PART 1: Adam Weishaupt and the Origins of the Bavarian Illuminati

Part 1 – Adam Weishaupt and the Origins of the Bavarian Illuminati – Book 3 – Adam Weishaupt and the Secrets of the Bavarian Illuminati – Transcript p.1-11

June 20th, 1785

Jakob Lanz, a diocesan priest, and his friend professor Adam Weishaupt are walking in the outskirts of the free city of Regensburg.
When Suddenly…

Lightning kills Lanz instantly… Weishaupt is uninjured.

Townspeople discover a leather satchel sown into Lanz’s garments… Arousing suspicion.

The satchel is handed over to Bavarian authorities who find secret instructions from Weishaupt to Illuminati members in Silesia. (Northern Czechoslovakia and south-western Poland)

The documents are proof of continuing activities by the Order of the Illuminati, a secret society banned by the Bavarian Elector, Karl Theodore.

They also mean the Death sentence for the head of the Illuminati, Lanz’s companion, Professor Adam Weishaupt.

What was the Bavarian Illuminati?

Who was Adam Weishaupt?

Adam’s World

It’s a Boy!

Feb 6th, 1948, Adam Johann Weishaupt was born in Ingolstadt in the Electorate of Bavaria. Ingolstadt is now part of Munich, the capital of the German state of Bavaria.

The small town’s life revolved around its prestigious local college, where Adam’s father was a professor of law.

1953 When Adam was 5 years old, his father died. His Godfather Baron Ickstatt took him under his wing.

Ickstatt was Dean of the University and a member of the Privy Council.

Adam was born in a VERY different Europe!
Germany as we know it did not exist.
{NO freedom of Speech!}
{No freedom of religion! }
Priests and nuns were EVERYWHERE and the “Holy” Inquisition was still kicking around.

{No democracy! } Absolute monarchs (dictatorship) and widespread serfdom
{Widespread superstitions}
miraculous images and sacred relics were common place

Germany was made up of Principalities (ruled by a prince), Duchies (ruled by a duke/duchess), Imperial Cities (ruled by an Emperor), Imperial States (ruled by a secular Elector), Ecclesiastical States (ruled by the Church), Landgraves (ruled by a landgraviate) and Electorates (ruled by an Elector < -2nd only to the King/Emperor)

The liberal baron’s library was stocked with banned books. Young Adam was first introduced to the work of French radicals such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Voltaire.

Adam received a Jesuit education.

He was annoyed with the Jesuits pedantic focus on memorization and poor support for their arguments. Nevertheless, he stuck with it…and graduated.

CLASS OF ‘68

1772 – After tutoring for 4 years, Adam became professor of civil law.
He soon became Chairman of Canon Law, a post traditionally reserved for Jesuits, gaining him many enemies. The Jesuits insisted they had the right to censor non-Catholic works.

1773 – Pope Clement XIV formally suppressed the Jesuits.

In ‘75, Weishaupt was promoted to Dean of the law faculty.

Despite their suppression, the Jesuits were still highly influential…irritating Weishaupt.

Weishaupt spends the next years devising ways to fight Jesuit influence and bring about radical social change.
Most books expressing Enlightenment ideas were censored or banned.

He sought a system where these ideas could be shared without hindrance from the authorities.

From left to right:
Seneca b. 4
Plutarch b.45
Epictetus b.55
Marcus Aurelius b. 121
Machiavelli b. 1469
Montaigne b.1533
Sterne b. 1713
Pope b.1688

Basedow b.1724 (h)
Eustache Le Noble b.1643 (h)
Hume b. 1711
Helvétius b.1715
Smith b.1723 (h)
La Bruyère 1645 (h)
Wieland b.1733
Abbt b.1738

These ideas could be slowly introduced to fresh minds. By gently pushing them in the Order’s direction, the recruits were led to believe that they had arrived at their own conclusions.

“Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.” ~Denis Diderot

Weishaupt designed a system of cells where only a cell’s leader knew anything about the other cells. This allowed the Illuminati to continue in the eventuality that a cell was discovered.

Recruits were made to accept orders from “Unknown Superiors.”

They were unaware of any degrees higher than their own.

Potential members were tapped by an Insinuator (Recruiter) and were constantly observed by a Scrutator (spies). Members reported on each other’s behavior to their Superiors.

Weishaupt copied the Jesuit command structure: Prefects supervised individual groups, Deans their districts, and Provincials their provinces. Provincials place their own spy at each meeting to keep an eye on Prefects.

At the head of the Order is the general, Weishaupt himself. His entourage made up the ruling body, the Areopagite, aka the Unknown Superiors.

Each Month, each Member submitted a report called a Quibus Licet to their superior in which they poured their hearts out about everything. They could also write a Soli which would be read by the member’s immediate superior’s superior. Or they could write a Primo which was destined for the Unknown Superiors.

Weishaupt created a degree system which allowed him to filter out incompatible members and promote the most gifted members.

On May 1st 1776, Weishaupt and 4 of his former students* formed the Order of Perfectibilists.
*Massenhausen, Bauhof, Merz and Sutor

Weishaupt (Spartacus), Massenhausen (Ajax), Bauhof (Agathon), Merz (Tiberius) and Sutor (?)

Later renamed the Order of the Illuminati. Or simply as ⊙ (circumpunct) in internal communications.

Main Sources

» René Le Forestier Les Illumines de Bavière et la Franc-Maçonnerie Allemande

» Terry Melanson Perfectibilists: The 18th Century Bavarian Order of the Illuminati

» Josef Wäges, Jeva Singh-Anand and Reinhard Markner Ritual & Doctrine of the Illuminati (working title)

» Marco Di Luchetti Illuminati of Bavaria

» All Sources