Karl Gotthelf von Hund

Karl Gotthelf, Baron von Hund und Altengrotkau (11 September 1722, Unwürde - 8 November 1776, Meiningen) was a German freemason.

Hund claimed to have been appointed by these "unknown superiors" of the Templars as "commander in chief" (Provincial Grand Master) of the Order of Province VII (Germany).

Hund wrapped himself in silence and in more detailed inquiries repeatedly underlined his discretion with respect to the "unknown superiors", who had supposedly charged him with the revival of the Templar Order in Germany.

After several failed attempts, the court of the pretender Charles Edward Stuart was contacted, and the establishment of the seventh province of the Templars taken in hand.

Hund had the name Carolus Eques ab Ense (Latin for Charles Knight of the Sword) or Chevalier de l'Épée (same in French).

In 1764 Hund's estate had been badly affected by the Seven Years' War, and his confidence was damaged by his inability to contact his Jacobite superiors for certification of his position and ritual.

Those who accepted his rule had their own charters and papers burned, and their leaders re-initiated (at some expense) into Johnson's system of higher degrees.

They decided at a convent in Wilhelmsbad, under Jean-Baptiste Willermoz, that the Freemasons were not descended from the Templars, and reconstituted the order as the Rectified Scottish Rite.

Hund preached with enthusiasm, all his mature life, the mistaken view that Freemasonry sprang from the alleged remnant of the Templar Order, and strove to resurrect it.

Challenged at the 11th Convention of Brunswick (June 1775) about the "unknown superiors" who allegedly introduced him in Paris to the system of the Strict Observance, Hund is said to have assured his questioners, with tears, that his oath and his conscience forbade reply.

With what sacrifice he persevered in his teaching is shown when, already very ill, in 1776 he traveled to Meiningen to persuade the reigning Duke Friedrich August to adopt the Strict Observance.

He wore his Army Master ring with the initials N.V.I.O., i.e., "nulla vi invertur ordo" ("No power can overthrow the Order"), the motto of the Strict Observance.