La Loge des Neuf Sœurs (; The Nine Sisters), established in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

in 1776, was a prominent French

Masonic Lodge A Masonic lodge, often termed a private lodge or constituent lodge, is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also commonly used as a term for a building in which such a unit meets. Every new lodge must be warranted or chartered ...

of the

Grand Orient de France The Grand Orient de France (GODF) is the oldest and largest of several Freemasonry, Freemasonic organizations based in France and is the oldest in Continental Europe (as it was formed out of an older Grand Lodge of France in 1773, and briefly ab ...

that was influential in organising French support for the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

. A "Société des Neuf Sœurs," a charitable society that surveyed academic curricula, had been active at the

Académie Royale des Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (French: ''Académie des sciences'') is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French scientific research. It was at the ...

since 1769. Its name referred to the nine

Muses In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the p ...

, the daughters of

Mnemosyne In Greek mythology and ancient Greek religion, Mnemosyne (; grc, Μνημοσύνη, ) is the goddess of memory and the mother of the nine Muses by her nephew Zeus. In the Greek tradition, Mnemosyne is one of the Titans, the twelve divine chil ...

/Memory, patrons of the arts and sciences since antiquity, and long significant in French cultural circles. The Lodge of similar name and purpose was opened in 1776, by

Jérôme de Lalande Jerome (c.347–420) was a priest, confessor, theologian and historian from Dalmatia. Jerome may also refer to: People Given name * Jerome (given name), a masculine name of Greek origin, with a list of people so named * Saint Jerome (disambigu ...

. From the start of the French Revolution in 1789 until 1792, Les Neuf Sœurs became a "Société Nationale". During the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

, while the Académie Royale des Sciences et des Arts was drastically reorganised, two members of the lodge,

Antoine Laurent de Jussieu Antoine Laurent de Jussieu (; 12 April 1748 – 17 September 1836) was a French botanist, notable as the first to publish a natural classification of flowering plants; much of his system remains in use today. His classification was based on an e ...

and

Gilbert Romme Charles-Gilbert Romme (26 March 1750 – 17 June 1795) was a French politician and mathematician who developed the French Republican Calendar. Biography Charles Gilbert Romme was born in Riom, Puy-de-Dôme, in the Auvergne region of France, wher ...

, in collaboration with

Henri Grégoire Henri Jean-Baptiste Grégoire (; 4 December 1750 – 28 May 1831), often referred to as the Abbé Grégoire, was a French Catholic priest, Constitutional bishop of Blois and a revolutionary leader. He was an ardent slavery abolitionist and sup ...

, helped to organise a "Société Libre des Sciences, Belles Lettres et Arts", to subsidise what had become the

Institut de France The (; ) is a French learned society, grouping five , including the Académie Française. It was established in 1795 at the direction of the National Convention. Located on the Quai de Conti in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, the institute m ...

so as to keep the original influence of the "Neuf Soeurs" intact. (Hahn, 1971) The lodge was reconstituted under its original name in 1805, ceased operation from 1829–1836, and finally closed in 1848. Its former location is thought to be on the

Rue de la Bûcherie Rue de la Bûcherie is a street in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, France. History Near the cathedral Notre-Dame de Paris and the Place Maubert, between La Seine and Boulevard Saint-Germain Rue de la Bûcherie is one of the oldest Rive Gauche ...

on the Left Bank across from Notre-Dame. Its successive "Venerable Masters" of the first decade were

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...

(1779–1781), Marquis de La Salle (1781–1783), Milly (1783–1784), Charles Dupaty (1784), Elie de Beaumont (1784–1785), and Claude Pastoret (1788–1789) (Ligou, 1987).

The Americans

In 1778, the year

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his ...

became a member,

and

John Paul Jones John Paul Jones (born John Paul; July 6, 1747 July 18, 1792) was a Scottish-American naval captain who was the United States' first well-known naval commander in the American Revolutionary War. He made many friends among U.S political elites ( ...

also were accepted along with

Jean Sylvain Bailly Jean Sylvain Bailly (; 15 September 1736 – 12 November 1793) was a French astronomer, mathematician, freemason, and political leader of the early part of the French Revolution. He presided over the Tennis Court Oath, served as the mayor of Par ...

. Benjamin Franklin became Master of the Lodge in 1779, and was re-elected in 1780. When Franklin, after a long and influential stay in Europe, returned to America to participate in the writing of the Constitution, Thomas Jefferson a non-Mason took over as American Envoy.

Jean-Antoine Houdon Jean-Antoine Houdon (; 20 March 1741 – 15 July 1828) was a French neoclassical sculptor. Houdon is famous for his portrait busts and statues of philosophers, inventors and political figures of the Enlightenment. Houdon's subjects included De ...

, a member of Les Neuf Sœurs, added Jefferson's marble bust to his corpus of works, which included busts of Franklin and

General Lafayette Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette (6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), known in the United States as Lafayette (, ), was a French aristocrat, freemason and military officer who fought in the American Revolutio ...

. Jefferson persuaded Houdon to make his famous statue of George Washington, for which Houdon travelled to America in 1785. While Jefferson stayed in Paris, at the Maison des Feuillants, his neighbour was

Jean-François Marmontel Jean-François Marmontel (11 July 1723 – 31 December 1799) was a French historian, writer and a member of the Encyclopédistes movement. Biography He was born of poor parents at Bort, Limousin (today in Corrèze). After studying with th ...

Secretary-for-Life of the Paris Academy of Sciences and another member of the Lodge. At the same time Jefferson's friend, American Founding Father

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...

, was the neighbour, at Auteuil, of

Anne-Catherine de Ligniville, Madame Helvétius Anne-Catherine de Ligniville, Madame Helvétius (23 July 1722 – 12 August 1800), also Anne-Catherine de Ligniville d'Autricourt, nicknamed "Minette", maintained a renowned salon in France in the eighteenth century. Life One of the twenty-one ...

, who hosted the famous Cercle d'Auteuil where the influence of Les Neuf Sœurs was at its highest. In ''Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire du Jacobinisme'' (4 vol.,1797–1798)

Abbé Barruel Augustin Barruel (October 2, 1741 – October 5, 1820) was a French publicist and Jesuit priest. He is now mostly known for setting forth the conspiracy theory involving the Bavarian Illuminati and the Jacobins in his book ''Memoirs Illustrating ...

attributed membership to key figures of the French Revolution like

Jacques Pierre Brissot Jacques Pierre Brissot (, 15 January 1754 – 31 October 1793), who assumed the name of de Warville (an English version of "d'Ouarville", a hamlet in the village of Lèves where his father owned property), was a leading member of the Girondins dur ...

(Barruel claims Brissot was a member of Neuf Soeurs, although Brissot wrote that he was initiated into a German Lodge but was never active) and

Georges Danton Georges Jacques Danton (; 26 October 1759 – 5 April 1794) was a French lawyer and a leading figure in the French Revolution. He became a deputy to the Paris Commune, presided in the Cordeliers district, and visited the Jacobin club. In Augus ...

.The French Revolution and the Bavarian Illuminati
at ''freemasonry.bcy.ca''. Retrieved 2011-10-24.

Members

(1694–1778) — Initiated on April 4, 1778 in Paris; his conductors were Benjamin Franklin and Antoine Court de Gébelin. He died the following month. His membership however was symbolic of the independence of mind Les Neuf Sœurs stood for. *

(1706–1790) *

(1747–1792) *

Jean-Nicolas Démeunier Jean-Nicolas Démeunier (sometimes Desmeuniers) (15 March 1751 – 2 February 1814) was a French author and politician. Biography Démeunier was born in Nozeroy in the department of Jura. He is the author of several historical essays, politica ...

(1751–1814) *

Claude-Emmanuel de Pastoret Claude-Emmanuel Joseph Pierre, Marquess of Pastoret (24 December 1755, in Marseille – 28 September 1840, in Paris) was a French lawyer, author and politician. Biography Pastoret was elected member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Le ...

(1755–1840) *

Antoine Court de Gébelin Antoine Court, who named himself Antoine Court de Gébelin (Nîmes, 25 January 1725 At Google Books.Paris, 10 May 1784), was a former Protestant pastor, born in Nîmes, who initiated the interpretation of the Tarot as an arcane repository of timel ...

(1725–1784) *

Camille Desmoulins Lucie-Simplice-Camille-Benoît Desmoulins (; 2 March 17605 April 1794) was a French journalist and politician who played an important role in the French Revolution. Desmoulins was tried and executed alongside Georges Danton when the Committee o ...

(1760–1794) * Louis-Marcelin de Fontanes (1757–1821) * Nicolas François de Neufchâteau (1750–1828) *

Jean-Baptiste Greuze Jean-Baptiste Greuze (, 21 August 1725 – 4 March 1805) was a French painter of portraits, genre scenes, and history painting. Biography Early life Greuze was born at Tournus, a market town in Burgundy. He is generally said to have formed h ...

(1725–1805) *

(1741–1828) *

Nicolas Dalayrac Nicolas-Marie d'Alayrac (; bapt. 13 June 175326 November 1809), nicknamed the Musician poet, more commonly Nicolas Dalayrac, was a French composer of the Classical period. Intended for a military career, he made the acquaintance of many mu ...

(1753–1809) * Bernard de Lacépède (1756–1825) *

Adrien-Nicolas Piédefer, marquis de La Salle Adrien-Nicolas Piédefer, marquis de La Salle, comte d'Offrémont (1735 – 1818) was a French writer and cavalry officer who saw service in the Seven Years' War, a writer of comedy, comedies and libretto, libretti, and a freemason, Masonic brother ...

(1735–1818) *

Carle Vernet Antoine Charles Horace Vernet, better known as Carle Vernet (14 August 175827 November 1836), was a French painter, the youngest child of Claude Joseph Vernet and the father of Horace Vernet. Biography Vernet was born in Bordeaux. At the age o ...

(1758–1835) *

(1723–1799) * Pierre-Louis Ginguené (1748–1815) * Jacques Montgolfier (1745–1799) *

Niccolò Piccinni Niccolò Piccinni (; 16 January 1728 – 7 May 1800) was an Italian composer of symphonies, sacred music, chamber music, and opera. Although he is somewhat obscure today, Piccinni was one of the most popular composers of opera—particularly the ...

(1728–1800) *

Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès (3 May 174820 June 1836), usually known as the Abbé Sieyès (), was a French Roman Catholic '' abbé'', clergyman, and political writer who was the chief political theorist of the French Revolution (1789–1799); he also ...

(1748–1836) *

Nicolas Chamfort Sébastien-Roch Nicolas, known in his adult life as Nicolas Chamfort and as Sébastien Nicolas de Chamfort (; 6 April 1741 – 13 April 1794), was a French writer, best known for his epigrams and aphorisms. He was secretary to Louis XVI's siste ...

(1741–1794) *

Joseph-Ignace Guillotin Joseph-Ignace Guillotin (; 28 May 1738 – 26 March 1814) was a French physician, politician, and freemason who proposed on 10 October 1789 the use of a device to carry out death penalties in France, as a less painful method of execution than ...

(1738–1794) *

Dominique Joseph Garat Dominique Joseph Garat (8 September 17499 December 1833) was a French Basque writer, lawyer, journalist, philosopher and politician. Biography Garat was born at Bayonne, in the French Basque Country. After a good education under the direction ...

(1749–1833) *

Pierre Jean George Cabanis Pierre Jean Georges Cabanis (; 5 June 1757 – 5 May 1808) was a French physiologist, freemason and materialist philosopher. Life Cabanis was born at Cosnac (Corrèze), the son of Jean Baptiste Cabanis (1723–1786), a lawyer and agronomist. ...

(1757–1808) *

Jérôme Lalande Joseph Jérôme Lefrançois de Lalande (; 11 July 1732 – 4 April 1807) was a French astronomer, freemason and writer. Biography Lalande was born at Bourg-en-Bresse (now in the département of Ain) to Pierre Lefrançois and Marie‐Anne‐Gab ...

(1732–1807) *

Nicolas Bricaire de la Dixmerie Nicolas Bricaire de la Dixmerie (c. 1730 – November 26, 1791), French man of letters, was born at Lamothe (Haute-Marne). While still young he removed to Paris, where the rest of his life was spent in literary activity. His numerous works include ...

(1731?–1791) * Jean-Michel Moreau le Jeune (1741–1814) *

Alexander Sergeyevich Stroganov Alexander Sergeyevich Stroganov (1733–1811) was a Russian baron and a member of the Stroganov family. He was an assistant to the Minister of the Interior, a longtime President of the Imperial Academy of Arts, director of the Russian Imperial ...

(1733–1811) *

(1736–1793) and

Marquis de Condorcet Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas de Caritat, Marquis of Condorcet (; 17 September 1743 – 29 March 1794), known as Nicolas de Condorcet, was a French philosopher and mathematician. His ideas, including support for a liberal economy, free and equal pu ...

(1743–1794) are often listed as members but no documentation exists as proof. * Eugenio Martin Izquierdo de Rivera y Lazaún (1776–?) *

François Lays François Lay, better known under the stage name Lays (14 February 1758 – 30 March 1831), was a French baritone and tenor opera singer. Originally destined for a career in the church, Lays was recruited by the Paris Opéra in 1779. He soon b ...

(1758–1831) Jean Baptiste Moulon de la Chesnaye

References

Notes

Sources

* Louis Amiable, ''Une loge maçonnique d'avant 1789, la loge des Neuf Sœurs'', comméntaire critique –

Charles Porset Charles Porset (15 April 1944 – 25 May 2011, aged 67) was a French writer and historian. He wrote numerous books, articles and papers on the "Fait Masonic" in the eighteenth century. Biography Charles Porset taught philosophy in high school ...

, (Les Editions Maçonnique de France, Paris 1989) * Howard C. Rice, Jr., ''Thomas Jefferson's Paris'' (Princeton : Princeton University Press, 1976) * Roger C. Hahn, ''The anatomy of a scientific institution: 1666–1803, the Paris Academy of Sciences'' (Berkeley : University of California Press, 1971) * Roger C. Hahn, "Quelques nouveaux documents sur Jean Silvain Bailly" in ''Revue d'Histoire des Sciences'' 8 (Paris,1955) pp. 338–353 * Daniel Ligou, ed. ''Dictionnaire de la franc-maçonnerie'' (Paris : Presses Universitaires de France, 1987) * De La Valette-Mombrun, ''Maine de Biran (1766–1824)'' (Paris 1914) * J.A.C. Sykes ''France in 1802'' (William Heinemann, London 1906)

External links

Les Neuf Sœurs (French and English)National Archives: To Benjamin Franklin From The Loge Des Neuf Soeurs (January 10th, 1780)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Les Neuf Soeurs Freemasonry in France 1776 establishments in France