The Emperor's New Clothes - The Re-Incarnation of the Holy Roman Empire

 

Free ebook download of this article from:

https://pubastrology.com/the-emperors-new-clothes/

 

The Emperor’s New Clothes…..                 by    Drew ♍aloney

Is the European Union a Re-Incarnation of the

Holy Roman Empire?

Introduction

It all began with a hypothesis based on various observations of British Society.

One of the first areas of interest was why old English and Welsh pubs have unusual names.

Fig 1: Typical British Pub Signs

 

My research primarily using John Lane’s Masonic Records (1717-1894) ^[1] as a source of reference lead me to conclude that in the 17^th, 18^th and 19th centuries the Freemasons promoted and controlled British Pub Culture and that they named a lot of the pubs after star constellations and celestial bodies.

e.g

Red Lion – Leo

Bull’s Head – Taurus

Golden Fleece – Aries

The Goat Inn – Capricorn

The Bear, The Plough, The Seven Stars – Ursa Major

The Golden Swan – Cygnus

The Green Dragon – Draco

The Greyhound – Canis Major

The White Horse – Pegasus

The Dolphin – Delphinus

The Unicorn – Monoceros

Fox and Goose – Vulpecula and Anser

The Punchbowl – Crater

The Angel – Virgo

The Ship – Argo Navis

The Three Kings – Orion’s Belt

Robin Hood – Sagittarius (the Archer)

Eagle and Child – Aquila and Antinous

 

The Urania’s Mirror Star Charts published in 1824 by Sidney Hall appear to corroborate this connection between pub names and star constellations.

 

Other artistic publications with similar anthropomorphized zodiacal star chart designs include:

 

• Albrecht Durer – the first European printed star charts, 1515
• Johann Bayer – Uranometria, 1603
• Johannes Hevelius – Uranographia, 1690
• Alexander Jamieson – A Celestial Atlas, 1822

Fig 2: Urania’s Mirror Star Charts – first published in 1824 by Sidney Hall.

(Author – Reverend Richard Rouse Bloxam who’s identity was only recently discovered in 1994)

 

The conclusion that Freemasons promoted and controlled British Pub Culture and that they named a lot of the pubs after star constellations is certainly unusual but the evidence is overwhelming.

 

Further supporting documentation can be accessed by downloading the free ebook:

 

‘The Spirit World – Pub Astrology’ from the website:-

 

pubastrology.com

 

The next obvious question was:

‘What were the reasonings and motives for this apparently odd strategy?’

As I researched further, perhaps by chance or good fortune I stumbled across links with Roman Catholic religion and symbology going all the way back to the 13th Century in the form of Lacock Abbey in Wiltshire. Roman Catholic religion was intrinsically connected with the Holy Roman Empire at this point in history.

Continued investigation along this path of enquiry lead me to ask the following question:

‘Is the European Union a re-incarnation of the Holy Roman Empire (like the Phoenix from the Ashes – a symbol used so frequently in Freemasonry)?’

 

The Assimilation of Evidence

 

i)          17th – 19th Century English and Welsh Pubs Named after Star Constellations and Celestial Bodies

 

Coincidence perhaps but the facts and data collected suggest far more than just co-incidence.

 

A typical example includes ‘The Eagle and Child’.

Figs 3 and 4: The Eagle and Child – Aquila and Antinous as depicted by Johannes Hevelius (published 1690)

 

Aquila is a constellation on the celestial equator. Its name is Latin for ‘eagle’.

 

Its brightest star, Altair, is one vertex of the Summer Triangle asterism. The constellation is best seen in the northern summer as it is located along the Milky Way.

 

Antinous is an obsolete constellation no longer in use by astronomers, having been merged into Aquila, which it bordered to the North.

 

The constellation was created by the Roman Emperor Hadrian in 132. According to legend, Hadrian was told by an oracle that only the death of his most beloved person would save him from a great danger.

 

Antinous (pronounced ‘anti-no-us’) was the boy lover of the Roman Emperor Hadrian and hence is a real character, not a mythological one, although the story reads like fiction. Antinous was born c. AD 110 in the town of Bythinium (also called Claudiopolis), near present-day Bolu in north-western Turkey. At that time this area was a Roman province, and Hadrian is thought to have met Antinous during an official visit. Hadrian, the first openly gay Roman Emperor, was smitten by the boy and groomed him to become his constant companion.

 

Hadrian’s happiness did not last long, though. While on a trip up the Nile in AD 130, Antinous drowned near the present-day town of Mallawi in Egypt. Supposedly the oracle had predicted that the Emperor would be saved from danger by the sacrifice of the object he most loved, and Antinous realized that this description applied to him.

 

Whether the drowning was accident, suicide, or even ritual sacrifice, Hadrian was heartbroken by it. He founded a city called Antinoöpolis near the site of the drowning, declared Antinous a god, and commemorated him in the sky from stars south of Aquila, the Eagle, that had not previously been considered part of any constellation.

 

One interpretation could therefore be that Aquila the Eagle (representative of the Roman Empire) is a metaphor for Emperor Hadrian.

 

The constellation’s first known depiction was in 1536 on a celestial globe by the German mathematician and cartographer Caspar Vopel (1511–61); it was shown again in 1551 on a globe by Gerardus Mercator. Tycho Brahe listed it as a separate constellation in his star catalogue of 1602 and it remained widely accepted into the 19th century, when it was eventually remerged with Aquila.

 

An interesting side note was that JRR Tolkien (Lord of the Rings author) regularly met with other notable Oxford writers in ‘The Eagle and Child’ in a private lounge at the back of the pub known as the ‘Rabbit Room’.

 

Tolkien by his own admission acknowledges that

 

‘The Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work; unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision. That is why I have not put in, or have cut out, practically all references to anything like ‘religion’, to cults or practices, in the imaginary world. For the religious element is absorbed into the story and the symbolism‘ ^[2]

 

 

 

ii)         The Red Lion and the Bulls Head

 

Two of the more popular pub names in British Society – often to be found not far from a church particularly in historic towns and villages.

 

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John – the Four Evangelists

Stellar theology in connection with the four gospel accounts from the New Testament.

Figs 5 and 6: St Matthew – a winged Man, St Mark – a winged Lion, St Luke – a winged Bull and St John – an Eagle.

 

Fig 7: The Four Cardinal Points of the Compass as Depicted in the Signs of the Zodiac Dividing the Four Seasons

Figs 8, 9 and 10: The Four Evangelists

Fig 11: Detail of Portal of St. Trophime in Arles, France

 

Christ in the centre is surrounded by symbols of the Four Evangelists: Matthew (human, upper left), Mark (lion, lower left), Luke (ox bull, lower right) and John (eagle, upper right). Below we see the row of the twelve Apostles.

 

The Church of St. Trophime is a Roman Catholic church and former cathedral located in the city of Arles, in the Bouches-du-Rhône Department of southern France. It was built between the 12th century and the 15th century, and is in the Romanesque architectural tradition. The sculptures over the church’s portal, particularly the Last Judgement, and the columns in the adjacent cloister, are considered some of the finest examples of Romanesque sculpture.

Figs 12 and 13: Mark and Luke the Evangelists – miniatures from the Grandes Heures of Anne of Brittany, Queen consort of France (1477-1514).

 

Les Grandes Heures d’Anne de Bretagne is a book of hours, commissioned by Anne of Brittany, Queen of France to two kings in succession, and illuminated in Tours or perhaps Paris by Jean Bourdichon between 1503 and 1508. It has been described by John Harthan as “one of the most magnificent Books of Hours ever made”and is now in the Bibliothèque nationale de France.

 

 

The same iconography of the Four Evangelists was used in the Book of Kells (dating back to 9th Century Ireland).

Fig 14: Book of Kells (9th Century Ireland) – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John

 

The Book of Kells (sometimes known as the Book of Columba) is an illuminated manuscript Gospel book in Latin, containing the four Gospels of the New Testament together with various prefatory texts and tables. It was created in a Columban monastery in Ireland or may have had contributions from various Columban institutions from both Britain and Ireland. It is believed to have been created c. 800 AD. The text of the Gospels is largely drawn from the Vulgate, although it also includes several passages drawn from the earlier versions of the Bible known as the Vetus Latina. It is a masterwork of Western calligraphy and represents the pinnacle of Insular illumination. It is also widely regarded as Ireland’s finest national treasure.

Fig 15: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John as depicted in the Rider Waite Tarot Deck of Cards (circa 1909)

 

The four fixed signs of the zodiac are: Aquarius (Air), Scorpio (Water), Taurus (Earth) and Leo (Fire). The classic symbols of the fixed signs (the angel of Aquarius, the eagle of Scorpio, the bull of Taurus and the lion of Leo) are called the kerubic emblems and appear often in Christian iconography.

 

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are also incorporated into modern Freemasonry.

Fig 16: The Book of Constitutions of this Grand Lodge or Ahiman Rezon (2nd Edition 1764)

 

The Book of Constitutions of this Grand Lodge or Ahiman Rezon was a constitution written by Laurence Dermott for the Antient Grand Lodge of England which was formed in 1751. The formation of the Ancient Grand Lodge brought together lodges and Masons who, believing themselves to be part of an older, original Masonic tradition, had chosen not to ally themselves with the previously formed Moderns Grand Lodge of 1717.

Figs 17 and 18: Modern Masonic Grand Lodge Crests for Ireland and England clearly showing the same iconography for Matthew, Mark, Luke and John

 

iii)         13th Century Lacock Abbey, Wiltshire – Holy Roman Catholic Astro-Theology

 

Lacock Abbey was founded in the early 13^th century by Ela, Countess of Salisbury, as a nunnery of the Augustinian order. Ela’s descendants included Sir Winston Churchill and Diana, Princess of Wales. The following pictures are of some of the roof bosses located in the cloisters at Lacock Abbey. Their location in the ceiling would seem appropriate.

Fig 19: The Swan (Cygnus) and the Fox and Goose (Vulpecula and Anser)

Fig 20: The Archer (Sagittarius) and Man in the Moon

Fig 21: The Dragon (Draco) and the Dog (Canis Major)

Fig 22:  The Sea Goat (Capricornus)

Fig 23: Capricornus, the Sea Goat from Urania’s Mirror (Sidney Hall, 1824)

Fig 24: The Dove (Columba) and the Owl (Noctua)

Fig 25: The Eagle (Aquila, double headed?) and the Angel (Virgo)

 

iv)        14^th Century St Cyriac’s Church (also located in the village of Lacock, Wiltshire)

Fig 26: The Swan with Two Necks (Cygnus) and the Dog and Hare (Canis Major and Lepus)

Fig 27: Canis Major and Lepus from Urania’s Mirror (Sidney Hall, 1824)

Fig 28: Fox and Goose (Vulpecula and Anser)

Fig 29: Leo and Taurus

Fig 30: Detail from Sir William Sharington’s Tomb in St Cyriac’s Church – Scorpio

 

Sir William Sharington (1495 to 1553) was an English courtier of the time of Henry VIII, master and embezzler of the Bristol Mint, member of parliament, conspirator, and High Sheriff of Wiltshire. In 1540, following the dissolution of the monasteries, Sharington paid £783 for Lacock Abbey.

 

The number of astro-theological references in Lacock Abbey and St Cyriac’s Church are numerous and have only been touched upon with the above images.

 

A side note :-

 

Canis Major contains Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, known as the “dog star”. This star gave the ancient Egyptians warning of the approaching inundation of the Nile; hence they compared it to a faithful dog, whose bark gives warning of approaching danger and named it Sothis, Anubis and Thotes, the barker or monitor.

 

The author, JK Rowling visited Lacock Abbey in her formative years and the abbey was one of the filming locations for the Harry Potter movies.

 

In the Harry Potter books, Harry’s god father is Sirius Black (nicknamed Padfoot because his Animagus form takes the shape of a dog). Was Sirius, Harry’s ‘Watch Dog’?

 

v)         Present Day Holy Roman Catholic Astro-Theology

Fig 31: Chester Cathedral – Signs of the Zodiac in the Cloisters Stained Glass Windows

 

The eleven signs of the Zodiac in the stained glass windows located in Chester Cathedral

cloisters. The twelfth sign, Aquarius the Water Bearer (of the next age), can be found

being heralded in by Pisces (of the present age) in the central point of the cloisters in the

form of a sculpture with water feature.

Fig 32: Aquarius as depicted by Sidney Hall in Urania’s Mirror (published 1824)

Fig 33: An Interpretation of Aquarius the Water Bearer (of the next age) being heralded

in by Pisces (of the present age) in Chester Cathedral

 

There are a number of Masonic references in Chester Cathedral including the Commemorative Window for the Masonic Bicentenary Service of Chester (1725 – 1925).

Fig 34: Commemorative Window for the Masonic Bicentenary Service of Chester (1725 – 1925) in the Cathedral Cloisters – Service held in Chester Cathedral 25th Oct 1925

 

A Famous Modern Day Freemasonic Connection with Chester Cathedral:

 

Geoffrey Francis Fisher, Baron Fisher of Lambeth, GCVO, PC (1887 – 1972)

 

1932 – Appointed Bishop of Chester

1939 – Appointed Bishop of London

1944 – Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury (selected by Winston Churchill – Prime

Minister)

1953 – Presided over the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II

 

Fisher put considerable effort into the task of revising the Church of England’s canon law.

The canons of 1604 were at that time still in force, despite being largely out of date.

 

He presided at the marriage of Princess Elizabeth and later at her coronation in 1953 as

Queen Elizabeth II.

 

He is remembered for his visit to Pope John XXIII in 1960, the first meeting between an

Archbishop of Canterbury and a Pope since the English Reformation, and an ecumenical

milestone.

 

Fisher was also a committed Freemason as were many Church of England bishops of his

day. Fisher served as Grand Chaplain in the United Grand Lodge of England.^[4]

 

 

vi)        ‘Zeitgeist: The Movie (2007)’ Directed and Produced by Peter Joseph

 

A brilliant film available on ‘Youtube’ which explains astro-theology in the context of modern Judao-Christian religion.

 

The opening part of the film appears to draw references from the book ‘Stellar Theology and Masonic Astronomy’ first published in 1882 by Robert Hewitt Brown.

 

This book reveals the hidden meanings of Masonic and other symbols, linking them to pagan religion and to modern faiths such as Judaism and Christianity. As a highly respected Freemason, (having achieved the 32nd degree), and a diligent scholar of the ancient mysteries, Brown spoke from an almost unique position of authority. The book lays bare astonishing astronomical explanations for a host of religious allegories and motifs, allowing the reader to reconcile numerous otherwise incomprehensible enigmas.

 

 

vii)        A Very Brief Summary of Christian History to Set the Scene

Fig 35: The Roman Empire at its Peak in 117AD according to the History Books ^[3]

 

Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire occurred intermittently over a period of over two centuries between the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD under Nero Caesar and the year 313 AD when the Roman Emperors Constantine the Great and Licinius jointly promulgated the Edict of Milan which legalised the Christian religion. The persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire was carried out by the state and also by local authorities on a sporadic, ad hoc basis, often at the whims of local communities. Starting in 250, empire-wide persecution took place by decree of the emperor Decius. The edict was in force for eighteen months, during which time some Christians were killed while others apostatised to escape execution.^[5]

Fig 36: Detail from Nero’s Torches by Henryk Siemiradzki (painted 1876).

Location – National Museum Krakow

 

Nero’s Torches is also known as Candlesticks of Christianity and depicts a group of early

Christian martyrs who are about to be burned alive as the alleged perpetrators of the

Great Fire of Rome, during the reign of Emperor Nero in 64 AD.^[6]

 

In Britain, Christianity has been present in some form or other since the 1st century AD and has existed in Ireland since the 5th century having arrived from Roman Britain (most famously associated with St. Patrick).

 

During the 12th century a much stricter form of unified Roman Catholic Christianity was enforced in Britain and occurred after the Norman invasions in the 11th century.

 

Norman Conquest of England 1066

 

In 1066, William I defeated King Harold at Hastings and established himself on the English throne. After the conquest he secured control by crushing rebellions and establishing Norman barons over the conquered lands. These barons were bound by oath to the Holy Roman Empire, and although some English barons were retained, the

Normans established and consolidated society.

 

The final mark of complete control was secured when the whole of England, owned by

William was divided between his Norman followers and loyal Saxons, but now he decided to make a complete survey of his newly gained territory, including descriptions of districts and manors and their holders. All this information was written up in the famous Domesday Book, which was completed in 1086.

 

Norman Invasion of Wales 1067-1081

 

The Norman Invasion of Ireland 1169 onwards

 

The Norman invasion of Ireland took place in stages during the late 12th century starting

in 1169.

 

The Crusades (Holy Wars)

 

The Crusades were a series of religious wars sanctioned by the Latin Church (Holy Roman Empire) in the medieval period, especially the campaigns in the Eastern Mediterranean aimed at recovering the Holy Land from Islamic rule. The term “Crusades” is also applied to other Holy Roman Empire sanctioned campaigns fought to combat paganism and heresy, to resolve conflict among rival Roman Catholic groups, or

to gain political or territorial advantage.

Fig 37: Imperial Family Symbol of the Byzantine Empire (11th to15th Century)

Motto: “King of Kings, Regnant of Regnants” (Note the Double Headed Eagle)

 

The First Crusade arose after a call to arms in a 1095 sermon by Pope Urban II, in which he urged military support for the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire and its Emperor, Alexios I (1048 or 1056 to 1118), who needed reinforcements for his conflict with westward migrating Turks who were colonising Anatolia. Traditionally, the line of

Byzantine emperors is held to begin with the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great (272

AD – 337 AD). One of Urban’s stated aims was to guarantee pilgrims access to the

Eastern Mediterranean holy sites that were under Muslim control, but scholars disagree as to whether this was the primary motivation for either Urban or those who heeded his call. Urban’s wider strategy may have been to unite the Eastern and Western branches of Christendom, which had been divided since the East–West Schism of 1054, and to establish himself as head of the unified Church. The enthusiastic response to Urban’s preaching from all classes across Western Europe established a precedent for subsequent Crusades. Volunteers became Crusaders by taking a public vow and receiving plenary indulgences from the Church. Some were hoping for a mass ascension into heaven at Jerusalem, or God’s forgiveness for all their sins. Others participated to satisfy feudal obligations, obtain glory and honour, or seek opportunities for economic and political gain.

 

As far as the Holy Roman Empire was concerned, the Crusades had the desired effect of having a profound impact on Western civilisation: they re-opened the Mediterranean to commerce and travel (enabling Genoa and Venice to flourish) and they consolidated the collective identity of the Latin Church (Holy Roman Empire) under Papal leadership.

 

 

viii)       The Knights Templars and the Knights Hospitallers

 

Intrinsically linked with the Crusades were the heroic Knight’s tales of this period.

 

The Knights Hospitaller^[7] are a Catholic Military Order created in 1099 and exist to this day. Their headquarters are listed as Jerusalem, Rhodes, Birgu, Valletta and Rome.

 

They are also referred to as the: 

 

    Order of Hospitallers

    Knights of Saint John (of Jerusalem)

    Knights of Rhodes, Knights of Malta

 

The Hospitallers and the Knights Templar became the most formidable military orders in the Holy Land. Frederick Barbarossa, the Holy Roman Emperor, pledged his protection to the Knights of St. John in a charter of privileges granted in 1185. ^[7]

 

After the Crusades, the victorious and heroically perceived Templar Knights having sworn allegiance to the now unified Holy Roman Empire used classic mystery, misdirection and intrigue to hide what they were bringing back to the shores of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales – a unified, weaponised and above all ruthless version of Roman Catholic Christianity.

 

Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland being one of the best examples of the smoke and mirrors mass deception employed by the Knights Templar brotherhood to hide one of their biggest secrets in plain view – the Roman Catholic Church.

 

By the reign of Henry VIII, the Roman Catholic version of Christianity was fully established in the British Isles.

 

In Britain alone there is a huge amount of evidence that these Knights formed a major part of the governing control structure until the beginning of the Protestant Reformation when Henry VIII had himself declared Supreme Head of the Church in England in February 1531.

 

The same must also be said of mediaeval Europe although a major disturbance of the Roman Catholic control structure occurred in Germany in 1517.

 

 

 

ix)        The Protestant Reformation 1517

 

The Protestant Reformation is usually considered to have started with the publication of the Ninety-Five Theses by Martin Luther in 1517, lasting until the end of the Thirty Years’ War with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648.

The Reformation is often dated to 31 October 1517 in Wittenberg, Saxony, when Luther sent his Ninety-Five Theses on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences to the Archbishop

of Mainz. The theses debated and criticised the Church and the papacy, but concentrated upon the selling of indulgences and doctrinal policies about purgatory, particular judgment, and the authority of the pope.

 

Decline of the Roman Catholic Church in England from 1536 onwards

 

Between 1536 and 1540 Henry VIII took over 800 monasteries, abbeys, nunneries and friaries, some of which had accumulated great wealth and land. These had been home to more than 10,000 monks, nuns, friars and canons. Many former monasteries were sold off to landowners. Others were taken over and became churches, such as Durham Cathedral. Many were left to ruin, such as Tintern Abbey. A few monks who resisted were executed, but those who surrendered were paid or pensioned off. The destruction of English monasteries under Henry VIII transformed the power structures of English society. Henry had cut off from the Catholic Church in Rome, and declared himself head of the Church of England. His real intention in destroying the monastic system was to remove England, Wales and Ireland from the oppressive control of the Holy Roman Empire.

 

Ireland

 

The dissolutions in Ireland followed a very different course from those in England and Wales. There were around 400 religious houses in Ireland in 1530 – many more, relative to population and material wealth than in England and Wales. In marked distinction to the situation in England, in Ireland the houses of friars had flourished in the 15th century, attracting popular support and financial endowments, undertaking many ambitious building schemes, and maintaining a regular conventual and spiritual life. They constituted around half of the total number of religious houses. Irish monasteries, by contrast, had experienced a catastrophic decline in numbers of professed religious, such that by the 16th century only a minority maintained the daily observance of the Divine Office. Henry’s direct authority, as Lord of Ireland and from 1541 as King of Ireland, only extended to the area of the Pale immediately around Dublin. Outside this area, he could only proceed by tactical agreement with clan chiefs and local lords.

 

Nevertheless, Henry was determined to carry through a policy of dissolution in Ireland and in 1537 introduced legislation into the Irish Parliament to legalise the closure of monasteries. The process faced considerable opposition, and only sixteen houses were suppressed. Henry remained resolute however, and from 1541 as part of the Tudor conquest of Ireland he continued to press for the area of successful dissolution to be extended. For the most part, this involved making deals with local lords, under which monastic property was granted away in exchange for allegiance to the new Irish Crown; and consequently Henry acquired little if any of the wealth of the Irish houses. By the time of Henry’s death (1547) around half of the Irish houses had been suppressed; but many continued to resist dissolution until well into the reign of Elizabeth I, and some houses in the West of Ireland remained active until the early 17th century. In 1649,Oliver Cromwell led a Parliamentary army seeking to subjugate Ireland, and systematically sought out and destroyed former monastic houses. Subsequently, however, sympathetic landowners housed monks or friars close to several ruined religious houses, allowing them a continued covert existence during the 17th and 18th centuries, subject to the dangers of discovery and legal ejection or imprisonment.

 

 

x)         The Gunpowder Plot of 1605

 

Guy Fawkes night (5th Nov 1605), appears to be more of a celebration of the attempt by a Roman Catholic to blow up the Houses of Parliament. Guy Fawkes (13 April 1570 – 31 January 1606), also known as Guido Fawkes, the name he adopted while fighting for the Spanish, was a member of a group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605.

 

To this day it is celebrated with Roman Candles and Catherine Wheels – two favourite tools of torture used by the Romans.

 

The breaking wheel, also known as the Catherine wheel or simply the wheel, was a torture device used for capital punishment from antiquity into early modern times for public execution by breaking the criminal’s bones/bludgeoning him to death. As a form of execution, it was used from classical times into the 18th century; as a form of post mortem punishment of the criminal, the wheel was still in use in 19th-century Germany.^[8]

 

Saint Catherine of Alexandria, or Saint Catharine of Alexandria, also known as Saint Catherine of the Wheel and The Great Martyr Saint Catherine is, according to tradition, a Christian saint and virgin, who was martyred in the early 4th century at the hands of the pagan emperor Maxentius. According to her hagiography, she was both a princess and a noted scholar, who became a Christian around the age of fourteen, converted hundreds of people to Christianity, and was martyred around the age of 18. More than 1,100 years following her martyrdom, Saint Joan of Arc identified Catherine as one of the Saints who appeared to her and counselled her. ^[9]

 

The Catherine Wheel is even used on the coat of arms for St Catherine’s College Oxford

and Cambridge.

Figs 38 and 39: St Catherine’s College Crests for Oxford and Cambridge

 

 

xi)        The Great Fire of London, 1666

 

Following the Protestant Reformation / dissolution of the monasteries in the 16^th/17th centuries, there is a distinct possibility that the Great Fire of London in 1666 was symbolic of the Phoenix of the Holy Roman Empire rising from the ashes. Churches designed by famous Masonic architects such as Sir Christopher Wren and Nicholas Hawksmoor (‘the Devil’s Architect’) appeared after this event.

 

The re-building of London Churches after the Great Fire was sanctioned by Acts of Parliament. ^[10]

 

 

xii)        The Beginnings of Modern Freemasonry

 

After the dissolution of the Monasteries in Britain, the Holy Roman Empire suffered major declines with respect to income, power and control.

 

Historically, the Roman Catholic Church’s central intelligence gathering network was based on the Sacrament of Penance. i.e. confession by the congregation. The Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation (commonly called Penance, Reconciliation, or Confession) is one of the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church (called sacred mysteries in the Eastern Catholic Churches), in which the faithful obtain absolution for the sins committed against God and neighbour and are reconciled with the community of the Church. By this sacrament Christians are freed from sins committed after Baptism. The sacrament of Penance is considered the normal way to be absolved from mortal sin, by which one would otherwise condemn oneself to Hell.

 

Without confession, the Holy Roman Empire’s spy network had become effectively blind.

 

Additionally, the Holy Roman Empire’s financial prosperity in England was severely affected with the loss of tithes from the Christian congregation.

 

(Tithes. the tenth part of agricultural produce or personal income set apart as an offering to God or for works of mercy, or the same amount regarded as an obligation or tax for the support of the church, priesthood, or the like).

 

Infiltration

 

Without a recognised army at its disposal, the Holy Roman Empire required a new method of infiltration by stealth in order to regain power, influence and control over England Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

 

From the 1600’s onwards, a fraternal version of Freemasonry was therefore slowly introduced in the most part via Public Houses.

 

The first Masonic Grand Lodge in the world was formed in London in 1717^[11] (200 years after the start of the Protestant reformation in Germany).

 

Before this date, modern Freemasonry was being practiced in England by the likes of Elias Ashmole.

 

Elias Ashmole’s (1617 –1692) diary entry for 16 October 1646 reads in part: “I was made a Free Mason at Warrington in Lancashire, with Col. Henry Mainwaring of Karincham [Kermincham] in Cheshire.” Although there is only one other mention of Masonic activity in his diary he seems to have remained in good standing and wellconnected with the fraternity as he was still attending meetings in 1682. On 10 March that year he wrote: “About 5 H: P.M. I received a Sumons to appeare at a Lodge to held the next day, at Masons Hall London.” The following day, 11 March 1682, he wrote: “Accordingly, I went … I was the Senior Fellow among them (it being 35 yeares since I was admitted) … We all dyned at the halfe Moone Taverne in Cheapeside, at a Noble Dinner prepaired at the charge of the New-accepted Masons.”

 

Ashmole’s notes are one of the earliest references to Freemasonry known in England.^[12]

 

(The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford was founded by Elias Ashmole in 1683).

 

Ashmole was an avid collector of artifacts associated with the infamous Dr John Dee. It may be coincidental that Dee’s book, Monas Hieroglyphica (1564) was dedicated to Maximillian II, Holy Roman Emperor.

 

 

xiii)       The English Pub – a Meeting Place for Masonic Lodges

 

It was necessary for Freemasons to meet in secret and so the gradual introduction of Masonic public houses with private meeting rooms, whose names were mostly based on Roman Catholic astro-theological principles as per Lacock Abbey gradually created a spy network of immense power and influence of which the general public was blissfully unaware and to this day mostly still are.

 

The newly developed public houses served a quadruple purpose:

 

• A venue (private function room) for Masonic Lodge meetings to be held which would not raise suspicion with the various comings and goings of the Freemasons at their regular lodge meetings.
• A co-ordinated nationwide control grid for the Brotherhood.
• A welcome addition to the information gathering spy network of the Holy Roman Empire encouraging the consumption of alcohol to loosen the tongues of the clients. (‘Audi Vide Tace’ – ‘Hear Everything, See Everything, Say Nothing’. A technique adopted no doubt by some of the best Masonic landlords).
• A form of tax on the unsuspecting masses in the formative years to assist in funding the networks.

 

xiv)       The 33rd Degree in Freemasonry (Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite)

 

One of the revelations of attaining the 33rd Degree in Freemasonry – you finally find out who you’ve been working for………

Figs 40 and 41: Emblems representing the 33^rd Degree in Freemasonry (Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite)

Fig 42: Holy Roman Empire (painting from 1510) – Double-Headed Eagle with Coats of Arms of Individual States

 

 

xv)       Examples of Holy Roman Empire Symbology in the Fabric of British Society

Figs 43 and 44: Russell Square, London and Rufford Old Hall, Ormskirk

Fig 45: Rothschild Coat-of-Arms, Waddesdon, Aylesbury Vale, Buckinghamshire

Fig 46: Messrs Hoare Bankers (Oldest Privately Owned English Bank Estd 1672), 37 Fleet Street, City of London

Fig 47: George and Vulture Pub, London – Famous Masonic Lodge Meeting Place of the Hellfire Club, Charles Dickens and many others…

Fig 48: Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington Battle Standard, St Pauls Cathedral Crypt, London

 

The Duke of Wellington’s father, Viscount Wellesley, Earl of Mornington was elected Grandmaster of the Grand Lodge of Ireland in 1776. Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington died in 1852 and in the following year Queen Victoria, in recognition of the regiment’s long ties to him, ordered that the regiment’s title be changed to the 33rd (or The Duke of Wellington’s) Regiment.

Fig 49: Perth and Kinross Council, Scotland

Fig 50: Wimbledon Coat of Arms, Greater London

Fig 51: Ruthin School, Ruthin, North Wales

Fig 52: Duke of Marlborough Coat of Arms, Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxford.

Displaying the Order of the Knight of the Garter motto – ‘Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense’

 

Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxford – birth place of Winston Churchill

 

 

xvi)       The Order of the Knight of the Garter

 

French Maxim ‘Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense’ – ‘Shamed be [he] who evil of it thinks’.

Fig 53: Most Noble Order of the Garter – established 1348

 

The motto is also associated with the following:

 

• It is incorporated in the coat of arms of the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome
• The British chivalric Order of the Garter (estd 1348)
• Coat of arms above the lower main gate of the castle of the German city of Tübingen.
• It appears in the source code for Apollo 11
• It appears in the comments of the source code for the master ignition routine of the Apollo 13 lunar module
• Until 1997 it appeared prominently on Hong Kong banknotes
• It appears in the staff used by the Usher of the Black Rod of the Parliament of Canada.

Fig 54: Edward of Woodstock (1330-1376), the Black Prince of Wales, Founder Member of the Knight of the Garter (William Bruges’s Garter Book c1430-40). Note the Double Headed Eagle.

 

Edward of Woodstock was the first Duke of Cornwall (from 1337), the Prince of Wales (from 1343) and the Prince of Aquitaine (1362–72). In 1348 he was made a Founding Knight of the Garter. Born 15 June 1330 Woodstock Palace, Oxfordshire.

 

(N.B. William Bruges’s Garter Book was once in the ownership of Elias Ashmole from 1665. ^[13]).

Fig 55: Winston Churchill (1874 – 1965) – Knight of the Order of the Garter. Born Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxford. Duke of Marlborough Coat of Arms motto ‘Honi Soit Qui Mal y Pense’

Fig 56: John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough atop the Column of Victory at Blenheim Palace dressed as a Roman General, eagles at his feet and a Winged Victory in his hand (monument completed 1730)

 

 

John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, 1st Prince of Mindelheim, 1^st Count of Nellenburg, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, KG, PC 1650 – 1722.

 

Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill, his descendant and biographer.^[14]
Is the Order of the Garter associated with the ‘Leg of Italy’?

Figs 57 and 58: Coat of Arms on Display at Chirk Castle, North Wales and a Cloister Roof Boss at Christ Church College, Oxford

Figs 59 and 60: Coats of Arms at the Main Gate for Hawarden Castle, North Wales

 

The ‘Leg of Italy’ to be found in the cloister roof bosses, Christ Church College, Oxford, on one of the coats of arms on display at Chirk Castle, North Wales and displayed on both coats of arms at the main gate for Hawarden Castle, North Wales.

Fig 61: Winston Churchill with German Emperor Kaiser (Caesar) Wilhelm II (1909)

 

 

xvii)      A ‘United States of Europe’

 

In 1946 Churchill delivered another famous speech, at the University of Zurich, in which he advocated a ‘United States of Europe’, urging Europeans to turn their backs on the horrors of the past and look to the future. He declared that Europe could not afford to drag forward the hatred and revenge which sprung from the injuries of  the past, and that the first step to recreate the ‘European family’ of  justice,  mercy  and  freedom  was  “to  build  a  kind  of  United  States of Europe. In this way only will hundreds of millions of toilers be able to regain the simple joys and hopes which make life worth living”.

 

Council of Europe created 1949

 

With this plea for a United States of Europe, Churchill was one of the first to advocate  European integration to prevent the  atrocities of two world wars from ever happening again, calling for the creation of a Council of Europe as a first step. In 1948, in The Hague, 800 delegates from all European countries met, with Churchill as honorary president, at a grand Congress of Europe.

 

This led to the creation of the Council of Europe on 5 May 1949,  the  first  meeting  of  which  was  attended  by  Churchill  himself.  His call to action can be seen as propelling further integration as later agreed upon during the Messina Conference in 1955, which led to the Treaty of Rome two years later. It was also Churchill who would first moot the idea of a ‘European army’ designed to protect the continent and provide European diplomacy with some muscle.  Furthermore, the European Court of Human Rights was created in 1959 – a decade after Churchill first championed the idea. Providing the inspiration to the people of Europe as the binding factor in the allied fight against  Nazism and fascism, Winston  Churchill consequently became a driving force behind European integration and an active fighter for its cause.^[15]

 

 

xviii)     The Phoenix from the Ashes

 

Herodotus (c. 484 – c. 425 BC) a Greek historian often referred to as “The Father of History”.

 

Extract from ‘The History of Herodotus’ 440BC detailing the death and re-birth of the Phoenix every 500 years.

 

‘They have also another sacred bird called the phoenix which I myself have never seen, except in pictures. Indeed it is a great rarity, even in Egypt, only coming there (according to the accounts of the people of Heliopolis) once in five hundred years, when the old phoenix dies. Its size and appearance, if it is like the pictures, are as follow:- The plumage is partly red, partly golden, while the general make and size are almost exactly that of the eagle. They tell a story of what this bird does, which does not seem to me to be credible: that he comes all the way from Arabia, and brings the parent bird, all plastered over with myrrh, to the temple of the Sun, and there buries the body. In order to bring him, they say, he first forms a ball of myrrh as big as he finds that he can carry; then he hollows out the ball, and puts his parent inside, after which he covers over the opening with fresh myrrh, and the ball is then of exactly the same weight as at first; so he brings it to Egypt, plastered over as I have said, and deposits it in the temple of the Sun. Such is the story they tell of the doings of this bird.’

 

The Roman poet Ovid tells a similar story of the Phoenix re-incarnating every 500 years:

 

‘Most beings spring from other individuals; but there is a certain kind which reproduces itself. The Assyrians call it the Phoenix. It does not live on fruit or flowers, but on frankincense and odoriferous gums. When it has lived five hundred years, it builds itself a nest in the branches of an oak, or on the top of a palm tree. In this it collects cinnamon and spikenard, and myrrh, and of these materials builds a pile on which it deposits itself, and dying, breathes out its last breath amidst odors. From the body of the parent bird, a young Phoenix issues forth, destined to live as long a life as its predecessor. When this has grown up and gained sufficient strength, it lifts its nest from the tree (its own cradle and its parent’s sepulcher), and carries it to the city of Heliopolis in Egypt, and deposits it in the temple of the Sun.’

 

Europe – A Connection with Phoenecia

 

In Greek mythology, Europa was the mother of King Minos of Crete, a woman with Phoenician origin of high lineage, and after whom the continent of Europe was named.

 

The Phoenician civilization spread across the Mediterranean between 1500 BC and 300 BC. ^[16]

Fig 62: Statue of Europa and the Bull (from Greek Mythology), Winston Churchill Building, Strasbourg

 

xix)       The European Union

 

The European Union has used Europa as a symbol of pan-Europeanism, notably by naming its web portal after her and depicting her on the Greek €2 coin and on several gold and silver commemorative coins (e.g. the Belgian €10 European Expansion coin). Her name appeared on postage stamps celebrating the Council of Europe, which were first issued in 1956. The second series of euro banknotes is known as the Europa Series and bears her likeness in the watermark and hologram.

 

The Europa building is the seat of the European Council and Council of the European Union, located on Wetstraat/Rue de la Loi in the European Quarter of Brussels, the capital city of Belgium.

 

The Charlemagne Building (owned by the European Commission) is a high-rise in the European Quarter of Brussels, which houses the Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs, the Directorate-General for Trade and, since 2015, the Internal Audit Service of the Commission.

 

Charlemagne (742 – 814), numbered Charles I, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774 and Emperor of the Romans from 800. He united much of Europe during the early Middle Ages. He was the first recognised emperor in western Europe since the fall of the Western Roman Empire three centuries earlier. ^[17]

Fig 63: The Flag of Europe (12 stars – 12 signs of the Zodiac) alongside London’s Strangest Clock to be found at Bracken House, Cannon Street, London (with Sir Winston Churchill masquerading as a Sun God in the Centre)

 

The Flag of Europe was designed in 1955, and officially launched later that year by the Council of Europe as a symbol for the whole of Europe. The Council of Europe urged it to be adopted by other European organisations, and in 1985 the European Communities (EC) adopted it.

 

Bracken House is a sturdy post-war office block on Cannon Street, just opposite St Paul’s. This gigantic astronomical clock guards the entrance. Its rotating dials show the minutes, hours, days, months and zodiacal signs.

 

And, right there in the middle, is the face of Winston Churchill.

 

The building is named after Brendan Bracken, a key ally of Churchill during the Second World War. The statesman’s grimacing countenance was built into the clock in 1959, by designers Frank Dobson and Philip Bentham, in a nod to this relationship.^[18]

 

An interesting side note is that Bracken and Churchill have other connections, played out in the pages of George Orwell’s 1984. During World War II, Bracken ran the Ministry of Information – inspiration for Orwell’s Ministry of Truth. He also shares his initials with Big Brother. The novel’s protagonist is called Winston.

 

 

xx)       The Wings of the Double Headed Eagle of the Holy Roman Empire

 

Depending on your view point, Russia may be seen as the Eastern Wing of the Double Headed Eagle and America as the West Wing.

Fig 64: The Russian Flag

 

 

Washington DC has symbology closely linked with Ancient Rome including the Roman fasces in the House of Representatives.

Fig 65: The Roman Fasces (a symbol of Ancient Rome) clearly visible either side of the Speaker in the US House of Representatives

 

The fasces is a bound bundle of wooden rods, sometimes including an axe with its blade emerging. The fasces had its origin in the Etruscan civilization, and was passed on to ancient Rome, where it symbolized a magistrate’s power and jurisdiction. The axe associated with the symbol of the Labrys (double-bitted axe) was originally from Crete in Greece and is one of the oldest symbols of Greek civilization. The symbolism of the fasces suggests strength through unity – a single rod is easily broken, while the bundle is very difficult to break.

Fig 66: The Fasces and the Eagle of Ancient Rome bordering Mussolini and Adolf Hitler

 

The reader may also find the official Holy Roman Empire Association website illuminating, particularly with respect to the UK’s current Royal Family.

 

http://www.holyromanempireassociation.com/

http://www.holyromanempireassociation.com/imperial-nobility-of-great-britain.html

 

 

xxi)       Freemasonry – a Significant Part of the Invisible Empire

 

Freemasonry, as it exists in various forms all over the world, has a current membership estimated by the United Grand Lodge of England at around SIX MILLION worldwide. ^[19]

 

The fraternity is administratively organised into independent Grand Lodges (or sometimes Grand Orients), each of which governs its own Masonic jurisdiction, which consists of subordinate (or constituent) Lodges. The largest single jurisdiction, in terms of membership, is the United Grand Lodge of England (with a membership estimated at around a quarter million). The Grand Lodge of Scotland and Grand Lodge of Ireland (taken together) have approximately 150,000 members.

 

In the United States, total membership is just under TWO MILLION.

 

 

xxii)      The Emperor’s New Clothes (by Hans Christian Andersen – published 1837) 

 

A folk tale about two swindlers who promise an emperor a new suit of clothes. They tell everybody that they are weavers and that they can weave the most marvellous cloth. Not only are the colours and patterns of their material extraordinarily beautiful, but the cloth has the strange quality of being invisible to anyone who is unfit for his office or unforgivably stupid.

 

The emperor parades before his subjects in his new “clothes” but they are invisible to the general public.

 

N.B. The two swindlers are decorated and given the title “Royal Knight of the Loom.”

 

The tale has been translated into over 100 languages.
 

 

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References

[1]        https://www.dhi.ac.uk/lane/

[2]        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._R._R._Tolkien

[3]        https://www.quora.com

[4]        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Fisher

[5]        https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Christians_in_the_Roman_Empire

[6]        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nero%27s_Torches

[7]        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_Hospitaller

[8]        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breaking_wheel

[9]        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_of_Alexandria

[10]      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commission_for_Building_Fifty_New_Churches

[11]      http://ugle.org.uk/about-freemasonry/history-of-freemasonry

[12]      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elias_Ashmole

[13]      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruges_Garter_Book

[14]      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Churchill,_1st_Duke_of_Marlborough

[15]      https://europa.eu/european-union/sites/europaeu/files/docs/body/winston_churchill_en.pdf

[16]      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenicia

[17]      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlemagne

[18]      https://londonist.com/2016/02/london-s-strangest-clock

[19]      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freemasonry