The great Freemasons' Convent of the Strict…

The great Freemasons' Convent of the Strict Observance convenes at Wilhelmsbad (now part of Hanau) from July 16 to September 1, 1782.

Baron Knigge and Franz Dietrich von Ditfurth, the second Illuminati representative and a most radical proponent of the Enlightenment, can claim the opinion leadership for their order.

The templar system is given up and the Order of the Golden and Rosy Cross, itself trying to succeed the Order of Strict Observance, remains in the minority.

Knigge enrolls most of the members attending over to Adam Weishaupt’s Order of the Illluminati, thus depleting potential members of the competing Order of Strict Observance.