1 00:00:01,320 --> 00:00:04,240 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:14,080 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly 3 00:00:14,160 --> 00:00:17,800 Speaker 1: Frye and I'm Tracy V. Wilson. I've been thinking about 4 00:00:17,800 --> 00:00:21,319 Speaker 1: secret societies lately for no particular reason. Oh yeah, I 5 00:00:21,400 --> 00:00:24,079 Speaker 1: really don't, just one of those things, so I'm like, huh. 6 00:00:24,079 --> 00:00:26,360 Speaker 1: I've also been thinking a lot about conspiracy theories for 7 00:00:26,400 --> 00:00:29,040 Speaker 1: more particular reasons, which is that they are rampant right now. 8 00:00:29,040 --> 00:00:34,640 Speaker 1: But oh yeah, the historical secret society that gets the 9 00:00:34,640 --> 00:00:37,440 Speaker 1: most attention, that springs to people's minds when you mentioned 10 00:00:37,479 --> 00:00:41,440 Speaker 1: those words is, of course, the Illuminati. It gets invoked 11 00:00:41,520 --> 00:00:45,720 Speaker 1: anytime someone believes that people are acting in secretive ways 12 00:00:46,280 --> 00:00:50,960 Speaker 1: to manipulate various happenings in the world. BBC correspondent Sophia 13 00:00:50,960 --> 00:00:54,080 Speaker 1: Smith Gaylor wrote of the Illuminati in twenty twenty that 14 00:00:54,160 --> 00:00:57,360 Speaker 1: it has become quote the conspiracy theory to dwarf all 15 00:00:57,400 --> 00:01:00,640 Speaker 1: conspiracy theories. We're going to talk more about her work later, 16 00:01:00,720 --> 00:01:03,800 Speaker 1: but that's the truth. I mean, it's an easy one 17 00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:06,080 Speaker 1: to invote because it's all secret. Nobody knows you can 18 00:01:06,120 --> 00:01:11,080 Speaker 1: make stuff up. But in reality, the Illuminati, at least 19 00:01:11,120 --> 00:01:14,960 Speaker 1: the Bavarian group that is generally considered the main start 20 00:01:14,959 --> 00:01:17,280 Speaker 1: of the Illuminati, although there are people that will say 21 00:01:17,280 --> 00:01:20,800 Speaker 1: it goes back farther than that. It is much less dramatic, 22 00:01:21,160 --> 00:01:25,000 Speaker 1: at least in terms of machination than conspiracy theories would 23 00:01:25,040 --> 00:01:28,280 Speaker 1: lead you to think. For one, it's been defunct for 24 00:01:28,319 --> 00:01:30,720 Speaker 1: more than two hundred years, and for another, it was 25 00:01:30,800 --> 00:01:35,319 Speaker 1: not any kind of mystical or particularly conspiratorial group. You 26 00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:37,880 Speaker 1: could argue that there were some conspiratorial things going on, 27 00:01:38,240 --> 00:01:42,040 Speaker 1: but it was that it's heart a protest organization formed 28 00:01:42,080 --> 00:01:45,920 Speaker 1: out of frustration with dogmatic church practices and trying to 29 00:01:45,959 --> 00:01:49,360 Speaker 1: find ways to undermine those and overcome them. So today 30 00:01:49,400 --> 00:01:50,840 Speaker 1: we're going to talk about it. We're going to talk 31 00:01:50,840 --> 00:01:55,000 Speaker 1: about the founder of the Illuminati, Adam Weisoupt, how he 32 00:01:55,120 --> 00:01:59,120 Speaker 1: came to form the Bavarian Illuminati, how that group functioned 33 00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:03,280 Speaker 1: question and then was disbanded, and how the idea of 34 00:02:03,320 --> 00:02:07,440 Speaker 1: the Illuminati as a secret controlling society it's sometimes called 35 00:02:07,480 --> 00:02:12,079 Speaker 1: the New World Order, how that concept came to be. Also, 36 00:02:12,320 --> 00:02:15,560 Speaker 1: this is a little bit of an anticipatory topic as 37 00:02:15,800 --> 00:02:20,520 Speaker 1: Tracy and I look forward to our upcoming trip to Germany. 38 00:02:20,520 --> 00:02:22,880 Speaker 1: We're going to be spending time in Bavaria with some 39 00:02:22,960 --> 00:02:25,160 Speaker 1: of our listeners at the end of September. Yeah, so 40 00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:29,720 Speaker 1: I'm preempting our trip instead of doing things after the fact. 41 00:02:30,560 --> 00:02:33,720 Speaker 1: So the man at the heart of the Illuminati story, 42 00:02:33,919 --> 00:02:37,960 Speaker 1: as Holly just said, was Adam Wiseaupt. He was born 43 00:02:38,040 --> 00:02:41,760 Speaker 1: in seventeen forty eight in Ingolstadt, Bavaria that's part of 44 00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:47,359 Speaker 1: Germany today. Ingelstatt incidentally was also where doctor Victor Frankenstein 45 00:02:47,560 --> 00:02:53,320 Speaker 1: created his creature in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Historically, the Wisaups 46 00:02:53,400 --> 00:02:57,200 Speaker 1: were Jewish, but they converted to Christianity long before Adam 47 00:02:57,320 --> 00:03:01,480 Speaker 1: was born, Yeah, what generations before. I will also say 48 00:03:01,720 --> 00:03:06,000 Speaker 1: that Mary Shelley Strankenstein, there are people that think that 49 00:03:06,040 --> 00:03:09,959 Speaker 1: she specifically placed it there because of the stories of 50 00:03:09,960 --> 00:03:14,440 Speaker 1: the Illuminati. But as for wiseaut he was born at 51 00:03:14,440 --> 00:03:18,480 Speaker 1: a time when the people of Bavaria were largely seeking 52 00:03:18,520 --> 00:03:22,720 Speaker 1: reform after years and years of being heavily governed by 53 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:26,240 Speaker 1: Catholic Church doctrine. There was a lot of unrest as 54 00:03:26,280 --> 00:03:30,200 Speaker 1: the greater population saw the churches in Bavaria had seemingly 55 00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:33,560 Speaker 1: endless wealth, while the average family was struggling to get 56 00:03:33,600 --> 00:03:38,200 Speaker 1: by Additionally, church officials seemed kind of untouchable and there 57 00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:41,360 Speaker 1: was a lot of corruption. But in the mid seventeenth 58 00:03:41,360 --> 00:03:45,120 Speaker 1: century some of that started to shift. When Maximilian the 59 00:03:45,200 --> 00:03:48,760 Speaker 1: third Joseph became Elector of Bavaria in seventeen forty five, 60 00:03:49,120 --> 00:03:50,960 Speaker 1: he was kind of like a breath of fresh air. 61 00:03:51,720 --> 00:03:54,720 Speaker 1: He was very much in line with Enlightenment ideals, and 62 00:03:54,760 --> 00:03:58,880 Speaker 1: he sought to expand agriculture and industry in Bavaria, and 63 00:03:58,960 --> 00:04:01,880 Speaker 1: he also sought loose in the Church's grip on day 64 00:04:01,920 --> 00:04:05,920 Speaker 1: to day life. Adam's father, George Weishaupt, was a criminal 65 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:09,440 Speaker 1: law professor at the University of Ingolstadt, and his uncle, 66 00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:13,880 Speaker 1: Johann Adam von Eckstatt, was the director of the university 67 00:04:14,600 --> 00:04:18,280 Speaker 1: and was embroiled in intense fights with the Church over 68 00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:22,240 Speaker 1: the books that were chosen for the school curricula. Extott 69 00:04:22,240 --> 00:04:24,919 Speaker 1: wanted to use texts that were not approved by the 70 00:04:24,960 --> 00:04:27,760 Speaker 1: Catholic Church, and this led to a really fierce battle. 71 00:04:28,720 --> 00:04:31,880 Speaker 1: As a quick note, ex Stott is often referred to 72 00:04:31,920 --> 00:04:36,560 Speaker 1: as Adam's godfather, but Extott was also really at odds 73 00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:39,359 Speaker 1: with the Church, so it just seems a little odd 74 00:04:39,400 --> 00:04:43,799 Speaker 1: to refer to him by that religiously oriented title rather 75 00:04:43,880 --> 00:04:48,240 Speaker 1: than just calling him uncle. So if you pursue additional 76 00:04:48,279 --> 00:04:53,680 Speaker 1: reading about this and you're wondering, that's why. That's what's up. So, 77 00:04:54,200 --> 00:04:58,360 Speaker 1: as that battle over books was going on, George Weishaupt 78 00:04:58,400 --> 00:05:03,120 Speaker 1: died and Ixtott became seven year old Adams caretaker. It 79 00:05:03,200 --> 00:05:05,720 Speaker 1: is unclear to me where the mother figure might have 80 00:05:05,800 --> 00:05:09,160 Speaker 1: been in this, But because he was so wrapped up 81 00:05:09,200 --> 00:05:12,360 Speaker 1: with this conflict with the Church, ickstat in a somewhat 82 00:05:12,440 --> 00:05:16,120 Speaker 1: contradictory move, sent Adam to the Jesuits for his schooling. 83 00:05:16,920 --> 00:05:19,560 Speaker 1: That seems contradictory, but I also suspect it was kind 84 00:05:19,600 --> 00:05:22,280 Speaker 1: of the only option. It was like homeschool or this, 85 00:05:22,560 --> 00:05:24,360 Speaker 1: those are the ways your kid's going to get an education. 86 00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:28,440 Speaker 1: Wisapt was a very very curious child, super smart and 87 00:05:28,440 --> 00:05:32,480 Speaker 1: a voracious reader, and he supplemented his education by also 88 00:05:32,560 --> 00:05:37,200 Speaker 1: reading books that he selected from his uncle's very expansive library. 89 00:05:38,080 --> 00:05:41,760 Speaker 1: Vernon Staufer, writing in his nineteen eighteen book New England 90 00:05:41,800 --> 00:05:45,960 Speaker 1: and the Bavarian Illuminati, cites this as a formative exposure 91 00:05:46,040 --> 00:05:49,919 Speaker 1: to new ideas, stating quote, the boys questioning spirit was 92 00:05:49,960 --> 00:05:53,320 Speaker 1: deeply impressed by the brilliant the pretentious works of the 93 00:05:53,320 --> 00:05:57,840 Speaker 1: French philosophers with which the shelves were plentifully stocked. Here 94 00:05:57,960 --> 00:06:00,880 Speaker 1: was food for the fires of imagination just beginning to 95 00:06:00,920 --> 00:06:05,679 Speaker 1: flame up in this unsophisticated and pedantic youth. Here also 96 00:06:05,839 --> 00:06:08,960 Speaker 1: were ready solvents for the doubts with which his experience 97 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:13,680 Speaker 1: with the Jesuit teachers had filled his mind. Many accounts 98 00:06:13,800 --> 00:06:17,440 Speaker 1: also say that Weisaupt was a Jesuit for a period 99 00:06:17,520 --> 00:06:20,000 Speaker 1: of time. That is a little bit unclear to me. 100 00:06:20,240 --> 00:06:22,840 Speaker 1: I never found any definitive statement that said that he 101 00:06:22,880 --> 00:06:27,200 Speaker 1: took orders. But there is also a caveat here because 102 00:06:27,480 --> 00:06:31,080 Speaker 1: most of the more in depth biographies of Adam Weisaupt 103 00:06:31,279 --> 00:06:33,719 Speaker 1: are written in German and are not translated, and I 104 00:06:33,800 --> 00:06:37,320 Speaker 1: do not speak German. All of this reading did seem 105 00:06:37,360 --> 00:06:42,320 Speaker 1: to ignite a desire for more knowledge, both for wisaupten 106 00:06:42,440 --> 00:06:45,800 Speaker 1: for others. He wanted to continue the family's tradition of 107 00:06:45,800 --> 00:06:49,480 Speaker 1: being educators and dedicated himself to learning as much as 108 00:06:49,480 --> 00:06:52,480 Speaker 1: he could about a lot of topics that he concentrated 109 00:06:52,520 --> 00:06:57,920 Speaker 1: on law, politics, philosophy and history. He attended the University 110 00:06:57,920 --> 00:07:01,279 Speaker 1: of Ingolstadt and graduated with a law degree in seventeen 111 00:07:01,320 --> 00:07:04,839 Speaker 1: sixty eight at the age of twenty. Following his graduation, 112 00:07:05,040 --> 00:07:08,560 Speaker 1: he worked as a tutor of both law and church doctrine. 113 00:07:09,320 --> 00:07:12,680 Speaker 1: By that time, his uncle Extat was no longer actively 114 00:07:12,800 --> 00:07:15,880 Speaker 1: involved in the workings of the university, but he was 115 00:07:15,920 --> 00:07:20,040 Speaker 1: still highly respected, and, as we're about to discuss, Adam 116 00:07:20,120 --> 00:07:24,840 Speaker 1: benefited very highly from his uncle's remaining power in academic circles. 117 00:07:25,640 --> 00:07:29,120 Speaker 1: In seventeen seventy two, Wisaupt secured a position as a 118 00:07:29,160 --> 00:07:32,440 Speaker 1: professor at Ingolstadt, and the following year he was made 119 00:07:32,640 --> 00:07:37,840 Speaker 1: chair of the canon law department. That was unusual. That role, 120 00:07:37,920 --> 00:07:41,040 Speaker 1: which specialized in the legal laws of the Church, had 121 00:07:41,040 --> 00:07:44,080 Speaker 1: been held by people chosen by the Jesuits, and was 122 00:07:44,120 --> 00:07:48,080 Speaker 1: often a member of the Jesuits. So Wisaupt was the 123 00:07:48,120 --> 00:07:52,000 Speaker 1: first in almost a century who was not Again, there 124 00:07:52,120 --> 00:07:54,440 Speaker 1: is some fuzziness here because of the claim that he 125 00:07:54,480 --> 00:07:56,920 Speaker 1: was a Jesuit for some period of time. I have 126 00:07:57,000 --> 00:07:59,200 Speaker 1: to wonder if there was in conflation where it was like, 127 00:07:59,440 --> 00:08:01,520 Speaker 1: of course, when that held that job was a Jesuit. 128 00:08:03,240 --> 00:08:07,240 Speaker 1: Again unknown to me, but this appointment is generally believed 129 00:08:07,280 --> 00:08:10,800 Speaker 1: to have happened thanks to his uncle's influence, but that 130 00:08:10,920 --> 00:08:15,800 Speaker 1: relationship between himself and Ickstat experienced some strain in the 131 00:08:15,840 --> 00:08:19,120 Speaker 1: months that followed this appointment because Adam got married to 132 00:08:19,160 --> 00:08:21,320 Speaker 1: a young woman that his uncle did not approve of. 133 00:08:22,120 --> 00:08:24,200 Speaker 1: I wish I had more detail about her and what 134 00:08:24,240 --> 00:08:28,400 Speaker 1: this whole marriage situation was. But despite whatever friction this 135 00:08:28,520 --> 00:08:32,720 Speaker 1: marriage caused, Adam continued to benefit from nepotism, or at 136 00:08:32,760 --> 00:08:37,280 Speaker 1: least from association with his uncle. In seventeen seventy five, 137 00:08:37,440 --> 00:08:41,160 Speaker 1: he became the dean of the Faculty of Law. He 138 00:08:41,280 --> 00:08:44,360 Speaker 1: was twenty seven. This is not a case where that 139 00:08:44,440 --> 00:08:47,320 Speaker 1: happened back then. It was just as weird then as 140 00:08:47,360 --> 00:08:51,320 Speaker 1: if it happened today. It also kind of sounds like 141 00:08:51,400 --> 00:08:54,800 Speaker 1: he had the overconfidence and lack of diplomacy of youth, 142 00:08:55,240 --> 00:08:59,880 Speaker 1: because in this role he was very outspoken in his 143 00:09:00,040 --> 00:09:03,360 Speaker 1: criticism of the Church. This is not a great idea, 144 00:09:03,600 --> 00:09:06,320 Speaker 1: and we will talk about the repercussions of it after 145 00:09:06,360 --> 00:09:19,839 Speaker 1: we pause for a sponsor break. Naturally, watching a very 146 00:09:20,160 --> 00:09:24,000 Speaker 1: young and inexperienced academic rise through the ranks to a 147 00:09:24,080 --> 00:09:29,080 Speaker 1: significant leadership at the university while simultaneously trash talking the 148 00:09:29,160 --> 00:09:33,800 Speaker 1: Church made the Jesuits at the university deeply unhappy. So 149 00:09:33,920 --> 00:09:37,920 Speaker 1: for contexts, the Jesuits had a very significant presence at 150 00:09:37,920 --> 00:09:41,040 Speaker 1: the school for more than two hundred years at this point. 151 00:09:41,320 --> 00:09:44,480 Speaker 1: In fifteen forty nine, several Jesuits had become members of 152 00:09:44,520 --> 00:09:47,559 Speaker 1: the faculty at the University of ENGLISHTADT, and this had 153 00:09:47,600 --> 00:09:50,840 Speaker 1: come about because the Duke of Bavaria at the time, Wilhelm, 154 00:09:51,640 --> 00:09:55,160 Speaker 1: had specifically asked for it. He had written to Pope 155 00:09:55,160 --> 00:09:58,280 Speaker 1: Paul the Third asking if the Church could send academics 156 00:09:58,600 --> 00:10:02,920 Speaker 1: to fill out the theology and philosophy departments. In sixteen 157 00:10:02,960 --> 00:10:06,199 Speaker 1: eighty eight, the Jesuits became the sole controllers of the 158 00:10:06,200 --> 00:10:10,719 Speaker 1: philosophy department. They were deeply entrenched in the school's identity 159 00:10:10,800 --> 00:10:14,160 Speaker 1: and social structure, and they had a strong effect on 160 00:10:14,320 --> 00:10:19,079 Speaker 1: policy decisions. So to have a dean openly criticizing an 161 00:10:19,240 --> 00:10:23,080 Speaker 1: entire segment of the university stirred up a lot of conflict. 162 00:10:23,720 --> 00:10:26,520 Speaker 1: It was also incredibly foolish on the part of Wisout, 163 00:10:26,920 --> 00:10:29,600 Speaker 1: who may have enjoyed a degree of protection due to 164 00:10:29,640 --> 00:10:32,360 Speaker 1: his family's long connection with the school, but who was 165 00:10:32,400 --> 00:10:36,600 Speaker 1: still provoking the incredibly powerful Catholic Church with all of 166 00:10:36,600 --> 00:10:39,600 Speaker 1: this negative rhetoric. And that was on top of the 167 00:10:39,640 --> 00:10:41,960 Speaker 1: fact that the Church had already been angry with his 168 00:10:42,040 --> 00:10:46,160 Speaker 1: family over that book selection issue, and with Ickstat's very 169 00:10:46,480 --> 00:10:51,080 Speaker 1: anti clerical stance, all of this bubbled up into a conflict. 170 00:10:51,520 --> 00:10:55,559 Speaker 1: Wysap used it to characterize himself as a free speech 171 00:10:55,840 --> 00:11:00,280 Speaker 1: martyr who was being unfairly targeted by the Church. During 172 00:11:00,320 --> 00:11:03,560 Speaker 1: this time, he also further distanced himself from his uncle 173 00:11:03,760 --> 00:11:07,880 Speaker 1: when he helped a Jesuit professor get a prestigious appointment. E. 174 00:11:07,960 --> 00:11:11,400 Speaker 1: Shott felt like that was a betrayal. It also felt 175 00:11:11,400 --> 00:11:15,280 Speaker 1: like a move that went against everything that Wishapt claimed 176 00:11:15,360 --> 00:11:19,080 Speaker 1: to stand for. At that point, his uncle severed all 177 00:11:19,200 --> 00:11:23,199 Speaker 1: ties with him. Yeah, that is another instance where it's 178 00:11:23,240 --> 00:11:26,319 Speaker 1: a little unclear what's going on there. To me. I 179 00:11:26,360 --> 00:11:31,839 Speaker 1: know that he made that connection or whatever agreement or 180 00:11:31,920 --> 00:11:35,319 Speaker 1: assistance he was giving this Jesuit that was all kept secret, 181 00:11:35,679 --> 00:11:37,640 Speaker 1: and then they had a falling out, and then it 182 00:11:37,760 --> 00:11:40,960 Speaker 1: came out when had happened. He clearly knew that it 183 00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:43,520 Speaker 1: looked shady for him to be doing that. It was 184 00:11:43,559 --> 00:11:46,559 Speaker 1: also at this point where he's in conflict with everyone 185 00:11:46,600 --> 00:11:49,760 Speaker 1: around him, that the idea of a secret society to 186 00:11:49,880 --> 00:11:52,439 Speaker 1: combat the power of the Church started to really grow. 187 00:11:52,559 --> 00:11:56,480 Speaker 1: In Wisapt's mind. He wanted to build up a group 188 00:11:56,559 --> 00:12:00,439 Speaker 1: of enlightenment minded people who could surreptitiously work against the 189 00:12:00,520 --> 00:12:04,199 Speaker 1: Church and against anything the group believed was not in 190 00:12:04,240 --> 00:12:08,120 Speaker 1: line with the ideals of reason, so things like superstition, 191 00:12:08,600 --> 00:12:13,360 Speaker 1: fear based beliefs, folk tales, et cetera. The Vernon Stauffer 192 00:12:13,360 --> 00:12:16,040 Speaker 1: account from nineteen eighteen that we referenced earlier has a 193 00:12:16,080 --> 00:12:19,600 Speaker 1: footnote offering a read on Wisout's mindset at the time 194 00:12:19,960 --> 00:12:22,560 Speaker 1: that he was planning this group, which is quote. The 195 00:12:22,640 --> 00:12:25,400 Speaker 1: motives which led weis Out to consider the formation of 196 00:12:25,440 --> 00:12:29,080 Speaker 1: a secret organization of the general character indicated were not 197 00:12:29,360 --> 00:12:33,040 Speaker 1: all of a kind. In part, they were creditable, in 198 00:12:33,160 --> 00:12:37,520 Speaker 1: part discreditable that he had a genuine interest in the 199 00:12:37,520 --> 00:12:41,240 Speaker 1: cause of liberalism and progress, born largely of the personal 200 00:12:41,320 --> 00:12:44,560 Speaker 1: discomfort and injury he had experienced at the hands of 201 00:12:44,559 --> 00:12:48,480 Speaker 1: intolerance and bigotry. There can be no honest doubt but 202 00:12:48,559 --> 00:12:51,760 Speaker 1: a thirst for power was also a fundamental element in 203 00:12:51,800 --> 00:12:55,280 Speaker 1: his nature. The despotic character of the order which he 204 00:12:55,320 --> 00:12:58,559 Speaker 1: attempted to build up is in itself a sufficient proof 205 00:12:58,600 --> 00:13:02,360 Speaker 1: of this. Beside the cast of his personal affairs at 206 00:13:02,400 --> 00:13:05,880 Speaker 1: the time the organization was launched, smacks loudly of the 207 00:13:05,920 --> 00:13:11,360 Speaker 1: man's overweening vanity and yearning for personal conquest, and that's 208 00:13:11,520 --> 00:13:14,880 Speaker 1: probably a pretty good take on the situation. Wisapt was 209 00:13:15,200 --> 00:13:20,760 Speaker 1: entirely against dogmatic insistence on one idea of truth as 210 00:13:20,800 --> 00:13:23,640 Speaker 1: set forth by the church, but he had been burning 211 00:13:23,679 --> 00:13:27,280 Speaker 1: down a variety of relationships since his promotion to dean 212 00:13:27,360 --> 00:13:30,760 Speaker 1: of the faculty. In addition to the rift between him 213 00:13:30,800 --> 00:13:34,319 Speaker 1: and his uncle, he had fallings out with other faculty 214 00:13:34,440 --> 00:13:39,160 Speaker 1: who had been his allies previously. He also started to 215 00:13:39,160 --> 00:13:42,160 Speaker 1: poke his nose into business in other areas of the 216 00:13:42,280 --> 00:13:45,480 Speaker 1: university that really had nothing to do with him. He 217 00:13:45,640 --> 00:13:49,400 Speaker 1: was kind of stirring up fights, possibly using the subsequent 218 00:13:49,480 --> 00:13:53,000 Speaker 1: rebuttals to bolster his claims that his right to speak 219 00:13:53,120 --> 00:13:56,600 Speaker 1: was being infringed. Yeah, he was just going to other 220 00:13:56,640 --> 00:13:58,760 Speaker 1: departments and being like, oh, I heard you're having a 221 00:13:58,760 --> 00:14:00,920 Speaker 1: problem with this person. Yere's what you need to do, 222 00:14:00,960 --> 00:14:06,120 Speaker 1: and they'd be like, Hi, what we got this. I 223 00:14:06,160 --> 00:14:09,240 Speaker 1: feel like I know people who are on university faculty 224 00:14:09,280 --> 00:14:13,160 Speaker 1: today who would describe their working lives as like this 225 00:14:13,640 --> 00:14:17,120 Speaker 1: still ye, with just a lot of petty drama and 226 00:14:18,800 --> 00:14:25,440 Speaker 1: like infighting. Some universities in academia were great. A lot 227 00:14:25,480 --> 00:14:28,960 Speaker 1: of people that I know, as well as Tracey, have 228 00:14:29,200 --> 00:14:34,960 Speaker 1: similarly unpleasant drama stories. Wisout is said to have actually 229 00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:38,480 Speaker 1: attempted to become a Mason at this time, thinking that 230 00:14:38,520 --> 00:14:42,200 Speaker 1: he could leverage the connections of that society to achieve 231 00:14:42,280 --> 00:14:45,600 Speaker 1: these goals of undermining the Church. But he wasn't able 232 00:14:45,640 --> 00:14:49,400 Speaker 1: to become a member, at least initially, for both ideological 233 00:14:49,560 --> 00:14:54,160 Speaker 1: and financial reasons. For one, there was an initiation fee 234 00:14:54,200 --> 00:14:57,200 Speaker 1: and then annual dues, and Whysout was really not in 235 00:14:57,240 --> 00:15:00,840 Speaker 1: a position to cover those costs. But for another, as 236 00:15:00,880 --> 00:15:04,320 Speaker 1: he began to read through the available literature, he realized 237 00:15:04,440 --> 00:15:08,200 Speaker 1: he was not aligned with freemasonry. He actually thought it 238 00:15:08,280 --> 00:15:11,280 Speaker 1: was not secretive enough, that it was too accessible, and 239 00:15:11,320 --> 00:15:14,760 Speaker 1: that its rituals were kind of silly. He wanted, at 240 00:15:14,800 --> 00:15:18,600 Speaker 1: least initially, to have a true secret society of like 241 00:15:18,640 --> 00:15:21,480 Speaker 1: minded people who were willing to put in the work 242 00:15:21,520 --> 00:15:24,680 Speaker 1: to achieve the goal of diminishing the Catholic Church's power. 243 00:15:25,400 --> 00:15:29,520 Speaker 1: On May first, seventeen seventy six, Wysap established the Covenant 244 00:15:29,680 --> 00:15:32,920 Speaker 1: of Perfectibility. This was not a big group, It was 245 00:15:33,040 --> 00:15:36,600 Speaker 1: just him and five of his students, once again quoting 246 00:15:36,600 --> 00:15:40,320 Speaker 1: Staffer quote. It was Wyshap's original purpose to style the 247 00:15:40,360 --> 00:15:44,520 Speaker 1: new Order the Perfectibilists, but this he later renounced as 248 00:15:44,640 --> 00:15:50,200 Speaker 1: too bizarre and lacking in the element of mystery. Although 249 00:15:50,200 --> 00:15:54,120 Speaker 1: he claimed that he found the Mason organization to be silly, 250 00:15:54,480 --> 00:15:56,840 Speaker 1: he still modeled his group on it in a lot 251 00:15:56,840 --> 00:16:01,040 Speaker 1: of ways, including having three levels or grades of membership, 252 00:16:01,120 --> 00:16:07,520 Speaker 1: which he called Novice, minerval and illuminated minerval. Interestingly, he 253 00:16:07,720 --> 00:16:11,280 Speaker 1: did wind up joining the Masons in seventeen seventy seven, 254 00:16:11,320 --> 00:16:14,840 Speaker 1: possibly to study their structure and governance as part of 255 00:16:15,240 --> 00:16:18,400 Speaker 1: refining his plan for his own group, I want a 256 00:16:18,400 --> 00:16:23,440 Speaker 1: T shirt that says illuminated minerval. Wishaupt was intent that 257 00:16:23,560 --> 00:16:27,360 Speaker 1: recruitment of young people was the key to the group's success. 258 00:16:27,760 --> 00:16:31,080 Speaker 1: He wrote to his friend Franz Anton von Massenhausen in 259 00:16:31,160 --> 00:16:35,440 Speaker 1: September of seventeen seventy six about it, quote, every day 260 00:16:35,560 --> 00:16:39,400 Speaker 1: I think about and apply myself to our great building project. 261 00:16:40,040 --> 00:16:42,680 Speaker 1: Continue working a year, end two and send along some 262 00:16:42,880 --> 00:16:46,960 Speaker 1: building blocks. Don't let up on your efforts. Seek the 263 00:16:47,040 --> 00:16:50,160 Speaker 1: company of younger people, Observe them, and if you find 264 00:16:50,160 --> 00:16:53,800 Speaker 1: one who is suitable, take hold of him. I too 265 00:16:54,000 --> 00:16:57,560 Speaker 1: have found another one who is attractive and insightful. What 266 00:16:57,600 --> 00:17:02,920 Speaker 1: you cannot accomplish yourself do through others. Agathon, Danaos, and 267 00:17:03,040 --> 00:17:07,200 Speaker 1: Shaftesbury are given modem imperry to mingle with young people, 268 00:17:07,400 --> 00:17:11,800 Speaker 1: observe them, have that recruit others, make suggestions, and then 269 00:17:12,080 --> 00:17:17,400 Speaker 1: wait for orders. This must happen immediately. Using the form 270 00:17:17,400 --> 00:17:20,120 Speaker 1: that was sent to him, Agathon should send a list 271 00:17:20,160 --> 00:17:23,159 Speaker 1: of the young people that he encountered during his stay. 272 00:17:23,240 --> 00:17:28,280 Speaker 1: This is imperative. The setup of this society was pretty 273 00:17:28,320 --> 00:17:32,600 Speaker 1: sloppy at the beginning, but over time Wysap codified or 274 00:17:32,640 --> 00:17:36,439 Speaker 1: made notes about each of these classifications, and it quickly 275 00:17:36,480 --> 00:17:40,600 Speaker 1: becomes apparent that he started to lose the plot regarding 276 00:17:40,640 --> 00:17:46,080 Speaker 1: those enlightenment and reason ideals. The novice designation was for 277 00:17:46,200 --> 00:17:49,960 Speaker 1: younger members who held the qualities that Wyshap sought to promote, 278 00:17:50,040 --> 00:17:55,560 Speaker 1: which were virtue, docility, curiosity, and here's the kicker wealth. 279 00:17:56,760 --> 00:17:59,600 Speaker 1: If a novice was accepted, he was to be assigned 280 00:17:59,600 --> 00:18:02,920 Speaker 1: an older member to teach him about the organization while 281 00:18:02,960 --> 00:18:07,439 Speaker 1: he was keeping anything that could identify other members a secret. 282 00:18:07,880 --> 00:18:10,239 Speaker 1: As part of the stage a novice was to make 283 00:18:10,280 --> 00:18:13,520 Speaker 1: a comprehensive inventory of the books that he owned and 284 00:18:13,600 --> 00:18:18,880 Speaker 1: his family tree, his personal enemies and the explanation of 285 00:18:18,880 --> 00:18:22,560 Speaker 1: that status, a self assessment of his personal character, and 286 00:18:22,600 --> 00:18:26,639 Speaker 1: a similar analysis of all family members. This was the 287 00:18:26,640 --> 00:18:29,960 Speaker 1: first of many reports that were expected from members, as 288 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:33,000 Speaker 1: they were also to write up each month how they 289 00:18:33,080 --> 00:18:36,520 Speaker 1: had benefited in the previous weeks from their involvement with 290 00:18:36,680 --> 00:18:41,520 Speaker 1: the group. They also had recruitment goals that determined when 291 00:18:41,600 --> 00:18:44,919 Speaker 1: they might achieve one of the higher levels, so it 292 00:18:44,960 --> 00:18:49,840 Speaker 1: was sort of like an MLM structured secret society. Yes, 293 00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:52,760 Speaker 1: I have recruited you, and now you must recruit more people, 294 00:18:52,960 --> 00:18:54,800 Speaker 1: and when you recruit enough people, you will come to 295 00:18:54,840 --> 00:18:56,639 Speaker 1: my level. But I will move up because you have 296 00:18:56,760 --> 00:19:02,159 Speaker 1: recruited more people. It's like oh, oh adam. If a 297 00:19:02,200 --> 00:19:05,360 Speaker 1: person rose to the minerval level, that meant that they 298 00:19:05,400 --> 00:19:07,560 Speaker 1: still had to do all the novice stuff, but they 299 00:19:07,680 --> 00:19:12,960 Speaker 1: also had additional assignments. Studies became a really high priority, 300 00:19:13,040 --> 00:19:16,600 Speaker 1: with regular reports and papers submitted to the group's leadership, 301 00:19:17,240 --> 00:19:20,600 Speaker 1: and Wisapt envisioned this society becoming kind of like an 302 00:19:20,720 --> 00:19:25,280 Speaker 1: underground university, with leadership directing the lower tiered members in 303 00:19:25,320 --> 00:19:29,280 Speaker 1: their scholarship, and all of this scholarship, of course, was 304 00:19:29,320 --> 00:19:33,639 Speaker 1: about the superiority of reason over faith based belief systems, 305 00:19:34,080 --> 00:19:39,760 Speaker 1: and moreover, reason over authority. This also was the time 306 00:19:39,960 --> 00:19:42,680 Speaker 1: when members would meet other people from the order when 307 00:19:42,680 --> 00:19:48,280 Speaker 1: they got promoted to minerval. Illuminated Minerval was the highest rank, 308 00:19:48,400 --> 00:19:51,560 Speaker 1: so obviously that went only to members who really stood 309 00:19:51,600 --> 00:19:55,640 Speaker 1: out as exceptional quote in the judgment of their superiors. 310 00:19:56,400 --> 00:19:59,879 Speaker 1: That indicated a high level of scholarship with mastery of 311 00:20:00,040 --> 00:20:03,360 Speaker 1: any subjects, as well as service to the order. At 312 00:20:03,359 --> 00:20:07,080 Speaker 1: this level, members were encouraged not only to continue reporting 313 00:20:07,080 --> 00:20:11,120 Speaker 1: on their studies, but also to write more involved academic 314 00:20:11,160 --> 00:20:15,480 Speaker 1: papers about them. These men were also given the task 315 00:20:15,560 --> 00:20:19,320 Speaker 1: of closely observing the minervals who were immediately under them 316 00:20:19,400 --> 00:20:22,159 Speaker 1: and reporting up to them as a means of learning 317 00:20:22,160 --> 00:20:26,120 Speaker 1: about human psychology. This was so they would become adept 318 00:20:26,160 --> 00:20:29,159 Speaker 1: at what was considered to be directing people down the 319 00:20:29,160 --> 00:20:33,719 Speaker 1: correct intellectual path, but there was definitely a plan to 320 00:20:33,840 --> 00:20:37,080 Speaker 1: manipulate with this knowledge. It was always couched as being 321 00:20:37,119 --> 00:20:40,520 Speaker 1: something very beneficial, like manipulating people to be better, but 322 00:20:40,600 --> 00:20:44,280 Speaker 1: this was still a manipulation and the people being targeted 323 00:20:44,280 --> 00:20:47,800 Speaker 1: with that manipulation had no say in any of it. 324 00:20:48,720 --> 00:20:51,400 Speaker 1: They were expected to report on the men under them 325 00:20:51,440 --> 00:20:54,080 Speaker 1: in a special meeting that was scheduled every month for 326 00:20:54,359 --> 00:20:58,199 Speaker 1: this exclusive group alone. I like to imagine that as 327 00:20:58,240 --> 00:21:01,960 Speaker 1: a very gossipy session. Feels God must have been do 328 00:21:02,080 --> 00:21:05,320 Speaker 1: you know what so and so did. All of this 329 00:21:05,480 --> 00:21:09,240 Speaker 1: was set up, according to Wysout, to evolve humanity to 330 00:21:09,359 --> 00:21:12,359 Speaker 1: a better state in which base emotions would no longer 331 00:21:12,400 --> 00:21:17,440 Speaker 1: govern anyone's behavior. This was different from a political revolution, 332 00:21:17,600 --> 00:21:21,040 Speaker 1: It was a social and intellectual one in Wysoup's view. 333 00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:25,200 Speaker 1: He also felt that through this system of manipulating people, 334 00:21:25,320 --> 00:21:28,400 Speaker 1: it was going to force them to self reflect and grow. 335 00:21:29,440 --> 00:21:31,800 Speaker 1: This is one of those things that might sound good 336 00:21:31,800 --> 00:21:35,320 Speaker 1: on paper, like you're encouraging people, but it ignores the 337 00:21:35,359 --> 00:21:39,720 Speaker 1: concept of personal agency completely. It also is all sort 338 00:21:39,760 --> 00:21:44,119 Speaker 1: of contradictory in that Wysout did want to overthrow the 339 00:21:44,160 --> 00:21:48,080 Speaker 1: clerical components of education and government, which is more of 340 00:21:48,160 --> 00:21:52,520 Speaker 1: him imposing his will on something than everyone evolving together. 341 00:21:53,359 --> 00:21:55,040 Speaker 1: And just to be clear, he always said he was 342 00:21:55,080 --> 00:21:58,399 Speaker 1: not anti religion. He just felt that religion had become 343 00:21:58,480 --> 00:22:01,439 Speaker 1: corrupt and that religious in spec institutions relied on the 344 00:22:01,480 --> 00:22:05,000 Speaker 1: fanaticism of their followers to enrich those at the top 345 00:22:05,040 --> 00:22:10,200 Speaker 1: and consolidate power. By seventeen eighty there were four more 346 00:22:10,400 --> 00:22:17,480 Speaker 1: chapters of the Bavarian Illuminati in Munich, Regentsburg, Frising, and Extent. 347 00:22:18,040 --> 00:22:21,639 Speaker 1: But as the group grew and more and more people 348 00:22:21,680 --> 00:22:25,200 Speaker 1: were needed to manage to downstream members, the same thing 349 00:22:25,280 --> 00:22:29,000 Speaker 1: happened as happens in any large group. There were disagreements 350 00:22:29,040 --> 00:22:32,879 Speaker 1: and dissent. It's hard to keep lots of people a 351 00:22:32,880 --> 00:22:35,399 Speaker 1: big group on the same page in any group, and 352 00:22:35,440 --> 00:22:37,800 Speaker 1: when you're part of a secret society, there are also 353 00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:42,760 Speaker 1: fears that if somebody is unhappy and dissatisfied, they're going 354 00:22:42,840 --> 00:22:46,520 Speaker 1: to blab the secrets of that society. So a lot 355 00:22:46,560 --> 00:22:49,200 Speaker 1: of the meetings started to be less and less about 356 00:22:49,240 --> 00:22:54,560 Speaker 1: scholarship and planning as Wishobphead originally intended, and it became 357 00:22:54,640 --> 00:23:00,760 Speaker 1: more about settling disputes among the increasingly large membership. The 358 00:23:00,800 --> 00:23:03,520 Speaker 1: Illuminati was not a group that was flush with cash, 359 00:23:03,640 --> 00:23:07,040 Speaker 1: even though they had specifically targeted people who were wealthy. 360 00:23:07,800 --> 00:23:10,960 Speaker 1: There had been this purposeful decision to keep money out 361 00:23:10,960 --> 00:23:13,480 Speaker 1: of any of the planning or written materials as a 362 00:23:13,520 --> 00:23:16,800 Speaker 1: way to keep everything on the down low. If money 363 00:23:16,840 --> 00:23:20,960 Speaker 1: had started changing hands with no explanation in eighteenth century Bavaria, 364 00:23:21,160 --> 00:23:24,040 Speaker 1: it could have raised some questions. And it wasn't as 365 00:23:24,040 --> 00:23:28,119 Speaker 1: though they could fundraise without inviting attention. So it seems 366 00:23:28,160 --> 00:23:31,440 Speaker 1: like the presumption was that the dedication of these wealthy 367 00:23:31,440 --> 00:23:35,560 Speaker 1: members would maybe lead them to financially support any plans 368 00:23:35,560 --> 00:23:38,879 Speaker 1: that the group came up with. But that did not materialize, 369 00:23:38,920 --> 00:23:43,560 Speaker 1: and eventually dues were implemented to members who signed up 370 00:23:43,600 --> 00:23:46,359 Speaker 1: because they believed the rhetoric that this group was going 371 00:23:46,400 --> 00:23:49,800 Speaker 1: to change the world through intellectualism. It's probably started to 372 00:23:49,800 --> 00:23:54,840 Speaker 1: feel a lot less cool right around then. There is 373 00:23:54,920 --> 00:23:58,080 Speaker 1: some good news coming for Wysaptonist followers, but before we 374 00:23:58,119 --> 00:24:00,440 Speaker 1: get to it, we will pause for a word from 375 00:24:00,440 --> 00:24:14,040 Speaker 1: our sponsors. The Bavarian Illuminati may have started to splinter 376 00:24:14,280 --> 00:24:16,639 Speaker 1: at that point had it not been for the recruitment 377 00:24:16,720 --> 00:24:21,000 Speaker 1: of a man named Adolf frere Keiniga. We're gonna call 378 00:24:21,080 --> 00:24:24,320 Speaker 1: him Adolf because I feel like saying his last name 379 00:24:24,440 --> 00:24:26,520 Speaker 1: is fraught and sounds like other things I don't want 380 00:24:26,520 --> 00:24:30,280 Speaker 1: to say. Adolf was several years younger than Wiseaupt, and 381 00:24:30,359 --> 00:24:33,840 Speaker 1: he was born to Landed gentry, although his parents had 382 00:24:33,880 --> 00:24:36,960 Speaker 1: accumulated a large amount of debt before they died, which 383 00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:40,000 Speaker 1: happened when Adolf was still a child. He went to 384 00:24:40,119 --> 00:24:43,080 Speaker 1: law school, and he also became a writer and a Mason, 385 00:24:43,600 --> 00:24:46,359 Speaker 1: and his status as a noble brought a level of 386 00:24:46,400 --> 00:24:49,760 Speaker 1: social influence to the Illuminati that it had been lacking. 387 00:24:50,920 --> 00:24:54,080 Speaker 1: He had held a number of governmental positions in Hesse 388 00:24:54,160 --> 00:24:57,280 Speaker 1: Cassel in his career, but he had retired in seventeen 389 00:24:57,359 --> 00:25:00,879 Speaker 1: seventy seven, which offered him plenty of time to cultivate 390 00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:05,600 Speaker 1: a life in Weishaupt's Illuminati. His involvement opened the door 391 00:25:06,160 --> 00:25:10,880 Speaker 1: for a relationship between the Illuminati and the Masons. Adolf 392 00:25:11,040 --> 00:25:13,639 Speaker 1: was also given a lot of responsibility right out of 393 00:25:13,680 --> 00:25:17,760 Speaker 1: the gate. He was tasked with refining and formalizing the 394 00:25:17,800 --> 00:25:21,920 Speaker 1: Illuminatis rules and structures, because that messy start had been 395 00:25:21,920 --> 00:25:26,679 Speaker 1: an ongoing problem. Clearly Wisouts was just not good at 396 00:25:26,680 --> 00:25:31,320 Speaker 1: this The three original levels of members were completely restructured 397 00:25:31,359 --> 00:25:34,400 Speaker 1: and what emerged was much more complex, but it also 398 00:25:34,480 --> 00:25:38,960 Speaker 1: clarified things. For example, instead of the second Mineerval grade 399 00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:42,280 Speaker 1: on its own, Adolf broke that into three sub levels, 400 00:25:42,320 --> 00:25:46,200 Speaker 1: so there was room for promotion to higher positions without 401 00:25:46,280 --> 00:25:50,720 Speaker 1: jumping right to the highest level. Ultimately there were three 402 00:25:50,800 --> 00:25:53,359 Speaker 1: classes of members still, but there was a total of 403 00:25:53,440 --> 00:25:57,639 Speaker 1: thirteen different degrees within those three classes. There was also 404 00:25:57,840 --> 00:26:00,840 Speaker 1: testing for members to achieve the higher way ranking levels 405 00:26:01,119 --> 00:26:04,320 Speaker 1: instead of just going on vibes. There was also a 406 00:26:04,359 --> 00:26:08,160 Speaker 1: formalized system of rituals, like when people were promoted, there 407 00:26:08,160 --> 00:26:14,440 Speaker 1: was a ritual to acknowledge that. Unfortunately, the ritual scenarios 408 00:26:14,520 --> 00:26:16,800 Speaker 1: were all lost, so we don't know what those entailed. 409 00:26:17,680 --> 00:26:20,560 Speaker 1: Code names were also introduced at this time, with each 410 00:26:20,600 --> 00:26:22,919 Speaker 1: member being given one that was kind of based in 411 00:26:23,040 --> 00:26:27,720 Speaker 1: antiquity and historical studies. Wisout for example, was called Spartacus, 412 00:26:28,320 --> 00:26:31,080 Speaker 1: and there was also a coded way for all of 413 00:26:31,080 --> 00:26:35,640 Speaker 1: the members to communicate that was introduced. The biggest change 414 00:26:35,800 --> 00:26:39,400 Speaker 1: was in the target age group for recruiting and wisap's 415 00:26:39,400 --> 00:26:43,119 Speaker 1: original scheme. They were focused on boys and men between 416 00:26:43,160 --> 00:26:46,760 Speaker 1: the ages of fifteen and twenty because they were malleable, 417 00:26:47,680 --> 00:26:51,840 Speaker 1: but Adolph's ideology was that more mature and experienced men 418 00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:55,000 Speaker 1: were needed to fully round out the membership and also 419 00:26:55,200 --> 00:26:59,359 Speaker 1: optimize the chances of affecting change. And all of this 420 00:26:59,520 --> 00:27:02,359 Speaker 1: work that Adolph did was a boon to the organization. 421 00:27:03,280 --> 00:27:06,560 Speaker 1: A lot of people in Bavaria and surrounding areas at 422 00:27:06,560 --> 00:27:08,600 Speaker 1: the time, as we said at the top of the show, 423 00:27:08,680 --> 00:27:11,919 Speaker 1: were frustrated with the level of power held by the church, 424 00:27:12,560 --> 00:27:16,439 Speaker 1: and many self professed freethinkers were really eager to connect 425 00:27:16,480 --> 00:27:21,160 Speaker 1: with others who shared their views. Soon, very respected men 426 00:27:21,240 --> 00:27:24,280 Speaker 1: from a variety of fields and professions had become part 427 00:27:24,280 --> 00:27:27,280 Speaker 1: of the group, and it is estimated that the numbers 428 00:27:27,320 --> 00:27:30,639 Speaker 1: of the Illuminati swelled to somewhere between two thousand and 429 00:27:30,800 --> 00:27:35,359 Speaker 1: three thousand members by the mid seventeen eighties. A group 430 00:27:35,480 --> 00:27:39,240 Speaker 1: that grows from five people to at least a couple 431 00:27:39,280 --> 00:27:43,200 Speaker 1: thousand and eight years was naturally going to gain attention, 432 00:27:43,480 --> 00:27:46,680 Speaker 1: even though its members were sworn to secrecy, in part 433 00:27:46,720 --> 00:27:50,359 Speaker 1: because you can't contain it once a group expands like this, 434 00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:55,000 Speaker 1: but also because once again, fracturing happens when you get 435 00:27:55,119 --> 00:27:58,560 Speaker 1: large groups of people to try to come together on 436 00:27:58,640 --> 00:28:02,800 Speaker 1: things man, and in the case of the Illuminati, Wyshapt 437 00:28:02,800 --> 00:28:05,840 Speaker 1: and Adolf were increasingly at odds with each other. Their 438 00:28:06,000 --> 00:28:09,399 Speaker 1: conflict began in seventeen eighty three as Wyshap started to 439 00:28:10,440 --> 00:28:15,040 Speaker 1: evidence more and more of a very domineering personality, and 440 00:28:15,400 --> 00:28:18,440 Speaker 1: the two men's visions for the future of the society 441 00:28:18,480 --> 00:28:22,680 Speaker 1: became increasingly more divergent. By the summer of seventeen eighty four, 442 00:28:22,800 --> 00:28:27,280 Speaker 1: Adolf had left the organization and another man, Joseph Uschneider, 443 00:28:27,720 --> 00:28:32,280 Speaker 1: had also left in frustration that happened in seventeen eighty three, 444 00:28:32,760 --> 00:28:36,520 Speaker 1: and he had taken several members with him, and it 445 00:28:36,600 --> 00:28:39,240 Speaker 1: appears he outed the society in a letter to the 446 00:28:39,240 --> 00:28:43,880 Speaker 1: Bavarian Electress Elizabeth Augusta of Sulzbach. Than this letter, u 447 00:28:43,920 --> 00:28:47,440 Speaker 1: Schneider made a lot of claims that were not true 448 00:28:47,760 --> 00:28:51,840 Speaker 1: about controversial beliefs of the members of the Order, and 449 00:28:52,040 --> 00:28:55,480 Speaker 1: also hinted that this group was in league with Austria 450 00:28:55,600 --> 00:28:59,400 Speaker 1: to bring down Bavaria. Yeah, he included some of the 451 00:28:59,440 --> 00:29:01,560 Speaker 1: things that they were doing that were real, but it 452 00:29:01,600 --> 00:29:04,960 Speaker 1: seems like he kind of added some additional flavor to 453 00:29:05,040 --> 00:29:08,720 Speaker 1: make them sound really, really dangerous. And this was a 454 00:29:08,760 --> 00:29:11,920 Speaker 1: time when Bavaria and Austria were deeply at odds, and 455 00:29:12,040 --> 00:29:16,160 Speaker 1: Elizabeth naturally brought this letter to her husband, Duke Elector 456 00:29:16,280 --> 00:29:20,600 Speaker 1: Charles Deodor. His response was to ban any society that 457 00:29:20,720 --> 00:29:24,880 Speaker 1: was not sanctioned by the Bavarian government wise, Hout didn't 458 00:29:24,920 --> 00:29:28,800 Speaker 1: seem too concerned, and things initially continued more or less 459 00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:31,080 Speaker 1: as they had before the edict, although still with the 460 00:29:31,080 --> 00:29:35,560 Speaker 1: same internal problems of the organization. But then the following year, 461 00:29:35,720 --> 00:29:40,040 Speaker 1: the Bavarian Illuminati was named, specifically in an edict that 462 00:29:40,160 --> 00:29:43,600 Speaker 1: banned the group. At this point things got quite serious. 463 00:29:43,960 --> 00:29:48,080 Speaker 1: Wisout was fired from the university, members of the group 464 00:29:48,320 --> 00:29:52,080 Speaker 1: were outed and subsequently arrested, and materials that the government 465 00:29:52,160 --> 00:29:55,760 Speaker 1: found in the raids of members' homes only damned the group. 466 00:29:55,840 --> 00:30:00,840 Speaker 1: More topics like atheism, abortion, and insurrection were rumored to 467 00:30:00,920 --> 00:30:03,520 Speaker 1: have been in the documents that were seized. I know, 468 00:30:03,640 --> 00:30:06,640 Speaker 1: I find myself wondering with all of these scholarly papers 469 00:30:06,640 --> 00:30:08,680 Speaker 1: they were writing, how many of these were kind of 470 00:30:08,800 --> 00:30:12,400 Speaker 1: examinations of these topics rather than saying like we should 471 00:30:12,400 --> 00:30:16,920 Speaker 1: be doing these things. But it was enough to get 472 00:30:16,920 --> 00:30:20,000 Speaker 1: the Bavarian government very upset. The Illuminati at this point 473 00:30:20,080 --> 00:30:23,400 Speaker 1: was completely vilified, and in seventeen eighty seven a third 474 00:30:23,600 --> 00:30:27,200 Speaker 1: edict was issued that made it punishable by death to 475 00:30:27,280 --> 00:30:31,080 Speaker 1: be a part of it. Wysopt fled to Gota, and 476 00:30:31,120 --> 00:30:34,000 Speaker 1: there he was under the protection of Ernest the second 477 00:30:34,120 --> 00:30:37,840 Speaker 1: Duke of Saxe Gota Altenburg, who had been a member 478 00:30:37,880 --> 00:30:41,719 Speaker 1: of the Illuminati. Wisapt was given a teaching position at 479 00:30:41,760 --> 00:30:45,640 Speaker 1: the University of Guttingen, and it was believed by most 480 00:30:45,720 --> 00:30:50,480 Speaker 1: that the Bavarian Illuminati was disbanded once Weishaft left Engelstadt, 481 00:30:50,640 --> 00:30:53,920 Speaker 1: but recent scholarship indicates that he did try to start 482 00:30:54,320 --> 00:30:58,760 Speaker 1: a new branch while he was in Gota, called Ionia. 483 00:30:59,560 --> 00:31:03,320 Speaker 1: Comprehend of paper detailing this new information is expected to 484 00:31:03,360 --> 00:31:07,440 Speaker 1: be published in twenty twenty seven. Adam Weishaupt lived out 485 00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:09,480 Speaker 1: the rest of his life in Gota, and he died 486 00:31:09,520 --> 00:31:14,800 Speaker 1: there on November eighteenth of eighteen thirty. So how did 487 00:31:14,800 --> 00:31:21,640 Speaker 1: the Illuminati become this organizational boogeyman that sparks endless conspiracy theories? Well, 488 00:31:21,760 --> 00:31:26,080 Speaker 1: that actually started relatively soon after it was disbanded. In 489 00:31:26,160 --> 00:31:30,480 Speaker 1: seventeen ninety eight, Scottish scientist John Robison published Proofs of 490 00:31:30,560 --> 00:31:34,560 Speaker 1: a Conspiracy against all the religions and governments of Europe, 491 00:31:34,800 --> 00:31:38,440 Speaker 1: carried on in the secret meetings of Freemasons, Illuminati, and 492 00:31:38,560 --> 00:31:42,360 Speaker 1: Reading societies, in which he alleged that the Illuminati and 493 00:31:42,400 --> 00:31:46,600 Speaker 1: Freemasons had conspired to bring about the French Revolution as 494 00:31:46,680 --> 00:31:49,800 Speaker 1: part of a larger effort to destabilize Europe and make 495 00:31:49,880 --> 00:31:53,360 Speaker 1: it fertile ground for the Enlightenment to move in in 496 00:31:53,520 --> 00:31:58,320 Speaker 1: more modern years. There's another explanation. In twenty twenty, journalist 497 00:31:58,320 --> 00:32:01,920 Speaker 1: Sophia Smith Gaylor, writing for the BBC, pointed to a 498 00:32:02,120 --> 00:32:06,520 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty three book written by Gregory Hill and Carrie Thornley. 499 00:32:07,360 --> 00:32:14,560 Speaker 1: This was originally published as photocopies, not as a printed book, 500 00:32:14,920 --> 00:32:18,920 Speaker 1: but it was called Princeshipia Discordia, and that was the 501 00:32:18,960 --> 00:32:22,160 Speaker 1: start of a hoax disinformation campaign that seems to have 502 00:32:22,320 --> 00:32:25,840 Speaker 1: seeded a lot of the modern mythology of the Illuminati. 503 00:32:26,720 --> 00:32:31,200 Speaker 1: Discordia was a chaos based belief system that these two 504 00:32:31,240 --> 00:32:33,760 Speaker 1: men came up with to try to shake up a 505 00:32:33,800 --> 00:32:36,480 Speaker 1: world that they thought was too rigid and controlled. These 506 00:32:36,480 --> 00:32:39,760 Speaker 1: were two people that had grown up together. Uh. This 507 00:32:39,920 --> 00:32:44,000 Speaker 1: work was very jokey. It's surrealist and absurd, and it's 508 00:32:44,040 --> 00:32:47,080 Speaker 1: been rumored to have been written while one or both 509 00:32:47,080 --> 00:32:50,880 Speaker 1: of the authors were on an acid trip. It outlines 510 00:32:50,920 --> 00:32:54,080 Speaker 1: the workings of the Discordian religion, which appears to be 511 00:32:54,240 --> 00:32:58,680 Speaker 1: from another world, and it references the Bavarian Illuminati sort of. 512 00:32:59,400 --> 00:33:03,640 Speaker 1: It features an advertisement placed by the Bavarian Illuminati that 513 00:33:03,720 --> 00:33:07,040 Speaker 1: invited new members, touting quote, if your IQ is over 514 00:33:07,120 --> 00:33:10,600 Speaker 1: one fifty and you have three one hundred and twenty 515 00:33:10,600 --> 00:33:13,640 Speaker 1: five dollars plus handling, you might be eligible for a 516 00:33:13,680 --> 00:33:19,480 Speaker 1: trial membership in AISB Ancient Illuminated Seers of Bavaria. If 517 00:33:19,480 --> 00:33:22,080 Speaker 1: you think you qualify, put the money in a cigar 518 00:33:22,160 --> 00:33:24,680 Speaker 1: box and bury it in your backyard. One of our 519 00:33:24,760 --> 00:33:29,080 Speaker 1: underground agents will contact you shortly. I dare you tell 520 00:33:29,200 --> 00:33:32,040 Speaker 1: no one? Accidents have a strange way of happening to 521 00:33:32,080 --> 00:33:36,440 Speaker 1: people who talk too much about the Bavarian Illuminati. This 522 00:33:36,640 --> 00:33:39,800 Speaker 1: was originally just a few by which I mean five 523 00:33:40,080 --> 00:33:44,239 Speaker 1: copies that got passed around in counterculture circles, but the 524 00:33:44,280 --> 00:33:48,320 Speaker 1: authors and their friends wanted to continue to drop misinformation 525 00:33:48,680 --> 00:33:51,120 Speaker 1: anywhere it might be picked up as a way to 526 00:33:51,240 --> 00:33:54,480 Speaker 1: generate the chaos that they were after. The idea was 527 00:33:54,480 --> 00:33:57,720 Speaker 1: that if you were given something that made you look 528 00:33:57,720 --> 00:34:00,560 Speaker 1: at the world in an absurd way, you might start 529 00:34:00,600 --> 00:34:03,239 Speaker 1: thinking about all of the very normal things that are 530 00:34:03,240 --> 00:34:06,800 Speaker 1: actually absurd in our lives. One of the avenues they 531 00:34:06,920 --> 00:34:10,000 Speaker 1: used to do this was the Letters from Readers section 532 00:34:10,120 --> 00:34:14,480 Speaker 1: of Playboy magazine. In the nineteen sixties, Carrie Thornley's friend, 533 00:34:14,560 --> 00:34:17,759 Speaker 1: Robert Anton Wilson was working at Playboy. I think he 534 00:34:17,920 --> 00:34:21,239 Speaker 1: was an associate editor, but I'm not positive, and he 535 00:34:21,320 --> 00:34:23,760 Speaker 1: and Thornley came up with this idea that they would 536 00:34:23,800 --> 00:34:26,959 Speaker 1: plant fake reader letters in the magazine that talked about 537 00:34:27,000 --> 00:34:31,520 Speaker 1: the Illuminati as a global control society, and then they 538 00:34:31,560 --> 00:34:34,719 Speaker 1: would send in fake replies to those original letters. That 539 00:34:34,840 --> 00:34:38,240 Speaker 1: started a debate about it, and this actually got people 540 00:34:38,320 --> 00:34:42,279 Speaker 1: talking wondering what the heck the Illuminati was. Today, we 541 00:34:42,400 --> 00:34:48,759 Speaker 1: call this astroturfing. Yeah, So then Wilson and his friend 542 00:34:48,880 --> 00:34:52,719 Speaker 1: Robert Shay wrote three books known as the Illuminatus Trilogy. 543 00:34:52,960 --> 00:34:55,880 Speaker 1: They had the titles I in the Pyramid, Golden Apple, 544 00:34:55,960 --> 00:35:00,319 Speaker 1: and Leviathan. These are satirical novels. They are fiction, but 545 00:35:00,400 --> 00:35:02,760 Speaker 1: it was in these books that they started a variety 546 00:35:02,800 --> 00:35:06,600 Speaker 1: of rumors that still persist in some circles today. Man 547 00:35:06,760 --> 00:35:10,960 Speaker 1: very disjointed plots, but there's a battle between the Discordians 548 00:35:11,000 --> 00:35:14,239 Speaker 1: and the Illuminati, and the Illuminati are linked to the 549 00:35:14,280 --> 00:35:20,319 Speaker 1: American Medical Association and Hitler and the Kennedy assassination. And 550 00:35:20,400 --> 00:35:22,480 Speaker 1: over the years, a lot of these ideas have really 551 00:35:22,520 --> 00:35:25,520 Speaker 1: gotten traction and then been repeated over and over without 552 00:35:25,520 --> 00:35:28,160 Speaker 1: any sourcing, so unless you really go digging, it can 553 00:35:28,200 --> 00:35:32,320 Speaker 1: be hard to trace the origins. As for why these 554 00:35:32,440 --> 00:35:37,080 Speaker 1: ideas are so alluring, journalist Galor put it pretty perfectly, stating, quote, 555 00:35:37,120 --> 00:35:40,640 Speaker 1: the idea of an untouchable, secretive elite must resonate with 556 00:35:40,719 --> 00:35:44,520 Speaker 1: people that feel left behind and powerless. Yeah, those are 557 00:35:44,560 --> 00:35:48,560 Speaker 1: not the only, uh conspiratorial things that they linked the 558 00:35:48,600 --> 00:35:51,000 Speaker 1: Illuminati with, but that is just a sampling to give 559 00:35:51,000 --> 00:35:54,359 Speaker 1: you an idea. If you have spent any time in 560 00:35:54,520 --> 00:35:58,800 Speaker 1: conspiracy theory spaces, you've heard all of those things repeated 561 00:35:58,800 --> 00:36:02,240 Speaker 1: as though they are truths. I just find it funny 562 00:36:02,239 --> 00:36:05,040 Speaker 1: that this campaign of like, let's do something so silly 563 00:36:05,040 --> 00:36:07,640 Speaker 1: and satirical that it will make people kind of wake 564 00:36:07,719 --> 00:36:11,440 Speaker 1: up and rethink everything they're doing critically, and instead it 565 00:36:11,680 --> 00:36:14,920 Speaker 1: had the opposite effect in a lot of cases. Today, 566 00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:18,360 Speaker 1: there is a historical marker plaque on Wysoup's home in 567 00:36:18,440 --> 00:36:22,880 Speaker 1: Englishtot noting that it was an Illuminati meeting place in 568 00:36:22,920 --> 00:36:26,320 Speaker 1: twenty seventeen. Michael Klarner, who at the time was leading 569 00:36:26,400 --> 00:36:29,879 Speaker 1: history tours in Englishtot that were Illuminati themed. I don't 570 00:36:29,920 --> 00:36:32,200 Speaker 1: know if he still does those. But he told the 571 00:36:32,200 --> 00:36:35,880 Speaker 1: BBC quote, of course we get some conspiracy theorists on 572 00:36:35,960 --> 00:36:39,000 Speaker 1: the tours I do, but we can educate them to 573 00:36:39,120 --> 00:36:42,759 Speaker 1: what is the real truth and what is conspiracy. Just 574 00:36:42,760 --> 00:36:44,799 Speaker 1: in case you're a tempted to start thinking about a 575 00:36:44,840 --> 00:36:48,919 Speaker 1: new world order controlling everything that happens here on planet Earth, 576 00:36:49,000 --> 00:36:52,480 Speaker 1: it is worth remembering that, in spite of starting out 577 00:36:52,480 --> 00:36:55,399 Speaker 1: with the relatively noble idea of getting out from under 578 00:36:55,440 --> 00:36:58,879 Speaker 1: a very rigid educational system that didn't allow free thought, 579 00:36:59,600 --> 00:37:03,200 Speaker 1: the very an Illuminati was actually a pretty small, poorly 580 00:37:03,320 --> 00:37:06,000 Speaker 1: organized group that fell victim to the same kind of 581 00:37:06,080 --> 00:37:10,719 Speaker 1: infighting that plagues pretty much every group. Was also led 582 00:37:10,760 --> 00:37:13,440 Speaker 1: by a man with ego issues, and it could not 583 00:37:13,520 --> 00:37:16,799 Speaker 1: hold itself together or keep the secret of its own existence. 584 00:37:17,000 --> 00:37:21,680 Speaker 1: So not an organization that is likely to have pulled 585 00:37:21,719 --> 00:37:26,799 Speaker 1: off any world domination. Yeah. Yeah, when you look at it, 586 00:37:26,800 --> 00:37:29,160 Speaker 1: it's like, oh, these are a bunch of messy kids. 587 00:37:32,080 --> 00:37:34,680 Speaker 1: They're not all kids in the sense of being youths, 588 00:37:34,719 --> 00:37:38,960 Speaker 1: but you know what I mean, sure you messy children. Yeah. 589 00:37:39,040 --> 00:37:42,279 Speaker 1: I just find that funny. So anytime someone references the 590 00:37:42,280 --> 00:37:47,799 Speaker 1: Illuminati as like a thing, I'm always like cute. Let 591 00:37:47,800 --> 00:37:51,719 Speaker 1: me tell you about Adam Weissout. He's the guy that 592 00:37:51,760 --> 00:37:54,080 Speaker 1: everyone at the party is saying, I wish this guy 593 00:37:54,120 --> 00:37:58,200 Speaker 1: would leave. I promise it, I promise it. I have 594 00:37:58,239 --> 00:38:03,200 Speaker 1: a fun little listener mail about our recent episode on 595 00:38:04,200 --> 00:38:11,000 Speaker 1: my beloved Huxley. This is from our listener Lauren, who writes, Hi, 596 00:38:11,040 --> 00:38:13,680 Speaker 1: Holly and Tracy. I've been a listener since twenty thirteen, 597 00:38:13,960 --> 00:38:16,080 Speaker 1: when I was looking for ways to jazz up a long, 598 00:38:16,120 --> 00:38:19,880 Speaker 1: boring commute to my summer internship. I've never felt compelled 599 00:38:19,880 --> 00:38:22,080 Speaker 1: to write in until now, but your recent episode on 600 00:38:22,160 --> 00:38:24,799 Speaker 1: Thomas Huxley. Maybe you want to share a quirky bit 601 00:38:24,840 --> 00:38:29,400 Speaker 1: of family history. I have an ancestor named Darwin Huxley McLaughlin. 602 00:38:30,120 --> 00:38:32,880 Speaker 1: That Darwin is self explanatory, but I never knew much 603 00:38:32,880 --> 00:38:35,440 Speaker 1: about the Huxley part of his name other than Huxley 604 00:38:35,520 --> 00:38:37,799 Speaker 1: was a scientist, and I had a vague sense he 605 00:38:37,880 --> 00:38:41,359 Speaker 1: was related to Aldous Huxley. I was therefore delighted when 606 00:38:41,360 --> 00:38:44,359 Speaker 1: I saw you'd done an episode on Thomas Huxley. The 607 00:38:44,400 --> 00:38:47,440 Speaker 1: family law is that Darwin Huxley's father named him Busley 608 00:38:47,560 --> 00:38:50,800 Speaker 1: because he was really interested in science. But after listening 609 00:38:50,800 --> 00:38:52,839 Speaker 1: to the Huxley episode. It sure seems like he was 610 00:38:52,840 --> 00:38:57,280 Speaker 1: interested in evolution specifically. Darwin Huxley was born in eighteen 611 00:38:57,360 --> 00:39:01,239 Speaker 1: seventy two, the youngest of eleven children, in absolutely the 612 00:39:01,239 --> 00:39:05,160 Speaker 1: middle of nowhere, Kansas. His father, William, who chose the name, 613 00:39:05,239 --> 00:39:08,200 Speaker 1: was born in absolutely the middle of nowhere, Kentucky and 614 00:39:08,320 --> 00:39:12,359 Speaker 1: received only a rudimentary education. William spent his adult life 615 00:39:12,360 --> 00:39:15,279 Speaker 1: as a farmer in Kansas, but clearly he was well 616 00:39:15,320 --> 00:39:18,520 Speaker 1: read not to mention unconventional enough to name his son 617 00:39:18,560 --> 00:39:22,040 Speaker 1: after Darwin and Huxley only thirteen years after On the 618 00:39:22,080 --> 00:39:24,919 Speaker 1: Origin of Species was first published. I think he must 619 00:39:24,920 --> 00:39:28,480 Speaker 1: have been a fascinating person. I do too. According to 620 00:39:28,520 --> 00:39:30,960 Speaker 1: his obituary, he wrote a series of articles on the 621 00:39:31,000 --> 00:39:33,880 Speaker 1: birds of Kansas for the local newspaper. I wish I 622 00:39:33,960 --> 00:39:37,040 Speaker 1: knew if he referenced their evolution. I have attached photos 623 00:39:37,080 --> 00:39:40,320 Speaker 1: of William McLaughlin and Darwin Huxley MacLaughlin with their wives. 624 00:39:40,600 --> 00:39:42,279 Speaker 1: William is the one who appears to have been a 625 00:39:42,360 --> 00:39:46,160 Speaker 1: victim of early photoshop techniques that often happens with old 626 00:39:46,160 --> 00:39:49,440 Speaker 1: pictures for pet tax I also enclose photos of our 627 00:39:49,520 --> 00:39:53,480 Speaker 1: three cats, the twins Copernicus and Galileo and our void girl, 628 00:39:53,560 --> 00:39:57,280 Speaker 1: Ricky Ticky Tavy. You can tell Copernicus and Galileo apart, 629 00:39:57,560 --> 00:40:01,120 Speaker 1: because Galileo has pointy ears and Copernicus has rounded ears, 630 00:40:01,640 --> 00:40:03,680 Speaker 1: and like, maybe that was true of the ben they're 631 00:40:03,719 --> 00:40:07,240 Speaker 1: named for. Probably if you are looking for a possible 632 00:40:07,280 --> 00:40:10,440 Speaker 1: episode topic, I recently ran across some reference to the 633 00:40:10,480 --> 00:40:14,320 Speaker 1: medieval tradition of officially sanctioned relic stealing, and it was 634 00:40:14,360 --> 00:40:18,480 Speaker 1: surprisingly swashbuckling wild ride. Apparently, Thou Shalt Not Steal had 635 00:40:18,480 --> 00:40:20,719 Speaker 1: a well understood exception when it came to bits of 636 00:40:20,760 --> 00:40:24,080 Speaker 1: saints that were housed in other cities churches. We talked 637 00:40:24,080 --> 00:40:26,920 Speaker 1: about this a little bit when we talked about the 638 00:40:26,960 --> 00:40:31,400 Speaker 1: catacombs a room, not in this specific sense, but people 639 00:40:32,440 --> 00:40:35,000 Speaker 1: wanting to go steal things to be part of of 640 00:40:35,000 --> 00:40:38,640 Speaker 1: their own religions. Lauren continues. They shrugged it off by saying, 641 00:40:38,640 --> 00:40:40,680 Speaker 1: if the saint didn't want their corpse stolen, the saint 642 00:40:40,680 --> 00:40:42,600 Speaker 1: would have done something to prevent the large group of 643 00:40:42,680 --> 00:40:45,400 Speaker 1: armed men from making off with it. Keep up the 644 00:40:45,400 --> 00:40:47,560 Speaker 1: good fight, educating the world. I love this letter for 645 00:40:47,600 --> 00:40:54,120 Speaker 1: so many reasons. I mean, there are fabulous pictures. These 646 00:40:54,840 --> 00:40:59,320 Speaker 1: older photos are spectacular I love them and the kiddies listen. 647 00:41:00,160 --> 00:41:04,400 Speaker 1: Galle and Copernicus are big fluffy. They look like double 648 00:41:04,480 --> 00:41:09,880 Speaker 1: coated gray cats, which is near and dear to my heart. 649 00:41:11,520 --> 00:41:14,200 Speaker 1: Also Ricky, Ticky, Tabby beautiful. We all love avoid here 650 00:41:14,600 --> 00:41:17,960 Speaker 1: that's stuffy missed in history class. Avoids in our families. 651 00:41:18,120 --> 00:41:21,640 Speaker 1: Tracy has two. I have but one, but minus extra fluffy. 652 00:41:21,640 --> 00:41:23,319 Speaker 1: I guess to make up for the gap and fur. 653 00:41:23,440 --> 00:41:26,719 Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't know, but I love it. 654 00:41:26,760 --> 00:41:30,279 Speaker 1: This is so very cool. I love the idea of this, 655 00:41:30,520 --> 00:41:34,320 Speaker 1: not only just because it's fun family trivia, but it 656 00:41:34,400 --> 00:41:37,000 Speaker 1: is one of those things that I always want to 657 00:41:37,800 --> 00:41:42,799 Speaker 1: highlight as a very real and it's also near to 658 00:41:42,840 --> 00:41:46,000 Speaker 1: my heart thing, which is like the autodidacts of the world. 659 00:41:46,160 --> 00:41:48,680 Speaker 1: There are so many people that did not grow up 660 00:41:48,719 --> 00:41:53,000 Speaker 1: with a formalized education or the opportunities to learn in 661 00:41:53,040 --> 00:41:55,239 Speaker 1: the ways that others have, who are smarter than the 662 00:41:55,239 --> 00:41:58,640 Speaker 1: rest of us put together in many cases and choose 663 00:41:58,680 --> 00:42:02,680 Speaker 1: to follow their curiosity to really become incredibly knowledgeable. And 664 00:42:03,080 --> 00:42:05,440 Speaker 1: this is clearly one of those people. So you have 665 00:42:05,480 --> 00:42:07,880 Speaker 1: a winner in your family tree, probably many, but he 666 00:42:07,960 --> 00:42:11,600 Speaker 1: specifically wins my heart for today. If you would like 667 00:42:11,640 --> 00:42:14,360 Speaker 1: to write to us and tell us about your family 668 00:42:14,400 --> 00:42:19,520 Speaker 1: and it's delightful naming schemes for children, animiles, or cats 669 00:42:19,560 --> 00:42:21,960 Speaker 1: for that matter. You can do that at History podcast 670 00:42:22,120 --> 00:42:26,719 Speaker 1: at iHeartRadio dot com. You can also find the show 671 00:42:26,760 --> 00:42:29,359 Speaker 1: notes for today's episode or any episode we do at 672 00:42:29,440 --> 00:42:32,920 Speaker 1: mystinhistory dot com. You just click into any episode. You 673 00:42:32,960 --> 00:42:35,960 Speaker 1: will see all of the references that we used, and 674 00:42:36,120 --> 00:42:38,600 Speaker 1: I hope you do and enjoy those. You can also 675 00:42:38,640 --> 00:42:41,120 Speaker 1: subscribe to the show It's Easiest Pie. You can do 676 00:42:41,200 --> 00:42:43,440 Speaker 1: that on the iHeartRadio app or anywhere you listen to 677 00:42:43,480 --> 00:42:51,600 Speaker 1: your favorite podcasts. Stuff you Missed in History Class is 678 00:42:51,600 --> 00:42:55,959 Speaker 1: a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit 679 00:42:56,040 --> 00:42:59,400 Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 680 00:42:59,440 --> 00:43:00,319 Speaker 1: your favorite os.