WAS KING JAMES VI OF SCOTLAND AND I OF ENGLAND A FREEMASON?

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"James was not called the British Solomon in vain. His love of learning was genuine, deep seated, and surely admirable by any standards..." -- Antonia Fraser, King James VI of Scotland and I of England, pg. 11

According to Talmudic legend, king Solomon knew the mysteries of the Qabalah, which is the basis of Freemasonry. Did "Britain's Solomon", King James VI(I) of Scotland and Britain, also have knowledge of the Kabbalah? Perhaps. We know that he was exceptionally well read, multilingual, and fluent in Latin; so he certainly had the means to aquire esoteric knowledge if he so desired. Some sources say he did indeed partake in Qabalist Solomonic rites.

He was a friend and work associate of Francis Bacon, supposedly the highest ranking Rosicrucian at the time. What's more, according to Masonic historians, King James was an active Freemason, although this claim contradicts Masonic reports that Freemasonry wasn't established until much later, in 1717, in which case James could no more be a member of Masonry than he could have been an American astronaut. However, it's hard to doubt, given the evidence, that 1717 was the date when Freemasonry came out of the closet, so to speak, when it officially and publically established and acknowledged itself, even though it existed much earlier as a covert adjunct or outgrowth of organized Judaism, the inner working of which is Kabbalah.

Since the inner working of Freemasonry is also Kabbalah, we might entertain the hypothesis that King James, as a Freemason, did indeed imbibe some knowledge of Qabalah. Both Rosicrucianism and Templarism, each of which are said to have influenced Freemasonry, arguably had Kabbalist origins and dogma.

Freemason Robert Lomas tells us that Francis Bacon sent a copy of his work Novum Organum to King James VI(I), the cover of which had a Masonic-looking image of a ship sailing between two pillars. He quotes Margery Purver's interpretation of the symbol as representing ships sailing through the pillars of Hercules, the symbolical limit of classical science. Lomas tells us that if Bacon were a Freemason, the frontpiece would advertise to a fellow Mason that Bacon was Fellow of the Craft. King James, Lomas argues, was indeed a Freemason--and an active one at that, participating in ceremonial Masonic enactments of Solomon's meeting with the Queen of Sheba. The twin towers on Bacon's frontpiece, in that case, would have been immediatly recognized by King James as the Masonic ideograph of the two pillars that stood outside of Solomon's temple.

Lomas writes: "Bacon was in deep disgrace when he sent this book to the king. Perhaps the hidden message of the frontpiece of Bacon's book was intended to plead with the king for mercy. For the same Fellow Craft ritual says elsewhere: 'Ye are not to palliate or aggravate the offenses of your brethren but to judge with candour, admonish with friendship and judge with mercy.' Perhaps the message worked because King James VI(I) allowed Bacon his freedom after only a token period of imprisonment."

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The King James Bible is used in Masonic rituals and is the Bible of choice for Protestant Freemasons.