The Operative Legacy within Scottish Freemasonry

Lecture Synopsis

It has been suggested by some that stonemasons have no connection whatsoever with modern Freemasons. For example:

'The second one, that medieval stonemasons developed the Craft for their own moral improvement, is a theory that has found acceptance in virtually every quarter, Masonic and non-Masonic. Nevertheless, despite the apparent logic of this idea and the large number of books that have promoted this idea over many generations, we found it difficult to substantiate once we considered it in depth. For a start, despite rigorous searching, we were completely unable to find any record to show the medieval stonemasons' guilds existed at all in England'.

The Hiram Key

Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas

It is something of a puzzle that records relating to stonemasons in England were searched whereas the hypothesis being proposed relates entirely to Scotland!

This lecture, from and entirely Scottish historical perspective, considers that whilst this claim might be true of England, and elsewhere, it is not true in respect of Scotland.

This lecture traces the origins of Freemasonry in its Scottish historical context by examining the extant documents from the late 16th and early 17th centuries. These documents consist of the Schaw Statutes (1598 and 1599), the so called St. Clair Charters (1601 and 1628) and the oldest Lodge Minutes in the world all of which are in the custodial care of the lecturer. In examining this material he discusses the motives of William Schaw whom he describes as being 'the father of modern Freemasonry'.

In examining the Operative Legacy within Scottish Freemasonry the author considers the origins of Freemasonry from a Scottish perspective and assesses its impact on the Craft from the time of the earliest known records until the present day.

The last part of the Airlie MS showing the date 1705.

Closely associated documents: the Edinburgh Register House MS (1696); the recently discovered, Airlie MS (1705) and the Chetwode Crawley MS (c.1710) are also considered although they are analysed in much greater detail in the lecture: The Oldest Masonic Rituals in the World.