The Rosicrucian Manifestos as a Psy-Op: a Game within a Game, a Play within a Play, or a “Ludibrium”
Towards a New Jerusalem Part VI
Recall from Part IV of this series that the first of the Rosicrucian Manifestos, Fama, was published the year after the marriage of the Winter King and Queen of Bohemia, Frederick V and Elizabeth Stuart, in the year 1614. Confessio was published one year later in 1615. And the Chemical Wedding in 1616. The first two of the manifestos are anonymous, however, we know the author of the third (though at the time of publication was also anonymous), Johannes Valentinus Andreae (1568-1654). The Chemical Wedding was understood as a reference to the marriage of Frederick and Elizabeth.
As Francis Yates makes the case in her book The Rosicrucian Enlightenment (1978), this was certainly a coordinated endeavour that was staged along with the acceptance of Frederick V of the Bohemian crown which would set a course that would bring about the Thirty Years War (1618-1648), pitting Catholics and Protestants against one another. Frederick V had been convinced to accept this crown, that had already been laid on a Habsburg head, by most notably the Archbishop of Canterbury, George Abbot. It was Abbot who had convinced Frederick that this was his duty to God to accept. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, and the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
This was a most strange thing to do on the part of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who should have been representing the wishes of the King of England, James I, the Supreme Governor of the Church of England[1] – since James I had no intention of defending his daughter Elizabeth in a war against the Habsburgs as the course of history has revealed to us. Many of the leaders within the Protestant Union were also against such a manoeuvre, including Frederick’s own mother, daughter of William the Silent - who all seemed to understand quite clearly that such an action would bring about a horrific religious war. One wonders if the Archbishop of Canterbury was also aware of such a consequence…
Also, let us not forget that it was the Bohemian Brethren who played a central role in organising the Bohemian people to elect Frederick V as their king and reject Ferdinand.
In the year 1619 Frederick accepted the Bohemian crown and by the year 1620, his forces had lost the battle on White Mountain against the Habsburgs and was forced to flee his kingdom with Elizabeth and their children. Frederick and Elizabeth had received no support from English forces in their defence despite them having been encouraged by the very Archbishop of Canterbury to accept the Bohemian crown.
Recall the ongoing theme thus far in this series. To raise expectations amongst an oppressed and tyrannised religious people that salvation will come and bring forth a new millennium, only to fail disastrously. In the case of Sabbatai Zevi, the man who was supposed to be the true Messiah of the Jews, who became an apostate and converted to Islam. The Jewish world was devastated by this and many turned towards more radical forms of mysticism.
It appears that this was to be the same script that would be used against the Protestant world…
