The masonic system of time-reckoning in Java and the elevation of Thomas Stamford Raffles as Sovereign Prince of the Rose Croix

Abstract

The masonic system of time-reckoning in Java and the elevation of Thomas Stamford Raffles as Sovereign Prince of the Rose Croix Roy Jordaan and Peter Carey In a joint article on the masonic career of Thomas Stamford Raffles in Java (Jordaan and Carey 2017: 1-34) an error was made in an explanatory footnote on the time-reckoning system followed by Dutch Freemasons in Java. It was stated that Masons in the Netherlands and its colonies had their time-reckoning in so-called 'Years of Light' starting 4000 years before the Christian era. The year 1813 AD thus corresponds with The Year of Light 5813. Following this, it was said that 'the masonic year does not begin on 1 January as in the Gregorian calendar, but on 1 March as in the Julian calendar, which implies that the sixth Masonic month corresponds to the eighth of the Gregorian calendar'. The statement about the start of the masonic year on 1 March 'as in the Julian calendar', however, is wrong. Indeed, in retrospect, it would have been better to avoid any reference to the Julian and the Gregorian calendars. The new phrasing should read as follows: 'Annus Lucis (A:.L:.) - 'The Year of Light', also known as 'The Year of True Light'. Masons have their time-reckoning starting 4000 years before the Christian era. The year 1813 AD thus corresponds with The Year of True Light 5813. Masons occasionally also refer to 'The Year of the Great Light', the counting of which starts 6000 years before Christ. The year 1813 AD then corresponds to The Year of the Great Light 7813. The masonic year does not start on 1 January but on 1 March, which implies that the sixth masonic month corresponds to the eight month of the common Western calendar that is known among Masons as the 'profane' calendar. In the Dutch East Indies, specific masonic symbols were put behind the number of the day (+) and the month (*) to distinguish these from the numbers according to the common calendar. The elevation of Raffles to the degree of Master-Mason on 5 July 1813 in the Lodge De Vriendschap in Surabaya, for example, was thus rendered as 5+5*5813 or as 5d:.5m:.5813. In the case of a memorable event taking place in the months of January or February, the dating is given as in the 11th or 12th month of the previous year, thus 13 February 1815 was either rendered as 13+12*5814 or 13d:.12m:.5814.' We would also like to correct a current mistake in the historical literature regarding Raffles' elevation as Sovereign Prince of the Rose Croix, a title usually abbreviated as SPR+. It concerns the numbering of the degree as the 18th degree (see, for instance, Banner 1934: 118; Wurtzburg 1954: 398; Bastin 2014: 170-1, endnote 30) instead of the 7th degree practised in the Dutch East Indies at the time. The [End Page 89] mistaken equation with the 18th degree appears to be an anachronistic adaptation to the 33-degree system that originated in early 19th-century USA. This system was disseminated to the rest of the world under the name of the 'Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite' (AASR). The 18th degree connected with the title of 'Knight of the Rose Croix' appears in that 33-degree system. However, in England and Wales this system was not accorded official recognition by the Grand Lodge, while in the Netherlands and its overseas territories the AASR was adopted only in 1912 and officially renounced in 1990 (Bruijnesteijn 2014: 142-148). For the period under review, the degree system followed in the Netherlands knew only seven degrees: the three basic, symbolic or Blue lodge degrees, of (1) Entered Apprentice, (2) Fellow of the Craft and (3) Master-Mason, and the four high or Red degrees, namely (4) Élu or Chosen Master, (5) Scots Master, (6) Knight of the East, and (7) Sovereign Prince of the Rose Croix. Sometime after his 16 October 1813 voluntary registration as a member of the Batavian Lodge La Vertueuse, and already having been endowed with the three basic degrees, Raffles was elected as a member of the Chapter...