Rosicrucians

The East India Company is led by one Governor and twenty-four directors who make up the Court of Directors.

They are appointed by, and report to, the Court of Proprietors.

The Court of Directors has ten committees reporting to it.

The high profits reported by the Company after landing in India (presumably owing to a reduction in overhead costs affected by the transit points), had initially prompted King James I to grant subsidiary licenses to other trading companies in England.

He renews the charter given to the Company in 1609 for an indefinite period, including a clause which specifies that the charter will cease to be in force if the trade turns unprofitable for three consecutive years.

Francis Bacon becomes England’s solicitor-general in 1609, and continues his work in the tradition of the late John Dee, allegedly under the influence of Rosicrucianism.

Bacon downplays magic to please the Catholic-leaning King, emphasizing inductive science.

Puritan influences grow in spite of James.

The King James Bible is issued, providing the basis for the anti-Catholic policy of individual Bible reading and interpretation.

A small Marrano colony founded by Queen Elizabeth is expelled from London in 1609 on charges of Judaizing.

From London, many families will spread to Brazil, where conversos had settled at an early date, and to other colonies of the Americas.

The term Rosicrucian, its symbol the Rose Cross, describes a secret society of mystics, allegedly formed in Germany in the early seventeenth century, holding a doctrine "built on esoteric truths of the ancient past", which, "concealed from the average man, provide insight into nature, the physical universe and the spiritual realm.

According to Fraternitas Rosae Crucis, a modern Rosicrucian fraternal mystical organization claiming to be the "authentic Rosicrucian Fraternity, the society “was first instituted in Germany in 1614".

The Fama Fraternitatis Rosae Crucis (Fama fraternitatis Roseae Crucis oder Die Bruderschaft des Ordens der Rosenkreuzer), or simply the Fama Fraternitatis, an anonymous Rosicrucian manifesto published in 1614 in Kassel, tells the story of the "Father C.R." (later on C.R.C., the mythical Alchemist Christian Rosenkreuz), his ill-fated pilgrimage to Jerusalem; his subsequent tutelage by the secret sages of the east, the wise men of Damcar in Arabia, from whom he learned the ancient esoteric knowledge which included the study of physics, mathematics, magic and kabbalah; his return through Egypt and Fes and his presence among the alumbrados in Spain.

It is thought in occultism that Rosenkreuz's pilgrimage seems to refer to transmutation steps of the Great Work.

After his arrival to Germany, Father C.R. and other Brothers established an esoteric Christian Fraternity: "The Fraternity of the Rose Cross".

The Brothers of the Fraternity had been sent in mission throughout the world, having as their first priority to use their knowledge to "cure the sick" in a free of charge way "that gratis", not wearing any special clothing, and were to neet once each year in the mysterious "House of the Holy Spirit".

The Legend shows an agreement with six articles that they drew up Prior to their separation, bounding themselves one to another to keep:

1.That none of them should profess any other thing than to cure the sick, and that gratis.

2. None of the posterity should be constrained to wear one kind of habit, but to follow the custom of the country.

3. Every year, upon the day C., they would meet together at the house Santi Spiritus, or write the cause of their absence.

4. Every Brother should seek a worthy person to succeed him after his death.

5. The word CR should be their seal, mark, and character.

6. The Fraternity should remain secret one hundred years.

Two anonymous manifestos, Fama Fraternitatis RC (The Fame of the Brotherhood of RC) and Confessio Fraternitatis RC (The Confession of the Brotherhood of RC), had been published between 1607 and 1616, first in Germany and later throughout Europe.

The influence of these documents, presenting a "most laudable Order" of mystic-philosopher-doctors and promoting a "Universal Reformation of Mankind", has given rise to an enthusiasm called by its historian Dame Frances Yates the "Rosicrucian Enlightenment".

Rosicrucianism, the theology of a secret society of mystics, said to have been founded in late medieval Germany by Christian Rosenkreuz, holds a doctrine "built on esoteric truths of the ancient past", which, "concealed from the average man, provide insight into nature, the physical universe and the spiritual realm."

Symbolized by the Rosy Cross, the movement is associated with Protestantism and in particular Lutheranism.

According to historian David Stevenson, it was also influential to Freemasonry as it was emerging in Scotland.

In later centuries, many esoteric societies have claimed to derive their doctrines, in whole or in part, from the original Rosicrucians.

Several modern societies, which date the beginning of the Order to earlier centuries, have been formed for the study of Rosicrucianism and allied subjects.

As wars of politics and religion ravaged the continent in the early 1600s, the manifestos had caused excitement throughout Europe by declaring the existence of a secret brotherhood of alchemists and sages who are preparing to transform the arts, sciences, religion, and political and intellectual landscape of Europe.

The works are re-issued several times and followed by numerous pamphlets, favorable and otherwise.

Between 1614 and 1620, about four hundred manuscripts and books have been published which discuss the Rosicrucian documents.

The peak of the so-called "Rosicrucianism furor" is reached when two mysterious posters appear on the walls of Paris in 1622 within a few days of each other.

The first says, "We, the Deputies of the Higher College of the Rose-Croix, do make our stay, visibly and invisibly, in this city (...)" and the second one ends with the words, "The thoughts attached to the real desire of the seeker will lead us to him and him to us".

Frederick William, as prince of Prussia in 1781, had inclined to mysticism, had joined the Rosicrucians, and had fallen under the influence of Johann Christoph von Wöllner and Johann Rudolf von Bischoffwerder.

On August 26, 1786 Wöllner had been appointed privy councilor for finance (Geheimer Oberfinanzrath), and on October 2, 1786, had been ennobled.

Though not in name, he had in fact become prime minister; in all internal affairs it is he who decides; and the fiscal and economic reforms of the new reign are the application of his theories.

Bischoffswerder, too, still a simple major, had been called into the king′s counsels; by 1789 he is already an adjutant-general.

The opposition to Wöllner was, indeed, at the outset strong enough to prevent his being entrusted with the department of religion; but this too in time was overcome, and on July 3, 1788 he had been appointed active privy councilor of state and of justice and head of the spiritual department for Lutheran and Catholic affairs.

From this position Wöllner pursues long lasting reforms concerning religion in the Prussian state.

The king has proved eager to aid Wöllner's crusade.

On July 9, 1788 the famous religious edict had been issued, which forbids Evangelical ministers from teaching anything not contained in the letter of their official books, proclaims the necessity of protecting the Christian religion against the "enlighteners" (Aufklärer), and places educational establishments under the supervision of the orthodox clergy.

On December 18, 1788 a new censorship law had been issued, to secure the orthodoxy of all published books.

This forces major Berlin journals like Christoph Friedrich Nicolai's Allgemeine Deutsche Bibliothek and Johann Erich Biester's Berliner Monatsschrift to publish only outside the Prussian borders.

Moreover, people like Immanuel Kant are forbidden to speak in public on the topic of religion.