John Coustos - frontispiece to 'Sufferings in the Inquisition', 1746 (British Museum, 1851,0308

John Coustos (1703 in

Bern german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese , neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen , website ...

– 1746) was an 18th-century

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

businessman living in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Coustos is primarily known for his involvement with

freemasonry Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

after joining the

Premier Grand Lodge of England The organisation now known as the Premier Grand Lodge of England was founded on 24 June 1717 as the Grand Lodge of London and Westminster. Originally concerned with the practice of Freemasonry in London and Westminster, it soon became known as ...

in London (where he was allegedly a spy for British Whig Prime Minister,

Robert Walpole Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, (26 August 1676 – 18 March 1745; known between 1725 and 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole) was a British statesman and Whig politician who, as First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Leader ...

). He subsequently was active in freemasonry in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

and came into conflict with the

Portuguese Inquisition The Portuguese Inquisition (Portuguese: ''Inquisição Portuguesa''), officially known as the General Council of the Holy Office of the Inquisition in Portugal, was formally established in Portugal in 1536 at the request of its king, John III. ...

. The fallout in the aftermath of this was a major event in the struggle between

Catholicism and Freemasonry The Catholic Church first prohibited Catholics from membership in Masonic organizations and other secret societies in 1738. Since then, at least eleven Papacy, popes have made pronouncements about the incompatibility of Catholic doctrines and Fre ...

Biography

Freemasonry in England

Coustos became a

freemason Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

around 1728-29 and was a member of the

, while living in London. The modern scholar Marsha Keith Schuchard, claims that Coustos, "acted as a secret agent for Walpole," the Whig Prime Minister of Britain.. Schuchard claims that Coustos, allegedly of

Marrano Marranos were Spanish and Portuguese Jews living in the Iberian Peninsula who converted or were Forced conversion#Spanish Inquisition, forced to convert to Christianity during the Middle Ages, but continued to Crypto-Judaism, practice Judaism i ...

descent, who came to London in the aftermath of the public fallout of the Francis Francia trial (a Sephardic " Jacobite Jew", who was involved in Freemasonry) caught the eye of the British government. Prime Minister Walpole, a stalwart of the new Hanoverian regime, allegedly used Coustos (and other spies such as Michel de la Roche) to spy on French masonic lodges in London from 1730 to 1732 and report back on any activities of exiled Jacobites in Paris.

Portuguese Inquisition

While traveling on business he founded a

Masonic Freemasonry or Masonry refers to Fraternity, fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of Stonemasonry, stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their inte ...

lodge in

and was arrested by the

. After questioning he was sentenced to the galleys. Three Portuguese Masons were put to death. He was released in 1744 as a result of the intercession of

George II of Great Britain , house = Hanover , religion = Protestant , father = George I of Great Britain , mother = Sophia Dorothea of Celle , birth_date = 30 October / 9 November 1683 , birth_place = Herrenhausen Palace,Cannon. or Leine ...

. After his release and return to England, Coustos wrote a book detailing his experiences in the hands of the Inquisition.

Works

* John Coustos: ''The Sufferings of John Coustos for Freemasonry and for His Refusing to Turn Roman Catholic in the Inquisition'',

Kessinger Publishing Kessinger Publishing LLC is an American print-on-demand Print on demand (POD) is a printing technology and business process in which book copies (or other documents, packaging or materials) are not printed until the company receives an orde ...

, * Giovanni Tarantino, "The Mysteries of Popery Unveiled: Affective Language in John Coustos’ and Anthony Gavín’s Accounts of the Inquisition", in Spaces for Feeling: Emotions and Sociabilities in Britain, 1650-1850, ed. by

Susan Broomhall Susan Broomhall is an Australian historian and academic. She is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow and Professor of History at The University of Western Australia, and from 2018 Co-Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for the His ...

(Routledge 2015; ), pp. 35-51 The original publication of Sufferings of John Coustos was published in 1746. It was printed by W Strahan who at the time was the printer to George II. The original book is dedicated to the Earl of Harrington, who was one of his majestys principal Secretaries of state

References

Bibliography

* * Catholicism and Freemasonry 1703 births 1746 deaths Freemasons of the Premier Grand Lodge of England {{Switzerland-business-bio-stub