GENEALOGY OF THE SAINTECLAIRES OF ROSSLYN Father Richard Augustin Hay. Edited by Robert L.D. Cooper. Translated by John Wade, Grand Lodge of Scotland, Edinburgh, 2002. Paperback, 194 pages, £18.99. ISBN: 0-902324-63-2

Rosslyn Chapel has a presence and grandeur far greater than its physical size and such is its enigmatic quality that it has become a spawning ground for modern myth-making. But such a process has been underway for far longer, perhaps since the eighteenth century.
    Around 1689, Father Hay examined all the documents owned by the family, some referring back to the eleventh century. They provide information on the St. Clair family, their business dealings, religious matters and, of course, Rosslyn Chapel. These documents have since mostly been lost. Hay provided full transcriptions or summaries of them all, together with a record of family oral traditions. His manuscripts were edited into a volume published in 1835 which is now very rare and contains many documents rendered only in Latin. In this new edition of the work, all the Latin text has been translated by John Wade of Sheffield University.
    Especially important is the introduction by Robert Cooper, Librarian and Curator of the Grand Lodge of Scotland. Cooper notes that in 1693 the famous ‘Apprentice Pillar’ was called the ‘Princes Pillar’; neither this pillar nor the legend associated with it were mentioned by Hay. A surprising omission since Hay recorded many oral traditions and so this legend’s existence in the seventeenth century must be regarded as doubtful. Furthermore, Hay, who once wrote a brief but sympathetic work on the Knights Templar, did not note any documents linking the St. Clairs with that Order. It is reasonable to conclude that neither documents nor links existed. Hay did, however, record that he had seen the St. Clair knights buried in the crypt – in their armour, rather than in coffins.
    Importantly for Scottish Freemasonry, Hay transcribed two ‘Letters of Jurisdiction’ – c.1601 and c.1628 – granted to Sir William St. Clair by the Scottish masons asserting the St. Clair family to be the mason’s ‘Patrons and Protectors’. But Cooper reminds us that these were ‘written by stonemasons for stonemasons and cannot be interpreted as referring to modern Scottish Freemasonry.’
    This book is a fundamental text for all those interested in the St. Clair family and their connection with Rosslyn Chapel.
    Michael Baigent