The masonic system of time-reckoning in Java and the evelation of Thomas Stamford Raffles as sovereign prince of the Rose Croix
This is a short “Notes & Queries” correction by Roy Jordaan and Peter Carey, published in JMBRAS Vol. 91 (2018), pp. 89–91, amending two errors in their earlier joint article on Raffles’ masonic career in Java.
Summary
The note first corrects a mistaken reference to the Julian calendar in their earlier explanation of the masonic “Year of Light” (Annus Lucis) time-reckoning system used by Dutch Freemasons in Java. The revised phrasing clarifies that the masonic year begins on 1 March (not 1 January), that the sixth masonic month corresponds to the eighth month of the “profane” Western calendar, and that specific symbols (+ and *) were used in the Dutch East Indies to distinguish masonic dates from common-calendar dates (p. 89).
Second, the authors correct a widespread error in the historical literature that equates Raffles’ elevation as Sovereign Prince of the Rose Croix (SPR+) with the 18th degree of the 33-degree Scottish Rite system. They argue this is an anachronistic adaptation; in the Dutch system of the period, SPR+ was the 7th and highest degree (p. 90). They further refine the dating of Raffles’ elevation, noting that the conventional reading of “the second day of the fifth month of the first year of the 56th Grandmastership” yields 25 April 1816, which is impossible given his departure from Batavia on 25 March 1816. They accept Mullan’s tentative conclusion that the event occurred between 13 and 22 March 1816, while noting that further research is needed to fix the precise date (p. 90).