Les débuts de la maçonnerie en Espagne

Françoise Randouyer : The beginnings of Freemasonry in Spain. A theory, dating from 1880 and generally accepted today, holds that Spanish Freemasonry was founded in 1780 by Count Aranda, a minister of Charles III. However, this seems unlikely, for several reasons : the context of the time, with the ever-watchful Inquisition ; the anti-Masonic policy of this king in Naples ; and the character and even life of Aranda. In addition, in the few extant documents, there is hardly any trace of a truly Spanish Masonry, merely a few individuals, usually foreigners, always initiated abroad in traditional centres of international exchanges. There were no regularly constituted lodges at this period (only one, composed of Englishmen, in 1728), and no Obediences. We can only conclude that in 1880 the Freemasons tried to find a precursor in the man who had signed the decree expelling the Jesuits.Randouyer Françoise. Les débuts de la maçonnerie en Espagne. In: Dix-huitième Siècle, n°19, 1987. La franc-maçonnerie. pp. 33-42