Adam Joseph Freiherr von Bartels auf Werdern
Gotha Illuminati Research Base (here and here).
~1784-06, student of law, Ingolstadt
Unknown Order Name.
Catholic – From Amberg, son of a government councilor, studied law in Ingolstadt from 1782 onwards, relegated in 1785, then in Erlangen.
Accepted by [Johann Nepomuk von] Delling after June 1784.
***
There’s a few mentions of Bartels in Adam Weishaupt’s 1786 Vollständige Geschichte Der Verfolgung Der Illuminaten In Bayern. Not sure if Weishaupt taught Bartels, but the former was his senior in the law faculty at Ingolstadt University. Here are a few excerpts that mention Bartels from the soon to be published English translation: Adam Weishaupt, Complete History of the Persecution of the Illuminati in Bavaria (1786). (I’m indebted to Joe Wages for early access to the text.)
After the second prohibition against Freemasons and the Illuminati in 1785 – and in response to the discovery of high profile members and nobles in prominent positions – Karl Theodor (1724-1799) “ordered Ingolstadt University Senate to investigate the truth” (p. 306).
There was an interrogation of the faculty and students.
On the morning of the 10th June therefore, from 9:00 to 930, a plenary session of the University Senate was held at which the Electoral Ordinance was read out and the following elected to implement its contents: the Rector, the Vice-Chancellor, then the Deans of the Faculties, Professor Seemiller, Canon Regular von Polling of the Faculty of Theology, Court Councillor Spengel of the Faculty of Law, Councillor Stebler of the Faculty of Medicine, and Dr. Mederer, an ex-Jesuit well-known for his writings and special destiny, who was Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy. (319; my emphasis)
They grilled Weishaupt’s friend, Anton Drexel (1753-1830), with the following questions (320-7):
- Is the Deponent [one who makes a deposition under oath] a Freemason?
- Where was he received?
- By whom?
- In which house in Freising was the Lodge located?
- Were meetings of Masons ever held in Ingolstadt?
- Under whose leadership were such meetings held?
- When were the last such meetings held?
- Can you name everybody who attended that last meeting?
- Have there really been no meetings since then?
Weishaupt also printed some more questions and answers in which Bartels is mentioned in the “deponent’s” responses.
Q: So no new members were admitted after the first prohibition?
A: Between the first and second prohibitions the preparatory class would have continued, and during this time the current Major von Triva, the young Baron von Bartels, and the law graduate Danzer would have been received. (324)
[…]
Q: By whom would they have been received?
A: Deponent did not know anything about von Triva. Baron von Bartels would have been received by Munich City Councillor von Delling, who was still at the University of Ingolstadt at that time, and the law graduate Danzer by the Deponent himself. (325)
Q: Now, can the Deponent name all those people whom he knows to be members of the local branch of the Order?
[…]
A: The Deponent would not be able to name any others, but he guessed that Baron Bartels, Baron von Pellkoven and the jurist Herr Mendl might also have been present. (340)
[…]
Q: Who attended these meetings?
A: Baron von Frauenberg, Baron von Bartels, Herr Danzer, Königrader, the university registrar Licentiate Bauer, and some others the Deponent could not name off the top of his head. (349)
Q: Where and why did this happen?
A: In order not to be a burden on the local Regens, the Deponent often stayed with the winegrower Zeitz until 10 p.m., whereas the gate of the Bartholomite Seminary closed at 9 p.m., in which case the Deponent would have spent the night at the home of Freiherr von Bartels. (349-350)
