The Alumbrados (Illuminated) was a term used to loosely describe practitioners of a mystical form of Christianity in Spain during the 15th-16th centuries. In spite of their lack of organization and their peaceful forms of expression through the Catholic church in the late 15th century, they were severely repressed and became some of the early victims of the Spanish Inquisition.
1492
The term "Illuminati" was used by one writer, Menendez Pelayo, as early as 1492 and is attributable to a group known as the "Alumbrados" of Spain. The Alumbrados were said to receive secret knowledge from an unknown higher source, resulting in superior human intelligence.
1500
Approximate date of Roshaiya, "the Illuminated Ones", in the mountains of Afganistan.
Beginning of "Alumbrados" in Spain and "Charcoal-Burners" in Scotland.
1568
First Inquisition edict against the Alumbrados.
1623
Alumbrados of Spain condemned by an edict of the Grand Inquisition.
Guerinets appear in France.
1738
Pope Clement XII issued a Papal Bull which stated that any Catholic who became a Mason would be excommunicated, a very serious punishment.
1764-67
Illumines of France founded.
1770
In Staffordshire, England, a laborer moved a large flat stone he encountered in a field while digging a trench, beneath which he discovered a descending stone staircase which he followed deep into the earth, finding that the staircase switch-backed now and then until he emerged into a large underground chamber several hundred feel below that was filled with strange objects and large machines and illuminated by a strange ever-luminous sphere which revealed a man on a throne like chair, dressed in a hooded robe. The man in the chair saw the intruder and stood up with a baton like object in his hand as he went over to the luminous sphere and smashed it, plunging the cavern into darkness, as the laborer stumbled back up to the surface in surprise and terror. The story spread that one of the secret chambers where the Rosicrucians hoarded their scientific secrets had been discovered, i.e. the "Rosicrucius Sepulchre".
1776
Adam Weishaupt, a professor of canon law at the University of Ingolstadt in Bavaria, started the "Order of the Illuminati" on May 1, 1776, originally calling it the "Order of Perfectibilists". Weishaupt (born a Jew and "converted" to Roman Catholicism) was a former Jesuit priest (the Jewish military arm of the Catholic Church) who broke with that Order to form his own organization. His plan was to use the Grand Orient Lodges of Europe as a filtering mechanism through which to screen out talent and build a hierarchy of inner circles. Like the Mafia of today, only the inner circle could be trusted with the true purpose of the Order.
Franklin becomes ambassador to France, is affiliated with French Masonic lodges.
Opening of Freemasons' Hall, permanent headquarters of English Masonry.
Cagliostro initiated into Masonry.
The first written record of the mysterious creature called mokele mbembe (literally, "stopper of rivers") appears in a book written in 1776 by French priest Abbé Lievain Bonaventure Proyart describing the natural history of the Congo Basin of Africa. He described a creature "which was not seen but which must have been monstrous: the marks of the claws were noted on the ground, and these formed a print about three feet in circumference."
1777
Weishaupt joins Munich Freemason Lodge of the "Order of Good Council".
1778
Washington has his mystical vision of the future of the United States while at Valley Forge.
Franklin assists in initiation of Voltaire into Masonic Lodge of Paris.
Masonic Convention in Lyons organizes "Knights of Beneficence".
1780
Illuminati begins rapid growth.
Weishaupt dispatched the Marquis de Costanzo to propagate Illuminism in the north.
First use of the title "Odd Fellows".
"Order of the Brotherhood of Asia", Rosicrucian off-shoot, founded.
1781
Weishaupt seeks abortion for his sister-in-law while awaiting dispensation to marry her.
United Masonic Lodges of Hamburg headed by Fraximus, a secret Rosicrucian.
1782
President Hanson commissions the "Eye in the Pyramid" Great Seal.
A Masonic congress was assembled at Wilhelmsbad in 1782, under the presidency of the Duke of Brunswick, who was anxious to end the discord reigning among German Freemasons. It was attended by Masons from Europe, America, and Asia. At the Congress of Wilhelmsbad, an alliance between Illuminism and Freemasonry was finally sealed. This pact joined together all the leading secret societies of the day and united "not less than 3 million members all over the world." The actual effect of this merger on the subsequent history of the world has never been appreciated by historians. Most of which have belonged to one or the other of the secret societies and have sworn not to expose its secrets.
1783
Ex-Illuminati Utschneider sends letter denouncing the Order to monarch of Bavaria.
"Rite of Swedenborg" founded by Marquis de Throne.
"Eclectic Rite" founded by Baron Knigge in Frankfort.
1784
Bavarian Monarch Carl Theodore outlaws secret societies.
Elector of Bavaria suppressed the Illuminati Order by edict, June 22, 1784, many Illuminati being imprisoned and some, including Weishaupt, being forced to flee the country.
A Swiss man standing nine feet high exhibited himself to astonished patrons at Vienna, says the Gentleman's Magazine for that year.
Cagliostro moves to Lyons from Bordeaux to found the Mother Lodge of Egyptian Masonry.
Royal Commission in Paris, including Franklin and Guillotine as members, investigates Mesmerism and returns a negative report.
Saint Germain purportedly dies in Schleswig, where he was in the magic business with Landgrave Charles of Hesse-Cassel. Or did he?
1785
Four more leading members of the Illuminati left the Society and testified before a Court of Inquiry called by the Elector of Bavaria. Their startling evidence removed all doubt regarding the Satanic nature of Illuminism. As a result, Weishaupt flees to Gotha; new edicts in March and August outlaw Illuminati and Freemasonry in Bavaria.
Public attention was first drawn to the existence of the Illuminati and their diabolical plan for world conquest as the result of a bizarre accident in 1785. History records that a courier for the Illuminati, named Lanze, was racing on horseback from Frankfurt to Paris carrying documents relating to Illuminati activities in general, and specific instructions for the planned French Revolution in particular. He was killed by lightning and his papers fell into government hands.
French "Diamond Necklace" affair, orchestrated by Cagliostro. Dumas describes it as Masonic plot to discredit the monarchy.
Rosicrucian Order suppressed in Austria. Anonymous pamphlet appears in Germany revealing secrets of ancient Egyptian ceremonies.
The Columbian Lodge of the Order of the Illuminati was established in New York City in 1785. Members included Governor DeWitt Clinton, and later Clinton Roosevelt, Charles Dana and Horace Greeley.
1786
Wisdom Lodge founded in Virginia.
Secret congress in Frankfort where Louis XVI and Gustavus III of Sweden condemned to die by Illuminati.
Italian Illuminatus Buonarroti's library of Masonic and subversive books confiscated by state authorities.
1787
The "German Union" (extension of outlawed Bavarian Illuminati) founded by Bahrdt.
1791
Napoleon joins the "Jacobin Club".
Burr begins converting "Tammany Society" into a political machine.
The anonymous Life of Joseph Balsamo (Joseph Basalmo was Cagliostro's name before he joined the Masons), first recorded link of the Illuminati and the French Revolution, appears in several European countries.
Mozart's The Magic Flute, containing Masonic elements, performed.
1792
The French Blue Diamond mysteriously vanishes.
Louis XVI imprisoned in the Templars Temple tower.
First Swedenborgian church in America.
Catherine II outlaws Masonry in Russia.
1793
Johann Rockerfeller of Germany comes to the USA, probably the deadliest immigrant America will ever know. Not because he was a German but because he was a German racist with some very dangerous international banking cult connections.
1795
Daniel McGiniss discovers a clearing on Oak Island, where he figured must be some buried treasure. He returned the next day with John Smith and Anthony Vaughan. They only manage to dig down 30'.
The first real "break" as far as inside information on the Illuminati is concerned, came when Professor John Robison, working undercover in the Illuminati organization, came out and wrote a startling book entitled Proofs of A Conspiracy. Nearly all of what is currently known about the early Illuminati comes from Robison's book giving us a clear-cut picture of the organization.
1796
John Adams, who had been instrumental in organizing Masonic Lodges in New England, decided to oppose Thomas Jefferson in his bid for the presidency. He made a major issue of the fact that Jefferson, who had been minister to France, 1785-1789, and was frankly sympathetic to the Illuminist-fomented Reign of Terror, was using Masonic lodges for subversive purposes.
1798
July 19--David Pappen, President of Harvard University issued a strong warning to the graduating class and lectured them on the influence Illuminsm was having on the American scene. President Timothy Dwight of Yale University issued a similar warning.
1815
Secret societies which eventually become the "Decembrist Movement" formed in Russian Masonic lodges.
1816
Charles Nodier, an alleged Grand Master of the "Priory of Sion", published anonymously one of his most curious and influential works, A History of Secret Societies in the Army under Napoleon. It develops a comprehensive philosophy of secret societies. And it credits such societies with a number of historical accomplishments, including the downfall of Napoleon.
1817
Suppression of the "Lodge of Jupiter the Thunderer" begins.
1819
American "Independent Order of Odd Fellows" founded.
Founding of "National Freemasonry", the most important of several Polish secret societies devoted to ousting the Russians from Poland.
1830
Anti-Masonic conventions in Massachusetts and Vermont find evidence linking Masonry with Illuminism.
Book of Mormon published.
1848
Marx and Engles publish the Communist Manifesto (allegedly commissioned by the Illuminati) and travel in France and Germany encouraging discontent with the Establishment.
1870
Mazzini and Pike reached an agreement for the creation of the new supreme rite, to be called the New and Reformed Palladian Rite. Pike was to be called the Sovereign Pontiff of Universal Freemasonry, and Mazzini was to be called Sovereign Chief of Political Action. Pike was to draw up the statutes and grades.
1871
Albert Pike publishes the 861-page Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry.
1872
The "Bohemian Grove" group was established by San Franciscans, played an equally significant role in shaping post-war politics in the US. It was at the Grove, it is said, that the Manhattan Project was set up and that Eisenhower was selected as the Republicans' candidate for 1952.
1875
Madam Blavatsky founds "Theosophy Society".
1875 to 1947
Life of Aleister Crowley, the "Great Beast", Golden Dawn leader and occult figure.
1880
Beginning of Saint-Yves d'Alveydre's activity. Leopold Engler reorganizes the Illuminati of Bavaria.
1884
A small hominoid is captured near Victoria, British Columbia.
"Fabian Society" founded in London by Sidney and Beatrice Webb and others.
A skeleton 7 feet 6 inches long was found in a massive stone structure that was likened to a temple chamber within a mound in Kanawha County, West Virginia.
Pope Leo XIII issued a proclamation stating that Masonry was one of the secret societies attempting to "revive the manners and customs of the pagans" and "establish Satan's kingdom on Earth."
1887
The "Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn" is founded in England by Dr. William W. Westcott, MacGregor Mathers and Dr. William Robert Woodman. The order was supposedly a rebirth of a Rosicrucian order from Nuremberg, Germany. The Golden Dawn was an offshoot of the English Rosicrucian Society created twenty years earlier by Robert Wentworth Little, and consisted largely of leading Freemasons. During its heyday the Order of the Golden Dawn formulated and taught the basics of current magickal practice to Western Civilization. It's own sources were Masonic, Rosicrucian, Qaballistic, and the ceremonial practices of the medieval magickians.
1888
Under the orders of Fraulein Sprengle, Dr. Westcott founds the English branch of "Die Goldene Dammerung", or the "Isis-Urania Temple of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn". He is joined by Dr. Woodcott and MacGregor Mathers.
1891
The foundations of the "Round Table Society", eventually to be funded by Cecil Rhodes and the Rothschilds to gain financial and political power, are laid by a meeting of representatives of the U.S., Canada, Australia, India, South Africa and New Zealand.
Nikola Tesla invents the Tesla Coil.
Sauniere begins to renovate the church at Rennes le Chateau. He finds something, which causes the Bishop of Carcassone to send Sauniere to consult scholars and cryptographers. Sauniere returns and continues to renovate the church. He becomes very wealthy.
