History of the Illuminati

The idea of an Illuminati can be traced to the writings of a wealthy, well-connected, and highly eccentric Bavarian intellectual named Johann Adam Weishaupt (1748-1830), who believed that he had the power to create a secret society that would rule the world. 

That many of his contemporaries believed him—and that many conspiracy theorists still do—is a testament to the power of his legacy.

Johann Adam Weishaupt becomes professor of canon law at the University of Ingolstadt, an unusual honor for a layperson.

Taking on the name "Brother Spartacus," Weishaupt forms a secret society called the Order of the Illuminati (also known as the Order of Perfectibilists).

Weishaupt becomes a Freemason and begins to advocate "Illumined Freemasonry." He describes it thusly:

While Freemasonry provided Weishaupt with the sort of private social networks that he needed to spread his doctrine of the Illuminati, it would also lead many to see a connection between Illuminated Freemasonry and Freemasonry as a whole—one that would place Freemasonry at the center of conspiracy theories for centuries to come.

The U.S. government adopts the Eye of Providence as part of the Great Seal, accompanied by the Latin text novus ordo seclorum (often translated as "New World Order"). Because of the historical connection between Freemasonry and the Eye of Providence, and the then-recent emergence of Illuminated Freemasonry, some conspiracy theorists have taken this to mean that the Illuminati had some kind of formative role in U.S. history. There is no meaningful evidence to support this theory.

Duke Karl Theodor of Bavaria bans secret societies, driving Weishaupt and the Illuminati further underground. 1786 Exiled to Germany, Adam Weishaupt writes the first of twelve volumes about Illuminism. 

He would go on to write 27 volumes of philosophy in all. 1797 Augustin Barruel's Illustrating the History of Jacobinism claims that secret societies played an instrumental role in the French Revolution, and points to the Illuminati as a corrupting influence. 

1798 John Robison's Proofs of a Conspiracy further articulates the anti-Illuminati conspiracy theory. 1800 In a letter to the Rev. James Madison (not to be confused with the Founding Father of the same name), Thomas Jefferson dismisses the anti-Illuminati conspiracy theories and paints Weishaupt as a utopian idealist in the tradition of William Godwin:

Weishaupt dies, having outlived most public traces of Illuminism as a movement—but the fearof Illuminism and the suspicion that Weishaupt had in some invisible way succeeded in taking over the Western world would live on for centuries to come.

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