Weishaupt selected the magickal name „Spartacus " in the Order. With the entry of Baron Adolph Knigge in 1780 the Illuminati order became quickly well-known. Knigge used his contacts to the Freemasons and enlisted new members.

The Castle of Ingolstadt

The Illuminati were structured hierarchical and esoterical. This means that members were not informed about the more ambitious goals of the order. The mediation of these goals was content of further stages.

The first contents were virtue and morality and the ideals of the enlightenment. Weishaupt compiled an enlightening teaching and training system for the order. Older members were consulted to train the younger ones.

Disbandment and Prohibition of the Order

The Illuminati were successful: within a short time they had 1,500 members and approximately 70 establishments. The meeting place in Ingolstadt was in Theresienstraße 23.

In 1784 the Illuminati order was forbidden in Bavaria by the Elector Karl Theodor educated by Jesuits. Irony of history: Weishaupt and Karl Theodor both saw themselves as supporters of the Enlightenment.

The order documents were published. What might have been the reason of the Elector? He was extremely unpopular in Bavaria and had had to accept many defeats. Maybe he looked in ultra catholic Bavaria for back up from Rome, of Pope Pius VI. The plan succeeded. Pius VI. declared the membership in the Illuminati Order as incompatible with the Catholic faith.

The flame Dies Down

This was the end of the Illuminati. The connection of enlightenment and spirituality had failed for the time being.

Further bans by the Elector followed. The last ban even imposed the death penalty for membership campaigns for Freemasons and Illuminati. True to the motto “secret society is secret society”.

In 1785 Weishaupt fled from Ingolstadt and settled in Gotha in 1787. The order is said to have continued its activities in secret and to have formed a worldwide network since the ban. - Whether the Illuminati are a secret power today, is disputed.