The Cavalier of the Apocalypse

by Susanne Alleyn

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  Many fanciful conspiracy theories about the Masonic origins of the French Revolution have sprung up during the past two centuries. Masonic influence on the political philosophy of the bourgeoisie and liberal nobility of the prerevolutionary period is undeniable, but the French Revolution was no more the direct result of a vast, calculated, continent-wide "Masonic conspiracy" to seize power and destroy monarchies or Christianity than was its earlier American counterpart.

  French Freemasonry, in fact, suffered during the Revolution and nearly all the prerevolutionary Parisian lodges closed, or permanently transformed themselves into far less mystical political societies. The revolutionaries whom he had supported guillotined the Duc d'Orl?ans in 1793, and there was no Grand Master in France again until Napoleon's brother Joseph assumed the title.

  The Lodge of the Nine Sisters did exist-members included Voltaire, Franklin, and John Paul Jones, as well as such future revolutionary figures as Desmoulins, Danton, Siey?s, Bailly, Guillotin, P?tion, and Ch?nier-but the Lodge of the Sacred Trinity is wholly fictional.

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