Bernard-Germain-Étienne de La Ville-sur-Illon, comte de Lacépède or La Cépède was a French naturalist and an active freemason. He is known for his contribution to the Comte de Buffon's great work, the Histoire Naturelle.
Adolphe Sylvestre Félix Éboué was a French colonial administrator and early adherent to the Free French Movement. He was the first black French man appointed to a high post in the French colonies, when appointed as Governor of Guadeloupe in 1936.
The Swedish Rite is a variation or Rite of Freemasonry that is common in Scandinavian countries and to a limited extent in Germany. It is different from other branches of Freemasonry in that, rather than having the three self-contained foundation degrees and seemingly-endless side degrees and appendant bodies, it has an integrated system with ten degrees. It is also different in that, rather than moving through the offices or 'chairs', progress in the Swedish Rite is based on moving through the ten degrees. A fundamental difference is the Swedish Rite's position on religious affiliation: Anglo/American 'Regular' Masonry requires a belief in any theistic religion and Continental 'Liberal' Masonry does not require belief in any religion, whereas Swedish Masonry is specifically Christian, and requires a Christian trinitarian belief in all its members. Nonetheless, the main Swedish Rite constitutions are all recognised as regular by the United Grand Lodge of England, and stand in full amity.
André Isaac, better known as Pierre Dac, was a French humorist. During World War II, Pierre Dac was one of the speakers of the BBC's Radio Londres service to occupied France. He produced a series of satirical songs which were broadcast on the station. After the war, he participated in a comic duet with the humorist Francis Blanche.
The Grand Orient de France (GODF) is the oldest and largest of several Freemasonic organizations based in France and is the oldest in Continental Europe. The Grand Orient de France is generally regarded as the "mother lodge" of Continental Freemasonry.
Freemasonry in Sweden was introduced by the Swedish Order of Freemasons, founded in 1735 as the oldest still active Swedish fraternal order, working the Swedish Rite of Freemasonry. It is under royal patronage of the King of Sweden and closely associated with the Lutheran Church of Sweden. It is a jurisdiction that admits Christian men only, and is recognised by the United Grand Lodge of England as a Regular Masonic jurisdiction. Its total membership is about 16,500.
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 the Electorate of Bavaria. 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.
Freemasonry in Denmark was first established in 1743 and is today represented by a number of Grand Lodges. The oldest and biggest Masonic Grand Lodge in Denmark is the Danish Order of Freemasons, in English also known as the Grand Lodge of Denmark.
The Rectified Scottish Rite (RER), also known as the Rectified Rite or RSR, is a Christian Masonic rite with a long and complex history. It was founded in 1778 at the Convent of Lyon in France under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Willermoz, who served as the primary architect and driving force behind its formation. It emerged as a reform and restructuring of the earlier Templar Strict Observance system that had spread in Germany and France in the mid-18th century.
Freemasonry in France has been influential on the worldwide Masonic movement due to its founding of Continental Freemasonry.
Grande Loge de France (G∴L∴D∴F∴) is an independent Masonic obedience based in France. Its conception of Freemasonry is spiritual, traditional, and initiatory. Its ritual is centred on the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. It occupies a unique position in the landscape of French Freemasonry but maintains its closest relationships with obediences belonging to Continental Freemasonry, and shares its motto Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité with the French Republic.
With 84 lodges and 3’350 members, the Grand Lodge Alpina of Switzerland (GLAS) is a Swiss Masonic obedience founded in 1844.
The history of Freemasonry in Belgium reflects the many influences on what is now Belgium from the neighbouring states.
The Women's Grand Lodge Of France is the Grand Lodge of France's women-only Masonic lodges.
The Primitive Scottish Rite is a Masonic Rite. According to Robert Ambelain, an esotericist who "awakened" it in 1985, it was the rite used by the St. John of Scotland Lodge in Marseille, which was introduced to France in Saint-Germain-en-Laye from 1688; these claims are disputed by historians.
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.
Marc Bédarride was a French writer, military officer and Freemason. He served the First French Empire during the French Revolutionary Wars under Napoleon Bonaparte in Egypt and later in the Italian Peninsula. Although born in France, the conquests of the War of the Second Coalition brought him to the Italian Peninsula where his chief legacy was the founding of the masonic Rite of Misraim in 1813.
Jean-Marie Ragon de Bettignies was a Freemason, author and editor.
The Rite des philalèthes(Rite of the Philalethes) comes from, Philalèthes or philalètes, which translates to: friend or seeker of truth, from the Greek Philos, friend and alètheia, truth, is in freemasonry, the name given to the Rite of the Philalethes and its practitioners. This system of philosophical or mystical Freemasonry was founded in 1773 by Marquis Charles-Pierre-Paul Savalette de Langes within the Masonic lodge "Les Amis réunis", of which he was the worshipful master and a founding member. This rite continued until the death of its founder in 1797.
Freemasonry under the Second Empire was founded under the tutelage of Napoleon III's authoritarian Empire. The Second Empire saw Freemasonry and Freemasons as a threat and aimed to either control them or wipe them out. Refusing to submit to imperial rule, some Freemasons chose exile and embarked for England. To survive, the Grand Orient de France, the main Masonic obedience, and French Freemasonry in general - as they had during the revolutionary and First Empire periods - had to accept major concessions. To avoid dissolution, they opted for the "prince's protectors" solution, who were responsible for taking control. The authoritarian period saw the banning of political debate and the fading and downsizing of the lodges, which suffered from low membership levels, before experiencing new dynamics and a new boom during the liberal period of the Second Empire.
