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Adam Weishauptfounded the Illuminati ofBavaria on May 1, 1776on the principles of hisearly training as aJesuit. Originally calledthe Order of thePerfectibilists, "itsprofessed object was,by the mutualassistance of itsmembers, to attain thehighest possible degreeof morality and virtue,and to lay thefoundation for thereformation of the worldby the association ofgood men to oppose theprogress of moral evil."1

FRENCH REVOLUTION

EUROPEAN ILLUMINATI

MYTHOLOGY OF SECRETSOCIETIES

NEW ENGLAND SCARE

.

A Bavarian Illuminati primerCompiled by Trevor W. McKeown

"As Weishaupt lived under the tyranny of a despot and priests, heknew that caution was necessary even in spreading information,and the principles of pure morality. This has given an air of mysteryto his views, was the foundation of his banishment.... If Weishaupthad written here, where no secrecy is necessary in our endeavorsto render men wise and virtuous, he would not have thought of anysecret machinery for that purpose." Cf.

- Thomas Jefferson Letters, 1800

The two principal critics of the Illuminati, John Robison and the AbbéBarruel 2 both published their accusations, theories and "histories" inEnglish. But it has only been in the last few years that the sourcedocuments have been translated, allowing the English-speaking worldan objective perspective on the order.

This webpage summarizes what was known about the BavarianIlluminati to the English-speaking world, up until the mid-twentiethcentury. Serious students should consult Amelia Gill's 2008 translationof Weishaupt's Die Lampe von Diogenese, Peggy Pawlowski’s 2004doctoral thesis, ‘Der Beitrag Johann Adam Weishaupts zur Pädagogikdes Illuminatismus’, and the works of such German historians asReinhart Koselleck, Richard van Dülmen, Hermann Schüttler, ReinhardMarkner, Monika Neugebauer-Wölk, Manfred Agethen, and ChristineSchaubs.

Robison freely admitted that he had scanty knowledge of German andhad derived all his information from other writers. 3 Unfortunatelyneither he nor Barruel were concerned with providing references fortheir sources. When they do quote from the papers andcorrespondence of the Order as published by the Bavarian governmentor the published works of Adam Weishaupt and Adolph Knigge, theyalso fail to provide context or citations.

Adam Weishaupt was born February 6,1748 at Ingolstadt and educated by theJesuits. His appointment as Professor ofNatural and Canon Law at theUniversity of Ingolstadt in 1775, aposition previously held by one of therecently disbanded Jesuits,4 gave, it issaid, great offence to the clergy."Weishaupt, whose views werecosmopolitan, and who knew andcondemned the bigotry andsuperstitions of the Priests, establishedan opposing party in the University...." 5

Weishaupt was not then a freemason;he was initiated into a Lodge of StrictObservance, Lodge Theodore of GoodCouncil (Theodor zum guten Rath), at

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Adam Weishaupt (1748 - 1830)

Retellings of the death of Lanz, anIlluminati courier, who was struck bylightning in Abschrift [Apologie, p. 229],illustrate the mythology that has grownup around the history of the Illuminati.Lack of research and a disdain forhistorical accuracy has lead conpiracytheorists to confuse Johann Jakob Lanz,a non-Illuminati secular priest in Erding,and friend of Weishaupt, with FranzGeorg Lang, a court advisor in Eichstättwho was active in the Illuminati underthe name Tamerlan.

Barruel mistakenly translated"Weltpriester", or secular priest, asapostate priest and subsequent writerssuch as Webster and Miller haverepeated this error. Eckert renamedWeishaupt’s friend as Lanze and had himstruck by lightning while carryingdispatches in Silesia. Miller cited Eckertbut renamed Lanz as Jacob Lang andplaced the lightning strike in Ratisbon.The importance of the papers found onLanz has also been over-stressed,considering that his death on 10 July1785 came some time after the first twoedicts for suppression — issued on 22June 1784 and 2 March 1785 — and sometime before the mid-October 1786 raidson Zwack and Bassus, and the final edicton 16 August 1787. This is a minor detailin the history but it illustrates the lack ofaccuracy often displayed by detractorsof the Illuminati.7

Munich in 1777.*

Most information regarding the ritualsand objectives of the order is derivedfrom papers and correspondence foundin a search of Xavier Zwack’s residencein Landshut on 11 October 1786, and asearch of Baron Bassus’s castle ofSondersdorf in Bavaria on 16 October ofthe same year. 6 These documents werepublished by the Bavarian government,under the title: Einige Originalschriftendes Illuminaten Ordens, (Munich, 1787).Until recently, the best Englishexposition on the Order was found inChapter III of Vernon L. Stauffer’s NewEngland and the Bavarian Illuminati,(pp. 142-228). Today, Englishtranslations of the rituals are availableonline.

Neither Robison nor Barruel denythat the professed goal of theOrder was to teach people to behappy by making them good — todo this by enlightening the mindand freeing it from the dominion ofsuperstition and prejudice. But theyrefused to accept this at facevalue. Where Weishaupt and Kniggepromoted a freedom from churchdomination over philosophy andscience, Robison and Barruel saw acall for the destruction of thechurch. Where Weishaupt andKnigge wanted a release from theexcesses of state oppression,Robison and Barruel saw thedestruction of the state. WhereWeishaupt and Knigge wanted toeducate women and treat them asintellectual equals, Robison andBarruel saw the destruction of thenatural and proper order of society.

The rituals were of a rationalistic and not occult nature. Status as afreemason was not required for initiation into the Order of Illuminatisince the fourth, fifth and sixth degrees of Weishaupt and BaronAdolphe-François-Frederic Knigge’s system practically duplicated thethree degrees of symbolic Freemasonry. Although Knigge claimed to

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Baron Adolph Knigge (1752 - 1796)

have a system of ten degrees, the last two appear never to have beenfully worked up.8

"The Order was at first very popular,and enrolled no less than two thousandnames upon its registers.... Its Lodgeswere to be found in France, Belgium,Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Poland,Hungary, and Italy. Knigge, who wasone of its most prominent workingmembers, and the auther of several ofits Degrees, was a religious man, andwould never have united with it had itsobject been, as has been charged, toabolish Christianity. But it cannot bedenied, that in the process of timeabuses had crept into the Institutionand that by the influence of unworthymen, the system became corrupted;yet the course accusations of Barrueland Robison are known to beexaggerated, and some of themaltogether false.... The Edicts [on June22, 1784, for its suppression] of theElector of Bavaria [Duke Karl Theodor] were repeated in [2 March 1785,16 August 1787] and the Order began to decline, so that by the end ofthe eighteenth century it had ceased to exist.... it exercised while inprosperity no favorable influence on the masonic institution, nor anyunfavorable effect on it by its dissolution."9

In 1785 Weishaupt was deprived of his chair and banished with pensionfrom the country. He refused the pension and moved to Regensburg,subsequently finding asylum with Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. Weishaupt was later appointed a professor at the Universityof Gottingen, remaining there until his death on 18 November 1830.10

Henry Wilson Coil describes the order as a "short lived, meteoric andcontroversial society"11 while George Kenning refers to it as a"mischievous association".12 In his own defense, Weishaupt wrote:

"Whoever does not close his ear to the lamentations of themiserable, nor his heart to gentle pity; whoever is thefriend and brother of the unfortunate; whoever has a heartcapable of love and friendship; whoever is steadfast inadversity, unwearied in the carrying out of whatever hasbeen once engaged in, undaunted in the overcoming ofdifficulties; whoever does not mock and despise the weak;whose soul is susceptible of conceiving great designs,desirous of rising superior to all base motives, and ofdistinguishing himself by deeds of benevolence; whoevershuns idleness; whoever considers no knowledge asunessential which he may have the opportunity ofacquiring, regarding the knowledge of mankind as his chiefstudy; whoever, when truth and virtue are in question,despising the approbation of the multitude, is sufficientlycourageous to follow the dictates of his own heart, - sucha one is a proper candidate." 13

"The tenor of my life has been the opposite of everythingthat is vile; and no man can lay any such thing to mycharge." 14

As regards any information derived from the celebrated anti-mason,John Robison 15: "In the (London) Monthly Magazine for January 1798there appeared a letter from Böttiger, Provost of the College of

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Weimar, in reply to Robison’s work, charging that writer with makingfalse statements, and declaring that since 1790 'every concern [sic] ofthe Illuminati has ceased.' Böttiger also offered to supply any person inGreat Britain, alarmed at the erroneous statements contained in thebook above mentioned, with correct information." 16

Following is an unconfirmed list of the more notable members:

Adam Weishaupt Professor †Adolph Von Knigge Baron †Xavier von Zwack Lawyer, judge and electoral

councillor †Christoph Friedrich Nicolai[Nicholai]

Bookseller †

Westenrieder Professor †Hertel Canon †Thomas Maria de Bassus Baron †Johann Simon Mayr ComposerDietrich Mayor of StrasbourgJohann J. C. Bode Privy councillor ‡William von Busche Baron ‡Saint Germain compte de §de Constanzo MarquisFerdinand of Brunswick Duke *Ernst II of Gotha Duke *Johann W. Goethe author *

Of the 67 names published by the Abbé Barruel, 10 were professors, 13were nobles, 7 were in the church, 3 were lawyers and the balancewere drawn from the growing middle class: mostly government officialsand merchants and a few military officers.17

John M. Roberts claims that "[Weishaupt] rapidly rationalized difficultiesgrowing out of his own rashness and taste for intrigue as the productof obscurantism and soon envisaged wider purposes for his society"18

while Robert Gilbert feels that Christopher McIntosh "overestimates thestrength and significance of the Illuminati."19

Researchers are directed to a list of books and pamphlets written byWeishaupt found at the end of this paper. A further bibliography can befound in Vernon L. Stauffer’s New England and the Bavarian Illuminati,pp. 185-86. The United Grand Lodge of England Library catalogueincludes: P.4. Adam Weishaupt, Uber den allgorischen Geist desAlterthums. Regensburg, 1794. 8vo.

Evidence would suggest that the Bavarian Illuminati was nothing morethan a curious historical footnote. Certainly, this is the opinion ofmasonic writers. Conspiracy theorists though, are not noted forapplying Occam’s razor and have decided that there are connectionsbetween the Illuminati, Freemasonry, the Trilateral Commission, BritishEmperialism, International Zionism and communism (if you read thewritings of Alberto Rivera and Jack T. Chick of Chino California), that alllead back to the Vatican (or if David Icke is to be believed, the Britishhouse of Windsor and extra-terrestrial lizard people) in a bid for worlddomination. Believe what you will but there is no evidence that anyIlluminati survived its founders.

It should be noted that the compiler of these notes, and of the Anti-masonry FAQ, is neither the founder nor the moderator of thenewsgroup alt.illuminati. This unmoderated newsgroup was created byGregg Bloom, a software programmer and systems manager, on 16 April1993. He never posted to the newsgroup until, in response to thiswebsite, Colz Grigor, claiming to be Gregg S. Bloom, posted intoalt.illuminati on 22 February 2003. [FNORD] Peter Trei posted theBavarian Illuminati FAQ in November 1992 and Trevor W. McKeown firstposted the Bavarian Illuminati Primer on February 18, 1996. Neither

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participated in the creation of the newsgroup nor are active inmaintaining any archive. While a number of automated onlinecataloguers of FAQs have credited Trevor W. McKeown as thenewsgroup moderator, this is an error.

After the Illuminati

The Encyclopaedia Britannica refers to Illuminati "cells" in an article oneighteenth century Italy as "republican freethinkers, after the patternrecently established in Bavaria by Adam Weishaupt."20 and as a"rationalistic secret society" in an article on Roman Catholicism.21

Depending on your perspective, the lack of any detailed information onthe Illuminati in the Encyclopaedia Britannica can be ascribed to theircurrent power and secretiveness or to the much simpler explanationthat the editors found the order to be of little importance in the flow ofhistory and social development.

It is unfortunate that conspiracy theorists have so confused the issuewith claims of Illuminati complicity that the real conspiracies, the realdanger to a free and open society, so often go unreported orunremarked.

Eliphas Lévi made the following unsubstantiated juxapositions in 1860:

"... it was this same memory handed on to secretassociations of Rosicrucians, Illuminati and Freemasonswhich gave a meaning to their strange rites...." 22 "...under the names of Magic, Manicheanism, Illuminism andMasonry...." 23 "The maniacal circles of pretended illuminati go back to thebacchantes who murdered Orpheus. 24 "Long before there was any question of mediums and theirevocations in America and France, Prussia had its illuminatiand seers, who had habitual communications with thedead." 25 There is a secret correspondence belonging to the reign [ofKing Frederick William] which is cited by the Marquis deLuchet in his work against the illuminati..." 26

More important than the existence of any illuminati after 1784, was thefear that they existed. John M. Roberts, in his Mythology of SecretSocieties details this concern of European rulers, and concludes thattheir oppressive reactions to this fear provoked the very revolutionsthey sought to prevent. Another insight into how this fear outstrippedthe facts can be found in Vernon L. Stauffer’s New England and theBavarian Illuminati (1918).

Although attempts have been made to revive the order, none appear tohave survived their founders. As an example, William Westcott, inexchange for the Swedenborgian Rite, received membership in the"Order of the Illuminati" from Theodor Reuss in 1902. Documentation isnot available, nor is any explanation or description of this "Order" given.27

Illuminati predecessors

These societies are only of interest insofar as they have been claimedby anti-masons and conspiracy theorists to demonstrate a perceivedlong-term anti-christian conspiracy. There is no similarity between theobjectives of these societies and the Bavarian Illuminati.

Hesychasts: Hesychasm is a form of Eastern Christian monastic liferequiring uninterrupted prayer. Dating from the 13th century, it wasconfirmed by the Orthodox Church in 1341, 1347 and 1351, andpopularized by the publication of the "Philokalia" in 1782.

Alumbrados: (Spanish : 'enlightened') A mystical movement, at one

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time led by La Beata de Piedrahita (d. 1511); first recorded about 1492in Spain (a varient spelling, aluminados, is found in 1498). Theybelieved that the human soul could enter into direct communicationwith the Holy Spirit and, due to their extravagant claims of visions andrevelations, had three edicts issued against them by the CatholicInquisition, the first on 23 September 1525. According to the CatholicEncyclopedia, "some of its features reappear in the Quietism of theSpaniard Michael de Molinos". Although Ignatius of Loyola — founder ofthe Jesuits in 1534, and composer of the "Constitutions" of the Societyof Jesus — was brought before an ecclesiastical commission in Alcalá in1527 to determine if his teachings were heretical, he was cleared ofany suspicion that he was an alumbrado, He wrote nothing that wouldsuggest he accepted their beliefs.28 The name translates as 'illuminati'but the name is the only similarity with the later Bavarian Illuminati. 29

Guérinets: The alumbrados, under the name of Illuminés, arrived inFrance from Seville in 1623, and were joined in 1634 by Pierre Guérin,curé of Saint-Georges de Roye, whose followers in Picardy andFlanders, known as Guérinets, were suppressed in 1635 (Jean Hermant1650-1725, Histoire des hérésies, Rouen : 1727). "Another and obscurebody of Illuminés came to light in the south of France in 1722, andappears to have lingered till 1794, having affinities with those knowncontemporaneously in this country as 'French Prophets,' an offshoot ofthe Camisards." [Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1911 edition.]

Illuminati claimants

Société des Illuminés d'Avignon: Formed by Dom Antoine Joseph dePernetti and the Polish Count Thaddeus Leszczy Grabianka in Avignon,France in 1786 (Kenning says 1787); later moving to Montpellier as the"Acadamy of True Masons". Although Kloss claims they were inexistence in 1812, they would seem to have disappeared in the FrenchRevolution.

Illuminated Theosophists or Chastanier’s Rite: A 1767 modificationof Pernetti’s "Hermetic Rite" that later merged with the LondonTheosophical Society in 1784.

Concordists: A secret order established in Prussia by M. Lang, on thewreck of the Tugendverein (Union of the Virtuous), which latter Bodywas instituted in 1790 [Miller says 1786] by Henrietta and Marcus Herzas a successor of the Illuminati [or Moses Mendelssohn]. According toThomas Frost, Secret Societies of the European Revolution, vol. i, p.183 [cited in Occult Theocrasy, p. 377.] a second Tugendbund wasformed by von Stein in 1807. It was suppressed in 1812 by the PrussianGovernment, on account of its supposed political tendencies, and wasrevived briefly between 1830-33.

World League of Illuminati: Allegedly the singer and journalistTheodor Reuss "re-activated" the Order of Illuminati in Munich in 1880.Leopold Engel founded his World League of Illuminati in Berlin in 1893.From these two sprung the Ordo Illuminatorum which was still active inGermany as late as the mid-1970s. Much research has been compiledby Peter-R. Koenig.

Illuminates of Stockholm: The Illuminated Chapter of Swedish RiteFreemasonry is currently composed of approximately 60 past or currentGrand Lodge officers who have received the honorary 11th degree. Itmakes no claim to be related, historically or philisophically, with theBavarian Illuminati and strictly speaking should not be included in thislist.

Die Alte Erleuchtete Seher Bayerns: Alleged by Marc Lachance tohave been founded in 1947 by employees of the Munich newspaper,Süddeutsche Zeitung, there are unsubstantiated claims to a longerlineage. With some 100 members claimed in Bavaria, Baden-

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Württemburg and Thuringia, they have disavowed ritual, and keeporganised structure to a minimum. 30

The Illuminati Order: Founded sometime prior to 1988, thisTallahassee Florida based group was brought online in 2001 by SolomonTulbure [1969/10/18 - 2004/11/17], one time Grand Master whoseidiosyncratic behaviour later estranged him from the group. Currentlythe Illuminati Order can be found online at illuminati-order.com.

Orden Illuminati: Another addition to the list of claimants to theIlluminati tradition, this group was founded in Spain in 1995 by GabrielLópez de Rojas and could be found online at www.ordeniluminati.comfrom October 2000 until February 2008.

Notes:Cf. "diabolical tenets", The writings of George Washington from the original manuscriptsources, 1745-1799; prepared under the direction of the United States GeorgeWashington Bicentennial Commission and published by authority of Congress; JohnC. Fitzpatrick, editor. Washington : U.S. Govt. Print. Off. [1931-44] 39 v. fronts. (incl.ports.) illus., maps (1 fold.) plans, facsims. (part fold.) 24 cm. vol. 36. See entry forOctober 24, 1798. 1. Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, Albert G. Mackey. Richmond, Virginia: MacoyPublishing. 1966, p.474. 2. Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism, Written in French by the AbbéBarruel, and translated into English by the Hon. Robert Clifford, F.R.S. & A. S."Princes and Nations shall disappear from the face of the Earth ... and this revolutionshall be the work of secret societies." Weishaupt’s Discourse for the Mysteries. Part I.The Antichristian Conspiracy. Second Edition, revised and corrected. London: Printedfor the Translator, by T. Burton, No. 11, Gate-fleet, Lincoln’s-Inn Fields. Sold by E.Booker, No. 56, New Bond-Street. 1798 [Entered at Stationers Hall.] p. 261. 3. Proofs of a Conspiracy against all the Religions and Governments of Europe carried onin the Secret Meetings of the Freemasons, Illuminati, and Reading Societies, collected fromGood Authorities, John Robison (1739 - 1805). printed by George Forman forCornelious David, Edinburgh: 1797. (531 pages). Postscript, p. 2. 4. "In 1773 Pope Clement XIV, under pressure especially from the governmentsof France, Spain and Portugal, issued a decree abolishing the order. The society’scorporate existence was maintained in Russia, where political circumstances—notablythe opposition of Catherine II the Great—prevented the canonical execution of thesuppression. The demand that the Jesuits take up their former work, especially inthe field of education and in the missions, became so insistent that in 1814 PopePius VII reestablished the society." The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, Chicago: 1989,15th edition. 5. Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, Albert G. Mackey. Richmond, Virginia: MacoyPublishing. 1966, p. 1099. *. In a footnote to letter No 6 to "Ajax", undated but from the beginning of 1777,Weishaupt writes: "I will go to Munich before the carnival, and will be received in thefamous Freymaurer Orden (Order of F∴ M∴). Ne timeas. Our business is in good way;we learn how to know a new nexus (bond, secrecy) and we will become thus reliquisfortiores (stronger than the others). " This would be sometime before 12 February1777. Cited in La Conjuration des Illuminés, Henry Coston. Paris: Henry Coston, 1979.pp. xxxvii-xxxviii. Pb. 304 pp. 6. The Secret Societies of all ages and Countries [in two volumes], Charles WilliamHeckethorn. London: George Redway. 1897 p.310. Cf. Memoirs Illustrating the Historyof Jacobinism. 7. "Among his adepts was one LANZ, an apostate priest. Weishaupt designed himas the person to carry his mysteries and conspiracies into Selesia. His mission wasalready fixed, and Weishaupt was giving him his last instructions, when a thunder-bolt from Heaven struck the apostate dead, and that by the side of Weishaupt. TheBrethren, in their first fright, had not recourse to their ordinary means for divertingthe papers of the deceased adept from the inspection of the magistrate. [footnote]See the Apology of the Illuminees, P. 62." Barruel. p. 244.

Cf.: "When my late friend Lanz was struck by lightning at my side in the year1785 in Regensburg, what an opportunity this could have provided me to play thepenitent and remorseful hypocrite, and thus gain the confidence of my persecutors."trans. from : "Als im Jahre 1785 in Regensburg mein seeliger Freund Lanz an meinerSeite vom Blitz ersclagen wurde, welche Gelegenheit hätte ich gehabt, denreumütigen und bußfertigen Heuchler zu machen und auf diese Art das Zutrauenmeiner Verfolger zu erwerben?" Kurze Rechtfertigung meiner Absichten. Frankfurt andLeipzig, 1787. Quoted in Die Illuminaten, Quellen und Text zur Aufklärungsideologie desIlluminatenordens (1776-1785) Herausgegeben von Jan Rachold. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1984. p. 363. Also see pp. 127, 132, 140, 150-160, 168 for Franz GeorgLang. 8. Mackey. p. 475. 9. Mackey. p. 1099. 10. Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie vol. 41, p. 539. Cf. Albert Mackey's Encyclopedia ofFreemasonry notes 1811. 11. Coil’s Masonic Encyclopedia, Henry Wilson Coil. New York: Macoy Publishing. 1961p. 545.

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12. Kenning’s Masonic Cyclopaedia and Handbook of Masonic Archeaology, History andBiography, ed. Rev. A. F. A. Woodford. London: 1878. p. 326. 13. Adam Weishaupt, An Improved System of the Illuminati, Gotha: 1787. 14. Adam Weishaupt (1748 - 1811), An Apology for the Illuminati, Gotha: 1787. 15. See biographical notes: New England and the Bavarian Illuminati, Chapter III, pp.142-228. Vernon L. Stauffer. 1918. with bibliographical notes. 16. Heckethorn, p. 314. 17. Heckethorn, pp. 305-16; Barruel, pp. 202-05. Estimates of the totalmembership have ranged from Le Forestier’s 650 to Albert MacKey’s 2000. Renée" leForestier, 'Les Illuminés de Bavière et la Franc-Maçonnerie Allemande.'1914 [PhDpaper] * Noted in Man, Myth & Magic. No. 50, p. 1404. Ellic Howe [1910-1991]. BPCPublishing Ltd., London: 1970. [also source for portraits of Weishaupt and Knigge.] † Also listed by Augustin Barruel (1741/10/02 - 1820/10/05). p. 202. ‡ Barruel lists a "Bode, F. H." and a "Busche, F. H.". p. 202. § Not listed by Barruel. Heckethorne does not note if this is General Claude-Louise, compte de Saint-Germain (1707/04/15 - 1778/01/15), Louise XVI’s ministerof war, or the compte de Saint-Germain (c.1710 - 1784/02/27?), a celebratedadventurer known as der Wundermann who Cagliostro, in his Mémoires authentiques,claimed was the founder of Freemasonry. 18. J.M. Roberts, "The Mythology of Secret Societies", New York: Charles Scribner’sSons. 1972, pp. 123-4. 19. Christopher McIntosh, "The Rose Cross and the Age of Reason", Leiden, E.J.Brill, 1992, reviewed by Robert Gilbert in the Transactions of Quatuor Coronati Lodge No.2076, London: Butler & Tanner Ltd.1993 p. 241. 20. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th edition. Vol. 22, p. 223, 2b. 21. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th edition. Vol. 26, p. 937, 2b. 22. Eliphas Lévi. The History of Magic. Reprinted by Samual Weiser, Inc., New York:1973. p. 32. 23. ibid. p. 65. 24. ibid p. 130. 25. ibid. Chapter VI: "The German Illuminati". p. 317. 26. ibid p. 317. 27.26. R.A. Gilbert. "Chaos out of order: the rise and fall of the SwedenborgianRite". Ars Quatuor Coronatorum. Transactions of Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076.Volume 108 for the Year 1995. Edited by Robert A. Gilbert. p. 134. 28. "The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius", trans. by L.J. Puhl (1951); "TheConstitutions of the Society of Jesus; Translated with an Introduction and aCommentary", by G.E. Ganss:1970. 29. Alumbrados: Marcelino Menéndez y Pelayo (1856/11/03-1912/05/19), LosHeterodoxos Españioles, 1881, vol. v. ; aluminados : Francisco López de Villalobos,Sumario de la medicina, 1498, reprinted in vol. xxiv of the publications of the Sociedadde bibliofilos espanoles, Madrid : 1886. Also see John E. Longhurst, "Alumbrados,erasmistas y luteranos en el proceso de Juan de Vergara," in Cuadernos de historia deEspaña, vols. xxvii, 1958. 30. Marc Etienne Lachance is a German freelance database and website developerwith an interest in role-playing games, the Church of the SubGenius and PrincipiaDiscordia. There is no corroboration for his claims, first recorded in the usenetnewsgroup alt.politics.nationalism.white on 1998/09/26. [FNORD]

Primary source published texts: Die Bibliothek des Deutschen Freimaurermuseums in Bayreuth - Katalog. Knigge, Adolph, Freiherr von (1752-1796), Freimaurer- und Illuminatenschriften.

Raabe Paul [Editor] Samtliche Werke / Knigge, Adolph, Facsim. of 1781-1873 eds &transcription of MS. München, Sau: Nendeln : KTO, 1978-92.

Nicolai, Christoph Friedrich (3/18/1733 - 1/8/1811), Versuch über dieBesschuldigungen welch dem Tempelherrnorden gemacht worden und über dessenGeheimniss; nebst einem Anhange uber das Entstehen der Freimaurergesellschaft. [AnEssay on the accusations made against the Order of Knights Templar and theirmystery; with an Appendix on the origin of the Fraternity of Freemasons], Berlin:1782.

Weishaupt, Adam, Die Illuminaten : Quellen und Texte zur Aufklärungsideologie desIlluminatenordens (1776-1785) / herausgegeben von Jan Rachold. Berlin : Akademie-Verlag, 1984. 409 p. ; 20 cm. LCCN: 85111344

Weishaupt, Adam, Die Leuchte des Diogenes oder Prüfung unserer heutigen Moralitätund Aufklärung. Regensburg: Montag Š Weiß 1804 [Ratisbon 1805] Englishtranslation: Diogenes' Lamp or an Examination of our Present-Day Morality andEnlightenment. Bloomington : The Masonic Book Club, 2008.

Weishaupt, Adam, Über die Selbsterkenntnis. Ihre Hindernisse und Vorteile. Nachdem Original von 1794. [3. Aufl. hrsg. im Auftrage von Ordo Illuminatorum (u.a.)Zürich, Psychosophische Gesellschaft, 1966] 200 p. 15 cm. LCCN: 67106086.

Weishaupt, Adam, Illuminatenorden. Die neuesten Arbeiten des Spartacus und Philo indem Illuminaten-Orden jetzt zum erstenmal gedruckt und zur Beherzigung bey gegenwärtigenZeitläuften herausgeben. [n.p.] 1794. 200, 90, 77 p. 20 cm. LCCN: 77465925.

Weishaupt, Adam, Ueber die Gründe und Gewisheit der menschlichen Erkenntniss; zurPrüfung der Kantischen Critik der reinen Vernunft. Nürnberg, in der GrattenauerischenBuchhandlung, 1788. [Bruxelles, Culture et Civilisation, 1969] 204 p. 19 cm. LCCN:73357961.

Weishaupt, Adam, Apologie der Illuminaten ... Frankfurth und Leipzig [i.e.Nürnberg] In der Grattenauerischen Buchhandlung, 1786. p. cm. Zweifel über dieKantischen Begriffe von Zeit und Raum. LCCN: 09011125.

Weishaupt, Adam, Zweifel über die Kantischen Begriffe von Zeit und Raum. Nürnberg,

8/6/2014 A Bavarian Illuminati Primer

http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/texts/illuminati.html 9/9

1788. [Bruxelles, Culture et Civilisation, 1968] 120 p. 19 cm. LCCN: 79459272.

Additional references: "Illuminism and the French Revolution". Edinburgh Review. vol. 204, July 1906.

pp. 35-60. Jedediah Morse and the Bavarian Illuminati: An Essay on the Rhetoric of Conspiracy

Central States Speech Journal Fall/Winter 1988. pages 293-303. New England and the Bavarian Illuminati Chapter III, pp. 142-228. Vernon L.

Stauffer. 1918. with bibliographical notes. Bavarian Illuminati FAQ Ver 1.2. Peter Trei. Jan. 1994. Further references to popular

usage of the term "Illuminati." Mirrored frequently online. Also see www.anti-masonry.info/alt.illuminati_FAQ.html.

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