Thanks for your info in your post #49...I really did not know much about this group, was just relaying what my hubby told me he had heard at work...Yep, conspiracy theories do abound...
Adam Weishaupt, who was born in 1748, died in 1830. He was a professor of cannon law, at the University of Ingolstadt, was NOT a Mason, and began his secret society, the Illuminati, in 1776. BTW, The Illuminati was meant to be translated as "THE ENLIGHTENMENT"...and yes, it was supposed to be a concrete form of the Enlightenment Movement!
Weishaupt, as I said, was NOT a Mason, but became one, in Bavaria, in 1777 in order to infiltrate the local organization and to "turn" those men, whom he deemed elite enough, to followers of his. IT DID NOT WORK!
Oh, he did manage to get some followers and with the help of Baron von Knigge and a nobody book seller named Johann Bode, two lodges in Munich and Eichstadt became their stomping grounds...pushing out the Masons, who refused to become part of this other group.
In March of 1785, the elector of Bavaria outlawed The Illuminati, Weishaupt was fired form his professorship, he fled to Gotha. for fear of his life, and NOT ANOTHER REAL, TRUE, FACTUAL WORD has ever been printed about the Illuminati since. Weishaupt died, The Illuminati disappeared from existence, and EVERYTHING else about them, has been pure, unadulterated TINFOIL, since!
This group went out of existence TWO HUNDRED TWENTY YEARS AGO; yet conspiracy devotees, still crank up the name, so that they have a bogeyman to tell tales about and fear!
I hope that this helps. :-)