Adam Weishaupt

Adam Weishaupt (1748–1830) was a German philosopher and law professor who founded the Bavarian Illuminati in 1776, a short-lived secret society promoting Enlightenment ideals.

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Bavarian Illuminati: A secret society founded in Bavaria in 1776 to promote Enlightenment ideas and oppose clerical influence. Weishaupt created and organized this society.
Secret society: An organization whose membership, activities, or internal knowledge are concealed from outsiders. The Illuminati relied on secrecy to recruit and coordinate members.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: A German writer, poet, and statesman whose works include Faust and The Sorrows of Young Werther. Goethe joined the Illuminati, illustrating its reach into German literary and administrative circles.
Edict of 1785: A Bavarian government decree that banned the Illuminati and other secret societies in 1785. It forced Weishaupt’s organization into dissolution and drove its members from public activity.
Enlightenment: An intellectual movement emphasizing reason, empirical inquiry, and criticism of inherited authority. Its ideals shaped Weishaupt’s goals for the society.
Initiation: A formal process through which a person is admitted to a group or takes on a new status. Weishaupt’s order used staged admissions to introduce members to its teachings.
Franz Xaver von Zwack: A Bavarian jurist and government official who became a prominent member of the Illuminati. Zwack was a close associate whose papers helped expose the order.
French Revolution: A period of political upheaval in France beginning in 1789 that ended the monarchy and transformed European politics. Later writers falsely linked the Illuminati to the Revolution, magnifying Weishaupt’s historical profile.
University of Ingolstadt: A Bavarian university founded in 1472 and later incorporated into the University of Munich. Weishaupt taught law there and recruited early members from its academic circles.
Illuminati degrees: The graded ranks through which members of the Bavarian Illuminati advanced. Weishaupt structured the organization around successive levels of membership.