CONFIRMING GRANTS BY KINGS MALCOLM IV., ALEXANDER II.,
ALEXANDER III., JAMES II., AND JAMES III., TO THE
KNIGHTS OF THE HOSPITAL AND TEMPLE.
Jacobus Dei Gracia Rex Scotorum. Omnibus probis hominibus tocius terre sue clericis et laicis salutem. Sciatis nos quasdam cartas et euidentias per quondam nostros illustrissimos predecessores Scotorum reges factas et concessas Deo et Sancto Hospitali de Jerusalem et Fratribus Eiusdem Militie Templi Salomonis, videlicet, CARTAM confirmacionis quondam serenissimi patris nostri cuius anime propicietur. Deus factam super carta confirmacionis quondam aui nostri Jacobi Secundi regis Scotorum in qua inseruntur quatuor carte quondam predecessorum nostrorum Malcolmi et Alexandri Scotorum regum facte dicto Hospitali de Jerusalem, nunc Torfiching nuncupat. ac ffratribus eiusdem de nonnullis elemosinis terris toftis libertatibus tholoneis consuetudinibus in empcionibus et vendicionibus qualitercunque contingen. amerciamentis et priuilegiis ac super feodo et forisfactura suorum libere tenencium ut in dictis quatuor cartis predecessorum nostrorum in eisdem cartis confirmacionis in forma maiori insertis plenius constat et continetur de mandato, nostro uisam lectam inspectam diligenter examinatam, sanam integram non rasem non cancellatam nec in aliqua sua parte suspectam ad plenum intellexisse sub hac forma:—(1.) Jacobus Dei gracia rex Scotorum, omnibus probis hominibus tocius terre sue clericis et laicis salutem,—Sciatis nos quasdam cartas et euidentias per nostras illustrissimos, predecessores factas et concessas, Deo et sancto Hospitali de Jerusalem ffratribus eiusdem militie Templi Salomonis, videlicet, Cartam confirmacionis quondam nostri serenissimi progenitoris Jacobi Secundi Scotorum regis factam super cartis quondam Malcolmi et Alexandri Scotorum regum dicto Hospitali de Jerusalem, nunc Torfiching nuncupato ac ffratribus eiusdem de nonnullis elemosinis terris toftis libertatibus tholoneis consuetudinibus in empcionibus et vendicionibus et qualitercunque contingen. amerciamentis et priuilegiis vt in quatuor cartis predecessorum nostrorum in dicta carta confirmacionis in maiori forma insertis continetur de mandato, nostro uisam lectam inspectam et diligenter examinatam sanam integram non rasam non cancellatam nec in aliqua sui parte suspectam, ad plenum intellexisse, sub hac forma. (2.) Jacobus Dei gracia rex Scotorum, Omnibus probis hominibus tocius terre nostre clericis et laicis salutem, Sciatis nos uidisse inspexisse et diligenter examinasse cartas et euidentias illustrissimorum progenitorum et antecessorum nostrorum, viz. Malcolmi Alexandri et Alexandri regum Scocie, quarum tenores de uerbo in verbum sequuntur. [Here follow the respective grants of confirmation by the above Sovereigns, three of which are addressed to the Hospitallers, and one (by Alexander II.) to the Knights Templars. These we could have wished to have quoted at large, but find it would exceed our limits. The Charter then proceeds]—"Quasquidam" cartas et euidencias tam dictas cartas confirmacionum quondam patris et aui nostrorum qua measdam quatuor cartas predictorum predecessorum ac donaciones concessiones libertates priuilegia ceteraque omnia et singula in eisdem contentis in omnibus suis punctis et articulis condicionibus et modis ac circumstanciis suis quibuscunque forma pariter et effectu in omnibus et per omnia ut premissum est approbamus ratificamus et pro nobis et successoribus nostris pro perpetuo confirmamus. Ac insuper, ubi in dictis cartis non clare constat in illo termino 'de tholoneis' nos tamen ob singulares specialesque fauorem, amorem, et delectionem, quos gerimus ergo dilectum familiarem militem, nostrumque consiliarium delectum Wilelmum Knollis, modernum preceptorem eiusdem Loci de Torfichin, nostrum thesaurarium, Volumus, Concessimus, et hac presenti carta nostra Concedimus eidem Preceptori et suis successoribus Preceptoribus de Torfiching ut sint liberi a solucione alicuius custume de quibuscunque bonis et mercanciis suis destinandis per eosdem ad partes extra-marinas pro solucione ipsius Preceptoris responsionis, que vero responsio extendit ad ducentos ducatos, et quod annuatim in nostro saccario videatur ad quantam summam custume dicta bona se extendunt et tantum eidem Preceptori allocatur. In cuius rei testimonium, huic presenti carte nostre confirmacionis magnum sigillum apponi precipimus. Testibus, &c. Apud Edinburge decimo nono die mensis Octobris anno domini millesimo quadringentesimo octuajesimo octauo et regni nostri primo.
S. M. G. D. O.
We, the Elect Masters of the Venerable Society sacred to John, or of the Social Order of Freemasons, Rulers of the Lodges or Tabernacles, constituted at London, Edinburgh, Vienna, Amsterdam, Paris, Lyons, Frankfort, Hamburgh, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Madrid, Venice, Ghent, Regiomonte, Brussels, Dantzic, Middleburgh, and in the City of Cologne, in Chapter assembled in the said City of Cologne, in the year, month, and days aftermentioned. Our Preses being the Master of the Lodge established in this City,—a venerable Brother and most learned, prudent, and judicious man, called to preside over these deliberations, by our unanimous vote;—do, by these letters addressed to all the above-mentioned Lodges,—to our Brethren present and future, declare, that forasmuch as we have been considering the designs, which in these calamitous times embroiled, by Civil dissensions and discord, have been imputed to our foresaid Society, and to all the Brethren belonging to this Order of Freemasons, or of John, opinions, machinations, secret, as well as openly detected; all which are utterly foreign to us, and to the Spirit, Design, and Precepts, of the Association. It moreover appears that we, the Members of this Order, (chiefly because we are bound by those inscrutable secrets of our connection and covenant which are most sacredly kept by us all,) in order that we may be more effectually vilified among the uninitiated and profane, and that we may be devoted to public execration, are accused of the crime of reviving the Order of the Templars, and commonly designated by that appellation, as if we had combined and conspired for the purpose of recovering, as Members of that Order, its property and possessions, and avenging the death of the last Grand Master, who presided over that Order, on the posterity of the Kings and Princes who were guilty of the crime, and who were the authors of the extinction of said Order; as if, with that view, we were exciting schisms in the Churches, and disturbance and sedition in the Temporal Government and Dominions; as if we were influenced by hatred and enmity against the Pope, the Chief Pontiff, the Emperor, and all Kings; as if obeying no external power, but only the superiors and elected of our own Association, which is spread throughout the whole World,—we executed their secret mandates and clandestine designs, by the private intercourse of correspondence and emissaries; as if, in fine, we admitted none into our Mysteries but those who, after being scrutinised and tried by bodily tortures, became bound and devoted to our Conclaves. Therefore, having all these considerations in view, it hath seemed to us expedient, and even absolutely necessary, to expound the true state and origin of our Order, and to what it tends, as an institute of charity itself, according as these principles are recognised and approved by those who are most versant in the Highest Craft, and by masters enlightened in the genuine sciences of the Institution, and to give forth to the Lodges or Conclaves of our society the principles thus expounded, digested, and organised, as an examplar authenticated by our signatures, whereby a perpetual record may remain of this our renewed covenant, and the unshaken integrity of our purpose; and also in case, through the daily increasing propensity of the people to animosities, enmity, intolerance, and wars, this our society should hereafter be more and more oppressed, inasmuch as to be unable to maintain its standing and consolidation, and thus be dispersed to some distant regions of the earth; and in case, through lapse of time, the society itself should become less observant of its integrity, purity, and incorruptibility, nevertheless, in better times and more convenient circumstances, there may remain, if not the whole, yet perhaps one or other of the duplicates of these presents, by which standard the Order, if subverted, may be restored, and if corrupted or estranged from its purpose and designs, may be reformed. For THESE CAUSES, by these our universal letters, compiled according to the context of the most ancient monuments which are extant, concerning the objects of the institution,—the rites and customs of our most ancient and most secret order,—We, Elect Masters, influenced by the love of the true light, do, by the most solemn sanctions, adjure all fellow-labourers, to whom these presents now or in time hereafter may come, that they withdraw not themselves from the truth contained in this document. Moreover, to the enlightened, as well as to the darker world, whose common safety concerns and strongly interests us, we announce and proclaim,—