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The Mythology of the Secret Societies (1972)

von J. M. Roberts

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Dr Roberts describes conspiracy theories involving secret societies as the collective nightmare of a particular culture - a nightmare that taps into very deep and powerful fears in people. This scholarship throws a light on a murky area of shifting and proliferating alliances between shadowy organizations.… (mehr)
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Besproken in het artikel van D.C.J. van Peype “Maçonnieke mythe, legende en geschiedenis” in
Thoth, Meestertijdschrift (1975),pp.43-59 :
“Voor een beter begrip van de historische en sociologische factoren die bijdragen tot de mystificaties aangaande de Vrijmetselarij, ben ik erkentelijk aan de eerder genoemde auteur J.M.Roberts, die in zijn boek een hoofdstuk wijdt aan wat hij noemt ‘de gouden eeuw van de mystificatie’. Hij is van oordeel, dat hier drie elementen een grote rol hebben gespeeld : de opkomst van de gedachtenwereld van de Verlichting, de groei van het zg. verlichte despotisme en het toenemen van het irrationalisme in de cultuur.” (p.54)

Besproken door E.P.Kwaadgras in Thoth, (1994) no.6, p233 :
“Roberts mag als verplichte lectuur gelden voor wie de anti-maçonnieke tradities wil leren begrijpen. Ook Mellor [Alec Mellor : Nos frères séparés, les franc-maçons, Tours,Parijs, 1961] is de moeite waard ; nuttig is ook nog steeds : Arthur Singer, ‘Der Kampf Roms gegen dieFreimaurerei.Geschichtliche Studien.’ Leipzig, 1925. Singer was Grootbibliothecaris van de Symbolische Grootloge van Hongarije.”

Besproken in AMT, maart (2000), p.18 :
“Een aantal keren herdrukt nadien, ook in andere uitvoeringen dan het exemplaar van de Orde….
Het klassieke meesterwerk. Indien U ook maar enigszins geïnteresseerd bent in de vraag waarom de Vrijmetselarij telkens weer in de geschiedenis, onder zeer uiteenlopende omstandigheden, het zwarte schaap moet zijn of de zondebok, dan moet U dit boek eens lezen…Er is heel veel inzicht in menselijk gedrag in dit boek, veel kennis van de Europese geschiedenis, met name van de Franse revolutie, en veel inzicht ook in de aard van onze broederschap, die achter gesloten deuren haar allusieve, maar ook zo elusieve spel speelt.”

Besproken in A.Q.C. 85 (1972), 1973, pp.372-377 door Harry Carr:
“The work is to be welcomed, perhaps, because it is an approach to a particular aspect of Craft study which has not generated much attention hitherto. Indeed, the novelty of the subject is a matter of some real concern to the author, who is at great pain – in his Preface and in Chapter I – to justify the undertaking, which he does, but not very succesfully…Chapter II..The author’s search for an explanation of the steady growth of the Craft during the first two or three decades of the existence of Grand Lodge, leads him to some strange and exaggerated findings…In his final Chapter, ‘Conclusions’, the author argues that what the secret societies were actually doing was far less important than what people believed about them. This is an argument quite in harmony with the book, but it would be difficult to prove, or even to support it properly…The whole work is a massive study on a comparatively unkwown theme and the author has made generous use of sources virtually unknown to the English reader, who may perhaps be forgiven if some of them leave a lingering doubt in his mind as to their reliability…The book shows occasional signs of having been compiled in a hurry… The major criticism, from the point of view of regular Freemasonry, as understood by the three Mother Grand Lodges, England, Ireland and Scotland, plus more than a hundred regular Grand Lodges all over the world, is the author’s total failure to distinguish between the regular Craft and the many peculiar Orders which attached themselves to it.
It is not an easy book to read and Mr.Roberts makes no concessions to his readers. After reading it, Frenchmen, Germans and Italians, wether they are Freemasons or not, may well be disturbed by the frightening picture they have glimsed of the supposed plots and conspiracies of a bygone age. Its effects are still to be felt in European public opinion relating to the Freemasons. One direct result is that members of the Craft in those countries today are still rather careful to conceal their membership, or at best to shun publicity and avoid discussion whenever possible.”
  MBRLibrary | Jul 25, 2021 |
Though sometimes amusing, it is always disturbing when intelligent people seriously talk nonsense.

This is the opening sentence of J.M. Roberts' The Myhology of the Secret Societies. He then goes on to point out an impressive array of nonsense spouted by generally intelligent people. As the title suggests, it is not so much an investigation into the secret societies themselves as into what people have believed about secret societies.

It is a historical investigation of where the idea (and the fear) of a world-encompassing conspiracy comes from. Because the history of this myth is tied up with the history of the secret societies themselves, however, the book offers a very interesting overview of their development and interaction, especially in the latter half of the 1700s and up to the middle of the 1800s. It is an attempt to deal academically with a subject which has been left to conspiracy theorists for so long that it has itself become tainted. And it deals with this by focusing on the origins of those theories themselves, and thereby isolates the historical germ from the myth, at the same time discussing the particular historical situations which spawned both.

It traces the origins of Freemasonry (the movement from "operative" Freemasonry (where the Masons were still guilds of masons) to the "speculative" (where they were not), for example), shows how Scottish Freemasonry was invented in France (oh, yes), and became increasingly nuttier as time went on (while English Freemasonry, according to Roberts, remained fairly sedate and respectable).

It also shows how other societies (like the Illuminati and Carbonari) made use of the Freemasonry framework, to the extent of taking over some lodges from within. And how the revelation of this is at the heart of the general paranoia which surrounds secret societies. It then shows how the fear of a political secret society becomes one of the primary inspirations of those who finally create them in response to state oppression. It investigates quite closely the causes of the Illuminati panic and the claim that Freemasons orchestrated the French Revolution.

I picked up this book primarily to get a clearer idea of what Freemasonry is all about, and what separates it from societies like the Illuminati and the Carbonari. And it worked: what used to be a dark muddle of vaguely related societies or organisations is now a slightly lighter muddle of vaguely related societies and organisations. And the muddle at this point is not solely down to my brain.

It turns out that the people who have been fascinated by secret societies and wanted to join them have tended to want to join all of them at once. Or sometimes one after the other. The suggestion of secret knowledge is a powerful one, and the simple fact that one secret society failed to reveal anything astonishing did not necessarily discourage those who were drawn by the promise. And people who have wanted to found a secret society, for one reason or another, have drawn on the knowledge of earlier ones.

Roberts' conclusion, however, is that the only power of secret societies have been in the legends they created; in terms of direct influence, they have been either uninterested or incompetent.

The central concern of Roberts is the structure of conspiracy theory, and what aspects of the Mason legend (and the others) make the conspiracy so powerful. He lifts out the belief in secret superiors (who direct those below them without giving them full access to the reasons for the actions they undertake), the idea of inner secrets (the true knowledge or plan), as well as the precedent of the Illuminati attempt to infiltrate and take over Freemason lodges in order to further their Enlightenment agenda (very sinister, that Enlightenment agenda).

More startlingly, he shows the continuity between the conspiracy theories which fear Masons and Illuminati and Carbonari, and those who include an anti-semitic twist. If that is not enough, reading this book in the lead-up to Brivik's trial in Oslo made it very clear to me how potent the thought structures of the conspiracy mindset can still be.

This is, I think, the non-fiction equivalent to Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum. Both should be read by anyone who at any time figured the Illuminati might be running the world, or that that Dan Brown might be on to something. And of course by all you other, sensible people. ( )
1 abstimmen camillahoel | May 1, 2012 |
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Dr Roberts describes conspiracy theories involving secret societies as the collective nightmare of a particular culture - a nightmare that taps into very deep and powerful fears in people. This scholarship throws a light on a murky area of shifting and proliferating alliances between shadowy organizations.

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