 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(November 2022) |
Anton Theden (born 13 September 1714 in Steinbeck, Mecklenburg; died 21 October 1797 in Berlin), was Surgeon-General of the Prussian Army and personal doctor to Frederick the Great, a medical researcher, alchemist, and a leading freemason and rosicrucian. He was also influential in bringing Russian Freemasonry under the Control of Prussian lodges, through which he exerted diplomatic influence.
Theden was the youngest of 23 children. Despite beginning as a mere barber's apprentice, he reached the pinnacle of the medical profession. One of his teachers was the city doctor (Stadtphysikus) Johann Siegmund Hahn (1696–1773) of Schweidnitz, who co-founded hydrotherapy in Germany, which is why Theden also became a practitioner.
A reference to his own origins can be found in Theden's own writings: "Our German army doctors, unfortunately! for the most part are trained by barbers. For three years they work for barbers and imbibe their teaching. After this they are apprenticed having learned nothing more than how to wash a beard and put on plaster and poultices... many can barely read and, even if they can, they learn no more than their teachers before them" (Source: Unterricht für die Unterwundärzte bey Armeen - Report on the army medical service)
After the Seven Years' War (1756–1763) Theden was appointed Third Surgeon-General of the Prussian Army and after the death of Johann Leberecht Schmucker (1712–1786) he became First Surgeon-General at the Charité in Berlin (until his death in 1797). His successor was Surgeon-General Johann Goercke (1750–1822).
Theden performed his greatest service to surgery. His "inflamed wound or shot water" made of brandy, honey or sugar, vinegar and diluted sulphuric acid for treating inflamed wounds – a development of the method of his predecessor Schmucker – came into general use as "Tinctura Antimonii Thedenii". He designed the elastic catheter, a new method for stemming blood flow (hemostasis), and the use of hollow splints used in treating bone fractures.
He married Juliane Sophie Engel (1723–1778), daughter of Johann Gottlieb Engel (1689–1754), Alderman, and Catharina née Haupt (1701–1750). One of their daughters, Christiane Wilhemine (1753–1831) married Archdeacon Bolzius and, following his death, Major-General Gottfried Ludwig Matthias von Hartmann (1738–1807), commander of the Prussian Artillery Corps, who was decorated with the Pour le Mérite in 1775. Her daughter Louise von Hartmann married Werner von Blumenthal, ancestor of most present members of that family. Another daughter of Theden, Sophie Frederica, married his fellow medic, freemason and rosicrucian J.C.A Mayer, discoverer of fingerprints and son of the astronomer professor Andreas Mayer.
Anton Graff was an eminent Swiss portrait artist.
Carl Kellner was a chemist, inventor, and industrialist. Born in Vienna, Austria, he made significant improvements to the sulfite process and was co-inventor of the Castner-Kellner process.
Albert Karl Theodor Reuss also known by his neo-Gnostic bishop title of Carolus Albertus Theodorus Peregrinus was a German tantric occultist, freemason, journalist, singer and head of Ordo Templi Orientis.
Baron Philipp von Stosch or Philippe de Stosch etc. was a Prussian antiquarian who lived in Rome and Florence.
Freemasonry has had a complex relationship with women for centuries. A few women were involved in Freemasonry before the 18th century, despite de jure prohibitions in the Premier Grand Lodge of England.
The Illuminati is a name given to several groups, both real and fictitious. Historically, the name usually refers to the Bavarian Illuminati, an Enlightenment-era secret society founded on 1 May 1776 in Bavaria, today part of Germany. The society's stated goals were to oppose superstition, obscurantism, religious influence over public life, and abuses of state power. "The order of the day," they wrote in their general statutes, "is to put an end to the machinations of the purveyors of injustice, to control them without dominating them." The Illuminati—along with Freemasonry and other secret societies—were outlawed through edict by Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria, with the encouragement of the Catholic Church, in 1784, 1785, 1787 and 1790. During subsequent years, the group was generally vilified by conservative and religious critics who claimed that the Illuminati continued underground and were responsible for the French Revolution.
Germany and Austria have spawned many movements and practices in Western esotericism, including Rosicrucianism, Theosophy, Anthroposophy and Ariosophy, among others.
Johann August Starck also Stark was a prolific author and controversial Königsberg theologian, as well as a widely read political writer now best remembered for arguing that an Illuminati-led conspiracy brought about the French Revolution. Immanuel Kant and Johann Georg Hamann were among his acquaintances in Königsberg. His broadly deistic approach emphasized natural religion and smoothed over doctrinal differences among the various faiths.
Johann Jakob von Wunsch (1717–1788) was soldier of fortune and Prussian general of infantry, and a particularly adept commander of light infantry. The son of a Württemberg furrier, he served in several armies in the course of his lengthy career.
Johann Friedrich Bause was a German copper engraver; primarily of portraits.
Frederick Augustus of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel was a German nobleman and Prussian general. A prince of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel and thus one of the Dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg, in 1792 he was granted the Duchy of Oels and the Duchy of Bernstadt and thus also became the ruling duke of these duchies.
Count Christian Frederick of Stolberg-Wernigerode was the only son of Count Henry Ernest of Stolberg-Wernigerode, whom he succeeded as ruler of the County of Wernigerode in 1778.
Johann Georg Schrepfer, or Johann Georg Schröpfer, was a German charlatan, independent Freemason and necromancer. He performed ghost-raising séances for which he secretly used special effects, possibly including magic lantern projections of ghosts on smoke, which inspired the phantasmagoria shows popular in Europe from the 1790s to the 1830s.
Johann Christoph von Wöllner was a Prussian pastor and politician under King Frederick William II. He was inclined to mysticism and joined the Freemasons and the Order of the Golden and Rosy Cross.
The Grand Landlodge of the Freemasons of Germany, also: Order of Freemasons is a Masonic Grand Lodge in Germany. It is one of the founding members of the United Grand Lodges of Germany and as such it is one of the five German Grand Lodges recognized as belonging to "Regular Freemasonry" by the United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE). The Grand Lodge was established in 1770 by Johann Wilhelm Kellner von Zinnendorf, a Prussian Army physician. It is one of three so called Old Prussian Grand Lodges.
Johann Adolf of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, was a German prince of the House of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg and a Saxon lieutenant general.
Freemasonry in Luxembourg traces its local origins to the 18th century. Though the practice of Freemasonry was suppressed by the reigning Austrian Habsburg dynasty, it enjoyed a revival under Napoleonic rule that persisted after the close of his reign. After their initial founding, Masonic lodges in Luxembourg rapidly developed strong ties with their French and Belgian counterparts. While suppressed again under Nazi rule, postwar Freemasonry forged stronger ties with the Anglo-American extension of the brotherhood, though the oldest lodges still use the French form of Masonic ritual.
The Grand National Mother Lodge "The Three Globes" is the oldest recognized Masonic Grand Lodge in Germany, being found in Berlin in 1740. In 1933, being one of eight national Grand Lodges, it had 22,700 members in 177 lodges. in 1935 freemasonry in Nazi Germany was suppressed. The Mother Lodge "The Three Globes" was reactivated in 1946 and is currently a member of the umbrella organization United Grand Lodges of Germany.
Freemasonry in Germany started in several places during the second quarter of the Eighteenth century. After the extinction of the Rite of Strict Observance, which had a wide following and claimed Templar origins for its higher degrees, the several Grand Lodges in Germany defied all attempts at unification, although a largely ineffectual central organisation came into being with the unification of Germany. During the 1920s Freemasons were harassed alongside Jews by those taken in by the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and blamed for the German surrender of 1918. This culminated with the suppression of Freemasonry by the Nazis in 1935, with many Masons in Germany and occupied countries being executed or sent to concentration camps. Freemasonry returned to Germany after World War Two. A single central body now represents five "regular" Grand Lodges. Liberal, women's, and mixed lodges also exist.
Karl Johann Baptist, Prince of Dietrichstein, was a German prince, member of the House of Dietrichstein, 7th Prince (Fürst) of Dietrichstein zu Nikolsburg, Princely Count of Tarasp, Baron (Freiherr) of Hollenburg, Finkenstein and Thalberg.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| People | |
| Other | |
