Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads.
Revelation 12:13
Order of the Dragon
The Sovereign Imperial Roman Order of the Dragon
The Order of the Dragon (Latin:
Societas Draconistarum, literally "Society of the Dragonists") was a monarchical chivalric order for selected nobility,[1]
founded in 1408 by Sigismund who was King of Hungary (r. 1387–1437) at the time and later became Holy Roman Emperor (r. 1433–1437). It was fashioned after the military orders of the Crusades, requiring its initiates to defend the cross and fight the enemies of Christianity, in particular the Ottoman Empire.
The original Order, called the Sacred Order of the Dragon of Saint George, was created by Milos Obilic, the first Serbian to be dubbed a knight in the feudal tradition. Obilic created his order with twelve other knights and the society had a single purpose at its center: The assassination of the Ottoman Sultan, Murad I. Milos Obilic achieved the aim of his organization during the disastrous battle of Kosovo Polje (June 15th, 1389), when he was able to force himself into Murad’s tent and stab the Sultan to death. All the original member of the Dragon Order fell on the field of Kosovo except for one, who survived to become the military tutor of the Serbian Prince, Stefan Lazarevic. ....
.......The Order received Papal recognition in 1411 and its ritual and symbols were formalized. The motto of the order would be “O Quam Misericors est Deus,” and the protector of the Order would be Saint George.
The symbol of the order was to be the insignia of the dragon, with its tail curved around its neck and the cross of Saint George emblazoned on its flank. Mantles of the order were black with red lining. Knights of the order were required to wear their dragon insignia at all times and some were even buried with their regalia.
http://www.amillionthingstolove.com/...er-of.html?m=1
The Order flourished during the first half of the 15th century, primarily in Germany and Italy. After Sigismund's death in 1437, its importance declined in Western Europe, but after the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, it continued to play a role in Hungary, Bosnia, Serbia, Croatia and Wallachia which bore the brunt of the Ottoman incursions .
The primary representatives of "the perfidious Enemy" remained the Ottoman Turks, who continued to be a problem for Sigismund's successors.[citation needed] The Order's outward focus on foreign threats was also aimed at achieving a level of domestic cohesion
The edict of 1408 describes two insignia to be worn by members of the Order:
...we and the faithful barons and magnates of our kingdom shall bear and have, and do choose and agree to wear and bear, in the manner of society,
the sign or effigy of the Dragon incurved into the form of a circle, its tail winding around its neck, divided through the middle of its back along its length from the top of its head right to the tip of its tail,
with blood [forming] a red cross flowing out into the interior of the cleft by a white crack, untouched by blood, just as and in the same way that those who fight under the banner of the glorious martyr St George are accustomed to bear a
red cross on a white field...[10]
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Dragon
Vlad II Dracul
Vlad II, also known as Vlad Dracul or
Vlad the Dragon (before 1395 – November 1447), was voivode (or prince) of Wallachia from 1436 to 1442, and again from 1443 to 1447. Born an illegitimate son of Mircea I of
Wallachia, he spent his youth at the court of
Sigismund of Luxembourg, who made him a member of the
Order of the Dragon in 1431 (hence his sobriquet).
Sigismund also recognized him as the lawful voivode of Wallachia, allowing him to settle in the nearby Transylvania.
Vlad could not assert his claim during the life of his half-brother, Alexander I Aldea, who acknowledged the suzerainty of the Ottoman Sultan, Murad II
Born before 1395
Died 2 December 1447 (aged 51–52)
Bălteni
Spouse Eupraxia of Moldavia (?) K
Issue Mircea II
Vlad III the Impaler (Dracula)
Radu III the Fair
Vlad IV the Monk
Mircea
House Drăculești
Father Mircea I of Wallachia
After Alexander Aldea died in 1436, Vlad seized Wallachia with Hungarian support. Following the death of
Sigismund of Luxembourg in 1437, Hungary's position weakened, causing him to pay homage to Murad II, which included participating in Murad II's invasion of Transylvania in the summer of 1438. John Hunyadi, Voivode of Transylvania, came to Wallachia to convince Vlad to join a crusade against the Ottomans in 1441. After Hunyadi routed an Ottoman army in Transylvania, the sultan ordered Vlad to come to Edirne where he was captured in 1442. Hunyadi invaded Wallachia and made Vlad's cousin, Basarab II, voivode.
Vlad was released before the end of the year, but he had to leave his two sons as hostages in the Ottoman Empire. He was restored in Wallachia with Ottoman support in 1443. He remained neutral during Hunyadi's "Long Campaign" against the Ottoman Empire between October 1443 and January 1444, but he sent 4,000 horsemen to fight against the Ottomans during the Crusade of Varna. With the support of a Burgundian fleet he captured the important Ottoman fortress at Giurgiu in 1445. He made peace with the Ottoman Empire in 1446 or 1447, which contributed to the deterioration of his relationship with Hunyadi. Hunyadi invaded Wallachia, forcing Vlad to flee from Târgoviște in late November, where he was killed at a nearby village
Vlad's early life is poorly documented.[1] He was born before 1395, [1] and was one of the numerous illegitimate sons of Mircea I of Wallachia.[1] Vlad's modern biographers agree that he was sent as a hostage to Sigismund of Luxembourg, King of Hungary, in 1395 or 1396.[1][2] Sigismund mentioned that Vlad had been educated at his court, suggesting that he spent his youth in Buda, Nuremberg and other major towns of Hungary and the Holy Roman Empire.[1]
Mircea I died in 1418, and his only legitimate son (and co-ruler), Michael, succeeded him.[3] Two years later, Michael died fighting against his cousin, Dan II (the son of Mircea I's elder brother, Dan I).[4] During the following decade, Dan II and Vlad's half-brother, Radu II Praznaglava, were fighting against each other for Wallachia.[5
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlad_II_Dracul
Vlad the Impaler
Vlad III, known as Vlad the Impaler (Romanian: Vlad Țepeș, pronunciation: [ˈvlad ˈt͡sepeʃ]) or
Vlad Dracula (/ˈdrækjələ/; 1428/31 – 1476/77), was voivode (or prince) of Wallachia three times between 1448 and his death.
He was the second son of Vlad Dracul, who became the ruler of Wallachia in 1436. Vlad and his younger brother, Radu, were held as hostages in the Ottoman Empire from 1442 to secure their father's loyalty. Vlad's father and eldest brother, Mircea, were murdered after John Hunyadi, Regent-Governor of Hungary, invaded Wallachia in 1447. Hunyadi installed Vlad's second cousin, Vladislav II, as the new voivodeHunyadi launched a military campaign against the Ottomans in the autumn of 1448, and Vladislav accompanied him. Vlad broke into Wallachia with Ottoman support in October, but Vladislav returned and Vlad sought refuge in the Ottoman Empire before the end of the year. Vlad went to Moldavia in 1449 or 1450, and later to Hungary. He invaded Wallachia with Hungarian support in 1456. Vladislav died fighting against him. Vlad began a purge among the Wallachian boyars to strengthen his position. He came into conflict with the Transylvanian Saxons, who supported his opponents, Dan and Basarab Laiotă (who were Vladislav's brothers), and Vlad's illegitimate half-brother, Vlad the Monk. Vlad plundered the Saxon villages, taking the captured people to Wallachia where he had them impaled (which gave rise to his cognomen). Peace was restored in 1460.
The Ottoman Sultan, Mehmed II, ordered Vlad to pay homage to him personally, but Vlad had the sultan's two envoys captured and impaled. In February 1462, he broke into Ottoman territory, massacring tens of thousands of Turks and Bulgarians. Mehmed launched a campaign against Wallachia to replace Vlad with Vlad's younger brother, Radu. Vlad attempted to capture the sultan at Târgovişte during the night of 16–17 June 1462. The sultan and the main Ottoman army left Wallachia, but more and more Wallachians deserted to Radu. Vlad went to Transylvania to seek assistance from Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, in late 1462, but Corvinus had him imprisoned.
Vlad was held in captivity in Visegrád from 1463 to 1475. During this period, anecdotes about his cruelty started to spread in Germany and Italy. He was released at the request of Stephen III of Moldavia in the summer of 1475. He fought in Corvinus's army against the Ottomans in Bosnia in early 1476. Hungarian and Moldavian troops helped him to force Basarab Laiotă (who had dethroned Vlad's brother, Radu) to flee from Wallachia in November. Basarab returned with Ottoman support before the end of the year. Vlad was murdered before 10 January 1477. Books describing Vlad's cruel acts were among the first bestsellers in the German-speaking territories. In Russia, popular stories suggested that Vlad was able to strengthen central government only through applying brutal punishments, and a similar view was adopted by most Romanian historians in the 19th century. Vlad's reputation for cruelty and his patronymic gave rise to the name of the vampire Count Dracula in Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula
The expression "Dracula", which is now primarily known as the name of a vampire, was for centuries known as the sobriquet of a ruler of Wallachia, Vlad III.[1][2]
Diplomatic reports and popular stories referred to him as [b]Dracula, Dracuglia, or Drakula [/]b]already in the 15th century.[1] He himself signed his two letters as "Dragulya" or "Drakulya" in the late 1470s.[3] His name had its origin in the Romanian sobriquet of his father, Vlad Dracul
("Vlad the Dragon"), who received it after he became a member of the Order of the Dragon.[4][5]
Dracula is the Slavonic genitive form of Dracul, meaning "the son of Dracul (or the Dragon)".[5][6]
In modern Romanian, dracul means "the devil", which contributed to Vlad's bad reputation.[6]
Vlad III is known as Vlad Țepeș (or Vlad the Impaler) in Romanian historiography.[6] This sobriquet is connected to the impalement that was his favorite method of execution.[6] The Ottoman writer Tursun Beg referred to him as Kazıklı Voyvoda (Impaler Lord) around 1500.[6] Mircea the Shepherd, Voivode of Wallachia, used this sobriquet in a letter of grant on 1 April 1551.[7]
After a meeting with John Hunyadi, Voivode of Transylvania, (his father) Vlad Dracul did not support an Ottoman invasion of Transylvania in March 1442.[16] The Ottoman Sultan, Murad II, ordered him to come to Gallipoli to demonstrate his loyalty.[17][18] Vlad and Radu accompanied their father to the Ottoman Empire, where they were all imprisoned.[18] Vlad Dracul was released before the end of the year, but Vlad and Radu remained hostages to secure his loyalty.[17] They were held imprisoned in the fortress of Eğrigöz (now Doğrugöz), according to contemporaneous Ottoman chronicles.[19][20] Their lives were especially in danger after their father supported Vladislaus, King of Poland and Hungary, against the Ottoman Empire during the Crusade of Varna in 1444.[21] Vlad Dracul was convinced that his two sons were "butchered for the sake of Christian peace", but neither Vlad nor Radu was murdered or mutilated after their father's rebellion.[21]
Vlad Dracul again acknowledged the sultan's suzerainty and promised to pay a yearly tribute to him in 1446 or 1447.[22] John Hunyadi (who had become the regent-governor of Hungary in 1446)[23] broke into Wallachia in November 1447.[24] The Byzantine historian Michael Critobulus wrote that Vlad and Radu fled to the Ottoman Empire, which suggests that the sultan had allowed them to return to Wallachia after their father paid homage to him.[24] Vlad Dracul and his eldest son, Mircea, were murdered.[24][13] Hunyadi made Vladislav II (son of Vlad Dracul's cousin, Dan II) the ruler of Wallachia.[24][13]
Ottoman war
Konstantin Mihailović (who served as a janissary in the sultan's army) recorded that Vlad refused to pay homage to the sultan in an unspecified year.[75] The Renaissance historian Giovanni Maria degli Angiolelli likewise wrote that Vlad had failed to pay tribute to the sultan for three years.[75] Both records suggest that Vlad ignored the suzerainty of the Ottoman Sultan, Mehmed II, already in 1459, but both works were written decades after the events.[76] Tursun Beg (a secretary in the sultan's court) stated that Vlad only turned against the Ottoman Empire when the sultan "was away on the long expedition in Trebizon" in 1461.[77] According to Tursun Beg, Vlad started new negotiations with Matthias Corvinus, but the sultan was soon informed by his spies.[78][79] Mehmed sent his envoy, the Greek Katabolinos, to Wallachia, ordering Vlad to come to Constantinople.[78][79] He also sent secret instructions to Hamza, bey of Nicopolis, to capture Vlad after he crossed the Danube.[80][81] Vlad found out the sultan's "deceit and trickery", captured Hamza and Katabolinos, and had them executed.[80][81]
After the execution of the Ottoman officials, Vlad gave orders in fluent Turkish to the commander of the fortress of Giurgiu to open the gates, enabling the Wallachian soldiers to break in the fortress and capture it.[81] He invaded the Ottoman Empire, devastating the villages along the Danube.[82] He informed Matthias Corvinus about the military action in a letter on 11 February 1462.[83] He stated that more than "23,884 Turks and Bulgarians" had been killed at his order during the campaign.[82][83] He sought military assistance from Corvinus, declaring that he had broken the peace with the sultan "for the honor" of the king and the Holy Crown of Hungary and "for the preservation of Christianity and the strengthening of the Catholic faith".[83] The relationship between Moldavia and Wallachia had become tense by 1462, according to a letter of the Genoese governor of Kaffa.[83]
Having learnt of Vlad's invasion, Mehmed II raised an army of more than 150,000 strong, that was said to be "second in size only to the one"[84] that occupied Constantinople in 1453, according to Chalkokondyles.[85][86] The size of the army suggests that the sultan wanted to occupy Wallachia, according to a number of historians (including Franz Babinger, Radu Florescu, and Nicolae Stoicescu).[87][85][86] On the other hand, Mehmed had granted Wallachia to Vlad's brother, Radu, before the invasion of Wallachia, showing that the sultan's principal purpose was only the change of the ruler of Wallachia.[87].
........Mehmed II broke into Moldavia and defeated Stephen III in the Battle of Valea Albă on 26 July 1476.[118] Stephen Báthory and Vlad broke into Moldavia, forcing the sultan to lift the siege of the fortress at Târgu Neamț in late August, according to a letter of Matthias Corvinus.[119] The contemporaneous Jakob Unrest added that Vuk Grgurević and a member of the noble Jakšić family also participated in the struggle against the Ottomans in Moldavia.[119]The Ottoman fleet landed at Brăila (which was the only Wallachian port on the Danube) in May.[85] The main Ottoman army crossed the Danube under the command of the sultan at Nicoplis on 4 June 1462.[88][89] Outnumbered by the enemy, Vlad adopted the scorched earth policy and retreated towards Târgoviște,[90] the capital of Wallachia and location of the Princely Court (ro).
During the night of 16–17 June, Vlad broke into the Ottoman camp in an attempt to capture or kill the sultan.[88] Either the imprisonment or the death of the sultan would have caused a panic among the Ottomans, which could have enabled Vlad to defeat the Ottoman army.[88][90] However, the Wallachians "missed the court of the sultan himself"[91] and attacked the tents of the viziers Mahmut Pasha and Isaac.[90] Having failed to attack the sultan's camp, Vlad and his retainers left the Ottoman camp at dawn.[92] Mehmed entered Târgoviște at the end of June.[88] The town had been deserted, but the Ottomans were horrified to discover a "forest of the impaled" (thousands of stakes with the carcasses of executed people), according to Chalkokondyles.[93]
The sultan's army entered into the area of the impalements, which was seventeen stades long and seven stades wide. There were large stakes there on which, as it was said, about twenty thousand men, women, and children had been spitted, quite a sight for the Turks and the sultan himself. The sultan was seized with amazement and said that it was not possible to deprive of his country a man who had done such great deeds, who had such a diabolical understanding of how to govern his realm and its people. And he said that a man who had done such things was worth much. The rest of the Turks were dumbfounded when they saw the multitude of men on the stakes. There were infants too affixed to their mothers on the stakes, and birds had made their nests in their entrails.
— Laonikos Chalkokondyles: The Histories[94]
Tursun Beg recorded that the Ottomans suffered from summer heat and thirst during the campaign.[95] The sultan decided to retreat from Wallachia and marched towards Brăila.[81] Stephen III of Moldavia hurried to Chilia (now Kiliya in Ukraine) to seize the important fortress where a Hungarian garrison had been placed.[86][96][97] Vlad also departed for Chilia, but left behind a troop of 6,000 strong to try to hinder the march of the sultan's army, but the Ottomans defeated the Wallachians.[95] Stephen of Moldavia was wounded during the siege of Chilia and returned to Moldavia before Vlad came to the fortress.[98]
The main Ottoman army left Wallachia, but Vlad's brother Radu and his Ottoman troops stayed behind in the Bărăgan Plain.[99] Radu sent messengers to the Wallachians, reminding them that the sultan could again invade their country.[99] Although Vlad defeated Radu and his Ottoman allies in two battles during the following months, more and more Wallachians deserted to Radu.[100][101] Vlad withdrew to the Carpathian Mountains, hoping that Matthias Corvinus would help him regain his throne.[102] However, Albert of Istenmező, the deputy of the Count of the Székelys, had recommended in mid-August that the Saxons recognize Radu.[100] Radu also made an offer to the burghers of Brașov to confirm their commercial privileges and pay them a compensation of 15,000 ducats.[100]
Matthias Corvinus ordered the Transylvanian Saxons to support Báthory's planned invasion of Wallachia on 6 September 1476, also informing them that Stephen of Moldavia would also break into Wallachia.[120] Vlad stayed in Brașov and confirmed the commercial privileges of the local burghers in Wallachia on 7 October 1476.[120] Báthory's forces captured Târgoviște on 8 November.[120] Stephen of Moldavia and Vlad ceremoniously confirmed their alliance, and they occupied Bucharest, forcing Basarab Laiotă to seek refuge in the Ottoman Empire on 16 November.[120] Vlad informed the merchants of Brașov about his victory, urging them to come to Wallachia.[121] He was crowned before 26 November.[116]
Basarab Laiotă returned to Wallachia with Ottoman support, and Vlad died fighting against them in late December 1476 or early January 1477.[122][116] In a letter written on 10 January 1477, Stephen III of Moldavia related that Vlad's Moldavian retinue had also been massacred.[123] According to Leonardo Botta, the Milanese ambassador to Buda, the Ottomans cut Vlad's corpse into pieces.[123][122]
Bonfini wrote that Vlad's head was sent to Mehmed II.[124]
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlad_the_Impaler
Jacques de Molay (French: [də mɔlɛ]; c. 1243 – 18 March 1314), also spelt Molai,[2] was the 23rd and last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, leading the Order from 20 April 1292 until it was dissolved by order of Pope Clement V in 1307.[3] Though little is known of his actual life and deeds except for his last years as Grand Master, he is one of the best known Templars
Jacques de Molay's goal as Grand Master was to reform the Order, and adjust it to the situation in the Holy Land during the waning days of the Crusades.
As European support for the Crusades had dwindled, other forces were at work which sought to disband the Order and claim the wealth of the Templars as their own.
King Philip IV of France, deeply in debt to the Templars, had Molay and many other French Templars arrested in 1307 and tortured into making false confessions. When Molay later retracted his confession, Philip had him burned upon a scaffold on an island in the River Seine in front of Notre Dame de Paris in March, 1314.[4] The sudden end of both the centuries-old order of Templars and the dramatic execution of its last leader turned Molay into a legendary figure
.....There were five initial charges lodged against the Templars. The first was renunciation of and spitting on the cross during initiation into the Order. The second was the stripping of the man to be initiated and the thrice kissing of that man by the preceptor on the navel, posterior and mouth. The third was telling the neophyte (novice) that unnatural lust was lawful and indulged in commonly. The fourth was that the cord worn by the neophyte day and night was consecrated by wrapping it around an idol in the form of a human head with a great beard, and that this idol was adored in all chapters. The fifth was that the priests of the order did not consecrate the host in celebrating Mass.[14] Subsequently, the charges would be increased and would become, according to the procedures, lists of articles 86 to 127[3] in which will be added a few other charges, such as the prohibition to priests who do not belong to the order.[15]
On 14 September, Philip took advantage of the rumors and inquiry to begin his move against the Templars, sending out a secret order to his agents in all parts of France to implement a mass arrest of all Templars at dawn on 13 October. Philip wanted the Templars arrested and their possessions confiscated to incorporate their wealth into the Royal Treasury and to be free of the enormous debt he owed the Templar Order. Molay was in Paris on 12 October, where he was a pallbearer at the funeral of Catherine of Courtenay, wife of Count Charles of Valois, and sister-in-law of King Philip. In a dawn raid on Friday, 13 October 1307, Molay and sixty of his Templar brother knights were arrested. Philip then had the Templars charged with heresy and many other trumped-up charges, most of which were identical to the charges which had previously been leveled by Philip's agents against Pope Boniface VIII
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_de_Molay
Freemasonry
Freemasonry describes itself as a "'beautiful system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols".[34] The symbolism is mainly, but not exclusively, drawn from the manual tools of stonemasons – the square and compasses, the level and plumb rule, the trowel, among others. A moral lesson is attached to each of these tools, although the assignment is by no means consistent. The meaning of the symbolism is taught and explored through ritual.[11]
All Freemasons begin their journey in the "craft" by being progressively initiated, passed and raised into the three degrees of Craft, or Blue Lodge Masonry. During these three rituals, the candidate is progressively taught the meanings of the Lodge symbols, and entrusted with grips, signs and words to signify to other Masons that he has been so initiated. The initiations are part allegory and part lecture,
and revolve around the construction of the Temple of Solomon, and the artistry and death of his chief architect, Hiram Abiff. The degrees are those of Entered apprentice, Fellowcraft and Master Mason. While many different versions of these rituals exist, with at least two different lodge layouts and versions of the Hiram myth, each version is recognisable to any Freemason from any jurisdiction.[11]
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freemasonry
Hellfire Club
Hellfire Club was a name for several exclusive clubs for high society rakes established in Britain and Ireland in the 18th century. The name is most commonly used to refer to Sir Francis Dashwood's Order of the Friars of St. Francis of Wycombe.[1] Such clubs were rumoured to be the meeting places of "persons of quality"[2] who wished to take part in socially perceived immoral acts, and the members were often involved in politics. Neither the activities nor membership of the club are easy to ascertain, for the clubs were rumoured to have distant ties to an elite society known only as The Order of the Second Circle.[3][4]
The first official Hellfire Club was founded in London in 1718, by Philip, Duke of Wharton and a handful of other high society friends.[5] The most notorious club associated with the name was established in England by Sir Francis Dashwood,[6] and met irregularly from around 1749 to around 1760, and possibly up until 1766.[7] In its later years, the Hellfire was closely associated with Brooks's, established in 1764. Other clubs using the name "Hellfire Club" were set up throughout the 18th century. Most of these clubs were set up in Ireland after Wharton's were dispelled.[8]Lord Wharton, made a Duke by George I,[9] was a prominent politician with two separate lives: the first a "man of letters" and the second "a drunkard, a rioter, an infidel and a rake".[10] The members of Wharton's club are largely unknown. Mark Blackett-Ord[11] assumes that members included Wharton's immediate friends: Earl of Hillsborough, cousin – the Earl of Lichfield and Sir Ed. O'Brien. Aside from these names, other members are not revealed.
At the time of the London gentlemen's club, where there was a meeting place for every interest, including poetry, philosophy and politics,[12][13]
Philip, Duke of Wharton's Hell-Fire Club was, according to Blackett-Ord,[14] a satirical "gentleman's club" which was known to ridicule religion, catching onto the then-current trend in England of blasphemy.[12][15] The club was more a joke, meant to shock the outside world, than a serious attack on religion or morality. The supposed president of this club was the Devil, although the members themselves did not apparently worship demons or the Devil, but called themselves devils.[16] Wharton's club admitted men and women as equals, unlike other clubs of the time.[15] The club met on Sundays at a number of different locations around London. The Greyhound Tavern was one of the meeting places used regularly, but because women were not to be seen in taverns, the meetings were also held at members' houses and at Wharton's riding club.[5][15][17]
According to at least one source, their activities included mock religious ceremonies and partaking in meals containing dishes like "Holy Ghost Pie", "Breast of Venus", and "Devil's Loin", while drinking "Hell-fire punch".[5][18] Members of the Club supposedly came to meetings dressed as characters from the Bible.[18]
Wharton's club came to an end in 1721[15] when George I, under the influence of Wharton's political enemies (namely Robert Walpole) put forward a Bill "against 'horrid impieties'" (or immorality), aimed at the Hellfire Club.[2][19] Wharton's political opposition used his membership as a way to pit him against his political allies, thus removing him from Parliament.[19]
After his Club was disbanded, Wharton became a Freemason, and in 1722 he became the Grand Master of England.[20]
Sir Francis Dashwood and the Earl of Sandwich are alleged to have been members of a Hellfire Club that met at the George and Vulture Inn throughout the 1730s.[21] Dashwood founded the Order of the Knights of St Francis in 1746, originally meeting at the George & Vulture.[22]
The club motto was Fais ce que tu voudras (Do what thou wilt), a philosophy of life associated with François Rabelais' fictional abbey at Thélème[7][23] and later used by Aleister Crowley.
Francis Dashwood was well known for his pranks: for example, while in the Royal Court in St Petersburg, he dressed up as the King of Sweden, a great enemy of Russia. The membership of Sir Francis' club was initially limited to twelve but soon increased. Of the original twelve, some are regularly identified: Dashwood, Robert Vansittart, Thomas Potter, Francis Duffield, Edward Thompson, Paul Whitehead and John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich.[24] The list of supposed members is immense; among the more probable candidates are George Bubb Dodington, a fabulously corpulent man in his 60s;[25] William Hogarth, although hardly a gentleman, has been associated with the club after painting Dashwood as a Franciscan Friar[26][27] and John Wilkes, though much later, under the pseudonym John of Aylesbury.[28]
Benjamin Franklin is known to have occasionally attended the club's meetings during 1758 as a non-member during his time in England. However, some authors and historians would argue Benjamin Franklin was in fact a spy. As there are no records left (having been burned in 1774[29]), many of these members are just assumed or linked by letters sent to each other.[30]
Meetings and club activities
Sir Francis's club was never originally known as a Hellfire Club; it was given this name much later.[3][4] His club in fact used a number of other names, such as the Brotherhood of St. Francis of Wycombe,[31] Order of Knights of West Wycombe, The Order of the Friars of St Francis of Wycombe[26] and later, after moving their meetings to Medmenham Abbey, they became the Monks or Friars of Medmenham.[32] The first meeting at Sir Francis's family home in West Wycombe was held on Walpurgis Night, 1752; a much larger meeting, it was something of a failure and no large-scale meetings were held there again. In 1751, Dashwood leased Medmenham Abbey[26] on the Thames from a friend, Francis Duffield.[33] On moving into the Abbey, Dashwood had numerous expensive works done on the building. It was rebuilt by the architect Nicholas Revett in the style of the 18th century Gothic revival. At this time, the motto Fais ce que tu voudras was placed above a doorway in stained glass.[7] It is thought that William Hogarth may have executed murals for this building; none, however, survives. Underneath the Abbey, Dashwood had a series of caves carved out from an existing one.
It was decorated again with mythological themes, phallic symbols and other items of a sexual nature.
According to Horace Walpole, the members' "practice was rigorously pagan: Bacchus and Venus were the deities to whom they almost publicly sacrificed; and the nymphs and the hogsheads that were laid in against the festivals of this new church, sufficiently informed the neighborhood of the complexion of those hermits." Dashwood's garden at West Wycombe contained numerous statues and shrines to different gods; Daphne and Flora, Priapus and the previously mentioned Venus and Dionysus.[34]
Meetings occurred twice a month, with an AGM lasting a week or more in June or September.[35] The members addressed each other as "Brothers" and the leader, which changed regularly, as "Abbot". During meetings members supposedly wore ritual clothing: white trousers, jacket and cap, while the "Abbot" wore a red ensemble of the same style.[36]
Legends of Black Masses and Satan or demon worship have subsequently become attached to the club, beginning in the late Nineteenth Century. Rumours saw female "guests" (a euphemism for prostitutes) referred to as "Nuns". Dashwood's Club meetings often included mock rituals, items of a pornographic nature, much drinking, wenching and banqueting.[37]
The downfall of Dashwood's Club was more drawn-out and complicated.
In 1762 the Earl of Bute appointed Dashwood his Chancellor of the Exchequer, despite Dashwood being widely held to be incapable of understanding "a bar bill of five figures". (Dashwood resigned the post the next year, having raised a tax on cider which caused near-riots).[38]
Dashwood now sat in the House of Lords after taking up the title of Baron Le Despencer after the previous holder died.[39]
Then there was the attempted arrest of John Wilkes for seditious libel against the King in the notorious issue No. 45 of his The North Briton in early 1763.[39]
During a search authorised by a General warrant (possibly set up by Sandwich, who wanted to get rid of Wilkes),[40] a version of The Essay on Woman was discovered set up on the press of a printer whom Wilkes had almost certainly used. The work was almost certainly principally written by Thomas Potter, and from internal evidence can be dated to around 1755.
It was scurrilous, blasphemous, libellous, and bawdy, though not pornographic- still unquestionably illegal under the laws of the time, and the Government subsequently used it to drive Wilkes into exile.
Between 1760 and 1765 Chrysal, or the Adventures of a Guinea by Charles Johnstone was published.[41] It contained stories easily identified with Medmenham, one in which Lord Sandwich was ridiculed as having mistaken a monkey for the Devil. This book sparked the association between the Medmenham Monks and the Hellfire Club. By this time, many of the Friars were either dead or too far away for the Club to continue as it did before.[42] Medmenham was finished by 1766.
Paul Whitehead had been the Secretary and Steward of the Order at Medmenham. When he died in 1774, as his will specified, his heart was placed in an urn at West Wycombe. It was sometimes taken out to show to visitors, but was stolen in 1829.[6][26]
The West Wycombe Caves in which the Friars met are now a tourist site known as the "Hell Fire Caves"
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellfire_Club
DeMolay is the premier youth leadership organization building young men of character and dedicated to making young men better people and leaders.........The path that molded me into the leader I am today, I owe to DeMolay. - John, Member, Waynesville Chapter, Missouri
DeMolay International
DeMolay International (also known as
the Order of DeMolay), founded in Kansas City, Missouri in 1919, is an international fraternal organization for young men ages 12 to 21.
It was named for Jacques de Molay, the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar. DeMolay was incorporated in the 1990s and is classified by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization holding a group exemption letterThe Order of DeMolay was founded in 1919 with nine members, most of whom lived near each other in Kansas City.[3]
The crown appearing in the self-adopted heraldic arms (the emblem) of the order contains 10 rubies, each representing one of the original nine members and the organization's founder, Frank S. Land. The rubies were originally portrayed as pearls; as each founding member died, the pearl representing him was changed to a rubyThe Order of Knighthood is an appended organization of older DeMolays. The Knighthood program is for active DeMolays from ages 17 to 21 years of age. A Knighthood Priory has its own ritual and officers, separate from the chapter system.[8]
The official name of the Order is The Chivalric Knights of the Holy Order of the Fellow Soldiers of Jacques DeMolay. Knighthood is not an honorary degree or award, but a working body whose purpose is to extend fellowship and serve the Order of DeMolay.
The Order of Knighthood was started in 1946, when Land wrote the Knighthood ritual. It was not implemented until 1947.
Through the years, the Knights' activities have consisted of social and educational programs geared to older DeMolays,
with a special emphasis on career planning and coed activities.
The main functions of a Priory are to:
Extend and assist the Order of DeMolay and its Chapters.
Maintain the active interest of older DeMolays.
Provide an interesting program for the Priory members.
Provide and maintain a proper example for all DeMolays
Members include:
Bill Clinton b. 1946 Politician 42nd President of the United States
Walt Disney 1901–1966 Cartoonist and entrepreneur Creator of Mickey Mouse; co-founder of The Walt Disney Company
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeMolay_International
Skull and bones
Skull and Bones is an undergraduate senior secret society at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. It is the oldest senior class landed society. The society's alumni organization, the Russell Trust Association, owns the society's real estate and oversees the organization. The society is known informally as "Bones", and members are known as "Bonesmen".[1]
Skull and Bones was founded in 1832 after a dispute among Yale debating societies Linonia, Brothers in Unity, and the Calliopean Society over that season's Phi Beta Kappa awards. William Huntington Russell and Alphonso Taft co-founded
"the Order of the Scull [sic] and Bones".[2][3]Members are assigned nicknames (e.g.,
"Long Devil", the tallest member, and
"Boaz", a varsity football captain, or "Sherrife" prince of future). Many of the chosen names are drawn from literature (e.g., "Hamlet", "Uncle Remus"), religion, and myth. The banker Lewis Lapham passed on his nickname, "Sancho Panza", to the political adviser Tex McCrary. Averell Harriman was "Thor",
Henry Luce was "Baal", McGeorge Bundy was "Odin", and
George H. W. Bush was "Magog".[27]
Among prominent alumni are
former President and Supreme Court Justice William Howard Taft (a founder's son); former Presidents and father and son George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush; Supreme Court Justices Morrison R. Waite and Potter Stewart;[18] James Jesus Angleton, "mother of the Central Intelligence Agency"; Henry Stimson, U.S. Secretary of War (1940-1945); U.S. Secretary of Defense (1951-1953) Robert A. Lovett, William B. Washburn, Governor of Massachusetts; and Henry Luce, founder and publisher of Time, Life, Fortune, and Sports Illustrated magazines.
John Kerry, former U.S. Secretary of State and former U.S. Senator; Stephen A. Schwarzman, founder of Blackstone Group; Austan Goolsbee,[19] Chairman of Barack Obama's Council of Economic Advisers; Harold Stanley, co-founder of Morgan Stanley; and Frederick W. Smith, founder of FedEx, are all reported to be members.
In the 2004 U.S. Presidential election, both the Democratic and Republican nominees were alumni.
George W. Bush wrote in his autobiography, "[In my] senior year I joined Skull and Bones, a secret society; so secret, I can't say anything more."[20] When asked what it meant that he and Bush were both Bonesmen, former Presidential candidate John Kerry said, "Not much, because it's a secret."[21][22]
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skull_and_Bones
The flag of Wales (Welsh:
Baner Cymru or Y Ddraig Goch, meaning the red dragon) consists of a red dragon passant on a green and white field. ... It was officially recognised as the Welsh national flag in 1959
The flag of England is derived from St George's Cross (heraldic blazon: Argent, a cross gules). The association of the red cross as an emblem of England can be traced back to the Middle Ages, and it was used as a component in the design of the Union Flag in 1606
1One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits by many waters. 2With her the kings of the earth committed adultery, and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries.”
3Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness.
There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns.
4The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries.
5The name written on her forehead was a mystery:
babylon the great
the mother of prostitutes
and of the abominations of the earth.
6
I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God’s holy people, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus.
From revelation 17
وَلَمَّا جَاءهُمْ رَسُولٌ مِّنْ عِندِ اللّهِ مُصَدِّقٌ لِّمَا مَعَهُمْ نَبَذَ فَرِيقٌ مِّنَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُواْ الْكِتَابَ كِتَابَ اللّهِ وَرَاء ظُهُورِهِمْ كَأَنَّهُمْ لاَ يَعْلَمُونَ {101
002:101
:
And when there came to them a Messenger from Allah (i.e. Muhammad Peace be upon him ) confirming what was with them, a party of those who were given the Scripture threw away the Book of Allah behind their backs as if they did not know!
وَاتَّبَعُواْ مَا تَتْلُواْ الشَّيَاطِينُ عَلَى مُلْكِ سُلَيْمَانَ وَمَا كَفَرَ سُلَيْمَانُ وَلَـكِنَّ الشَّيْاطِينَ كَفَرُواْ يُعَلِّمُونَ النَّاسَ السِّحْرَ وَمَا أُنزِلَ عَلَى الْمَلَكَيْنِ بِبَابِلَ هَارُوتَ وَمَارُوتَ وَمَا يُعَلِّمَانِ مِنْ أَحَدٍ حَتَّى يَقُولاَ إِنَّمَا نَحْنُ فِتْنَةٌ فَلاَ تَكْفُرْ فَيَتَعَلَّمُونَ مِنْهُمَا مَا يُفَرِّقُونَ بِهِ بَيْنَ الْمَرْءِ وَزَوْجِهِ وَمَا هُم بِضَآرِّينَ بِهِ مِنْ أَحَدٍ إِلاَّ بِإِذْنِ اللّهِ وَيَتَعَلَّمُونَ مَا يَضُرُّهُمْ وَلاَ يَنفَعُهُمْ وَلَقَدْ عَلِمُواْ لَمَنِ اشْتَرَاهُ مَا لَهُ فِي الآخِرَةِ مِنْ خَلاَقٍ وَلَبِئْسَ مَا شَرَوْاْ بِهِ أَنفُسَهُمْ لَوْ كَانُواْ يَعْلَمُونَ {102
002:102
:
They followed what the
Shayatin (Satans) chanted in the lifetime of
Sulaiman (Solomon). Sulaiman did not reject Allah, but the Shayatin (devils) rejected Allah, teaching people sorcery and such things that came down at
Babylon to the two angels, Harut and Marut, but neither of these two (angels) taught anyone (such things) till they had said, "We are only for trial, so disbelieve not." And from these (angels) people learn that by which they cause separation between man and his wife, but they could not thus harm anyone except by Allah's Leave. And they learn that which harms them and profits them not. And indeed they knew that the buyers of it (magic) would have no share in the Hereafter. And how bad indeed was that for which they sold their ownselves, if they but knew.