Adam Weishaupt, founder of the Bavarian Illuminati (on the left:the owl of the goddess Minerva) • WIKIMEDIACOMMONS Until the age of 36, Adam Weishaupt led the life of a respectable 18th century German bourgeois. century. Born in 1748 in the town of Ingolstadt, which then belonged to the independent state of Bavaria, he descended from a Jewish family that had converted to Christianity. Orphaned from an early age, he was enrolled in a Jesuit school by his uncle, who took his education into his own hands. After graduation, he very quickly began to teach at the university in his hometown, got married and started a family. But in 1784 the Bavarian government discovered that this honest professor of ecclesiastical law was actually a dangerous conspiracy theorist; he ordered his pursuit and arrest. Adam Weishaupt, the founder Adam Weishaupt was of a restless temper. Very young, he had had access to the works of French philosophers, which he could read in his uncle's library. He then convinced himself that the monarchy and the Church possessed the power to deceive the population and to maintain it in a state of submission. Certain that religious ideas were not solid enough foundations to build the government of a world where materialism reigned, he decided to seek another type of "enlightenment", more in line with his thought and susceptible to practical application in the real world. In the 18 th century, Freemasonry had experienced a strong expansion in Europe, especially in Germany, where Adam Weishaupt initially considered joining a lodge, without success. If he was finally disappointed by the ideas of the Freemasons, he nevertheless immersed himself in strange readings on the mysteries of the Seven Sages of Memphis, the Kabbalah and the secrets of the magic of Osiris. So he decided to found a new secret society:the order of the Illuminated (also called simply the Illuminated), initially known as the circle of Perfectibilists. Bankers and poets The 1 st May 1776, the first Illuminati met to found their order in a wood not far from Ingolstadt, by torchlight. There were only five of them then:Adam Weishaupt and four of his students. It was there that the first norms of the order were established. No one could enter it by his own will:the consent of all members was required, and only people with good economic and social status could enter. At this point, the internal organization had only three grades:novices, minors, and enlightened minors. The term minerval referred to the Greco-Roman goddess of wisdom, known as Athena or Minerva, since the order was intended to spread true knowledge, or "enlightenment", on the foundations of society, state and religion. In the following years, the order of Weishaupt experienced a real boom, despite its secret nature. It is estimated that it already had 600 members in 1782, including prominent figures in Bavarian public life, such as Baron Adolf von Knigge or the banker Meyer Amschel Rothschild, who generously financed the order. This expansion did not dry up over time:if the Enlightened were initially limited to student disciples of Weishaupt, they were later joined by nobles, members of the political class and all kinds of liberal professions, such as doctors, lawyers or jurists, but also intellectuals and men of letters, including Herder and Goethe. By the end of 1784, the Illuminati claimed to have between 2,000 and 3,000 members scattered throughout Germany. By the end of 1784, the Illuminati claimed to have between 2,000 and 3,000 members scattered throughout Germany. Baron Adolf von Knigge played a leading role in the organization and expansion of this society. As a former Freemason, he favored the adoption of rites characteristic of Freemasonry. The Illuminati, for example, were given a symbolic name, generally borrowed from classical antiquity:Weishaupt received the pseudonym of Spartacus, von Knigge that of Philo, judge Franz Xaver von Zwack that of Cato, etc. Similarly, a more complex hierarchy than that initially established was born. A total of 13 initiation grades were thus created, each of them divided into three classes:the first culminated with the grade of minor enlightened, the second with that of major enlightened, and the third with the supreme level, that of prince. As Weishaupt wrote, the society he founded was to "progressively free Christians of all faiths from all religious prejudices, but also cultivate and revive the virtues of society in order to attain universal, complete, and speedy happiness. achievable". To achieve this, it was necessary to create "a state in which freedom and equality flourish, a state devoid of the obstacles that hierarchy, rank and wealth constantly put in our way." In so doing, "the time when men will be free and happy will soon arrive." Betrayed by one of their own While everything seemed to be going well for order, the horizon suddenly clouded over. Relations between Weishaupt and von Knigge soured to such an extent that the latter decided to abandon the company. At the same time, Joseph Utzschneider, another Illuminati, felt left out and wrote a letter to the Grand Duchess of Bavaria to reveal to her the activities of the order. The accusations he made were terrible and largely unimagined:the Enlightened maintained that life should be governed by passion rather than reason, that suicide was lawful, that one could poison one's enemies, that religion was nonsense and patriotism childishness. This letter also implied that the Illuminati were conspiring in favor of Austria. Warned by his wife, the Elector Duke of Bavaria promulgated an edict in June 1784 which prohibited the formation of any society not previously authorized by law and ordered the closure of all Masonic lodges. Also read:Freemasonry:science and esotericism in the Age of Enlightenment The Illuminati initially thought that this general ban would not affect them directly and that they could quickly resume their activity once the storm passed. However, a few months later, in March 1785, the Bavarian sovereign issued a second edict expressly prohibiting the existence of the order. The Bavarian police carried out a large number of arrests, interrogations and searches. At Franz Xaver von Zwack, Weishaupt's right-hand man, she thus got her hands on incriminating documents:a plea in favor of suicide and atheism written in her own hand, the plan for the creation of a women's branch of the order, the plan to build a machine to keep records or destroy them when needed, recipes for invisible ink, poisonous formulas, as well as an abortion receipt, among other things. Cleverly disseminated in the press, this evidence was used to accuse the order founded by Weishaupt of conspiring against religion and the state. In August 1787, the Elector Duke promulgated a third edict confirming the total prohibition of the order and imposing the death penalty for joining any type of sect. At that time, Weishaupt was safe in Gotha, a town in a small principality in northern Bavaria. There he published several apologies for the Illuminati in the hope of exalting his companions, but in vain:the repression carried out by the Duke of Bavaria ended in the disappearance of the order, from which some members escaped, who founded the United States. United a lodge considered the heiress of Bavarian society. Find out more The Bavarian Illuminati and German Freemasonry, R. Le Forestier, Archè, 2001. The Steps to Enlightenment The complex organization of the order revolved around 13 ranks. It was adopted under the influence of Baron von Knigge, who applied the model of the Masonic lodges to which he belonged.First Class Each novice was introduced to the humanitarian philosophy, until obtaining the grade of minerval. He then received the statutes of the order and participated in the meetings.1. preparatory notebooks 2. newbie 3. school fees 4. enlightened minorSecond class The different grades were inspired by Freemasonry. The Major Illumined One oversaw the recruitment of members; the Illuminated leader presided over the assemblies of the minerals.5. apprentice 6. companion 7. master 8. major enlightenment 9. enlightened rulerThird Class This level was associated with the highest degree of philosophical enlightenment. Placed under the supreme authority of a group of "princes", the priests devoted themselves to instructing the members in all the sciences.10. priest 11. regent 12. mage 13. prince
