Here a Knight, There a Knight. . .

EVEN AFTER THE collapse of the Stuart cause, the Knight degrees remained popular and spread rapidly. The pro-Stuart slant vanished in favor of an antimonarchial philosophy in some Templar organizations, and a pro-monarchial sentiment in others. Freemasons practicing the Templar degrees played important political roles on both sides of the monarchy vs. antimonarchy battles going on in the 18th century, thereby helping to keep that issue alive in such a way that people would find it something to continuously fight over. For example, King Gustavus III of Sweden and his brother, Karl, the Duke of Sodermanland, had been initiated into the Strict Observance in 1770. In the following year, one of Gustavus's first acts upon assuming the Swedish throne was to mount a coup d'etat against the Swedish Riksdag [parliament] and reestablish greater powers in the Crown. According to Samuel Harrison Baynard, writing in his book, History of the Supreme Council, Gustavus was assisted largely by fellow Freemasons. The Knight degrees also found a home in Ireland where they attached themselves to the Order of Orange. As we recall, the Orange Order was a militant organization patterned after Freemasonry. It was founded to ensure that Protestantism remained England's dominant religion. Members of the Orange Order vowed to support the Hanoverians as long as the Hanoverians continued their support of Protestantism. The Knight degrees were grafted onto the Order of Orange in the early 1790's, by which time the Stuart cause was nearly dead. The Orange Order's Templar degrees were, and still are today, called the "Black Preceptory." Although the Orange Order and the Black Preceptory are supposed to be equal in status and rank, entry into the Black Preceptory is accomplished only after a person has first passed through the degrees of the Orange Order. According to Tony Gray, writing in his fascinating book, The Orange Order, the Black Preceptory today has eleven degrees and "a great deal of secrecy still shrouds the inner workings of this curious institution."1 Approximately 50% to 60% of all Orange members become members of the Preceptory. The Orange Order itself continues to be strongly Protestant and anti-Catholic, and in this way it contributes to some of the conflicts between Catholics and Protestants in Ireland today. Another interesting chapter in the history of the Templar Degrees concerns the creation of a bogus "Illuminati." "Illuminati," as we recall, was the Latin name given to the Brotherhood. In 1779, a second "Illuminati" was started in the Strict Observance Lodge of Munich. This second bogus "Illuminati" was led by an ex-Jesuit priest named Adam Weishaupt and was structured as a semiautonomous organization. Openly political and antimonarchial, Weishaupt's "Illuminati" formed another channel of "higher degrees" for Freemasons to graduate into after completing the Blue Degrees. Weishaupt's "Illuminati" had its own "hidden master" known as the "Ancient Scot Superior." The Strict Observance members who were initiated into this "Illuminati" apparently believed that they were being initiated into the highest echelons of the real Illuminati, or Brotherhood. Once initiated under strict vows of secrecy, members were "revealed" a great deal of political and antimonarchial philosophy. Weishaupt's "Illuminati" was soon attacked, however. Its headquarters in German Bavaria were raided by the Elector of Bavaria in 1786. Many radical political aims of the Illuminati were discovered in documents seized during the raid. The Duke of Brunswick, acting as Grand Master of German Freemasonry, finally issued a manifesto eight years later, in 1794, to counteract Weishaupt's bogus "Illuminati" after the public scandal could no longer be contained. Joining in the suppression of Weishaupt's Bavarian "Illuminati" were many Rosicrucians. Despite the repression, this "Illuminati" survived and still exists today.Many people have mistakenly believed that Weishaupt's "Illuminati" was the true Illuminati and that it took over all of Freemasonry. This error is caused by Weishaupt's express desire to have his degrees become the only "higher degrees" of Freemasonry. One can still find books today which theorize that Weishaupt's "Illuminati" was, and still is, the source of nearly all of mankind's social ills. A careful study of the evidence indicates that Weishaupt's "Illuminati" is actually a red herring in this respect. Although Weishaupt's "Illuminati" did contribute to some of the revolutionary agitation going on in Europe, its impact on history does not appear to have been as great as some people believe, despite the enormous publicity it received. The social ills which have sometimes been blamed on Weishaupt's "Illuminati" existed long before the birth of Adam Weishaupt. What did take over nearly all of Freemasonry in the eighteenth century were the Templar degrees, which were not the same thing as Weishaupt's "Illuminati." The true significance of the Bavarian Illuminati is that is was an antimonarchy faction allowed to operate out of Strict Observance lodges; meanwhile, the Strict Observance was generally considered pro-monarchy and it supported pro-monarchy causes, as in the Swedish Ricksdag overthrow, mentioned earlier. This made the Strict Observance a source of secret agitation on both sides of the monarchy-versus-antimonarchy conflicts for a number of years—another example of Brotherhood Machiavellianism. The worldwide transformation of human society announced in the Rosicrucian Fama Fraternitis gained momentum as Freemasons and other mystical network members led numerous revolutions around the world. The uprisings were not confined to Europe; they spilled across the Atlantic Ocean and took root in the European colonies in North America. There they gave birth to the single most influential nation on Earth today: the United States of America.