A Cauldron of Masonic Growth: 18th Century Bordeaux

The history of Freemasonry in Bordeaux begins in the 18th century with the creation in 1732 by three Irish sailors, the first lodge called L'Anglaise. The founders of this first lodge Martin Kelly, Nicholas Staunton and John Robinson were Irish Jacobites from Youghal, in County Cork, who like other Irish and Scots who had followed James II into exile established Freemasonry in France. Étienne Morin trading between the Antilles and Bordeaux, in 1745, founded the Scottish lodge of Bordeaux, Les Élus Parfaits. It is certainly one of the first French Workshops working beyond the degree of Master. Half the lodges of Saint Domingue originated out of Bordeaux. The quality of Freemasons who assist in this creation - all prominent members of the three already existing lodges in Bordeaux - shows that he already enjoyed a good reputation.

Famous citizens of Bordeaux were introduced to masonry, such as the philosopher Montesquieu, Elisha Nairac, who made ​​a fortune in the slave trade, the politician Emile Fourcand, and the architect Victor Louis. Masonry became popular among Bordeaux's financial leaders through the auspices of René-Marie Floc'h, a notable of Breton origin. Finally, it was Montesquieu, who represented the arrival of Freemasonry in the midst of commerce. On August 29, 1740, the lodge Le Français was created for parliamentarians and for those who could not speak English, but most likely also as a result of some French Catholic pressure. Later this lodge would give birth to the La Parfaite Harmonie in 1744. L'Amitié or L'Amitié Allemande followed in 1746. Le Français and  L'Amitié Allemande dominated local Masonic activity and spawned many lodges in the future Gironde.

By the end of 18th century Bordeaux could claim more than 3,000 masons in a city of 110,000 inhabitants. These Lodges had become a meeting place of the Bordeaux elite and actively disseminated the ideals of Enlightenment thinking.

In 1742, the steward of Guyenne, Claude Boucher , send a report to the Minister as follows:

"He introduced here a kind of society under the title of free-mason's brotherhood that has become popular ... The novelty pleases many in this country and there are a number of honest people who've entered this brotherhood, even officers of Parliament. As sworn, under severe penalties, not to reveal the secrets of the order, it was not possible for me to penetrate, which made ​​me very suspicious."

In 1761, Martinez Pasqually after moving to Bordeaux is affiliated with the lodge Le Français and went on to found a Coën Temple. In 1764, Le Français became La Française Élue Écossaise, signifying with that name that she had a new chapter of higher grades. But due to the order of the Masonic Obedience in 1766 abolishing all constitutions relating to degrees higher than the first three grades (apprentice, journeyman and master), the chapter was suspended.

A new obedience appears in 1773, Le Grand Orient de France and at the initiative of Vicomte de Noé, then mayor of Bordeaux  this new Obedience installed, against the advice of the Maréchal Duc de Richelieu, the Steward of Guyenne, who wanted to open his own lodge.

During the 1789 Revolution, Freemasonry in Bordeaux sides strongly with the freedom movement chosen by the nation. During the Terror, it stops its activity for more than a year, for fear of persecution. This however, is only temporary. Freemasonry became an essential element of Bordeaux society at the beginning of 19th century.

The large number of masons in Bordeaux at the end of 18th century suggest that Lodges represented a privileged meeting place of Bordeaux elite of the day. Nearly half of its members were traders and brokers, nobles, naval and military officers, lawyers the clergy made up the remainder.

The growing number of lodges came to be associated with international trade networks. Protestant trading was dominant in European exchanges including the French and Masonic relationships came to replace confessionnal links, profession and family as a moving force.

From November 1783 to October 1784 , Count Cagliostro, visited Bordeaux as a guest of the Marquis de Canolle. He tried without success to establish a lodge of the Egyptian Rite in Bordeaux.

The Château de Mongenan which is now a museum with furniture of the 18th century preserved in state contains a collection of masonic materials of the 18th century, displayed in a room that was used as a Masonic temple from 1750 to 1898. This temple was an itinerant temple.  In this room there is a painting that was installed on the ceiling and which acted as the starry sky when the scenery of the temple was put in place.

The Circle of Philadelphes in Saint Domingue

Le Cercle des Philadelphes (1784-1793)

The Cercle des Philadelphes, was in its day a famous colonial academy in the old French colony of Saint Domingue (Haiti). The Cercle simultaneously embodied royalist and patriotic tendencies until the impact of the French and subsequently the Haitian revolutions smashed this delicate political balance.

Founded in Cap François, Saint Domingue (Haiti) in August 1785, the Cercle des Philadelphes was one of the most important learned societies of the Ancien Regime based in France's overseas colonies. During its brief existence, (it operated for only seven year), the Cercle promoted improvements in agriculture, manufacturing, the arts and the sciences, especially the health sciences. It published five volumes, and established communication with individuals with similar interests in the American Philosophical Society and other enlightenment societies of the time. The membership of the Cercle des Philadelphes included Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush.

In the 1780s, Cap François (Now Cap Haitien) was one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the Americas, and was the cultural capital of Saint Domingue (now Haiti). Having a lush climate and made wealthy by the use of slave labor, Saint Domingue was the wealthiest American colony during the later eighteenth century.  In 1784, a group of residents of Cap François established a model to improve the culture of their colony so as to match its financial success. Insisting that society could not exist "without the assistance of the sciences and arts," they founded the Cercle des Philadelphes.

The Cercle was motivated by a mixture of both Royalist and patriotic impulses among the colonial elite. Devoted to "bonheur commun," and motivated by "l'amour fraternal," the members of the Cercle studied the physical conditions, natural history, and medicine of what was soon to become Haiti — their goal was to promote agriculture, manufacturing, sciences, and the arts. Louis Narcisse Baudry de Lozières, the president, emphasized the social benefits of intelligence and the responsibility of gentlemen to support intellectual reciprocity and mutual assistance.


The Cercle was well received. It had official recognition and financial encouragement from the crown by 1786, and in1789, they were granted royal letters patent, and were the last to receive this before the Revolution. The Cercle also quickly established official ties with the Académie Royale des Sciences in Paris, with the American Philosophical Society, and many other societies, academies, and museums.



Lead by a group of impressive talent, including the lawyer, Baudry de Lozières, by the Royal Physician Charles Arthaud, and the famous writer M. F. E. Moreau de Saint Méry, the  Cercle reached 160 members by the late 1780s, including members from a broad spectrum of the upper classes in Saint Domingue. Physicians, judges and lawyers, planters and merchants, as well as public officials were all found among its membership, and the Cercle added carefully chosen foreign members, including Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush. It did not last, though. Damaged by the Revolution in France, the Cercle finally collapsed as a result of the revolution in Saint Domingue in 1792.


While the Cercle des Philadelphes was not essentially a Masonic organization, it shared the basic motivations found among the enlightenment Freemasonry of its day. Further, the vast majority of its membership, including esteemed North American members such as Benjamin Franklin, were Freemasons. This connection can readily be seen in its logo which prominently includes a beehive and bees, a well known Masonic symbol. It should also be kept in mind that a number of Masonic lodges in France at the time bore the name Philadelphe, including the military lodge into which Napoleon Bonaparte was initiated a few years later, in 1798.