Morey, Robert

Robert Morey came from the Scottish Lords . His grandfather was Robert Morey of Kriff , his father was Sir Mango of , county of Perthshire ; the poet and personal servant of Henry, Prince of Wales, Morey, was Robert Morey, Jr.'s uncle. Apparently, Robert Morey was also born in Craigie, but documentary evidence of this, as well as the exact date of his birth, has not been preserved.

Controversial is the issue of the formation of Morey. Some of his biographers claim that he graduated from the University of St Andrews - the oldest university in Scotland, after which he continued his education in France, however, Morey’s letter to his friend (probably studying at St. Andrews University), in which Morey with a “poddevka” remarks that he will make Bruce “rub his St. Andrews language,” which is regarded as evidence that the author of the letter did not study at this university. The name of Robert Morey is also not found in the archives of the University of St Andrews ^[2] .

From a young age, Robert showed interest in the natural sciences. In 1623, he visited an artificial island built in the Firth of Forth Bay under the direction of Sir (the grandfather of his friend Alexander Bruce), where the coal mine was located. Subsequently, in a private letter, Morey mentioned 1627 as the moment when he began his research in order “to understand and regulate his aspirations.”

In 1633, Robert joined the - a military unit that fought under the command of Colonel in France, in the army of Louis XIII . The young military man soon came into the confidence of Cardinal Richelieu , who used him as his spy ^[3] . Richelieu promoted the appropriation of the rank of lieutenant colonel of Morey, and also sent the latter to the army of covenants in 1638 ^[4] . Robert Morey, being a competent specialist in military technology, in 1640 received the rank of Quartet General of the Scottish Army, and during the Episcopal Wars of 1639-1640 between Scotland , which rebelled against King Charles I, and England participated in the capture of Newcastle upon Tyne .

In 1641, the Freemasons of Edinburgh accepted Morey into their lodges. The initiation ceremony took place on May 20, 1641 and, despite being carried out by the Scottish lodge, was held south of the Scottish border. This was the first documented initiation into speculative Freemasonry on English soil ^[5] . After that, Morey regularly used the Masonic symbol - the pentagram - in his correspondence.

In 1643, after the death of Richelieu, Robert Morey returned to France and was captured near Tuttlingen (now Germany ). In 1645, freed from captivity, after the death of James Campbell, Morey became his successor as commander of the Scottish Guard ^[6] . A supporter of the Prince of Wales, the future King Charles II , Morey convinced the Prince to visit Scotland for coronation as King of Scotland . The coronation took place in on 1 January 1651. After this, Charles II invaded England with an army, but was defeated by Cromwell’s army at the Battle of Worcester in September 1651 and was forced to flee to France.

In Scotland, in 1651, Morey took up the position of , the second most important hierarchy in Scotland, after , , and Member of the . In 1652, Robert married Sophia Lindsay, daughter of , but she died during childbirth on January 2, 1653, and the baby was also stillborn. In 1653, Morey joined the Scots uprising, but it was soon crushed by Cromwell, and Morey emigrated to the continent in 1654. For some time, Robert Morey lived in Bruges , then, until 1659, in Maastricht . In Paris, Robert Morey met with Charles II, and after the restoration of the Stuarts in 1660 he returned to England, where he enjoyed the location of the monarch. Morey was a scholar and politician, including mathematician James Gregory , official Samuel Peps , alchemist and mystic Thomas Wogan , poet Andrew Marvell , writer John Evelyn and philosopher .

Morey was one of the founders of the Royal Society of London , which was established at the first official meeting on November 28, 1660, at the Gresham College premises in . Of the twelve present at the establishment of the Royal Society, four were royalists ( William Brauncker , , Sir , William Ball ), six were parliamentary supporters ( John Wilkins , Robert Boyle , , William Petty , , Christopher Wren ) and two with “flexible” political views - Abraham Hill and Robert Morey. Morey made a great contribution to the development of the Charter and the rules of the Royal Society, as well as their approval by the . Morey was the de facto first president of the Royal Society until the approval of the Royal Charter of the Royal Society by Charles II on July 15, 1662 ^[7] , after which this position was de jure taken by William Brauncker, who begins the official countdown of the presidents of the Royal Society.

In February 1661, Robert Morey again received the position of Privy Councilor, and later - . Charles II provided Morey with a room in the Whitehall Palace , where he was engaged in chemical experiments. In subsequent years, Morey moved away from social and scientific activities, became impoverished, and by the time of his death he was practically impoverished. By order of the king, he was buried in the Corner of the poets of Westminster Abbey , the grave has not been preserved to date.

• “Sir Robert Moray - Soldier, scientist, spy, freemason and founder of The Royal Society” , lecture by Dr Robert Lomas at Gresham College , April 4, 2007
• London Region archives , AIM25
• Fellow of the month, November 2005 - Sir Robert Moray from the Royal Society
• The first recorded initiation in England , Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon