The Rosicrucian Enlightenment

350 Pages·2001·6.31 MB·English

by  Frances Yates

The Rosicrucian
Enlightenment
‘Brilliant analysis of events, movements, relationships
and consequences. Her book is compulsive reading, and
forces the reader back not only to alternative accounts
of early seventeenth-century movements, which seem
superficial, but to Dr Yates’s other books.’
Asa Briggs
‘No one has done more than she to recreate, from
unexpected material, the intellectual life of past ages. It
is Dr Yates’ great achievement to identify the ideas and,
by delicate scholarship and profound study of symbol-
ism, to provide them with a pedigree and a home. A
brilliant and exciting book.’
Hugh Trevor-Roper, Sunday Times
‘No scholar in recent times has done more to open up
our picture of intellectual life in the post-Renaissance
period than Frances Yates.’
Times Literary Supplement
Frontispiece The Invisible College of the Rose Cross Fraternity. From
Theophilus Schweighardt, Speculum Sophicum Rhodo-
Stauroticum
Frances A.
Yates
The Rosicrucian
Enlightenment
London and New York
First published 1972
by Routledge & Kegan Paul
First published in Routledge Classics 2002
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003.
© 1972 Frances A. Yates
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Yates, Frances Amelia.
The Rosicrucian enlightenment / Frances A. Yates.
p. cm.
Originally published: London ; New York : Routledge, 1972.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Rosicrucians—History. I. Title.
BF1623.R7 Y38 2001
135′.43′094—dc21 2001034883
ISBN 0-203-16601-9 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-26064-3 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0–415–26769–2 (Print Edition)
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations vii
Preface xi
1 A Royal Wedding: The Marriage of Princess
Elizabeth with the Elector Palatine 1
2 The Bohemian Tragedy 24
3 John Dee and the Rise of ‘Christian Rosencreutz’ 42
4 The Rosicrucian Manifestos 58
5 The Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosencreutz 82
6 The Palatinate Publisher: Johann Theodore De Bry
and the Publication of the Works of Robert Fludd and
Michael Maier 97
7 The Rosicrucian Furore in Germany 126
8 The Rosicrucian Scare in France 139
9 Francis Bacon ‘Under the Shadow of Jehova’s
Wings’ 156
10 Italian Liberals and Rosicrucian Manifestos 170
11 The R.C. Fraternity and the Christian Unions 181
12 Comenius and the Rosicrucian Rumour in Bohemia 200
13 From the Invisible College to the Royal Society 220
vi contents
14 Elias Ashmole and the Dee Tradition: Isaac Newton
and Rosicrucian Alchemy 247
15 Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry 262
16 The Rosicrucian Enlightenment 278
Appendix 294
Index 323
ILLUSTRATIONS
Frontispiece The Invisible College of the Rose Cross
Fraternity. From Theophilus Schweighardt, Speculum
Sophicum Rhodo-Stauroticum, 1618 ii
1 Frederick V, Elector Palatine, and the Princess
Elizabeth. Print, 1612. Sutherland Collection,
Ashmolean Museum 3
2 Arch at Oppenheim, 1613. Designed and engraved by
Johann Theodore de Bry. From Beschreibung der Reiss,
Heidelberg, 1613 12
3 (a) Ship of the Argonauts, Pageant Car 13
(b) Arrival of the Princess Elizabeth at Heidelberg.
From Beschreibung der Reiss 14
4 (a) Arch erected by Heidelberg University 15
(b) Arch erected in the courtyard of Heidelberg Castle
Triumphal Arches for the entry of the Princess
Elizabeth, Heidelberg, 1613. From Beschreibung
der Reiss 15
5 Heidelberg Castle and Gardens, engraved by Matthieu
Merian. From Salomon de Caus, Hortus Palatinus,
Frankfurt, 1620 18
6 (a) Salomon de Caus, Hortus Palatinus, title-page 20
viii illustrations
(b) Statue of Memnon. From Salomon de Caus, Les
raisons des forces mouvantes, Livre second, Paris, 1624 20
7 (a) The Post Boy looking for a Missing King 22
(b) Frederick and Elizabeth in an Infernal Garden. 23
German Prints, 1621 (the verses below the pictures
have been omitted), British Museum, Print Room
8 Frederick and Elizabeth as King and Queen of
Bohemia, with Four Lions. Print issued in Prague at the
time of their coronation, 1619, National Portrait Gallery
photograph (the explanatory verses below the picture
have been omitted) 31
9 (a) Frederick as a Garterless Pilgrim 35
(b) The Garterless Frederick doing Menial Tasks. 35
German prints, 1621 (without the accompanying
verses), British Museum, Print Room
10 (a) John Dee, Monas hieroglyphica, Antwerp, 1564,
title-page 52
(b) H. Khunrath, Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae,
edition of Hanover, 1609, title-page 52
11 The Cave of the Illuminati. From H. Khunrath,
Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae 53
12 The Cabalist-Alchemist. From H. Khunrath,
Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae 55
13 The Marriage of the Elector Palatine and the Princess
Elizabeth. German Print, 1613. Sutherland Collection,
Ashmolean Museum 57
14 (a) The Hapsburg Eagle and the Palatine Lion on the
turning wheel of Fortune 74
(b) The Hapsburg Eagle triumphing over the fallen
Frederick. German prints, 1621 (without the
accompanying verses). British Museum, Print Room 74
15 (a) Under the Wings of the Triumphant Hapsburg
Eagle. German Print, 1621 (without the verses). British
Museum, Print Room 76
(b) Under Jehova’s Wings. Title-page of Theophilus
Schweighardt, Speculum Sophicum Rhodo-
Stauroticum, 1618 77
illustrations ix
16 Frederick on the Pythagorean Y. German print, 1621.
British Museum, Print Room 78
17 Julius Guglielmus Zincgreff, Emblematum Ethico-
Politicorum Centuria, Oppenheim, 1619, title-page 84
18 (a), (b), (c), The Palatine Lion guarding Heidelberg
Castle 85
(d) The Pillar of Cloud leading the Israelites. Emblems
(without the accompanying French verses) from
Zincgreff, Emblematum Ethico-Politicorum Centuria 85
19 (a) Page from the Chymische Hochzeit Christiani
Rosencreutz, Strasburg, 1616, showing John Dee’s
‘monas’ sign 87
(b) Page from The Hermeticke Romance, or, the
Chymical Wedding, translated by Ezechiel Foxcroft,
1690, showing Dee’s ‘monas’ sign 87
20 Robert Fludd, Utriusque Cosmi Historia, Oppenheim,
1617, title-page engraved by Johann Theodore de Bry 111
21 Michael Maier, Viatorum, hoc est de montibus
planetarum, Oppenheim, 1618, title-page 112
22 Michael Maier, Atalanta fugiens, Oppenheim, 1617,
title-page 113
23 Following the Footprints of Nature, Emblem from
Atalanta fugiens 114
24 (a) Alchemy and Geometry 116
(b) The Philosopher’s Egg. Emblems from Atalanta
fugiens 117
25 (a) Grotto at Heidelberg Castle: Fountain with Coral.
From Salomon de Caus, Les raisons des forces
mouvantes, Paris, 1624 204
(b) Fishing for Coral (the Philosopher’s Stone).
Emblem from Atalanta fugiens 205
26 (a) The Marriage of the Alchemical King and Queen 206
(b) The Alchemists (Thomas Norton, Abbot Cremer,
Basil Valentine). Both from Daniel Stolcius, Viridarium
Chymicum, Frankfurt, 1624; reprinted from Michael
Maier, Tripus Aureus, Frankfurt, 1618 207
27 (a) Vision of a Triumphant Lion 208