The Simonini letter was a document sent to French author Augustin Barruel in 1806. The author, who identified himself as Jean-Baptiste Simonini of Florence, Italy claimed to have infiltrated the Piedmont Jewish community by claiming to have been a baptized Jew who wanted to restore his connection with his ancestral "nation". The Jews revealed to him that both the Freemasons and the Illuminati 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 as well as conspiracy involving a cabal of Jews trying to take over the world.