Conceived as an attempt by civil servants in the Enlightenment to implement a radical Enlightenment program in political life conspiratorially and without any violence and by establishing a regime of morals to restore the natural state of freedom and equality, which had been corrupted by wordly and religious despotism, to human society, the secret society of the Illuminati (1776–1786) represented a socio-political phenomenon which was important in all of Europe. In addition to a short description of the history of the secret society and an attempt to interpet the system in the context of the late Enlightenment, the volume includes all the major writings of the Illuminati – statutes, agendas, instructions, letters and reports – on the ideology, history and impact of the society.