page_title: History of Freemasonry in France
section_title: 1730s
hierarchical_section_title: History of Freemasonry in France / Course / Ancien Régime / 1730s
caption_attribution_description: Plat en faïence au décor maçonnique,Lyon, France, XVIIIème siècle. L'objet original se trouve au musée de la Grande Loge de France, Paris, France.
context_page_description: Freemasonry in France has a long and varied history.
context_section_description: In December 1736, the chevalier de Ramsay pronounced a discourse in which he propounded the idea of a chivalric origin for Freemasonry.  This idea later had a definite influence on the instigation in French Freemasonry from 1740 to 1770 of a large number of Masonic Upper Degrees, which later regrouped around different Masonic rites.
  The first revelation of Masonic secrets to the French public dates to 1737, and the following year these were published in the La Gazette de Hollande under the title La réception d'un frey-maçon ("The reception of a Freemason"), drawing on investigations by René Hérault, lieutenant of police, and the testimony of a Miss Carton, a dancer at the Opéra, to whom a Mason had told the secrets.  The police interest reflects the absolute monarchy's fears of the dangers it could incur from a "society admitting people of all estates, conditions, religions, and in which may be found a large number of foreigners".  It therefore forbade "all traiteurs, cabaretiers, aubergistes and others from receiving the aforesaid assemblies of freys-maçons".  However, this did not stop them meeting, under the protection of figures from the high nobility, such as the duke of Antin.  Other investigations occurred from 1740 to 1745, giving rise to highly detailed police reports that now constitute a precious source for historians of Freemasonry.  These investigations were also accompanied by arrests and light sentences, until Freemasonry definitively became part of French social life, with condemnations and sentences emanating from the monarchy ending around the end of the 18th century.
  The year 1738 also saw the condemnation of Freemasonry in the papal bull In eminenti apostolatus of Pope Clement XII.  This was the signal for a wave of anti-Masonic persecutions across European countries more loyal to the see of Rome, but not in France, where the bull was refused registration by the Parliament of Paris for political reasons (a bull had to be registered by the Parliament to take effect in France.  French Freemasonry thus very quickly became mainly Catholic in composition, including several priests, and remained so until the French Revolution.
caption: 18th century Masonic plate from France
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