Product Description

In 1995, the New York Open Center (in association with Gnosis Magazine and Oibibio in Amsterdam) invited students of Rosicrucianism and the Western Mystery traditions to Cesky Krumlow in the Czech Republic to discuss the historical backgrounds of Rosicrucianism. This gathering celebrated the role of Central Europe in the spiritual history of the West as well as the work of the Renaissance Hermetic scholar Dame Frances Yates. Two years later a second meeting was held in Prague to celebrate the Hermetic world of Rudolf II. This book is the result.

In this unique and stimulating collection, John Matthews addresses the relationship between the Grail and the Rose; Christopher Bamford speaks of the prehistory of the Rosicrucian reformation in the late Middle Ages-among women mystics, alchemists, Cathars, Franciscan spirituals, as well as in Luther and the great Paracelsus; Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke tells the wild tale of John Dee's mission to central Europe; Joscelyn Godwin unfolds the paradigmatic Rosicrucian life of Michael Maier; Claire Goodrick-Clarke recounts influence of Comenius; Paul Bembridge speaks of Rosicrucian Resurgence at the Court of Cromwell; Rafal Prinke tells the story of the Polish alchemist, Sendivogius; Robert Powell brings together Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler, and Rudolf II during the Prague Renaissance; and Christopher McIntosh speaks of the Rosicrucian Legacy.

Also included are the texts of two Rosicrucian Manifestos, the "Fama" and the "Confessio." Includes numerous illustrations.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #855256 in Books
• Published on: 1999-04-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 267 pages

From Publishers Weekly
In 1972, British historian of the Renaissance Frances Yates published a remarkable book, The Rosicrucian Enlightenment. Yates narrated the tale of Frederick and Elizabeth, the Winter King and Queen of Bohemia, who ascended to the throne in the midst of a great spiritual revival. The key to this revival was the Rosicrucian manifestos, published in 1613, describing the journeys of a mysterious traveler named Christian Rosencrutz. On his travels he said that he had mastered the practices of magic and the entire Kabbalah, and he offered to teach these esoteric arts and wisdom to the West. When the authorities rejected Rosencrutz's offer, he is said to have formed the Fraternity of the Rosy Cross (the translation of Rosencrutz), an organization that offered its followers the opportunity to attain the hidden spiritual truth through the use of these arcane arts. The present volume gathers essays by a number of scholars and others interested in the Rosicrucian Enlightenment. These papers were read in 1995 at a conference in the Czech Republic intended to "honor the role of Central Europe in the spiritual history of the West" and to celebrate Yates's work. John Matthews (The Arthurian Tradition) explores the relationship between the Grail and the Rose. In a perceptive and detailed essay, Christopher Bamford, editor-in-chief of Lindisfarne Books, examines the roots of the Rosicrucian Enlightenment in Renaissance and Reformation thought. His discussion ranges over topics as diverse as St. Francis of Assisi and the alchemist Paracelsus. Other essays cover such topics as the emergence of Rosicrucian thought in Cromwell's court; the work of Sendivogius, the Polish alchemist; and the influence of Rosicrucian thought in contemporary culture. The texts of the Rosicrucian manifestos are also included in the collection. (June)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
A gathering of well-informed scholars provides a sober, sensible, and fascinating overview of the history of the Rosicrucian movement, still one of the most controversial and least understood byways of European philosophy and thought. The volume includes four of the foundational documents of the original Rosicrucians from the early 17th century and carries the Rosicrucians' influence down to the later 19th century. Highly recommended for collections strong in esoterica or the history of religions.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
'For readers new to the subject and not already conversant with Rosicrucian history, editor Ralph White's Introduction and Christopher McIntosh's very straightforward chapter "The Rosicrucian Legacy" will prove the most accessible. But for anyone with an interest (historical or spiritual) in the hermetic philosophers, alchemy or other religion or literature, there is some fascinating material in this collection. Paul Bembridge's paper on the likelihood of the metaphysical poet Andrew Marvell being a Rosicrucian is probably the most controversial. The book also, very usefully, includes the full text of the first two Rosicrucian manifestos, the Fama Fraternitas and the Confessio Fraternitas.' --David V. Barrett writing for amazon.co.uk

Customer Reviews

Good, but not great selection of essays.
In light of recent documentary discoveries in a number of European archives, I had high hopes that this volume would further the body of research into the Rosicrucian movement. Ultimately, it did, but in ways I did not anticipate.

There are some essential works here (Joscelyn Godwin's excellent meditation on Michael Maier and Rafael T. Prinke's article on Michael Sendivogius immediately spring to mind: both of which demonstrate the varities of meaning Rosicrucianism took on to those who sought to perpetuate the movement in different contexts) but also much filler. Too many of the contributions collected in this volume re-state a body of knowledge familiar to all students of the subject. Due to the original format of these contributions (i.e., speeches) this knowledge is -understandably- not communicated in a particularly useful fashion.

Having said that, this volume is worth its price of entry. However the content is certainly a mixed bag.
Lastly, the translations of the Rosicrucian manifestos contained in this volume are those of Thomas Vaughan's mid 17th century edition of the Fama and Confessio .

Enlightenment is eye opening
Before the 'New Age' there was the "Rosicrucian Enlightenment". At the beginning of the 17th century, a new awakening was heralded throughout Europe, announcing the universal reform of all known areas of human activity - religion, science, art, and society were to become one being. The chief proponents of this great awakening were the mysterious "Rosicrucians". Nearly 400 years after the first seeds of this movement were planted, over 100 students, authors, and scholars of traditional Western esotericism, of which Rosicrucianism is the foremost exponent, gathered in the medieval town of Czesky Krumolv in the Czech Republic, to discuss, explore, and in someway, reopen the 'Vault of Christian Rosencreutz' once again.

"The Rosicrucian Enlightenment Revisited" contains nine essays on the early Rosicrucian movement presented at this landmark conference sponsored in part by The New York Open Center, and copies of the first two Rosicrucian Manifestoes, the "Fama" and the "Confessio". It is a great read and ideal for anyone interested in what is truly the heart and soul of Western esotericism - the Rosicrucian Enlightenment.