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revolution_fr2008-09-02 11:36 am
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Brotherhood (The)
Are there any not-insane books, chapters etc (I've seen vague references to articles in 'Annales Historiques de la Revolution Francaise') on the role of Freemasonry / Illuminism in the Revolution? (Ken Campbell, theatre performer and benignly nutty theorist, died yesterday and it reminded me...I saw him do a performance in a masonic lodge in Edinburgh - it was being used as a temporary venue - and the iconography carved into the walls etc. was very similar that of the revolution's visual motifs). It seems to be either completely ignored in the 'regular' history books, other than occasional references - Claretie had some item of Desmoulins' masonic regalia, I think - or prompt lunatic frothing rantings in right-wing conspiracy theory books from Thermidor onwards. I presume regular historians don't want to go there because of the nebulousness or the weirdness it generally prompts, but if you're going to discuss Rousseau and co and their influence, it seems ridiculous to then ignore what is also so clearly a factor in the lives of the various players : it would make sense if the Breton deputies were freemasons, for example, but all discussion in books then either vanishes or becomes wild...(and very funny).
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A few years ago there was a book called _The Last Alchemist_, a serious and "just the facts" biography of Cagliostro that gives a good account of the Queen's Necklace affair without any wild flights of fantasy. I found it in the library, so I don't have the author's name at my fingertips.
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It's something I might take a closer look at some day, but the accounts in English that I've come across over the years are pretty short outlines. I would probably have to improve my Italian reading skills for that.
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