This is the first investigation of the history of Russian Freemasonry, based on the premise that the facts of the Russian Enlightenment preclude application of the interpretative framework commonly used for the history of western thought. Coverage includes the development of early Russian masonry, the formation of the Novikov circle in Moscow, the 'programme' of Rosicrucianism and its Russian variant and, finally, the clash between the Rosicrucians and the State.