THE BUILDER SEPTEMBER 1926

The Rite of Strict Observance

By BRO BURTON E. BENNETT, Washington

The system of the Strict Observance grew out of what is known as Templarism. 
Templar Masonry commenced to grow up in France soon after true Freemasonry was 
introduced. This was about 1725. However, no Grand Lodge was established till 1752. 
It is not till then that we are on sure footing. What went before can only be 
approximated. The Strict Observance as a separate system was formed Germany and 
dates from about 1748. It was produced by a process of evolution. The Strict 
Observance, and our present Knights Templar Masonry, as well, cannot, even, be 
reliably understood without knowing something out the Crusades, and with the three 
great orders that they produced, the Teutonic Knights, the Hospitallers and the Knights 
Templar.

The Crusades were a series of wars carried on Western Europe to recover the Holy 
Land from the Moslems. They began in the 11th century and extended over a period of 
some five hundred years. The Christian Crusades utterly broke down in 1449, and in 
1453 Constantinople fell before the Mohammedans. It has ever since remained under 
Moslem rule, as has the Holy Land, and all of Asia Minor, till the end of the Great War. 
During all of the time of the Crusades the Church of Rome largely governed the 
Western World. The Crusades mightily changed European History.

In one sense of the word the Crusades were a continuation of the age-old fight of the 
East against the West, and while, apparently, the West started it, and it was carried on 
offensively, still it was really defensive--the Christian world trying to stem the onrush
of the Moslem hordes. It was a religious war--a war between the Christian and the 
Infidel. It was an attempt of the Roman Church, as a temporal power, to conquer the 
world with the sword, just as the Moslems were trying to do. It failed. The Moslems 
nearly succeeded in their aim. They took all of Asia Minor, all of civilized Africa, Sicily 
and other Mediterranean islands and even Spain in the West. They took a great part of 
Eastern Europe and reached as far West as Vienna. Here in 1683 they were finally 
stopped. But for the Crusades it is possible that they might have entirely overrun the 
Western World and suppressed the Christian religion, or, at least, absorbed it entirely 
within their system. The impartial student of history, comparing the civilization of the 
Moors in Spain with that of the Church and its Inquisition, which replaced it, must 
decide that the former was, by far, the preferable. The civilization of Medieval Europe 
certainly had little to commend it. However, taking a broad survey there can be no 
question that it is a mighty blessing that the West prevailed over the East, as it always 
had before, and that the beneficent religion of Christ was not replaced by the religion of 
Mahomet. No handicap, however great, can permanently stand before the onward 
progress of the Western division of the Aryan people, their intellect has become too 
great for this; too many brains stand at the perpendicular.


The Hejira took place in 622. Omar took Jerusalem in 637, and in Moslem hands it 
remained till the end of the first Crusade. The Church of the Sepulchre was fanatically 
destroyed in 1010. In 1071 the Seljukian Turks captured Jerusalem. Till then 
pilgrimages to the Holy Land were fairly easy and especially so up to the final 
separation of the Eastern and Western Churches in 1054. Now not only were the native 
Christians persecuted, but the Pilgrim Christians as well.

THE CAUSES OF THE CRUSADES

It has been stated that the purpose of the Crusades was to recover the sepulchre of 
Christ from the Infidel. The underlying causes, however, were deeper and far greater. 
They were, (1) the desire of the Papacy for conquest, (2) the desire of the mercantile 
classes to open up trade routes to the East, (3) the desire of the Byzantine emperors to 
recover their lost territories and (4) the desire of princes to carve new kingdoms out of 
the East.

The barbarians who overran the Roman Empire had hardly become settled among the 
ruins they had caused, and commenced to repair them, when Scandinavian pirates 
sailed up their rivers and sacked and plundered their towns just as they had sacked 
and plundered the mighty cities of the Empire. Some of these pirates finally settled 
down in Northern France and established the Dukedom of Normandy. In 1066 the 
Norman Duke, William the Bastard, conquered England and established his kingdom of 
England. In 1090 the Norman Duke Roger conquered Sicily from the Moslems and 
established his kingdom there. The Norman Duke Godfrey was one of the commanders 
in the first Crusade. On July 15, 1099, Godfrey took Jerusalem, and while the shrieks of 
the dying were heard and the rivers of blood still gurgled and eddied, he founded his 
Norman kingdom of Jerusalem. The traders, the princes, the Emperor and the Pope 
devoutly thanked God for the successful termination of so glorious a cause. But the 
Crusades for the purpose of conquering the world for Christianity, and extirpating the 
Infidel, was a complete failure. However, good came out of them--incalculable good. 
They helped to dissolve feudalism, to develop trade, to build up cities and to increase 
knowledge. It would be foolish to say that they were the cause of all this, but they 
certainly contributed toward it.

But above all, by far, they show the strivings of man for an ideal, for the infinite, for 
immortality, as nothing on this earth has ever done before or since; they attempted to 
answer the age-old question as it has never been done before nor since--can mortality 
be shaken off for immortality, can the finite be merged in the infinite?

MILITARY ORDERS OF THE CRUSADES
The Crusades produced the Teutonic Knights, the Hospitallers and the Knights 
Templar, and thus Templar Masonry, and so, in one sense of the word, they are the 
cause of the Strict Observance.


The Teutonic Knights of St. Mary's Hospital of Jerusalem was one of the three great 
religious and military orders produced by the Crusades. It was founded during the third 
Crusade, and was the last one formed. Its hospital was founded by Germans. Very 
early in the history of the Order its members were all ennobled, and they have 
remained so ever since. It was never a universal Order, like the Templars and the 
Hospitallers. It was strictly national in character. Like the other two Orders it began as a 
charitable society, passed into a military one and finally reached sovereign power. In 
1291 it was expelled by the Moslems from the Holy Land. In 1309 it established itself in 
what is now Marienburg, West Prussia. It had begun its work, however in Eastern 
Germany a hundred years before for the purpose of subduing and converting the 
heathens. The Knightly Order of Dobrzin, founded for the purpose of conquering the 
heathen Prussians, was merged in the Teutonic Knight 1235, just as an older organized 
for the same pose, was merged in it years before. The Order finally became a 
governing aristocracy, holding its lands in Eastern Germany as a fief of the Pope of 
Rome. The Grand Master became in reality a king with the Pope as Emperor. However, 
the monarch, if such it may be called, a limited one as a council of brethren had to be 
consulted in all affairs. The state was really the church, and the government was 
ecclesiastical in character. The country was governed somewhat as the States of the 
Church in Italy were governed before 1871, when the temporal power of the Pope was 
abolished. The greater part of their subjects were the conquered Prussian heathens 
from whom the present peasants are descended. They were serfs bound to the soil. 0f 
course their souls were now safe, but the only earthly right, if right it could be called, 
that they obtained through their conversion, was the right to work for the Knights, their 
masters, and fight for them in time of war.

The Order reached its height in the latter part of the 14th century. Its very rights 
weighted it down. Its neighbors envied its wealth, and wanted its territories. The 
Hundred Years War weakened it. Poland finally got West Prussia, and while East 
Prussia was left to the Knights, Poland became its overlord. Lutherism gave it its final 
blow. When the Hohenzollern Albert, Grand Master of the Order, turned Protestant, he 
secularized its territories into a Duchy under Poland. Later on all of the country East of Germany was secularized and the Order confined wholly to Germany. The German 
Grand Master became a Prince of the Empire.

The Order still continued on in its conservatism, always claiming its old rights. It 
maintained itself from its still large revenues from its estates in different parts of 
Germany. During the French Revolution, however, it was deprived of all of its estates, 
which went to the different principalities in which they were situated. It was suppressed 
in 1809, but in 1840 it was revived in Austria under the patronage of the Emperor of 
Austria, and so continued down to the ending of the Great War.

THE KNIGHTS OF MALTA

The Hospitallers, known officially as "Knights of the Order of the Hospital of St. John of 
Jerusalem," was founded at Jerusalem during the first Crusade. It has been known also 

as "Knights of Rhodes", and as the "Sovereign Order of the Knights of Malta." It was at 
first a charitable Order, while the Templars was from the first a military one. With the 
fall of the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem in 1291, the Knights retired to the island of 
Rhodes. In 1522 the Turks finally took Rhodes, and the Hospitallers removed to Malta. 
Here they remained till 1793, when Napoleon took Malta, and added it to the French 
Republic. This ended it as a sovereign power. While the Knights had to leave Malta, 
shorn of their old power and great wealth, they still continued on in different countries. 
The Knights took with them from Malta their precious relics--chief among them being 
the hand of St. John the Baptist, the miraculous image of Our Lady of Pherlemon, and a 
fragment of the true cross.

Some of the Knights went to Russia and elected the Emperor Paul I Grand Master, and 
the then Grand Master, Hompesch, resigned in his favor. A chapter of the Knights 
granted the Pope of Rome authority to name a Grand Master, which he did. When this 
Grand Master died the head of the Order was called a Lieutenant Grand Master till 
1879, when Leo XIII restored the ancient title of Grand Master. The Order of St. 
Anthony and St. Lazarus were united to the Hospitalers in 1782.

The oldest house of the Order was in France. It is still occupied by the Order. In Italy 
and Germany it is now called the "Sovereign Order of Malta." Applicants for knighthood 
must have sixteen quarterings of nobility and in Austria, before the Great War, also, the 
consent of the Emperor. The Grand Cross of the Order is a gold white enameled 
Maltese cross surmounted by a crown. There are two Protestant Orders of St. John of 
Jerusalem, branches of the parent Order --one in Germany and the other in England. 
These chapters joined in the Reformation, but for a long time continued their 
contributions to the head of the Order.

In Prussia members of the Order must be Protestants of noble birth and belong to the 
Evangelical Church. The Grand Cross there is a Mallese cross of white enameled gold 
with four black eagles between the arms. Since the Great War the Order has worked 
for the restoration of the monarchy.  In 1924 von Hindenburg officiated at the knighting 
ceremonies of the Knights of St. John, but after he was elected president of the 
German Republic he told the Knights that he "resigned his functions." In 1925 as 
president of the republic he forbade the former kaiser s son, Eitel Frederick, to officiate 
at the knighting ceremonies and ordered that they be held in a small chapel at 
Sonnenberg, instead of in the monarchist church at Potsdam, as usual.

In England the Order was never formally suppressed, and in 1888 Queen Victoria 
granted it a charter. In 1889 King Edward VII, then Prince of Wales was made Grand 
Prior. In Great Britain, as in Prussia, the sovereign is the head of the Order, and the 
heir to the throne Grand Prior. In England it is an aristocratic Order, but not to the 
extent that it is in Prussia. While members do not have to be Protestants they must 
believe in Christianity. The Grand Cross in Great Britain is, of course, the gold white 
enameled Maltese cross, but between the arms are placed two lions and two unicorns.


The first photograph ever taken of a chapter in session appeared in the London 
Graphic of Sept. 13, 1924. It was one of a meeting of the Priory of Wales at Powis 
Castle, Welshpool. It shows Knights and Esquires on the steps of the castle in full 
regalia, including the Right Honorable Lord Kylsant, Sub-Prior for Wales, who 
deputized for the Prince of Wales, who is Grand Prior.

OCTOBER 1926

The Rite of Strict Observance

BY BRO. BURTON E. BENNETT, Washington

(Concluded from September)

The Order of the Poor Knights of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, or, as it is 
otherwise called, Knights Templar, was founded in Palestine in the 12th century by the 
Crusaders. The Order was a purely military one. It was made for the purpose of 
guarding the pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem. The Order got the latter part of its 
name, "Temple of Solomon," from the fact that the King of Jerusalem, Baldwin I, gave a 
part of his palace known as the "Temple of Solomon" for its use. At the head of the 
Order was a Master of the Temple, afterwards known as a Grand Master. His authority 
was very great, and generally his word was law; but in extremely large matters-- such 
as declaring war, etc.--he had to consult the chapter, and the members decided by a 
majority vote. The celibate life members wore a white mantle with a red cross on it; the 
others a black or brown one, also with a red cross on it. Within fifty years after it was 
founded it was established in nearly all of the countries of Europe. Lands and manors 
and castles were given to the Knights by different kings in their kingdoms, and the 
Pope allowed them to have their own churches and even churchyards in which the 
excommunicated could be buried. They were even free from tithes and all local 
jurisdictions, and finally became a separate ecclesiastical society under the Pope. The 
result was "war" between them and the secular clergy, but as long as the Crusades 
continued they remained all powerful with the Papacy. Their object was to carry on the 
Crusades and wrest the Holy Land from the Infidel, and for this purpose they gathered 
money and recruits from all parts of Europe. It is now plainly seen that when the 
Crusades were over it was the inevitable fate of the Knights Templar to fall. Until nearly 
the end of the 13th century, when the Moslems expelled the Christians from the East, 
the history of the Crusades is a history of the Templars.

In 1291 the Templars retired from the Holy Land to Cyprus, and ten years later the 
curtain was rung down on their vast theatre of action--Asia Minor.

The Knights who in the 12th century came together to protect the pilgrims going to and 
returning from Jerusalem, and took an oath to live in chastity, obedience and poverty, 
two hundred years later were the most influential, rich and powerful body of men in the 
world. When their last Grand Master, Jacques de Molay, came to Paris he brought with 

him 150,000 gold florins, and ten horse loads of silver. But this was a very small part of 
their immense wealth. They had castles and strongholds and estates in all parts of 
Europe, and they had a strict military organization connecting them together. They 
were the international bankers of the then known world. They were trusted with money 
and with its transmission to all parts of Europe, and the East on account of their great 
wealth, great protective power and their pious life. While they never exercised 
governmental power like the Knights in Prussia and in Rhodes, still they were really far 
more powerful--an ecclesiastical power that covered the entire civilized world. They 
never, apparently, were so high as just before they fell.

THE CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE TEMPLARS

For a long time the princes of Europe had been plotting to wreck the Templars and 
seize and divide up their great wealth. They got the Hospitallers with them by holding 
out the bait of the Templars' wealth. The Crusades being over they pretended that it 
was best to have all of the military Orders united. But they could not achieve their 
object. Finally trumped up charges of blasphemy were made against the Templars, and 
through them the acquiescence of the Church obtained. Their Grand Master and most 
of the Knights were arrested and the Order suppressed.

Jacques de Molay and many others were put to the most excruciating tortures, and in 
their agony confessed to everything that their tormentors desired. Under trial by torture, 
if on the trial one repudiated his confession he was forthwith put to death. But if he 
stood by his confession it was a plea of guilty, no matter how innocent he might be, and 
his tormentors did with him as they wished. Jacques de Molay, at his trial, rose to 
sublime heights (as did many other Knights), and as befitted a great man at the head of 
the mightiest Order in the world, repudiated his confession, declared his own and his 
Order's innocence and offering up his prayers to God was burned alive amid the chants 
of priests of the Romish religion, with the acquiescence of the Pope of Rome, at the 
behest of greedy, soulless princes headed by the King of France.

The charges against the Templars were false as history has since abundantly shown. It 
was a dark day for Europe and Christian civilization when the Templars were 
destroyed. It established criminal procedure by torture, which continued down to the 
French Revolution; it established in the feudal mind the idea of witchcraft, and 
intercourse with the devil, which has only been overcome in comparatively recent 
times, and which curse we have had our part to bear as is witnessed in our Salemism; 
and, finally, it enabled the Turks to ravage Eastern Europe and oppress it continuously 
down to our own times--the end of the Great War.

THE STRICT OBSERVANCE

The Rite of the Strict Observance is based on "Templar Masonry." Its founders claimed 
that all Templars were Masons, that they founded Masonry and that the time had come 
to proclaim it to the world, and to have the Order of the Temple given back all of its 

former possessions, and to have all of its former powers restored to it. But what is the 
legend of "Templar Masonry" ? Perhaps the French Masonic writer, Beranger, in the 
following short description, depicts it as well as it can be done. He says:

The Order of Masonry was instituted by Godfrey de Bouillon, in Palestine, in 1330, after 
the defeat of the Christian armies, and was communicated only to a few French 
Masons, some time afterwards, as a reward for the services which they had rendered to 
the English and Scottish Knights. From these latter true Masonry is derived. Their 
Mother Lodge is situated on the mountain of Heredom, where the first Lodge in Europe 
was held, which still exists in all its splendor. The Council General is always held here, and it is the seat of the Sovereign Grand Master for the time being. This mountain is 
situated between the West and the North of Scotland, sixty miles from Edinburgh.

There are other secrets in Masonry which were never known among the French, and 
which have no relation to the Apprentice, Fellow Craft and Master Degrees, which were 
constructed for the general class of Masons. The high degrees, which developed the 
true design of Masonry and its true secrets, have never been known to them.

The Saracens having obtained possession of the holy places in Palestine, where all the 
mysteries of the Order were practised, made use of them for the most profane 
purposes. The Christians then leagued together to conquer this beautiful country, and 
to drive these barbarians from the land. They succeeded in obtaining a footing on these 
shores under the protection of the numerous armies of the Crusaders, which had been 
sent there by the Christian princes. The losses which they subsequently experienced 
put an end to the Christian power, and the Crusaders who remained were subjected to 
the persecutions of the Saracens, who massacred all who publicly proclaimed the 
Christian faith. This induced Godfrey de Bouillon, toward the end of the thirteenth 
century, to conceal the mysteries of religion under the veil of figures, emblems and 
allegories.

Hence the Christians selected the Temple of Solomon because it had so close a 
relation to the Christian Church, of which its holiness and its magnificence made it the 
true symbol. So the Christians concealed the Mystery of the building up of the Church 
under that of the construction of the Temple, and gave themselves the title of Masons, 
Architects, or Builders, because they were occupied in building the faith. They 
assembled under the pretext of making plans of architecture to practise the rites of their 
religion with all the emblems and allegories that Masonry could furnish, and thus 
protect themselves from the cruelty of the Saracens.

As the mysteries of Masonry were in their principles and still are, only those of the 
Christian religion, they were extremely scrupulous to confide this important secret only 
to those whose discretion had been tried, and who had been found worthy. For this 
purpose they fabricated degrees as a test of those in whom they wished to confide, and 
they gave them at first only the symbolic secrets of Hiram, on which all the mysteries  of 
Blue Masonry is founded, and which is, in fact, the only secret of that Order which has 

no relation to true Masonry. They explained nothing else to them as they were afraid of 
being betrayed, and they conferred these degrees as a proper means of recognizing 
each other, surrounded as they were by barbarians. To succeed more effectually in this 
they made use different signs and words for each degree, so as not only to distinguish 
themselves from the profane Saracens, but to designate the different degrees. These 
they fixed at the number of seven, the imitation of the Grand Architect who built the 
Universe in six days and rested on the seventh; and, also, because Solomon was 
seven years in constructing the Temple, which they had selected as the figurative basis 
of Masonry. Under the name of Hiram they gave a false application to the Masters and 
developed the true secret of Masonry only to the higher degrees.

THE TEMPLAR MYTH

Templar Masonry is divided into four divisions each claiming a different descent from 
the Templars. (1) That of France which claims descent by way of a charter given by 
Jacques de Molay, before his death, to Johannes Larmenius creating him Grand 
Master. (2) That which claims descent from Pierre d'Aumon (who succeeded De Molay 
as Grand Master) who fled with a few Knights to Scotland, and there established 
Masonry. From Scotland, it was carried to France, and there was formed the Chapter of 
Clermont, from which it went to Germany and made the Strict Observance which Von 
Hund so greatly developed. (3) That of the Scandinavian countries which claims 
descent by way of the real Order of Christ of Portugal that succeeded the Templars, 
through Beaujeau, a nephew of De Molay, who took his uncle's ashes to Stockholm and 
buried them there, and established the Swedish Templar system. (4) That of Scotland 
which claims descent from the House of the Templars that was never abolished there. 
The Royal Order of Scotland was created for some of the Knights by Robert Bruce and 
the rest were united with the Hospitallers. At the Reformation a part embraced 
Protestantism and united with the Masons. The part that remained Catholic was 
ultimately joined by the Young Pretender and was carried to France. (5) That of 
England, all other parts of the British Empire, and the United States which claims 
descent from the Knights in England who, when the Order was dissolved, buried 
themselves in the Masonic Fraternity, and were allowed to retain all of their secrets, 
and practice all of their ancient rites.

Of course all of the above is untrue. It is indeed the purest nonsense. These 
fabrications were made the purpose of establishing an order not only that nobles of all 
countries could join, but that all who joined would believe they became ennobled. 
Designing men took advantage of it to obtain both money and power through "lost 
secrets", occultism and magic. It was an age that believed not only with personal 
contact with God, but also with the devil; and the supposed secrets of the Ancient 
Masons furnished the seed for all this tremendous growth. The truth is that all Templar 
Masonry is descended from a Kadosh degree invented in Lyons, France, in 1743. 
Gould, the greatest and most learned of all Masonic historians, says:


During the period I have just sketched (rise of High Degrees in France) it has always 
been maintained that Ramsey introduced a Rite of five degrees between 1736-38, 
called the "RITE DE RAMSEY" or "DE BOUILLON." I trust that I have already 
demonstrated that he did nothing of the sort, but it may be added, that beyond mere 
assertions, echoes of Thory, there is not the slightest evidence that a "Rite de Ramsey" 
ever existed. The application is a comparatively modern one, not being heard of till 
Thory invented it. Nevertheless, about 1740, various Rites, or degrees, of Scots 
Masonry, did spring into existence followed shortly afterwards by Scots Mother-Lodges 
controlling systems of subordinate Scots Lodges. At first these had reference to the 
recovery of the "lost word," but before long additions were made. In 1743 the Masons 
of Lyons invented the Kadosh degree, comprising the vengeance of the Templars, and 
thus laid the foundation for all the Templar Rites. It was at first called Junior Elect- but 
developed into Elect of Nine, or of Perignan, Elect of Fifteen, Illustrious Master, Knight 
of Aurora, Grand Inquisitor, Grand Elect, Commander of the Temple, etc.

The Rite of Strict Observance was carried from France to Germany as early as 1749, if 
not before. Von Bieberstein, as Provincial Grand Master, was succeeded at his death, 
about 1750, by Karl Gothelf, Baron Von Hund, and Alten-Grotkau. He was made a 
Mason in 1742. A year or so afterwards he met at Paris Lord Kilmarnock, who 
interested him in Templarism, and he was initiated into the Order of the Temple. He 
was given a patent and directed to report to the Prov. Grand Master, Von Bieberstein, 
of the VIIth Province in Germany.

VON HUND AS GRAND MASTER

When Von Hund succeeded Von Bieberstein, at his death, as Provincial Grand Master, 
the Strict Observance began to assume a commanding position in the Masonic world. 
We can trace its beginnings back to Lord Kilmarnock, Grand Master of Scotland, in 
1742-43. Kilmarnock in Scotland was made a barony, under the Boyds, the ruling 
family, in 1591, and was made an earldom in 1661. Lord Kilmarnock was working in 
behalf of the exiled house of Stuart, and used the Templar system for that purpose. 
Von Hund probably knew nothing of this and was honest in what he did. Lord 
Kilmarnock was the last Boyd to bear that title and was beheaded on Tower Hill, 
London, in 1746, for his share in the Jacobite uprising.

In 1751 Von Hund began to give particular attention to the restoration of the Order of 
the Temple, and evidently considered it his life work. He commenced to make Knights 
and divided all Europe into nine Provinces, to-wit: (1) Arragon, (2) Auvergne, (3) 
Occitania, (4) Leon, (5) Burgundy, (6) Britain, (7) Elbe and Oder, (8) Rhine, and (9) the 
Archipelago.

The Rite of Strict Observance consisted of six degrees, namely, (1) Apprentice, (2) 
Fellow Craft, (3) Master Mason, (4) Scottish Master, (5) Noviciate, and (6) Templar. 
The first three degrees was Ancient Craft Masonry. The fourth degree depicts the 
method used to preserve the "lost word", which was cut on a plate of pure metal, put 

into a secure place, and centuries afterwards recovered, so it was asserted. It of course 
belonged to the Eccossais system of degrees (Scots system). The select Master of the 
American Rite belongs to the same system, and its teachings are found in the Royal 
Arch Degree. It is the fifth degree of the French Rite. The thirteenth degree of the 
Scottish Rite also belongs to this system. The fifth degree is preparatory to the real 
Templar degree, and the sixth degree is the real Knighthood. Later another degree 
called the Professed Knight was, it is said, added to Hund's system. Only noblemen 
were eligible to Knighthood, although others could be made companions by paying very 
large sums of money.

THE: IMPOSTOR JOHNSON APPEARS

In 1763 a fellow named Leucht, going under the name of Johnson, who had got hold of 
some Masonic papers relating to Masonry proper, as well as the "high degrees", 
appeared at Jena where there was a Clermont Chapter practicing the Templar degrees 
in the Strict Observance system, and stated that he had a commission from the 
Sovereign Chapter in Scotland to reform the German Lodges and impart the true 
secrets of Masonry, and that these secrets enabled their possessors to prepare the 
philosopher's stone. He obtained large sums of money from the members. It was soon 
seen that he was a charlatan. He fled, but later on was arrested and died in prison. 
Even this episode did not harm the Strict Observance, rather it spread its fame, 
probably on account of Von Hund's high standing and well known honesty. It took on a 
most wonderful growth. It became practically the only Masonry in Germany and spread 
into Holland and Russia and into France, Switzerland and Italy as well.

In the Strict Observance the real rulers of the Order were unknown, and on joining it an 
oath of obedience was made to the Order and to the Unknown Superiors, who at the 
proper time and in the proper place would make themselves known, when the Order 
would be restored to all its pristine glory. Von Hund probably thought that the "Young 
Pretender" (also known as the "Young Chevalier" and the "Count of Albany"), Prince 
Charles Edward, was the Grand Master. While it was probably a political scheme in his 
behalf in the first place it was dropped after his defeat at Culloden in 1746, and all of 
the time since then Von Hund was working honestly in the dark without any backing 
whatever. The Knight of the Red Feather, whom he asserted he met in Paris, and 
whom he supposed was the Grand Master of the Order, was, as far as Von Hund was 
personally concerned, only a red devil.

The Rite of the Strict Observance reached its highest point when the Princes of 
Germany joined it. The Lodge of the Three Globes of Berlin, Prussia, with its 
subordinate lodges, the English Provincial Grand Lodge and the Lodges of Denmark, 
also joined it. However Zinnendorf, who was a member and active worker, resigned in 
1766 to introduce the Swedish system into Germany. It grew rapidly and soon became 
a real rival to the Strict Observance. The members began to want to realize something 
out of their membership. They wanted to know who the "Unknown Superiors" were. 
They really wanted to receive that occult knowledge which all of the Knights of the 

Order believed the rulers possessed--the heritage of the Order of the Temple. While all 
of this seems nonsense to us, it was not to them. It was the fault of the age, for all 
believed in occult science, and those who delved into it believed that the great secrets 
belonged to the Masons. But to which branch they did not know, and how to find the 
right one was their constant aim.

THE CLERKS OF THE STRICT OBSERVANCE

An Order called the Clerics turned up and it was supposed for a time that the "lost 
secrets" were with it. But nothing was found there, and it was determined to have a 
general convention for the purpose of examining into everything, so as to get on the 
right road. All still firmly believed that the Unknown Grand Master and his Councillors 
possessed all occult science and that a way could be devised to reach them. This 
convention took place at Brunswick and was in session from May 23 to July 6, 1775. 
But nothing came out of it except extreme dissatisfaction to all, and it was agreed to 
fully examine into both the descent of the Order and the Grand Mastership of the 
Young Pretender. Baron Von Hund while intimating who the Grand Master really was, 
with tears in his eyes refused to state directly, saying that he had taken an oath, on his 
sword and honor, never to do so; but as those who were in authority seemed to be 
determined to divulge nothing, it might be well to elect a Grand Master and take all 
matters into their own hands. This course produced a charlatan greater, if possible, 
than Leucht.

Baron Von Gugumos was at the Brunswick convention and told different members of it 
that they were all on the wrong track; that the Strict Observance was an imitation, or 
rather, only a branch of the true Order, and possessed none of the real secrets; that the 
Patriarch of the Greek Church at Cyprus was the Grand Master of the Order and that 
there reposed all of the mighty secrets of the alchemists that had been preserved from 
the most ancient times by the Templars. Some of the princes and others were initiated 
into his Order, and he promised to get the Patriarch to disclose to them all of the 
alchemical secrets. Much enthusiasm was aroused, and it was thought at last that they 
were on the right track.

THE CONVENTION OF WIESBADEN

A convention, at the suggestion of the Baron, was held at Wiesbaden on Aug. 15, 
1776, with the consent of the Prince of Nassau-Usingen, but without that of the Duke of 
Brunswick. Among those present was the sovereign, the Duke of Nassau; also the 
Duke of Gotha, the Landgraves Ludwig and George, and many other nobles of lesser 
note. At one time there was not less than twelve reigning sovereign Princes of 
Germany members of the Rite of the Strict Observance, and they were the most active 
members seeking "lost secrets". It is no wonder that Gugomos had everything his own 
way, when so many in authority believed in magic and alchemy and, in fact, in all of the 
occult sciences. Gugomos produced an impressive patent, made for him by some 
scholar, and made a mystic speech. He reinitiated them into the "real Order" and sold 

them shoddy regalia and brass jewels at exorbitant prices. In the language of the 
present day, "he made a killing." Some had doubts and wanted him then and there to 
perform his magic feats. This, he said, he would gladly do if they would build the 
necessary sacred shrine and that while this was being done he would go to Cyprus and 
get the necessary sacred wands and altars. It was necessary, he explained, to have a 
secret and proper sanctuary for the delivery of the oracles, and then again the 
recipients must be properly prepared. He went but he never came back.

Baron Von Hund died on Oct. 28, 1776, and as might be expected confusion ensued. 
His effects were carefully examined, but nothing was found that could throw any light 
on the Order or its Grand Master, except that the Baron believed that it was the Young 
Pretender. But Prince Charles Edward on being questioned later on in Italy about it, 
stated that he knew nothing about it and was not even a Mason.

In 1782 the Rite of Strict Observance was reorganized by Ferdinand, Duke of 
Brunswick, who was elected Grand Master General. The next year however, the Lodge 
of the Three Globes of Berlin, with all of its subordinate lodges and the Hamburg 
Lodges, withdrew from the Strict Observance. On July 3, 1792, Prince Ferdinand died, 
and the Order died with him except in France and Denmark. In Denmark in 1792 Prince 
Karl of Hesse was appointed Grand Master of Denmark by royal decree. In 1808, in 
France, Prince Cambaceres, Arch Chancellor of the Napoleonic Empire and Grand 
Master of the Grand Orient, became Provincial Grand Master. The Rite continued being 
worked in the Rectified Rite, under the Grand Orient till 1811, when it completely died 
out. Prince Karl of Hesse died in 1836 and in 1855 the Danish lodges adopted the 
Swedish Rite, and with this the Rite of the Strict Observance breathed its last breath.
