Les Neuf SÅ“urs
Neuf Sœurs, Les ( German: The Nine Sisters ) is the name of a French Masonic lodge in Paris in the Age of Enlightenment. Your name is inspired by the Greek Muses; it is also called the Lodge of the philosophers. The members of the Lodge particularly supported the efforts to the American Declaration of Independence.
Founding and naming
The founding of the lodge took place in 1776 under the scholar Jerome de Lalande. He was also their first Grand Master. Inspired establishing a scientific and philosophical Loge Lalande was by his longtime friend and brother, Claude Adrien Helvetius the reconnaissance. This box also belonged to the famous philosopher Voltaire. The founding of the lodge did not live Helvetius. His widow, Anne -Catherine de Salonnière Ligniville Helvétius served as Grand Master of the associated androgynous Adoptionsloge.
The name of Les Neuf Sœurs refers to the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne his fifth wife ( the memory). In her marriage with Zeus gave birth to Mnemosyne, the Muses. In the work of the Greek poet Hesiod 's Theogony, the number of the Muses is set to nine. The Muses are symbolic as a promoter of science and arts.
As an active scientific association operating the Lodge was a member of the Society of the Paris Academy of Sciences. In the wake of the French Revolution and the associated reorganization of the erstwhile royal institutions the lodge from the Academy of Sciences was dissolved out.
1792 had to cease the activities of the Lodge due to the revolution. Some members lost their lives during the Great Terror.
From 1805 to 1848, the Lodge was reactivated.
The commitment to the independence of the United States of America
1778 were Benjamin Franklin, John Paul Jones and Voltaire honorary members of the Nine Sisters. A year later, Franklin was elected Grand Master and confirmed in 1780 in his office. Franklin returned after a long time in Europe back to America to participate in the drafting of the Constitution of the United States can. In its place, Thomas Jefferson was admitted as an emissary of the United States, together with his friend John Adams the author of the Declaration of Independence of the United States.
While Jefferson lived in Paris, in the House of Leaves, was his neighbor Jean -François Marmontel, Secretary of the Academy of Sciences, also a member of the lodge.
Voltaire was only later after his honorary membership of an active member of the Masonic Lodge and the Nine Sisters. When he was admitted to the lodge on 7 April 1778 the temple work was handed to him as a sign of special honor, the Masonic clothing of Helvetius, the spiritual father of the lodge. Later, Voltaire wrote about Helvetius "This man was worth more than all his enemies together ", even if Voltaire did not share his views.
The circle of Auteuil
Madame Helvetius entertained the district of Auteuil, cercle d' Auteuil, a circle of intellectuals, whom she had named after her salon in the N ° 59 rue d' Auteuil. Many poets and thinkers of France met there; as North American guests.
Although many of their guests were Masons and a member of the Lodge of the Nine Sisters, but membership in the League of Freemasons was not absolutely necessary in order to be invited to the evening soiree.
The close connection between the house of Auteuil and the lodge were reflected based on the first two locust festivals of the box. These were celebrated in 1776 and 1777 in the park of the house Auteuil.
Famous guests of the circle were:
- Jean -Baptiste le Rond d' Alembert
- Denis Diderot
- Paul Henri Thiry d' Holbach
- Nicolas Chamfort
- Mirabeau
- Étienne Bonnot de Condillac
- Constantin François Volney
- Dominique Joseph Garat
- Condorcet
- Turgot
- Pierre -Jean -Georges Cabanis
Members of the Nine Sisters
- Voltaire (1694-1778)
- Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
- Jean -François Marmontel (1723-1799)
- Marquis de La Fayette (1757-1834)
- Pascal Paoli (1725-1807)
- Jean -Baptiste Greuze (1725-1805)
- Antoine Court de Gébelin (1719-1784)
- Niccolò Piccinni (1728-1800)
- Augustin Pajou (1730-1809)
- Nicolas Bricaire the Dixmerie (1731? -1791 )
- Jérôme Lalande (1732-1807)
- Joseph -Ignace Guillotin (1738-1794)
- Nicolas Chamfort (1741-1794)
- Jean -Antoine Houdon (1741-1828)
- Jacques Étienne Montgolfier (1745-1799)
- Joseph Boulogne ( 1745? -1799 )
- Nicolas Roze (1745-1819)
- John Paul Jones (1747-1792)
- Pierre Louis Ginguené (1748-1815)
- Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès (1748-1836)
- Dominique Joseph Garat (1749-1833)
- Nicolas- Louis François de Neufchâteau (1750-1828)
- Jean -Nicolas Démeunier (1751-1814)
- Nicolas Dalayrac (1753-1809)
- Claude -Emmanuel de Pastoret (1755-1840)
- Bernard Germain Etienne Médard de La Ville- sur- Illon, comte de La Cepede (1756-1825)
- Pierre -Jean -Georges Cabanis (1757-1808)
- Jean -Pierre Louis de Fontane (1757-1821)
- Carl Vernet (1758-1835)
- Camille Desmoulins (1760-1794)