Emanuel Swedenborg, secret agent on earth and in heaven. Jacobites, Jews, and Freemasons in early modern Sweden

Known mainly by his visionary writings, such as Heaven and Hell and The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine, the theosopher Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772) was also involved in contemporary political conspiracies around the Swedish French, and English thrones. Employed as a secret agent by Louis XV of France, Swedenborg acted as a liaison with the pro-French and pro-Jacobite Swedish party of “Hats”, as well as the Young Pretender and hidden Grand Master of the Templars (according to the lore of the so-called “Strict Observance” freemasonry), Charles Eduard Stuart.

Marsha Keith Suchard’s book is a thrilling read, weaving an intricate narrative in which Kabbalah, Hermetism, Rosicrucianism, Freemasonry and eighteenth-century dynastic politics intertwine, providing an enticing glimpse of the esoteric networks behind the veils of the Enlightenment.