Samuel Johnson, regarded as one of the greatest English figures of 18th-century life and letters, once said of the celebrated poet and author Geoffrey Chaucer , defined by some as the father of English literature, that he “took much from the Italians”. He was of course referring to Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales”, a set of twenty four stories very much inspired by the “Decameron”, an original work by the Italian writer and poet Giovanni Boccaccio.
Petruccio Ubaldini was an Italian exile who arrived in England from Florence in 1545 and was known for his account in Italian, of the English victory over the Spanish Armada. The Tudor Queen , Elizabeth I, liked Petruccio so much as to give him a pension.
The English writer Daniel Defoe–creator of the novel Robinson Crusoe and of A Journal of the Plague Year in London in 1665 – championed not just the Italians but all newcomers to England. In 1709 he wrote:
opening the nation’s doors to foreigners, has been the most direct and immediate reason of our wealth and… has brought us from a nation of slaves and mere soldiers to a rich, opulent, free and mighty people
But sadly the mood against the foreigners was hardening and the conservative Parliamentary members of the day– history constantly repeats itself! – soon began denouncing the presence of the aliens as a threat and a drain on the resources of the Nation.
Italian literature was barely known in England before the first half of the 18th century, when Giuseppe Baretti, a friend of Dr Johnson, began championing the Italian literary cause during his exile here. The first Italian-into-English dictionary was the creature of his labour.
Dr Johnson and Giuseppe Baretti
Other Italians – and they can be counted in the hundreds – who achieved success and fame in England were:
Giovanni Battista Cipriani ; founder member of the Royal Academy and a Freemason.
Antonio Canal from Venice (better known as Canaletto) , who devoted a decade in Soho in 1746 to painting the Grand Canal from memory.
Giacomo Casanova, a famous philosopher, philanderer and Freemason who came to London in 1763 with the intention of establishing a Lottery and repeat the success he had had in France with it .
In Georgian England, Italian actors, dancers and singers performed in theatres as part of the Opera Buffa and Italian jesters were always present at local Fairs. The most celebrated comic entertainer of the time was Giuseppe Grimaldi.
In conclusion, aside from representatives of the performing arts, Italy also exported to England bankers, theatre impresarios, music virtuoso [1] and from the medical field , the Chevalier Ruspini, a surgeon-dentist who won the confidence of a King and the love and respect of the population of this island for his skill, medical care and sincere benevolence.
BARTOLOMEO RUSPINI
Bartolomeo Ruspini was born in 1728/1730 at Romacoto (Bergamo), a village about 40 miles north-east of Milan, Italy. His father Andrea came from the village of Grumello (Bergamo) and was a minor member of a patrician family that originated from the ancient Italian region of Como. He was ‘the eldest of the eight children of Giovanni Andrea Ruspini (1707–1769) and his wife, Bartolomea (1708–1788.)
Bartolomeo claimed to have qualified as a surgeon in Bergamo in 1758, and to have trained under Pierre Fauchard (January 2, 1679–March 21, 1761) who was a French physician, credited as being the “father of modern dentistry” and the Court dentist of Louis XV of France who suffered with dental abscesses. Ruspini self-styled himself as a specialist “surgeon-dentist” and commenced practicing in England around 1750, initially in Bath and Bristol and later in London.
The limited and expensive medical relief that doctors provided before Nations set up free healthcare systems for their people, cleared the way for opportunistic shady individuals to take over the “poor man” territory. Fear and pain made people turn to quackery and its fake remedies.
In her autobiographical work Herzens-Geschichten, Elisa von der Recke lavishes praise on the formative influence of her stepmother, Agnes Elisabeth von Medem, who took charge of her upbringing and education in her eleventh year. According to von der Recke, it was at this time that her stepmother was shocked to discover that she could barely read or write, as a result of living with her grandmother. [1] Consequently, Agnes ensured that Elisa lived with her father and stepmother. Thenceforth, an extremely close bond developed between Agnes and Elisa, with the latter describing how ‘my stepmother was the dearest to me on earth’ and how her words ‘were like gospel to me”[2]. This intimate emotional relationship was reinforced by Agnes’s astute tutelage of her stepdaughter. As Elisa records, her stepmother had a famed talent for composing poetry in Courland, and was keen to impart her knowledge of literature and plays to her protégé. Indeed, Agnes asked Elisa to learn verse by heart and the pair would read novels and plays together. [3] At the time of her initiation as a Scottish Mistress Mason in May 1779, Agnes von Medem was in her early sixties. Once again the writings of Elisa von der Recke furnish us with valuable information about her stepmother’s involvement in Cagliostro’s adoptive lodge at this time.
Thus, we learn from von der Recke that Cagliostro allowed Agnes to attend his lectures and to participate in magical experiments in the adoptive lodge prior to her initiation into the order. Indeed, in her memoirs von der Recke writes that she asked Cagliostro why he had made an exception to the rule in allowing her stepmother to attend lodge meetings. In reply Cagliostro is said to have argued that every member must be treated according to their character.[4] In other words, it would seem that Cagliostro recognized the intellectual prowess of Agnes von Medem and wanted to encourage her participation.
Elisabeth von der Recke
Consequently, after Agnes had attended numerous lectures and magical experiments during lodge meetings, von der Recke notes that ‘after three weeks we travelled again to Alt-Auz [the Medem country estate at Wilzen] because Cagliostro himself, prior to his journey to St. Petersburg, wanted to initiate my stepmother (now deceased) and other members who had a capacity for magic into the Lodge of Adoption’.[5] His apparent aim was to ‘gradually initiate them into the sacred mysteries’, which was seemingly not such a slow process, as von der Recke describes how the new members were “given the third degree” at this meeting.[6] The initiation ceremony was then followed by a lecture on the dangers and beneficial influences of magic and a séance involving Elisa’s nephew in the guise of a spirit conduit.
Did Agnes Elisabeth von Medem’s intellectual curiosity, combined with her venerable age, lead to her being initiated into the higher degree of Scottish Mistress Mason?
Unfortunately, von der Recke’s memoir does not enlighten us on this matter. However, what is apparent from von der Recke’s autobiography and memoir, regarding her stepmother, is that Agnes von Medem possessed a dynamic thirst for knowledge, which she shared with her stepdaughter and that did not go unnoticed by Cagliostro. This intellectual prowess may well account for the honour bestowed upon Agnes Elisabeth by Cagliostro in initiating her as a Scottish Mistress Mason.
The famous 19th century French novelist Alexandre Dumas senior, one day argued in these terms with an insolent man who had insulted him for his looks:
Sir,
My father was a mulatto, my grandfather was a negro,
and my great grandfather was a monkey.
So you see, Sir,
My family starts where yours ends!
Alexander Dumas senior was the author of “The Count of MonteCristo”, “The Three Musketeers”, “The Man in the Iron Mask” and many other brilliant historical novels. The most extensively read French writers in the world was also a mulatto[1]. This essay, however, concerns another Dumas [2]; it is about the life of Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, whose life is rarely told in books.
Most of us know that men of colour fought in the 1861 American War of Secession but not that black people , almost a century earlier, had defended the principles of “Liberté, égalité, fraternité” both in France and in its overseas territories. Saint Domingue, or Haiti, was the first of the Antilles islands in 1794 to wipe out slavery and to proclaim its people free and equal. And in France, during both the Revolution and the Republican years, many black individuals reached unimaginable heights of authority. Napoleon Bonaparte recognised their gallantry in battle and rewarded their courage, only to then favour “lucky generals” over valiant or competent military commanders.
THOMAS-ALEXANDER DUMAS
Thomas-Alexandre Dumas was born as Thomas–Alexandre Davy at Jeremie, on the island of Saint Domingue, on March 25th 1762. His father, Antoine Davy, was the youngest offspring of a lesser noble family that owned a chateau at Bielleville-en-Caux, a pretty village near Bolbec in the Haute Normandie, France.
In the XVIII century the French colony of Saint Domingue was the most successful territory of the Antilles in exporting sugar, cocoa and coffee; a trade in which Antoine’s elder brother had made a fortune by 1748. Full of grand expectations for himself, Antoine joined his sibling on the island to co-manage the business. But the partnership was spoiled by arguments and it soon ended with Antoine purchasing from Monsieur de Maubielle a valuable plantation and setting up business for himself. The land also came with a beautiful black slave called Marie-Cesette Dumas who gave Antoine four illegitimate children; three daughters and one son. According to Antoine, his mother died of dysentery in 1777, but there are notary documents that suggest Cesette was alive in 1801.
With his business failing, Antoine cut his losses and absconded. He only reappeared, years later, when his brother’s death gave him the opportunity to claim the title of Marquis and to inherit the family’s estate upon his return to France. Having little or no money to pay for the crossing, in 1775 Antoine sold his four children and common wife Marie Cesette as slaves to a Monsieur Caron and made the journey to France to become the new Marquis De La Pailetterie. A few months later his son, Thomas-Alexandre, joined him from Saint Domingue; the only member of the family whose freedom Antoine had cared to redeem !
Notwithstanding his background and skin colour, Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, whom we shall henceforth address as Alex, received a distinguished education from the age of 14 and developed into a towering fellow with a herculean physique, and strong personality. Thanks to his father’s rich maintenance, Alex lived his youth in Paris where he met
Chevalier de Saint George
Joseph Boulogne, the famous mulatto “Chevalier de Saint-George”. Joseph was an esteemed musician born in a family of musketeers that was well known at the Court of Queen Marie Antoinette of France. In Joseph’s company, Alex lived two years of the “belle vie” by attending theatre and soirée, seducing women and of course fighting duels.
But clouds were gathering on the horizon.
On 2 June 1786, Antoine Davy Marquis De La Pailetterie, married his governess Francoise Retou, a woman thirty years his junior and cut off the subsidy to his profligate son. Determined to find a place in the world, Alex enlisted as a Privateer in the Queen’s Dragoons Regiment using his mother’s name of Dumas, perhaps on his father’s desire to not blight the family’s name. The Regiment was under the command of the Duc de Guiche [3], a Freemason and an admirer of handsome garcons who gave Alex the opportunity to distinguish himself in service and to make the acquaintance of three future grand Generals of the French Empire : Jean-Louis Espagne, Louis-Chretien Carriere de Beaumont and Joseph Piston. All were serving in the same Division and were also Freemasons.
FREEMASONRY IN THE FRENCH ARMY
Many prominent French revolutionaries like the Marquis de Lafayette, Mirabeau, Danton and the Duke of Orléans to name but a few, were in the Craft and so was a great part of the French Army. In the Penthievre Regiment, for example, 53% of the officers were Freemasons and 2500 of the Brethren living in Paris were also in the military. General Kleber, took part with Napoleon in the Egyptian Campaign and founded the Lodge “Isis” in Cairo shortly after the troops subdued the city. Gaspard Monge was a member of the Military Lodge “The Perfect Union” of Mezieres and Dominique Vivant Denon of “The Perfect Meeting” Lodge in Paris; both were among the military strategists who turned around the fortunes of Napoleon’s campaign in Egypt. Whether the great man himself was a Freemason, we do not know for certain. Some claim he underwent initiation in Malta in 1798 when he took possession of the island for France, on his way to Egypt. Others say he was initiated in the “Perfect Sincerity” Lodge in Marseilles, the same Lodge that later initiated his brother Joseph Bonaparte who went on to become the Grand Master of the Grand Orient of France and King of Naples.
Napoleon Bonaparte
Why was Napoleon never a Freemason, or at least why he never openly admitted it, may perhaps be attributed to his character. It was not enough for Napoleon to be “first among equals”, he had to be “above” equality. Can you envisage him allowing anyone to call him “Brother” ? What we know for certain is that the finest years of Freemasonry in France were those that followed Napoleon’s coup d’etait in November 1799. The event, renowned in history as “18 Brumaire” [4], saw the overthrow of the Directory and the installation of a three-man Consulate of which Napoleon was the Leader. The progress of Freemasonry in France lasted fifteen years and saw its Lodge number increase from 300 to 1220 in the space of a few Anni Lucis. Napoleon looked upon all this with contentment, knowing that he benefited both politically and military from the support of the Craft.
The escalation of membership in Masonic military-only lodges in France provided a great cohesion of the troops in battle and saw the French Army go from strength to strength.
The list of eminent and influential individuals who were Freemasons during Napoleon’s regime is lengthy and remarkable: Princes,Admirals, Senators, Ambassadors, Ministers, Academics and so forth. Twenty-two out of Napoleon’s thirty Marshals, five of the six members of the Imperial Military Council and six of the nine ministers in the government were Freemasons. A look at Napoleon Bonaparte’s Dynasty reveals that in addition to Joseph Bonaparte, Napoleon’s other younger brothers -Jerome and Luis- were also Freemasons. His wife, Empress Josephine de Beauharnais was for a while the Grand Master of women’s Freemasonry in France and her son (from her first marriage) Eugène de Beauharnais, was too in the Craft.
In light of such evidence, to think that Alex Dumas attained such an exceptional military career without himself being a Freemason, would be naïve.
THE “LODGE CAROLINA” IN VILLERS–COTTERÊTS
In August 1789, Alex Dumas received orders to travel from his base in Laon to Villers–Cotterêts [5] were he was to keep public order during the disorders of the French Revolution.
King Francis I of France (12.09.1494–31.03.1547) built a Chateau outside the village which he adopted as a base for his hunting trips. In 1539, whilst briefly staying there, he promulgated an edict that suppressed all Trade Federations and Guilds in France and thus prevent workers from going on strike. The decree also imposed “French” as the official language of the kingdom in place of Latin, which was the elite European lingua franca of the age and of the several other regional dialects in use.
We also associate Villers-Cotterêts with the Dukes d’ Orléans. King Louis XIV had gifted the chateau to his brother and years later another Duke d’ Orléans, Louis Philippe II [6] was to spend his exile there.
Louis Philippe- Duc d’Orleans
Louise Philippe II was a cousin of the King Louis XVI. After his grandfather’s death in 1752, Philippe inherited the title of Duke of Chartres and in 1769 married Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon, daughter of the richest man in France [7]. Louis Philippe II was also the Grand Master of the Masonic Order of the Grand Orient of France from 1771 to 1793, and being a fellow of highly radical views, he sided with the people of France during the French Revolution. Marie Antoinette hated him for what she regarded as treason and duplicity, and he in turn scorned her for her frivolous behaviour. The populace of Paris, where Louis Philippe II lived during the terrible final days of the revolution, loved him and called him “Philippe Égalité” ; but that did not save him from being indicted and guillotined on 6th November 1793.
The Masonic Lodge “Carolina” was founded in Villers–Cotterêts in February 1787 and had the local Mayor, Nicolas Lalitt, as its Worshipful Master. Louis Philippe II and his personal surgeon Marsolan joined the lodge in the second part of 1787 when in exile there and the two men attended many meetings together. After the Duke’s arrival the Lodge Temple translated from a small pavilion in the adjacent “Clos de Cent Suisse”, to a chamber in the Chateau that is since known as “Sale des Franc-Macons”.
Villers_Cotterets
Monsieur Claude Labouret was the proprietor of the “Hotel de l’Epee” in Villers–Cotterêt and also a member of the Lodge Carolina. On Sunday 15 August 1789, he went outside with his daughter to admire the arrival from Laon of the detachment of Dragoons on horse. Alex Dumas was one of the Dragoons and his deportment and looks were so impressive as to earn him an invite to dine at Laboret’s table that evening. Alex ended up lodging at the hotel for the term of his stay and it is reasonable to assume that it was Claude Labouret who introduced him to Freemasonry. Three years later, on 28th November 1792, Alex will marry Marie Labouret. The Lodge Carolina became thereafter an Aristocratic Lodge par excellence, listing among its members forty eight grand seigneurs of the realm of France, born in families like the Rohan, Noailles, Polignac, La Rochefaucauld, Montmorency,Segur and so forth.
RISE THROUGH THE RANKS
In less than two years, and presumably after being initiated in the Ars Regia, Alex catapulted from the lowest military rank to the highest. Ever since enrolling in 1786 in the “Hussards de la Liberte”, a sequence of fortuitous circumstances, acts of bravery and patrons in high places assisted him in building a truly exceptional military career and shaped his future.
1792
This was the year that Julien Raimond founded the Legion Franche des Americans et du Midi where “American” was a term the French used to identify those who came from its overseas colonies. Although the Legion was not part of the Regular French Army, it fought alongside it frequently and being composed entirely by “free men of colour”, it became known also as “The Black Legion”. Its commanding officer, the Chevalier de Saint Georges, was a member of the powerful Masonic Lodge “Le Neuf Soeurs” of Paris. The Chevalier had given Alex lessons in swordsmanship whilst at La Boessiere’s Academy and had been his partner in many Parisian social evenings and exploits. In 1792 Alex, at the command of only fourteen black legionnaires, defeated a group of forty Dutch soldiers near Lille and made half of them captives. As a reward for his bravery, he received the rank of lieutenant colonel and became the Legion second-in-command.
1793
The General Jean Baptiste Noël Bouchotte - whom the Convention nominated Minister of War in April of the same year - appointment Alex to the rank of Brigadier General [8] of the Army du Nord which was under the command of General Demounez. Alex Dumas’s heroic defence of Pont-a-Marq in Northern France won him the promotion to General of Division. In September 1793 he became Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the Pyrenees and in December he was put in command of the Army of the Alps. With Jean-Louise Brigitte Espagne, Marc Antoine Bonnin de Beaumont and his dear friend Joseph Piston [10], Alex won the battle of the Little San Bernard, seized the enemies’ mortars and turned them against the Austrians. They then charged and took control of the Mont Cenis, made 1700 prisoners and captured 30 enemy’s cannons. Their exploits inspired Alexander Dumas Senior to write the adventures of the Three Musketeers.
1794
In August, after a brief spell in charge of the military Ecole de Mars in Paris , Alex Dumas became Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the West. But the slaughtering by the French troops of thousands of peasants during the Vendee War - a counter revolution against the Regime by the inhabitants of the Region - so abhorred Alex as to induce him to resign his office and earn the pseudonym of “Monsieur l’Humanité”. On 7th December 1794 Alex rejoined the ranks and received orders to swiftly travel to Paris where he was to crush the royalist revolt. But his carriage broke down on the road to the Capital and Paul Barras [11]–the Chief Executive of the Directory regime from 1795 to 1799– replaced him for the task with an unknown young Corsican officer called Napoleon Bonaparte.
1795
In July Alex received the promotion to General of Division [9] and joined a group of four other coloured Generals of African origins who were born like him in Saint Domingue. They were : Louis-Jacques Beauvais, Toussaint Louverture, Andre Rigaud and Jean-Louis Villatte.In September Alex fought in the Army of the Rhine under the command of the General and Freemason Jean Baptste Kleber. After being wounded during the assault to the City of Düsseldorf in November, Alex applied to retire from active service but was ignored.
1796
The General Dumas joined Napoleon to fight in Northern Italy. But a less than frictionless connection between the two men meant that in December Alex received the command of only a minor division. His assignment consisting in putting the Austrian occupied city of Mantua, under siege.
1797
After a gallant struggle to ward off the Austrian reinforcements from reaching Mantua, the General Alex Dumas entered the city in February. Ignoring his victory, some resentful Generals complained of Alex’s unrestrained behaviour to Napoleon, who next sent him to fight under the command of General Massena. This effectively meant a demotion, but Alex continued to distinguish himself in battle and even gained the appellative of “Black Devil” from the Austrians. Transferred to a Division led by General Joubert–a fierce republican like our hero–and again in charge of only a small force, Alex crushed the Austrian positions along the River Adige in northern Italy and pressed back, all on his own, a full enemy squadron on to a bridge outside the municipality of Chiusa. Such new heroics greatly impressed Napoleon who, no longer questioning the General Dumas’s integrity and commitment, promoted him to Cavalry Commander of the French armies in the Tyrol.
The Egyptian campaign
1978 In May the General Alex Dumas travelled to Toulon where Napoleon Bonaparte – who apparently received him whilst in bed with Josephine! - ordered him to board the vessel “Guillaume Tell” sailing for Malta, a small Mediterranean island south of Sicily. With him on the expedition were also the Generals Beaumont, Dermoncourt and Lambert. After capturing the island–ruled by the descendant of the Knights Hospitaller aka Knights of St John–the French fleet and Alex proceed to Egypt. Napoleon had promoted him to the grand sounding rank of Commander of the Cavalry of the Orient Army, but his squadron of 3000 horsemen could only count on 300 horses! Scorched by the unbearable African heat and running short of food rations and medicines, men soon perished of various illnesses, leaving Alex wavering. After conquering Alexandria, the French prepared to advance to Cairo, but the republican General Alex Dumas no longer believed in the military operation; he was by now persuaded that only personal ambition guided Napoleon Bonaparte and that the military campaign on such a far away land brought no benefits to France. He even held meetings in camp tents, with some other unhappy Generals (among whom was Joachim Murat) [12], to agree a refusal to continue fighting. As a justification he wrote to Napoleon that General Berthier, Napoleon’s Aid of Camp, was a coward who in battle “shit himself in his pants”. Napoleon wrote in his diaries that when he found out about Alex’s mutinous tent meetings, he was on the verge of having him shot for sedition.
1799
In January, an intensely irritated Bonaparte agreed to let the sick General Alex Dumas’ return to France. “I can easily replace him with a Brigadier” and “intelligence is not his forte”[14] Napoleon told his Generals. On March 7th 1799, Alex embarked for Marseilles on the vessel “Belle Maltaise”. He took with him some wounded French soldiers, the geologist Deodat de Dolomieu [13] and the General Jean-Baptiste Manscourt du Rozoy. After an unexpected tempest in the Mediterranean caused the vessel to sustain serious damages, the crew veered the ship to Taranto, in Southern Italy. Before sailing from Egypt, news from France had reported that the citizens of the Kingdom of Naples, that included Taranto, had taken up arms against King Ferdinand IV and, supported by French troops, had proclaimed the Parthenopean Republic. In the light of those events Taranto, was rightly seen as a safe, friendly destination for the distressed French ship and those onboard.
But as the Belle Maltaise approached the harbour, the crew noticed with surprise that the Bourbons’ flag was still flying on the fort turrets and the masts of the docked ships. The men were unaware that whilst they were sailing, the royalist Archbishop Ruffo’s units had defeated the Neapolitan republicans and regained the Kingdom for Ferdinand. The Belle Maltaise was laden with too much personal cargo–like the eleven Arab horses that the General Dumas was taking to France for breeding–to the detriment of its defence capability. Its ten cannons could give only a feeble resistance to the firepower of King Ferdinand’s fleet. The Belle Maltaise surrendered and all his men on board were taken captive.
IMPRISONMENT AND RETURN TO FRANCE
Imprisoned in the dungeon of the Castle Aragonese of Taranto, the General Alex Dumas endured a regime of abuses and even an attempt to poison him by the prison governor Marquis De La Schiava (or Della Schiava). Curiously, not far from Alex’s cell was that of General Manscourt, whom became the inspiration of the character of the Abbe’ Faria in the novel “The Count of Montecristo” by Dumas senior!
Aragonese Castle, Taranto
The day the Governor De La Schiava went to General Dumas’s cell with the pretence that he was to transfer him to a better prison in Brindisi–when in truth he plotted to murder him during the journey–there was an almighty altercation. The Marquis unsheathed his sword, but the General fended him and his men off by waiving his walking stick and shouting verbal threats; such was the degree of fear that his figure could still instil on those who defied him. A year after Napoleon installed his former Marshall Joachim Murat as King of Naples in 1805, Alex received a pardon and returned to France. Only six years had passed from his imprisonment in Taranto, but Alex Dumas was now a shadow of the strong man he was. And seeing France now ruled by that young inexperienced officer who had out-smartened him by one day to a military assignment that marked his rise to power and greatness, must have cut his motivation to live even further. A stroke had paralyzed one side of his body, he was almost blind in one eye, half deaf and in constant pain. The General also lived on a miserable military allowance that was utterly inadequate to the status he had held in the Army. Napoleon did not regard General Alex Dumas’s entitlement to be anything more than he received because he had failed to complete the Egypt Campaign and contracted his infirmities in jail rather than on the battlefields. To those who petitioned for justice, Napoleon thundered: “I forbid you ever to speak to me of that man!”.
Pre Napoleonic France was not a racist country. On 7th August 1775, King Louis XVI had signed a political declaration granting admission into his Kingdom to people of colour while at the same time directing the removal to the colonies of illegal settlers. All this changed when Napoleon returned from the Campaign of Egypt in 1802 as he imposed cruel race laws, re-instituted slavery in the colonies and even sent troops to Saint Domingue to kill or arrest any black person who dared wear a French military uniform. Napoleon also tried to bury the memory of General Alex Dumas by never mentioning him in the memoirs he wrote while in exile on the island of Elba. On 26 February 1806, at the age of only forty-four, the destitute General Alex Dumas, died at the Hotel de l’Epee in Villers-Cotterets, from stomach cancer [15] , his health most surely undermined by the arsenic the Marquis De La Schiava administered him in Taranto. Sadly, the Country for which the General had valiantly fought and that had overthrown the old social order in the name of the sacred principles of “freedom, fraternity and equality”, treated him as an alien just when he was most vulnerable and in need of constant care.
CONCLUSION
Although General (Thomas)-Alexander Dumas became a forgotten hero of France, he gave the future generations of his adopted Country and indeed of the whole world, a talented writer who immortalized his life, by casting him in the epic characters of the Count of Montecristo and as one of the four Musketeers. He inspired some of the most famous pages of literature.
Alexandre Dumas Snr
Often we better understand a man after his passing and can look back on the events of his life without being influenced by prejudices. It is for this reason that I have brought to your attention the life and adventures of this very worthy Brother.
The author forbids any reproduction or publication of this article, in full or in part, without his explicit authorization.
[1] a person of mixed white and black ancestry, especially a person with one white and one black parent.
[2] They were: General Thomas-Alexandre (or Alex) Dumas , Alexandre Dumas senior and Alexandre Dumas Jr.
[3] Antoine Louis Marie de Gramont, first Duc de Louvigny then Count de Gramont from 1762, was born in Paris 17 Aug 1755. A military man he became Duc de Guiche in 1780 and was put in charge of the regiment of the Queen’s Dragoon in 1790. He was a Freemason member of the Lodge “La Cauderet” in 1776 and of the Lodge “L’Olympique” in 1786.
[4] An historical Term. Brumaire was the month of mist: the second month of the French revolutionary calendar, extending from Oct 23 to Nov 21.
[5] It is now a town to the north-east of Paris, near Reims
[6] Born 13April 1747 – Died 6 November 1793,. He was affiliated to the Templar Order
[7] It was that financial strength that enabled Louis Philippe to play a political role at Court equal to that of his great grandfather who had been the Regent of France whilst King Louis XV was in childhood.
[8] The lowest ranking general officer and usually sitting between the ranks of colonel and major general and who is typically in command of a brigade consisting of around 4,000 troops (four battalions)
[9] Brigade General Louis Jacques Bauvais (also Beauvais) (1759 – September, 12 1799) was the charismatic and respected leader of the mulatto revolt. French-educated, handsome, and quiet, Bauvais had served in America during the American Revolution.
[10] Lyon 1754-1831. He became a baron of the Napoleonic Empire
[11] Paul François Jean Nicolas, Vicomte de Barras (1755-1829) a former soldier who will become the Head of the Directory and one of the most powerful revolutionaries.
[12] Marshal of France in May 1804, husband of Caroline Bonaparte, King of Naples from August 1808 to May 1815
[13] The discovered of the material called dolomite
[14] Desgenettes, the medical officer of the French Army in Egypt
[15] By Bonaparte’s doctor at Paris Jean-Noel Corvisart
SOURCES
Quel Generale dalla pelle nera by C.L.Sulzberger – La Repubblica 21.01.1986
L’Association des amis du General Dumas (24.03.2009)
Non si può comprendere la personalità, e in particolare la formazione di Salvador Allende se non si considera la precoce e profonda influenza che esercitò su di lui la figura del nonno paterno Ramon Allende, personaggio di primo piano della storia cilena e della Massoneria, che tuttavia lui non conobbe.
Ramon Allende Padin
Originario di Valparaiso, Ramon Allende (1845-1884), si distinse per il suo spirito filantropico (da medico curava gratuitamente gli ammalati poveri), fondatore della prima scuola laica per bambini poveri, la Blas Cuevas, e Gran Maestro della Gran Loggia del Cile.
Il nipote Salvador Allende Gossens nacque il 26 giugno 1908. Dopo aver conseguito il diploma di scuola superiore egli dichiarò di voler diventare come il nonno e come lui studiare medicina per aiutare i poveri e i bisognosi. Il padre di Salvador, anch’egli con lo stesso nome, anch’egli massone, lasciò al figlio un’eredità di un’educazione improntata all’onestà e alla libertà. Il giovane Salvador, imprigionato per le sue opinioni politiche, ebbe il permesso di salutare il padre sul letto di morte e in quella occasione dichiarò che avrebbe consacrato la sua vita alla lotta sociale. Rappresentante dell’assemblea degli studenti all’Università del Cile, Salvador non era alieno dalla passione sportiva, di cui era campione nelle discipline del decathlon e del nuoto, oltre a una passione per l’equitazione che l’ accompagnò per tutta la vita.
A Valparaiso un suo amico, Jorge Grove Vallejo, dentista e Venerabile della Loggia “Progresso” n. 4 gli propose l’iniziazione. Salvador fu molto impressionato dalla cerimonia del rito che si svolse il 16 novembre 1935, e già in quella circostanza dette ai Fratelli il proprio biglietto da visita racchiuso nel testamento massonico. Alla domanda sui doveri dell’uomo verso i suoi simili, Allende rispose che l’uomo non è che un ingranaggio del conglomerato sociale, di conseguenza deve essere al servizio dei suoi simili. Alla domanda sui doveri verso sé stesso, rispose che si debba organizzare la propria esistenza in sintonia con un chiaro concetto dei propri obblighi, doveri e diritti che sono sottomessi ai doveri e ai diritti degli altri. Infine alla domanda riguardante come egli avesse sperato che fosse ricordato, rispose: come un uomo che ha adempiuto all’obbligo di cui è onerato, un uomo utile alla società, alla quotidiana ricerca del perfezionamento spirituale, morale e materiale.
All’età di 29 anni, il 27 ottobre 1937, divenne Compagno e nello stesso anno fu eletto deputato del partito socialista. Trasferitosi a Santiago, l’8 Novembre del 1940 entrò nella Loggia “Hiram” n. 65, dove il 31 Ottobre 1945 fu elevato al grado di Maestro. Il successivo anno fu eletto Giudice del Tribunale di Loggia, carica Continue reading Salvador Allende – tra Massoneria e Marxismo
Albert Pike[1] was an eminent American Freemason who practiced Law [2] before joining the Confederation Army during the American Civil War and reaching the grade of General. As a Freemason, he was extremely active in developing rituals of the Scottish Rite and in 1859 he reached the 33° grade in the Southern American Jurisdiction. Pike held the office of Grand Commander of the Order until 1891, the year of his death.
Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite
To these days he is , in some respects, still seen as a controversial figure for unproven accusations of having also belonged to a world famous far right American secret society. Irrespective of whether it may be true that he was part of such a cult, the power of Pike’s skillful analytical mind is unquestionable and it is the reason behind my decision to print the following extract from his work “Morals and Dogma”[3]. His words ring true then as well as today, 150 years on. Judge for yourself. Continue reading Freemasonry is a search for Light – by Albert Pike
I have learned about this unusual story of a XIX century woman Freemason, from an essay written by the Hungarian researcher and author László Vári. I believe it is a captivating account that deserves to be divulged by Tetraktys. The story is also available in Italian in my own blog, whereas the full original version is available here with the title: The Curious Case of Helene Hadik Barkóczy with the Freemasons”
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The Barkóczys of Szala were the wealthiest landowners in Hungary. According to the law of the Land ,which dated back to the Middle Ages , the family’s property would pass on to its collateral branch in the absence of a male heir. Helene Hadik-Barkóczy , as the sole offspring of Count Janos Barkóczy, risked losing her estate. To preserve it within the family, her father János first established the primogeniture in favour of his daughter and later contrived to go through a legal process, established by royal grace, of “masculinisation” that in effect changed Helen’s juridical status to that of a boy.
Countess Helene Hadik-Barkoczy
Countess Helene was exceptionally intelligent. She founded the Hungarian Historical Society; she had a strong interest in the arts and sciences and knew various foreign and classic languages, including Latin. Through her marriage to the Earl Béla Hadik – assistant general to Archduke Maximilian, future Emperor of Mexico – Helen had seven offspring. Her interest in Freemasonry came from both her grandfather and uncle ‘s precedent in Freemasonry and from the inherited family’s Masonic library. So deep was her enthusiasm for the Craft that she desired to join. Membership was denied to women, but her richness and her “masculinization” were elements that Helene believed would tip the balance in her favour.
Albrecht Wolfgang (27April 1699-24Sept1748) wurde als erstes Oberhaupt eines regierenden deutschen Hauses ein Freimaurer und kommt im Jahr 1725 in den Listen der Loge “Rummer and Grapes” (“Römer und Trauben”) in Westminster, London.
Albrecht Wolfgangs Mutter, Johanna Sophie von Hohenlohe-Langenburg, trennte sich 1702 dauerhaft von ihrem Mann, Graf Friedrich Christian von Schaumburg-Lippe, und lebte unter schwierigen Verhältnissen mit ihren beiden Söhnen Albrecht Wolfgang und Friedrich an verschiedenen Fürstenhöfen, u.a. in Hannover am Hofe des Kurfürsten Ernst August und seiner Frau Sophie.
Nach 1714 folgte Johanna Sophie mit ihren Söhnen Kurfürst Georg Ludwig nach London, wo dieser als Georg I. englischer König wurde. Inzwischen zwang Graf Friedrich Christian seine Frau unter dem Einfluss der Wiener Hofburg, die gemeinsamen jungen Söhne nach Wolfenbüttel zu schicken und einem katholischen Erzieher zu unterstellen. Der Graf forderte nunmehr von seinen Söhnen, den katholischen Glauben anzunehmen. Ermutigt durch eine Aufforderung Georgs I., gelang den beiden jungen Grafen die Flucht, die sie in den ersten Maitagen des Jahres 1718 von Hannover in die Niederlande, zunächst nach Utrecht, führte. Von dort ging Albrecht Wolfgang nach Paris und im Jahre 1720 nach London an den Hof Georgs I., wo er in St. James unterkommt.
Everyone has heard of the lovely Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas which are so widely performed throughout the English speaking world by amateur operatic companies, schools and grand opera houses, not to mention popular excerpts being constantly broadcast on radio. Of the fourteen comic operas they wrote together their most famous works are probably Trial by Jury, The Mikado, HMS Pinafore and The Pirates of Penzance. The witty libretti by W S Gilbert and the beautiful tuneful music by Arthur Sullivan have entertained the English speaking world since their creation in late Victorian times.
Both Gilbert and Sullivan were Freemasons and this lecture looks at their masonic and non-masonic careers briefly, together with their most enduring works, the Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas. What is not generally known is how much is owed to Freemasonry for the existence of these operas.
SIR WILLIAM SCHWENK GILBERT
Sir William Schwenk Gilbert’s Life
Sir Wm Gilbert was born in London in 1836, the son of a naval surgeon turned novel and short story writer, some of which were illustrated by his talented son. Gilbert’s parents were distant and stern, quarrelling increasingly before the marriage broke up. After schooling, he graduated from King’s College, London, and then went into the Civil Service, which he hated; at the same period, to relieve his boredom, he served in the militia part time. With a fortunate family bequest he was able to escape the Civil Service, and take up, what turned out to be an unsuccessful career as a barrister; he only had 5 clients a year.
There are only a handful of countries in the world that like Italy has had an almost uninterrupted presence of Jews on its soil. The Jewish community and its synagogue in Rome are even older than the Vatican and the Catholic Churches. In the year 70ac, the Jews in Rome were 40,000 out of a population of 800,000. There are also very ancient communities both in Syracuse (Sicily) and Venosa, near Potenza (Basilicata).
In the XII century Benjamin de Tudela, a rabbi from Navarra in Castile ( Spain) went on a journey to Europe, Asia and Africa to catalogue the presence of the Jewish communities and to provide an accurate description of their daily life. On his travels, he even stopped to visit the Jews of Lucca and Pisa. His work “Travels of Benjamin”, written in Hebrew, however, took four centuries before being published.
After the Jews were expelled from Spain in the year 1492 [1] the same fate was met by those in South of Italy (Sicily included) which at the time was a Spanish ruled territory. The majority of the 120,000 Italian-Jews settled in Rome and its neighbouring territories. Pitigliano near Grosseto, for example, became known as the “Little Jerusalem”.
To begin with, allow me to commemorate the extraordinary figure of Shabbatai Donnolo.
In the tenth century, the Muslims raids in the Mediterranean area intensified and the Saracens even attacked the southern Italian Region of Apulia, on the Adriatic coast. On July 925, they stormed the little town of Oria[2] and killed six thousand people, many of whom were Jews. They then set Oria on fire and left with twelve thousand prisoners whom they reduced to slavery. Amongst the survivors was a 12 years old boy called Shabattai Donnolo, who later in life became one of the most illustrious astronomers, doctors and pharmacologists of Medieval Europe. In his memoirs he thus recalls his experience: “I was set released in the town of Taranto thanks to my parents paying for my freedom (…) and I dedicate my time to many novelties. (…) My eyes had seen all (the destruction) that the hands of man can cause”. Continue reading Jews and Jewish Freemasons – A great resource for Italy
In Victorian England, there was no other more fashionable resting place than the Cemetery of Kensal Green in North West London. It is a burial ground in my Borough that falls within my catchment and it adds an area of nobility to an already up and coming flourishing multi-ethnic area.
Out of the quarter-million souls who since 1833 rest there – having been either cremated or laying in coffins stacked in catacombs and graves – well over 1500 of them are notables personalities.
They include, for example, the industrial revolution engineers and inventors Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Sir Wm Siemens, the novelists and Dicken’s contemporaries Anthony Trollope and William Makepeace Thackeray and some 500 members of the titled nobility like the 5th Duke of Portland, three children of George III, the late Queen Mother‘s uncle and many Dukes, Earls, Marquises and Barons. Even Farrokh Bulsara – in art Freddy Mercury – singer of the rock group Queen was cremated there and has had some of his ashes scattered in one of the gardens of KGC. A memorial plaque has recently been found that might support this little known secret.
It comes as no surprises therefore that we should also find numerous Freemasons amongst those individuals who left a major mark in society and afterwards came to rest in KGC.
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All’età di 29 anni, il 27 ottobre 1937, divenne Compagno e nello stesso anno fu eletto deputato del partito socialista. Trasferitosi a Santiago, l’8 Novembre del 1940 entrò nella Loggia “Hiram” n. 65, dove il 31 Ottobre 1945 fu elevato al grado di Maestro. Il successivo anno fu eletto Giudice del Tribunale di Loggia, carica 
Albrecht Wolfgangs Mutter, Johanna Sophie von Hohenlohe-Langenburg, trennte sich 1702 dauerhaft von ihrem Mann, Graf Friedrich Christian von Schaumburg-Lippe, und lebte unter schwierigen Verhältnissen mit ihren beiden Söhnen Albrecht Wolfgang und Friedrich an verschiedenen Fürstenhöfen, u.a. in Hannover am Hofe des Kurfürsten Ernst August und seiner Frau Sophie.
