi.org/10.1558/jrff.v1i1.94
Mackey, Albert. A Lexicon of Freemasonry. London & Glasgow: R. Griffin & Co., 1860.
—Encyclopedia of Freemasonry and its Kindred Sciences. New York: Masonic History Company, 1916, 2 Volumes.
Macoy, Robert. General History, Cyclopedia and Dictionary of Freemasonry. New York: Masonic Publishing Co., 1872.
Melos dos Santos, Bruna. ‘Hipólito José da Costa e o Correio Braziliense: a idealização de um tipode sociabilidade maçónica’, Revista de Estudios Históricos de la Masonería Latinoamericana y Caribeña, 3.1 (2011): (online).
Moore, William. ‘Darius Wilson: Confidence Schemes and American Fraternalism 1869–1926’, Journal for Research into Freemasonry and Fraternalism, 3.1 (2012): 8–32.
Mossdorf, Friedrich, ed. Encyclopädie der Freimaurerei, nebst Nachrichten über die damit in wirklicher oder vorgeblicher Beziehung stehenden geheimen Verbindungen, in alphabetischer Ordnung, von C. L. Lenning. Leipzig: F.A. Brockhaus, 1822–28, 3 Volumes.
Panter, Sarah, ed. Mobility and Biography. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2015. (Jahrbuch für Europäische Geschichte/European History Yearbook, 16). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110415162
Porset, Charles & Cécile Révauger, eds., Le monde maçonnique des Lumières (Europe-Amérique & Colonies). Paris: Champion, 2013, 3 Volumes.
Reinalter, Helmut, ed. Freimaurerische Persönlichkeiten in Europa. Innsbruck: StudienVerlag, 2014.
Renders, Hans & Binne de Haan, ed. Theoretical Discussions of Biography. Approaches from History, Microhistory, and Life Writing. Lewiston, ME: Edwin Mellen Press, 2013.
Roberts, John M. ‘Freemasonry: Possibilities of a Neglected Topic’, The English Historical Review 84.301 (1969), 102–104. https://doi.org/10.1093/ehr/LXXXIV.CCCXXXI.323
Romein, Jan. De biografie. Amsterdam: Querido, 1951.
—Historische lijnen en patronen. Een keuze uit de essays. Amsterdam: Querido, 1976.
Rosé, Isabelle. ‘Reconstrucción, representación gráficay analysis des las redes de poder en la alta edad media. Aproximación a las practices sociales de la aristorcracia a partir del ejemplo de Odón de Cluny (+942)’, Redes. Revista Hispana para el Análysis de Redes Sociales, 21.5 (2011): 139–217 (online).
Saunier, Eric, ed. Encyclopédie de la franc-maçonnerie. Paris: Livre de Poche, 2000.
Schletter, Hermann T., & Moritz A. Zille, eds. Allgemeines Handbuch der Freimaurerei. Zweite, völlig umgearbeitete Auflage von Lenning’s Encyklopädie der Freimaurerei. Leipzig: F.A. Brockhaus, 1863–67, 3 Volumes.
Schrans, Guy. Vrijmetselaars te Gent in de XVIIIe eeuw. Ghent: Liberaal Archief, 1997 & revised 2007.
Sommers, Susan M. ‘Robert Thomas Crucifix Redux’, Journal for Research into Freemasonry and Fraternalism, 3.1 (2012): 72–96.
Sommers, Susan M. Thomas Dunckerley and English Freemasonry. London: Routledge, 2015.
Stevens, Albert C. ed. The Cyclopaedia of Fraternities. New York: Hamilton Printing and Publishing Co., 1899.
Tyssens, Jeffrey. ‘“Father” Upchurch: A Founding Myth and a Founder’s Cult in American Freemasonry’, Journal for Research into Freemasonry and Fraternalism, 3.1 (2012): 33–59. https://doi.org/10.1558/jrff.v3i1.33
—‘Venerating Brother Nobody: Hero Worship in American Fraternalism in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Century’, Journal for Research into Freemasonry and Fraternalism 5.2 (2014): 172–99. https://doi.org/10.1558/jrff.v5i2.31327
van de Sande, Anton. Prins Frederik der Nederlanden (1797–1881). Gentleman naast de troon. Nijmegen: Vantilt, 2013.
Verein Deutscher Freimaurer, ed. Allgemeines Handbuch der Freimaurerei. Dritte, völlig umgearbeitete und mit den neuen wissenschaftlichen Forschungen in Einklang gebrachte Auflage von Lennings Encyklopädie der Freimaurerei. Leipzig: Max Hesse Verlag, 1900–1901, 2 Volumes.
Pierre-Théodore Verhaegen. L’homme, sa vie, sa légende. Bicentenaire d’une naissance. Brussels, Editions de l’Université, 1996.
Volk, Peter. ‘Christoph Martin Wieland (1733–1813)’, Zeitschrift für Internationale Freimaurerforschung 16.35 (2016): 9–20.
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Published
2017-09-28
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Editorial
How to Cite
Tyssens, J. (2017). Fraternity and Biography. Journal for Research into Freemasonry and Fraternalism, 6(1), 5-20. https://doi.org/10.1558/jrff.34715
