Grand Lodge of Ireland. The Grand Lodge of Ireland invented the Warrant, at this time. It was necessary to word the document very widely. Freemasonry was still evolving, and owing to the then difficulties of communication, it was extremely difficult for Grand Lodge to exercise full control of Lodges at a distance from Dublin.
The Hague. Francois, Duke of Lorraine, was the first European Prince to become a mason and to publicize his Masonic affiliations. He was initiated in 1731 at the Hague -- a bastion of esoteric activity since Rosicrucian circles had installed themselves there during the Thirty Years War. And the man who presided over Francois' initiation was Jean Desaguliers, intimate associate of Newton, Ramsay, and Radclyffe. Shortly after his initiation, moreover, Francois embarked for a lengthy stay in England. Here he became a member of that innocuous-sounding institution, the Gentleman's Club of Spalding.
In the years that followed, Francois de Lorraine was probably more responsible than any other European potentate for the spread of Freemasonry. His court at Vienna became, in a sense, Europe's Masonic capital and a center for a broad spectrum of other esoteric interests as well. Francois himself was a practicing alchemist with an alchemical laboratory in the imperial palace, the Hofburg. On the death of the last Medici he became grand duke of Tuscany and deftly thwarted the Inquisition's harassment of Freemasons in Florence. Through Francois, Charles Radclyffe, who founded the first Masonic lodge on the continent, left a durable legacy.
Smyrna. Publication of the Hemdat Yamim. First published at Smyrna, later at Zolkiew and twice in Italy. This anonymous work described in detail Jewish life and ritual from the point of view of Lurianic Kabbalah but was permeated with the spirit of strictly ascetic Shabbeteanism as it was promoted in Jerusalem and Smyrna by Kabbalists like Jacob Wilna and Meir Bikayam. Adopting several Shabbetean innovations, it included hymns written by Nathan of Gaza and a whole ritual for the eve of the new moon. Though it claimed an earlier origin, it is said to have been composed between 1710 and 1730, allegedly in Jerusalem, but possibly somewhere else. In Turkey it was accepted as a classic. After its publication in Podolia in 1742 the work was denounced by Jacob Emden as composed by Nathan of Gaza, and for propagating Shabbetean views. It was withdrawn from public circulation in Poland and Germany.
Germany. The Word and Token were abolished in 1731 in favor of the Script Masons.
Ephrata, Pennsylvania. The EPHRATA Society was founded in Pennsylvania by John Conrad Beissel, a former member of the Dunkers. This was also known as the Order of the Solitary. This would eventually become known as the Seventh-Day Baptists.
Dobritz. Wöllner was born in Dobritz, and belonged to the Lutheran Ministry.
Bordeaux. The Lodge "l'Anglaise, No. 204," is said to have been established. This Lodge merits a short sketch. It remained independent of the Grand Bodies of France, clinging to its English parentage, and usurped the privileges of a Grand Lodge. It is the only Lodge still active in France (as of Gould's day), which was constituted by the Grand Lodge of England. Its first meeting was held under the presidency of Martin Kelly, Sunday, 27 August 1732, and its original members consisted of English merchants. The labors of the Lodge appear to have been several times suspended, but from 1737 on they were for many years uninterrupted, although the civil authority ordered it to close its doors in 1742. It constituted in 1740 the Lodge, La Francaise, in Bordeaux; in 1746, two Lodges in Brest; in 1751 one at Limoges; 1754, one at Paris; 1755, one at Cayenne; 1760, one at Cognac; and in 1765, one each at Perigueux and New Orleans. Over these Lodges it exerted the patriarchal sway of a Mother Lodge.
Rennes le Chateau. Marie de Negre d'Ables marries the last Marquis de Blanchefort at this time. Marie de Negre d'Ables was the last of the direct line that held the title to Rennes le Chateau.
Molasses Act of 1733 passed by Britain, putting a heavy tax on sugar and molasses coming from anywhere except the British sugar islands in the Caribbean. Sugar was also essential for production of rum (alcohol), to which a significant percentage of humans were already addicted. Tobacco, (nicotine) begins to gain more significance in world use.
London. The Society of Dilletanti founded, at a gathering of amateur art collectors. Richard Payne Knight was a member. A history of the Society, by Lionel Cust, was published in 1878. Richard Francis Burton was also a member. Many of the Brethren of the British R+C in the 18th and 19th Centuries belonged to this Society. This Society made available reproductions and translations of many curious archaeological finds and old traditions.
Martines Pasqually started at Marseilles, Toulouse, and Bordeaux, a Rite of nine degrees called "Elected Cohens"; it was similar to that of Swedenborg, and its aim was the regeneration of man.
Masonry introduced to the Netherlands.
21 March. The Operative Lodge at Durham went under the Grand Lodge of London, but retained its old customs intact for over 30 years afterwards.
The first mention of the Northern Harodim, is the quotation by Bro. Joseph Laycock, who brought the Swalwell, and the Gateshead Lodges under the G. L. in 1735, and was appointed P. G. Master of the Co. of Durham that year.
The Holy Roman Emperor at this time was Francois, duke of Lorraine -- who, by his marriage to Maria Theresa of Austria in 1735, had linked the houses of Hapsburg and Lorraine and inaugurated the Hapsburg-Lorraine dynasty. It was Francois' brother, Charles de Lorraine, who succeeded Radclyffe as SION's grand master, so we are told, as aforesaid, etc., etc., etc.
Masonry introduced to Portugal, Italy and Russia.
16 August. London. The Lodge of St. George de l'Observance No. 148, constituted on this date at the Sun on Fish Street Hill. This Lodge was originally known as St. George de l'Unanimite, altered in 1777 to the title given above.
Prague. After the death of David Oppenheim, Jonathan Eybeschuetz was appointed dayyan of Prague.
Paris. Leona Constantia, Abbess of Clermont, received into the RC, as a practical member and was Master in the year 1736, according to the particulars related in the Bacstrom Initiation document. If true, then this would be prior to any connection between Freemasonry and Rosicrucianism.
Germany. Society of Alethophiles, or "Lovers of Truth," perhaps another group like the Philalethes, said to have existed somewhere in Germany, and to have been the basis for the Order of African Architects.
Paris. In 1736 the Lieutenant-General of Police in Paris, Herault, is said to have obtained, through an opera dancer, Madame Carton, a Masonic examination, mainly a translation of Pritchard's Masonry Dissected, which he caused to be published as an exposure of Freemasonry. In reply to this appeared "Relation apologique et historique de la Société des F. M., par J.G.D.M.F.M., Dublin, Chez Patrice Odonoko, 1738, 8." Second Edition, London, 1749. It was burned at Rome, by order of the Inquisition, by the Public Executioner, on 1 February 1739.
Order of Odd Fellows.
Before 21 March. Ramsay returns to Paris, where he spends the remainder of his life. On his return to Paris he married an English woman of property, and became tutor to the Prince of Turenne, son of the Duke of Bouillon, stipulating that he should receive no salary, in order that he might feel under no constraint in his duties.
20 March. Paris. Letter of Andrew Michael Ramsay to Cardinal Fleury, the prime minister of France:
"Deign, Monseigneur, to support the Society of Freemasons in the large views which they entertain, and your Excellency will render your name more illustrious by this protection than Richelieu did his by founding the French Academy. The object of the one is much vaster than that of the other. To encourage a society which tends only to reunite all nations by a love of truth, and of the fine arts, is an action worthy of a great minister, of a Father of the Church, and of a holy Pontiff.
"As I am to read my discourse to-morrow in a general assembly of the order, and to hand it on Monday to the examiners of the Chancellerie, I pray your Excellency to return it to me to-morrow before mid-day by express messenger. You will infinitely oblige a man whose heart is devoted to you"
21 March. Andrew Michael Ramsay asserts the Templar origin of Freemasonry. Origin of the Scottish Rite, henceforth in conflict with the Grand Lodge of London. This is the famous Oration of the Chevalier Ramsay, which included the following:
"At the time of the Crusades in Palestine many princes, lords and citizens associated themselves, and vowed to restore the Temple of the Christians in the Holy Land, and to employ themselves in bringing back their architecture to its first institution. They agreed upon several ancient signs and symbolic words drawn from the well of religion in order to recognize themselves amongst the heathens and Saracens. These signs and words were only communicated to those who promised solemnly, and even sometimes at the foot of the altar, never to reveal them. This sacred promise was therefore not an execrable oath, as it has been called, but a respectable bond to unite Christians of all nationalities into one confraternity. Some time afterwards our Order formed an intimate union with the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. From that time our Lodges took the name of Lodges of St. John."
According to HBHG, the real voice behind Ramsay was that of Charles Radclyffe, who presided over the Lodge at which Ramsay delivered his discourse. If Radclyffe was the power behind Ramsay, it would seem to have been Ramsay who constituted the link between Radclyffe and Newton. Gould states, in reference to Ramsay's mention of St. John:
"His choice of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem may be easily accounted for. It was not the St. John of Malta, nor was he ever known to allude to the Templars. The fact is, he was himself a Knight of St. John of Jerusalem, and thus paid a tribute to his own Order. In 1714-19 Heylot's work on the spiritual and temporal orders was published at Paris (Hist. des Ordres Monastiques, Religieux et Militaires). The third volume contains the history of the Order of St. Lazarus, of which Ramsay was a Knight. Who can doubt that he read it? This states that in the 4th century an Order of St. Lazarus was established in Palestine, and erected everywhere hospitals for lepers, which were called Lazarettes. Later on the Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem were established. The two associations united and worked under the same master, called the Master of the Hospital. When the Order of St. John added the vow of celibacy, these two separated. One retook the name of St. Lazarus, the other changed theirs to St. John the Baptist. At the time that the Hospitallers were in the service of the King of Jerusalem, they consisted of three Orders -- knights to fight, servitors to nurse, and clerics or chaplains. King Henry of England considerably increased their income, but France did most for the Order, and it ultimately took refuge in that country. The Grand Master of that day was styled G. M. of the Holy Order of Lazarus cis et transmare. In 1354 the G. M. empowered Bro. John Halliday, a Scot, to rule over the temporal and spiritual affairs of the Order in Great Britain. In some sort, then, Ramsay was a descendant of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, which, however, as such, was extinct, and thus we understand the very natural selection made of that Order on which to found his romance."
Ramsay, in his Oration, alludes to the old Arcane Discipline of the Alexandrian Church when he says: "We have amongst us three classes of confreres, the Novice or Apprentice; the Companion or Professed; the Master or the Perfected. We explain to the first the moral virtues; to the second the heroic virtues; and to the last the Christian virtues...the fourth quality is a taste for the useful sciences and the liberal arts. Religious discords caused us to change and to disguise, and to suppress, some of our Rites and usages, which were opposed to the prejudices of the times." He also alludes to the Jews working with the sword in one hand and the trowel in the other, which are the lines quoted by Laycock in 1735. Dean Swift [i.e., Jonathan Swift] must have had some knowledge of this, and he was acquainted with Ramsay in 1728; and he thus writes in 1731: "the famous old Lodge of Kilwinin, of which all the Kings of Scotland have been, from time to time, grand Masters without interruption," and he speaks of the adornment of "Ancient Jewish and Pagan Masonry, with many religious and Christian Rites," by the Knights of St. John and of Malta.
22 March. Paris. Letter of Ramsay to Cardinal Fleury:
"I learn that the assemblies of Freemasons displease your Excellency. I have never frequented them except with a view of spreading maxims which would render by degrees incredulity ridiculous, vice odious, and ignorance shameful. I am persuaded that if wise men of your Excellency's choice were introduced to head these assemblies, they would become very useful to religion, the state, and literature. Of this I hope to convince your Excellency if you will accord me a short interview at Issy. Awaiting that happy moment, I pray you to inform me whether I should return to these assemblies, and I will conform to your Excellency's wishes with a boundless docility."
5 November. London. Desaguliers confers the first two Masonic degrees on Frederic, Prince of Wales, a Hanoverian. During the ensuing generations, members of the Hanoverian royal family even became Grand Masters. The English Grand Lodge was decidedly pro-Hanoverian and its proscription against political controversy really amounted to a support of the Hanoverian status quo.
Masonry introduced to Germany.
Hume's Treatise on Human Nature is published.
14-15 August. Brunswick. Frederick, then crown prince of Prussia, is initiated. Later he is patron of the Encyclopaedists. He had been corresponding with Voltaire for two years. He suddenly became interested in Freemasonry, which he had previously regarded as childish. The ceremony took place not in a Lodge, but in a Hotel, in the presence of a deputation summoned by the Graf von Lippe-Bückeburg from Grand Lodge of Hamburg for the occasion.
Charles Radclyffe, after 1738, kept a relatively low profile. To a very significant degree he seems to have worked through intermediaries and mouthpieces. The most important of these, and the most famous, was the Chevalier Ramsay.
Pope Clement XII issued a papal bull condemning and excommunicating all Freemasons, whom he pronounced, "Enemies of the Roman Church." It has never been altogether clear why they should have been regarded as such -- especially as many of them, like the Jacobites at the time, were ostensibly Catholic. Perhaps the Pope was aware of the connections between early Freemasonry and the anti-Roman Rosicrucians of the 17th century. In any case some light may be shed on the matter by a letter released and published for the first time in 1962. This letter had been written by Pope Clement XII and addressed to an unknown correspondent. In its text the Pope declares that Masonic thought rests on a heresy encountered many times before -- the denial of Jesus' divinity. He further asserts that the guiding spirits, the 'masterminds,' behind Freemasonry are the same as those who provoked the Lutheran Reformation. The Pope may well have been paranoid; (since Nesta Webster didn't start writing for another 170 years yet) but it is important to note that he is not speaking of nebulous currents of thought or vague traditions. On the contrary, he is speaking of a highly organized group of individuals -- a sect, an order, a secret society -- who, through the ages, have dedicated themselves to subverting the edifice of Catholic Christianity.
The Duc d'Antin becomes Grand Master of French Freemasonry in the place of Lord "Harnouester."
John Wesley's Journal -- first reports of emotional excitement leading to temporary collapse induced by a particular sort of preaching found when an individual had to make a choice between conflicting beliefs.
April. London. The Gentleman's Magazine of April 1739, vol. ix., p. 219, thus speaks of the transaction: "Rome. There was lately burnt here with great solemnity, by order of the Inquisition, a piece in French, wrote by the Chevalier Ramsay, etc., etc." Since then many ingenious attempts have been made to prove the truth of this statement, and to show the community of style and ideas between Ramsay's Oration and the Relation. As long as there was reason to suppose that the Oration was delivered in 1740, it was difficult to decide why Ramsay should have been selected to father this production, and the very audacity of the assertion carried conviction with it. It could only be assumed that the correspondent of the Gentleman's Magazine was possessed of certain private information. But if the Oration was delivered in 1737, it is easy to conceive that the Relation might well have been attributed to the same hand in 1738. A mere guess at the hidden authorship. This fact tends to corroborate the Oration's date of 1737, for it may be safely affirmed that Ramsay did not write the Relation. Its style is far less pure than his, and the orthography is totally distinct.
London. In the l740s and 1750s, "Rabbi" Zinzendorf (as he was then called) directed a mission to the Jews in London, in which mutual Kabbalistic studies served as a bridge between religions. At the same time, he organized his followers into a hierarchical secret society that functioned as an offshoot of "irregular" or "illuminist" Freemasonry.
According to James Hutton, an English Moravian who became a lifelong friend of Richard Cosway, the public society held open meetings in the Fetter Lane Chapel, while the elite interior order (the "Pilgrim Church") met secretly, lived communally, and practised Kabbalistic rituals. If Blake's parents were aware of the interior "Pilgrim" order, it would explain Blake's own usage of Moravian-style sexual imagery.
Hutton described the Pilgrims as the unknown superiors of the larger society, for their identity was not revealed to lower-ranking initiates:
"...a congregation of labourers who go hither and thither; whom no one knows but he to whom it is revealed. Everyone who has a whole mind to our Saviour is a member of it. It is composed of persons who indissolubly cling together...and who labour for the good of others among all religions, but never form themselves into sect."
Henry Rimius described the Moravians as a nonsectarian, subversive secret society, whose leaders "are gradually sapping the foundation of civil government in any country they settle in, and establishing an empire within an empire." While the higher initiates practise "gnostic obscenities," the neophytes are left in ignorance of the ritualistic orgies.
Attendants at the public services in Fetter Lane were certainly aware of the theory, if not the practice, of Zinzendorf's Kabbalistic sexual agenda.
Since his student days, Swedenborg had access to rare instruction in heterodox Jewish mysticism, which included the more erotic and visionary theories of the Shabbeteans, secret disiciples of Sabbatai Zevi.
Swedenborg sought out Jewish Kabbalists in the East End, and soon met Dr. Samuel Jacob Falk, known as the "Baal Shem" of London. Falk was a crypto-Shabbetean, who collaborated with a network of fellow "Zoharites" in England, Holland, Poland, and Germany.
Following the Shabbeteans' example, some members of the network pretended conversion to Christianity and assimilated Kabbalistic notions of the Shekhinah into Christian notions of the Virgin Mary.
Société de l’Harmonie : Anton Mesmer.
England's next major European war was the War of Austrian Succession, 1740 - 1748. Frederic the Great was allied with France against England this time. This did not stop other German principalities from continuing their business relationship with England, expecially Hanover and Hesse. Although Hanover now sat on the British throne, it was not about to cease its profitable enterprise. Hanover's British reign gave that German principality greater leverage to drive even harder bargains with England for Hanoverian mercenaries.
France. Various Lodges created in France around this year: Ecossais Fidèles of Toulouse, Souverain Conseil Sublime, Mère Loge Ecossais du Grand Globe Française, Collège des Sublimes Princes du Royal Secret of Bordeaux, Cour des Souverains Commandeurs du Temple of Carcassonne, Philadelphes of Narbonne, Chapitre des Rose-Croix of Montpellier, Sublimes Elus de la Vérité...
Holy Royal Arch, Knight Templar Priest. This Rite is that of the Ancient Masons of York and London; it was known in London, Dublin, York, Stirling, circa 1740; very little that is reliable has appeared to show its actual origin. It is usually held that it originated with the dissident Ancients; yet as there was no Ancient Grand Lodge at the time when it had some prominence it could only have been established by the numerous Lodges of Masons which then existed, and which did not recognize the Grand Lodge of London. When Rawlinson brags of a 5th Order in 1724 it is just possible he may have belonged to such a degree whether then termed the Red Cross or the Royal Arch. Only one thing is historically certain, sometime between 1723 and 1740 there were ancient pre-1717 Guild Masons, who were dissatisfied with the digestive faculties of Anderson and Desaguliers, and made up their minds to restore to Modern Masonry some part of what it had lost. There are so many features in common between the Red Cross of Babylon and the modern Royal Arch degree that we are quite safe in assuming that there was a primitive Ritual from which both were evolved, and we can easily prove what the primitive ritual was. The term Red Cross seems to be far the most appropriate name for the degree, and for this reason that the term Royal Arch refers to a special Guild which members of this degree are not, they are essentially Craft Masons.
Dermott informs us that the Arch degree possessed circa 1740 the peculiar square alphabet, which he says that he had known for over 30 years. A similar alphabet was in use amongst the Occultists, who termed it the Aiq Bekar, or Cabala of the Nine Chambers; it is found in Barrett's Magus, and when dissected gives an alphabet of 9 characters increased to 27 by adding to the first series one and two dots respectively; Trithemius, the friend of Cornelius Agrippa, is known to have possessed it.
Paris. The Comte de Chazal received into the RC at this time, according to the Bacstrom Initiation documents. He received the instructions for making the Lapis Animalis.
Prussia. Frederic the Great, King of Prussia. He publicly revealed his Masonic membership and initiated others into the Order, including Prince William, his brother; the Margrave Charles of Brandenburg; Frederick William, the Duke of Holstein. At Frederic's command a Grand Lodge was established in Berlin, the Lodge of Three Globes. Its first meeting was held on 13 September. This Lodge began as an English system lodge and it had the authority to grant charters.
The Scots degrees seem to have sprung up about 1740 in all parts of France. There is little doubt that the degrees of Installed Master, and of the Royal Arch, had their inception in the "Scots" degrees, which sprang up in all parts of France about 1740. It is impossible to determine (in Gould's day) what their teachings were, not due to lack of materials, but to the diversity of the materials in the possession of the historians. One chief idea, however, runs through them all -- the discovery in a vault by Scottish Crusaders of the long lost and ineffable word -- also that in this search they had to work with the sword in one hand and a trowel in the other. The epoch referred to is the Crusades and not the building of the Second Temple. The Scots Master claimed to be in every way superior to that of the Master Mason; to be possessed of the true history, secret, and design of Freemasonry; and to hold various privileges, of which some few may be mentioned. He wore distinctive clothing, remained covered in a Master's Lodge, and in any Lodge, even as a visitor, ranked before the Worshipful Master. At any time or place, he could personally impart, either with or without a ceremony, the secrets of the EA, FC, and MM degrees. If he was the member of a Lodge, none but Scots Masons could adjudicate upon his conduct.
Paris. The Comte de Chazal is acquainted with the Hermetic Knowledge at this time. Some people claim that his teacher was the Comte de St. Germain, but as we know, this is not really the case, since Wolf was getting started himself at this time. More likely it was through one of the Scots Directories, like those mentioned in the previous entry.
Avignon. From 1740 onwards there existed as Avignon, capital of the depertment of Vaucluse, a school or rather many schools of Hermeticism, working in some cases under Masonic forms on the basis of the Craft degrees, with an intermediate structure of so-called Scots degrees. The head of the movement was apparently Dom. Antoine Joseph de Pernety (1716-1801), a Benedictine monk, alchemist, and mystic. Among the many rites which originated here may be mentioned the Elus Coens, Illumines du Zodiaque, Freres Noires, etc.
Prussia. After his accession to the throne, Frederick was presiding over a Lodge at Charlottenburg, where he received into the Order two of his brothers, his brother-in-law, and Duke Frederick William of Holstein-Beck. At his desire the Baron de Bielfeld and his privy councillor Jordan founded a Lodge at Berlin, the "Three Globes," which by 1746 had no less than fourteen Lodges under its jurisdiction. In this same year of 1740, Voltaire, in response to urgent invitations, paid his first visit to Frederick the Great in Germany. Voltaire's visit to Germany was followed by two remarkable events in the masonic world of France. The first of these was the institution of the additional degrees; the second was the arrival in Paris of a masonic delegate from Germany named von Marschall, who brought with him instructions for a new or rather a revived Order of Templars, in which he attempted to interest Prince Charles Edward Stuart and his followers.
Berlin. From France the earliest form of the Scots degree was carried to Germany, it is believed, by Count von Schmettau. In 1741, we find a Scots Lodge at Berlin erected by members of the "Three Globes"...
Germany. Saint-Germain seems first to have been heard of in Germany about 1740, where his marvellous powers attracted the attention of the Maréchal de Belle-Isle, who, always the ready dupe of charlatans, brought him back with him to the Court of France, where he speedily gained the favour of Madame de Pompadour. The Marquise before long presented him to the King, who granted him an apartment at Chambord and, enchanted by his brilliant wit, frequently spent long evenings in conversation with him in the rooms of Madame de Pompadour. Meanwhile his invention of flat-bottomed boats for the invasion of England raised him still higher in the estimation of the Maréchal de Belle-Isle.
Podolia. In Poland, Kabbalah broke out with renewed energy; fresh Zadikkim and Ba'al Shems arose, the most noted of these being Israel of Podolia, known as Ba'al Shem Tov, or by the initial letters of his name, Besht, who founded his sect of Hasidim at this time. Besht, whilst opposing bigoted Rabbinism and claiming the Zohar as his inspiration, did not, however, adhere strictly to the doctrine of the Kabbalah that the universe was an emanation of God, but evolved a form of Pantheism, declaring that the whole universe was God, that even evil exists in God since evil is not bad in itself but only in its relation to Man; sin therefore has no positive existence. As a result, the followers of Besht, calling themselves the "New Saints," and at his death numbering no less than 40,000, threw aside not only the precepts of the Talmud, but, according to Nesta Webster, all the restraints of morality and even decency.
Smallpox epidemic in Berlin. University of Pennsylvania founded.
|[HOME]|[CONTENTS]|[PREVIOUS]|[NEXT]|[MAIL]|
All Original Material (i.e., arrangement and interpretation),Copyright 1998-2001 e.v., Jonathan Sellers. All Rights Reserved.