The Hidden History of Ancient Freemasonry by

Prince Michael Stewart of Scotland and Michael

James Alexander Stewart

When my first book ‘The Forgotten Monarchy of Scotland’ was published in

1998, I mentioned throughout the work the achievements of the Templars
and that of Freemasonry. I particularly emphasized the fact that the latter
evolved from the former over two hundred years of secret political
undertakings in Scotland where they, the Templars, fled following the 1307
demise of the Order in Europe. The book became a Scottish second bestseller
after 3 weeks of publication and reached number 7 in the UK two weeks
later. It also set the Masonic Templar world rocking on its heels and I was
inundated with letters from freemasons and Templar enthusiasts alike from
all over the world. The Grand Lodge of Australia gave the book a terrific
review and the Grand Lodge of Scotland decided to mention it on its
website. All correspondence said the same thing ‘tell us more’. I suppose
that it was a normal progression to do so. I come from a Templar family, so
why not write about it from a family point of view.
But should this be enough to interest the public. By fate, my best friend
Walid Salhab is a Lebanese filmmaker and Lecturer at Queen Margaret
College University (Edinburgh) and I mentioned to him the new project.
This discussion proceeded to the small hours of the morning and gave me
that special twist that would make the book ‘unique’ among all the works
written about the Knights of the Temple of Jerusalem. I would not draw
primarily from Christian sources but from an Islamic one. Walid would take
regular trips to the Middle East in order to bring back information. Little
did we know what we were letting ourselves into.
RESEARCH
It is true to say that history is often hidden until, usually out of the blue and
when the time happens to be right, a treasure-trove of forgotten documents
and archives is suddenly discovered and springs to life. The ‘status quo’ is
then thrown out of the window and a new facet of history can then be
presented to readers starving for new interpretations of past history.
This is what happened when, during the past two years research, I came across
what is referred to as ‘The Charles Morrisson Collection’ (about 2000 works),
housed at the library of Scottish Grand Lodge in Edinburgh, Scotland. The
collection’s oldest script dates back to 1615, extending into the 19th century.
Some of these scripts were handwritten in Old French, some of which had
been published privately, all of which had been forgotten and never consulted.
It is the lack of most English speaking researchers’ understanding of the
French language that is at fault here. Being bilingual, the language was not a
problem for me and I was thus given a unique opportunity to bring these new
finds to the world at large. These forgotten archives have greatly helped me to
understand where the Templar myth ends and where masonic history begins.
In ‘The Knights Templars of the Middle East’, an absorbing quest will be
fulfilled in an historical subject which has long exerted a strange fascination
over academics and laymen alike.
True, over the past few years, publishers have been inundated with works
claiming Templar knowledge but they seldom managed to live up to their
expectations. ‘The Knights Templars of the Middle East’ will, I have no
doubt, rock the foundation of the world of Freemasonry and the Vatican itself.
Indeed Islam, particularly its origin, will emerge as something quite different
to the rather naive, preconceived understanding most of the Western world has
of a Faith against which many of our ancestors fought and lost their live. They
need not have fought, nor died. Their being sent to the Middle East was
nothing more than a ploy to, firstly, eradicate Rome’s rival Papal Seat, the
Orthodox Byzantine Church. Secondly, to rid Europe of a strata of society
which the Church had deemed to be too much of a financial burden and
therefore to be expendable. While the Church of Rome failed in its attempt to
destroy the Byzantine Orthodox Church, it certainly succeeded in sending
thousands of the less fortunate of society to their death in Asia Minor under
the leadership of Peter the Hermit.
MECCA
Thereafter, the Church had to contend with French families of rather mixed
and cosmopolitan ancestries, with individuals sharing lineage ranging between
Islamic, Judaic and Merovingien descents amalgamated together in the greater
power of France. They, too, had an agenda peculiar to their own and ended up
carving up Palestine between themselves, creating the Crusader States and
Kingdoms of Jerusalem, Edessa, Antioch, Joppa and Tripoli, even Cyprus.
Moreover, the Roman Catholic Church was kept at arm’s length and treaties
with Islamic leaders were signed. To keep the whole Islamic/Christian
understanding together, an institution was created. This entity would gain
sovereignty and became known as the Knights Templars. To the world, it may
have been a Christian organization but, in their theological understanding, it
favoured Islam over the Roman Catholic Church.
HUGUES DE PAYENS

Islam is very much a part of the Templar equation, whether in Europe or the
Middle East. The fact that the Order’s first Master, Hugues de Payen, was of
Moorish origin and of Islamic Royal descent has never before been disclosed,
until now. Moorish Spain is very much part of the Templar roots but the
Christian hierarchy in Rome made sure that this fact, one of many linking the
Order with Islam, was suppressed for obvious religion reasons. The influence
that Islamic Spain had over France and Sicily is often ignored. The fact that
Cordoba, the capital of Moorish Spain, was a centre of excellence, of
knowledge, of religious understanding and toleration and ‘the’ literary centre
of Europe has, for many years, been suppressed by the Catholic Church. The
truth, however, is that till the rise of Islam in Spain, Europe was in the throes
of a cultural and spiritual Dark Age. Had it not been for the Islamic influence
in Spain, the mediaeval concept of Chivalry would never have emerged and
the ideals of European Renaissance would have come to nothing.
Without Cordoba and its Caliphs, European architecture would never have
evolved and the Banking system would not have been introduced into the
West. It equated with Alexandria in terms of literary treasures, with several
libraries, one of which housed no less than four hundred thousand books. As
such, Cordoba is still in possession of a suppressed history of Europe; Islamic
archives upon which I was able to draw. Cordoba, which can boast to have
one of the most beautiful Mosques in the world, the city from which derived
the word ‘croisade’.
ST BERNARD OF CLERVAUX
The word crusade did not, originally, imply or require Christians to kill
Muslims. Pope Sylvester II first introduced the word and his definition of the
word simply meant an exchange of thoughts, of knowledge, be it theological,
practical or cultural between Muslims, Jews and Christians. Interestingly,
Sylvester II studied in Cordoba and he was the son of the Count of Toulouse
and the grandson of the Exilarch of Narbonne. Born Gerbert d’Aurillac,
Sylvester II was a ‘Jewish’ Pope and was murdered by the Curia in 1003 for
trying to bring a new age between East and West, an age where Catholicism
was no longer to be considered the only path to salvation, only one of them. It
is his later relations, including Bernard of Clairvaux, leader of the Cistercian
Order, and Hugues de Payens, Master of the Templars, who created the
Crusader Kingdoms in Palestine and it was his ideals which they tried to put
into practice.
THE KINGDOM OF SOLOMON
With the rise of the Templars in the Middle East, we come to an era where pre
Christian/Judaic traditions are rediscovered and translated by the Cistercian
Order, an order whose roots are to be found in Islamic Sufism. With this
rediscovered knowledge, the Cistercian Order becomes the Cistercian
‘Church’ and eclipses all other religious Orders. With the Templars in the
Middle East, the search for the true Jerusalem goes forth, for they, the
Templars, quickly realized during their excavation in Jerusalem, Palestine,
that this was not the Jerusalem of Solomon but that of his descendant
Zerrubabel. And, lo and behold, they find that treasure on their way to
Ethiopia, in Western Arabia, while sailing down the Red Sea with a fleet
loaned to them by the Caliph of Egypt. Yaru Salem, together with its twenty
four city gates then remembered within the names of twenty four small
villages encircling the City where the Kings of Judah formerly ruled, was
found to be merely a shadow of its former self. They found more unique
evidence and vestiges of a greater, though by then defunct, Jewish Kingdom
in the area, finds such as the grave of both the High Priest Aaron and the cave
of Machpelah where Abraham and his family are buried. That was the secret
of all secrets for it was situated in the heart of Arabia, between Makkah and
Medina, the Holy of Holies of Islam.
THE TRUE KINGDOM OF SOLOMON
As an institution which had the backing of a Pope and the Cistercian Church,
the Order of the Knights Templars grew into the biggest and the most
successful mediaeval corporate in the known world. It owned a staggering
9.000.000 Hectares of prime land and by 1307 their Master, Jacques de
Molay, was responsible for the well being of no less than 260.000 souls.
Kings, Princes and the Papacy owed the Order vast sums of money which few
could afford to pay back. By 1307, the order was 190 years old and the
powers that be in Europe, namely the King of France, Philippe IV, and the
Pope, Clement V (a Frenchman), decided to rid themselves of the Order of the
Temple of Solomon and of the Jewish threat supporting it in France. On
Friday, October 13th, 1307, the Knights Templars were arrested, sequestered,
and would be subsequently tortured and tried. Many would be burnt to death.
JACQUES DE MOLAY
By 1312, the Order was dissolved in Europe and in 1314, their Master was
burned at the stake in Paris. According to the Catholic Church, this should be
the end of the problem were it not for the fact that they had forgotten the
Scottish equation within the frame of European politics. Scotland, fighting the
territorial greed of Edward I. Scotland, under interdict of excommunication at
the time of the arrest of the Knights Templars. Scotland, where the Papal edict
against the Knights could not be effectively put into practice. Scotland, which
would become the heir and the corner stone of Templar survival in Europe.
Scotland, where a contingent of escapee Templar Knights sailed and settled,
throwing their might on behalf of a King fighting the territorial greed of a
foreign king.
Under Robert the Bruce, Scotland regained her independence but achieved it
with the help of Templar Knights who came to Scotland seeking refuge.
Robert, who has been King of Scots in the heather for a year, welcomed them
in 1307. In 1308, Edward II, as greedy as his father had been, dispossessed the
Order in England and grabbed its properties as well as its income. From 1308
onwards, Robert the Bruce’s luck changed and the Plantagenet threat is met
and defeated at every turn. Robert meets the English army with a Scottish
force which, suddenly, is trained to fight in such a way that nothing can stop
it, with arms which it did not own a year before. Bannockburn, fought in
1314, sees the black and white flag of the Templars fly amid the Scots Army.
Defeated, shocked in his realization of those behind the Scottish successes,
Edward II fled back to England, never to set foot in Scotland again.
THE ROYAL STEWARTS
The Order was, of course, depleted, having lost many of its members on the
battlefield, and those who survived decided to create an organization that
would evolve into Scottish Freemasonry. Not the kind of freemasonry as we
know today, but a freemasonry such as the supporters of the Stewarts in exile,
that of James VIII and his son Bonnie Prince Charlie, experienced and
practiced.
The Stewarts, the Setons and the Sinclairs, following Bannockburn, were the
families that became heavily involved with what would evolve into Scottish
freemasonry. All Scots monarchs, from Robert the Bruce down to King James
VII (and the Stewarts in exile), were also recognized as the secret Grand
Masters of Freemasonry, a state of affairs confirmed by the Swedish Grand
Lodge and Royal Family, with contemporary letters acknowledging Bonnie
Prince Charlie as Master of the Masonic Templars. In effect, it once again
became a political equation within Europe, so much so that the Roman
Catholic Church decided to fight this new political movement by producing
no less than five bulls excommunicating any Roman Catholics joining
Freemasonry. However, even within its own ranks, the Church found itself
facing a rebellion, finding a number of Jesuit and Dominican brothers as
Brethren of the Craft.
SACRED GEOMETRY
That true trend of freemasonry native to Britain had to be eradicated and was
suppressed by the powers of Westminster so that the usurping Parliamentary
Royal House of Hanover could be kept upon the throne of Great Britain by the
Anglican establishment. In order to achieve this, the Grand Lodge of England
was created in 1717, with a bogus history and newly made up rituals. Over a
period of 50 years, it infiltrated masonic lodges all over Britain and either
suppressed them or took them over.
That Templarism survived the ploy to destroy it by the Roman Catholic
Church, there is no doubt. Even the Church admits it in the 1884 edition of
the Catholic Dictionary. That it evolved into Scottish Freemasonry is also
admitted in the same work. That it expanded into Europe during the Stewart
sojourn in exile is also explicitly confirmed. The Ancient Accepted Scottish
Rite is practiced the world over, except in Britain, and boasts of a link with
the Order of the Knights Templar. However, few can prove the link and this
book will, for once and for all, settle the argument in favour of the Templar
origin of Scottish Freemasonry. Moreover, it will show the secret architectural
links between the Mosque of Cordoba, the Cistercian Abbey of Melrose and
the Dome of the Rock, between Melrose Abbey and the Templars and
between the Templars and mediaeval Scottish Freemasonry.
THE JOURNEY
The Knights Templars of the Middle East will take us on a journey from East
to West, and back again, into the plots of European dynasties of Middle
Eastern origin wanting to re-establish themselves in the countries once ruled
by their ancestors; of a Roman Catholic ploy to destroy the Byzantine
Orthodox Church; of Islamic trade traditions to be imposed upon Europe so
that it could be modernized; of Scotland becoming the heir to a tradition
which would be suppressed by the royal aspiration of the usurping German
House of Hanover so that it could supercede the lawful House of Stewart.
Interestingly, George I, as Elector of Hanover, backed a Holy Roman Empire
(by then on the decline), bent into keeping the populace subservient to the
Church of Rome.

FREEMASONRY
As a further point of interest on the subject regarding the popularity of
Templarism and Freemasonry, August of the year 2000 saw the city of
Stirling, Scotland, playing host to thousands of Masonic Templars who
attended a major event celebrating and commemorating their world-wide
achievements. London can now boast of its own Masonic research centre
(offering public course programmes throughout the year), based in Canonbury
Tower, Canonbury Place, Islington (London) and Sheffield University created
a ‘Chair of Masonic Studies’ by September of the year 2000, having
advertised the position in prominent newspapers. If nothing else, it does prove
that there is a significant thirst of knowledge for freemasons and non-
freemasons alike who are desperate to delve into the sources of Freemasonry.
The book is not, of course, about secret masonic rituals but about masonic
history and its hidden link with the Order of the Knights Templars and the
order’s link with Islam. As such, it will debunk an enormous amount of
speculative nonsense that has previously been written on the subject. On a
personal note, I would like to point out that I am, today, the Sovereign Grand
Master of all extant Jacobite lodges world-wide, having appeared within the
Italian Press and on Italian TV in 1992. Due to masonic scandals in Italy, it
was felt that I should emphasize to the Italian Nation that Jacobite
Freemasonry had no connection with The Grand Orient of Italy. Thus, it could
not be tainted by the P2 financial scandal linking the Vatican Bank and The
Grand Orient with the Mafia.
I am also a Scottish Freemason and, as such, will be addressing the subject as
an insider within this worldwide institution. This, together with my Islamic
lineage (I am descended from the Prophet Muhammad), has helped to open
many doors to private collections that have never been, till now, in the public
domain.
© Royal House of Stewart

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