# Secret societies: Templars, Illuminati, and Skull and Bones The real secret societies behind the legends: the medieval Knights Templar and their suppression, the Rosicrucian manifestos, Weishaupt's Bavarian Illuminati, Yale's Skull and Bones, and the modern elite gatherings from Bohemian Grove to Bilderberg, with documented existence and membership. *This story part of: Religion and ideology* ## 1118 — Founding of the Knights Templar Nine Knights Crusaders including Geoffroi de Saint-Omer and Hugues de Payens consecrate themselves and take oath before Patriarch of Constantinople to protect Christians visiting Holy Places and secretly rebuild Temple of Solomon > "In 1118, nine Knights Crusaders in the East, among whom were Geoffroi de Saint-Omer and Hugues de Payens, consecrated themselves to religion, and took an oath between the hands of the Patriarch of Constantinople" > — Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, p. 1051-1056 ## 1119 — Founding of the Knights Templar The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon were founded around 1119 to protect pilgrims in the Holy Land. They are relevant to Freemasonry only through a later legend, not through any real historical link. ## 1129 — Council of Troyes endorses the Templar rule A church council formally recognized the Knights Templar and gave the order a written rule, drafted with input from Bernard of Clairvaux. This endorsement turned a small band of knights into an official religious and military order backed by the Church. ## 1139 — Papal bull grants the Templars broad exemptions Pope Innocent II issued the bull Omne Datum Optimum, exempting the Templars from local taxes and putting them under papal authority alone, answerable to no king or bishop. This independence let the order grow fast across Europe and the Holy Land. ## c. 1150 — Templars build a Europe-wide banking network As donations of land and money poured in, the Templars developed one of the first international banking systems, letting pilgrims deposit funds in one country and withdraw them in another using letters of credit. They also managed estates, ships, and armed convoys, becoming a major financial power alongside their military role. ## May 1291 — Fall of Acre ends Crusader rule in the Holy Land The Mamluks captured Acre, the last major Crusader stronghold, ending nearly two centuries of Christian rule in the Holy Land. The Templars lost their original purpose of defending pilgrims and the Crusader states, and relocated their base to Cyprus. ## 13 October 1307 — Mass arrest of the Knights Templar in France King Philip IV of France, deeply in debt to the Templars, had hundreds of them arrested in a single coordinated sweep on Friday, October 13, 1307. They were charged with heresy, blasphemy, and corruption, confessions were extracted under torture, and this date is the origin of the modern superstition around Friday the 13th. ## November 1307 — Pope Clement V orders Templar arrests across Christendom Under pressure from Philip IV, Pope Clement V issued the bull Pastoralis Praeeminentiae, instructing Christian monarchs across Europe to arrest Templars and seize their assets. Not every kingdom carried this out with the same severity, but it extended the French crackdown into a continent-wide campaign against the order. ## 1312 — Council of Vienne dissolves the Knights Templar Pope Clement V formally dissolved the Knights Templar at the Council of Vienne, citing the scandal around the order even though many charges against it were never proven in a fair trial. Templar property was largely transferred to the rival Knights Hospitaller. ## 18 March 1314 — Execution of Jacques de Molay Jacques de Molay, the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, was burned at the stake in Paris in 1314. The Templars had no organizational continuity into later Freemasonry. ## 1614 — Publication of the Fama Fraternitatis An anonymous German pamphlet titled Fama Fraternitatis announced the existence of a secret brotherhood founded by a figure called Christian Rosenkreutz, blending Christian mysticism, alchemy, and calls for reform of learning. No organization by this name has ever been documented as actually existing at the time; historians treat the manifesto as a literary and philosophical provocation rather than proof of a real society. ## 1615 — Publication of the Confessio Fraternitatis A second manifesto, the Confessio Fraternitatis, followed the Fama and expanded on the supposed Rosicrucian brotherhood's aims, again anonymously. Together with the Fama it triggered a wave of pamphlets across Europe debating whether the brotherhood was real, a hoax, or a coded call to reform. ## c. 1615 — Rosicrucian furore spreads across Europe In the years after the manifestos appeared, scholars, mystics, and hopefuls across Europe wrote pamphlets debating the Rosicrucian brotherhood, and some tried to contact it directly. No genuine 17th-century Rosicrucian organization has ever been documented; the episode is best understood as an intellectual fashion and hoax rather than an actual secret society with members and meetings. ## 1616 — Publication of the Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz A third text, an allegorical alchemical romance, was published and later attributed to the Lutheran theologian Johann Valentin Andreae. Andreae later suggested the whole Rosicrucian episode was a literary game rather than the announcement of a real secret order, though this claim itself is debated by scholars. ## c. 1645 — Informal 'Invisible College' of natural philosophers meets in England A loose network of English scientists and thinkers, including Robert Boyle, began meeting informally to discuss experimental science, sometimes calling their circle the 'Invisible College.' The name echoed Rosicrucian language, but this was a real network of scientific correspondence, not a secret initiatory order, and it fed directly into the founding of the Royal Society. ## 1660 — Founding of the Royal Society The Royal Society was formally founded in London, growing out of the earlier informal gatherings of natural philosophers, and received a royal charter in 1662. It became one of the world's oldest and most important scientific institutions, and its documented history is entirely separate from any Rosicrucian conspiracy claims sometimes attached to it. ## c. 1750 — Masonic and fraternal orders adopt Templar names and symbols Starting in the 1700s, Freemasonry and related fraternal movements created honorary degrees and orders using Templar names and imagery, such as the York Rite's Knights Templar degree. These groups are documented fraternal and charitable organizations, but historians find no proven organizational link between them and the medieval Knights Templar, which had been dissolved four centuries earlier. Claims of an unbroken secret lineage are a romantic invention, not established history. ## 1 May 1776 — Adam Weishaupt Founds the Bavarian Illuminati Adam Weishaupt, a law professor, founded the Order of the Illuminati as a secret society promoting reason, secular ideas, and reform. It began with a handful of students and drew on Enlightenment thinking. ## c. 1780 — Illuminati begins infiltrating Masonic lodges Weishaupt and his key recruit, Baron Adolph von Knigge, worked to spread Illuminati influence by recruiting members inside existing Masonic lodges, using Freemasonry's structure and secrecy as cover. This documented strategy is the historical basis for later, much broader claims that Freemasonry itself was secretly controlled by the Illuminati, a claim historians do not support. ## 1782 — Congress of Wilhelmsbad debates Masonic reform Freemasons from across Europe met at a congress in Wilhelmsbad to debate the direction and legitimacy of various Masonic rites, and Illuminati members used the gathering to spread their ideas among the attendees. The meeting shows real, documented overlap between Illuminati recruiters and mainstream Freemasonry, though it did not amount to Illuminati control of Freemasonry as an institution. ## June 1784 — Bavaria bans secret societies Duke Karl Theodor of Bavaria issued an edict banning all secret societies not authorized by law, alarmed by reports of the Illuminati's activities and aims. This was the opening move in the government crackdown that would soon target the Illuminati specifically. ## March 1785 — Bavaria outlaws the Illuminati by name A follow-up edict from the Bavarian government specifically named and banned the Order of the Illuminati, along with the Freemasons. Members were arrested or fled, Weishaupt lost his university position and left Bavaria, and the order's lodges were shut down. As a formal organization, the Bavarian Illuminati effectively ceased to exist within a few years of this ban. ## 1786 — Bavaria publishes seized Illuminati documents Bavarian authorities published seized internal Illuminati papers, including letters by Weishaupt, under titles such as Einige Originalschriften, to justify the crackdown and warn other states. These documents are the main primary source historians use to reconstruct the order's real membership, aims, and internal disputes, as opposed to later legend. ## 1797 — Abbe Barruel links the Illuminati to the French Revolution French priest Augustin Barruel published Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism, arguing that the defunct Bavarian Illuminati had secretly plotted and caused the French Revolution. This is generally regarded as the founding text of the modern 'Illuminati still secretly rules the world' conspiracy theory. Historians agree the Bavarian Illuminati was a real but short-lived 18th-century organization suppressed a few years before the Revolution, and reject the claim that it orchestrated the Revolution or persists in secret today as unsupported by evidence. ## 1832 — Founding of Skull and Bones at Yale Skull and Bones was founded as a senior secret society at Yale University. Its small membership and secrecy, along with alumni who reached high office, made it a lasting subject of public fascination. ## c. 1856 — Skull and Bones builds its windowless 'Tomb' The society constructed its own clubhouse near the Yale campus, a windowless building members call the Tomb, used for private meetings and rituals. Its existence and location are well documented, though the details of what happens inside are not publicly disclosed by members. ## 1867 — Founding of the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia A fraternal society for Master Masons interested in occult and Rosicrucian symbolism was founded in England. It is a documented, real organization with recorded membership, but like other modern 'Rosicrucian' orders it is a 19th-century creation with no proven link to the original 17th-century manifestos. ## 1872 — Founding of the Bohemian Club The Bohemian Club was founded as a private club for journalists, artists, and later business and political leaders. It became known for its exclusivity and its summer retreat at Bohemian Grove. ## 1878 — William Howard Taft joins Skull and Bones Future U.S. President and Chief Justice William Howard Taft, son of co-founder Alfonso Taft, was inducted into Skull and Bones as a Yale senior. Over the following century, the society's membership rolls included a documented and unusually concentrated number of American lawyers, bankers, judges, and politicians. ## c. 1893 — First recorded Cremation of Care ceremony The Bohemian Club began staging an opening-night theatrical ritual called the Cremation of Care, in which an effigy representing worldly worries is symbolically burned before a large owl statue. The ceremony is documented and has been described by journalists and former attendees as a piece of club theatre and fraternal ritual. ## 1899 — Bohemian Club acquires the Bohemian Grove The club acquired a large redwood grove north of San Francisco for its annual summer encampment, which continues to this day and draws a membership that has included business executives, media figures, and multiple U.S. presidents. Attendance and the existence of the retreat are documented facts; specific claims about policy deals being struck there are largely anecdotal and contested. ## 1915 — Founding of AMORC, the Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis Harvey Spencer Lewis founded AMORC in the United States as a mail-order fraternal and mystical teaching organization using Rosicrucian symbolism. It is a well-documented modern organization that still operates today, offering correspondence courses in esoteric philosophy, though its claim of unbroken descent from the 17th-century Rosicrucians is not historically verifiable. ## c. 1918 — Skull and Bones members allegedly rob Geronimo's grave A persistent story holds that Skull and Bones members, including Prescott Bush, stole the skull and bones of Apache leader Geronimo from his grave at Fort Sill and brought them back to the Tomb at Yale. Some contemporary letters referencing a stolen skull have surfaced, but whether it was actually Geronimo's remains has never been proven, and the claim remains contested and unverified. ## 1921 — Founding of the Council on Foreign Relations A group of American diplomats, bankers, and scholars founded the Council on Foreign Relations as a nonpartisan think tank to study and shape U.S. foreign policy. It is a documented, publicly registered organization that publishes the journal Foreign Affairs and regularly hosts government officials; claims that it functions as a secret shadow government are a separate, contested interpretation rather than an established fact. ## 1948 — George H. W. Bush initiated into Skull and Bones George H. W. Bush, later the 41st President of the United States, was tapped for Skull and Bones as a Yale senior, continuing a family pattern that included his father Prescott Bush and son George W. Bush. This documented family membership is often cited in discussions of the society's influence on American political elites. ## May 1954 — First Bilderberg meeting is held European and American political, business, and academic leaders held the first Bilderberg meeting at the Hotel de Bilderberg in the Netherlands, intended as an off-the-record forum to ease transatlantic tensions during the Cold War. The meeting and its annual successors are documented, with published guest lists and general topics, though the closed-door discussions themselves are not disclosed, which has fueled decades of speculation about its true influence. ## 1966 — John Kerry initiated into Skull and Bones Future Secretary of State and 2004 presidential candidate John Kerry was tapped for Skull and Bones at Yale, the same society George W. Bush had joined a few years earlier. Both men publicly acknowledged membership but declined to discuss its internal activities when asked during the 2004 campaign. ## July 1973 — Founding of the Trilateral Commission David Rockefeller and Zbigniew Brzezinski founded the Trilateral Commission to foster cooperation between North America, Western Europe, and Japan among leaders in government, business, and academia. It is a documented, publicly acknowledged organization that publishes reports and member lists; claims that it secretly directs world governments go beyond what the public record supports and remain a contested conspiracy theory. ## c. 1980 — Reagan and Bush administration ties to the Trilateral Commission draw scrutiny Several members of the incoming Reagan administration, including Vice President George H. W. Bush, had documented past membership in the Trilateral Commission, prompting political commentary about the group's influence on U.S. policy. The overlap in personnel is a matter of public record; the claim that the Commission directs administrations from behind the scenes remains an unproven and contested reading of that overlap. ## 2004 — 2004 presidential race features two Bonesmen The 2004 U.S. presidential election pitted incumbent George W. Bush against challenger John Kerry, both documented members of Skull and Bones from Yale. Commentators widely noted the coincidence as evidence of the society's reach into American political life, while others cautioned that shared elite schooling, not a coordinated secret plan, better explains such overlaps; claims of the society actively controlling election outcomes remain unproven and contested.