“You’re a conspiracy nut!  No you are!”  The charge of conspiracy is getting thrown around quite a bit these days.  However, it’s nothing new.  When conspiracy talk goes on long enough names like Trilateral Commission, Council on Foreign Relations, Bilderberg Group, Freemasons and the Illuminati inevitably come up.

                The history of the Illuminati begins during the time of the Revolutionary War in the United States but in the Bavarian region of Germany.  Adam Weishaupt was a professor of law at the University of Ingolstadt.  He became interested in the ideas of the enlightenment that were against hierarchy and the power of the Catholic Church.  The Catholic Church’s power in Bavaria was particularly strong.  Weishaupt knew his beliefs would not be well received so he came up with the idea of a secret society.  In his society reason would be the greatest virtue.   Members took Greek names to disguise themselves and used ciphers to correspond.

                The society grew slowly until Weishaupt got the idea to become a freemason.  He figured that freemasons were already secretive and some members hungered for more intellectualism than the partying lodges had a reputation for.  Weishaupt also recruited several aristocrats who in turn were able to recruit people Weishaupt saw as being worthwhile members.  These aristocrats helped him develop rituals and grading within the Illuminati.

                The Illuminati grew from 1776 until 1784.  However, members were not as secretive as intended and the Bavarian government became aware of their activities.   They were banned by the Bavarian government with the support of the Catholic Church.  The banning and internal squabbles about religious philosophy drove it apart.  The aristocratic members thought the Illuminati could get more members if it was less anti-religious.

                However, even as its practical life ended the legend of the Illuminati was just starting to grow.  Secrecy made the society mysterious and led many to ascribe more power to it than it held.  For example, two books were written after the French Revolution that made the case the Illuminati were behind the French Revolution.  These accusations got more wild and ridiculous as time went on.  Illuminati were falsely implicated in conspiracies about Waterloo and Napoleon’s final defeat, infiltration of Hollywood and even the Kennedy assassination.  There has never been any evidence of Illuminati activity beyond Germany in the late 1700s but their myth lives on.