Illuminati

:This is an article about groups called the "Illuminati". For information on the games, see Illuminati (game) and . For the novels, see The Illuminatus! Trilogy.

Origins

Since Illuminati literally means 'enlightened ones' in Latin, it is natural that several unrelated historical groups have identified themselves as Illuminati. Often, this was due to claims of possessing gnostic texts or other arcane information not generally available.

Related Topics:
Latin - Gnostic

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The designation illuminati was also in use from the 14th century by the Brethren of the Free Spirit, and in the 15th century was assumed by other enthusiasts who claimed that the illuminating light came, not by being communicated from an authoritative but secret source, but from within, the result of exalted consciousness, or "enlightenment".

Related Topics:
14th century - Brethren of the Free Spirit - 15th century - Enlightenment

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Alumbrados of Spain

To the former class belong the alumbrados of Spain. The historian Marcelino Menéndez y Pelayo found the name as early as 1492 (in the form iluminados, 1498), but traced them to a Gnostic origin, and thought their views were promoted in Spain through influences from Italy. One of their earliest leaders, born in Salamanca, a labourer's daughter known as La Beata de Piedrahita, came under the notice of the Inquisition in 1511, as claiming to hold colloquies with Jesus and the Virgin Mary; some high patronage saved her from a rigorous denunciation. (Menéndez Pelayo, Los Heterodoxos Españoles, 1881, vol. v.). Ignatius Loyola, while studying at Salamanca in 1527, was brought before an ecclesiastical commission on a charge of sympathy with the alumbrados, but escaped with an admonition. Others were not so fortunate. In 1529 a congregation of naïve adherents at Toledo was subjected to whippings and imprisonment. Greater rigors followed, and for about a century the alumbrados sent many victims to the Inquisition, especially at Córdoba.

Related Topics:
Alumbrados - Marcelino Menéndez y Pelayo - 1492 - 1498 - Spain - Italy - Salamanca - La Beata de Piedrahita - Inquisition - 1511 - Jesus - Virgin Mary - 1881 - Ignatius Loyola - 1527 - 1529 - Córdoba

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Illuminés of France

The movement (under the name of Illuminés) seems to have reached France from Seville in 1623, and attained some following in Picardy when joined (1634) by Pierce Guerin, curé of Saint-Georges de Roye, whose followers, known as Gurinets, were suppressed in 1635.

Related Topics:
France - Seville - 1623 - Picardy - 1634 - Pierce Guerin - Gurinet - 1635

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A century later, another, more obscure body of Illuminés came to light in the south of France in 1722, and appears to have lingered till 1794, having affinities with those known contemporaneously in Britain as 'French Prophets', an offshoot of the Camisards.

Related Topics:
1722 - 1794 - Britain - Camisards

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Rosicrucians

A different class were the Rosicrucians, who claimed to originate in 1422, but rose into notice in 1537; a secret society, that claimed to combine with the mysteries of alchemy the possession of esoteric principles of religion. Their positions are embodied in three anonymous treatises of 1614, mentioned in Richard and Giraud, Dictionnaire universel des sciences ecclésiastiques. Paris 1825. Rosicrucians also claimed heritage from the Knights Templar.

Related Topics:
Rosicrucians - 1422 - 1537 - Secret society - Alchemy - Religion - 1614 - Knights Templar

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Martinists

Later, the title Illuminati was applied to the French Martinists which had been founded in 1754 by Martinez Pasqualis, and to their imitators the Russian Martinists, headed about 1790 by Professor Schwartz of Moscow; both were occultist cabalists and allegorists, absorbing eclectic ideas from Jakob Boehme and Emanuel Swedenborg.

Related Topics:
French Martinists - 1754 - Martinez Pasqualis - Russian Martinists - 1790 - Moscow - Occultist - Cabalists - Allegorists - Jakob Boehme - Emanuel Swedenborg

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