El Gran Oriente Lusitano Unido y los masones españoles (1869-1878)

Abstract

With the creation of G.O.L.U. in 1869 and, simultaneously, the freedom of association in Spain following the revolution of 1868, Freemasonry now spread throughout most of the Peninsula. Between 1868 and 1878, 68 Spanish Masonic Lodges dependent upon Lisbon were founded — a process that was made possible by the search for Masonic regularity. As a result, during this period the number of Spanish Lodges of G.O.L.U. surpassed that of the Portuguese, although access to high office was still closed to Spaniards. Such a preponderance of Spaniards was a source of concern to the Portuguese, who foresaw a possible loss of their identity. Accordingly, the new Portuguese Masonic Constitutions of 1878 contained articles so excessively «patriotic» that the Spanish Lodges abandoned G.O.L.U. leaving, by 1890, only one Lodge still dependent on Lisbon. At the same time, a contrapuntal occurrence took place in Portugal, especially in Lisbon: the appearance of Lodges dependent upon Spanish Masonry, which by 1892, had reached a total of 20.