1749–1832
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Poet and Weimar minister who joined the order in 1783.
- Life
- 1749–1832
- Connection
- Member from 1783 (code name “Abaris”)
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832), poet, novelist and minister in the government of Saxe-Weimar, joined the Illuminati in February 1783 under the code name Abaris, at about the same time as his patron Duke Karl August ("Aeschylus"). Both were introduced through Johann Joachim Christoph Bode.
A disputed question
Why they joined is a matter of scholarly debate. In Geheimräte gegen Geheimbünde (1991), the historian W. Daniel Wilson argued that Goethe and the Duke joined at least partly to observe and control the order rather than to further its aims. Other historians have questioned that reading. Goethe's membership itself is documented; his motives remain a matter of interpretation.
There is no evidence that Goethe played an active part in the order's affairs after its suppression.
References
- W. Daniel Wilson, Geheimräte gegen Geheimbünde (Stuttgart: Metzler, 1991).
- Hermann Schüttler, Die Mitglieder des Illuminatenordens 1776–1787/93 (Munich: Ars Una, 1991).
- René Le Forestier, Les Illuminés de Bavière et la franc-maçonnerie allemande (Paris: Hachette, 1914).
- Wikipedia — “List of Illuminati members”