The Rosicrucian Enlightenment

In the early 17th century, a series of anonymous manifestos announced the existence of a secret brotherhood of alchemists and sages. Frances Yates spent years figuring out what they actually meant.

The Rosicrucian Enlightenment is Yates's investigation into the Rosicrucian manifestos — the Fama Fraternitatis, the Confessio, and the Chemical Wedding — and their relationship to the broader current of Hermetic and alchemical thought in early modern Europe. Her argument: the Rosicrucian movement was not a hoax or a fantasy, but a serious attempt to articulate a Hermetic reform of knowledge at a moment of profound political and religious crisis.

Inside:

• The three Rosicrucian manifestos examined in historical and philosophical context
• The relationship between Rosicrucianism, Freemasonry, and the Hermetic tradition
• The role of John Dee, Robert Fludd, and Michael Maier in the movement
• Alchemy, Qabalah, and the dream of a universal reformation of knowledge
• The legacy of Rosicrucianism in Western esotericism

Scholarly, gripping, and essential. Yates writes history the way it should be written — as if the ideas actually mattered.