Strict observance

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Karl Gotthelf von Hund and Altengrotkau

The Strict Observance is a high-level Masonic system that, from the middle of the 18th century , subjected most German and a large number of European Masonic lodges to its influence. In contrast to the English three-degree Masonic system of the Johannislogen , the Strict Observance offered a very hierarchical teaching system, which was supposedly based heavily on elements of the Templar Order .

The members of the Strict Observance believed themselves to be led by so-called “secret superiors” and viewed themselves as successors to the Templars, which does not stand up to historical scrutiny. Today it is no longer maintained by any relevant Masonic system. The existence of Masonic Templars as early as 1743 is considered to be the invention of the Imperial Baron Karl Gotthelf von Hund and Altengrotkau , who, verifiably, only founded the first Masonic Templar order in 1751.

Propagation phases

The establishment of the Strict Observance was initiated in Germany in 1751 by the Imperial Baron Karl Gotthelf von Hund and established as a high degree system . The spread can be divided into four phases.

The system was developed in the first phase (1751–1762). Presumably only a small group of people were involved, mostly around the person of von Hunds. There is evidence of a connection to Scottish groups that are likely to be opposed to this early period. The latter presumably had the aim of weakening the English position in North America .

At the end of the Seven Years' War (1756–1763) the small group (around 20 people) around Baron von Hund was able to take over the Masonic lodges of the "Clermont system" left behind by the withdrawing Prussian troops. In the same year Freiherr von Hund was confirmed as leader of the Strict Observanz at the convent of Altenberge near Kahla. This marked the beginning of the expansion of the Strict Observance in the small states of Thuringia , Electoral Saxony and in Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach .

Jean Baptiste Willermoz (1730 to 1824) founded the “Grand Loge des Maitres Réguliers” in Lyon in 1760 with three St. John's lodges. The lodges worked in three degrees of Johannis and four degrees. In 1764 the lodges of the "Grand Lodge Maitres Réguliers" joined the "Strikten Observanz".

In this organization people gathered who can be summarized as class opposition: people from noble families or high administrative officials with at least one council title - an elitist circle, a "neo-nobility". The strict observance offered the possibility to adorn oneself with a (non-secular) knight title . In addition, it offered the people involved a network that enabled accommodation and contacts on small diplomatic trips and thus also enabled the opposition to network with their latently absolutist sovereign princes, who were highly indebted after the Seven Years' War. Politics was being pursued here, with all its side effects: the organization, which now consisted of a good 200 people, decided to cease its work when one of its members was able to run for the Elector's Chair in Mainz and the political groups competing for this office decided on Strict Observance in this course could have tried to smash.

Only after the end of this crisis was the Strict Observance able to reorganize itself from 1772 onwards. After the first partition of Poland in 1772, the ruling princes also discovered their need for a networking instrument. The rivalry between Austria and Prussia, which had now grown up, seemed to threaten the existence of the imperial constitution . Baron Johann August von Starck (1741–1816), who was accepted as a Freemason in Göttingen in 1761, claimed that he was in possession of the actual "clerical system" of the temple lords. Baron von Hund welcomed this innovation, joined forces with him, and in 1772 the union with Starck's clerical system took place at a convent on the manor Kohlo in Niederlausitz . Baron von Hund was awarded the military license, and Duke Ferdinand von Braunschweig took on the leading role as Magnus superior ordinis and grand master of all Scottish lodges.

This began the princely phase of the Strict Observance. In 1775, 26 princes had already become members. It was typically non-ruling candidates to whom the Order of Strict Observance offered some sort of surrogate rule. However, this also applied to the other members, to whom the Order bestowed dignities at all levels that were denied them in real life. The organization expanded rapidly and over the next ten years grew to around 1,300 members from ruling houses or other influential positions.

The strong political use of the organization led to a serious crisis: The strengthening Swedish royal house expanded under Gustav III. its power in Scandinavia. The brother of the Swedish king, the Duke of Södermanland , tried as the "army master" of the Strict Observance to subject Denmark to the influence of the same. Not only did this lead to considerable Danish resistance, the German royal houses also feared the expansion of Sweden's political influence. With the help of the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel , the split from the Swedish system was brought about in 1781.

In addition to the political motives, there were also substantive differences. The Swedish teaching system also claimed to have the Knights Templar's final secret. Freiherr von Hund tried unsuccessfully to conclude a reciprocity agreement with Johann Wilhelm Kellner von Zinnendorf , the founder of the Swedish system in Germany. Both systems developed a real system battle that ruled out cooperation.

The unknown superiors

The founding period of the Strict Observance is connected with relations with the British Isles. Organizational founder Karl Gotthelf von Hund was accepted into Freemasonry in France in 1741 and stayed for a long time in Paris, where he was accepted into the Scottish high degrees. In this context he claimed that an "unknown superior" of the "Templar Freemasonry" in Paris with the designation "Knight of the Red Feather" ( Lat .: "Eques a penna rubra") had him during this time (between December 1742 and December 1742) September 1743) introduced into the Hochgrade and appointed him army master ( "Chevalier Templier" ) of the seventh province, i.e. for Germany. Freiherr von Hund would later claim that he had been abandoned by the "unknown superiors" and in 1751 he founded his own lodge on his Kittlitz estate , where he introduced a new high degree system in order to revive the order of the Templars.

Although Freiherr von Hund did not identify the "unknown superiors", they were repeatedly associated with the House of Stuart and especially Charles Edward Stuart , especially since Hund had named the Jacobites Lord Clifford Chudleigh and Earl of Kilmarnock as participants in the ceremony in Paris .

The supposed Jacobite alliance dominated the organization to a great extent. Attempts have been made again and again to pursue this connection with delegations. Each delegation made the connection appear less likely, but never stopped the search. On September 12, 1777, Karl Eberhard von Wächter met Charles Edward Stuart, who was now in exile in Italy. The protocol signed by both went to Duke Ferdinand . In 1780, the Duke of Södermanland wrote to Charles Edward Stuart asking for confirmation of his election as master of the Seventh Province. Charles Edward replied that he could not confirm this, allegedly after correspondence with Wächter. Those who believe the Stuarts' identification with the "unknown superiors" to be true justify this refusal with the fact that Charles Edward had given up hope of a restoration and the support of the Pope, who, however , had banned Catholics from membership in lodges in 1738 was dependent. Others see the refusal as evidence against the Stuarts' role in the Strict Observance .

The operation plan

The operation plan is also part of the founding phase. Later, when Freiherr von Hund distanced himself from this plan, it became an economic plan. In its basic concept, this plan provided for the supporters of the Strict Observance, which consisted of existing Masonic lodges, to collect high membership fees, which could possibly be used to establish a colony in North America. According to the plans, this colony should become an aristocratic colony in which the rulers strictly adhere to a (liberal?) Constitution. The members of the Strict Observance should then provide the government apparatus.

The research leaves many questions unanswered about the operational plan: there were indeed ties to England at the time of the early operational plan, and these individuals were also involved in economic activities in North America. Or maybe the money should only be used against the English troops in the Seven Years' War. From 1762 and then again from 1764 the plan of operations was revised (by Schubert). Now there is talk of the accumulation of capital, which should be carried out with the help of factories and long-distance trading, and which is a pension fund and insurance for its members. Freiherr von Hund distanced himself from these, in his opinion "too materialistic plans". However, since the leading power of Hunds had already broken, his resistance did nothing to change the plan, which is now referred to as the Economic Plan .

Teaching and degrees

The Doctrine of Strict Observance supposedly contained a closely guarded secret. The basic idea was a reference to the Knights Templar. Von Hund claims to have associated with high-grade circles in Paris who were sworn by the Templars. He pretended to have been ordained a Templar from the Red Feather by a Knight Templar at the court of Charles Edward Stuart in the presence of Lord Clifford and Lord Kilmarnock . At the same time he was appointed army master of the reactivated VII Order Province (Germany) of the Templars within Freemasonry.

At the Kahla Convention , the system of Freiherr von Hund was combined with the clerical system of Freiherr von Stark. The rituals and the first three degrees were revised.

There were a total of six, later seven degrees, of which the rituals of the first four degrees came from France, the fifth and sixth degrees were invented by Hund himself. These degrees were called: apprentice, journeyman, master; Scotsman, novice and Knight Templar, later a seventh degree of Eques professus was added. In the rituals, reference was always made to unknown superiors without explaining them.

Wilhelmsbader Convent and disintegration

Even before adventurers like Alessandro Cagliostro and the Count of Saint Germain appeared, there were frauds and their subsequent exposure. When even von Hund was suspected of charlatanry after his death, the strict observance began to disintegrate, which was only concerned with itself. At the Convent National des Gaules in Lyon in November 1778, the system was rectified, largely on the initiative of Jean Baptiste Willermoz. At the convention of the fifth province of Burgundy in 1779, the lodges of the "Grand Loge des Maitres Réguliers" formed the Rectified Scottish Rite (RSR).

With the Wilhelmsbader Konvent of July 16, 1782 order was to be brought back to the strict observance. Here 35 high members of the organization planned the future structure of the organization. The convention came to meaningful results, such as increased charitable work and the abandonment of the name of Strict Observance. Since the name of the "Freemason Knights" proposed by Willermoz was not unanimously welcomed by the French delegates, the order was henceforth called "Order of Knights of Charity and Rectified Masonry"; however, the French branch of the order was allowed to keep the previously cultivated name "Chevaliers Bienfaisants de la Cite Sainte". However, there was no conclusive concept for the time after the Convention. It was decided to change the rites, degrees and even the name, and the affiliated lodges were given a year to enter the system of Charitable Knights. However, it was not made clear how exactly the new grades would be processed.

The commission from Lyon and Strasbourg set up at the convention to revise the symbolic degrees of the system took an inordinately long time to present results (1784: 1st degree, 1785: 2nd degree, 1786: 3rd degree, 1809: 4th degree) . The new flexible statute did not convince the members. The legend of the actual descent from the Templar order was dropped and replaced by a spiritually understood knighthood who wanted to emulate the ideals of the temple. Johann Christoph Bode called the "Unknown Superiors" an invention of Johann Christian Schubart . With that, the Strict Observance lost a substantial part of its attraction. The system perished “despite the outward pomp of its lack of content” . The majority of the Masonic lodges and grand lodges renounced strict observance. At the Wilhelmsbader Konvent in 1782, however, the reforms of Lyon were confirmed and the name was officially changed to "Rectified Scottish Rite". If you follow a publication by the Quatuor Coronati research lodge from 2002 (author: Walter Hess), the Rectified Scottish Rite, which still exists today, is the legitimate successor to the Strict Observance.

Although Duke Ferdinand von Braunschweig, as head of the order, was very satisfied with the convention, the system began to decline afterwards. Because basically there had been no reconciliation of the main camps in Wilhelmsbad, and the new spiritual direction was not clear. More and more lodges turned away from the system after the convention. Duke Ferdinand became completely disinterested from 1786 and died in 1792; In 1796 Karl von Hessen-Kassel became Grand Master General and the new head of the order. There were still a few boxes of the system in Germany until 1830. It was not until 1840 that the Carl to the rising light box officially turned away from the system and joined the Eclectic League. In some countries the order remained temporarily and often only rudimentary; it exists throughout Switzerland to the present day.

As a reaction to the desolate conditions of the Strict Observance, the Illuminati Order was quietly founded as early as 1776 .

literature

  • Joachim Bauer, Gerhard Müller: "The bricklayer's walk is like life". Temple masonry, enlightenment and politics in classical Weimar. (= Journal of the Association for Thuringian History. Supplement 32). Hain-Verlag, Rudolstadt et al. 2000, ISBN 3-89807-007-7 .
  • Ludwig Hammermayer: The Wilhelmsbad Freemason Convention of 1782. A high point and turning point in the history of the German and European secret societies . (= Wolfenbüttel studies for enlightenment. 5, 2). Schneider, Heidelberg 1980, ISBN 3-7953-0721-X .
  • René Le Forestier: Les Illuminés de Bavière et La Franc-Maçonnerie Allemande. Hachette, Paris 1914. (Reprint: Slatkine-Megariotis, Geneva 1974)
  • Eugen Lennhoff, Oskar Posner: Internationales Freemasonic Lexicon . Revised and expanded new edition (as of February 2000) of the 1932 edition. Herbig, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-7766-2161-3 .
  • Ferdinand Runkel: History of Freemasonry . 3 volumes. Hobbing, Berlin 1932. (Also reprint: With a current afterword by Peter Broers: Edition Lempertz, Königswinter 2006, ISBN 3-933070-96-1 )
  • Hermann Schüttler: On the relationship between ideology, organization and plans to emigrate in the system of strict observance. In: Monika Neugebauer-Wölk , Richard Saage (ed.): The politicization of the utopian in the 18th century. From utopian system design to the age of revolution. (= Hallesche's contributions to the European Enlightenment. 4). Niemeyer, Tübingen 1996, ISBN 3-484-81004-1 , pp. 143-168.
  • Walter Hess: History of the Rectified Scottish Rite. Series of publications of the research lodge Quatuor Coronati No. 41.Bayreuth 2002, OCLC 759045830 .

See also

Remarks

  1. ↑ According to the so-called Templar legend of Freemasonry, some knights of the Templar Order fled to Scotland after its dissolution in 1314. There they were protected from persecution by the stonemasonry brotherhood and passed on their secret knowledge to them.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ferdinand Runkel: History of Freemasonry. Volume I, Edition Lempertz, Königswinter 2006, p. 195 (reprint of the 1932 edition).
  2. ↑ More on this Hermann Schüttler: On the relationship between ideology, organization and plans to emigrate in the system of strict observance. 1996, pp. 143-168.
  3. ^ Andreasloge Wilhelmsbad - The Rectified Scottish System. In: www.andreasloge-wilhelmsbad.de. Retrieved April 2, 2016 .
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g Fr. Uhlmann: The great work theory of Freemasonry . Ernst Heinrich Moritz Verlag, Stuttgart 1931.
  5. ^ Karl-Heinz Göttert : Knigge or: From the illusions of decent life. dtv, 1995, p. 37.
  6. ^ Ferdinand Runkel: History of Freemasonry. Volume I, Hobbing, Berlin 1932. (Reprint: With a recent epilogue by Peter Broers. Edition Lempertz, Königswinter 2006)
  7. ^ Rectified Scottish Rite - Masonic Wiki. In: freimaurer-wiki.de. Retrieved February 22, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Wilhelmsbad Prefecture - The Rectified Scottish System. In: www.schottischer-ritus.de/das-rektierter-schottische-system. Retrieved February 22, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Ludwig Hammermayer: The Wilhelmsbad Freemason Convention of 1782. Heidelberg 1980, p. 62
  10. ↑ Eugen Lennhoff, Oskar Posner: Internationales Freemaurerlexikon. 2000, p. 813.
  11. ^ Ferdinand Runkel: History of Freemasonry. Volume I, Edition Lempertz, Königswinter 2006, p. 228.
  12. ↑ Walter Hess: History of the Rectified Scottish Rite: Bayreuth 2002, pp. 46-47.
  13. ↑ Walter Hess: History of the Rectified Scottish Rite: Bayreuth 2002, p. 133.
  14. ↑ Walter Hess: History of the Rectified Scottish Rite: Bayreuth 2002, p. 49.
  15. ↑ Friedrich Schmidt: Notes, as an addition to the history of the lodge "Carl to the rising light" in Frankfurt am Main and "Friedrich zum Nordstern" in Homburg vdH In: August Glahn: Friedrich zum Nordstern in Homburg vdH Frankfurt 1912, p. 149.
  16. ^ Karl-Heinz Göttert: Knigge or: From the illusions of decent life. dtv, 1995, pp. 37-38.