Many influential intellectuals and progressive politicians count themselves as members of the Illuminati during the period in which it is legally allowed to operate, including Ferdinand of Brunswick and the diplomat Xavier von Zwack, who is number two in the operation and is found with much of the group's documentation when his home is searched.

The Illuminati's members pledge obedience to their superiors, and are divided into three main classes, each with several degrees.

The order has branches in most countries of the European continent; it reportedly gains around two thousand members during the ten-year span from 1776 to 1786.

The organization has its attraction for such literary men as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Johann Gottfried Herder, and even for the reigning dukes of Gotha and Weimar.

Weishaupt has modeled his group to some extent on Freemasonry, and many Illuminati chapters draw membership from existing Masonic lodges.

Internal rupture and panic over succession precedes its downfall, which is effected by the Secular Edict made by the Bavarian government in 1785.