In his autobiography Johannes Valentinus Andreae claimed that he had written "Chymische Hochzeit Christiani Rosencreutz anno 1459" Alchemical wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz) when he was still a teenager in 1605, though it was not published until 1616. He claimed that it was intended to be a ludibrium (Latin for plaything or trivial game), and as a Lutheran theologian he regarded alchemy with astrology, music, art, and drama as a "less serious" science. An allegorical, symbolic romance, it details how Rosenkreuz was invited to a magical castle to assist in the marriage of the king and the queen and describes processions of tests, purifications, death, resurrection, and ascension. It is regarded as 1 of the 3 foundational Rosicrucian texts (it was set during Easter week of the year that the Constitutions of the Freemasons of Strasburg was signed; the 2 orders were closely related). The 3 anonymous manifestos all appeared between 1614 and 1617 and heralded a universal reformation of mankind via an esoteric science kept secret for millennia until the intellectual climate was ready to accept it. By 1620 the documents and doctrines were discussed in some 400 books and manuscripts. One of the key Rosicrucian notions was that of an "invisible college" of learned men. The "Chymical Wedding" was 1st translated by the English mathematician/esoterocist Ezechiel Foxcroft, but it was not published until 1690, 14 years after his death; however, in the 1640s Robert Boyle, regarded as the founder of chemistry, was already referring to an "invisible college" and this informal group of researchers evolved into The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge which he founded in 1663. Various Rosicrucian groups continue to the present day. One of them, the Rosicrucian Fellowship, claims that the founding order was organized in 1313 by Rosenkreuz and 12 exalted Beings who gathered around him. In many accounts Rosenkreuz was the last member of the Germelshausen family of Albigensian heretics that was extirpated by Konrad von Marburg when he was only 5; he became a doctor and traveled throughout the Muslim lands before returning to Europe and founding the Fraternity of the Rose Cross; he died at 106, and his body was still in a perfect state of preservation when it was rediscoverd 120 years late in a heptagonal chamber that he had erected as a storehouse of knowledge. It is often supposed that the real Rosenkreuz was actually a pseudonym for Francis Bacon or some other 17th-century scientist/philosopher.
In his autobiography Johannes Valentinus Andreae claimed that he had written "Chymische Hochzeit Christiani Rosencreutz anno 1459" Alchemical wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz) when he was still a teenager in 1605, though it was not published until 1616. He claimed that it was intended to be a ludibrium (Latin for plaything or trivial game), and as a Lutheran theologian he regarded alchemy with astrology, music, art, and drama as a "less serious" science. An allegorical, symbolic romance, it details how Rosenkreuz was invited to a magical castle to assist in the marriage of the king and the queen and describes processions of tests, purifications, death, resurrection, and ascension. It is regarded as 1 of the 3 foundational Rosicrucian texts (it was set during Easter week of the year that the Constitutions of the Freemasons of Strasburg was signed; the 2 orders were closely related). The 3 anonymous manifestos all appeared between 1614 and 1617 and heralded a universal reformation of mankind via an esoteric science kept secret for millennia until the intellectual climate was ready to accept it. By 1620 the documents and doctrines were discussed in some 400 books and manuscripts. One of the key Rosicrucian notions was that of an "invisible college" of learned men. The "Chymical Wedding" was 1st translated by the English mathematician/esoterocist Ezechiel Foxcroft, but it was not published until 1690, 14 years after his death; however, in the 1640s Robert Boyle, regarded as the founder of chemistry, was already referring to an "invisible college" and this informal group of researchers evolved into The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge which he founded in 1663. Various Rosicrucian groups continue to the present day. One of them, the Rosicrucian Fellowship, claims that the founding order was organized in 1313 by Rosenkreuz and 12 exalted Beings who gathered around him. In many accounts Rosenkreuz was the last member of the Germelshausen family of Albigensian heretics that was extirpated by Konrad von Marburg when he was only 5; he became a doctor and traveled throughout the Muslim lands before returning to Europe and founding the Fraternity of the Rose Cross; he died at 106, and his body was still in a perfect state of preservation when it was rediscoverd 120 years late in a heptagonal chamber that he had erected as a storehouse of knowledge. It is often supposed that the real Rosenkreuz was actually a pseudonym for Francis Bacon or some other 17th-century scientist/philosopher.
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