Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite
The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite (AASR) is a Masonic rite based on systems of Scottish origin that developed in France, primarily in lodges in Paris and Bordeaux during the mid-18th century. It is the most widely practiced rite in the world, and its structure ranges from the symbolic degrees to the thirty-third degree, the last on its scale.
General Characteristics
In some parts of the world and in the International Mixed Masonic Order “Le Droit Humain” (Droit Humain), the AASR is a concordant body that oversees all degrees from the first to the thirty-third. In other areas, it functions as an appendant body, with a Supreme Council overseeing the degrees from the fourth to the thirty-third. The first three degrees (Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, Master Mason) are considered “Blue Lodge” degrees, not “Red Lodge” degrees.
The name of the rite can vary by jurisdiction. In England and Australia, it is sometimes called “Rose Croix,” although this is only one of its degrees and should not be confused with other Masonic Rosicrucian societies such as the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia. The English and Irish Constitutions omit the word “Scottish” in their official name.
Documented Historical Origins
The Degree of Scottish Master
There are records of lodges conferring the degree of “Scots Master” or “Scotch Master” as early as 1733. The first recorded lodge was at the Devil Tavern, Temple Bar, London. Other documented lodges include one in Bath in 1735 and the French lodge St. George de l’Observance No. 49, in Covent Garden, in 1736.
The Copiale Cipher, dated between the 1740s and 1760s, states that “the rank of Scottish master is a completely new invention,” suggesting these higher degrees were relatively recent developments at the time.
Estienne Morin
Estienne Morin was a French merchant involved in high-degree Freemasonry in Bordeaux from 1744. In 1747, he founded an “Écossais” (Scottish) lodge in Le Cap Français, present-day Haiti. On August 27, 1761, in Paris, he was issued a patent creating him “Grand Inspector for all parts of the New World,” signed by officers of the Grand Lodge of Paris. Originally, this document granted him authority only over symbolic (Blue) lodges, not over high-degree lodges. Later copies were probably embellished by Morin himself.
Morin returned to the West Indies in 1762 or 1763, settling in Saint-Domingue. In 1770, in Kingston, Jamaica, he created a “Grand Chapter” called the Grand Council of Jamaica. He died in 1771 and was buried in Kingston.
Henry Andrew Francken
Henry Andrew Francken, born Hendrick Andriese Franken, of Dutch origin and naturalized French, assisted Morin in disseminating the degrees. Morin appointed him Deputy Grand Inspector General (DGIG). In 1771, he produced a manuscript with the rituals for the fifteenth through the twenty-fifth degrees. Francken produced at least four manuscripts: one from 1771, another from 1783, one of uncertain date (with the fourth through twenty-fifth degrees, found in Liverpool around 1984), and another with the fourth through twenty-fourth degrees (given by H. J. Whymper to the District Grand Lodge of the Punjab, rediscovered around 2010). There is also a French manuscript from 1790 to 1800 containing the twenty-five degrees of the Order of the Royal Secret.
Structuring of the Rite
The 25-Degree Rite
It was once believed that a “Rite of Perfection” of twenty-five degrees existed, formed in Paris by a council called the “Council of Emperors of the East and West.” The title “Rite of Perfection” appears for the first time in the preface to the “Great Constitutions of 1786,” whose authority is now known to be defective. It is now accepted that this twenty-five-degree rite was compiled by Estienne Morin and is more properly called the “Rite of the Royal Secret” or the “Rite of Morin.” It was known as “The Order of the Prince of the Royal Secret” by the founders of the AASR, who mentioned it in their “Circular to Both Hemispheres” or “Manifesto” of December 4, 1802.
Foundation of the First Supreme Council
On May 31, 1801, the First Supreme Council of the Sovereign Grand Inspectors General of the XXXIII and Ultimate Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite was constituted in Charleston, South Carolina. All other legitimate Supreme Councils are derived from this first Supreme Council.
Arrival in Scotland
The rite was not born in Scotland; it arrived in that country only in 1846. Its antiquity dates from 1786.
Controversies and Legends
There is great controversy regarding the title and true origin of the rite. The mythological origins of English and universal Freemasonry have more to do with the symbolic than the historical. According to documents admitted by AASR Masons, the origin of the rite would have taken place after the First Crusade, simultaneously in Scotland and France, falling into disuse from approximately 1648. Such a claim has never been able to be demonstrated by any reliable document.
French writers Jean-Marie Ragon (1781-1862) and Emmanuel Rebold claimed that the high degrees were created and practiced in the Canongate Kilwinning Lodge in Edinburgh. This claim has been described as entirely false by Masonic historiography.
According to versions not recognized by Masonic historians such as Ragon, Joaust, Clavel, Laurens, Findel, Folger Kloss, and Marconay, the complete system of thirty-three degrees rests upon statutes drafted in Bordeaux in 1762, derived from a 1759 document of the “Princes of the Royal Secret.” On May 25, 1782, the Constitutions of Bordeaux were supposedly confirmed, when the rite consisted of only twenty-five degrees.
In 1786, the Grand Orient of France revised the high degrees, reducing them to four. The supporters of the Scottish Rite, who desired thirty-three degrees, called themselves “the Ancients” and called the supporters of the renewal “Moderns.” At that time, the scale was expanded to thirty-three degrees and a sovereign chapter was formed called the Supreme Council of the Thirty-Third Degree.
Emile Rebold states that Frederick of Prussia was initiated on August 15, 1738, in Brunswick. Marconay wrote to the Grand Lodge of the Three Globes in Berlin, receiving a reply on August 17, 1733 (a date contradictory to Frederick’s initiation) denying that Frederick was the creator of the system. Findel described the Bordeaux documents as absurd. The Prussian origin of the Rite is denied.
Context and Significance
The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite represents one of the most complex and widespread developments of speculative Freemasonry. Its history, marked by the confluence of Scottish, French, and American traditions, reflects the evolution of high-degree Freemasonry during the 18th century. The controversies about its origin highlight the tension between the symbolic traditions that Masons have transmitted and rigorous historical research. Despite unproven legends, documented facts place its formation in the context of Atlantic Masonic expansion, with figures like Estienne Morin and Henry Andrew Francken as key agents in its dissemination from the Caribbean to North America. The foundation of the First Supreme Council in Charleston in 1801 constitutes the foundational milestone from which the structure of the rite is organized today.
Sources