Escoceses

Escoceses, Scottish rite Masonic lodges. Introduced into Mexico in 1817 or 1819 by Spanish officers, the escoceses had earlier been established by these officers in the peninsula during the war against Napoleon. In 1821 the last Spanish ruler of New Spain, Juan O'Donojú, provided great impetus for the expansion of the escocés lodges. His physician, Manuel Codorniu, founded the newspaper El Sol, which became the organ of the group. Some Mexican deputies to the Spanish Cortes also joined lodges in the Peninsula, emerging as the nucleus of the escoceses after 1822. The lodge rapidly became a clandestine political organization. In 1825 some members splintered, founding the "populist" Yorkinos (York rite Masons), while the escoceses became the "aristocratic" party. Vice President Nicolás Bravo, Grand Master of the escoceses, ultimately led a revolt against the government in January 1828. When the lodges were banned, the escoceses formed another secret group known as the novenarios, which continued to function as a political organization for some time.

See alsoBravo, Nicolás; Masonic Orders; O'Donojú, Juan; Yorkinos.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Luis J. Zalce y Rodríguez, Apuntes para la historia de la masonería en México, 2 vols. (1950).

Virginia Guedea, "Las sociedades secretas durante el movimiento de independencia," in The Independence of Mexico and the Creation of the New Nation, edited by Jaime E. Rodríguez O. (1989), esp. pp. 45-62.

Additional Bibliography

Bastian, Jean Pierre. Protestantes, liberales y francmasones: Sociedades de ideas y modernidad en América Latina, siglo XIX. Mexico: Comisión de Estudios de Historia de la Iglesia en América Latina: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1990.

Rodríguez O, Jaime E. The Origins of Mexican National Politics, 1808–1847. Wilmington: SR Books, 1997.

                                 Jaime E. RodrÍguez O.