THE TRUE HISTORY OF SCOTTISH ESOTERIC MASONRY Part I

by Eric Wynants

In 1988 the Scottish historian David Stevenson published his research on the late sixteenth-century Scottish origins and subsequent Scottish development of "modern" Freemasonry, which he placed within a European intellectual context of serious interest in the occult sciences. (1)

Working from the surviving Scottish documents of operative and speculative lodges, Stevenson filled the frustrating gaps between early Stuart culture, its links with Scottish Masonry, and its preservation within the Jacobite diaspora after the expulsion of the last Stuart king, James VII and II.

Stevenson's doctoral student Lisa Kahler carried this research further into the early eighteenth century and documented the inaccuracies and distortions of the "orthodox" English version of Masonic history, which served Hanoverian-Whig political purposes. (2)

More importantly for my own research, this revisionist history enabled me to trace the eighteenth century ramifications of Ecossais Masonry back to their early roots in Jewish and Scottish architectural history.

Stevenson's illuminating discussions of the role of the Art of Memory a mnemonic technique of architectural visualization-in the training of operative masons in Scotland provided a missing link to the similar art of visualization practiced by heterodox Hebraic mystics in the Jewish diaspora. (3)

It thus became possible to utilize objective scholarly accounts of ancient and medieval Jewish building practices, guild organization, and stone-technology to build a real world base for the imaginative flights of visionary Temple-building which appear in Jewish mystical literature. (4)

Reinforced by Elliot Wolfson's studies of the persistence of "iconic representation and visualization" in officially anti-iconic Judaism, it is possible to connect the previously perplexing role of Cabalism in Freemasonry to the Whig-Newtonian-Hanoverian culture that allegedly created "modern" Freemasonry. (5)

Pre-modern Scotland provided a uniquely "Judaized" culture for the preservation of architectural and Solomonic traditions that were largely suppressed or ignored in other Western countries especially in Scotland's southern neighbor and traditional enemy, England.

The work of Arthur Williamson on the strange history of the "judeo Scots" sheds light on this peculiarly Hebraic national self-image that made Scotland-a land with no public Jewish community-a major repository of rare Jewish traditions. (6)

Moreover, an accident of geological history the ready availability of "hewable" stone for monumental architecture in ancient Israel and medieval Scotland-provided an unusually technological base for similarities of development in Jewish and Scottish national myths.

According to Stevenson, Masonic history has been generally led astray by the prevailing misconception that the emergence of Freemasonry took place in England - "a belief maintained in the face of the overwhelming preponderance of Scottish documentary evidence relating to the process, evidence which is often simultaneously explained away ... and then used in an English context to make up for the lack of English evidence." (7)

Because the occultist systems of Masonry that survived underground in post-Stuart Britain and that flourished in eighteenth-century Europe developed out of the architectural, scientific, religious, and political policies of the Scottish descended Stuart kings of Britain, it is necessary to examine those elements of early Stuart culture which were preserved within the secret enclaves of Ecosaisses lodges. The vigorous revisionism currently undertaken by historians of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Scotland and England makes possible a new factual context, which sheds light on the deliberately secret history of Stuart Freemasonry. (8)

With the expulsion of James VII and II from the British throne in 1688, political exiles carried Masonic traditions throughout the 'Jacobite" diaspora, where they attracted a startling variety of monarchs, philosophers, scientists, and artists to their supposedly defeated creed and culture. The Hermetic-Cabalistic masques of the Stuart court, which were often designed and constructed by Masons, disappeared from Britain after the "Glorious Revolution," but they eventually reappeared in the elaborately theatrical ceremonies developed by Jacobite exiles and their local supporters in Ecossaises lodges. (9)

The revival of the Masonic "masque" in late nineteenth-century Scottish Rite lodges in the United States is revealed in the recently published paintings and photographs of the scenic designs, theatrical techniques, and illusionistic effects which recreated the Solomonic magnificence and mystical radiance of the early Stuart performances. (10)

With the accession of the Elector of Hanover as King George I of England in 1714, Masonic supporters of the Stuarts mounted a decades long, clandestine campaign to regain the British throne.

In 1717 a rival Hanoverian system of Masonry was established, which aimed to suppress and defeat that campaign. When the Hanoverian victors in England-and their descendants among Whig historians wrote the histories of this great cultural and political rivalry, they created their own myth of Protestant progress and toleration, which almost obliterated the Celtic-Catholic-Jewish elements in the opposition's struggle and which ignored the survival of those elements in an international Jacobite culture.

However, the investigations of academic Jacobite studies-. led by Eveline Cruickshanks, Paul Nionod, Frank McLynn, Edward Corp, Bruce Lenman, and Murray Pittock-overturns much of the conventional wisdom about the Whig-Newtonian-Hanoverian culture that allegedly created "modern" Freemasonry."

THE INVENTION OF THE ANCIENTS / PERENNIAL PHILOSOPHY

The today untenable idea of an Ancient Wisdom Tradition that Theosophists and Esotericists are referring to, had its roots in the Renaissance where the Cabalah as "the oral Torah," was considered the Ancient Wisdom Teaching.

Renaissance philosophers (deemed "science") taught the Cabalah contained the secret teachings of Moses, an oral supplement to Scripture, making it possible to accurately interpret the written Word of the Bible. (Pico della Mirandola "On the Dignity of Man" p. 29)

In other words the Renaissance philosopher/scientists worked within a view of history in which their own tradition was represented as an ancient philosophy, contemporary with Moses, only to have this legend gradually undermined by scholarly studies, the Enlightenment rejected this old order.

Renaissance Neo-Platonist used the "prisca theologia" (ancient wisdom tradition) theory to support their claim that Platonism was reconcilable with Christian doctrines.

The notion of a "perennial philosophy," a wisdom which the ancient sages had once been in possession of but since then had been lost to mankind, is a common theme in Renaissance scholarship. The Calvinist scholar Michel Servet summarized it in this paragraph:

"This was from the beginning of the world the received doctrine about the Wisdom of God, published in the Holy Scriptures, and taught to the Greeks by the Chaldeans and Egyptians from the tradition of their ancestors ...

Zoroaster and Trismegistus taught it, from whom, chiefly from Trismegistus, all the Greeks learnt it, from Orpheus to Plato." 

(As quoted and translated in Walker, "The Prisca Theologia in France", p. 249.)

HIGH DEGREE MASONRY AND STUART POLITICS

Scottish Masonry had less to do with “Knights Templar” from the middle ages as is often claimed in frince cottage industry History books, but rather with an interest in the Cabalah, and later for a period of time, in the restoration of the Stuart Monarchy.

Elias Ashmole and John Evelyn were both suspected by Parliament of maintaining contact with royalists abroad, and they may have facilitated communications with Moray's Scottish Masonic network. When Sir Robert Bruce left the company of Moray and Alexander Bruce in Holland and returned to England, he called on Ashmole and Evelyn. Evelyn also received a Visit from the Marquis of Argyll, Lord Lothian, and "some other Scotch noblemen, all strangers to me. At this time, Moray believed that Argyll would support the royalist cause, which may explain Evelyn's growing intimacy with him. Though Lothian had developed friendly relations with some of Cromwell's officers in Scotland, his motivation was the alleviation of his exiled father's poverty. Despite some royalists' suspicions, Moray maintained his trust in Lothian's essential loyalty.

Evelyn also communicated with Sir John Denham, who had returned to London in late 1653, where his presence was noted by Hartlib, who described him as "a Mighty ingenious man for all manner of waterworks and other ingenuities" and "a great mechanical traveller." (11)

It was perhaps these interests and skills that led to his alleged association with Masonry and to his later friendship with Moray. In 1655 Denham was arrested as a royalist plotter, but two years later he was privy to the plans of Buckingham to return to England, "upon some design, for a rising in the city or against the Protector's person. (J.Denham “Poetical Works” p. 16)

The royalists hoped to 'Win Sir Thomas Fairfax to their cause, and Buckingham succeeded in marrying his daughter. As noted earlier, Buckingham was also named as a Mason, probably initiated during his service in Scotland. Throughout the Interregnum, Evelyn carried on a ciphered correspondence with the exiles, while Ashmole was kept under surveillance. In August 1659 Ashmole recorded that "My Study was broken open by the Soldiers, upon pretence of searching for the King, but I lost nothing out of it. (12)

Moray's other Masonic contact in England was Lauderdale, his "friend at Windsor," who sent word to him about the work of Dr. Brian Walton on the English Polyglot Bible (1654-57), which stimulated a revival of' interest in Villalpando's interpretations of the Temple. (13)

Walton's Polyglot featured an elaborate architectural engraving on the frontispiece, designed by John Webb, as Well as complex depictions of Jewish architecture by N. Venscelas Hollar. That Moray wanted to see this London publication on the restored Temple of Jerusalem points to the cross-channel links established in the late 1650's which laid the Masonic groundwork for the king's restoration. That these links also included a Swedish dimension would become important to the international spread of Stuart-style Freemasonry in the eighteenth-century.

Since Alexander Bruce's arrival in Bremen, Moray had solicited news about the Swedes and Danes, whom the royalists assiduously courted. On 29 April 1658 Moray informed Bruce that he was anxiously awaiting the arrival of Bellenden, whose effort to gain Swedish support now depended on the many Scottish residents in Gothenburg. (14)

He also recalled his earlier friendship with a Swedish military officer, whose name he uncertainly spelled as Col. Owagh Clough or Clook, and who was an expert on fortifications. "Clook" was a fellow prisoner at Ingolstach, at the time of Moray's correspondence with Kircher, and the two spent much time in discussions of their mutual interests. Moray would later maintain contact with Swedish scientists.

Thus, it is possible that he was privy to the clandestine establishment of a Masonic lodge, named "St. Magnus," in Gothenbur , which was chartered from Edinburgh.

The lodge is mentioned in ' Johan Starck, Apologie do Franc-Macons (Philadelphie. 17 79) p. 68: also see Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. Lessing's Masonic Dialogues (1778) , trans. A. Cohen 'London. 1927', p.99-100. Both Starck and Lessing attended Swedish Rite lodges in Germany.

From 1656 on, there were rumors that General Monk, who was currently employing the Swedish Freemason Tessin on fortification work at Leith, was leaning towards the royalist cause. (15)

Christina, who had earlier recruited members of the Tessin family to Swedish service, now used her influence with Swedes, Spaniards, Germans, and Jews to build support for Charles. (16)

While this multi-national, Masonic network carried out its clandestine collaboration, an additional secret network was utilized for the restoration effort. Since January 1654 the younger sons of old royalist families in England had organized a resistance movement known as "The Sealed Knot." Collaborating with its agents were the Scottish royalists Lauderdale, from his prison cell, and Elizabeth Murray, daughter of the exiled William Murray. Earl of Dysart. Elizabeth exploited her f'riendship with Cromwell's wife to prevent the execution of' Lauderdale and to arrange his transfer to a less onerous prison in Windsor Castle. (17)

Now granted considerable freedom, Lauderdale added to his great library and continued his investigations of alchemical, architectural, and mathematical lore. Like Moray, Lauderdale studied Druslus, Scaliger, Amama, Kircher, and Alsted, and he acquired Rosicrucian and Fluddian works. (18)

Considered a "master of Hebrew," he gathered rare works on the Jewish traditions, and he apparently developed his "extraordinary memory" through study of his Lullist trcatiscs." In line with Charles II’s policy of bringing together royalists of different religious faiths, Lauderdale established communications with the Puritan Richard Baxter and other advocates of religious pacification.

The king's ecumenical agenda was not shared by his English advisor Edward Hyde, who was distrusted by Scottish Presbyterians and British Catholics. Contemptuous of Balcarres and Dysart and suspicious of Moray, Hyde instigated "false accusations" and "unjust persecution" of their Scottish party. (19)

In 1655 the Scots and Catholics protested to Charles II that Hyde subverted their restorationist efforts. Dr. Alexander Fraser, the king's Scottish physician, joined with Balcarres and "other Scots at court" to draw up a petition to the king that the Scottish Presbyterians could provide valuable advice and services but "were discouraged and hindered" by Hyde, who was "an old known and declared enemy to their party; in whom they could repose no trust." (20)

They urged that Hyde be removed from the council or "at least not be suffered to be privy to anything that should be proposed by them." Fraser had accompanied Charles 11 to Scotland, where he carried out important intelligence and military operations, and he enjoyed the full confidence of the king and the Scottish "Masonic" party. His distrust of Hyde was shared by Dr. Massonet, who accused Hyde of disloyalty and collusion with Cromwell. From now on, the separation of Scottish from English plotting would be reflected in the activities of Scottish Masons and English "Knotters."

Despite the Anglo-Scottish rivalries, the energetic Elizabeth Murray tried to provide a link between the two factions. When William Murray died in December 1655, Elizabeth assumed his title and became the Countess of Dysart. Gilbert Burnet, a later protege of Moray, noted that the beautiful Lady Dysart had "a wonderful quickness of apprehension" and had studied divinity, history, philosophy, and mathematics. (21)

Using the cover of arranging her family's business affairs in Belgium, she often travelled to the Continent with messages from Lauderdale to Moray, her late father's cousin and confidante. Earlier, Dysart had hoped his daughter would marry Moray, but now the two maintained a "true friendship." Learned in the occult sciences and gifted with second sight, she collaborated with Moray on the production of invisible inks and other chemical services to the king's cause Jane Clark argues that the Dysarts were undoubtedly Masons and that Elizabeth utilized Masonic symbols and techniques of communication to transmit her messages to royalists abroad. (22)

With considerable courage and defiant insouciance, she also carried out dangerous missions for the Sealed Knot, while she cultivated friendships with Cromwell's wife and intimates.

In March 1657 Cromwell received reports that Balcarres, from his base in Holland, was holding "a secret intelligence" with Monk; even worse, Balcarres was spreading rumors that Generall Monk is revolted" in order to build support for the royalists' "intended insurrection." (23)

Though Monk defended himself to Cromwell and continued to enforce the military occupation in Scotland, his letters suggest some ambivalence in his position. In September he reported from Dalkeith that the Scottish ministers "begin to pray again for Charles Stuart, so there may be a new project." He then added offhandedly that he had arrested "some straggling fellows come over lately, the most of them from the King of Sweden's army." In May Cromwell's spies reported that Colonel Alexander Hamilton, kinsman of Moray's late comrade, "brought 64 Scottish soldiers from the Swedish army to Ostend. (24) Were these recruits members of the lodge at Gothenburg and ready to Join their brethren in Holland and Scotland?

A rare surviving masonic document, composed at Perth in December 1658, suggests that there was a renewal of royalist commitment among local masons. John Mylne, who had cooperated with Monk in the building of fortifications and served with the Scottish commissioners to Cromwell, subsequently resigned all share in the conduct of public affairs. However, he retained the mastership of the "Ancient Lodge of Scone and Perth" until shortly before his death in late 1657. Though it is unknown whether Mylne was the inspiration for the proud assertions made in the 1658 document, it is clear that the Perth masons were determined to reclaim their ancient independence and royal patronage. Thus, on 24 December they issued a new "Contract by the Master Masons and fellow-craftsmen ... on the decease of John Mylne, Master Mason and Master of the said Lodge":

"That as formerly we and predecessors have and had from the temple of temples building on this earth one uniform community and union throughout the whole world from which temple proceeded one in Kilwinning in this our nation of Scotland and from that of Kilwinning many more within this kingdom of which there proceeded the Abbey and Lodge of Scone, built by men of art and architecture where they placed that lodge as the second lodge within this nation, which is now past memory of many generations, and was upheld by the Kings of Scotland ... the said Masters, Freemen, and Fellow Crafts, inhabitants within the said Burgh of Perth, were always able within themselves to maintain their first liberties, and are yet willing to do the same as the Masters, Freemen, or Fellow Crafts did formerly (whose names we know not)-But to our record and knowledge of our predecessors there came one from the North country named John Mylne, a mason, a man well experted in his calling, who entered himself both Freeman and Burgess of this Burgh, who in process of time by reason of his skill and art was preferred to be the King's Majesty's Master Mason and Master of the said Lodge at Scone, and his son John Mylne being after his father's decease preferred to the said office, and Master of the, said Lodge, in the, reign of His Majesty James the Sixth of blessed memmy, who by the said second-John Mylne was by the King's own desire entered Freeman, Alason, and Fellow Craft, and during all his lifetime he maintained the same as one member of the Lodge of Scone--so that this Lodge is the most famous Lodge (if well ordered) within this kingdom-of which name of Mylne there had continued several generations of Master Masons to his Majesties the Kings of Scotland ." (25)

The rest of the document dealt with the choosing of a new master and warden for the lodge and instructions about the traditional duties (including the gift of gloves) incumbent upon the members. That John Mylne fils was not elected to fill his father's role was probably due to his residence in Edinburgh, where he was employed on various architectural projects (such as erecting a great vertical sundial). Importantly, the younger Mylne also represented the City at the Convention of' Royal Burghs in 1655-59, when he gained the acquaintance of' General Monk.

All the royalist plans were thrown into full gear when news arrived on the Continent of the death of Oliver Cromwell in September 1658. When the inept Richard Cromwell assumed the Protectorship, the royalists increased their overtures to Monk in Scotland. On 30 September a Cromwellian officer in Leith wrote to Thurloe that Scottish preachers were now using mystical language, while they pray for the deliverance of' the exiles and captives to be delivered from the yoke of Pharaoh and out of Egypt: "Thus they speake, but so ambiguously that they can evade, if questioned; yet see plainly that the whole people knowes their meaning." (26)

The use of mystical Hebraic terminology harked back to the days of the first Covenantand its underlying Masonic organization. Moreover, many Scottish masons were currently employed on the fortifications at Leith, which were directed by the Swedish architect Tessin and his commander Monk. Tessin had earlier been initiated in the Edinburgh Lodge, which was directed by John Mylne.

Monk had no respect for Richard Cromwell, and he sensed that the political situation would become increasingly volatile. Thus, he began the systematic reversal of the late Protector's policies in Scotland. While he replaced Englishmen with Scots on the courts of justice and Exchequer, he consolidated his own power and made his rule more acceptable to the subjects of the northern kingdom. (27)

Unlike Oliver Cromwell, who despised the Scots, Monk enjoyed the company of local nobles, soldiers, and craftsmen. During his travels to all parts of' the kingdom, he had developed an intelligence network that kept him abreast of the growing royalist sentiments of all segments of the population. More significantly, he allegedly became a Freemason and thus privy to the communication networks, oaths of secrecy, and bonds of' loyalty between the brethren. According to a report made in 1741 by the exiled Jacobite Mason Andrew -Michael Ramsay, certain royalist Masons knew of Monk's affiliation and sought to attract him to their cause.

A.F. von Busching in “ Beitraege” VI, 329, Busching noted that when Ramsay lectured in the lodges, he did not mention Monk's Masonic strategy for the Restoration because he did not want to arouse suspicions that the Masons in France where active in affairs of state. See also Andre Kervella, La Maconnerie Ecossaise dans la France de l’Ancient Regime Paris, 1999, 208.

That Ramsay revealed this political secret to Count Carl Gustaf Tessin, a Swedish kinsman of Monk's architect, gives it a certain piquancy.

Though Ramsay's account has been ignored by English historians of' the Restoration, there is enough evidence for Monk's Masonic contacts to give it credibility. Shortly after Cromwell's death, a young Scottish architect-William Bruce of Kinross -approached Monk to solicit his support for a Stuart restoration. Fenwick suggests that Bruce participated in the construction of Monk's citadels at Aire and Leith, which provided him contact with Tessin and Mylne, who directed the masons at those projects. (28)

Bruce would later become Charles II's Surveyor of Works in Edinburgh and, according to Anderson, the Grand Master of Scottish Freemasonry. (29)

During the Interregnum, he reportedly pursued his architectural studies in France and Holland. A friend of Moray and cousin of Alexander Bruce, he provided a link between their Masonic networks in Europe and Scotland .

Moray later collaborated with Sir William Bruce on architectural projects; see Henry M.Paton, "Letters from John, Second Earl of Lauderdale, to John, Second Earl of Tweeddale, and Others," in Miscellany of the Scottish Historical Society, VI 1939, 233.

Another cousin of William Bruce, the Countess of Dysart, provided communication between the exiled Masons and the Sealed Knot, and William visited her in London. From his later friendship with Lauderdale, it seems that William also contacted the latter during his imprisonment at Windsor. Through her contacts with Cromwell's inner circle, Lady Dysart may have learned that parliamentary spies had penetrated the "Sealed Knot" and had suborned its chief, Sir Richard Willis, who continued to correspond with Hyde and Nicholas while receiving Cromwellian bribes.

According to Burnet, who probably received the information from Moray or the Bruces, "Thus Cromwell had all the king's party in a net. He let them dance in it at his pleasure; and upon occasion clapt them up for a short while." (30)

"There is no department of knowledge that gives us more certainty of Christ‘s divinity than magic and cabala," wrote Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, the translator of the so called writings of "Hermes" in 1486.

The ritualized unification of the Masters Word drew on Christian Cabalistic lore, in which the unification of the letters of the Tetragrammaton was "predicated on and facilitated by some form of visualization of these letters within the imagination.

Though the seventeenth-century Masons externalized the internal process into ritual gestures and Postures, they still re-enacted the Christian Cabalistic belief that "Whoever has knowledge it as if' the Temple were built in his life," because "such a person knows how to unify the unique name and it is as if he built the palace above.

But during the re-creation of Scottish Masonry at the courts of the exiled Stuart King in France, the search for "the lost word" signified "the royal word" given by Charles II that he would reclaim the throne; the "son of the widow" pointed to Charles II as son of Henrietta Maria. To increase security, these royalist symbols were changed to the "signs of the Rose-Cross Masons."

Initiates of the eighteenth-century Clermont Rite preserved a tradition that David Ramsay was succeeded as head of the order in 1659 by Charles II, with "Eduard Frazer" serving as his "Vikar." (31) Baron von Starck, the German source for these early Scottish-Templar Masons, was often inaccurate or confused about their forenames and spellings, and "Eduard" was probably Dr. Alexander Fraser, who had earlier distanced Scottish Presbyterian plotting from Hyde's English agenda. Since 1655 Fraser had worked as a confidential agent for Lauderdale and Moray. Starck claimed that Fraser's successors included William Bruce (1679-86) and Andrew Michael Ramsav (1708-14). Whether these Rosicrucian-Templar Restoration traditions were developed in the 1650's or after the 1688 fall of the Stuart dynasty remains an historical puzzle. But some pieces of that puzzle can be verified by historical documents.

Sir Robert Moray's letters provide a unique insight into the intellectual and spiritual world of an active Freemason in the 1650's. They also make clear that many "modern" trends of speculative Masonry were already emerging among the royalist exiles on the Continent. Moreover, Moray may have shared his Masonic interests with his "comrade" and fellow-lodger, the French physician Massonet, and the French military officers, with whom he regularly dined and socialized. (Kincardine MS,5049 p.24)

Peter Massenet was created an M.D. by Charles I in 1646, served as writing instructor to the princes Charles and James, and then fought for Charles II in England.

While in exile, he became the confidential friend of Balcarrcs and Moray. (E. Nicholas, Nicholas Paper, III, p.168.)

French historians refer to a murky tradition of Stuart-French Masonic interchange during the Interregnum, and Massonet may have been privy to Moray's Masonic strategies as well as his Hermetic experiments.

Though Moray claimed to live as a hermit in Maastricht, he continued to serve as a political intelligencer and contact person for the international royalist network. Thus, by examining that network in the context of possible Masonic associations, we can evaluate the plausibility of eighteenth-century claims about Masonic contributions to the Stuart restoration.

Unfortunately, there is a dearth of information on Freemasonry in England during the Interregnum, despite speculation about the possible Masonic activities of Ashmole and Thomas Vaughan. Fragments of evidence do suggest, however, that Moray and Lauderdale could have called upon a few royalist Masons in London. Though Ashmole did not record any further Masonic participation until 1682, he became friendly with John Evelyn who was currently investigating operative masonry. Both men travelled through England to inspect the condition of religious and royal architecture. (32)

They also helped William Dugdale's research for his royalist architectural treatise, The History of St. Paul's Cathedral (1658). Evelyn began a manuscript account of "Trades: Secrets and Receipts Mechanical as they come casually to hand," for which he tried to investigate the craft of masonry. (33)

Planning to fill over six hundred pages, Evelyn listed alphabetically the technical subjects he would cover. Among the few he actually recorded was section M on the duties and techniques of "the Free-Mason," which revealed his contact with operative masons who shared a few of their secrets. Evelyn noted the intellectual and manual challenges required in their work, and he included the architectengineer under L for "Liberal Arts," thus giving him gentleman status. However, these were not propitious years for the masons, for their trade suffered from Cromwellian iconoclasm. Evelyn's friend Christopher Wren later recalled that "there were no masons in London when he was a young man" (i.e., during the Interregnum). (34) Though it is unclear whether Wren meant operative masons or speculative Freemasons, Evelyn found the former disappointingly uncooperative. He ultimately confessed that the necessity "of conversing with mechanical capricious persons" proved too unpleasant to him.

After Cromwell's death, his successors were worried by rumors of new link-ups between royalists in Scotland, England, and Holland. Having penetrated the "Knot," they may have suspected a Masonic element in the plotting. A rare surviving Masonic manuscript, dated 1659, suggests that parliamentary intelligencers were investigating Masonry in Britain. The manuscript "Narrative of the Free Masons Word and Signs" was a "copia vera" drafted by Thomas Martin, whose identity is otherwise unknown. (35)

It provided an account, hostile in tone and apparently made by a spy, of contemporary lodge practices. In passages that would have interested suspicious government agents, Martin described in detail the recognition signs used by Masons-i.e., the signs, postures, movement of hat, square paper, crooked pin, etc., used to identify the "free" worker to other operative masons, who were bound by similar oaths. He pointed out that these techniques allowed them to secretly exchange money. Other more amusing signs were blowing the nose in a handkerchief, which is then held straight out and shaken; knocking at any door with two little knocks and then a big one; saying "Star the Guile" when the glass goes around too slowly, etc.

Martin expressed his scorn for the Masons' claim to international brotherhood:

To Discourse a Mason in France, Spain, or Turkey (say they) the sign is to kneel down on his left knee and hold up his right hand to the Sun and the Outlandish Brother will presently take him up, but believe me if' they go on their knees on that account they may remain there or any persons observe their Signs as long as the Jews will remain on their Beliefs, to receive their wish'd for Messiah from the East.

With Charles II currently trying to forge a unified front out of French, Spanish, and Jewish (Jews from Turkish territories?) supporters, Martin's criticism was perhaps relevant to rumors of international Masonic cooperation.

Martin then announced, "Here followeth their private Discourse by Way of Question and Answer," in which the esoteric and essentially Jewish traditions were obliquely expressed. To the catechistical questioner, the initiate answers that a "Just and perfect Lodge is ... two prentices, two fellow-crafts, and one Master on the highest hill or lowest Valley in the World without the crow of a Cock or the bark of a Dog." To the question, "from whence do you derive your principles," the initiate answers "From a greater than you." "Who is he on Earth that is greater than a free Mason" provokes the response, "He that carried to the highest pinnacle of the Temple of Jerusalem." Martin noted that "In some places they Discourse as followeth": "Where did they first call their Lodge? As the Holy Chappel of St. John." This allusion to the Knights of St. John of the Hospital suggests a chivalric theme in certain lodges-a point later reinforced by Swift's reference to "Lodges" of the "Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. 

 
UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD OR TYRANNY

From the time of Charles II's oral commitments to the Jews at the Restoration, his philo-Semitic policies over the next twenty-five years fueled a secretive tradition of Jewish-Masonic collaboration that emerged dramatically in the next century. Moreover, this tradition would be strongest in the Rosicrucian degrees of Ecossais rites developed by exiled supporters of the Stuart dynasty. Because this linkage of Jews and Freemasons would prove so controversial and volatile, it is important to examine the Stuart context that fueled the rumors and the reality. Though the question of Stuart sympathy for Catholicism was the burning public issue of the latter part of Charles II's reign, it was intrinsically linked with less known but broader issues of tolerancc that would eventually define the "modern" Masonic theme of universal brotherhood. In the Stuart Temple of Wisdom, not only Protestants and Catholics but Jews and Moslems would be welcomed as comrades in chivalric fraternity.

In Tangier, the projected gateway to the Levant, the governors' cooperation with Jewish interpreters was crucial to completion of the great Mole and stone forts, projects of continuing interest to Moray and Wren. To facilitate the Barbados trade in which Davidson, Lauderdale, and other Scots were heavily invested, the king granted full privileges to their Jewish agents. (36)

In january 1663 Charles and his foreign secretary Arlington established a new precedent by allowing a naturalized Jew from Barbados, the diamond merchant Da Vega, to become a Freeman of a Company in London. (37)

Though Charles still could not count on parliamentary support, he communicated to various Portuguese Jews in April that "he was resolved to grant" permission to a large number of Marranos to immigrate to England. (38)

When Jacob Abendana dedicated Halevi's Kuzari to Davidson, the royalist panegyric smoothed the way for his brother Isaac Abendana to bring copies of the work to England and to establish himself as a Hebrew teacher at Cambridge in 1663. (39)

The king's policy also opened the doors for renewed Hebrew studies in Scotland, where it was well-known that Lauderdale was an expert in the language. One Jew travelled to Scotland, where he instructed Patrick Gordon, who became Professor of Hebrew at King's College, Aberdeen. (40)

At St. Andrews the king donated Pound 50 for a Professor of Hebrew, while at Edinburgh a converted Jew was invited to teach Jewish language and history. (41)

Rabbi Jacob Sasportas wrote from London to a friend in Rotterdam:

We live at a time in which God has seen fit greatly to ameliorate the condition of his people, bringing them forth from the general conchnon of serfdom into freedom ... specifically, in that we are free to practise our own true religion ... a written statement was issued from him [Charles II], duly signed affirming that no untoward measures had been or would be initiated against us., and that they should not look towards any protector other than his Majesty; during the continuance of whose lifetime they need feel no trepidation because of any sect that might oppose them, inasmuch as he himself would be their advocate and assist them with all his power. (42)

Shane observes that it was the king's answer "which established the right of the Jews to re-settle in England rather than the non-committal reply which Cromwell had earlier given to the petition of Menasseh ben Israel." (43)

Arlington, whom Anderson identified as a Freemason, would later be involved with Rabbi Leon's visit to London.

Encouraged by the king's policy, the London Jews began raising funds for the enlargement of their synagogue. They probably learned from their Dutch brothers that Leon's architectural theories received international exposure and critical praise, when Johan Saubert published an expanded Latin version of the rabbi's treatise, De Templo Hierosolymitano (1665).

The translation was printed at the request of Duke Augustus of Brunswick, and Saubert included Leon's Hebrew song of praise for Augustus. When the book first appeared, the latter's brother Duke Frederick of Brunswick visited the Royal Society on 25 February 1665. (44)

Thus, Wren and the Fellows could have learned about the architectural explications and designs that Leon contributed to the edition. Moray, especially, would have been interested in Kircher's letter to Saubert, in which his "epistolar correspondent" praised Leon's treatise. On 31 October 1664 Kircher sent Saubert his critical evaluation, which the latter published in the edition:

I also read with utmost enthusiasm your book about the Temple of Solomon, which your zeal for the public good and your concern for illumination ensured the publication at your own personal expense. It is a quite exceptional work and one which the literary world could not but value for its exposition of the minutiae. (45)

Saubert included a portrait of Leon, placed above his models of the Tabernacle and Temple, and an admiring biography, which recognized his importance as a Jewish savant. He also noted Leon's disagreement with Villalpando's explications of Jewish architecture, which the large fold-out engravings of Leon's designs demonstrated. Drawing purely on Jewish sources, including the "Kabbalistas," Leon made clear that he hoped for an actual rebuilding of the Temple and thus included practical advice relevant to operative masons involved in synagogue and church construction. He described the columns of Jachin and Boaz, the sculptured Cherubim, and the lapis fondationis-all subjects of interest to Jewish and Christian builders in London.

With Jews in Britain and its colonies, as well as their co-religionists on the Continent, now perceiving Charles II as their protector, the earlier Stuart support for Leon's architectural endeavors possibly provoked a Hebraic Masonic tribute.

In a manuscript entitled "The History of Masonry," written by Thomas Treloar in 1665, there is a striking merger of Scottish Masonic tradition and Hebrew royalist panegyric. An inscription on the manuscript reads: "History and Charges of Masonry, Copied by me Jon Raymond MDCCV." (46)

In the surviving fragment, there are inscriptions in Hebrew lettering which reinforce the stress of Jewish and Solomonic traditions in the restored fraternity. The text begins with the Hebrew inscription, "in the beginning God created the heaven and earth," and then recounts the story of' Hiram the architect.

The text then relates a highly Judaised version of the Old Charges, adding peculiar details and claiming Jewish sources for the discoveries of Euclid and Pythagoras. McLeod observes that in standard English texts of the Old Charges, Solomon's Temple is simply one episode of many and not the most important at that:

Euclid and Edwin both claim considerably more space. But for Jon Raymond [and Treloar] Solomon is at centre stage right from the preliminary verses. He includes an attestation, "All may witness my seal and hand," with the "signature" of "Solomon the King" (in Hebrew letters and in transliterated Hebrew) and "Solomon's Seal," the hexalpha within a circle. He adduces the Tabernacle of Moses as a prototype of the Temple. He describes the artificer of the Temple in these terms: "And Hiram the Tyrian widow's son was sent to King Solomon by Hiram the King of Tyre. And he was a cunning workman in brass and purple and all medals." (47)

McLeod expresses puzzlement at this "remarkable I early- naming of the architect as Hiram, but Stevenson suggests that the Hiramic legend in Scottish Freemasonry was already present in William Schaw's time. Thus, "the mental lodge" or "memory temple" described in late seventeenth-century catechisms contained the grave of Hiram, "the greatest of all architects." Through certain Cabalistic and necromantic rituals, the initiate could discover and rejuvenate Hiram. The emphasis on his role as the "widow's son" pointed to Charles II's role as Henrietta Maria's son----a Stuart reference that would take on more poignant significance for Jacobite exiles in the next century. (48)

Even more striking in the Treloar MS. were the unique references to certain sixteenth- and sevcnteenth-century monarchs claimed as rulers of "the whole Craft":

And yet another Henry did rule over ye whole Craft even ye seventh of' that name.

And after many days Charles did reign in ye land and lo his blood was spilled upon ye earth even by ye traitor Cromwell. 

Behold now ye return of pleasant for doth riot ye Son of ye blessed Martyr rule over ye whole land.
Long may he reign in ye land and govern ye Craft. 

Is it riot written ye shall riot hurt ye Lords anointed.

The elimination of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I from Masonic history should not surprise, for they were considered enemies of ecclesiastical and royalist building projects. But the omission of James VI and I possibly indicates that James was not recognised as "governor" over English Masons, despite his initiation in Scotland. Or perhaps Treloar did not believe that true "Hiramic" Freemasonry really existed in England until the restoration of Charles II.

The Treloar MS. concludes its powerful royalist statement with an inscription in Hebrew, "Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?" This quotation from Psalm 2 was often applied to the radical Protestants of the Interregnum, and the rebellious heathen were subsequently admonished to serve the Lord's anointed king. In the year when the manuscript was written, the Jewish community in London must have worried that religious sectarians in Britain were linking their cause to Jewish millenarian developments in the Middle Last. Reports of the messianic claims of Sabbatai Zevi, a Cabalistic prophet in Smyrna, stimulated waves of enthusiasm among many Jews on the Continent.

Queen Christina became so fascinated by Sabbatai's claims that she almost became a disciple. In Hamburg she danced in the streets with her Jewish friends in anticipation of the apocalyptic moment. (49)

In London Oldenburg eagerly sought news about the movement from the alchemist Borri, the chiliast Serrarius, and the philosopher Spinoza, which revived his millenarial hopes-and made him vulnerable to royalist suspicions of sedition. (50)

In November 1665 Robert Boulter published in London a Sabbatian message to serve the agenda of radical dissidents, who opposed Charles II's policy of toleration. He claimed that he received a letter from Aberdeen which dcscribed the arrival on the Scottish coast of a mysterious ship, loaded with Hebrew-speaking Jews who were gathering their brethren from all over the world to return to Jerusalem. (51)

The Sabbatians boldly proclaimed on their satin sails, "THESE ARE THE TEN TRIBES OF ISRAEL," who would give liberty of' conscience to all (except the Turks). It is unclear whether Boulter believed there were actual Jews living in Scotland, or whether he hoped to insult the Scots and their Stuart king by implying that they where Jewish.

Meanwhile in Amsterdam, some Jewish admirers of Sabbatai Zevi hoped that the English king would assist them, despite the current state of war between England and Holland which had spread to the Mediterranean.

But when Sabbatal Zevi -under threat of death-apostasized to Islam, the royalists in Britain were relieved that the potentially incendiary movement fizzled out. There is little evidence that Jews in London supported the campaign, which threatened to undermine their delicate position under the king's protection. (52)

Oldenburg, however, continued to correspond about the millenarian implications of the affair, and his indiscrete comments to friends in Holland during the Anglo Dutch war placed him under government suspicion. Letters from the radical Serrarius were impounded, and an order for Oldenburg's arrest was issued in summer 1667. (53)

Evelyn noted that Oldenburg was held a close prisoner in the Tower "for having been suspected to write Intelligence, etc." (54)

Because Evelyn appreciated the secretary's work for the Royal Society, he got permission from Arlington to visit Oldenburg in the Tower, and he came away confident that he was innocent of seditious intent. However, Oldenburg's interest in Sabbatian millenarianism was still considered risky, and he was not released until a month after the signing of the Treaty of Breda. (55)

The perceived linkage between Sabbatians and Protestant subversives possibly spurred Solomon Franco to publish a royalist panegyric, Truth Springing Out of the Earth, which he dedicated to Charles II on 2 July 1668.

As Hebrew instructor of Ashmole, Franco may have learned that Ashmole's friend Evelyn was now undertaking a study of Sabbatai Zevi and similar radical enthusiasts. In his pamphlet, Franco announced his conversion to the Church of England, which he credited to the miraculous nature of Charles II's restoration and to the arguments of Christian friends that the Cabala proved that Jesus was the Messiah. He stressed that the ancient Jews were devoted to monarchy and that rebels against the king were punished with death. Franco was also determined to defend Cabalistic traditions against critics like Samuel Parker, who two years earlier had ridiculed Rosicrucian exponents of Cabala.

Perhaps Franco also hoped to forestall Evelyn's potential criticism of Sabbatai Zevi's Cabalistic pretensions. Thus, he gave detailed expositions of Cabalistic traditions of the male and female Cherubim, the role of the Shekinah in reception of divine influx, the architecture of the Temple, etc. In a passage with Masonic resonance, Franco affirmed: "The Temple, which is the Heart of the World, whose Influence is communicated to all parts of the Body, which now is of Stone, after the coming of the Messias shall be of flesh. (56)

With Cabalistic study reclaimed by Franco as permissable for royalist Christians, Evelyn's expose of the Sabbatian movement was rendered less threatening to Jews (and Marranos) who enjoyed the protection of the king.

Yo Arlington, Evelyn linked Christian partisans of the Sabbatians with Cromwellian radicals, who still posed a threat to the Stuart regime:

But whil'st the Time is not vet accomplish'd, I could wish our modern Enthusiasts, and other prodigious sects amongst us, who Dreame of the like Carnal Expectations, and a Temporal Monarchy, might seriously weigh how nearly their Characters approach the Style and Design of these Deluded Wretchcs [Jewish Sabbatians], least they fall into the same Condemnation, and the Snare of the Devil. (57)

Despite the attacks by militant Protestants, Charles II continued to welcome pacific Rosicrucians and Cabalists to his court. In October 1670, while attending the Newmarket races, he was joined by F.M. van Helmont, who was a longtime friend of Prince Rupert, the king's cousin and partner in chemical and artistic studies. (58)

Moray was familiar with Van Helmont's Alphabetum Naturae, which Oldenburg had reviewed for the Royal Society in January 1668, noting that Van Helmont learned Hebrew so well that he understood the whole Hebrew Bible. The "Judaizing Rosicrucian" then visited Henry More and Anne Conwav, who were currently studying the works of Hendrik Niklaus. founder of the "Family of Iove." Though Conway defended Familist doctrines, More criticized them as similar to Quaker beliefs. Van Helmont's Hebrew studies would soon stimulate Cabalistic interest and controversy in the mystical circles of Conway. More, and George Keith, the Scottish Quaker. (59)

With the Sabbatian movement and its millenarian supporters now discredited, Charles II expressed his appreciation for the loyalty of the Jews by appointing many of them as "sworn brokers."(61)

In The History of the Three Late Famous Impostors (1669), dedicated Queen Catherine, was also known as a friend and protector of Jews. Orrery worked with Webb to design an elaborate production by the King's Company to be held in January 1672, but a fire destroyed the Theatre Royal. From the script, it is clear that Orrery intended stunning views of the Temple, which would appear mysteriously while singing priests in white robes praise Herod on his sumptuous throne. Amidst the corruption, sensuality, and violence of' the Hebrew court, certain noble Jews were willing to die in order to save a friend. Thus, the themes of elevated conjugal love and mystical friendship were linked with the good Jews who tried to regenerate Jerusalem and the Temple. (62)

In The Tragedy of King Saul, composed circa 1671 but published posthumously, Orrery further elaborated the theme of fraternal bonding. As David and Jonathan make vows of eternal friendship ("one Soul in both our Bodies be"), they stand in contrast to oath-breakers who lift their hands against the Lord's anointed. (63)

The royalist panegyrics occur amidst scenes of a mystically-shrouded Temple, magician's cave, flying spirits, and prophetic visions. 

FOOTNOTES

1 David Stevenson, The Origins of Freemasong: Scotland's Century (1590 -1710) Cambridge, 1988), and The First Freemasons: Scotland's Early Lodges and Their Members Aberdeen, 1988).

2 Lisa Kahler, "Freemasonry in Edinburgh, 1721-1746: Institutions and Context" Ph.D. Thesis, St. Andrews University, 1998).

3 Stevenson draws on Frances Yates's Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition London, 1964), and The Art of Alemog (London, 1966).

4 Salo Baron, A Social and Religious History of the Yews, 2nd rev. ed. (1937; New York, 1966); Erwin Goodenough, Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman Period (New York, 1953'~,; George Sarton, A Histog of Science (Cambridge, 1959); Mark Wischnitzer, A Histog oJ Jewish Crafts and Guilds (New York, 1965)

5 Elliot Wolfson, Through a Speculum that Shines: Vision and Imagination in Medieval Jewish Mysticism (Princeton, 1994).

6 Arthur Williamson, "A Pil for Pork-Eaters': Ethnic Identity, Apocalyptic Premises, and the Strange Creation of the Judeo-Scots," in The Expulsion of the Jews: 1492 and After, ed. R.B. Waddington and A.H. Williamson (New York, 1994), 237 58.

7 D. Stevenson, First Freemasons, 3.

8 For clear summaries of the revisionists' works, see Maurice Lce, Great Britain's Solomon: James III and I in His Three Kingdoms (Urbana, 1990); Roger Lockyer, James VI and I (1998); Julian Goodare and -Michael Lynch, eds., The Reign of James VI (Phantassie, 2000) ; Eveline Cruickshanks, The Glorious Revolution (New York, 2000).

9 For the architectural-masque culture, see especially Vaughan Hart, Art and Magic in the Court of the Stuarts (London, 1994). For illustrations of its revival in eighteenth-century Swedish Ecossais lodges, see Cold and Himmelblau. Die Zeitloses Ideal (Abo, 1993). An attempted revival of this Culture occurred in Britain in the clandestine Jacobite "Rite of Heredom of Kilwinning" (1741 -1800)

10 C. Lance Brockman, ed., Theatre of the Fraternity: Staging the Ritual Space of the Scottish Rite of Freemasons, 1896-1929 (Minneapolis, 1996).

11 Hartlib Papers: 28/2/81A. Ephermerides: part IV.

12 C. Josten, Ashmole, 11, 761.

13 Kincardine MS.5050.f.28 (18 April 1658). Amhmole spent much time at Windsor, while he worked on his history of the Order of' the Garter, and Lauderdale spent man), years in prison there. The two men became friends.

14 Kincardine MS.5050.ff.44; see also Goran Behre, "Gothenburg in Stuart War Strategy, 1649-1760," in G. Simpson, Scotland and Scandinavia, 90-99.

15 L. Nicholas, Nicholas Papers, III, 259.

16 D. Crips, Elizabeth. 39-50.

17 Lauderdale, Bibliolheca 168T. G. Burnet, History, 1, 184.

18 G. Burnet, History 1, 184.

19 F Routtedge, Calendar ... Clarendon, 111, 35, 259, 279.

20 Clarendon, Henry Hyde, Earl of, The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, ed. W.D. Macray (Oxford: Clarendon, 1888), V, 170-71, 316, 324-29.

21 G. Burnet, History, 1, 437-39.

22 J. Clark, "Lord Burlington," 289-93, 304.

23 T Thurloe, Collection, IV, 50, 156, 183.

24 F. Routledge, Calendar ... Clarendon, 111, 283. General Alexander Hamilton, the Newcastle initiate, died in December 1649.

25 R. Xlylne, Master Masons, 128-29. Spelling modernized.

26 J. Thurloc, Collection, VII, 416.

27 Ted Jamieson, General Monck and the Revolution (Fort Worth: Texas Christian University Press, 1975 , 11-12.

28 Hubert Fenwick, Architect Royal: The Life and Works of Sir William Bruce, 100 1710 (Kineton: Roundwood. 1970), xiii, xvi, 4-9.

29 J, Anderson, Constitutions (1738), 104.

30 G. Burnet, Hisloil', 1, 117-18

31 W. Zimmerman,Von den alten zur Neuen Freimaurerei.

32 C.H. Josten, Elias Ashmole, p.11 (1966)

33 British Library: Evelyn MS.65.

34 Wren's comment in August 1716; see Thomas Hearne, Reliquiae Heamianae, 2nd ed., ed. Philip Bliss (London, 1869), 11, 39.

35 Manuscript presently in Royal Society, London: TNIS. Register Book (C), IX, F.240 52. It was copied into the Register Book circa 1708.

36 W. Sanniel, "Reviex% of'... Barbados." 25-27, -14.

37 N. Roth. "Social and Intellectual Currents," 182-83.

38 L. Wolf', 'Jewry," 157.

39 D. Katz, "Abendana Brothers," 37-38.

40 G. Black, "Beginnings," 473.

41 A. Levy, "The Origins of Scottish Jewry. TJHSE, 20 1959-6F, 134--3,5.

42 D. Katz Jews in History, 143.

43 A. Sharie, "Leon," 158.

44 T. Birch. History, 11, 9.

45 Jacobi Jehuda Leonis de Templo Hierosolymitano( Helmstadt: Jacob Mullerus,1665), Libri IV, (d.2)

46 Reproduced by John Thorpe in "Old Masonic Manuscript. A Fragment," Lodge of Research, N. 2429 Leicester Transactions for the Year 1926-27, 40-48.

47 Wallace McLeod, "Additions to the List of' Old Charges," AQC. 96 1983. M 99.

48 D. Stevenson, Origins, 163.

49 S. Akerman, Christina, 188-91.

50 H. Oldenburg, Correspondence, 11, 481, 637-111, 447.

51 Reprinted in R.B. [Nathaniel Cronch], Memorable Remark) Upon the Ancient and Modern State of the Jewish Nation (Bolton: B. Jackson, 1786), 48, 125-63

52 Zvi Loker, “Juan de Yllan, Merchant Adventurer and Colonial Promoter. Studia Rosenthaliana. 17 (1983), 23.

53 H. Oldenburg, Correspondence, 111, xxvi-vii, 447,

54 J. Evelyn. Diary, 11, 278; 111, 491.

55 Charles Webster, From Paracelsus to Newton (Cambridge UP, 1982),28.

56 S. Franco. Truth, 58.

57 John Evelyn Imposters (1669) p.131 (ClarkMemorial Library, 1968)

58 John Evelyn. The History of the 'Three Late Famouss Impostors (1669), Augustan Reprint Society, 131. (Los Angeles: Clark Memorial Library, 1968)

59 A. Coudert, Impact, 155-56, 180- 8 1.

60 Philosophical Transactions, 11, no. 31, pp. 602-04.

61 Dudley Abrahams, “Jew Brokers of the City of London," MJHSE, III (1937) 87-88.

62 R. Loeber, Bioq Dict., 25-27.

63 Roger Boyle, 'The Dramatic Works o Roger Boyle, Earl Orreg, ed. W.S. Clark Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1937'1, 1. W 11, 601-13.