Illuminati (1700s): Difference between revisions

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{{About|the secret society|the conspiracy theory|New World Order conspiracy theory|other uses||}}

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[[File:Adam Weishaupt01.jpg|thumb|[[Adam Weishaupt]] (1748–1830), founder of the Illuminati]]

The '''Illuminati''' ({{IPAc-en|ə|ˌ|l|uː|m|ᵻ|ˈ|n|ɑː|t|i}}; plural of [[Latin]] ''illuminatus'', 'enlightened') ~~is a name given to several groups, both real and fictitious. Historically, the name usually refers to the '''Bavarian Illuminati''',~~ an [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]]-era [[secret society]] founded on 1 May 1776 in the [[Electorate of Bavaria]]. The society's stated goals were to oppose [[superstition]], [[obscurantism]], religious influence over public life, and abuses of [[Power (social and political)|state power]]. "The order of the day," they wrote in their general statutes, "is to put an end to the machinations of the purveyors of injustice, to control them without dominating them."<ref>[[Richard van Dülmen]], ''The Society of Enlightenment'' (Polity Press 1992) p. 110</ref> The Illuminati—along with [[Freemasonry]] and other secret societies—were outlawed through [[edict]] by [[Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria]], with the encouragement of the [[Catholic Church]], in 1784, 1785, 1787 and 1790.<ref>René le Forestier, ''Les Illuminés de Bavière et la franc-maçonnerie allemande'', Paris, 1914, pp. 453, 468–469, 507–508, 614–615</ref> During subsequent years, the group was generally vilified by conservative and religious critics who claimed that the Illuminati continued underground and were responsible for the [[French Revolution]].

The '''Bavarian Illuminati''' ({{IPAc-en|ə|ˌ|l|uː|m|ᵻ|ˈ|n|ɑː|t|i}}; plural of [[Latin]] ''illuminatus'', 'enlightened') were an [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]]-era [[secret society]] founded on 1 May 1776 in the [[Electorate of Bavaria]]. The society's stated goals were to oppose [[superstition]], [[obscurantism]], religious influence over public life, and abuses of [[Power (social and political)|state power]]. "The order of the day," they wrote in their general statutes, "is to put an end to the machinations of the purveyors of injustice, to control them without dominating them."<ref>[[Richard van Dülmen]], ''The Society of Enlightenment'' (Polity Press 1992) p. 110</ref> The Illuminati—along with [[Freemasonry]] and other secret societies—were outlawed through [[edict]] by [[Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria]], with the encouragement of the [[Catholic Church]], in 1784, 1785, 1787 and 1790.<ref>René le Forestier, ''Les Illuminés de Bavière et la franc-maçonnerie allemande'', Paris, 1914, pp. 453, 468–469, 507–508, 614–615</ref> During subsequent years, the group was generally vilified by conservative and religious critics who claimed that the Illuminati continued underground and were responsible for the [[French Revolution]].

It attracted literary men such as [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]] and [[Johann Gottfried Herder]] and the reigning [[Duke of Gotha]] and [[Duke of Weimar|of Weimar]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Die Mitglieder des Illuminatenordens, 1776–1787/93|last=Schüttler|first=Hermann|year=1991|publisher=Ars Una|location=Munich|isbn=978-3-89391-018-2|pages=48–49, 62–63, 71, 82}}</ref>

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==Barruel and Robison==

Between 1797 and 1798, [[Augustin Barruel]]'s ''[[Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism]]'' and [[John Robison (physicist)|John Robison]]'s ''Proofs of a Conspiracy'' publicised the theory that the Illuminati had survived and represented an ongoing international conspiracy. This included the claim that it was behind the [[French Revolution]]. Both books proved to be very popular, spurring reprints and paraphrases by others.<ref>{{cite book|title=Romanticism, Nationalism, and the Revolt Against Theory|last=Simpson|first=David|year=1993|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-75945-6|page=88}}.</ref> A prime example of this is ''Proofs of the Real Existence, and Dangerous Tendency, Of Illuminism'' by Reverend Seth Payson, published in 1802.<ref>{{cite book|title=Proofs of the Real Existence, and Dangerous Tendency, Of Illuminism|last=Payson|first=Seth|year=1802|publisher=Samuel Etheridge|location=Charlestown|url={{Google books|ZEMAAAAAYAAJ|page=|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}}|access-date=27 January 2011}}</ref> Some of the response to this was critical, for example Jean-Joseph Mounier's ''On the Influence Attributed to Philosophers, Free-Masons, and to the Illuminati on the Revolution of France''.<ref name="Tise">{{cite book|title=The American Counterrevolution: A Retreat from Liberty, 1783–1800|last=Tise|first=Larry|year=1998|publisher=Stackpole Books|isbn=978-0-8117-0100-6|pages=351–53}}</ref><ref name="Jefferson">{{cite letter|first=Thomas|last=Jefferson|recipient=Nicolas Gouin Dufief|subject='There has been a book written lately by DuMousnier ...'|date=17 November 1802|url=http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/s9880.pdf|access-date=26 October 2013}}</ref>

Between 1797 and 1798, French Jesuit priest and political writer [[Augustin Barruel]]'s ''[[Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism]]'' and British physicist [[John Robison (physicist)|John Robison]]'s ''Proofs of a Conspiracy'' publicised the theory that the Illuminati had survived and represented an ongoing international conspiracy. This included the claim that it was behind the [[French Revolution]]. Both books proved to be very popular, spurring reprints and paraphrases by others.<ref>{{cite book|title=Romanticism, Nationalism, and the Revolt Against Theory|last=Simpson|first=David|year=1993|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-75945-6|page=88}}.</ref> A prime example of this is ''Proofs of the Real Existence, and Dangerous Tendency, Of Illuminism'' by Reverend Seth Payson, published in 1802.<ref>{{cite book|title=Proofs of the Real Existence, and Dangerous Tendency, Of Illuminism|last=Payson|first=Seth|year=1802|publisher=Samuel Etheridge|location=Charlestown|url={{Google books|ZEMAAAAAYAAJ|page=|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}}|access-date=27 January 2011}}</ref> Some of the response to this was critical, for example Jean-Joseph Mounier's ''On the Influence Attributed to Philosophers, Free-Masons, and to the Illuminati on the Revolution of France''.<ref name="Tise">{{cite book|title=The American Counterrevolution: A Retreat from Liberty, 1783–1800|last=Tise|first=Larry|year=1998|publisher=Stackpole Books|isbn=978-0-8117-0100-6|pages=351–53}}</ref><ref name="Jefferson">{{cite letter|first=Thomas|last=Jefferson|recipient=Nicolas Gouin Dufief|subject='There has been a book written lately by DuMousnier ...'|date=17 November 1802|url=http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/s9880.pdf|access-date=26 October 2013}}</ref>

The works of Robison and Barruel made their way to the United States and across [[New England]]. The Rev. [[Jedidiah Morse]], an orthodox Congregational minister and geographer, was among those who delivered sermons against the Illuminati. In fact, one of the first accounts of the Illuminati to be printed in the United States was Morse's Fast Day sermon of 9 May 1798. Morse had been alerted to the publication in Europe of Robison's ''Proofs of a Conspiracy'' by a letter from the Rev. John Erskine of Edinburgh, and he read ''Proofs'' shortly after copies published in Europe arrived by ship in March of that year. Other anti-Illuminati writers, such as Timothy Dwight, soon followed in their condemnation of the imagined group of conspirators.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Fraser|first=Gordon|date=November 2018|title=Conspiracy, Pornography, Democracy: The Recurrent Aesthetics of the American Illuminati|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-american-studies/article/conspiracy-pornography-democracy-the-recurrent-aesthetics-of-the-american-illuminati/906DDB8C8B609BFC4FD7FA7233D570DC|journal=Journal of American Studies|volume=54|issue=2|pages=273–294|via=Cambridge Core|doi=10.1017/S0021875818001408|s2cid=150279924}}</ref>