The Swedish Rite

The Swedish Rite is little known to Freemasons in most parts of the world, but it is the most common in the Nordic countries: Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Iceland and Finland. It is also practised in a slightly different way by some Lodges in Germany and Spain. Strictly Christian in inspiration, the Swedish Rite is a mystical and illuminist Rite which, in spirit, is quite similar to the Rectified Scottish Rite. But despite its similarities with other Masonic Rites, the Swedish Rite is unique in its relationship to the monarchy, and culminates in an Order that is both an honorary order of the Crown and a Masonic dignity. What, then, are the origins of the Swedish Rite and what are its specific features ?

The beginnings of Freemasonry in Sweden

The Freemasonry that began to develop in Sweden in 1735 was of French origin. Unlike in most other European countries, London played no role. The first Lodge was founded in Stockholm in 1735 by Count Axel Wrede-Sparre (1708-1772), who had received the three degrees of Craft Freemasonry in France. Three years later, Baron Carl Frederik Scheffer (1715-1786) returned to Sweden after a stay in France, bearing a letter signed in 1737 by Lord Derwentwater, then Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of France : this letter granted him permission to create and administer Lodges under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of France, pending the election of a Grand Master for Sweden. King Frederick I of Sweden (1676-1751) was concerned about this new society and banned it in 1738, on pain of death. But he soon received the official homage of the Freemasons and lifted the ban after only a few months.

The Grand Lodge of Sweden was created in 1761, under the protection of King Adolph-Frederik (1710-1771), with patents from the Grand Lodge of France and rituals of French origin, and the first Grand Master was Baron Scheffer. The Grand Lodge was recognised by the Grand Lodge of London in 1770.

The first higher degrees practised in Sweden also came from France. In 1743, on his return from another visit to France, Baron Scheffer brought back rituals from the French Higher Degrees and set up the first Scottish Chapter in Stockholm. Then, in 1754, a certain Dr Engelhardt received a patent from the Count of Clermont, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of France, for the practice of the Higher Degrees. He founded a Lodge and Chapter in Gothenburg in 1757. And finally, in 1759, Count Hirn brought other high degrees from Metz, which did not become French until 1766, but was already heavily influenced by France.

The origins of the Swedish Rite

In mentality, culture and religion, Swedish Freemasons felt closer to their Brothers in the Protestant German states than to the Freemasons of France. They soon created their own Masonic System, tinged with mysticism, Rosicrucianism and Templar legend. In 1759, the physician and Chancellery Councillor Carl Frederik Eckleff (1723-1786) founded a Chapter of Higher Degrees influenced by the mysticism of the Northern School, and in particular the Swedish mystic Emmanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772). When the Grand Lodge of Sweden was founded in 1761, he became its Deputy Grand Master and set about reworking its rituals so that they could be adopted by the new Obedience.

Carl Eckleff

The new Rite appropriated the Templar legend of the German Strict Templar Observance, then at its height, and decreed that, if Germany was indeed the VIIth Province of the Order, Denmark was the VIIIth and Sweden the IXth. The Swedish Rite therefore set itself the task of restoring these Provinces, as the Strict Observance had done in Germany. The two Orders therefore entered into a relationship based as much on alliance as on rivalry. Relations were complicated in 1764 by a defector from the Strict Observance who, having bought the Swedish degrees from Eckleff, produced his own version, which he spread in Germany. This was the Rite of Zinnendorf, named after the ambitious German Freemason Johann Wilhelm Kellner von Zinnendorf (1731-1782).

Prince Charles of Södermanland (1748-1818), the second-born son of Adolf Frederick who reigned over Sweden between 1809 and 1818 under the name of Charles XIII, played an important role in the history of the Swedish Rite, as well as the Strict Templar Observance. Fascinated by mysticism and rather credulous, he was received into the Chapter of Eckleff in 1770. Eckleff, realising how much he could profit from this important figure, gave him his place at the head of the higher degrees, selling him at a high price all the documentation he needed to administer the Rite. Charles added two degrees to the nine that Eckleff had created, thus reinforcing the Templar and Rosicrucian dimension of the Rite, and was also received into the Inner Order of the Strict Templar Observance.

In Germany, the Convent of the Strict Templar Observance held in Kohlo in 1772 disowned Baron de Hund, and Charles stood to succeed him, but the Convent preferred Ferdinand of Braunschweig (1721-1782) as Grand Superior of the Order. Charles' failure was certainly an advantage for the Swedish Rite, which would probably have disappeared like the Strict Templar Observance if the two Orders had merged.

Specific features of the Swedish Rite

The Swedish Rite is divided into three series :

Lodge of St John

I. Apprentice

II. Fellowcraft 

III. Master Mason

Lodge of St Andrew

IV/V. Apprentice and Companion of St Andrew

VI. Master of St. Andrew

Chapter

VII. Very Illustrious Brother, or Knight of the East

VIII. Most Illustrious Brother, or Knight of the West

IX. Enlightened Brother

X. Very Enlightened Brother

And the XIth Degree is a Grand Lodge Degree : Most Enlightened Brother, Knight and Commander of the Red Cross.

The Swedish Rite places itself under the patronage of two Apostles, St Andrew and St John. St Andrew is mentioned in several of the so-called Scottish Higher Degrees, as he is the protector of Scotland. But in this case, he is considered to be the one who introduces to Jesus : according to the Gospel indeed, he was the first disciple to follow Jesus, and he introduced his brother Simon (the future St Peter) to Jesus. And St John is important in the Swedish Rite less as an Evangelist than as a visionary and author of the Revelation, heralding the New Jerusalem. As you can see, the Swedish Rite is resolutely Christian, and only Christians can be admitted.

But unlike most 18th-century Masonic or para-Masonic orders that claimed Rosicrucian heritage, the Swedish Rite was not concerned with alchemy or practical occultism. It concentrated solely on theurgy, seeking direct mystical contact with the Divinity. In this respect, it is not unlike the Martinezist heritage of the Rectified Scottish Rite and the Martinist tradition.

Charles XIII

Another special feature of the Swedish Rite is its close relationship with the Swedish Crown. Since Charles XIII, who reigned from 1809 to 1818, all Swedish kings have been Grand Masters of Swedish Freemasonry. Only the present King, Carl XVI Gustav (b. 1946), has broken with this tradition, while remaining Protector of Freemasonry in his country. The Grand Mastership no longer belongs to the royal family.

The most remarkable sign of this privileged link between Swedish Freemasonry and the Swedish Crown is the Order of Charles XIII, established by Charles XIII in 1811. This is a real honorary Chivalric Order of the Crown, which can only count 33 members, and can be conferred on deserving Freemasons, provided they have received the XIth degree of the Rite.