On the Order of the Illuminati

Specifically, this occurred when King James II had fled to France James II of England was exiled in 1688; his supporters, the Jacobites, are often mythically linked to the creation of high-degree Freemasonry in France.. He was enriched by the French with all sorts of new degrees in their fashion, such as the Scottish Master of St. Andrew original: "Maitre Ecossais de St. André", English Master original: "Maitre Anglais", Perfect Master original: "Maitre parfait", Illustrious original: "Illustre", several levels that bore the name Elect original: "Elû", Knight of the East original: "Chevalier de l'Orient", Prussian Knight original: "Chevalier Prussien", African Brother original: "frère Africain", American Brother original: "frère Americain", Knight of the Rose-Cross original: "Chevalier Rosecroix", Knight of the Eagle original: "Chevalier de l'Aigle", Sublime Philosopher original: "Philosophe sublime", Adept, and more of the same; and some of these were, moreover, divided again into several levels.

Just as a biblical story had been used for the allegory of the Master degree This refers to the "Hiramic Legend," a central myth in Freemasonry involving the architect of Solomon's Temple., the French also imitated this in the new levels they invented. In their workings, however, the Masons were very different for several years. Some lodges, especially those constituted from England, accepted only the three degrees of Apprentice, Fellow, and Master; others, which derived from Scotland, also accepted the level of the Scottish Master: but both rejected the French degrees as false additions.

Besides these two types, there was yet a third, which accepted only some of the newly invented French degrees. This occurred in the so-called Clermont system Named after the Collège de Clermont in Paris, a Jesuit college where these degrees were allegedly developed or practiced., which in Germany was named after a certain Rosa Philipp Samuel Rosa (1720–1796), a former pastor who traveled through Germany promoting these high degrees., and in which, after the three lowest levels, only the following four remained: Scottish Master of St. Andrew, the Elect, the