According to Robert Ambelain, an esotericist who "awakened" it in 1985, it was the rite used by the St. John of Scotland Lodge in Marseille, which was introduced to France in Saint-Germain-en-Laye from 1688; these claims are disputed by historians.
As for the Lodge, "Saint Jean d'Écosse de Marseille", like the other French Lodges of that era, it claimed the prestige of having been founded not by an English or continental source, but by a patent made directly by a Scottish Jacobite aristocrat, in this case a certain "Duvalmon", "Valmont" or "Valuon"; this claim was made on 17 June 1751[3] by its first Venerable Master, a certain Alexander Routier.
Chevalier du Temple By the initiative of Robert Ambelain, Albert Cools and Andre Fages, the "Grand Lodge of the Primitive Scottish Rite" was formed on 20 December 1991; it attracted several other Lodges, such as « Les Ecossais Fidèles » (The Faithful Scots) from the Orient de Toulouse.
As the years passed, Robert Ambelain lost the control of the Grand Lodge he created and it fell more or less into disuse.
It subsisted only in Désiré Arnéodo, Worshipful Master of the Respectable Lodge "La Lumiere Ecossaise" of the Orient of Ollioules, who, had faithfully conserved his titles of Grand Master "of the Rite for the South of France and Beyond the Sea" and of "Grand Lodge conforming to the Patent" which was delivered by Robert Ambelain.
Only after that could Désiré Arnéodo pride himself on this affiliation with Robert Ambelain and the Primitive Scottish Rite, as he then inherited the title of "Most Serene National Grand Master for Life".
[8] The Grand Lodge of the Primitive Scottish Rite claims to hold the exclusive legal and universal right to the practice of its rituals.