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Johannes Valentinus Andreae (17 August 1586 – 27 June 1654), a.k.a. Johannes Valentinus Andreä or Johann Valentin Andreae, was a German theologian, who claimed to be the author of an ancient text known as the ''Chymische Hochzeit Christiani Rosencreutz anno 1459'' (published in 1616,
Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...
; in English '' Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz in 1459''). This became one of the three founding works of Rosicrucianism, which was both a legend and a fashionable cultural phenomenon across Europe in this period. Andreae was a prominent member of the Protestant utopian movement which began in Germany and spread across northern Europe and into Britain under the mentorship of Samuel Hartlib and John Amos Comenius. The focus of this movement was the need for education and the encouragement of sciences as the key to national prosperity. But like many vaguely-religious Renaissance movements at this time, the scientific ideas being promoted were often tinged with hermeticism, occultism and neo-Platonic concepts. The threats of heresy charges posed by rigid religious authorities (Protestant and Catholic) and a scholastic intellectual climate often forced these activists to hide behind fictional secret societies and write anonymously in support of their ideas, while claiming access to "secret ancient wisdom".


Life

Andreae was born at Herrenberg,
Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Province of Hohenzollern, Hohenzollern, two other histo ...
, the son of Johannes Andreae (1554–1601), the superintendent of Herrenberg and later the
abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...
of Königsbronn. His mother Maria Moser went to
Tübingen Tübingen (; ) is a traditional college town, university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer (Neckar), Ammer rivers. about one in ...
as a
widow A widow (female) or widower (male) is a person whose spouse has Death, died and has usually not remarried. The male form, "widower", is first attested in the 14th century, by the 19th century supplanting "widow" with reference to men. The adjecti ...
and was court apothecary 1607–1617. The young Andreae studied theology and natural sciences 1604–1606. He befriended Christoph Besold who encouraged Andreae's interest in esotericism. Ca. 1605 he wrote the first version of "The Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosekreutz". He was refused the final examination and church service, probably for attaching a ''pasquill'' (offensive, libelous note) to the chancellor Enzlin's door, on the occasion of his marriage. After that, he taught young nobles and hiked with his students through Switzerland, France, Austria and Italy. He visited Dillingen, a bastion of the
Jesuits The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
, whom he regarded as the
Antichrist In Christian eschatology, Antichrist (or in broader eschatology, Anti-Messiah) refers to a kind of entity prophesied by the Bible to oppose Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ and falsely substitute themselves as a savior in Christ's place before ...
. In 1608 he returned to Tübingen. He came to know Tobias Hess, a Paracelsian physician with an interest in apocalyptic prophecy. From 1610 till 1612 Andreae traveled. In 1612 he resumed his theological studies in Tübingen. After the final examination in 1614, he became
deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian denominations, such as the Cathol ...
in
Vaihingen an der Enz Vaihingen an der Enz (, ) is a town located between Stuttgart and Karlsruhe, in southern Germany, on the western periphery of the Stuttgart Region. Vaihingen is situated on the river Enz, and has a population of around 30,000. The former distric ...
, and in 1620 priest in Calw. Here he reformed the school and social institutions, and established institutions for charity and other aids. To this end, he initiated the ''Christliche Gottliebende Gesellschaft'' ("Christian God-loving Society"). In 1628 he planned a "Unio Christiana". He obtained funds and brought effective help for the reconstruction of Calw, which was destroyed in the Battle of Nördlingen (1634) by the imperial troops and visited by pestilence. In 1639, he became preacher at the court and councillor of the consistory (''Konsistorialrat'') in
Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...
, where he advocated a fundamental church reform. He became also a spiritual adviser to a royal princess of Württemberg. Among other things, he promoted th
Tübinger Stift
a hall of residence and teaching which was a seminary owned and supported by the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Württemberg, in South West Germany. The Stift was founded as an Augustinian monastery in the Middle Ages, but after the Reformation (in 1536), Duke Ulrich turned the Stift into a seminary which served to prepare Protestant pastors for Württemberg. A prominent student of the Stift during this period was
Johannes Kepler Johannes Kepler (27 December 1571 – 15 November 1630) was a German astronomer, mathematician, astrologer, Natural philosophy, natural philosopher and writer on music. He is a key figure in the 17th-century Scientific Revolution, best know ...
. In 1646, Andreae was made a member of the '' Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft'' ("Fruitbearing Society"), where he got the company-nickname ''der Mürbe'' ("the soft"). In 1650, he assumed direction of the monasterial school Bebenhausen, and in 1654, he became abbot of the evangelical monasterial school of Adelberg. He died in Stuttgart.


Rosicrucianism

His role in the origin of the
Rosicrucian Rosicrucianism () is a spirituality, spiritual and cultural movement that arose in early modern Europe in the early 17th century after the publication of several texts announcing to the world a new Western esotericism, esoteric order. Rosicruc ...
legend is controversial. In his autobiography he claimed that the ''Chymische Hochzeit'' (" Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz") was one of his works—as a " ludibrium", possibly meaning "lampoon". In his ''Menippus'' (1617) he argued that he wrote this fake document in his youth, around 1605. In his later works, Andreae treated
alchemy Alchemy (from the Arabic word , ) is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practised in China, India, the Muslim world, and Europe. In its Western form, alchemy is first ...
as a subject of ridicule and placed it with music, art, theatre and
astrology Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that propose that information about human affairs and terrestrial events may be discerned by studying the apparent positions ...
in the category of the 'less serious' sciences. It is uncertain how to interpret these statements. It has been speculated that Andreae may have been under pressure from authorities because of his official relations as a clergyman, or perhaps that he in the meantime converted to a more homodox form of Lutheranism. In a later phase of his life, Andreae expressed himself as a pious, orthodox Lutheran theologian who had nothing at all to do with the two great manifestoes of the secret society—the ''Fama fraternitatis'' or the ''Confessio fraternitatis''. His lifelong commitment appears to have been to found a ''Societas Christiana'' or utopian learned brotherhood of those dedicated to a spiritual life, in the hope that they would initiate a second Reformation. His writings and efforts provided a potent stimulus to Protestant intellectuals at the beginning of the seventeenth century, and he appears to have inspired the foundation of the ''Unio Christiana'' which was established in Nuremberg during 1628 by a few patricians and churchmen under the impetus of Johannes Saubert the Elder. This utopian society was later revived in Stuttgart in the early 1660s and another utopian brotherhood known as ''Antilia'' (a communal society reminiscent of the monastery) developed in the Baltic during the
Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...
. The founders were inspired by both Baconian belief in experimental science and by Andreae's tracts. They later attempted to establish a colony on a small island in the Gulf of Riga, and considered immigrating to Virginia.


Priory of Sion

During the 1960s, as part of a
hoax A hoax (plural: hoaxes) is a widely publicised falsehood created to deceive its audience with false and often astonishing information, with the either malicious or humorous intent of causing shock and interest in as many people as possible. S ...
claiming the existence of a medieval
secret society A secret society is an organization about which the activities, events, inner functioning, or membership are concealed. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence ag ...
, a set of documents of dubious authenticity, the '' Dossiers Secrets'', was discovered in the
Bibliothèque Nationale de France The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...
(BNF). One of the documents included an alleged list of " Grand Masters of the Priory of Sion", and Andreae was listed as the seventeenth Grand Master.


Works

*''Compendium Mathematicum'' (1614) *'' Chymische Hochzeit Christiani Rosencreutz Anno 1459'' ("The chymical Wedding of Christian Rosencreutz"), published anonymously (1616) *''Menippus'' (1617) *''Invitatio Fraternitatis Christi'' (1617–1618) *''Peregrini in patria errores'' (1618) *
Reipublicae Christianopolitanae descriptio
' ("Description of the Republic of Christianopolis", "Beschreibung des Staates Christenstadt") (1619) *''Turris Babel'' (1619) *''De curiositatis pernicie syntagma'' (1620)


See also

* Esoteric Christianity *
Kabbalah Kabbalah or Qabalah ( ; , ; ) is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. It forms the foundation of Mysticism, mystical religious interpretations within Judaism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ...
* Lectorium RosicrucianumAntonin GadalCatharose de PetriJan van Rijckenborgh * Rosicrucianism * Rosicrucian Fellowship
Max Heindel Max Heindel (born Carl Louis von Grasshoff, July 23, 1865 – January 6, 1919) was an American Christian occultist, astrologer, and mystic. Early life Carl Louis von Grasshoff was born in Aarhus, Denmark, into the noble family von Grasshof ...
* Rosicrucian ManifestosFama FraternitatisConfessio FraternitatisThe Chymical Wedding of Christian RosenkreutzParabola Allegory


References

* Donald R. Dickson, "Johann Valentin Andreae's Utopian Brotherhoods," ''Renaissance Quarterly'', 49, 4 (1996): 760–802. * Donald R. Dickson, ''The Tessera of Antilla: Utopian Brotherhoods and Secret Societies in the Early Seventeenth Century'', Leiden:
Brill Academic Publishers Brill Academic Publishers () is a Dutch international academic publisher of books, academic journals, and databases founded in 1683, making it one of the oldest publishing houses in the Netherlands. Founded in the South Holland city of Leiden, ...
, 1998. *Roland Edighoffer, "Hermeticism in Early Rosicrucianism," in ''Gnosis and Hermeticism: From Antiquity to Modern Times'', edited by Roelof van den Broek and Wouter J. Hanegraaff,
State University of New York Press The State University of New York Press (more commonly referred to as the SUNY Press) is a university press affiliated with the State University of New York system. The press, which was founded in 1966, is located in Albany, New York and publishe ...
, 1998. *Christopher McIntosh, ''The Rosicrucians: The History, Mythology, and Rituals of an Esoteric Order'', 3rd revised edition, Samuel Weiser, York Beach, Maine, 1997. * John Warwick Montgomery, ''Cross and Crucible: Johann Valentin Andreae (1586–1654). Phoenix of the Theologians'', 2 Vols. Martinus Nijhoff, the Hague, 1974. *John Warwick Montgomery, "The World-View of Johann Valentin Andreae," in ''Das Erbe des Christian Rosencreutz. Johann Valentin Andreae 1586–1986 und die Manifeste der Rosenkreuzerbruderschaft 1614–1616'', Amsterdam: In de Pelikaan, 1988, pp. 152–169. *Edward H. Thompson, "Introduction", in Johannes Valentin Andreae, ''Christianopolis'', translated by Edward H. Thompson, Boston,
Kluwer Academic Publishers Springer Science+Business Media, commonly known as Springer, is a German multinational publishing company of books, e-books and peer-reviewed journals in science, humanities, technical and medical (STM) publishing. Originally founded in 1842 in ...
, 1999. * Frances A. Yates, ''The Rosicrucian Enlightenment'', Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1972.


External links


The Correspondence ofJohann Valentin Andreae
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EMLO


* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Andreae, Johannes Valentinus 1586 births 1654 deaths Christian Kabbalists German Lutheran theologians People from Herrenberg Rosicrucianism Rosicrucians German male non-fiction writers 17th-century German theologians 17th-century German writers 17th-century German male writers 17th-century writers in Latin