Description of the Illuminati

A small decorative woodcut headpiece consisting of floral and scroll motifs is positioned at the top right of the page.

of the states and princely realms of Germany etc.; that these notions were spread everywhere, believed everywhere, and taken as the basis for the most unjust judgments and harshest actions—did that not betray fanaticism? original: "Schwärmerey." In the 18th century, this term referred to a state of irrational, wild enthusiasm or religious/political mania. Here, the author turns the accusation back on the public. The Illuminati were not convicted of a single one of the crimes laid to their charge; there was not even a trace or an indication of any crime of this nature committed in the land; and yet all the people, on the pulpits and below the pulpits, in the public streets and in taverns, shouted of nothing but the rod Staupbesen The "Staupbesen" or "birch rod" was a tool used for public flogging., exposure at the pillory, hanging, beheading, and the wheel Breaking on the wheel was one of the most severe and agonizing forms of capital punishment in early modern Europe.. And this should not be called fanaticism?

But that does not concern the author. He himself finds the fables original: "Gezüchte." An archaic, derogatory term referring to a "brood" of lies or fabricated rumors. spread against the Illuminati ridiculous, and therefore also the belief in them to be fanatical.

But also the author and his description, with those things made known by the Inquisition