The Templar theory of Masonic origins

The Templar theory of Masonic origins proposes that Freemasonry developed from survivors of the medieval Order of the Temple. Versions of the theory describe an underground fraternity preserving the Templars' organisation or traditions after the order's suppression. Masonic historians John Hamill and Wallace McLeod have challenged the evidence advanced for this descent.^[1]^[2]

Ramsay and the Crusades

Andrew Michael Ramsay's discourses of 1736–1737 are often brought into this discussion. They connect Masonic origins with crusaders and the Knights of St John of Jerusalem. Ramsay did not expressly identify these ancestors as Templars. Treating his narrative as a specific claim of Templar succession changes what the text says.^[3]

Born in Blood

John J. Robinson's Born in Blood (1989) develops a later version of the theory. Starting from the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, Robinson asks whether a concealed organisation behind the rebellion could have descended from persecuted Templars. He interprets attacks on Hospitaller property, references to a “Great Society” and Masonic traditions as clues to an underground network that eventually became Freemasonry. These connections are his reconstruction, rather than a documented succession of lodges.^[4]

Hamill's review identifies a central problem with Robinson's comparison: he relied on a nineteenth-century American publication when arguing about much earlier Masonic practice. Similarities found in that source cannot establish that the same features existed centuries before.^[1] McLeod also criticises Robinson's handling of The Old Charges, his treatment of craft organisations and some of his proposed linguistic connections.^[2]

Scotland and the evidence

Some accounts connect Templar survivors with Scotland and the Battle of Bannockburn. Rosslyn Chapel's historical guide describes Templar participation at Bannockburn as a legend for which there is no historical evidence.^[5]

Surviving Scottish craft and lodge records provide a different body of evidence. David Stevenson's study examines the institutions, members and intellectual setting of Scottish masonry around 1600. The Schaw Statutes and early lodge records allow particular people and activities to be placed in time; they should be assessed separately from stories about medieval survival.^[6]

The existence of the modern Masonic Knights Templar is a separate matter from the claim that the whole Craft descended from the medieval order. A shared name or the later use of chivalric themes does not by itself demonstrate continuous institutional descent.^[1]

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 John M. Hamill, Review of John J. Robinson's Born in Blood, Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, vol. 104 (1991), pp. 239–240, reproduced by the Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon.
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 Wallace McLeod, Review of Born in Blood, The Royal Arch Mason Magazine, vol. 16, no. 10 (Summer 1990), pp. 303–304, reproduced by the Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon.
↑ Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Los discursos de Andrew M. Ramsay (1736–1737), Museo Virtual de Historia de la Masonería, texts and commentary.
↑ John J. Robinson, Born in Blood: The Lost Secrets of Freemasonry (M. Evans, 1989), introduction, pp. xi–xvi.
↑ Fiona Rogan, The Knights Templar, Rosslyn Chapel adult learning guide, p. 3.
↑ David Stevenson, The Origins of Freemasonry: Scotland's Century, 1590–1710 (Cambridge University Press, 1988), especially chapters 2–3.