Adam Weishaupt (1748–1830)
1776 Illuminati pamphlet - featuring the Owl of Minerva at the bottom
May 1st 1776: Illuminati founded
On this day in 1776, the famous secret society - the Illuminati - was founded in Bavaria. Established by Adam Weishaupt, the German philosopher and professor at University of Ingolstadt, the exact purpose of the semi-masonic society is unknown. The group was made up of Enlightenment thinkers, and some sources claim the order wanted to promote equality, while others suggest it was intended to combat religious zeal and promote rational argument. Weishaupt founded the Illuminatenorden, or Order of Illuminati, in 1776, and the group adopted the Owl of Minerva as their symbol. Members claimed aliases, with Weishaupt as ‘Brother Spartacus’, and others took similarly classical inspired names. Critics at the time charged that the Illuminati was created to infiltrate European governments, with some even claiming the order was behind the French Revolution. The society grew in size and influence, before being banned as seditious in 1784, with Weishaupt forced to leave his job and flee Bavaria. While it is widely acknowledged that the Illuminati never truly reformed, the society is a staple of conspiracy theories to this day, and is often implicated as being a shadowy organisation manipulating world affairs.
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