Once more Michael Baigent and I made our way to the Grand Lodge of Scotland in George Street, Edinburgh; we were delighted at the opportunity to return. Librarian, Robert Cooper, received us in his study on the second floor with his usual warmth and big smile. On his desk was a pile of manuscripts and books, deliberately arranged to tantalise our curiosity. We were back because on our last visit we had not touched on the important subject of the Library which comprises over ten thousand volumes and manuscripts. We were to be treated to an exceptional and fascinating insight into Scottish Freemasonry as it is documented from its earliest days.
    We began with three vellum bound volumes on the desk which we had noted the moment we entered the room. With gloved hands I leafed through the pages of what are considered to be the earliest Masonic documents extant: the Aitcheson Haven Lodge ‘sederunt’ books.
    The early Scotch term sederunt translates as minutes of a deliberative body. They cover the period from 1599 to 1852. The first of the three volumes is an elongated 380mm high by 150mm wide half folio book of some eighty unpaginated manuscript sheets. It has been beautifully rebound and placed in a protective box; the original 16th century cover preserved in a special pocket. The first entry in this Minute Book is dated Musselburgh, 9th January 1598. The year given must be read in the context of the adoption by Scotland of the Gregorian calendar in 1600; until then the Scottish New Year began on the 25th of March. Thus January 1598 is today correctly read as being in the year 1599. The first page is entitled archaically, ‘Buik of the Actis and Ordinans. . . of the Ludg of Aitchison's heavine’ which is followed by the list of members.
    That these minutes begin in the same year as the famous Schaw Statutes is not coincidental. William Schaw was appointed ‘Maister of Wark’ by King James VI in 1583, a position that he held until his death in 1602. In 1598 he drew up the first of the now famous statutes, a copy of which was sent to all the Lodges in Scotland for their guidance and compliance, requiring them inter alia, to keep minutes. The actual statutes have been transcribed into the Minute book under the title: Statutis and Ordinanceis to be obserwitte within this realme sett doun be William Schaw, Maister of the said Craft. The list of members has been researched; none have been identified for the simple reason that these were ordinary folk practicing the trade of stone masonry. It was only later as non-masons began to join these Lodges that some better-known members of the community could be identified. The earliest evidence of the presence of such non-masons is in the records of the Lodge of Edinburgh which shows the presence of nonstonemasons in 1634.
    From the start of the minutes the sequence in the chronology of the entries is confusing. For instance an entry dated 2nd January 1600 is followed, on the same page, by an entry seventy years later dated December 1669. This is explained by the thrifty inclinations of the Lodge secretaries who used all available space in the book irrespective of the location.
    Operative stonemasons’ Lodges at this time were run and governed by a Warden, a Deacon and a Clerk. An undated pencil annotation early in the book shows an election of three such Office-bearers from a total of eleven candidates. The concept of Master Mason was accepted as a purely speculative term adopted by the Grand Lodge of Scotland after its formation in 1736. Several of the named entries are followed by a Mason's Mark; the earliest recorded is 28th December 1603. The marks are clearly intended to identify the Mason concerned. The Minutes repeatedly refer to ‘prentices’ and ‘fellows of Craft’ and ‘maisteris’, which are operative grades of workmen; they also indicate that each has taken part in the appropriate ceremony within the Lodge. Thus in the sequence of importance, fellow crafts are always mentioned and listed before entered apprentices.
    The minutes in the second volume, which is of a standard shape and still in its original vellum binding, begin in 1769 and end in December 1852 when the Lodge became dormant and was finally erased in 1857. The first entries in this second book can be misleading as they are dated 26 October 1636. They are a transcript of the Falkland Statutes followed by a copy of the Schaw Statutes of 1599. It was also customary to make dual use of these minute books and when the volume is reversed and placed upside down the first entries relate to a Register and a record of various Statutes and Lodge finances as well as minutes of the meetings of the Aitcheson Haven Benevolent Society Committee. In this context a loose leaf receipt inside the cover of the volume was revealing: a certificate issued in ‘Maseelborough’ 15th December 1835 and signed by the surgeon Archibald Haliborn, confirming that Alexander Monroe – Mason - is unable to work and may thus be entitled to draw on the Lodge’s benevolent fund.
    The third volume, which is also in its original vellum binding, is used as a record of attendance and the payment of dues. It shows that there was only one meeting in each year, on St John's Day, the 27th of December. It is interesting, in this context, that the Grand Lodge of Scotland, in adopting St Andrew as its patron Saint in 1736, did so as a compromise. The Grand Lodge of England in 1717 had adopted St John the Baptist as its patron saint consecrating the Grand Lodge on 22nd June whilst the Scottish operative stone-masons Lodges had St John the Evangelist as their patron Saint whose feast day is on 27th December. The Grand Lodge of Scotland, by selecting St Andrew, ensured that it did not offend anyone and so commemorates the 30th of November each year.
    The first entry in the third volume is for the dues payments made by members in the year 1736. The pages until 1815 are headed List Of The Fellows Of Craft. The entries thereafter are headed Roll of Members. These reflect the establishment of the Grand Lodge of Scotland on 30 November 1736 by four Edinburgh Lodges instigated by Canongate Kilwinning. They met at the lodge rooms of the Lodge of Edinburgh and William St Clair of Roslyn was invested as the 1st Grand Master. Some 100 invitations were sent out to all existing Lodges throughout Scotland to attend the inaugural meeting. Aitcheson Haven Lodge was one of the thirty-three Lodges that attended. It withdrew from Grand Lodge within six months, rejoining it in 1814. Thus the dues register which begin in 1736 and the change in the listing from Fellow Crafts to Members in 1814, reflecting the date on which Aitcheson Haven Lodge rejoined the Grand Lodge and, for the first time, adopted the third degree.
    These are invaluable and fascinating documents which the Grand Lodge of Scotland were fortunate to finally acquire at auction. In 1852, when the Lodge became dormant, the three volumes were in the possession of the last secretary of the Lodge. His great grand-daughter offered them to the Grand Lodge at a prohibitive price. In July 1980 the volumes found their way to a Sotheby sale and were purchased, unopposed, by a delighted Grand Lodge of Scotland. The price realised? Just below the cost originally demanded.

The Famous Morison Collection

    The prized volumes of the Morison Collection - over two thousand works - placed on special shelves on the East wall of the Museum’s Long Room, all looking particularly attractive having been rebound with gilt lettering on the spine. Dr. Charles Morison (1780-1848), a prominent Scotsman and freemason and a very keen collector, had accumulated the extensive library over many years and a decade after his death they were donated to the Grand Lodge by his widow. This part of the Grand Lodge Library is well documented in a catalogue published in 1906, which is comprehensive and detailed. They extend from rare and early manuscript documents to Anderson’s first English Constitutions of 1723 and a range of rare French and English exposures published in the second half of the 18th century. We left it to Bob to show us just two outstanding volumes in the Morrison collection worthy of special mention.
    The first consisted of the six extended manuscript volumes of annotations with inserts of documents and early engravings belonging to Chevalier Alexander Lenoir (1761-1839). Lenoir was a great French collector and archaeologist and an established Masonic author of the early 19th century. The personal notes and comments in these volumes give an exceptional insight into Lenoir’s views on the origins of freemasonry as descending from ancient Egypt. They reflect his lifelong interest in freemasonry, esoteric and hermetic studies and related subjects.
    A second intriguing manuscript volume has the original leather cover embossed in gilt with a triangle containing the words: ‘Dogme Et Loix Et Instructions Du Grand Et Sublime Ordre De H D M’. The title page in French indicates that the volume relates to the Royal Order of Scotland in France toward the end of the 18th century. The author is Claude Antoine Thory (1759-1827) and the book and calligraphy are exceptional. Each of the 335 pages listing the rules and regulations of the Order is neatly framed in a decorative border and many of the members are identified with engravings pasted into the pages. Notable amongst them is J J. R. Cambaceres (who is given the title of Grand Maithre d’Honeur, Honorary Grand Master. Jean-Jacques- Régis de Cambacérès (1753 – 1824) came to prominence following the French Revolution of 1789 when he was selected by Napoleon to assist with the creation of the new legal code.
    We left the Grand Lodge with great reluctance but time, in its inevitable fashion, had caught up with us.

The Museum at 96 George Street is open to the general public on weekdays from 9.30 am to 4.30 pm and on Saturday by special arrangement for which purpose call Robert Cooper, Curator, Grand Lodge of Scotland, telephone 0131 225 5304.

ROYAL ARCH AND KNIGHT TEMPLAR MASON In 1800 Grand Lodge circulated an edict prohibiting the practice of any spurious ceremonials mentioning specifically the Royal Arch and Knights Templar as imported Orders from foreign countries. In spite of the ban the Bridgeton & Glasgow Shamrock and Thistle Lodge, No. 279, as late as 16th Feb 1830, was issuing certificates to Brethren as newly made Royal Arch and Knights Templar masons. The document is headed In The Name Of The Most Holy And Undivided Trinity 3 Persons and 1 God and continues: We . . .the High Priest Captain General; and Grand Master of a Royal Arch Super Excellent Encampment and Grand Assembly of Sir Knights Templars of the Grand Lodge of Scotland . . . . affirm our Beloved Bro Sir William Cullen was arched and dubbed a Knights Templar . . . This is followed by seven signatures with red and black seals and ribbons attached reflecting the Orders mentioned in the document. This document constitutes the only available evidence of the practice of these degrees and Orders beyond the Craft by individual Lodges. Since these activities were against the wishes of Grand Lodge they were not recorded in minute books and certificates are the only surviving documentation on the subject. The document ends with the apocryphal dates of all the orders mentioned in it: Super Excellent, 3803; Royal Arch, 1174; Knights Templar, 687; Knights of Malta, 1784. The Lodge is still extant but as No. 275.

THE JACOBITE LODGE IN ROME An outstanding rarity: the minute book of a lodge of Scottish Freemasons in Rome. It covers just three years: 1735, 1736 and 1737. The cessation of the Lodge in that year was not accidental, it coincided with the Vatican’s Papal Bull of 1738 In Eminenti issued by Clement XII. The Lodge’s Jacobite membership could be easily identified by the named Brethren who included John Hubberton, Daniel Killmaster, Thomas Lisle, the artist William Mosman and Bonnie Prince Charlie’s secretary, Andrew Lumisden.