The Tessera of Antilia: Utopian Brotherhoods & Secret Societies in the Early Seventeenth Century

308 Pages·1998·41.264 MB·English

by  Donald R. Dickson

THE TESSERA OF ANTILIA
BRILL'S STUDIES
IN
INTELLECTUAL HISTORY
General Editor
A J. VANDERJAGT, University of Groningen
Editorial Board
M. COLISH, Oberlin College
J.I. ISRAEL, University College, London
J.D. NORTH, University of Groningen
H.A. OBERMAN, University of Arizona, Tucson
R.H. POPKIN, Washington University, St. Louis-UCLA
VOLUME 88
THE TESSERA
OF
ANTILIA
Utopian Brotherhoods & Secret Societies in
the Early Seventeenth Century
BY
DONALD R. DICKSON
ir
'68*'
BRILL
LEIDEN · BOSTON · KÖLN
1998
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Gataloging-in-Publication Data
Dickson, Donald R.
The tessera of Antilia : Utopian brotherhoods and secret societies
in the early seventeenth century / by Donald R. Dickson.
p. cm. — (Brill's studies in intellectual history, ISSN
0920-8607 ; v. 88)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 9004110321 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Secret societies—Europe—History—17th century.
2. Brotherhoods—Europe—History—17th century. 3. Utopias—Europe-
-History—17th century. 4. Europe—History—17th century.
5. Europe—Intellectual life—17th century. I. Tide. II. Series.
HS244.D53 1998
366\0094Ό9032—dc21 98-16148
CIP
Die Deutsche Bibliothek - CIP-Einheitsaufhahme
The Tessera of Antilia : Utopian brotherhoods and secret societies in
the early seventeenth century / by Donald R. Dickson. - Leiden ;
Boston ; Köln : Brill, 1998
(Brill's studies in intellectual history ; Vol. 88)
ISBN 90-04-11032-1
ISSN 0920-8607
ISBN 90 04 11032 1
© Copyright 1998 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
All rights reserved. No part of tins publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written
permission from the publisher.
Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal
use is granted by Brill provided that
the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright
Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910
Danvers MA 01923, USA.
Fees are subject to change.
PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS
Forjayn and Madeline Dichon
always an inspiration

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgements ix
Chapter One: Secret Societies, Natural Magic &
the Historiographers ι
Chapter Two: Johann Valentin Andreae's Christian Utopia . 18
A. Andreae's Family, Education, and Ministry 22
B. Intellectual Circles at Tübingen 30
C. Andreae's Protestant Brotherhoods & the Republic of
Letters 40
Chapter Three: Andreae and the Fable of the Rosicrucian
Brotherhood 62
A. Chymische Hochzeit 66
Β. Fama Fraternitatis and Confessio Fraternitatis 71
C. Andreae's Satiric Self-Defense 80
Chapter Four: Utopian & Learned Societies in Seventeenth-
Century Germany 89
A. Jungius and the Societas Ereunetica 91
B. Saubert, Andreae and the Unto Christiana 101
C. Pömer, Hein and Antilia 114
D. Morsius's Dissemination of Andreae's Utopianism ... 138
Chapter Five: Samuel Hardib and the Utopian Movement . 145
A. Hartlib's Societas Reformatorum et Correspondency 148
B. Comenius, Macaria & the Collegium Lucis 159
C. The Dissemination of Andreae's Utopian Tracts in
England 172
Chapter Six: Utopian & Learned Societies in England in
the 1650s 181
A. Henshaw and Vaughan's Christian L·arned Society 186
B. Vaughan's TL· Fame and Confession of the Fraternity ofR:C: 207
C. Bengt Skytte's Universum Collegium 218
D. Antilia Rediviva 223
viii TABLE OF CONTENTS
Afterword: "Philosophicall and Mathematico-Mechanical King":
Charles II and the Royal Society 237
Appendix A: L·ges Societatis Ereuneticœ 247
Appendix B: The Laws of a Chnstian Society fages Antiliame) ... 251
Appendix G: The Cambridge Essentials 257
Appendix D: Skytte's Design for a Universum Collegium 259
Bibliography 265
Abbreviations 265
Manuscripts Cited 266
Printed Works Cited 270
Index 283
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book on international cultural exchanges in early modern Eu
rope was fittingly made possible by two learned societies: the Inter
disciplinary Group for Historical Literary Study at Texas A&M
University and the Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung. To my col
leagues in IGHLS - above all to Jeffrey N. Cox, Margaret J. M.
Ezell, and Larry J. Reynolds-I am indebted for creating an intel
lectual community that fostered my interest in similar communities
of the respublica literaria. The Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung very
generously granted me an eighteen-month research fellowship that
enabled me to work at libraries and archives throughout Germany
and England. Furthermore, I would like to thank Karl Josef Hölt-
gen and his family and to acknowledge the benevolence of my col
leagues at the Institut für Anglistik at the University of Erlangen-
Nürnberg (1992-1993), who provided the collégial atmosphere in
which scholarship thrives.
I am indebted to many librarians who patiently answered my
inquiries: particularly to the archivist at the University of Sheffield
Library, Peter Garnell; and to William Hitchens and Judith
Crawford of the Hartlib Papers Project. I am especially grateful for
the benevolence of those at the Universitäts-bibliothek Erlangen-
Nürnberg, the Staats- und Universitäts-bibliothek Carl von Ossiet-
zky, Hamburg, and the Herzog-August Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel.
Also to the library of the Germanisches National Museum; the
Stadtbibliothek Nürnberg; the Württembergische Landesbibliothek,
Stuttgart; the Niedersächsischen Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek
Göttingen; the Stadtbibliothek Augsburg; the Stadtarchiv Sulz
bach-Rosenberg; the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek München; the
Landeskirchliches Archiv Nürnberg; and the Universitätsbibliothek
Tübingen. Also to Rolf Linde of the Riksarkivet, Stockholm; the
Handskriftsavdelningen of the Uppsala Universitetsbibliotek; the
Biblioteka Publiczna, Elbl^g; the Uniwersytetu Mikolaja Koper-
nika, Torun; the Biblioteka Tartuskij Universitet; Carlos Gilly and
the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica, Amsterdam; the Hand
schriften- und Inkunabelsammlung of the Österreichische Natio
nalbibliothek; the Bedfordshire Record Office; the Yorkshire Ar-