Count of St. Germain
18th-century European adventurer and intellectual From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
18th-century European adventurer and intellectual From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Count of St. Germain (French: Comte de Saint Germain; French pronunciation: [kɔ̃t də sɛ̃ ʒɛʁmɛ̃]; c. 1691 or 1712 – 27 February 1784)[3] whose real name and origins remain unknown, was a European adventurer who had interests and achievements in science, alchemy, philosophy, and the arts. He rose to prominence in the European high society of the mid-18th century due to his works and interests. He associated himself with some of the top contemporary figures of the time, including Casanova, Voltaire and Mozart.
The Count of St. Germain | |
|---|---|
| Comte de Saint Germain | |
Engraving by Nicolas Thomas, 1783 (based on a painting then owned by Jeanne Camus de Pontcarré and now lost[1]), contained at the Louvre[2] | |
| Born | 1691 or 1712 |
| Died | 27 February 1784 |
| Other names | Marquess of Montferrat (Fr. Marquis de Montferrat), Count Bellamarre (Fr. Comte Bellamarre), Knight Schoening (Fr. Chavelier Schoening), Count Weldon, Count Soltikoff (Fr. Comte Soltikoff), Manuel Doria, Graf Tzarogy, Prince Ragoczy (Ge. Prinz Ragoczy) |
The count used a variety of names and titles, including the Marquess of Montferrat (Fr. Marquis de Montferrat), Count Bellamarre (Fr. Comte Bellamarre), Knight Schoening (Fr. Chevalier Schoening), Count Weldon, Count Soltikoff (Fr. Comte Soltikoff), Manuel Doria, Graf Tzarogy, and Prince Ragoczy (De. Prinz Ragoczy). He appears to have begun to be known under the title of the Count of St Germain during the early 1740s.[4]
He is said to have made far-fetched claims (such as being 500 years old),[5] leading Voltaire to dub him "the Wonderman", and that "he is a man who does not die, and who knows everything".[6][7] Charles, the prince of Hesse-Kassel, is recorded as having called him "one of the greatest philosophers who ever lived".[8]
The count's birth and background remain obscure; nothing is known with certainty of his origins. Toward the end of his life, he claimed to be the son of Francis II Rákóczi, the prince of Transylvania;[9][10] while without hard evidence,[11] this would account for his wealth and evident fine education.[12]
The will of Francis II mentions Leopold George, his eldest son, who was believed to have died at the age of four.[12] It has been speculated that his identity was falsified to protect against persecution from the Habsburgs.[12] At the time of his arrival in Schleswig in 1779, he told Prince Charles of Hesse-Kassel that he was 88 years old,[13] making his year of birth 1691, when Francis II was 15 years old.
St. Germain was supposedly educated in Italy by Gian Gastone, the grand duke of Tuscany and allegedly his mother's brother-in-law. He was believed to be a student at the University of Siena.[9]
Throughout his adult life, he deliberately concealed his actual name and origins, using a multitude of pseudonyms in the different places he visited.
The Marquis de Crequy declared that St. Germain was an Alsatian Jew, Simon Wolff by name, and was born at Strasbourg about the close of the 17th or the beginning of the 18th century; others insist that he was a Spanish Jesuit named Aymar; and others again intimate that his true title was the Marquis de Betmar, and that he was a native of Portugal. The most plausible theory, however, makes him the natural son of an Italian princess and fixes his birth at San Germano, in Savoy, about the year 1710; his ostensible father being one Rotondo, a tax-collector of that district.
— Phineas Taylor Barnum, The Humbugs of the World, 1886.
According to David Hunter, the count contributed some of the songs to L'incostanza delusa, an opera performed at the Haymarket Theatre in London on all but one of the Saturdays from 9 February to 20 April 1745.[9] Later, in a letter of December of that same year, Horace Walpole mentions Count St. Germain as being arrested in London on suspicion of espionage (this was during the Jacobite rebellion of 1745), but released without charge:
The other day they seized an odd man, who goes by the name of Count St. Germain. He has been here these two years, and will not tell who he is, or whence, but professes [two wonderful things, the first] that he does not go by his right name; and the second that he never had any dealings with any woman – nay, nor with any succedaneum [substitute, i.e. for a woman]. He sings, plays on the violin wonderfully, composes, is mad, and not very sensible. He is called an Italian, a Spaniard, a Pole; somebody that married a great fortune in Mexico, and ran away with her jewels to Constantinople; a priest, a fiddler, a vast nobleman. The Prince of Wales has had an unsatiated curiosity about him, but in vain. However, nothing has been made out against him; he is released; and, what convinces me that he is not a gentleman, stays here, and talks of his being taken up for a spy.[14]
The Count gave two private musical performances in London in April and May 1749.[9] On one such occasion, Lady Jemima Yorke described how she was "very much entertain'd by him or at him the whole Time – I mean the Oddness of his Manner which it is impossible not to laugh at, otherwise you know he is very sensible & well-bred in conversation".[9] She continued:
He is an Odd Creature, and the more I see him the more curious I am to know something about him. He is everything with everybody: he talks Ingeniously with Mr Wray, Philosophy with Lord Willoughby, and is gallant with Miss Yorke, Miss Carpenter, and all the Young Ladies. But the Character and Philosopher is what he seems to pretend to, and to be a good deal conceited of: the Others are put on to comply with Les Manieres du Monde, but that you are to suppose his real characteristic; and I can't but fancy he is a great Pretender in All kinds of Science, as well as that he really has acquired an uncommon Share in some.[9]
Walpole reports that St Germain:
spoke Italian and French with the greatest facility, though it was evident that neither was his language; he understood Polish and soon learnt to understand English and talk it a little [...] But Spanish or Portuguese seemed his natural language.[15]
Walpole concludes that the Count was "a man of Quality who had been in or designed for the Church. He was too great a musician not to have been famous if he had not been a gentleman".[15] Walpole describes the Count as pale, with "extremely black" hair and a beard. "He dressed magnificently, [and] had several jewels" and was clearly receiving "large remittances, but made no other figure".[15]
St. Germain appeared in the French court around 1748. In 1749, he was employed by Louis XV for diplomatic missions.[16]
A mime and English comedian known as Mi'Lord Gower impersonated St. Germain in Paris salons. His stories were wilder than the real count's (he had advised Jesus, for example). Inevitably, hearsay of his routine got confused with the original.[citation needed]
Giacomo Casanova describes in his memoirs several meetings with the "celebrated and learned impostor". Of his first meeting, in Paris in 1757, he writes:
The most enjoyable dinner I had was with Madame de Robert Gergi, who came with the famous adventurer, known by the name of the Count de St. Germain. This individual, instead of eating, talked from the beginning of the meal to the end, and I followed his example in one respect as I did not eat, but listened to him with the greatest attention. It may safely be said that as a conversationalist he was unequalled.
St. Germain gave himself out for a marvel and always aimed at exciting amazement, which he often succeeded in doing. He was a scholar, linguist, musician, and chemist, good-looking, and a perfect ladies' man. For a while he gave them paints and cosmetics; he flattered them, not that he would make them young again (which he modestly confessed was beyond him) but that their beauty would be preserved by means of a wash which, he said, cost him a lot of money, but which he gave away freely. He had contrived to gain the favour of Madame de Pompadour, who had spoken about him to the king, for whom he had made a laboratory, in which the monarch – a martyr to boredom – tried to find a little pleasure or distraction, at all events, by making dyes. The king had given him a suite of rooms at Chambord, and a hundred thousand francs for the construction of a laboratory, and according to St. Germain the dyes discovered by the king would have a materially beneficial influence on the quality of French fabrics.
This extraordinary man, intended by nature to be the king of impostors and quacks, would say in an easy, assured manner that he was three hundred years old, that he knew the secret of the Universal Medicine, that he possessed a mastery over nature, that he could melt diamonds, professing himself capable of forming, out of ten or twelve small diamonds, one large one of the finest water without any loss of weight. All this, he said, was a mere trifle to him. Notwithstanding his boastings, his bare-faced lies, and his manifold eccentricities, I cannot say I thought him offensive. In spite of my knowledge of what he was and in spite of my own feelings, I thought him an astonishing man as he was always astonishing me.[17]
In March 1760, at the height of the Seven Years' War, St. Germain travelled to The Hague. In Amsterdam, he stayed at the bankers Adrian and Thomas Hope and pretended he came to borrow money for Louis XV with diamonds as collateral.[18] He assisted Bertrand Philip, Count of Gronsveld starting a porcelain factory in Weesp as furnace and colour specialist.[19] St. Germain tried to open peace negotiations between Britain and France with the help of Duke Louis Ernest of Brunswick-Lüneburg. British diplomats concluded that St. Germain had the backing of the Duc de Belle-Isle and possibly of Madame de Pompadour, who were trying to outmanoeuvre the French Foreign Minister, the pro-Austrian Duc de Choiseul. However, Britain would not treat with St. Germain unless his credentials came directly from the French king. The Duc de Choiseul convinced Louis XV to disavow St. Germain and demand his arrest. Count Bentinck de Rhoon, a Dutch diplomat, regarded the arrest warrant as internal French politicking, in which Holland should not involve itself. However, a direct refusal to extradite St. Germain was also considered impolitic. De Rhoon, therefore, facilitated the departure of St. Germain to England with a passport issued by the British Ambassador, General Joseph Yorke. This passport was made out "in blank", allowing St. Germain to travel in May 1760 from Hellevoetsluis to London under an assumed name, showing that this practice was officially accepted at the time.[20]
From St. Peterburg, St. Germain travelled to Berlin, Vienna, Milan, Ubbergen, and Zutphen (June 1762),[21][unreliable source?][22] Amsterdam (August 1762), Venice (1769), Livorno (1770), Neurenberg (1772), Mantua (1773), The Hague (1774), and Bad Schwalbach.
The following list of music attributed to the count comes from Appendix II from Jean Overton Fuller's book The Comte de Saint Germain.[23]
Six sonatas for two violins with a bass for harpsichord or violoncello:
Seven solos for solo violin:
Numbered in order of their appearance in the Musique Raisonnee, with their page numbers in that volume.[24]
Discounting the snippets of political intrigue, a few musical pieces, and one mystical poem, there are only two pieces of writing attributed to the Count: La Très Sainte Trinosophie and the untitled The Triangular Book of St. Germain (The Triangular Manuscript).
The first book attributed to the Count of Saint Germain is La Très Sainte Trinosophie, a beautifully illustrated 18th century manuscript that describes in symbolic terms a journey of spiritual initiation or an alchemical process, depending on the interpretation. This book has been published several times, most notably by Manly P. Hall, in Los Angeles, California, in 1933. The attribution to St. Germain rests on a handwritten note scrawled inside the cover of the original manuscript stating that this was a copy of a text once in St. Germain's possession.[12] However, despite Hall's elaborate introduction describing the Count's legend, The Most Holy Trinosophia shows no definitive connection to him.
The second work attributed to St. Germain is the untitled 18th century manuscript in the shape of a triangle. The two known copies of the Triangular Manuscript exist as Hogart Manuscript 209 and 210 (MS 209 and MS 210). Both currently reside in the Manly Palmer Hall Collection of Alchemical Manuscripts at the Getty Research Library.[25] Nick Koss decoded and translated this manuscript in 2011 and it was published as The Triangular Book of St. Germain by Ouroboros Press in 2015.[26] Unlike the first work, it mentions St. Germain directly as its originator. The book describes a magical ritual by which one can perform the two most extraordinary feats that characterized the legend of Count of St. Germain, namely procurement of great wealth and extension of life.
The count arrived in Altona, Schleswig, in 1779, where he made an acquaintance with Prince Charles of Hesse-Kassel, both of whom had an interest in mysticism. Charles was a member of several secret societies including the Bavarian Illuminati and a Secret Society of Freesmiths. The count showed Charles several of his gems and convinced the latter that he had invented a new method of colouring cloth. Charles, impressed, installed the count in an abandoned factory at Eckernförde which Charles had acquired especially for the count, and supplied the count with the materials and cloths needed to proceed with the project.[27] The two met frequently in the following years, and Charles outfitted a laboratory for alchemical experiments in his nearby summer residence Louisenlund, where they, among other things, cooperated in creating gemstones and jewelry. Charles later recounts in a letter that he was the only person in whom the count truly confided.[28] The count told Charles that he was the son of Francis II Rákóczi, and that he had been 88 years of age when he arrived in Schleswig.[29]
The count died in his residence in the factory on 27 February 1784 when Charles was staying in Kassel. The death was recorded in the register of the St. Nicolai Church (De. St. Nicolaikirche) in Eckernförde.[30] He was buried on 2 March at Eckernförde in a private grave, the cost of which was listed in the accounting books of the church the following day.[31] On 3 April, that is, a little over a month from his death, the mayor and the city council of Eckernförde issued an official proclamation about the auctioning off of the count's remaining effects in case no living relative would appear within a designated time period to lay claim on them.[32]
Charles donated the factory to the crown and it was afterward converted into a hospital.
Jean Fuller found in 1988, during her research, that the count's estate upon his death was a packet of paid bills, receipts, and quittances; 82 Reichsthalers and 13 shillings in cash; and 29 various groups of items of clothing (gloves, stockings, trousers, shirts, etc.), 14 linen shirts, eight other groups of linen items, and various sundries: razors, buckles, toothbrushes, sunglasses, combs, etc. No diamonds, jewels, gold, or any other riches were listed, nor were kept cultural items from travels, personal items (like his violin), or any notes of correspondence.[33]
 | This section needs additional citations for verification. (June 2016) |
The best-known biography is Isabel Cooper-Oakley's The Count of St. Germain (1912), which gives a satisfactory biographical sketch. It is a compilation of letters, diaries, and private records written about the count by members of the French aristocracy who knew him in the 18th century. Another interesting biographical sketch can be found in The History of Magic, by Eliphas Levi, originally published in 1913.[34]
Numerous French and German biographies also have been published, among them Der Wiedergänger: Das zeitlose Leben des Grafen von Saint-Germain by Peter Krassa, Le Comte de Saint-Germain by Marie-Raymonde Delorme, and L'énigmatique Comte De Saint-Germain by Pierre Ceria and François Ethuin. In his work Sages and Seers (1959), Manly Palmer Hall refers to the biography Graf St.-Germain by E. M. Oettinger (1846).[35]
The count has inspired a number of fictional creations:
The count, also sometimes referred to as Master Rákóczi or Master R, is seen as a legendary spiritual master of the ancient wisdom in various Theosophical and post-Theosophical teachings, said to be responsible for the New Age culture of the Age of Aquarius and identified with the Count Saint Germain (fl. 1710–1784), who has been variously described as a courtier, adventurer, inventor, alchemist, pianist, violinist, and amateur composer.
Some write that the name St. Germain invented for himself was a French version of the Latin Sanctus Germanus, meaning "Holy Brother".[42][43][44] In the Ascended Master Teachings (but not in traditional Theosophy), the Master R, or the Master Rákóczi, is a separate and distinct being from St. Germain.
There are several "authoritative" biographers on St. Germain who usually do not agree with one another. Probably the two best-known biographies are Isabel Cooper-Oakley's The Count of St. Germain (1912), and Jean Overton-Fuller's The Comte de Saint-Germain: Last Scion of the House of Rakoczy (1988). The former is a compilation of letters, diaries, and private records written about the Count by members of the French aristocracy who knew him in the 18th century.
Raymond Bernard's book The Great Secret – St. Germain is biographical and covers many aspects of the Count's life, including his conflation with Sir Francis Bacon, and the author of the Shakespearean opus. The Great Secret, Count St. Germain purports that St. Germain was actually Francis Bacon by birth, and later authored the complete Plays attributed to Shakespeare. Bernard also contends, as does the Saint Germain Foundation in Schaumburg, Illinois, that Francis Bacon was the child of Queen Elizabeth and Lord Dudley but that it was kept quiet. According to this theory, Francis was raised by the Bacon family, yet knew of his true birth, and left numerous hints throughout the Shakespearean canon of this, in the form of explicit clues in the text of the plays, in pictures, and in the alleged use of Bacon's cipher in the works. Manly Palmer Hall, in his The Secret Teachings of All Ages, describes some of the same attributes as Bernard, including the attribution of the writings of Shakespeare to a great adept like Francis Bacon, who could be amalgamated with the Count of St. Germain.
There have also been numerous French and German biographies, among them Der Wiedergänger: Das zeitlose Leben des Grafen von Saint-Germain by Peter Krassa, Le Comte de Saint-Germain by Marie-Raymonde Delorme, and L'énigmatique Comte De Saint-Germain by Pierre Ceria and François Ethuin.
Saint Germain is the central figure in a series of books published by the Saint Germain Press (the publishing arm of the Saint Germain Foundation). The first two volumes, Unveiled Mysteries and The Magic Presence, written by Guy Ballard as "Godfré Ray King", describe Saint Germain as an Ascended master, like Jesus, who is assisting humanity. In these first two books, Ballard discusses his personal experiences with Saint Germain and reveals many teachings that are in harmony with Theosophy. The third volume, The 'I AM' Discourses, contains material that is foundational to the sacred scriptures of the "I AM" Religious Activity, founded in 1930 – the first of the Ascended Master Teachings religions.
There are 20 volumes in the Saint Germain Series of Books, which are also referred to as the "Green Books". Another significant work, the Comte de Gabalis, is said to be from the hand of Sir Francis Bacon before he Ascended and returned as Sanctus Germanus or Saint Germain. First printed in 1670, the book includes a picture of the Polish Rider, Rembrandt's famous painting at the Frick Collection in New York City, which is said to be of Sir Francis Bacon, AKA the Comte de Gabalis, or the Count of the Cabala. Lotus Ray King (Edna Ballard's pen name), wife of Guy Ballard, talked about this book having been authored by the Ascended Master Saint Germain in the Round Table Talks of the "I AM" Religious Activity.
Several Theosophists and practitioners of alternate esoteric traditions have claimed to have met Saint Germain in the late 19th or early 20th centuries:
Many groups honor Saint Germain as a supernatural being called a Master of the Ancient Wisdom or an Ascended master. In the Ascended Master Teachings he is referred to simply as Saint Germain, or as the Ascended Master Saint Germain. As an Ascended Master, Saint Germain is believed to have many magical powers such as the ability to teleport, levitate, walk through walls, and to inspire people by telepathy, among others.[citation needed]
The Theosophical Society after Blavatsky's death considered him to be a Mahatma, Master of the Ancient Wisdom, or Adept. Helena Blavatsky said that he was one of her Masters of Wisdom and hinted that he had given her secret documents. Some esoteric groups credit him with inspiring the Founding Fathers to draft the United States Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, as well as providing the design of the Great Seal of the United States.[50]
In New Age beliefs, Saint Germain is associated with the color violet, the jewel amethyst, and the Maltese cross rendered in violet (usually the iron cross style cross patee version). He is also regarded as the "Chohan of the Seventh Ray".[51] According to The Theosophical Society, the Seven Rays are seven metaphysical principles that govern both individual souls and the unfolding of each 2,158-year-long Astrological Age. Since according to Theosophy, the next Astrological Age, the Age of Aquarius, will be governed by the Seventh (Violet) Ray (the Ray of Ceremonial Order), Saint Germain is sometimes called "The Hierarch of the Age of Aquarius". According to the Ascended Master Teachings, Saint Germain is "The God of Freedom for this system of worlds". According to the Ascended Master Teachings, the preliminary lead-up to the beginning of the Age of Aquarius began on 1 July 1956, when Ascended Master Saint Germain became the Hierarch of the Age of Aquarius, replacing the former Astrological age Hierarch, the Ascended Master Jesus, who had been for almost 2,000 years the "Hierarch of the Age of Pisces".
In the works authored by Alice A. Bailey, Saint Germain is called Master Rakóczi or the Master R.[52] In the Ascended Master Teachings, the Master Rakoczi, otherwise known as the Great Divine Director, is regarded as Saint Germain's teacher in the Great White Brotherhood of Ascended Masters. Alice A. Bailey's book The Externalisation of the Hierarchy (a compilation of earlier revelations published posthumously in 1957) gives the most information about his reputed role as a Spiritual Master. Saint Germain's spiritual title is said to be Lord of Civilization, and his task is the establishment of the new civilization of the Age of Aquarius.[53] He is said to telepathically influence people who are seen by him as being instrumental in bringing about the new civilization of the Age of Aquarius. Alice A. Bailey stated that "sometime after AD 2025", Jesus, the Master Rakóczi (Saint Germain), Kuthumi, and others in the Spiritual Hierarchy would "externalise", i.e., descend from the spiritual worlds, and interact in visible tangible bodies on the Earth in ashrams, surrounded by their disciples.[54]
Alice A. Bailey said that St. Germain is the "manager of the executive council of the Christ".[55] Theosophists regard "the Master Jesus" and "Christ" as two separate and distinct beings. They believe in the Gnostic Christology espoused by Cerinthus (fl. c. 100 CE), according to which "Christ" is a being who was incarnated in Jesus only during the three years of the ministry of Jesus. According to certain Theosophists, "Christ" is identified as being a highly developed spiritual entity whose actual name is Maitreya. This Maitreya is the same being known in Buddhism as the Bodhisattva Maitreya, who is in training to become the next Buddha on Earth. According to Alice A. Bailey, the "executive council of the Christ" is a specific subgroup of the Masters of the Ancient Wisdom, charged with preparing the way for the Second Coming of Christ and the consequent inauguration of the Age of Aquarius.[citation needed]
According to The Theosophical Society (not to be confused with the United Lodge of Theosophists) and the Ascended Master Teachings, Saint Germain was incarnated as the following. (Note: Not all Theosophical and Ascended Master Teaching groups accept all of these incarnations as valid. St. Germain's incarnations as St. Alban, Proclus, Roger Bacon and Sir Francis Bacon are universally accepted.[56]
According to the Ascended Master Teachings, Francis Bacon faked his own death on Easter Sunday, 9 April 1626, and even attended his own funeral in disguise. It is believed by the adherents of the Ascended Master Teachings that he then traveled secretly to Transylvania (then part of Hungary, now part of Romania) to the Rakoczy Mansion of the noble family of Hungary. Finally, on 1 May 1684, he is believed to have attained (by his knowledge of alchemy) his physical Ascension (attaining immortality and eternal youth—the sixth level of Initiation), at which time Francis Bacon adopted the name "Saint Germain".[58]
The scholar K. Paul Johnson maintains that the "Masters" that Madame Blavatsky wrote about and produced letters from were actually idealizations of people who were her mentors.[59][page needed]
Also see the article "Talking to the Dead and Other Amusements" by Paul Zweig, The New York Times, 5 October 1980, which maintains that Madame Blavatsky's revelations were fraudulent.[full citation needed]
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