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According to the legend, the Rosicrucian order was founded in 1407 by a German named Christian Rosenkreuz ( 1378 - 1484), who studied in the Holy Land under various occult masters. During his lifetime, the order was alleged to be small, consisting of no more than eight members. When Rosenkreuz died in 1484, the order died out, only to be "reborn" in the early 17th century. This legend is accepted to varying degrees by modern Rosicrucians, with some accepting it as literal truth, others seeing it as a parable, and yet others believing Rosenkreuz to be a pseudonym for some more famous historical figure ( Francis Bacon is often suggested.)
According to a lesser known legend found in Masonic literature, the Rosicrucian order was created in year 46 when an Alexandrian Gnostic sage named Ormus and his six followers were converted by Mark, one of Jesus' disciples. From this conversion, Rosicrucianism was born by fusing primitive Christianity with Egyptian mysteriesA mystery religion is a religion with an arcanum, or body of secret wisdom. An inner core of beliefs, practices, and the religion's true nature, are revealed only to those who have been initiated into its secrets. These secrets are not to be profaned pro. Rosenkreuz would therefore only have been initiated into and become the Grand Master of an already existing order instead of being its founder.
In point of fact, what was known in the early 17th century as the "Society of Rosicrucians" (Rosenkreuzer) was most likely a number of isolated individuals who held certain views in common (which apparently was their only bond of union). There is no trace of a society holding meetings, or having officers. So far as the numerous works are concerned, it is evident that the writers who posed as Rosicrucians were moral and religious reformers, and utilized the technicalities of chemistry ( alchemyJoseph Wright of Derby, 1771) Alchemy is an early protoscientific practice combining elements of chemistry, physics, astrology, art, semiotics, metallurgy, medicine, mysticism, and religion. Two intertwined goals sought by many alchemists were the philoso), and the sciences generally, as media through which to make known their opinions. Their writings included a flavour of mysticismMysticism is meditation, prayer, or theology focused on the direct experience of union with divinity, God, or Ultimate Reality, or the belief that such experience is a genuine and important source of knowledge. Perspectives of mysticism A wide range of pe or occultism promotive of inquiry and suggestive of hidden meanings discernible or discoverable only by adepts.
The publication of the Fama Fraternitatis Rosae Crucis ( 1614Events April 5 In Virginia, Native American Pocahontas marries English colonist John Rolfe. October 11 Adriaen Block and a group of Amsterdam merchants petition the States General for exclusive trading rights in the area he explored and named " New Nether), the Confessio Fraternitatis ( 1615Events June 2 First Recollet missionaries arrive at Quebec City, from Rouen, France. June 4 Forces under the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu took Osaka Castle in Japan. The second volume of Miguel Cervantes' Don Quixote is published. End of the Sengoku Period in J), and The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz ( 1616Events Dirk Hartog lands on an island off the Western Australian coast Pocahontas arrives in England War between Venice and Austria Collegium Musicum founded in Prague Nicolaus Copernicus' De revolutionibus is placed on the Index of Forbidden Books by the) caused immense excitement throughout Europe, and they not only led to many re-issues, but were followed by numerous pamphlets, favourable and otherwise, whose authors generally knew little of the real aims of the original author (and doubtless in not a few cases amused themselves at the expense of the public). It is probable that the first work was circulated in manuscript form about 1610Events January 7 Galileo Galilei discovers the Galilean moons of Jupiter. March 12 Swedish troops under Jacob de la Gardie take Moscow May 13- 14 Francois Ravaillac assassinates Henry IV of France July 5 John Guy sets sail from Bristol with 39 other colon, according to historical records, but if so, there was no mention of the cult before that decade. In fact, research indicates that all three documents, including the concept of the Rosicrucian Order, were probably the creation of theologian Johann Valentin Andrea ( 1586- 1654). He subsequently described Rosicrucianism as a Ludibrium.
The authors of the Rosicrucian works generally favoured Lutheranism as opposed to Roman Catholicism. Others, like John Heydon , admitted they were not Rosicrucians, but under attractive and suggestive titles to their works sought to make Hermeticism and other curious studies more useful and popular, and succeeded, for a time at least.
Other famous persons considered to be rosicrucianists were: Raimundo Lulio, Newton, Miguel Servet (well-known defender of the freedom of conscience) Leibnitz, Leonardo da Vinci, Descartes, Paracelso, Beethoven.
The curious legend, in which the fabulous origin of the so-called society was enshrined (Christian Rosenkreuz had discovered and learned the Secret Wisdom on a pilgrimage to the East in the 15th century), was so improbable, though ingenious, that the genesis of the Rosicrucians was generally overlooked or ignored in the writings of the time. And it is because those strange legends that it's hard to really know how rosicrucianism started, many of their legends being more metaphorical. For example the opening of Rosenkreuz's tomb is thought to be only a way of refering to the cycles in nature.