Product Description

"Lively...illuminating. A refreshing example of scholarly detective work." DSKirkus Reviews

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #74582 in Books
• Published on: 1990-10-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 376 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780871316028
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

From Publishers Weekly
Unlike most of its five million members, including many world leaders, who believe that the Freemasons, the world's largest fraternal organization, evolved from the guilds of medieval stonemasons, historian Robinson persuasively links Freemasonry's origins and goals to the once powerful and wealthy Knights Templar order. Banned and persecuted by a 14th-century papal bull, he claims, the Knights were forced to form an underground society. The author combines scholarly research and entertaining storytelling in tracing Freemasonry as a worldwide political, religious, economic and social body dedicated to self-improvement and charity while governed by secret rituals and symbols (explained here in detail).
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Historians are always wary of newcomers who try to reinterpret old events in a new way. Here, Robinson (not a professional historian) takes a fresh look at the Peasant's Revolt of 1381 in England and emerges with something really new. It had been thought that this revolt against feudal landlords and royalty was a spontaneous one led by ad hoc people. Robinson shows, in what seems to be a convincing way, that far from being spontaneous, the revolt was a well-planned and highly organized attempt on the part of remnants of the Knights Templar (disbanded by the Pope 65 years earlier) to get retribution against the Knights Hospitaller. Robinson's hypothesis explains many previously unanswerable facts; for those interested in medieval British history and Freemasonry.
- Gordon Stein, Univ. of Rhode Island, Providence
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Insightful, Interesting, and Exciting
In Born In Blood, Robinson examines the origins of Freemasonry as he tackles long held ideas and proposes new ones.

Robinson began his work intending to write about the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 but then he began to wonder if some kind of organization, such as a secret society was behind this plot all along. This idea led him to research the downfall of the Knights Templar in part of the book and later the rise of Freemasonry in the other half.

Freemasonry's legendary origins are based on the guilds of stone masons of Europe, however "Born in Blood" tackles these long held ideas and makes counter arguments that Freemasonry may have instead grown out of the Knights Templar.

Robinson draws many highly researched parallels in history, ritual, and practice between the ancient Knights Templar and past and modern Freemasonry which go way beyond the area of mere coincidence. Such as how Masonic dress, oaths, and practices have direct links back to the Knights Templar. While at the same time pointing out obvious facts in history, such as both groups are the only two in the world that claim King Solomon's Temple as their birthplace.

In closing, Robinson deals with a few falsehoods created by Anti-Masonic people and groups such as Jim Shaw and his book "The Brotherhood". Robinson quickly debunks their claims and points out them as being erroneous and clearly false.

Born in Blood is well researched, interesting, and even entertaining. After publishing his work, Robinson went on to become a Freemason himself and was later honored for his historical contributions to Freemasonry.

Fascinating historical speculation. But there's more.
Robinson does his homework and writes well. I read this book several years ago, and it sparked my long-term interest in reading about Freemasonry's verifiable origins. Recently, this led me to read 'The Origins of Freemasonry: Scotland's Century, 1590-1710', by David Stevenson, which I now recommend more highly than 'Born in Blood'.

'Scotland's Century' is the only work on the origins of Freemasonry I have ever seen that ignores the movement's vast myth-making literature and focuses instead on the surviving records of the earliest known Masonic lodges. Stevenson--who teaches history at the University of St. Andrews--paints a solid, sober, believable portrait of Freemasonry's rather prosaic origins in the operative masonic lodges of early 17th-century Scotland.

Stevenson's book is a welcome and refreshing antidote to all the junk that has been written about Freemasonry in the past three centuries. It explodes Masonic authors' extravagant claims for an origin in ancient civilizations and possession of power supernatural secrets. It also undermines anti-Masonic authors' equally bizarre accusations of pacts with supernatural forces of evil. It replaces these fanciful images with the story of a remarkable human institution whose recent, humble, workaday origins are far more interesting than its myths.

'Born in Blood' is lots of fun to read, and I still recommend it highly. But the tale told in 'Scotland's Century' is probably a lot closer to what really happened.

Very entertaining and informative
I enjoyed reading "Born in Blood" tremendously. A lot of fascinating historical details recounted in a lively and entertaining style, mixed with just the right amount of wit and quality humor. Maybe at times the author is not very focused, but his gift for story-telling makes up for sometimes carrying the reader across several related topics before returning to the main track. While some of the conclusions and suggestions launched are not only interesting as ideas in themselves but also well-grounded and quite plausible, a few of the associations proposed between Masonic symbolism and its origins/explanations are highly speculative and therefore quite improbable, but always within the boundaries of common sense and dispassionate, genuine interest in the subject. Even though the author is not a Mason, I think he is sometimes (very) slightly biased in favor of Masonry, and maybe a little too harsh on some of the past errors (historically true, as they are) of the Catholic Church.
Excellent reading, by the time you finish it you will have learned not only a lot more about Freemasonry, but also quite a few fascinating facts of European medieval history.