They portrayed themselves as
‘defender of the faith’ against the reformation and the rising Protestantism of
Germany, Switzerland and the ‘low lands’ of the Netherlands, Flanders and
Briton. They adopted a program of fanatical Catholicism. Out of this program rose
the Holy League.
The Holy League primary
focus was to for the elimination of Protestantism. Some interpreted this as a
sign of spiritual devotion, however the Guise Lorraine families considered the
Holy League a means of political expediency; A plan for a structure to replace
the Holy Roman Empire.
If the Papacy was powerless,
the Holy League wouldn’t have been necessary; however the Papacy was a power
unto itself. It needed to become more powerful to eliminate its competition.
The Holy League’s efforts were counterproductive as Protestantism overtook
England, Holland and the low lands.
England’s primary threat was
Catholic Spain whose King Phillip II had just married Mary Tudor four years
prior to her death in 1558. England’s problems with the Lorraine Guise families
of France and the Spanish throne are legendary.The Holy
League was not just a menace in England but also in the British Isles.
Esoteric thought was absorbed
throughout England. It was portrayed in poetry and the arts. It was portrayed
in the poems ‘ Arcadia’ and the’ Fariequeen’ by Spencer and Sidney, also in works of
Francis Bacon.
The esoteric histories
were the foundations of secret societies that were proliferating throughout
England, Scotland, British Islands and the Baltic.
The secret societies were anti-Catholic
in nature; they were opposed to the political and religious agenda of the Lorraine
and de Guise families. It was through these secret societies and specifically
the Knight Templar’s that esoteric knowledge spread throughout the British
Islands and into Scotland.
Political allegiances and
esoteric knowledge frequently became intertwined, frequently working in tandem
and fine lines needed to be drawn between warring factions of protestant and
Catholic interests.
Physician, scholar,
scientist, astrologer, alchemist, cabbalist, mathematician, diplomatic emissary
and spy; Dr John Dee was born in Wales in 1527. A ‘Renaissance Man’ and quite
literally set the stage for freemasonry.
Dr Dee, through his
collection of esoteric material, provided the prototype of Prospero in
Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’. It was
through Dr Dee and his work which set the stage for studies in 17th
century England of esoteric knowledge.
As a young man Dr Dee was
lecturing at universities not only in England but in France as well, in
esoteric subjects such as geometry. Dr Dee was moving around Europe
establishing a reputation for himself despite the influence of the Holy League.
Prague had become the new
center for esoteric studies under the homage of Emperor Rudolph II. Dr Dee enjoyed
a friendship with Emperor Rudolph and in 1586 returned to England with a vast
library of esoteric knowledge which was yet to be received in the British
Islands.
With this new infusion of esoteric
knowledge it paved the way for England to replace Prague as the center for
esoteric studies. Some of Dr Dee’s more renowned disciples were Inigo Jones and
Robert Fludd who later became instrumental as a teacher of mathematics to the de
Guise family.
Dr Dee referred to Jesus as
our ‘heavenly Archemaster”. He was instrumental in establishing Vitruvian
principles of architecture and geometry. He also published a translation of
Euclid, in doing so he exalted the supremacy of architecture among the
mathematical sciences.
During most of Dr Dee’s
lifetime the esoteric knowledge was reserved for secret societies, or taken up
in rare academic circles. It had proliferated in Scotland under Mary Queen of
Scotts and Mary de Guise, however anything Scottish was scrutinized by England.
With the execution of Mary the Queen of Scotts the threat of the Holy League
was all but diminished in England.
This scrutiny prevented Dr
Dee to fully provide esoteric connections between England and Scotland. Changes
were coming about in England with the assassination of the de Guise brothers. The
Holy League had lost its strength and was crumbling; the Spanish Armada’s
defeat had all but diminished the Spanish foot hold in the British Empire by
the time of the 17th century, England’s security was more secure.
By this time esoteric
thought was not exclusively related to Catholicism or the Holy League, its new
supporter was Emperor Rudolph II of Prague who declared himself neither
Catholic nor Protestant, but Christian.
Rudolph II had refused last rites on his death bed, had distanced
himself from the Vatican and refused to persecute Protestants. Esoteric thought
by the 1600’s had become a propaganda instrument to be used against the Vatican
in Germany and the Netherlands. Esoteric thought having distanced itself from
the Lorraine and de Guise families could safely be discussed in England by the
early 1600’s.
King James VI of Scotland a
Stuart Monarch, became James I of England and had distanced himself from his de
Guise roots. With England and Scotland under a single monarch of Scottish roots
the Scottish Nobility began to be active in English politics.
The Montgomery’s and Hamilton’s
crossed the Irish Sea to Ulster in Ireland where they established plantations.
Some of the Templar and Scottish guard mystique started to permeate old
England, James I had descended from the stone masons. He had brought into England
his heritage and also his French roots and esoteric background.
All of these new traditions
under James I, combined with Dr John Dee’s work became known as ‘speculative’ Freemasonry.
All of these traditions had not only become legitimate and respected in main
stream England but was also now associated with the throne.
The esoteric knowledge
which had become a propaganda instrument to be used by the Baltic states
against the Vatican and the Holy League, had become known as ‘Rosicrucian’,
Freemasonry, and the Royal Society which became indistinguishable from each
other.
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