Iluminati

lluminati
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This article is about the group. For the film, see Illuminata (film). For other uses, see Illuminati (disambiguation).

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AdamWeishaupt, founder of the Bavarian Illuminati

The Illuminati (plural of Latin illuminatus, "enlightened") is a name given to several groups, both real (historical) and fictitious. Historically the name refers to the Bavarian Illuminati, an Enlightenment-era secret society founded on May 1, 1776. In more modern contexts the name refers to a purported conspiratorial organization which is alleged tomastermind events and control world affairs through governments and corporations to establish a New World Order. In this context the Illuminati are usually represented as a modern version or continuation of the Bavarian Illuminati.
Contents [hide]
1 History
2 Organisation
3 Members
4 Barruel and Robison
5 Modern Illuminati
6 Popular culture
6.1 Modern conspiracy theory
6.2 Novels
7References
8 Other Reading
9 External links
History

The movement was founded on May 1, 1776, in Ingolstadt (Upper Bavaria) as the Order of the Illuminati, with an initial membership of five,[1] by Jesuit-taught Adam Weishaupt (d. 1830),[2] who was the first lay professor of canon law at the University of Ingolstadt.[3] It was made up of freethinkers as an offshoot of the Enlightenment and seems tohave been modeled on the Freemasons.[4] The Illuminati's members took a vow of secrecy and pledged obedience to their superiors. Members were divided into three main classes, each with several degrees, and many Illuminati chapters drew membership from existing Masonic lodges.
Originally Weishaupt had planned the order to be named the "Perfectibilists".[1] The group has also been called theBavarian Illuminati and its ideology has been called "Illuminism". Many influential intellectuals and progressive politicians counted themselves as members, including Ferdinand of Brunswick and the diplomat Xavier von Zwack, the second-in-command of the order.[5] The order had branches in most European countries: it reportedly had around 2,000 members over the span of ten years.[3] It attracted literarymen such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Johann Gottfried Herder and the reigning dukes of Gotha and Weimar.
In 1777 Karl Theodor became ruler of Bavaria. He was a proponent of Enlightened Despotism and his government banned all secret societies including the Illuminati. Internal rupture and panic over succession preceded its downfall, which was affected by the Secular Edict made by theBavarian government.[3] The March 2, 1785 edict "seems to have been deathblow to the Illuminati in Bavaria." Weishaupt had fled and documents and internal correspondences, seized in 1786 and 1787, were subsequently published by the government in 1787.[6] Von Zwack's home was searched to disclose much of the group's literature.[5]
Another reorganisation took place in 1780 after the Lower Saxon nobleAdolph Freiherr Knigge joined the Illuminati. In 1782 he gave a structure similar to the Freemason lodges to the order that had until that point, as Weishaupt himself conceded, not actually existed anywhere but in Weishaupt's head. Leadership of the order was given to a so-called Areopagus that consisted of Weishaupt, Knigge and others.[citation needed]
This new organisation allowed the Illuminati torecruit numerous Freemasons and infiltrate entire lodges against the backdrop of a crisis that the higher grades of the German Freemasonry were going through after the collapse of the Order of Strict Observance in 1776.[citation needed] This relatively apolitical and romanticising movement claimed succession from the Knights Templar and had enabled Karl Gotthelf von Hund to get the German...