Weishaupt, chafing at the power of the conservative Catholic Church and the Bavarian monarchy, sought to cast aside organized religion in favor of a new form of “illumination” through reason. The Illuminati were founded by professor Adam Weishaupt in Bavaria on May 1, 1776. Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group/Getty Images
Freemasonry quickly spread across Europe and to the American colonies.
The earliest reference to masons is in the Regius Poem, or Halliwell Manuscript, which was published in 1390, but Freemasonry as we know it today was founded in 1717, when four London lodges merged to form England’s first Grand Lodge. They identified one another via signs of their trade, like the builder’s square and compass in Freemasonry’s now-iconic symbol. Cathedral builders, by nature of their profession, had to travel from city to city. The freemasons can trace their routes to the Middle Ages in Europe, a time when most craftsmen were organized into local guilds. Founding Fathers like George Washington, James Monroe, Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock and Paul Revere all counted themselves as members of the fraternal order. The freemasons loom large in American history-after all, 13 of the 39 men who signed the U.S. Knights Templar Symbol: The Cross of Lorraineįine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images WATCH: Full episodes of America's Book of Secrets online now.
Popular books and films like The Da Vinci Code continue to inspire curiosity about the Knights Templar today. Rumors that the Knights Templar guarded artifacts like the Holy Grail and Shroud of Turin began bubbling up among conspiracy theorists. Under pressure from the French crown, Pope Clement V formally dissolved the order in 1312 and redistributed their wealth. In 1309, as the city of Paris watched, dozens of Knights Templar were burned at the stake for their alleged crimes. On October 13, 1307, King Philip IV of France, whom the Knights Templar had denied additional loans, had a group of knights arrested and tortured until they made false confessions of depravity. When the Crusades came to an end after the fall of Acre, the Knights Templar withdrew to Paris, where they focused on their banking endeavors.
READ MORE: 10 Reasons Why the Knights Templar Were History's Fiercest Fighters What Happened to the Knights Templar?
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