Marc Bédarride (4 February 1776 – April 1846) was a French writer, military officer and

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 ...

. He served the

First French Empire The First French Empire, officially the French Republic, then the French Empire (; Latin: ) after 1809, also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental Eu ...

during the

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars (french: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted French First Republic, France against Ki ...

under

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

in Egypt and later in the Italian Peninsula. Although born in France, the conquests of the

War of the Second Coalition The War of the Second Coalition (1798/9 – 1801/2, depending on periodisation) was the second war on revolutionary France by most of the European monarchies, led by Britain, Austria and Russia, and including the Ottoman Empire, Portugal, N ...

brought him to the Italian Peninsula where his chief legacy was the founding of the masonic

Rite of Misraim The Ancient and Primitive Rite of Memphis-Misraïm is a masonic rite founded in Naples, Italy in September 1881 by the merger of two older rites; the ''Rite of Misraïm'' and the ''Rite of Memphis''. Although founded in 1881, its predecessors ...

in 1813.

Biography

Background

Bédarride came from a

Sephardic Jewish Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefar ...

family from

Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bor ...

; the family took their name from

Bédarrides Bédarrides (; Provençal: ''Bedarrida'') is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. Name The settlement is attested as ''villa Betorrida'' in 814, ''Biturrita'' in 898, ''Bisturr ...

where the family had lived for some time and had been familiar with

Kabbalistic Kabbalah ( he, קַבָּלָה ''Qabbālā'', literally "reception, tradition") is an esoteric method, discipline and Jewish theology, school of thought in Jewish mysticism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ( ''Məqūbbāl'' "rece ...

currents in Judaism there through the ''

Dönmeh The Dönme ( he, דוֹנְמֶה, Dōnme, ota, دونمه, tr, Dönme) were a group of Sabbatean crypto-Jews in the Ottoman Empire who converted outwardly to Islam, but retained their Jewish faith and Kabbalistic beliefs in secret. The mo ...

'' movement. Mardochée "Marc" Bédarride was born at

Cavaillon Cavaillon (; Provençal: ''Cavalhon'') is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of Southeastern France.

, then part of

Comtat Venaissin The Comtat Venaissin (; Provençal: , Mistralian norm: , classical norm: ; 'County of Venaissin'), often called the for short, was a part of the Papal States (1274‒1791) in what is now the region of France. The entire region was an enclav ...

Papal States The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope fro ...

on 4 February 1776 to Gad Bédarride (1740—25 December 1800) and Gentille Milhaud (1747—6 September 1831). He had two brothers; Jossuda "Joseph" Bédarride (1787—1840) and Michel Bédarride (29 August 1778—9 February 1856). Their father, Gad, became a freemason at

Avignon Avignon (, ; ; oc, Avinhon, label=Provençal dialect, Provençal or , ; la, Avenio) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region of So ...

in 1771.

Military

He served as part of

's Army as an officer during the French campaign in Egypt alongside Jean Poussielgue,

Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier Jean-Baptiste Joseph Fourier (; ; 21 March 1768 – 16 May 1830) was a French mathematician and physicist born in Auxerre and best known for initiating the investigation of Fourier series, which eventually developed into Fourier analysis and ...

Bernardino Drovetti Bernardino Michele Maria Drovetti (January 7, 1776 – March 5, 1852) was an Italian antiquities collector, diplomat, and politician. He is best remembered for having acquired the Turin Royal Canon and for his questionable behavior in collec ...

and Jean Baptiste Henraux. After returning to Europe from the Egypt campaign he arrived at

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 158,493 residents in December 2017. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn (pronou ...

in the Italian Peninsula. On 14 January 1799 he was appointed Captain of Staff of the Army of the

Parthenopean Republic The Parthenopean Republic ( it, Repubblica Partenopea, french: République Parthénopéenne) or Neapolitan Republic (''Repubblica Napoletana'') was a short-lived, semi-autonomous republic located within the Kingdom of Naples and supported by the ...

under the command of General

Jean Étienne Championnet Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * Jea ...

. He was commander of the 18th ''"Les Emules de Mars"'' Line Battalion at the

Battle of Marengo The Battle of Marengo was fought on 14 June 1800 between French forces under the First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte and Austrian forces near the city of Alessandria, in Piedmont, Italy. Near the end of the day, the French overcame General Mich ...

Freemasonry

While serving in the French military, Bédarride became involved in

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 ...

. He was a scholar of

Egyptology Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , '' -logia''; ar, علم المصريات) is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious ...

(something then very popular in France) and an honorary member of the Bonapartist Lodge of the Philosophical

Scottish Rite The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction in the United States often omits the ''and'', while the English Constitution in the United Kingdom omits the ''Scottish''), commonly known as simply the Sco ...

"''Saint Napoleon''" of

Palazzo Cocchi-Serristori Palazzo Cocchi-Serristori is a Renaissance-style palace in Piazza Santa Croce, Florence, Italy. It presently houses offices of a regional council of Florence. History It is situated opposite to the church of Santa Croce, in the place where the ci ...

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

. In 1801, he organized a meeting in

Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...

of the most important Masonic lodges of the

Kingdom of Etruria The Kingdom of Etruria (; it, Regno di Etruria) was an Italian kingdom between 1801 and 1807 that made up a large part of modern Tuscany. It took its name from Etruria, the old Roman name for the land of the Etruscans. History The kingdom ...

, together with Jacob Bédarride, Mathieu de Lesseps, the Consul General of France in Florence (and father of

Ferdinand de Lesseps Ferdinand Marie, Comte de Lesseps (; 19 November 1805 – 7 December 1894) was a French diplomat and later developer of the Suez Canal, which in 1869 joined the Mediterranean and Red Seas, substantially reducing sailing distances and times ...

) and "Philalete Abraham" (perhaps Giulio Cesare Tassoni, Napoleonic diplomat). In 1813 he founded in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

the lodge ''"La Figlia della Sapienza"'' then directed in 1814 by the Grand Cofto General Lorenzo Montemayor (1768-1841) and historically linked to the lodge ''"I Figli della Libertà"'' which had been underground since 1799. He is remembered for having founded the Masonic "''Rito Egizio di Misraim''" in 1813 and, together with Jacob and Joseph, constituted the first Egyptian Rite of Paris on 19 May 1815, called ''Arc en Ciel'' (Arcobaleno), closely associated with the Italian and French circles of

Filippo Buonarroti :''See also Philippe Buonarroti (1761–1837), expatriate radical journalist.'' Filippo Buonarroti (Florence, 18 November 1661 — 10 December 1733), the great-grandnephew of Michelangelo Buonarroti, was a Italian official at the court of Cosimo ...

. The definitive structure of the Egyptian Rite of Misraim dates back to 1818, while in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

in 1819 it regulated the ''"Tegolatura Suprema Scala di Napoli"'', better known as "'' Arcana Arcanorum''."

Legacy

After his death, Bédarride's ''Rite of Misraim'' merged with the ''Rite of Memphis'' in 1880 under

Giuseppe Garibaldi Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi ( , ;In his native Ligurian language, he is known as ''Gioxeppe Gaibado''. In his particular Niçard dialect of Ligurian, he was known as ''Jousé'' or ''Josep''. 4 July 1807 – 2 June 1882) was an Italian general, patr ...

to become the Ancient and Primitive Rite of Memphis-Misraïm. The ''Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia'' (1877) by Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie (author of the '' Cipher Manuscripts'' of the

Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn ( la, Ordo Hermeticus Aurorae Aureae), more commonly the Golden Dawn (), was a secret society devoted to the study and practice of occult Hermeticism and metaphysics during the late 19th and early 20th ce ...

), considers the three Bédarride brothers; Marc, Michel and Joseph as "charlatans".

Bibliography

*Marc Bédarride, ''De l'ordre maçonnique de Misraïm'', Editions de Bénard, 1845. *Gastone Ventura, ''I Riti Massonici di Misraim e Memphis'', Atanor, Roma 1975 *Daniel Ligou, ''Dictionnaire de la Franc-Maçonnerie'', Presses Universitaires de France, 1987. *Gerard Galtier, ''Maçonnerie Egyptienne, Rose Croix et Neo-Chevalerie'', Editions du Rocher, 1989. *Franco Cristelli, ''Storia della Loggia Massonica "Napoleone" di Firenze'', Centro Editoriale Toscano, 1992.

External links

Les frères Bédarride et le Rite maçonnique de Misraïm
by Gérard Galtier

by Jean Gallian
The Misraim Rite
by Jean-Lambert Renders
Genealogie Misraim

at Maconnieke Encyclopedie {{DEFAULTSORT:Bedarride, Marc 1776 births 1846 deaths 18th-century French Sephardi Jews 19th-century French Sephardi Jews French Army officers French military personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars French Egyptologists French Freemasons