The “seed” of secret networks. On the social history and effects of the Illuminati order 1776-1820

(Working title)

Isabel Heide

On May 1, 1776, the law professor Johann Adam Weishaupt and five of his students at the University of Ingolstadt founded a society that is known today as the Illuminati Order. Even though this late Enlightenment society only existed for twelve years, the ideas and networks developed here continued to be effective for decades. The first part of the dissertation project focuses on the composition, circulation and culture and the second part on the succession history of the order. After the society dissolved itself, various forms of engagement developed through which former Illuminati members remained active: Whether in Freemasonry or other arcane Enlightenment societies, reading and scholarly societies, through books and journal articles, in city councils and municipal interest groups or as Jacobins – its influences were passed on to the most diverse institutions and personal networks just as heterogeneously as the order and the late Enlightenment itself.


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