CHAPTER VIII.

THE CASE OF JOHANN VALENTIN ANDREAS.

MOST existing theories as to the authorship of the Rosi-
crucian manifestoes are founded upon plausible assumptions
or ingenious conclusions drawn from the doubtful materials
of merely alleged facts. Each investigator has approached
the subject with an ambitious determination to solve the
problem connected with the mysterious Order, but, in the
absence of adequate materials, has evolved a new hypothesis,
where the supposititious has transfigured what is certain for
the satisfaction of individual bias. As a simple historian
working in the cause of truth, it is neither my inclination
nor my duty to contrive a fresh theory, but rather to state
the facts which are in conflict with all theories, and to draw
no conclusion unwarranted by the direct evidence in hand.
The Rosicrucian theorists may be broadly divided into
three bands — I. Those who believe that the history of
Christian Rosencreutz is true in fact, and that the society
originated in the manner recounted in the " Fama Frater-
nitatis." II. Those who regard both the society and its
founder as purely mythical, and consider with Liebnitz,
" que tout ce que Von a dit des Freres de la Croix de la fiose,
est une pure invention de quelque personne ingenieuse." III.
Those who, without accepting the historical truth of the story

218 HISTORY OF THE ROSICRUCIANS.

of Eosencreutz, believe in the existence of the Eosicrucians
as a secret society, which drew attention to the fact of its
existence by a singular and attractive fiction.

In the first division are gathered the men of large imagi-
nation and abundant faith, who, unawed by historical diffi-
culties, unaffected by discrepancies of fact, and despising
the terra damnata of frigid critical methods, are bewitched
by romantic associations and the glamour of impenetrable
mystery. They love to contemplate the adepts of the Rose-
Cross moving silently among the ignorant and vulgar mul-
titude, diffusing light and healing, masters of terrific secrets,
having nothing in appearance and yet possessing all things,
ever inscrutable, ever intangible, ever vanishing suddenly.
The sublime dreams produced by their mystical hachish are
undisturbed by the essential shallowness and commonplace
of Eosicrucian manifestoes, for they reject authoritative
documents, or interpret objectionable passages in an inverted
sense.

Insuperable difficulties prevent us from supposing that
the " Fama " and " Confessio Fraternitatis " emanated from
a secret society whose literal history is contained in them.
These difficulties are, for the most part, inherent in the
nature of the alleged history, which I undertook in the in-
troduction to prove mythical. It will be unnecessary for
this purpose to consider the scientific foundation of Eosi-
crucian claims. The purse of Fortunatus —that is, the Stone
of the Philosophers — the power of transmutation, the exist-
ence of elementary spirits, the doctrine of signatures, ever-
burning lamps, and vision at a distance, may be possibilities,
however remote on the horizon of natural science. There
are many things in heaven and on earth which are un-
dreamed of in the philosophy of Horatio, and occultism

THE CASE OFJOHANN VALENTIN ANDREAS. 219

is venerable by its antiquity, interesting from its romantic
associations, and replete with visionary splendours ; but for
all this, the fiction of the " Fama "is " monstrous, and be-
trays itself in every circumstance."1

Suspicion is immediately raised by the suppression of all
names, and the concealment of the headquarters and all
" local habitations " of the supposed Society. C. E. C., the
hero of the history, journeys to a fabulous Oriental city,
called Damcar, which is not Damascus, though the German
originals continually confuse it therewith. A great part of
this journey is performed alone by a boy of sixteen, who is
described as possessing such " skill in physic " that he " ob-
tained much favour of the Turks," and who, after five years'
travelling, returns at the age of twenty-one years to Europe,
fired with an inextinguishable ambition to correct the errors
of all the arts and to reform the whole philosophia moralis.
In Germany he erects a mysterious House of the Holy Spirit,
situated apparently in space of three dimensions, besieged
by the " unspeakable concourse of the sick." and yet, for the
space of nearly two hundred years, completely unknown and
unseen by the " wicked world." When the Society was in-
corporated, and its members despatched on their wander-
ings, two brethren always remained with the founder, and
eight of them were present at his death, yet the secret of
his burial-place was completely unknown to the third gene-
ration, till its discovery by a newly-initiated member when
he was repairing his house, which, nevertheless, does not
appear to be the House of the Holy Spirit. The sepulchre
has been closed for one hundred and twenty years, and it
is found to contain the Vocabularium, Itinerarium, and Life
of Paracelsus. Taking 1614 as the year when the " Fama "
1 De Qiiincey, " Rosicrucians and Freemasons," c. iii.

220 HISTORY OF THE ROSICRUCIANS.

was published, and supposing the discovery of the burial-
place to have ante-dated the manifesto by the shortest pos-
sible period, we are brought back to the year 1494, one
year after the birth of Paracelsus, whose books it is sup-
posed to contain. This point is, of course, conclusive, and
it is unnecessary to comment on the mystery which sur-
rounds the ultimate fate of the corpse of that " godly and
high-illuminated Father, Brother C. R. C."

Thus it is obvious that the history of Christian Rosen-
creutz is not historically true, and that the Society did not
originate in the manner which is described by the " Fama."

The theorists of the second and third divisions are in
agreement upon several important points, and may, there-
fore, be considered together. Most of them unite in seek-
ing the author of the Rosicrucian manifestoes among the
literati of the period. On the one side they consider him a
satirist, or the perpetrator of an imposture or elaborate
jest ; on the other, they hold him to be the founder of a
secret society, or the mouthpiece of one which was already
in existence, and to which they ascribe a various antiquity
in accordance with their predilections and their knowledge
of the true state of the case. The question of this anti-
quity has been discussed in the last chapter.

Several authors have been suggested, for the most part on
very slender evidence. Some maintain that the manifestoes
were written by Taulerus, the author of the German Theologia,
an obscure writer not to be identified with the author of the
Spiritual Letters, " Institutions Divinae," &c., others by
Luther, others again by Wiegel. Joachim Junge,1 the cele-

1 This writer is not to be confused with Jung Stilling, whose real,
name was Johannes Heinrich Jung, and who is, perhaps, more cele-
brated in England for his works on Pneumatology than is the rector
of Hamburg for his contributions to mathematical science.

THE CASE OFJOHANN VALENTIN ANDREAS. 221

brated philosopher of the seventeenth century, has secured
several partisans. He was born at Lubeck in 1587, and
became anM.A. of Giessen in 1609. At the very period
when the "Fama Fraternitatis" first appeared, about 1614,
he was holding numerous conferences with his friends on
the methods of hastening the progress of philosophy, but
his plans are supposed to have been without any immediate
result. Subsequently, he sought to establish at Rostock an
academy for the advancement of natural sciences ; " but the
rumour spread that this project concealed some evil designs,
and people went so far as to accuse him of being one of the
chiefs of the famous order of the Brothers of the Red-Cross,
and he was forced to renounce a plan whose execution could
only have had good results for his adopted country."1 He
became rector of the University of Hamburg, and died of
apoplexy, September 23, 1657. He was the author of " Geo-
metria Empirica," " Harmonica Theoretica," &c., and ap-
pears to have been wholly unconnected with the alchemical
pursuits of the period. A secretary of the Court of Heidel-
berg (according to Heidegger, the biographer of Johannes
Ludovicus Fabricius) being, it is supposed, in the secret, is
said to have confirmed in conversation the current report
that Junge was the founder of the Fraternity and the writer
of the "Fama Fraternitatis."5 No reference is made to this
matter in the " Historia Vitse et Mortis Joachimi Jungii
Mathematici summi ceteraque Incomparabilis Philosophi,"

1 " Biographic Universelle," s.v. Joachim Junge.

2 In the "Acta Eruditorum Lipsise," 1698, 4to, p. 172, there is
the following passage: — " Natus est Jo. Ludovicus Fabricius Sca-
phulsi, Helvetiorum Pago primario, die 29 Julii anni seculi hujus tri-
gesimi secundi, patre Jo. Fabricio anno 1630 vi externa e Palatinatu
in exilium ejecto, et a Scaphusanis promtissime recepto. Fuit vir
ille sic satis excultus, quique ut Fabricius noster faniiliari in ser-

222 HISTORY OF THE ROS1CRUCIANS.

which was written by Martinus Fogelitis in 1658. It con-
tains, however, some account of his attempt to found a philo-
sophical society, but the Leges Societatis Ereuneticce which are
to be found at the end of the pamphlet, sufficiently distin-
guish it from the Eosicrucian Brotherhood. The theoso-
phist, ^Egidius Gutmann, is claimed as the true author of
the anonymous manifestoes by others — on what grounds I
have not been able to ascertain ; but, according to Buhle,
this opinion is " supported by no other argument than that
he was a distinguished mystic in that age of mysticism."

All these views have manifestly little to recommend them,
but that which attributes the composition of the Kosicrucian
manifestoes to Johann Valentin Andreas is supported by an
extraordinary mass of evidence, which calls for very careful
and impartial consideration. This interesting and singular
personage, who is described by Brucker1 as very learned
and of a very elegant genius, whom the " Bibliotheque IJni-
verselle " 2 considers one of the most useful men which Ger-
many produced in the seventeenth century, and whom all
authorities unite in admiring for his talents and virtues,
was a renowned theologian of Wirtemberg, and a multi-
farious litterateur not uncelebrated, even at this day, in
his own country, as a poet and a satirist. He was born at
Herrenberg, a town in the duchy of Wirtemberg, on the
17th of August 1586. He was the grandson of Jacob
Andreas, also a celebrated theologian. His father was the

mone retulit, adversus Rosese Crucis Fratres calami quoque telum
strinxit, cujus quidem Sectce auctoremfuisseJungium, Mathematicam
Hamburgi profession, eumque librum, cui titulus est Fama Frabium
Eosece, Crucis cudisse, pariter ex ore Secretarii, rei illius conscii, con-
firmavit.

1 " Brukeri Historia Grit. Philosophise," tome ii. , p. 740.

2 Tome ii., p. 126.

THE CASE OF JOHANN VALENTIN ANDREAS. 223

pastor of Herrenberg, his mother, Mary Moseria. The
delicacy of his early years characterised his maturer life,
but he was of a shrewd and cheerful disposition. He re-
ceived the rudiments of his education from Michael Beum-
ler.1 Subsequently he pursued his studies at Tubingen,
Buhle informs us that, " besides Greek and Latin (in which
languages he was distinguished for the elegance of his style),
he made himself master of the French, Italian, and Spanish ;
was well versed in Mathematics, Natural and Civil History,
Geography, and Historical Genealogy, without at all neglect-
ing his professional study of divinity."2 " I so divided my
time," he tells us, " that during the day I devoted myself
to instruction in the arts ; thereto I added long nocturnal
studies, passed in the reading of various authors, and car-
ried to such an extravagant extent that not only my eyesight
suffered, but I made myself subject to the horrors of sleep-
lessness, and weakened the strength of memory."

He travelled much within the limits of his own country,
visited France, Switzerland, Italy, including Venice, and
twice journeyed into Austria. He was married on the
second of August 1614, to Agnes Elizabeth, daughter of
Josua Griiminger.3 He passed through various grades of
ecclesiastical dignity, and became chaplain to the court at
Stuttgart. " Here," says Buhle, " he met with so much
thwarting and persecution, that, with his infirm constitu-
tion of body and dejection of mind from witnessing the

1 " Primam infantiam afflictissimam habui, ardeo est non nisi
bimus in pedes primus erigerer, quam etiam valetudinis tenuitatem
omni vita tolerari, ingenio interim sagaci et festive, ut propinquis
et amicis voluptati essem .... Literarum rudimenta a Michaele
Beumlero accessi viro optimo." — " Vita ab ipso Coiiscripta, " lib. i.

2 De Quincey, " Rosicrucians and Freemasons," c. iii.

3 See additional notes, No. 5,

224 HISTORY OF THE ROS1CRUCIANS.

desolation of Germany," the redress of the abuses and evils
in which had been the main object of his life — " it is not
to be wondered that he ... sank into deep despondency
and misanthropy." At his own earnest importunity he was
permitted to resign his post, and died abbot of Adelberg and
Lutheran almoner to the Duke of Wirtemberg in the year
1654, "after a long and painful illness."

All authorities are agreed upon one important point in
the character of Andreas, and that is his predilection in
favour of secret societies as instruments in the reformation
of his age and country. According to Buhle, he had a pro-
found and painful sense of the gross evils and innumerable
abuses which afflicted the German fatherland, and which
were revealed, not eradicated, by the lurid fire-brand of
Luther's reformation. These abuses he sought to redress
by means of "secret societies." The ambition of his boy-
hood appears to have been the labour of his after days.
"The writings of Andreas, issued during his life-time, are
full of arguments on the necessity of forming a society solely
devoted to the reformation of sciences and manners. . . .
Three of his works, namely, ' Reipublicse Christianopoli-
tanse Descriptio ' ; ' Turris Babel, sive Judiciorum de
Fraternitate Kosacese Crucis Chaos ' ; ' Christianse Socie-
tatis Idea/ all published at Strasbourg in the years 1619
and 1620, offer the clearest indications of his project to
form a secret society. It is impossible not to perceive that
he is always aiming at something of the kind. Some also
appeal to his frequent travels as having no other object.1
A writer in the " Dictionnaire des Sciences Occultes "
speaks with even greater emphasis. "The works of
Andreas, to the number of one hundred, preach promiscu-
1 " Biblioth&que Universelle," tome ii., pp. 126-128.

THE CASE OF JOHANN VALENTIN ANDREAS. 22$

ously the necessity of secret societies,"1 and Louis Figuier,
whose work, entitled "Alchemy and the Alchemists,"
though it does not betray much original research, repre-
sents in a French vestment the opinions and arguments of
some high German authorities, calls Andreas " a fanatical
partisan " of the doctrines of Paracelsus,2 declares him to
have been fired with the ambition to fulfil certain predic-
tions of his master which have been before referred to, and
that he took upon himself to decide that the "Elias
Artista," the robust child, to whom the magician refers,
must be understood not of an individual but of a collective
body or association.

It seems clear from these authorities, and from the facts
of the case, that the mature, long-planned purpose of An-
dreas was the foundation of a society for the reformation
of the age, and we find him cherishing this hope and ap-
parently elaborating his designs at the very period when
the first rumours of the Eosicrucian Fraternity began to be
heard in Europe. It is, therefore, obviously and incontest-
ably clear that if he had any hand in the foundation of
this society, or in the authorship of the documents con-
nected with it, that* both were undertaken in all earnest-
ness, and that the " Fama " and " Confessio Fraternitatis "
are not pieces of frolicsome imposture, and satires on the
credulity of the period. Such a supposition is wholly in-
compatible with Andreas' zeal and enthusiasm.

This point being definitely settled, I proceed to lay before

1 ' ' Dictionnaire cles Sciences Occultes " in the Abbe" Migne's
" Troisieme Encyclopedic The"ologique," t. i., p. 90.

2 With the characteristic carelessness of a French reasoner,
Figuier stultifies himself on this point by stating a few pages subse-
quently that Andreas was devoid of any doctrinal fanaticism.
" L'Alchimie et les AlchimUtes," pp. 293-29".

P

226 HISTORY OF THE ROSICRUCIANS.

my readers an abstract of those considerations which have
induced several erudite investigators to accept Andreas as
the author of the Rosicrucian documents.