Product Description

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

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #31335 in Books
• Published on: 1990-10-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 376 pages

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.

Review
Here, Robinson, a gentleman farmer and medievalist, makes an occasionally lively, often illuminating case for the medieval Knights Templars as the originators of the secretive worldwide society of Freemasons. What sort of people could make use of a secret underground network of sworn allies in 14th-century England? What sort of members would have been capable of organizing such national uprisings as the supposedly spontaneous Peasants' Rebellion of 1382 at a time when clandestine communication and travel between cities was next to impossible? Certainly not a collection of ill-educated construction workers, states Robinson in this indictment of the standard claim that modern-day Freemasonry originated with a society of stonemasons' guilds. On the other hand, the Knights Templars, a well-armed and secretive religious order that provided banking services for Europe's nobility, had ample reason to go underground when Pope Clement V abruptly excommunicated them at the behest of France's King Philip, who had the knights arrested and tortured to avoid repaying the money he owed them. The English Templars received enough advance warning to disappear, Robinson argues, founding a Brotherhood that continued to protect "heretics" (including the scientists of the Enlightenment) through the ensuing centuries, until Roman Catholicism's political power weakened and the Freemasons, who came to include several US presidents, became the establishment. The author's enthusiam for his subject proves contagious as he traces Freemasonry's arcane terms to appropriate counterparts in Norman French, the language spoken by the Templars, and links secret Masonic symbols to those likely to have been used by the ousted Knights. He ends by suggesting that a suitable use of the power of five million modern Freemasons, considering their religious tolerance and their new knowledge of the Templars' Crusader origins, might be to act as peacemakers among contending religious forces in Jerusalem, where the order of the Templars began. A refreshing example of scholarly detective work, limited only by its specialized subject. (Kirkus Reviews)

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.

A Great Piece of History of a Great Organization
This book is an excellent read. Mr. Robinson is a historian but writes like a first-rate novelist. The first half of the book is a definite page turner. And the second half, is great in that he gives you the progression of Freemasonry and some information dispelling the out and out attacks by anti-masons. He sets the record straight. THIS BOOK MADE ME WANT TO BE A FREEMASON! And I'm proud to be one.