The Seven Order of the IlluminatiThe Seven Order Apply

1756–1843

Franz Xaver von Zwack

Senior member whose seized papers exposed the order.

Life
1756–1843
Connection
Senior member (code name "Cato")

Franz Xaver von Zwack was a Bavarian official and one of Weishaupt's closest collaborators, known in the order as Cato.

In 1786 the Bavarian authorities searched his house and seized a large quantity of the order's papers. Their publication in 1787 as Einige Originalschriften des Illuminatenordens is one of the principal sources for the order's history.

References

  • René Le Forestier, Les Illuminés de Bavière et la franc-maçonnerie allemande (Paris, 1914).
  • Richard van Dülmen, Der Geheimbund der Illuminaten (Stuttgart, 1975).