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] The movement was made up of freethinkers as an offshoot of the Enlightenment, and seems to have been modeled on the Freemasons.[4]
Originally Weishaupt had planned the order to be named the “Perfectibilists“.[5] The group has also been called the Bavarian Illuminatiand the movement itself has been referred to as Illuminism (after illuminism). In 1777, Karl Theodor became ruler of Bavaria. He was a proponent of Enlightened Despotism and, in 1784, his government banned all secret societies, including the Illuminati.
During the period when the Illuminati were legally allowed to operate, many influential intellectuals and progressive politicians counted themselves as members, including Ferdinand of Brunswick and the diplomat Xavier von Zwack, who was number two in the operation and was found with much of the group’s literature when his home was searched.[6] The Illuminati’s members pledged obedience to their superiors. Members were divided into three main classes, each with several degrees.
The order had its branches in most countries of the European continent; it reportedly had around 2,000 members over the span of ten years.[7] The organization had its attraction for literary men, such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Johann Gottfried Herder, and even for the reigning dukes of Gotha and Weimar. Weishaupt modeled his group to some extent on Freemasonry, and many Illuminati chapters drew membership from existing Masonic lodges. Internal rupture and panic over succession preceded its downfall, which was effected by the Secular Edict made by the Bavarian government in 1785.[8]
Barruel and Robison
The March 2, 1785 edict was apparently a “deathblow to the Illuminati in Bavaria.” Weishaupt had fled, and documents from the group had been seized and were then published by the government in 1787.[9]
Between 1787 and 1789 Augustin Barruel‘s Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism and John Robison‘s Proofs of a Conspiracy both publicized the theory that the Illuminati had survived and represented an ongoing international conspiracy, including the claim that it was behind the French Revolution. Both books proved to be very popular, spurring reprints and paraphrases by others, like the one by ReverendSeth Payson.[10][11] Some response was critical, such as Jean-Joseph Mounier‘s On the Influence Attributed to Philosophers, Free-Masons, and to the Illuminati on the Revolution of France.
New England Illuminati scare
Robison and Barruel’s works made their way to the United States. Across New England, Reverend Jedidiah Morse and others sermonized against the Illuminati, their sermons printed, and the matter followed in newspapers. The concern died down in the first decade of the 1800s, though had some revival during the Anti-Masonic movement of the 1820s and 30s.[12]
Modern Illuminati
Writers such as Mark Dice,[13] David Icke, Texe Marrs, Ryan Burke, Jüri Lina and Morgan Gricar have argued that the Bavarian Illuminati survived, possibly to this day. Many of these theories propose that world events are being controlled and manipulated by a secret societycalling itself the Illuminati.[14][15] Conspiracy theorists have claimed that many notable people were or are members of the Illuminati. Presidents of the United States are a common target for such claims [16][17]
In addition to the shadowy and secret organization, several modern fraternal groups claim to be the “heirs” of the Bavarian Illuminati and have openly used the name “Illuminati” in founding their own rites. Some, such as the multiple groups that call themselves some variation on “The Illuminati Order,”[18][19] use the name directly in the name of their organization, while others, such as the Ordo Templi Orientis, use the name as a grade of initiation within their organization.
Popular culture
The Illuminati are a recurring theme in popular culture. References to such an organization appear in many fictional works across many genres, appearing in novels like The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, Dan Brown‘s Angels & Demons, The Fallen Angels by Susannah Kells & Bernard Cornwell, and The Illuminati by Larry Burkett; in films like Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, on television as in the Disney animated television show Gargoyles; in video games such as Deus Ex; in comic book series like New Avengers: Illuminati; as well as in both trading card and roleplaying games like Götterdämmerung.[20]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illuminati
Related:
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1776 1776 – In fact, the only known Illuminati society recognised by historians was founded nearly a century later, in Bavaria, in 1776 . The plot of Angels and Demons takes place 400 years later, when the Illuminati , now a powerful and ruthless secret society, return to …Show more
From Angels and Demons, part of the grand conspiracy theory? | The … – Related web pages
observers.france24.com/en/content/20090507 …►
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May 1776 – Now, the entry for Illuminati in the Catholic Encyclopedia omits the above information entirely and baldly states that the Illuminati are the invention of one Adam Weishaupt, a Jesuit-educated lecturer on canon law at the University of Ingolstadt, in May of…
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From Marching Morons: What Illuminati? – Related web pages
mmorons.blogspot.com/2005/12/what-illuminati.html -
May 1, 1776 – Illuminati Order is a paramasonic, Sovereign and Independent order, heir of The Bavarian Illuminati of Adam Weishaupt, founded on 1776 May 1st. It is named paramasonic because it does not assume the Landmarks (rules) of modern masonry, but it has a Masonic …
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From The Order of Illuminati is back – Related web pages
hubpages.com/hub/The_Order_of_Illuminati_is_back -
May 1, 1776 – Documentary Galore – “The Illuminati Society” The Illuminati (enlightened) is a name that … Illuminati, an Enlightenment-era secret society founded on May 1, 1776. In … the throne”, allegedly controlling world affairs through present day governments and .
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From SOCIETY AFFAIRS – Related web pages
mediafiresearch.net/society%20affairsoc4c-1-w-0-0 -
1782 Jul 16, 1782 – Although Wcishaupt was absent, Knigge represented the Illuminati at the Masonic Convention of Wilhelmsbad in Hesse, convened on July 16, 1782, under the chairmanship of the Duke of Brunswick and attended by Masonic representatives from all over Europe.Show more
From Rule by Secrecy by Jim Marrs – Related web pages
issuu.com/forgenerations/docs/rulebysecrecy
This does not appear to be a figment of imagination.
Additional links.
These objects of the order were to be revealed to members only after their promotion to the “priestly” degree (Nachtr., I, 68). The preliminary degrees were to serve for the selection, preparation, and concealment of the true “Illuminati”; the others were to open the way for the free religion and socialorganization of the future, in which all distinction of nations, creeds, etc., would disappear. The government of the order was administered by the superiors of the Minerval “churches”, “provincials”, “nationals”, and “areopagites” (who constituted the supreme council), under the direction of Weishaupt as general of the order. Members were acquainted only with their immediate superiors, and only a few trusted members knew that Weishaupt was the founder and supreme head of the order. All the members were obliged to give themselves a training in accordance with the aims of the society, and to make themselves useful, while the order, on its part, pledged itself to further their interests by the most effectual means. They were especially recommended to systematically observe persons and events, to acquire knowledge, and to pursue scientific research in so far as it might serve the purposes of the order. Concerning all persons with whom they had intercourse they were to gather information, and on all matters which could possibly affect either themselves or the order they were to hand in sealed reports; these were opened by superiors unknown to the writers, and were, insubstance, referred to the general. The purpose of this and other regulations was to enable the order to attain its object by securing for it a controlling influence in all directions, and especially by pressing culture and enlightenment into its service. All illuministic and official organs, the press, schools,seminaries, cathedral chapters (hence, too, all appointments to sees, pulpits, and chairs) were to be brought as far as possible under the influence of the organization, and princes themselves were to be surrounded by a legion of enlightened men, in order not only to disarm their opposition, but also to compel their energetic co-operation. A complete transformation would thus be effected; public opinion would be controlled; “priests and princes” would find their hands tied; the marplots who ventured to interfere would repent their temerity; and the order would become an object of dread to all its enemies.
Concerning the influence actually exerted by the Illuminati, the statements of ex-Freemasons—L.A. Hossman, J.A. Starck, J. Robinson, the Abbé Barruel, etc.–must be accepted with reserve, when they ascribe to the order a leading rôle in the outbreak and progress of the French Revolution of 1789. Their presentation of facts is often erroneous, their inferences are untenable, and their theses not only lack proof, but, in view of our present knowledge of the French Revolution (cf., e.g., Aulard, “Hist. pol. de la Rév. Franç.”, 3rd ed., 1905; Lavisse-Rambaud, “Hist. générale”, VIII, 1896), they are extremely improbable. On the other hand, once it had discarded, after 1786, the peculiarities of Weishaupt, “Illuminationism” was simply the carrying out of the principles of “enlightenment”; in other words, it was Freemasonry and practical Liberalism adapted to the requirements of the age; as such it exerted an important influence on the intellectual and social development of the nineteenth century. (See MASONRY; SECRET SOCIETIES.)
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07661b.htm
I have indicated that the present unrest in Africa and Middle east seem to be well orchestrated.
Terrorist outfits could not have planned this for the style is too sophisticated.
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