What was the Bavarian Illuminati?
Adam Weishaupt (1748/06/02-1811) Professor of Natural and Canon Law at the University of Ingolstadt, founded the Illuminati of Bavaria on 1 May, 1776 with a membership predominantly made up of his students. Originally called the Order of the Perfectibilists, “its professed object was, by the mutual assistance of its members, to attain the highest possible degree of morality and virtue, and to lay the foundation for the reformation of the world by the association of good men to oppose the progress of moral evil.” The rituals were of a rationalist and not occult nature. Status as a freemason was not required for initiation into the order. Baron Adolphe-Francois-Frederic Knigge claimed a system of ten degrees incorporating the three degrees of symbolic Freemasonry. Where Weishaupt and Knigge promoted a freedom from church domination over philosophy and science, eighteenth century anti-masons, John Robison and the Abbe Barruel, saw a call for the destruction of the church.
Adam Weishaupt founded the Illuminati of Bavaria on May 1, 1776. Originally called the Order of the Perfectibilists, “its professed object was, by the mutual assistance of its members, to attain the highest possible degree of morality and virtue, and to lay the foundation for the reformation of the world by the association of good men to oppose the progress of moral evil.”1 Where Weishaupt and his associate Knigge promoted a freedom from church domination over philosophy and science, those in authority saw a call for the destruction of the church. Where Weishaupt and Knigge wanted a release from the excesses of state oppression, their enemies feared the destruction of the state. Where Weishaupt and Knigge wanted to educate women and treat them as intellectual equals, Robison and Barruel saw the destruction of the natural and proper order of society. The Edicts for its suppression, issued on June 22, 1784 by the Elector of Bavaria, Karl Theodor, were repeated in March and August, 1785 a
