Adam Weishaupt of the Bavarian illuminati targeted people of wealth and social importance when he was spreading his doctrine, and a number of notable figures are associated with the Bavarian movement. Literary giants Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Johann Gottfried von Herder, as well as a number of dukes, were claimed as members of the Bavarian society, though how much they were actually involved is disputed. Weishaupt’s illuminati were also believed to have included astronomer Johann Bode, writer and bookseller Friedrich Nicolai, philosopher Friedrich Jacobi, and poet Friedrich Leopold, Graf zu Stolberg-Stolberg. Additionally, the British philosopher Francis Bacon was connected to the earlier Rosicrucian order, while St. Ignatius of Loyola was associated with the Alumbrado movement.
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