The Secret Freemasons: Order of the Pugs
This article is just an excuse to post pics of pugs… look at them… adorable
Hey, do you like dogs? I like dogs. But do you like dogs enough to join a secret underground cult-like group where if you want to join you have to wear a collar and scratch at the door? No this is not an ad, this was a real thing that happened a few centuries ago, involving religion, kings, the pope, and some pugs.
If you just said, “what the hell are you talking about?” Then you need to sit back because I have a pretty interesting story for you. Today we’re going to look at a temporary secret society that sprang up in the 18th century, all about those dogs with the scrunched-up faces… pugs.
A Catholic King
The year is 1685 and a new King has been named for England, the catholic King James II. Sure there was a wave of anti-Catholicism going through England at the time due to, among a lot of other things; the enlightenment, John Locke’s views that monarchies are bad, and the civil wars from the 1640s that ended the complete control of the monarchy over England.
The English parliament had some reservations about accepting King James II as he was catholic and they were hoping to continue with their protestant views. But King James didn’t have an heir to the throne and he was already 54 so maybe, there wasn’t anything to worry about?
If you know your history then you know there were totally a bunch of things to worry about if you were a protestant in parliament.
The Test Act
See, there were these laws in England called the “Test Act” that basically required you to take an oath called the Oath of Supremacy. By taking this oath you recognized that the king ruled over the church. This was a bit of a problem for Roman Catholics who believed the supreme authority was the Pope and not the King.
The Test Act made it so Roman Catholics couldn’t hold power but an exception had to be made for King James II since he was catholic. Parliament also didn’t really want to stir the waters and give reasons to start another war so they didn’t push back too much.
Almost immediately King James II decided to try and pass some laws removing the Test Act which parliament wasn’t cool with. Eventually, King James forced parliament to take an extended break. So now essentially he was the only one leading England, you know like an all-powerful monarchy.
Parliament Takes Action
But at least he still didn’t have an heir to the throne, right… that is until King James' wife, Queen Mary, gave birth to a son in 1688, and parliament probably all looked at each other yelling, “Are you serious right now?”
In 1688 Parliament sends a letter to William, Prince of Orange, present-day South France. They tell him if he invades England and attempts to take the throne they will back him and so will most of the people.
At that point how can you say no? William heads over and takes the throne from King James... well, more like scares James away. Parliament decided that since King James left, that means he abdicated his throne and they crown the protestant William as the new King.
These events were called “The Glorious Revolution” which was definitely named by the victors, otherwise, it would have just been called “another revolution”.
Finally the Pugs!
By now you’re probably wondering what the hell does this all have to do with pugs? Well, here it is. The new King William and Queen Mary (yes, she was also named Mary) brought pugs with them when they took the throne.
This made pugs pretty popular in England. Since the new king and queen were all about the enlightenment and against Catholicism during an anti-Catholic time, everyone wanted to be like them, meaning they wanted a pug. Eventually, pugs became known as loyal and trustworthy, so even more people wanted one.
This one is for grandma
The Freemasons
Let’s fast forward a bit here. It’s now 1717 and the freemasons have come out of the shadows to create a “Great Lodge” in England. The Freemasons believe that god exists but don’t entirely believe god is a grand ruler, more like an architect. And that’s something you want to keep to yourself until you’re completely sure the strict roman Catholics won’t be taking over England again.
But now that it had been about 30 years since King James II was kicked off the throne, the freemasons were a bit more brazen. Once the Great Lodge opened in England other freemason lodges started popping up and accepting members, even those of the catholic faith. Specifically, they appeared in France where our old friend, not James II, but his son, took issue with it.
James III ran to Pope Clement XII and basically tattled. What did the pope do about this? Well, the Pope and church believed the freemasons were a breeding ground for dangerous thought and if they were now accepting Catholics it would be like a slow poison invading the church.
The Pope Takes Action
So in 1738, he issued a papal bull, that’s how you know it’s serious, it banned all Catholics from joining the freemasons and anyone who did so would be excommunicated. You know, a completely rational response. We all know what happens when you tell someone they can’t do something.
They do it.
“I didn’t even want to join this stupid group until the Pope said I can’t…”
At some point between 1738 and 1740, a former freemason catholic in Germany by the name of Clemens August decided to start his own secret freemason-like club called the “Order of the Pugs”.
He chose pugs because of their reputation of being loyal, trusting, and steadfast in character… unless they see bacon. But I do think they took their love for pugs a little too far. If you joined the “Order of Pugs” and you wanted to attend a meeting, you had to put on a collar, get on all fours, and paw at the front door to be let in.
Once you were in you, still on all fours, you were led around a room where all the senior members would bark at you while you bark back. Next, you were taken to a porcelain pug and you had to kiss it where the sun don’t shine and like it. Like it’s your favorite thing to do.
And this wasn’t your typical boy’s club, women were allowed to join and shared leadership positions, and it was going great. But the most important thing about a secret society is probably the “secret” part.
Pug’s Out of the Bag
In 1745 a book was published by Gabriel Louis Calabre called “The Order of Freemasons Betrayed and the Secret of the Pugs Revealed”, essentially keyword stuffing but it gets the point across.
Some historians believe Gabriel was a secret member who infiltrated the group, but I think he was just some random guy who wanted to get to the bottom of why the hell there were so many porcelain pug statues being ordered. Although actual historians probably know more than I do.
In 1748 the “Order of the Pugs” was outlawed and disbanded… or were they? Some documents show they might have been active till the early 20th century in France. Either they’re all completely gone or they finally figured out the secret part of “secret” society.
