Freemason Part IV { Elias Ashmore}

  

 Elias Ashmole was born in Litchfield in 1617. He had the same interests as Robert Moray and also the same influence. During the civil war Elias was aligned with the royalists and in 1644 retired to his hometown.

 King Charles I had appointed him Commissioner of Excise, part of his responsibilities brought him frequently to Oxford. It was in Oxford where he made the acquaintance of Captain Sir George Wharton, who was an alchemist and astrologer.

 Elias Ashmore was part of the ‘Invisible College’ but was also very interested in astrology. In 1648 the Invisible College began meeting in Oxford. The Invisible College had in its membership such notable figures as Robert Boyle, Christopher Wren and Dr. John Wilkins.

  Elias Ashmore had in his possession five manuscripts from John Dee. In 1650 Elias began publishing some of these manuscripts under a pseudonym of James Hasolle. The most notable of these manuscripts was “treatise on alchemy”.

  Other alchemical works were soon published which were influential on both Robert Boyle and Isaac Newton. Elias Ashmore was known to have frequented Rosicrucian events, in 1646 a German Rosicrucian document was published which stated  ‘To…the only philosopher in the present age:….Elias Ashmore.’

  King Charles II was also keenly interested in alchemy and was very impressed with Elias Ashmores work. When King Charles II returned to the Throne Elias Ashmore was appointed to the post of Windsor Herald.

 Windsor Herald was the first of many offices that Elias Ashore was to hold for the new Monarch. It was during this time, in 1672, that he published his work ‘Order of the Garter’. This text is still recognized as a model for the chivalric portrayal of Rosicrucian’s, not only in England but internationally as well.

 In 1677 Elias Ashmore bestowed upon Oxford University twelve wagon loads of his personal library which became known as ‘Antiquarian Museum’. Five years after Sir Robert Molay was inducted into the Temple of the Masons, Elias Ashmore was also inducted as a Freemason in 1646:

  1646 Oct 16, 4H  30’ pm I was made a Freemason at Warrington in Lancashire with Col: Henry Mainwaring of Karincham in Cheshire. The names of those who were then of the lodge Mr. Rich Penket, Warden: Mr. James Collier, Mr. Rich Sankey, Henry Littler, John Ellam, Rich Ellam and Hugh Brewer.        

  The above paragraph is an excerpt from Elias Ashmore’s diary. In 1682 Elias Ashmore diary records another lodge meeting in London, at the Masons Hall the list of those in attendance was especially distinguished. This diary attests to the spread of Freemasonry across England, also to his allegiance to Freemasonry for over thirty six years and also the quality of members of the lodge.

 

 Francis Yates mentions that these two Freemasons were the first Freemasons known to history and were both founding members, of the Royal Society.

  All throughout the civil war both Sir Robert Moray and Elias Ashmore were loyal and dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart Dynasty. Elias Ashmore was always loyal to the chivralic orders.  

  Elias Ashmore was the first person since the suppression of the Templars to speak favorably of them. If one were to observe Elias Ashmore, a noted antiquarian, expert on the chivalric orders, prominent Freemason, co-founder of the Royal Society one can visualize the prevailing attitude toward the Templar’s in seventeenth century Freemasonic and Rosicrucian thought.

  With Elias Ashmore the rehabilitation of the Templar’s began in the eyes of the public. It was at this time in 1651 that a translation of Agrippas work from 1533 was published in England.

  The Occult Philosophy was a landmark of esoteric literature. The Occult Philosophy ensured Agrippas reputation as the supreme magician of his age.