History is an unbroken chain of causes and effects, an ever-cascading flow of events entwined with man’s action that the circumstances merit. History is thus a network of relations, and the French Revolution cannot be seen as a mere ephemeral revolt against the overly opulent and frivolous trappings of the king and the nobility. As with all major historical events, the subtle tremors that swelled into the crescendo of violence that shaped the Revolution find their ominous genesis in an epoch far older than that of the Revolution.
The ideological momentum of revolutions is generally attributed to the writings of doctrinaires and philosophers. But the severely limited range of these writings, due to the high illiteracy rates at the time, makes it difficult to assert that the ideas of philosophers would have gained enough traction to foment violent revolution. There is something darker involved in propagating the revolutionary storm clouds. To fathom the murky influences that worked their dark voodoo throughout history, we must look at “brotherhoods,” which is a euphemism for order, cult, sect, or secret society.
Six hundred years before the French Revolution, a secret order had been formed, calling itself the “Confrères de la Paix” (Confraternity of Peace). This was an order that strived for the end of all wars and to take away the land from the nobility and establish a community of land. They attempted to bring into being an early form of nationalization of land. These were the ideological forebears of the ideas of Rousseau. The Confrères set out to destroy the chateaux and monasteries, but the nobility caught wind of their scheme and armed and defended themselves. The Confrères were crushed, but the idea of secret orders endured, and more of these cults or orders appeared afterward.
In the century following the defeat of the Confrères, the order of the Albigeois appeared, based on the same ideas of destroying private property and royalty (liberty and equality). In Hungary, a former priest named Jacobi and his order mounted an attack against the nobility and clergy. At about the same time, the Knights Templar were formed during the Crusades. When they returned from the Crusades, they settled themselves as independent from the king. This was intolerable to the king and eventually they were tortured to confess and then burned at the stake. The remaining survivors reknit themselves, and in order not to get caught again, they perfected the art of allegory and symbolism. The secret order that was built on the Templar ruins is what has become French Freemasonry.
It is in fact in the Masonic Grand Chapter and Grand Orient where we find the origins of the phrase: Liberty, equality, fraternity. Long before the French Revolution, the mantra of liberty and equality was commonplace in the secretive masonic orders of France. The Grand Chapter was to become the brooding place of Rousseauian ideas and the lust for revolt against civilization in its entirety.
On the first of May, 1776, Adam Weishaupt founded the Illuminati. His vision was mostly Masonic and can be summarized as such: civilization is poison to man and keeps him from his perfect state of nature. Weishaupt was the forerunner in coining the idea that you should own nothing and be happy, and society as a whole must be torn down.
Weishaupt was trained for a while by Jesuits, which he came to detest. He did, however, copy their style of using zealous adepts of the order to spread and infect the popular discourse with the ideas of the Jesuit order. This Jesuit strategy is the exact tactic the revolutionary forces in France used to spread among the illiterate masses the ideas of revolution. Everywhere the seditious whispers could be heard muttering the words “Liberty, equality, fraternity.”
Popular opinion holds that Voltaire and Rousseau were the main instigators of the Revolution, but in reality, the seeds of what is now socialism and its irrepressible urge for revolution were planted centuries before the French Revolution occurred. It was the Masonic/Illuminati ideology of utter destruction of society and its institutions at all costs that provided the spark for revolution, throwing France into utter chaos and at the mercy of Robespierre and his reign of terror
hello – do you have a podcast or video channel?
thank you
Hi, no i do not. Not in English. Perhaps in the future.
I was out doing research on the French Revolution – just putting together a brief outline on the lead up, and part of an introduction to a 7 act play – so, I’ve been gathering information on neoclassicism vs the enlightenment as part of the introduction and came across your essay on The Confrères de la Paix as an influence on Rousseau – which makes sense since he has to be one of the most irresponsible men in world history, and of course he didn’t think his thoughts up on his own! Also, tying in the Masons and illuminati just brings more depth and life to this period in history. A period that may end up repeating itself in our time. I like the idea that I can bring in the influence of the Crusades in concert with the Enlightenment and top it off with the Reign Of Terror, then crown it with Napoleon. It’s a great way to walk into Prussia, Nationalism and the Victorian era, before we land at the door step of Modernity. This bridged a gap for me between the Reformation and Revolutions. So much history going on hard to organize in something deeper than a brief summary. I will have to go back and give more attention to the Crusades as well now. I don’t want to say too much – that’s for the the one who will give a lecture on the topic, I just want to say enough to make people say, I want to go to that lecture. In the US our public school history begins with the Declaration of Independence – we are missing so much. Any topic prior, in English, should produce an audience in the US. There’s a hole in our history that needs telling.