Upper Saxony
From 1774 he was a Freemason in the Zinnendorf system and a member of the Gotha Lodge Zum Rautenkranz, which had been founded by Abel Seyler, Konrad Ekhof and other members of the Seyler Theatre Company in the same year. In 1775, he was appointed Grand Master of the Landesloge of Germany (Zinnendorf system). In 1783, he became a member of the Bavarian "Illuminati" under the name of "Quintus Severus" and/or "Timoleon", and in 1784, he was made Supervisor of "Abessinien" (a name for Upper Saxony). In 1787, he granted Adam Weishaupt, the founder of the secret society, asylum in Gotha. He was buried wrapped in a white cloth on the park island.