Illuminati Opposition Spawned Conspiracy Myths

In 1776, Bavarian professor Adam Weishaupt founded the original Illuminati as an Enlightenment-era secret society opposed to superstition, obscurantism, religious influence over public life, and abuses of monarchical power. Bavarian ruler Charles Theodore outlawed the Illuminati and other secret societies through a series of edicts beginning in 1784, with encouragement from the Catholic Church. Conservative and religious critics later claimed that the group had survived underground and orchestrated the French Revolution, despite a lack of evidence. Popular books published in 1797 and 1798 spread the story of an international conspiracy, laying the foundation for modern Illuminati myths long after the original organization disappeared.

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