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In 1610 a treatise appeared in Germany, entitled The Discovery of the Brotherhood of the Honourable Order of the Rosy Cross. It is ascribed to a Lutheran clergyman, Valentine Andrea. This was followed by a swarm of tracts on the subject, leading people to suppose that the members were sworn to keep the existence of the fraternity a secret for a century after its foundation, and that they were to meet secretly once a year. Hence they were thought to have a connexion with the Freemasons; but there is no evidence that the society ever existed. The title became a term denoting every kind of occult and magical science and practice; and the Rosicrucians were confounded with Cabalists (See Cabala), Illuminati, etc.