Biographies of Masons

As the BBC Travel correspondent found out, the true history of Freemasonry in Scotland, forgotten for many centuries, is actually hidden ... Everyone has in sight. A quiet Hill Street street with its cobblestone bridges and characteristic facades of the 18th century is a real oasis in a noisy new city, one of the central regions of Edinburgh. Compared to the castle overhanging over the Scottish capital or creepy dead ends, it seems completely ordinary - well, what secrets can lurk on such a street?

But if you walk along it slowly, you can notice something unusual. Six -pointed star was carved a little higher in the stone wall, dotted with incomprehensible - at least for the uninitiated - symbols and numbers. In the chapel of St. Mary, located at Hill Street, house 19, worship is not performed. There is the current Masonic lodge - judging by the fact that the first references to it date back to the year, the oldest in the world.

Most lovers of the history of the modern movement of "free masons" are convinced that it originated much later, in the year, when the future great box of England was founded. However, Freemasonry in many ways - as typically Scottish phenomenon as a little bag or checkered kilt. Associations of masons existed both in England and Scotland from the Middle Ages. However, the first certificates of regular work of such associations, or lodges, were noted in Scotland.

By the end of the 16th century throughout the country - from Edinburgh to Perth - there were at least 13 permanent lodges. However, these medieval guilds gained a clear institutional structure only immediately before the onset of the 17th century - many consider this moment the date of birth of the modern Masonic movement. As an example, you can take the oldest meetings of the meetings, which are usually considered the main sign of the current organization.

The very first such document, which is dated to January, was drawn up by the Masons of the Ausnson-Haven lodge in the Scottish region of East-Lotian-this box was closed in the year. After only six months, the Protocols began to conduct protocols in the Edinburgh box of the “Chapel of St. Mary”. As far as one can judge, in England there are no such administrative records dating back to that time.

Moreover, now we know that they formed a single national network. It can be said that it was in Edinburgh that it all started. "I met with a merchant in his office - a room sheathed with a tree and a room in the great bed of Scotland at George Street, 96 - a stone's throw from the chapel of Holy Mary. From the day of the founding of this box, registers and protocols of all the rest of the officially registered Masonic lines came here.

Scotland - and therefore information about all their members, the number of more than four million people. "Ausns -Haven" and recently Kuper discovered the summer register of members of the Scottish Masonic Lodge in the Japanese city of Nagasaki. Certificate of international scale of the Great Lodge Scotland is its own museum, which is open to visits. The museum exhibited many fragmented objects from around the world, such as the green banner with the words "District Great Lodge of Scottish Masons in Northern China" and about thirty Masonic "jewelry" or, for uninitiated, just medallions from Czechoslovakia alone.

Of course, supporters of the theory of conspiracy would consider such a breadth of the activities of Masons by a bad sign. Some believe that Freemasonry is a cult that maintains ties with the Illuminati. Others are convinced that this is a worldwide network that has put a hand in everything in the world - from the design of the dollar bill to the French revolution.

We even place ads in the press. "Real secret societies are a mafia, Chinese triads. This is I understand - secret societies. They do not have public libraries or museums where anyone can go," he adds. Some of the myths of Freemasonry, apparently, stem from a secret related to its origin. The warrior monks who founded the banking business, including the Masons themselves, believe that the founder of Freemasonry was none other than King Solomon, whose temple, according to legend, was built on the basis of secret knowledge transmitted by masons from generation to generation.

A more plausible version is that Freemasonry originates in medieval associations of masters arranged according to the principle of guilds. And I am a free gardener, and this is a free carpenter and a free potter. "To all artisans, the presence of a certain organization made it possible not only to establish connections, but also to convey the secrets of skill without allowing strangers to the profession.However, there were significant differences between representatives of different professions.

For example, those who fish or engaged in agriculture usually led a sedentary lifestyle and worked in the same community day after day. But the masons were different. In the Middle Ages throughout Britain, the active construction of larger and intricate temples, and masons began on specific - often very large -scale - construction sites, often far from home, for several months or even years.

In such a situation, when you have to rely on strangers in the hope that they have the same skills and cope with work, it was necessary to somehow make sure that everyone knew their job and deserve confidence. By creating an organization. And how to prove your belonging to this organization when meeting with a new person? By creating a code that only devoted to know, for example, a special form of handshake.

Even if the lodges existed earlier, attempts to make the Masonic movement more organized belong to the end of the 16th century. At that time, at the court of King Jacob VI Scottish, who later became King Jacob I English, the main manager of the work was a certain William Show, who monitored the construction and repair of the monarchy castles, palaces and other structures - in other words, overseeing the British masons.

And although they already had their own traditions, the show decided that they needed a more formalized structure with their charter, regulating all aspects of activity: from the work of the apprentices to the promise "to live in harmony, as befits the members of the foal foal." In the year, he sent this charter to all the Scottish lodges that existed at that time. One of his prescriptions was that every bed hired a notary as his secretary.

Soon after this, the lodges began to conduct the protocols of their meetings. We see that the lodges in different parts of the country maintained a connection with the rest - they talked, exchanged information, sent their representatives to each other, ”Cooper explains. Soon, Scotland began to weaken. The British came to the forefront in England, and for the past centuries about the Scottish roots of Freemasonry, they have been well -being.

Coopers agree with it. However It has nothing to do with the Masons, published in the year, there is no mention of the ties with Masons. Historical information about their organization, and in the lodges themselves, which were stuck in the alley throughout Edinburgh and in other cities of Scotland. You can read the original of this article in English on the BBC Travel website.

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