1700-1729 A.D. Freemasons & Germany in England

Intro

Body

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Music

 

1700

William III and II (of Scotland) is on the English throne – Peter the Great (I) is on the Russian Throne – Charles II is on the Spanish throne (since 1665) – Louis XIV is on the French throne (since 1643) – Leopold I is emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (since 1658)

March 30, Johann Sebastian Bach turns 16 in March and by April he is enrolled at the prestigious St. Michael’s School in Lüneburg, Germany, where he sings in the choir, and plays on the school’s three-manual organ and harpsichords, he also comes into contact with sons of aristocrats from northern Germany who had been sent to the highly selective school to prepare for careers in other disciplines

The English government relaxes its control on publishing, and the new art form of the “Novel” begins to thrive

By the turn of the century, there were some two thousand coffee houses in London, their popularity came both from “the convenience of being able to make appointments in any part of town,” as Macaulay said, and the further convenience “of being able to pass evenings socially at a very small charge,” there is a painting dated approx. to this year that shows several bewigged gentlemen sitting down to “dishes” of coffee; there are candles upon the tables, while the floor is of bare wood, one customer is smoking a clay pipe, others are reading periodicals (LTB 214)

November 1, Charles II, emperor of the Spanish Empire (they have colonies in the Americas) dies (r. since 1665) and because he didn’t leave a direct heir to the throne, the War of the Spanish Succession begins, Charles was the LAST HAPSBURG (GERMAN) RULER OF THE SPANISH EMPIRE, AND WAS FIRST COUSINS WITH THE HOLY ROMAN EMPEROR, LEOPOLD I, before he died, he named Philip of Anjou, a grandson of Louis XIV, Philip accepted the throne and is proclaimed king of an undivided empire (France and England had tried to partition it in 1698 and this year as well) on November 16, which led to war, with Spain and France on one side, and the Grand Alliance (England, the Dutch Republic and the Holy Roman Empire)

November 21, The author Voltaire turns 6

 

1701

William III and II (of Scotland) is on the English throne – Peter the Great (I) is on the Russian throne – Philip V is on the Spanish throne – Louis XIV is on the French throne – Leopold I is emperor of the Holy Roman Empire

January 18, Fredrick I crowns himself king of Prussia (he is also an Elector of Brandenburg, which means he can cast a vote for who becomes the next Holy Roman Emperor) After being the “Duchy of Prussia” since 1525, the Kingdom of Prussia is formed (a German Kingdom that today includes the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, part of Russia) its capital is Berlin

The Act of Settlement is passed, formalizing the succession of the English throne to exclude all Catholics (this is interesting because George I (r. 1714-1727) was an elector of Hanover, meaning he got to be one of the ones who elected the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire [or the German king], and the Holy Roman Empire is the empire with the Pope, the head of Catholicism, so even though George became king of England, which was super anti-Catholic, he was tightly tied to the Pope)

March 21, Johann Sebastian Bach turns 17 years old; He is currently enrolled in the prestigious Saint Michael’s School in Lüneburg, Germany (which in this year becomes part of the Kingdom of Prussia), he’s meeting many aristocratic people there

November 21, The author Voltaire turns 7

The War of the Spanish Succession rages on (1700-1714) 

 

1702

William III and II (of Scotland) is on the English throne until March 8 when he dies at Kensington Palace after being thrown from his horse during a hunt at Hampton Court Palace, his sister-in-law, Queen Anne ascends the throne – Peter the Great (I) is on the Russian Throne – Philip V is on the Spanish throne – Louie XIV is on the French throne – Fredrick I is on the Prussian throne – Leopold I is emperor of the Holy Roman Empire

The War of the Spanish Succession rages on (1700-1714)

Queen Anne’s War (1702-1713) begins in America, it is the second in a series of French and Indian Wars fought in North America, it is primarily a conflict between French, Spanish and English colonists for control of the American continent while the War of the Spanish Succession is being fought in Europe, with each side allied to various Native American tribes, in the south, Spanish Florida and the English Province of Carolina attacked one another, and English colonists engaged French colonists based at Fort Louis de la Louisiane (near present-day Mobile, Alabama), with allied Native Americans on both sides, the southern war did not result in significant territorial changes, but it did have the effect of nearly wiping out the Native American population of Spanish Florida and parts of southern Georgia, and destroying the network of Spanish missions in Florida

March 21, Johann Sebastian Bach turns 18

November 21, The author Voltaire turns 8

 

1703

Queen Anne is on the English throne – Peter the Great (I) is on the Russian –Philip V is on the Spanish throne – Louis XIV is on the French throne – Fredrick I is on the Prussian throne – Leopold I is emperor of the Holy Roman Empire throne

Charles Wesley is born in Epworth, Lincolnshire, England, he later founds (along with his brother Charles) the Methodist movement in the Church of England

The War of the Spanish Succession rages on (1700-1714) – Queen Anne’s War (1702-1713) rages in America

Construction begins on the Nordkirchen Palace in the town of Nordkirchen in Germany (it’s northwest, pretty close to the Netherlands)

March 21, Johann Sebastian Bach turns 19

November 21, The author Voltaire turns 9

 

1704  

Queen Anne is on the English throne – Peter the Great (I) is on the Russian throne – Philip V is on the Spanish throne – Louis XIV is on the French throne – Fredrick I is on the Prussian throne – Leopold I is emperor of the Holy Roman Empire throne

The Battle of Blenheim in Bavaria, Germany, takes place, and John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough is rewarded by the crown with land to build Blenheim Palace for his military triumphs (see the year 1710 for more about Sarah Churchill, John’s wife and the Queen Anne’s best friend)

Queen Anne has the Orangery built at Kensington Palace, it was designed as a greenhouse for her orange trees, but it was used as a venue for balls and ceremonies

The War of the Spanish Succession rages on (1700-1714) – Queen Anne’s War (1702-1713) rages in America

March 21, Johann Sebastian Bach turns 20

November 10, Voltaire turns 10 

Isaac Newton’s book Opticks, a study on light (especially light as particles) is published (Thomas Young reads the book in 1790)

 

1705  

Queen Anne is on the English throne – Peter the Great (I) is on the Russian throne – Philip V is on the Spanish throne – Louis XIV is on the French throne – Fredrick I is on the Prussian throne – Leopold I is emperor of the Holy Roman Empire throne until May 5, when Joseph I becomes the emperor

Construction begins on Blenheim Palace

The North Front of Chatsworth House is being rebuilt in the Baroque style by the 1st Duke of Devonshire

March 21, Johann Sebastian Bach turns 21

November 10, Voltaire turns 11

The War of the Spanish Succession (1700-1714) rages on

Queen Anne’s War (1702-1713) rages in America

 

1706 

Queen Anne is on the English throne – Peter the Great (I) is on the Russian Throne – Philip V is on the Spanish throne – Louis XIV is on the French throne –Fredrick I is on the Prussian throne – Joseph I is emperor of the Holy Roman Empire

The War of the Spanish Succession rages on (1700-1714)

Queen Anne’s War (1702-1713) rages in America

March 21, Johann Sebastian Bach turns 22

November 10, Voltaire turns 12

 

1707

Queen Anne is on the English throne – Peter the Great (I) is on the Russian throne – Philip V is on the Spanish throne – Louis XIV is on the French throne –Fredrick I is on the Prussian throne – Joseph I is emperor of the Holy Roman Empire

March 7, Stephen Hopkins, who becomes one of the signers of The Declaration of Independence, is born, and though Stephen and his brother will be involved with the slave trade, Stephen will play an important role in ending it in his state of Rhode Island (d.1785)

Charles Wesley (brother of John Wesley) is born in Epworth, Lincolnshire, England, he became a clergyman, poet, hymn writer (over 6,500 hymns!) and also started the Methodist movement in the Church of England

March 21, Johann Sebastian Bach turns 23

May 23, Carl Linnaeus is born in Råshult, Strenbrohult parish, Sweden (he goes on to invent the binomial system, or two naming system, to classify organisms [plants, animals, bacteria, fungi, etc.])

The 1st Duke of Devonshire, William Cavendish, dies, he had spent the last 20 twenty years rebuilding the Elizabethan House called Chatsworth, as it had become old-fashioned and was unstable when he inherited it, his son, also named William Cavendish, becomes the 2nd Duke of Devonshire, he becomes an active politician, and the family’s first serious collector of paintings, drawings, gems, and coins (Chatsworth guidebook)

The War of the Spanish Succession (1700-1714) rages on

Queen Anne’s War (1702-1713) rages in America

November 10, Voltaire turns 13

 

1708

Queen Anne is on the English throne – Peter the Great (I) is on the Russian Throne – Philip V is on the Spanish throne – Louis XIV is on the French throne – Fredrick I is on the Prussian throne – Joseph I is emperor of the Holy Roman Empire

March 21, Johann Sebastian Bach turns 24

November 10, Voltaire turns 14

The War of the Spanish Succession (1700-1714) rages on

Queen Anne’s War (1702-1713) rages in America

 

1709 

Queen Anne is on the English throne – Peter the Great (I) is on the Russian Throne – Philip V is on the Spanish throne – Louis XIV is on the French throne –Fredrick I is on the Prussian throne – Joseph I is emperor of the Holy Roman Empire

March 21, Johann Sebastian Bach turns 25

November 10, Voltaire turns 15

Queen Anne’s husband, Prince George of Denmark dies at Kensington Palace 

The War of the Spanish Succession (1700-1714) rages on

Queen Anne’s War (1702-1713) begins in America

 

1710  

Queen Anne is on the English throne – Peter the Great (I) is on the Russian throne – Fredrick I is on the Prussian throne – Louis XIV is on the French throne

New St. Paul’s in London is completed

The Four Kings of the New World sail from New York to England to meet the queen of Great Britain, they are received in London as diplomats and are taken around the city in Royal Carriages, they visit the Tower of London and St. Paul’s Cathedral, and are received by the queen at St. James Palace, they stayed at The Crown and Cushion in King Street and the inn keeper was friendly and warm, so much so that kings gave Covent Garden the diplomatic visit was organized by Pieter Schuyler, who had been Governor of the province of New York for a little bit in 1709, but then will later serve as Governor from 1719-1720 (he is the progenitor of the American Schuyler family), three of the four kings were Mohawk kings from the Iroquois Confederacy and one was a Mahican of the Algonquian peoples, their portraits were painted by Jan Verelst in London to commemorate their visit, five chiefs had set out on the journey, but one died in mid-Atlantic, in addition to requesting military aid for defense against the French, the chiefs asked for missionaries to offset the influence of French Jesuits, who had converted numerous Mohawk to Catholicism, Queen Anne informed the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Tenison, and a mission was organized, the Archbishop of Canterbury also gave each of the four Native American Chiefs a Bible bound in turkey-red leather, the Queen also send as a gift a communion set and a reed organ, Schuyler had a chapel built the next year at Fort Hunter (near the Mohawk “Lower Castle” village) along the Mohawk River, the village of Lower Castle became mostly Christianized in the early part of this century, unlike the “Upper Castle” at Canajoharie further upriver, no mission was founded there until 1769 (see that year) (Wikipedia)

On Good Friday, Queen Anne and her long time best friend, Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, have a falling out in the Queen’s Closet at Kensington Palace, Sarah leaves the Queen, never to see her again, and goes to build Blenheim Palace as a monument as well as a memorial to her husband, John Churchill (Kensington Palace Guidebook)

March 21, Johann Sebastian Bach turns 26

November 10, Voltaire turns 16

 

1711 

Queen Anne is on the English throne – Peter the Great (I) is on the Russian Throne – Fredrick I is on the Prussian throne – Louis XIV is on the French throne

In the spring, a periodical in London gives an account of the world of coffee houses: “Sometimes I am seen thrusting my Head into a Round of Politicians as Will’s, and listening with great Attention to the Narratives that are made in those little Circular Audiences. Sometimes I smoak a Pipe at Child’s, and whilst I seem attentive to nothing but the Post-Man over hear the Conversation of every Table in the Room. I appear on Sunday nights at St. James’s Coffee-House, and sometimes join the little Committee of Politcks in the Inner Room, as one comes there to hear and to improve. My Face is likewise very well known at the Grecian, the Cocoa-Tree…” in all these coffee houses the news and rumors of the day were disseminated.” (London the Autobiography, Pg. 314)

The South Sea Company is founded in England, and begins trading with the Spanish colonies in South America in anticipation of benefits that would arise from success in the War of the Spanish Succession

The War of the Spanish Succession continues (until 1714)

March 21, Johann Sebastian Bach turns 27

November 10, Voltaire turns 17

 

 

1712 

Queen Anne is on the English throne – Peter the Great (I) is on the Russian Throne –  Fredrick I is on the Prussian throne – Louis XIV is on the French throne

March 21, Johann Sebastian Bach turns 28

The War of the Spanish Succession continues (until 1714)

May 23, Carl Linnaeus turns five, his father, called Nils, is a minister and keen gardener, he often takes Carl into the garden with him and teaches him about botany, and by this time, Carl has his own garden, giving him a great thirst for learning about plants and how they work, Nils taught Carl that every plant had a name, and at this time plant names were in Latin, very long, and hard to remember, he is later encouraged by his tutor, John Stensson Rothman (1684-1763) to study medicine (see year 1728 next) (https://www.linnean.org/learning/who-was-linnaeus/young-linnaeus)  

November 10, Voltaire turns 18

 

1713 

Queen Anne is on the English throne – Peter the Great (I) is on the Russian throne – Fredrick I is on the Prussian throne until February 25, when his son Frederick William I ascends the throne – Louis XIV is on the French throne

The War of the Spanish Succession continues (until 1714)

Charlottenburg Palace in Berlin is completed, or rather will no longer be worked on, as King Fredrich I in Prussia dies and his son Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia (Fredrick the Great) ascends the throne, and he isn’t very much into building like his father had been

March 21, Johann Sebastian Bach turns 29

November 10, Voltaire turns 19

 

1714 

Queen Anne is on the English throne – Peter the Great (I) is on the Russian throne – Frederick William I is on the Prussian throne – Louis XIV is on the French throne

August 1, Queen Anne, aged 49, she had had 17 pregnancies, but left no direct heir, so the throne is passed to a distant relative, Georg Ludwig, ELECTOR OF HANOVER, who is descended through his grandmother from King James I (1603-25), ascends the English throne as King George I, he speaks only German, no English, he comes from the newly established German Kingdom of Prussia

The War of the Spanish Succession ends

March 21, Johann Sebastian Bach turns 30

November 10, Voltaire turns 20

 

1715

German/Prussian born King George I is on the English throne – Peter the Great (I) is on the Russian Throne – Frederick William I is on the Prussian throne – Louis XIV dies on September 1, aged 76 (b. 1638, r. 1643-1715) and Louis XV ascends the throne (he’s only 5 years old), so until he is of ruling age (13 years old), Philippe II d’Orléans is Regent of France until 1723

March 21, Johann Sebastian Bach turns 31

August 22, king George I has a royal water-party on the Thames and George Fredric Handel’s Water Music is played on a boat for the occasion (George I loved music, and his love of Handel’s work led him to found the first Royal Academy of Music in 1720)

November 10, Voltaire turns 21

 

1716

King George I is on the English throne – Peter the Great (I) is on the Russian Throne – Frederick William I is on the Prussian throne – Louis XV is on the French throne/Philippe II d’Orléans is regent until 1723

March 21, Johann Sebastian Bach turns 32

November 10, Voltaire turns 22

 

1717

King George I is on the English throne – Peter the Great (I) is on the Russian throne Frederick William I is on the Prussian throne – Louis XV is on the French throne/Philippe II d’Orléans is regent until 1723

March 21, Johann Sebastian Bach turns 33 and begins writing his Cello suites (listen to his first one, Unaccompanied Cello Suite No. 1 in G BWV 1007)

The first Freemason Grand Lodge, an association of lodges, is founded in England, “Freemasonry evolved from the guilds of stonemasons and cathedral builders of the Middle Ages. With the decline of cathedral building, some lodges of operative (working) masons began to accept honorary members to bolster their declining membership. From a few of these lodges developed modern symbolic or speculative Freemasonry, which particularly in the 17th and 18th centuries adopted the rites and trappings of ancient religious orders and chivalric brotherhoods.” Freemasonry is not a Christian organization, nor a Catholic one, but it does acknowledge that there is a “supreme being” (Encyclopedia Britannica)

November 10, Voltaire turns 23

 

1718 

King George I is on the English throne – Peter the Great (I) is on the Russian throne – Frederick William I is on the Prussian throne – Louis XV is on the French throne/Philippe II d’Orléans is regent until 1723

King George I is made governor of the South Sea Company, which becomes fashionable to invest in

March 21, Johann Sebastian Bach turns 34

November 10, Voltaire turns 24

 

1719 

King George I is on the English throne – Peter the Great (I) is on the Russian Throne – Frederick William I is on the Prussian throne – Louis XV is on the French throne/Philippe II d’Orléans is regent until 1723

The book, Robinson Crusoe, is published by Daniel Defoe 

March 21, Johann Sebastian Bach turns 35

November 10, Voltaire turns 25

 

1720 

King George I is on the English throne – Peter the Great (I) is on the Russian Throne – Frederick William I is on the Prussian throne – Louis XV is on the French throne/Philippe II d’Orléans is regent until 1723

In London, “One of the key figures of the period, derided in verse and drama, was the stockbroker or ‘jobber,’ Gray denounced a capital and an age where ‘In sawcy State the griping Broker sits,’ They sat, in fact, in the coffee houses of Change Alley. Jobbers were the lineal descendants of the London scriveners who set up documents for the exchange of land or of houses, but now they were concerned with the floating of companies and the transfer of stock or assets. Cibber anatomized the scene in his play The Refusal, of 1720. ‘There (in the Alley) you’ll see a duke dangling after a director; here a peer and a ‘prentice haggling for an eighth; there a Jew and a parson making up differences; there a young woman of quality buying bears of a Quaker; and there an old one selling refusals to a lieutenant of grenadiers.’” The jobbers (stockbrokers) would sit in coffee houses to do business, this was before the Stock Exchange building (see 1773) (LTB 301)

King George I founds the first Royal Academy of Music in England after being inspired by Handel’s work

The South Sea Company (that King George I is governor of) takes over the management of the National Debt, and senior officials in the company begin to issue false stock to meet the demand and in September the bubble burst, it is known as the “South Sea Bubble,” thousands of investors found their investment worthless, including most of the country’s leading nobility, When it was found out that cabinet members and court officials had been involved in the dirty dealings it became a national scandal, threatening the Hanoverian dynasty (George I’s relationship with his politicians and the general state of English religious and cultural society at this time was lampooned by Jonathan Swift in his book, Gulliver’s Travels in 1726) (BKQ 351)

March 21, Johann Sebastian Bach turns 36

November 10, Voltaire turns 26

 

1721 

King George I is on the English throne – Peter the Great (I) is on the Russian Throne – Frederick William I is on the Prussian throne – Louis XV is on the French throne/Philippe II d’Orléans is regent until 1723

March 21, Johann Sebastian Bach turns 37 and composes his Brandenburg Concertos

November 10, Voltaire turns 27

 

1722 

King George I is on the English throne – Peter the Great (I) is on the Russian Throne – Frederick William I is on the Prussian throne – Louis XV is on the French throne/Philippe II d’Orléans is regent until 1723

Blenheim Palace is completed

March 21, Johann Sebastian Bach turns 38

November 10, Voltaire turns 28

 

1723 

King George I is on the English throne – Peter the Great (I) is on the Russian throne – Frederick William I is on the Prussian throne – Louis XV is on the French throne, he turns 13 years old, so Philippe II d’Orléans no longer is Regent, Louisreigns until 1774

Construction starts on the Spanish Steps in Rome

Peter I abolishes slavery in Russia, however, serfdom won’t be abolished until 1861 by Tsar Alexander II, serfs are people who can only be sold with the land they are “attached” to

March 21, Johann Sebastian Bach turns 39, and he composes the song Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring

November 10, Voltaire turns 29

 

1724 

King George I is on the English throne – Peter the Great (I) is on the Russian Throne – Frederick William I is on the Prussian throne – Louis XV is on the French Throne

March 21, Johann Sebastian Bach turns 40

November 10, Voltaire turns 30

 

1725 

King George I is on the English throne – Catherine I (not the great) ascends to the Russian throne – Frederick William I is on the Prussian throne – Louis XV is on the French throne

The Spanish Steps in Rome are completed

March 21, Johann Sebastian Bach turns 41

November 10, Voltaire turns 31

 

1726 

King George I is on the English throne – Catherine I is on the Russian throne –

The book, Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift is published (he really lays it on thick in regards to King George I and his terrible governance of religious and cultural affairs)

The medical school at Edinburgh is founded by Alexander Monro, in the first century it was open 17,000 students attended the school, Alexander’s sons and grandsons, etc. held the chair of the school for 120 years (Thomas Young will attend there in the fall of 1794) (The Last Man Who Knew Everything, Pg. 43)

March 21, Johann Sebastian Bach turns 41

November 10, Voltaire turns 31

 

1727  

King George II ascends the English throne – Peter II ascends the Russian throne at 11 years old – Frederick William I is on the Prussian throne – Louis XV is on the French throne

March 20, Isaac Newton dies (some sources say 1726)

March 21, Johann Sebastian Bach turns 42

November 10, Voltaire turns 32

December 22, William Ellery, one of the signers of The Declaration of Independence, is born (d. 1820)

 

1728  

King George II is on the English throne – Peter II is on the Russian throne – Frederick William I is on the Prussian throne – Louis XV is on the French throne –

March 21, Johann Sebastian Bach turns 43

November 10, Voltaire turns 33, sometime just before this, he had predicted that the Bible would be out of circulation within a century of his death, but around this year is when a Bible society purchased his printing press—on which such predictions were made—and instead of publishing skeptical books, they published the Bible, remember, the New Testament had only been translated into English 202 years before this (William Tyndale’s New Testament in 1526) (today, more than 240 years after Voltaire’s death, the Bible remains the best-selling book on earth, with 20 million copies sold in America alone annually) (Newsmax https://www.newsmax.com/jerrynewcombe/christian-church-hatfield-voltaire/2020/08/07/id/981141/)

Carl Linnaeus is studying medicine at the University of Lund, but transfers to Uppsala University, in the hope that the course will be better, he studies plants, minerals, and animals in medicine, and it is here that he comes to the attention of Olof Celsius (1670-1756) a theologian and naturalist (his nephew is Anders Celsius, who invents the Celsius thermometer), Olof finds Carl studying in the university’s botanic garden—and is very surprised to find that the young man knew the names of all the surrounding plants, Carl has very little money, so Olof offers him a place to live while at university and allows him to use his library, during this time, Carl wrote an essay on the classification of plants based on their sexual parts and one professor, Olof Rudbeck (1660-1740) is so impressed that he asks Carl to become a teaching assistant in botany

 

1729  

King George II is on the English throne – Peter II is on the Russian throne – Frederick William I is on the Prussian throne – Louis XV is on the French throne

March 21, Johann Sebastian Bach turns 44

May 2, Catherine the Great, future Empress of Russia, is born Princess Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg, in Stettin, Pomerania, Kingdom of Prussia into a German ruling family

The book, A Modest Proposal is anonymously published by Jonathan Swift

November 10, Voltaire turns 34

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