The Simonini letter is the earliest modern example of a document claiming a

Jewish conspiracy The international Jewish conspiracy or the world Jewish conspiracy is an antisemitic trope that has been described as "one of the most widespread and long-running conspiracy theories". Although it typically claims that a malevolent, usually glo ...

and a Jewish coalition with the

Illuminati The Illuminati (; plural of Latin ''illuminatus'', 'enlightened') is a name given to several groups, both real and fictitious. Historically, the name usually refers to the Bavarian Illuminati, an Enlightenment-era secret society founded on 1 ...

History

The Simonini letter was a document sent to French author

Augustin Barruel Augustin Barruel (October 2, 1741 – October 5, 1820) was a French journalist, intellectual, and Jesuit priest. He is now mostly known for setting forth the conspiracy theory involving the Bavarian Illuminati and the Jacobins in his book '' M ...

in 1806. Barruel had recently published a book claiming that a conspiracy had led to the French Revolution in 1797, when he received the letter from an author identifying himself as Jean-Baptiste Simonini. The letter was dated August 1, 1806 and Barruel received it in Paris on August 20 of the same year. The author, who claimed to be from

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

said he had infiltrated the

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

Jewish community Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

by claiming to have been a baptized Jew who wanted to restore his connection with his ancestral "nation". The Jews, he said, revealed to him that both the

Freemasons Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

and the

were founded by them and that they were planning on taking over Europe. It is one of the earliest instances of the idea of a

Judeo-Masonic conspiracy theory The Judeo-Masonic conspiracy is an antisemitic and anti-Masonic conspiracy theory involving an alleged secret coalition of Jews and Freemasons. These theories are popular on the far-right, particularly in France, Turkey, Spain, Portugal, Ita ...

as well as conspiracy involving a cabal of Jews trying to take over the world. Barruel was unable to establish contact with Simonini. He chose not to publicize the letter, fearing it might incite violence against the Jews, but did circulate it among influential circles in France. Nothing more was heard of the letter until Barruel was on his deathbed in 1820 and summoned a Father Grivel. He confessed to the priest that he had written a new manuscript incorporating the Jews into his Masonic conspiracy theory. This conspiracy began with

Mani Mani may refer to: People * Mani (name), (), a given name and surname (including a list of people with the name) ** Mani (prophet) (c. 216–274), a 3rd century Iranian prophet who founded Manichaeism ** Mani (musician) (born 1962), an English ...

and included the medieval

Knights Templar The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, mainly known as the Knights Templar, was a Military order (religious society), military order of the Catholic Church, Catholic faith, and one of the most important military ord ...

. The current leadership of this conspiracy was a council of 21, 9 of whom were Jews. However, he burned this manuscript two days before his death.Cohn pp. 30-31.

Legacy

The letter was first published in 1878, in the magazine Le Contemporain. It was subsequently picked up by authors advancing antisemitic conspiracy theories. Its contents are believed to have inspired parts of the

Protocols of the Elders of Zion ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'' is a fabricated text purporting to detail a Jewish plot for global domination. Largely plagiarized from several earlier sources, it was first published in Imperial Russia in 1903, translated into multip ...

which itself advanced a theory of a secret Jewish conspiracy for world domination.

References

{{Reflist 1806 documents 1806 in Judaism Letters (message) Antisemitic tropes Anti-Masonry Conspiracy theories involving Jews Works about the Illuminati Antisemitic publications