A Chronological Overview
In an effort to keep the notes to a minimum and still provide thorough citation, the following abbreviations will be applied:
AB - Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism, by Augustin Barruel, 1798, Real-View-Books Classics Reprint, 2002 edition
VS - Chapter III: The European Illuminati (332 KB), from New England and the Bavarian Illuminati, by Vernon L. Stauffer Ph.D., 1918
JB - Fire In the Minds of Men: Origins of the Revolutionary Faith, by James H. Billington, 1980
NW - Secret Societies & Subversive Movements, by Nesta H. Webster, 1924, A&B Publishers Group, 1998
JR - Proofs of a Conspiracy Against all the Religions and Governments of Europe, by John Robison, 1798
MA - To Eliminate The Opiate, by Rabbi Marvin S. Antelman, 1974
CG - The Enlightenment, Freemasonry, and The Illuminati, by Conrad Goeringer
TM - A Bavarian Illuminati Primer, by Trevor W. McKeown
MI - The Illuminati and Angels & Demons FAQ - Do the Illuminati Really Exist?, by Massimo Introvigne
CE - Catholic Encyclopedia: Illuminati
1748
February 6. Adam Weishaupt is born (d. 1830) of Westphalian parents [CE] in Ingolstadt Bavaria. Fittingly, the Weishaupt family name first appeared in Baden and was anciently associated with tribal conflicts around the area. [House of Names: Weishaupt Family Crest]
1755
Weishaupt's father, George, dies. He is turned over to his liberal godfather, Baron Johann Adam Ickstatt (1702-1776), curator of the University of Ingolstadt and a member of the Privy Council. [VS, CG]
While growing up Weishaupt was educated by the Jesuits and was "accorded free range in the private library of his godfather, the boy's questioning spirit was deeply impressed by the brilliant though pretentious works of the French 'philosophers' with which the shelves were plentifully stocked." [VS] He studies law, economics, politics, history and philosophy; voraciously devouring every book which he came across. [VS]
1768
Weishaupt graduates from the University of Ingolstadt. He serves for four years as a tutor and catechist. [VS]
1772
Weishaupt is appointed as professor of civil law at the University of Ingolstadt. [CE]
1773
Pope Clement XIV dissolves the Jesuit Order.
Weishaupt becomes the first layman to occupy the chair of canon law; the prestigious position had been held by a Jesuit for the previous 90 years. [VS, CE]
Weishaupt marries, against the wishes of Ickstatt. [VS]
1775
Weishaupt is promoted to dean of the faculty of law. [VS]
1776
May 1. Weishaupt founds the Order of the Illuminati with an original membership of five. 13 The Order is secret, hierarchical and modeled on the Jesuits. The original name for the Order was uncertain: Perfectibilists and Bees were both considered, but Weishaupt settled on Illuminati - chosen, perhaps, because of the "image of the sun radiating illumination to outer circles" [JB: 94-95] The Order was, therefore, always represented in communications between members as a circle with a dot in the center ☉ This symbolic imagery - the point within a circle, the Perfectibilists and the Bees - is also reflective of Weishaupt's fascination with Eleusinian 14 and Pythagorean Mysteries; no doubt learning of this early on having access to Ickstatt's considerable library.
Like most secret societies the basic structure of the Order was divided into classes and degrees, in the following manner:
The Nursery
Preparatory Literary Essay
Novitiate (Novice)
Minerval (Brethren of Minerva, Academy of Illuminism)
Illuminatus Minor
Symbolic Freemasonry
Apprentice
Fellow Craft
Master
Scots Major Illuminatus
Scots Illuminatus Dirigens (Directory)
Mysteries
Lesser
Presbyter, Priest, or Epopt
Prince or Regent
Greater
Magus
Rex or King
"The Zoroastrian-Manichaean cult of fire was central to the otherwise eclectic symbolism of the Illuminists; their calendar was based on Persian rather than classical or Christian models." [JB: 95] Weishaupt explains: "The allegory in which the Mysteries and Higher Grades must be clothed is Fire Worship and the whole philosophy of Zoroaster or of the old Parsees 15 who nowadays only remain in India; therefore in the further degrees the Order is called 'Fire Worship' (Feuerdienst), the 'Fire Order,' or the 'Persian Order' - that is, something magnificent beyond all expectation." [NW: 201] Weishaupt constructed the Illuminati calendar to commemorate the date of the Persian King Yazdegerd III (632 AD) [MI] - the Parsees (Parsis) still use the same dating system to this day. 16 Barruel relates how the Illuminati Novice in-training "must … learn how to date his letters, and be conversant with the Illuminized Hegira or Calendar; for all letters which he will receive in future will be dated according to the Persian era, caled [sic] Jezdegert and beginning A.D. 630. The year begins with the Illuminees on the first of Pharavardin, which answer to the 21st of March. Their first month has no less than forty-one days; the following months, instead of being called May, June, July, August, September, and October, are Adarpahascht, Chardad, Thirmeh, Merdedmeh, Shaharimeh, Meharmeh: November and December are Abenmeh, Adameh: January and February, Dimeh, and Benmeh: The month of March only has twenty days, and is called Asphandar." [AB: 429; emphasis in original] 17
For the Novice, the letters to his Superior are to be written in cipher: "he must make himself master of that cypher, which is to serve him until initiated into the higher degrees, when he will be entrusted with the hieroglyphics of the Order." [AB: 429] Barruel (p.438) displays the first cipher 18 introduced to the Illuminati Novice:
A B C D E F G H I K L M
12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
N O P Q R S T U W X Y Z
13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
The Hieroglyphic cipher used in the higher Scotch Knight degrees is also reproduced by Barruel:
The Bavarian Illuminati were set up for "political intriguing rather than in speculation" [NW: 201], the Illuminati became "much more characteristic of a militia in action than an order with initiations." [JB: 95] Weishaupt's contempt for certain esoteric pursuits - as a "thing-in-itself" - was widely known: "... in Weishaupt's system the phraseology of Judaism, the Cabalistic legends of Freemasonry, the mystical imaginings of the Martinistes, play at first no part at all. For all forms of 'theosophy,' occultism, spiritualism, and magic Weishaupt expresses nothing but contempt, and the Rose-Croix masons are bracketed with the Jesuits by the Illuminati as enemies it is necessary to outwit at every turn. Consequently no degree of Rose-Croix finds a place in Weishaupt's system, as in all the other Masonic orders of the day which drew their influence from Eastern or Cabalistic 19 sources." [NW: 200]
Weishaupt seems to have shown the most disdain towards the occult pursuits of his own time; of the ancient mysteries he has nothing but high regard. The Insinuators, while in pursuit of potential recruits, "must remark, that there exists doctrines solely transmitted by secret traditions, because they are above the comprehension of common minds. In proof of his assertions he will cite the Gymnosophists in the Indies, the Priests of Isis in Egypt, and those of Eleusis and the Pythagorean School in Greece." [AB: 422]
Ascending the Illuminati hierarchy wasn't so much for the purpose of attaining wisdom as to be "remade into a totally loyal servant of a universal mission." [JB: 94] In a letter to fellow Illuminist, Xavier Zwack, dated Mar 10 1778, Weishaupt had said, "We cannot use people as they are, but begin by making them over." [JB: 94]
1777
Weishaupt is initiated into Freemasonry, in Munich, at the Lodge Theodore of Good Counsel. By the middle of 1779, Weishaupt's "Insinuators" had completely wrestled control of the Lodge and it was regarded as part of the Order of the Illuminati. [VS]
1780
February 8. Weishaupt's wife dies. [VS]
July. Baron von Knigge is initiated into the Order. [VS] Knigge was connected to the court of Hesse-Cassel [VS] and a prominent Strict Observance freemason. He subsequently restructured the Order and recruited many prominent members: "the notion of restricting the field of recruiting solely to the young was abandoned, and this phase of the propaganda was widened so as to include men of experience whose wisdom and influence might be counted upon to assist in attaining the objects of the order." [VS] By 1784, largely due to Knigge's circle of influence, the Illuminati had "between two and three thousand members." [VS]
1782
July 16. Congress of Wilhelmsbad convened. Probably the most significant event of the era as far as any official coalition between secret society factions:
“At Wilhelmsbad, near the city of Hanau in Hesse-Cassel, was held the most important Masonic Congress of the eighteenth century. It was convoked by Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick, 20 Grand Master of the Order of Strict Observance ... there were delegates from Upper and Lower Germany, from Holland, Russia, Italy, France, and Austria; and the order of the Illuminati was represented by the Baron Von Knigge. It is not therefore surprising that the most heterogeneous opinions were expressed.”
- Albert G. Mackey. Mackey's Revised Encyclopedia Of Freemasonry, under "Wilhelmsbad, Congress of"
"...it was not until the Congress de Wilhelmsbad that the alliance between Illuminism and Freemasonry was finally sealed....What passed at this terrible Congress will never be known to the outside world, for even those men who had been drawn unwittingly into the movement, and now heard for the first time the real designs of the leaders, were under oath to reveal nothing. One such honest Freemason, the Comte de Virieu, a member of Martiniste Lodge at Lyons, returning from the Congre's de Wilhelmsbad could not conceal his alarm, and when questioned on the 'tragic secrets' he had brought back with him, replied: 'I will not confide them to you. I can only tell you that all this is very much more serious than you think. The conspiracy which is being woven is so well thought out that it will be, so to speak, impossible for the monarchy and the Church to escape from it." From this time onwards, says his biographer, M. Costa de Beauregard, 'the Comte de Virieu could only speak of Freemasonry with horror.'" (Nesta H. Webster. World Revolution - The Plot Against Civilization, p. 18.)
1784
April 20. Baron von Knigge resigns from the Illuminati. His quarrels with Weishaupt over the direction and management of the Order had reached a boiling point. A certain amount of jealousy was apparent from both parties - though Weishaupt certainly was a Machiavellian, by all accounts. On July 1st Knigge signs a formal agreement to return all property, rituals and initiations belonging to the Order, and to maintain silence about Illuminati secrets. Knigge was convinced of Weishaupt's Jesuitism; he accused him of being "a Jesuit in disguise." [VS, CE]
June 22. The Elector of Bavaria, Duke Carl Theodore, issues the first edict against secret societies not authorized by the law or the sovereign.
This first edict seems to have been brought upon by ex-member, Professor Joseph Utzschneider, who had quit the Order in August 1783. Just a few months later, in October, Utzschneider along with Grünberger and Cosandey, fellow professors with him in the Marianen (Marienburg) Academy 21 and members of the Order, presented the Duchess Maria Anna with an internal Illuminati document, and a membership list. The Duchess was thoroughly alarmed and passed it on to the Duke. [VS, JR]
1785
February. Some members of the Illuminati appeal to Carl Theodore for an appearance before him to prove their innocence. The offer is rejected. [VS]
March 2. The Bavarian Monarch issues the second edict against secret societies, specifically naming the Illuminati and Freemasonry; shortly after a considerable amount of important documents were concealed or put to the flames. [VS] This second ban was more forceful, it "left no room for evasion." The government enforcers were giving weapons to "wage an effective command." [VS]
Weishaupt had already left his post at the University two weeks earlier, obviously knowing about the approaching storm. "He fled across the border to Regensburg, and finally settled at Gotha" under the protection of Illuminati member Duke of Saxe-Gotha. [VS] Thirteen years later Barruel writes, "[Weishaupt] now banished from his country as a traitor to his Prince and to the whole Universe, peacefully at the court of Ernest Lewis, Duke of Saxe Gotha, enjoys an asylum, receives a pension from the public treasury, and is dignified with the title of Honorary Councellor to that Prince." [AB: 400]
Judicial inquiries were held at Ingolstadt. Subsequent government measures were taken and some members made formal confessions. A considerable membership was found to be held within the military; officers and soldiers were ordered to come forward and confess any involvement. State officials, professors, teachers, and students who were found out to be members were summarily dismissed. Some were even banished from the country. [VS]
September 9. Utzschneider, Grünberger, and Cosandey make a joint Juridical Deposition before the Elector:
"The object of the first degrees of Illuminism is at once to train their young men, and to be informed of every thing that is going forward by a system of espionage. The Superiors aim at procuring from their inferiors diplomatic acts, documents, and original writings. With pleasure they see them commit any treasons or treacherous acts, because they not only turn the secrets betrayed to their own advantage, but thereby have it in their power to keep the traitors in a perpetual dread, lest, if they every showed any signs of stubbornness, their malefactions should be made known.-Oderint dum metuant, let them hate, provided they fear, is the principle of their government.
"The Illuminees from these first degrees are educated in the following principles:
"The Illuminee who wishes to rise to the highest degree must be free from all religion; for a religionist (as they call every man who has any religion) will never be admitted to the highest degrees."
The Patet Exitus, or the doctrine on Suicide, is expressed in the same terms as in the preceding deposition.
"The end sanctifies the means. The welfare of the Order will be a justification for calumnies, poisonings, assassinations, perjuries, treasons, rebellions; in short, for all that the prejudices of men lead them to call crimes.
"One must be more submissive to the Superiors of Illuminism, than to the sovereigns or magistrates who govern the people; and he that gives the preference to sovereigns or governors of the people is useless to us. Honor, life, and fortune, all are to be sacrificed to the Superiors. The governors of nations are despots when they are not directed by us.-They can have no authority over us, who are free men.
"The love of one's prince and of one's country are incompatible with views of an immense extent, with the ultimate ends of the Order, and one must glow with ardour for the attainment of that end.
"The Superiors of Illuminism are to be looked upon as the most perfect and the most enlightened of men; no doubts are to be entertained even of their infallibility."
"It is in these moral and political principles that the Illuminees are educated in the lower degrees; and it is according to the manner in which they imbibe them and show their devotion to the Order, or are able to second its views, that they are earlier or later admitted to the higher degrees.
"They use every possible artifice to get the different post-offices in all countries entrusted to the care of their adepts only. They also boast that they are in possession of the secret of opening and reclosing letters without the circumstance being perceived.
"They made us give answers in writing to the following questions: How would it be possible to devise one single system of morals and one common Government for all Europe, and what means should be employed to effectuate it? Would the Christian Religion be a necessary requisite? Should revolt be employed to accomplish it? &c. &c.
"We were also asked, in which Brethren we should place the most confidence if there were any important plan to be undertaken; and whether we were willing to recognize the right of life and death as vested in the Order; and also the right of the sword, Jus Gladii.
"In consequence of our acquaintance with this doctrine of the Illuminees, with their conduct, their manners, and their incitements to treason, and being fully convinced of the dangers of the Sect, we the Aulic Counsellor Utzschneider and the Priest Dillis left the Order. The Professor Grünberger, the Priest Cosandey, Renner, and Zaupfer, did the same a week after, though the Illuminees sought to impose upon us shamefully, by assuring us that his Electoral Highness was a member of their Order. We clearly saw that a Prince knowing his own interests, and wholly attending to the paternal care of his subjects, would never countenance a Sect, spreading through almost every province under the cloak of Free-masonry; because it sows division and discord between parents and their children, between Princes and their subjects, and among the most sincere friends; because on all important occasions it would install partiality on the seats of justice and in the councils, as it always prefers the welfare of the Order to that of the state, and the interests of its adepts to those of the prophane. Experience had convinced us, that they would soon succeed in perverting all the Bavarian youth. The leading feature in the generality of their adepts were irreligion, depravity of morals, disobedience to their Prince and to their parents, and the neglect of all useful studies. We saw that the fatal consequence of Illuminism would be, to create a general distrust between the prince and his subjects, the father and his children, the minister and his secretaries, and between the different tribunals and councils. We were not to be deterred by that threat so often repeated, That no Prince can save him that betrays us. We abandoned, one after the other, this Sect, which under different names, as we have been informed by several of our former Brethren, has already spread itself in Italy, and particularly at Venice, in Austria, in Holland, in Saxony, on the Rhine, particularly at Frankfort, and even as far as America.-The Illuminees meddle as much as possible in state affairs, and excite troubles wherever their Order can be benefited by them."
"We are not acquainted with the other Invisibles, who in all probability are chiefs of a higher degree.
"After we had retired from the Order, the Illuminees calumniated us on all sides in the most infamous manner. Their cabal made us fail in every request we presented; succeeding in rendering us hateful and odious to our superiors, they even carried their calumnies so far as to pretend that one of us had committed murder. After a year's persecution, an Illuminee came to represent to the Aulic Counsellor Utzschneider, that from experience he must have learned that he was every where persecuted by the Order, that unless he could contrive to regain its protection, he would never succeed in any of his demands, and that he could still regain admission." [AB: 684-88; emphasis in original]
1786
On October 11 police search Xavier Zwack's residence in Landshut. A number of books and over two hundred letters, between Weishaupt and the Areopagites, were confiscated. The documents were published by the Bavarian government under the title Einige Originalschriften des Illuminaten Ordens. [VS, TM]
The evidence discovered at Zwack's residence was considerable: besides the secret communications between the Illuminati Adepts, the authorities found tables containing the Order's symbols and the Persian calendar; membership rosters, statutes, instructions for recruiters, ceremonies of initiation and imprints of the Order's insignia; a eulogy of atheism and a copy of a manuscript entitled Better Than Horus; a proposal for a branch of Illuminism for woman; 22 several hundred impressions of Government seals (with a list of their owners, princes, nobles, clergymen, merchants, etc.), for the purposes of counterfeiting; instructions for the making of the poison Aqua Toffana, poisonous gas and secret ink; "an infernal machine" for the safeguarding of secret papers - apparently a strong box that would blow up, destroying its contents; and receipts for procuring abortion and a formula for making a tea to induce the procedure. [VS, JR, MA: 51, NW: 228, AB: 692-93]
In the space of a few months, in 1786 - in order to save face - Weishaupt pens 9 different apologetic pamphlets, most notably: Apologie der Illuminaten, Frankfort and Leipzig, 1786, and Vollständige Geschichte der Verfolgung der Illuminaten in Bayern, Frankfort and Leipzig, 1786. [VS]
1787
As a result of further police searches of Baron Bassus' castle at Sandersdorf, the Bavarian government published more secret documents of the Order: Nachtrag von weitern Originalschriften ... [VS]
August 16. The third and final edict against the Order is put into effect by the Duke of Bavaria. The former edicts were reemphasized "and in addition, to give maximum force to the sovereign's will, criminal process, without distinction of person, dignity, state, or quality, was ordered against any Illuminatus who should be discovered continuing the work of recruiting. Any so charged and found guilty were to be deprived of their lives by the sword; while those thus recruited were to have their goods confiscated and themselves to be condemned to perpetual banishment from the territories of the duke. Under the same penalties of confiscation and banishment, the members of the order, no matter under what name or circumstances, regular or irregular, they should gather, were forbidden to assemble as lodges." [VS]
AB - Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism, by Augustin Barruel, 1798, Real-View-Books Classics Reprint, 2002 edition
VS - Chapter III: The European Illuminati (332 KB), from New England and the Bavarian Illuminati, by Vernon L. Stauffer Ph.D., 1918
JB - Fire In the Minds of Men: Origins of the Revolutionary Faith, by James H. Billington, 1980
NW - Secret Societies & Subversive Movements, by Nesta H. Webster, 1924, A&B Publishers Group, 1998
JR - Proofs of a Conspiracy Against all the Religions and Governments of Europe, by John Robison, 1798
MA - To Eliminate The Opiate, by Rabbi Marvin S. Antelman, 1974
CG - The Enlightenment, Freemasonry, and The Illuminati, by Conrad Goeringer
TM - A Bavarian Illuminati Primer, by Trevor W. McKeown
MI - The Illuminati and Angels & Demons FAQ - Do the Illuminati Really Exist?, by Massimo Introvigne
CE - Catholic Encyclopedia: Illuminati
1748
February 6. Adam Weishaupt is born (d. 1830) of Westphalian parents [CE] in Ingolstadt Bavaria. Fittingly, the Weishaupt family name first appeared in Baden and was anciently associated with tribal conflicts around the area. [House of Names: Weishaupt Family Crest]
1755
Weishaupt's father, George, dies. He is turned over to his liberal godfather, Baron Johann Adam Ickstatt (1702-1776), curator of the University of Ingolstadt and a member of the Privy Council. [VS, CG]
While growing up Weishaupt was educated by the Jesuits and was "accorded free range in the private library of his godfather, the boy's questioning spirit was deeply impressed by the brilliant though pretentious works of the French 'philosophers' with which the shelves were plentifully stocked." [VS] He studies law, economics, politics, history and philosophy; voraciously devouring every book which he came across. [VS]
1768
Weishaupt graduates from the University of Ingolstadt. He serves for four years as a tutor and catechist. [VS]
1772
Weishaupt is appointed as professor of civil law at the University of Ingolstadt. [CE]
1773
Pope Clement XIV dissolves the Jesuit Order.
Weishaupt becomes the first layman to occupy the chair of canon law; the prestigious position had been held by a Jesuit for the previous 90 years. [VS, CE]
Weishaupt marries, against the wishes of Ickstatt. [VS]
1775
Weishaupt is promoted to dean of the faculty of law. [VS]
1776
May 1. Weishaupt founds the Order of the Illuminati with an original membership of five. 13 The Order is secret, hierarchical and modeled on the Jesuits. The original name for the Order was uncertain: Perfectibilists and Bees were both considered, but Weishaupt settled on Illuminati - chosen, perhaps, because of the "image of the sun radiating illumination to outer circles" [JB: 94-95] The Order was, therefore, always represented in communications between members as a circle with a dot in the center ☉ This symbolic imagery - the point within a circle, the Perfectibilists and the Bees - is also reflective of Weishaupt's fascination with Eleusinian 14 and Pythagorean Mysteries; no doubt learning of this early on having access to Ickstatt's considerable library.
Like most secret societies the basic structure of the Order was divided into classes and degrees, in the following manner:
The Nursery
Preparatory Literary Essay
Novitiate (Novice)
Minerval (Brethren of Minerva, Academy of Illuminism)
Illuminatus Minor
Symbolic Freemasonry
Apprentice
Fellow Craft
Master
Scots Major Illuminatus
Scots Illuminatus Dirigens (Directory)
Mysteries
Lesser
Presbyter, Priest, or Epopt
Prince or Regent
Greater
Magus
Rex or King
"The Zoroastrian-Manichaean cult of fire was central to the otherwise eclectic symbolism of the Illuminists; their calendar was based on Persian rather than classical or Christian models." [JB: 95] Weishaupt explains: "The allegory in which the Mysteries and Higher Grades must be clothed is Fire Worship and the whole philosophy of Zoroaster or of the old Parsees 15 who nowadays only remain in India; therefore in the further degrees the Order is called 'Fire Worship' (Feuerdienst), the 'Fire Order,' or the 'Persian Order' - that is, something magnificent beyond all expectation." [NW: 201] Weishaupt constructed the Illuminati calendar to commemorate the date of the Persian King Yazdegerd III (632 AD) [MI] - the Parsees (Parsis) still use the same dating system to this day. 16 Barruel relates how the Illuminati Novice in-training "must … learn how to date his letters, and be conversant with the Illuminized Hegira or Calendar; for all letters which he will receive in future will be dated according to the Persian era, caled [sic] Jezdegert and beginning A.D. 630. The year begins with the Illuminees on the first of Pharavardin, which answer to the 21st of March. Their first month has no less than forty-one days; the following months, instead of being called May, June, July, August, September, and October, are Adarpahascht, Chardad, Thirmeh, Merdedmeh, Shaharimeh, Meharmeh: November and December are Abenmeh, Adameh: January and February, Dimeh, and Benmeh: The month of March only has twenty days, and is called Asphandar." [AB: 429; emphasis in original] 17
For the Novice, the letters to his Superior are to be written in cipher: "he must make himself master of that cypher, which is to serve him until initiated into the higher degrees, when he will be entrusted with the hieroglyphics of the Order." [AB: 429] Barruel (p.438) displays the first cipher 18 introduced to the Illuminati Novice:
A B C D E F G H I K L M
12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
N O P Q R S T U W X Y Z
13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
The Hieroglyphic cipher used in the higher Scotch Knight degrees is also reproduced by Barruel:
The Bavarian Illuminati were set up for "political intriguing rather than in speculation" [NW: 201], the Illuminati became "much more characteristic of a militia in action than an order with initiations." [JB: 95] Weishaupt's contempt for certain esoteric pursuits - as a "thing-in-itself" - was widely known: "... in Weishaupt's system the phraseology of Judaism, the Cabalistic legends of Freemasonry, the mystical imaginings of the Martinistes, play at first no part at all. For all forms of 'theosophy,' occultism, spiritualism, and magic Weishaupt expresses nothing but contempt, and the Rose-Croix masons are bracketed with the Jesuits by the Illuminati as enemies it is necessary to outwit at every turn. Consequently no degree of Rose-Croix finds a place in Weishaupt's system, as in all the other Masonic orders of the day which drew their influence from Eastern or Cabalistic 19 sources." [NW: 200]
Weishaupt seems to have shown the most disdain towards the occult pursuits of his own time; of the ancient mysteries he has nothing but high regard. The Insinuators, while in pursuit of potential recruits, "must remark, that there exists doctrines solely transmitted by secret traditions, because they are above the comprehension of common minds. In proof of his assertions he will cite the Gymnosophists in the Indies, the Priests of Isis in Egypt, and those of Eleusis and the Pythagorean School in Greece." [AB: 422]
Ascending the Illuminati hierarchy wasn't so much for the purpose of attaining wisdom as to be "remade into a totally loyal servant of a universal mission." [JB: 94] In a letter to fellow Illuminist, Xavier Zwack, dated Mar 10 1778, Weishaupt had said, "We cannot use people as they are, but begin by making them over." [JB: 94]
1777
Weishaupt is initiated into Freemasonry, in Munich, at the Lodge Theodore of Good Counsel. By the middle of 1779, Weishaupt's "Insinuators" had completely wrestled control of the Lodge and it was regarded as part of the Order of the Illuminati. [VS]
1780
February 8. Weishaupt's wife dies. [VS]
July. Baron von Knigge is initiated into the Order. [VS] Knigge was connected to the court of Hesse-Cassel [VS] and a prominent Strict Observance freemason. He subsequently restructured the Order and recruited many prominent members: "the notion of restricting the field of recruiting solely to the young was abandoned, and this phase of the propaganda was widened so as to include men of experience whose wisdom and influence might be counted upon to assist in attaining the objects of the order." [VS] By 1784, largely due to Knigge's circle of influence, the Illuminati had "between two and three thousand members." [VS]
1782
July 16. Congress of Wilhelmsbad convened. Probably the most significant event of the era as far as any official coalition between secret society factions:
“At Wilhelmsbad, near the city of Hanau in Hesse-Cassel, was held the most important Masonic Congress of the eighteenth century. It was convoked by Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick, 20 Grand Master of the Order of Strict Observance ... there were delegates from Upper and Lower Germany, from Holland, Russia, Italy, France, and Austria; and the order of the Illuminati was represented by the Baron Von Knigge. It is not therefore surprising that the most heterogeneous opinions were expressed.”
- Albert G. Mackey. Mackey's Revised Encyclopedia Of Freemasonry, under "Wilhelmsbad, Congress of"
"...it was not until the Congress de Wilhelmsbad that the alliance between Illuminism and Freemasonry was finally sealed....What passed at this terrible Congress will never be known to the outside world, for even those men who had been drawn unwittingly into the movement, and now heard for the first time the real designs of the leaders, were under oath to reveal nothing. One such honest Freemason, the Comte de Virieu, a member of Martiniste Lodge at Lyons, returning from the Congre's de Wilhelmsbad could not conceal his alarm, and when questioned on the 'tragic secrets' he had brought back with him, replied: 'I will not confide them to you. I can only tell you that all this is very much more serious than you think. The conspiracy which is being woven is so well thought out that it will be, so to speak, impossible for the monarchy and the Church to escape from it." From this time onwards, says his biographer, M. Costa de Beauregard, 'the Comte de Virieu could only speak of Freemasonry with horror.'" (Nesta H. Webster. World Revolution - The Plot Against Civilization, p. 18.)
1784
April 20. Baron von Knigge resigns from the Illuminati. His quarrels with Weishaupt over the direction and management of the Order had reached a boiling point. A certain amount of jealousy was apparent from both parties - though Weishaupt certainly was a Machiavellian, by all accounts. On July 1st Knigge signs a formal agreement to return all property, rituals and initiations belonging to the Order, and to maintain silence about Illuminati secrets. Knigge was convinced of Weishaupt's Jesuitism; he accused him of being "a Jesuit in disguise." [VS, CE]
June 22. The Elector of Bavaria, Duke Carl Theodore, issues the first edict against secret societies not authorized by the law or the sovereign.
This first edict seems to have been brought upon by ex-member, Professor Joseph Utzschneider, who had quit the Order in August 1783. Just a few months later, in October, Utzschneider along with Grünberger and Cosandey, fellow professors with him in the Marianen (Marienburg) Academy 21 and members of the Order, presented the Duchess Maria Anna with an internal Illuminati document, and a membership list. The Duchess was thoroughly alarmed and passed it on to the Duke. [VS, JR]
1785
February. Some members of the Illuminati appeal to Carl Theodore for an appearance before him to prove their innocence. The offer is rejected. [VS]
March 2. The Bavarian Monarch issues the second edict against secret societies, specifically naming the Illuminati and Freemasonry; shortly after a considerable amount of important documents were concealed or put to the flames. [VS] This second ban was more forceful, it "left no room for evasion." The government enforcers were giving weapons to "wage an effective command." [VS]
Weishaupt had already left his post at the University two weeks earlier, obviously knowing about the approaching storm. "He fled across the border to Regensburg, and finally settled at Gotha" under the protection of Illuminati member Duke of Saxe-Gotha. [VS] Thirteen years later Barruel writes, "[Weishaupt] now banished from his country as a traitor to his Prince and to the whole Universe, peacefully at the court of Ernest Lewis, Duke of Saxe Gotha, enjoys an asylum, receives a pension from the public treasury, and is dignified with the title of Honorary Councellor to that Prince." [AB: 400]
Judicial inquiries were held at Ingolstadt. Subsequent government measures were taken and some members made formal confessions. A considerable membership was found to be held within the military; officers and soldiers were ordered to come forward and confess any involvement. State officials, professors, teachers, and students who were found out to be members were summarily dismissed. Some were even banished from the country. [VS]
September 9. Utzschneider, Grünberger, and Cosandey make a joint Juridical Deposition before the Elector:
"The object of the first degrees of Illuminism is at once to train their young men, and to be informed of every thing that is going forward by a system of espionage. The Superiors aim at procuring from their inferiors diplomatic acts, documents, and original writings. With pleasure they see them commit any treasons or treacherous acts, because they not only turn the secrets betrayed to their own advantage, but thereby have it in their power to keep the traitors in a perpetual dread, lest, if they every showed any signs of stubbornness, their malefactions should be made known.-Oderint dum metuant, let them hate, provided they fear, is the principle of their government.
"The Illuminees from these first degrees are educated in the following principles:
"The Illuminee who wishes to rise to the highest degree must be free from all religion; for a religionist (as they call every man who has any religion) will never be admitted to the highest degrees."
The Patet Exitus, or the doctrine on Suicide, is expressed in the same terms as in the preceding deposition.
"The end sanctifies the means. The welfare of the Order will be a justification for calumnies, poisonings, assassinations, perjuries, treasons, rebellions; in short, for all that the prejudices of men lead them to call crimes.
"One must be more submissive to the Superiors of Illuminism, than to the sovereigns or magistrates who govern the people; and he that gives the preference to sovereigns or governors of the people is useless to us. Honor, life, and fortune, all are to be sacrificed to the Superiors. The governors of nations are despots when they are not directed by us.-They can have no authority over us, who are free men.
"The love of one's prince and of one's country are incompatible with views of an immense extent, with the ultimate ends of the Order, and one must glow with ardour for the attainment of that end.
"The Superiors of Illuminism are to be looked upon as the most perfect and the most enlightened of men; no doubts are to be entertained even of their infallibility."
"It is in these moral and political principles that the Illuminees are educated in the lower degrees; and it is according to the manner in which they imbibe them and show their devotion to the Order, or are able to second its views, that they are earlier or later admitted to the higher degrees.
"They use every possible artifice to get the different post-offices in all countries entrusted to the care of their adepts only. They also boast that they are in possession of the secret of opening and reclosing letters without the circumstance being perceived.
"They made us give answers in writing to the following questions: How would it be possible to devise one single system of morals and one common Government for all Europe, and what means should be employed to effectuate it? Would the Christian Religion be a necessary requisite? Should revolt be employed to accomplish it? &c. &c.
"We were also asked, in which Brethren we should place the most confidence if there were any important plan to be undertaken; and whether we were willing to recognize the right of life and death as vested in the Order; and also the right of the sword, Jus Gladii.
"In consequence of our acquaintance with this doctrine of the Illuminees, with their conduct, their manners, and their incitements to treason, and being fully convinced of the dangers of the Sect, we the Aulic Counsellor Utzschneider and the Priest Dillis left the Order. The Professor Grünberger, the Priest Cosandey, Renner, and Zaupfer, did the same a week after, though the Illuminees sought to impose upon us shamefully, by assuring us that his Electoral Highness was a member of their Order. We clearly saw that a Prince knowing his own interests, and wholly attending to the paternal care of his subjects, would never countenance a Sect, spreading through almost every province under the cloak of Free-masonry; because it sows division and discord between parents and their children, between Princes and their subjects, and among the most sincere friends; because on all important occasions it would install partiality on the seats of justice and in the councils, as it always prefers the welfare of the Order to that of the state, and the interests of its adepts to those of the prophane. Experience had convinced us, that they would soon succeed in perverting all the Bavarian youth. The leading feature in the generality of their adepts were irreligion, depravity of morals, disobedience to their Prince and to their parents, and the neglect of all useful studies. We saw that the fatal consequence of Illuminism would be, to create a general distrust between the prince and his subjects, the father and his children, the minister and his secretaries, and between the different tribunals and councils. We were not to be deterred by that threat so often repeated, That no Prince can save him that betrays us. We abandoned, one after the other, this Sect, which under different names, as we have been informed by several of our former Brethren, has already spread itself in Italy, and particularly at Venice, in Austria, in Holland, in Saxony, on the Rhine, particularly at Frankfort, and even as far as America.-The Illuminees meddle as much as possible in state affairs, and excite troubles wherever their Order can be benefited by them."
"We are not acquainted with the other Invisibles, who in all probability are chiefs of a higher degree.
"After we had retired from the Order, the Illuminees calumniated us on all sides in the most infamous manner. Their cabal made us fail in every request we presented; succeeding in rendering us hateful and odious to our superiors, they even carried their calumnies so far as to pretend that one of us had committed murder. After a year's persecution, an Illuminee came to represent to the Aulic Counsellor Utzschneider, that from experience he must have learned that he was every where persecuted by the Order, that unless he could contrive to regain its protection, he would never succeed in any of his demands, and that he could still regain admission." [AB: 684-88; emphasis in original]
1786
On October 11 police search Xavier Zwack's residence in Landshut. A number of books and over two hundred letters, between Weishaupt and the Areopagites, were confiscated. The documents were published by the Bavarian government under the title Einige Originalschriften des Illuminaten Ordens. [VS, TM]
The evidence discovered at Zwack's residence was considerable: besides the secret communications between the Illuminati Adepts, the authorities found tables containing the Order's symbols and the Persian calendar; membership rosters, statutes, instructions for recruiters, ceremonies of initiation and imprints of the Order's insignia; a eulogy of atheism and a copy of a manuscript entitled Better Than Horus; a proposal for a branch of Illuminism for woman; 22 several hundred impressions of Government seals (with a list of their owners, princes, nobles, clergymen, merchants, etc.), for the purposes of counterfeiting; instructions for the making of the poison Aqua Toffana, poisonous gas and secret ink; "an infernal machine" for the safeguarding of secret papers - apparently a strong box that would blow up, destroying its contents; and receipts for procuring abortion and a formula for making a tea to induce the procedure. [VS, JR, MA: 51, NW: 228, AB: 692-93]
In the space of a few months, in 1786 - in order to save face - Weishaupt pens 9 different apologetic pamphlets, most notably: Apologie der Illuminaten, Frankfort and Leipzig, 1786, and Vollständige Geschichte der Verfolgung der Illuminaten in Bayern, Frankfort and Leipzig, 1786. [VS]
1787
As a result of further police searches of Baron Bassus' castle at Sandersdorf, the Bavarian government published more secret documents of the Order: Nachtrag von weitern Originalschriften ... [VS]
August 16. The third and final edict against the Order is put into effect by the Duke of Bavaria. The former edicts were reemphasized "and in addition, to give maximum force to the sovereign's will, criminal process, without distinction of person, dignity, state, or quality, was ordered against any Illuminatus who should be discovered continuing the work of recruiting. Any so charged and found guilty were to be deprived of their lives by the sword; while those thus recruited were to have their goods confiscated and themselves to be condemned to perpetual banishment from the territories of the duke. Under the same penalties of confiscation and banishment, the members of the order, no matter under what name or circumstances, regular or irregular, they should gather, were forbidden to assemble as lodges." [VS]
posted by Alien Alienated at 6:46 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home