Esoteric Coffeehouse

All Rosicrucian or Rosicrucian-based orders in existence today hark back to the 1614 publication of the famous manifests, the Fama Fraternitatis and the Confessio. These anonymously published works claimed that the Rosicrucians were a hidden order of initiates established by an unknown mystic named Christian Rosenkreutz in the 14th century. The publication of the two manifestos caused an intense excitement on the European intellectual scene, an event which is now referred to as the Rosicrucian furor. Thousands of intellectuals from all over the continent sent letters demanding to become members of the obscure organization. No letter was ever answered.

Today, scholars still wonder: did the Rosicrucians really exist? There are many views on these. On one extreme, there are those that claim that there was indeed an organization of the Rose and Cross, whether or not founded by the mythical Rosenkreutz. At the other extreme, there are those that maintain that Rosicrucianism was a big hoax perpetrated by pranksters. At the middle of the scholarly discourse, there are those who believe that Rosicrucianism was a name comprising a heterogeneous group of reformers that had a common goal, but not a common creed.

At the end of the 16th century, there was expectation in the air. The 1500s had been a period of upheaval and questioning, which had resulted in the split of the Catholic Church and the birth of the Protestant Churches. To us today the 16th century was a period of innovation that opened avenues of inquiry previously deemed impossible. However, for the people actually living during those times the change must have been painful and not necessarily positive. There were wars amongst Christians previously unheard of; witch hunts; plagues; persecutions. Within this unstable environment, many intellectuals spent a lot of time thinking how to reform the European society and mend its religious and social fractures. Many offered solutions, but there was a current of thought that was primarily dedicated to religious concord: the Hermetic one. This heterogenous ‘group’ comprised philosophers, Christian Kabbalists, magicians, and especially, alchemists. The latter, devoted followers of Paracelsus, were particularly active at the end of the 16th century and were spreading their beliefs in the philosopher’s stone and the Universal Medicine.

Rosicrucianism arose in the German Lutheran circles of Tubingen that were heavily influenced by Paracelsian and alchemical thought. Some scholars consider it a purely Protestant movement; however, Catholics from France, Austria and other countries were just as interested in the movement as Lutherans and Calvinists. The manifestos are deemed to have originated in the circle of Johann Valentin Andreae, a Lutheran theologian and pastor, and Tobias Hess, a physician and alchemist. However, we can’t be quite sure. By his own admission, Andreae did author the third Rosicrucian work published, the famous Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz. However, he always negated he was the author of the Rosicrucian manifestos, and in fact he attacked the Rosicrucians in later letters and satires. In an influential and lengthy work, J.W. Montgomery claimed that Andreae was in fact an orthodox Lutheran and the Chemical Wedding a purely Lutheran work, so the pastor had nothing to do with the Rosicrucian movement. Most scholars, however, do not agree with this assessment, pointing out to Andreae’s associations with the Paracelsians and particularly Tobias Hess. They believe that, in his later years, Andreae may have indeed been unsatisfied with the direction the Rosicrucian furor was taking, satirizing it as a public spectacle.

Other intellectuals were much more content to be associated with Rosicrucianism. One of the foremost Rosicrucian defenders was Michael Maier, the physician of Hapsburg emperor Rudolf II and the author of influential alchemical works. Other apologists included alchemist Thomas Vaughan, also known as adept Eirenaeus Philalethes, who published the Rosicrucian tracts in England, Robert Fludd, a well-known English physician and Theophilus Schweighardt, author of a popular Rosicrucian tract. The unluckiest of all known supporters was Adam Halsmayr, the first to come out and support the Rosicrucian manifestos, who was arrested and put on the galleys for several years. However, no one was known to actually ‘belong’ to the Rosicrucian order. Hence the myth of a hidden order of ‘unknown superiors’ was born, influencing the beliefs of later esoteric orders.

The Rosicrucian furor had a strong impact on European thought in the 17th century and stimulated the budding scientific endeavor in the era. A good example in this sense was Samuel Hartlib, a German-Polish immigre to England who was strongly influenced by Rosicrucianism. He established a circle of followers in England that tried to discover the key to universal knowledge and medicine. The Hartlib circle is considered as a model and precursor of the Royal Society in England, which at its birth was itself strongly influenced by Paracelsian thought.

References

The Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz. (2001). Ed. Joscelyn Godwin and Adam McLean. Phanes Press.
Dickson, Donald. (1998). The Tessera of Antilia: utopian brotherhoods & secret societies in the early seventeenth century. Leiden: Brill. Excellent study into Rosicrucians and their followers.
Edighoffer, Roland. (1998). Hermeticism in Early Rosicrucianism. In: Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times. Ed. Roelof Van den Broek and Wouter Hanegraaff. New York: SUNY Press. Renowned Rosicrucian scholar, but poorly translated in English.

Montgomery, John Warwick. (1973). Cross and Crucible: Johann Valentin Andreae (1586-1654), Phoenix of the Theologians. Michigan: Nijhoff.

McIntosh, Christopher. (1998). The Rosicrucians. Boston, MA: Weiser Books. Very good introduction to Rosicrucianism over the centuries.

Yates, Frances. (1972). The Rosicrucian Enlightenment. London: Routledge & Paul. A classic, but conclusions disputed by many scholars.

Tags: alchemist, alchemists, chemical wedding, christian rosenkreutz, fama fraternitatis, hermetic, johann valentin andreae, paracelsian, Paracelsus, rosicrucian, rosicrucian furor, rosicrucian manifestos, rosicrucianism, royal society, samuel hartlib, tobias hess

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