Lodge of Rational Knights
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The Lautaro Lodge ( es, Logia Lautaro) was a revolutionary
secret lodge A secret society is a club or an organization whose activities, events, inner functioning, or membership are concealed. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence a ...
active in Latin American politics in the 19th Century. It was initially known as the Lodge of Rational Knights ( es, Logia de los Caballeros Racionales). Its initial purposes were to apply the goals of the
Spanish Enlightenment The ideas of the Age of Enlightenment ( es, Ilustración) came to Spain in the 18th century with the new Bourbon dynasty, following the death of the last Habsburg monarch, Charles II, in 1700. The period of reform and ' enlightened despotism' u ...
, and when Spain began the
Absolutist Restauration Absolutism may refer to: Government * Absolute monarchy, in which a monarch rules free of laws or legally organized opposition * Absolutism (European history), period c. 1610 – c. 1789 in Europe ** Enlightened absolutism, influenced by the Enl ...
they promoted instead the emancipation of the South American colonies.


Creation in Europe

It was for many years believed to have been founded as an extension of the British lodge "The Great American Reunion", created by Venezuelan revolutionary
Francisco de Miranda Sebastián Francisco de Miranda y Rodríguez de Espinoza (28 March 1750 – 14 July 1816), commonly known as Francisco de Miranda (), was a Venezuelan military leader and revolutionary. Although his own plans for the independence of the Spani ...
. However, recent research suggests that the Lodge was founded in Cadiz, Spain, and that Miranda was not amongst its founders, as he himself was living in Paris at the time, from where he returned to London in January 1798.Galasso, p. 52 As with other secret societies, such details are difficult to investigate by historians, given the secrecy of their activities. Both lodges had just a superficial compromise with freemasonry, taking advantage of their secret societies merely as a tool to promote liberal agendas, evading punishment from absolutist governments of the time."General Francisco de Miranda Father of Revolutionary Masonry in Latin America"
by Carlos Antonio Martinez, Northern California Research Lodge


Buenos Aires

A number of officers from the Peninsular War, such as José de San Martín, Carlos María de Alvear,
José Matías Zapiola José Matías Zapiola (March 22, 1780 - June 27, 1874) was an Argentine brigadier. He was born in Buenos Aires on March 22, 1780. He moved to Spain, and returned alongside José de San Martín in 1812.From 1812 to 1814, he took part in the sieg ...
, Francisco Chilavert and Eduardo Kailitz left Cádiz and moved to Buenos Aires. They began to organize a secret lodge, similar to the one in Cádiz. There were other secret lodges already working in Buenos Aires: the anglophile lodges "''Hiram sons''" and "''Southern Star''", and the "''Patriotic Society''" that united the former supporters of
Mariano Moreno Mariano Moreno (; September 23, 1778March 4, 1811) was an Argentine lawyer, journalist, and politician. He played a decisive role in the Primera Junta, the first national government of Argentina, created after the May Revolution. Moreno was b ...
. This last lodge, opposed to the first two ones, was integrated into the new one created by the Spanish generals.


Name

Although the lodge is most commonly known as "Lautaro", it did not employ that name during all of its existence. The name made reference to Mapuche leader Lautaro, which made sense in Santiago de Chile in the 1817-1820 period, but not in Buenos Aires in 1812 and much less in Europe.Galasso, p. 79 Historian
Vicente Fidel López Vicente Fidel López (April 24, 1815 in Buenos Aires – August 30, 1903) was an Argentine historian, lawyer and politician. He was the son of writer and politician Vicente López y Planes. Biography He studied at the school of Moral Sciences wi ...
points that "Lautaro" was really a masonic code meaning "''Expedition to Chile''", but similarly, Chile was not a military target for Buenos Aires in 1812. By that point, Chile was still in the ''
Patria Vieja Patria Vieja (, ) refers to a time period in the History of Chile occurring between the First Junta of the Government (September 18, 1810) and the Disaster of Rancagua (October 1, 1814). In this period, Chilean measures were taken for the impri ...
'' period, and would not fall into royalist control until the 1814 Disaster of Rancagua. Although the secrecy makes difficult to investigate the purposes or even the name, Alcibíades Lappas considers instead that the lodge was named "''Lodge of Rational Knights''" in 1812, just like the Cádiz one, and that San Martín renamed it "''Lautaro''" when he recreated it in 1815, after the fall of Alvear.Galasso, pp. 79-80


Bibliography

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References

{{Authority control Masonic Lodges José de San Martín Argentine War of Independence Chilean War of Independence Peninsular War