3821387813129

ISBN 978-1-312-38213-890000

Jeffrey Strickland is the President of SimulationEducators. He has earned Doctorate and M.S. degreesin Mathematics and a B.S. in Biology. He has taughtmathematics, physics, operations research, combatmodeling, and simulation at the United States MilitaryAcademy, the University of Alabama in Huntsville,Athens State, and the US Army Logistics ManagementCollege. He is currently a scientist supporting theMissile Defense Agency, and has published books onsimulation, systems engineering, and mathematicalmodeling. He resides in Colorado.

The story of the Templars is one of the most desolate and obscure in thehistory of the medieval West: created as a military-religious order todefend the Holy Land, after becoming one of the most powerful andinfluential institutions of all Christianity, the Temple was put underprocedure at the beginning of the fourteenth century and thensuspended in 1312 because of the serious charges that weighed on itsmembers. The last Grand Master Jacques de Molay, along with one ofthe highest dignitaries of the Order, chose to die as a testimony of hisinnocence, contrasting the guilt of brothers who had been imputed tothem, heresy, adherence to an anti-Christian beliefs, corruption ofmorals, and idolatry.Condemned to the stake for trying to defend the honor to the end ofthe Temple, shortly before his death would de Molay summonedClement V and Philip the Fair before the Court of God to give accountof their responsibility. Both died before the turn of the year: the story,handed down in a contemporary chronicle probably written by aneyewitness to the execution, soon became the father of two legends ofgreat fortune passed down over time inspiring the imagination of thecreators of secret sects and novelist of the romantic era.The Templars have been linked with the shroud of Turin, (supposed to bethe Mandyleon that once belonged to the Templars), the Holy Grail,and the Ark of the Covenant. None of these can be substantiated.What can be substantiated is that, though arrested, tortured, andburned at the stake, Pope Clement V absolved them from heresy in1308, as discovered in a secret Vatican parchment in 2001, andreleased to the public in 2007.

ID: 15013388www.lulu.com

Jeffrey Strickland

Knights of the CrossThe truth about the Knights Templar

Jeffre

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Knights of the Cross

The truth about the Knights Templar

by

Jeffrey S. Strickland

Knights of the Cross The truth about the Knights Templar

Copyright 2012 by Jeffrey S. Strickland. All rights Reserved

ISBN 978-1-312-38213-8

www.simulation-educators.com

Published by Lulu, Inc.

Wikipedia is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-

profit organization.

All pictures, unless otherwise cited, are taken from the Wikimedia Commons of the

Wikimedia Foundation, and are either public domain or used under the terms of

the GNU Free Documentation License or the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-

Alike License. Public domain pictures have been place in public domain by the

authors or their copyrights have expired.

i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to extend a special thanks to Laurie Stricklandpatient

and loving wife, nurturing mother, and loyal friend.

iii

FOREWORD

I will point out from the onset that I have biases. All writers do.

BIAS 1. I am a Mason, though I have not been regularly active since

1999. One of the things that I did in Masonry was ritual work. I

performed nearly every lecture from the first degree of the Masonic

Lodge to the last degree of the Royal Arch Mason. I was well-versed

in the Masonic ritual and literature. During that time, I never found

any reason to depart from the Brotherhood. The Word of God, the

Bible, is my rule and guide. When the Bible signals something with

a red flag, I pay attention. I saw no red flags in Masonry.

BIAS 2. I am a mathematician and operations research analyst. I

develop studies, collect data, and interpret data in a logical manner.

The data can be qualitative or quantitative, and I have various

models to deal with each. My analysis has to be unbiased, if I am to

contribute to the defense of our country. Thus bias 2 is a strength in

the endeavor that follows.

Who were the Knights Templar?

Traditional history tells us that the Knights Templar was an

organization of warrior monks, knight mystics, clad in white

mantles with splayed red crosses.

They have been portrayed many ways. In Scotts Ivanhoe1 they are

haughty arrogant bullies, shamelessly abusing their power [1]. In

the Robin Hood2 adventures they were King Richards attendants [2]

[3] [4] [5] [6]. In other 19th century writings they are depicted as

Devil worshipers and heretics.

More recent historians are inclined to view them as hapless victims,

sacrificial pawns in high level political maneuvering of the Church

and State.

iv

And yet, there are other writers, especially in the tradition of

Freemasonry who regard the Templars as mystical adepts and

initiates, custodians of an arcane wisdom that transcends

Christianity itself.

Originally called the Order of the Poor Knights of Christ founded in

1118 AD, their political purpose was to escort the true believers in

Christianity to the Holy Lands of Jerusalem. They were sworn to

chastity, poverty and obedience, and by 1139, they owed allegiance

to no one but the Pope.

Over the next two decades, young sons of noble families flocked to

join the Templars, and since with admission to the Order, a man was

compelled to sign over all his possessions, including his land, the

Templar holdings proliferated.

The Order maintained their own hospitals and surgeons, sea-ports,

shipyards and fleets, both military and commercial, with their major

fleet in La Rochelle, France.

Many myths and things we are familiar with today can also be

traced back to the Templars: the symbol of the skull and crossbones,

a rather morbid story of grave robbing and unholy weddings; the

superstition of ill things happening on Friday the 13th, (because of

the October 13th arresting of the Templars).

The Templars have been linked with the shroud of Turin, (supposed

to be the Mandylion that once belonged to the Templars), The Holy

Grail, The Ark of the Covenant.

The Fairest Sir Knight of All

Joe Edward Kier was knighted in modern times, and has served the

order faithfully to this day. I met Joe in 1989 at a United Methodist

church in Lakewood, CO, where we composed jubilant praises in

song together in choir. Joe became a life long mentor and friend

from that point. In Joe, I have seen the purest example of Christ on

earth; charity, faith, hope, selflessness, humility, bold leadership,

gentle guidance. Joe is a Past Master of the Parkhill Masonic Lodge

v

of Colorado Ancient Free and Accepted Masons (AF&AM), Past High

Priest of Triad Chapter of Royal Arch Masons, Past Illustrious

Master of Jefferson Council of Cryptic Masons, Past Commander of

Georgetown Commandry of Knights Templar, and Past Grand High

Priest of Colorado Royal Arch Masons. I cannot begin to elaborate

on his Scottish Right offices and activities, as Joe is not one to boast.

Joe Kier, US Army Retired, husband, business entrepreneur, Mason,

Sir Knight, friend, mentor, godfather to my children, is my

inspiration for writing this book. It is to Joe that I now dedicate this

tome.

Jeffrey Strickland

In Hoc Signo Vinces

Sexto autem die mensis Decembris anno Domino nostro MMXI

vi

Notes

1 Ivanhoe is a historical fiction novel by Sir Walter Scott in 1819, and set in 12th-

century England. Ivanhoe is sometimes credited for increasing interest in

Romanticism and Medievalism; John Henry Newman claimed Scott "had first

turned men's minds in the direction of the middle ages," while Carlyle and Ruskin

made similar claims to Scott's overwhelming influence over the revival based

primarily on the publication of this novel.

2 Robin Hood became a popular folk figure starting in the medieval period

continuing through modern literature, films, and television. In the earliest sources

Robin Hood is a yeoman, but he was often later portrayed as an aristocrat

wrongfully dispossessed of his lands and made into an outlaw by an unscrupulous

sheriff. In popular culture Robin Hood is typically seen as a contemporary and

supporter of the late 12th-century king Richard the Lionheart, Robin being driven

to outlawry during the misrule of Richard's brother John while Richard was away

at the Third Crusade. This view first gained currency in the 16th century.

vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .............................................................................................. I

FOREWORD............................................................................................................... III

WHO WERE THE KNIGHTS TEMPLAR? ................................................................................III THE FAIREST SIR KNIGHT OF ALL ....................................................................................... IV NOTES ....................................................................................................................................... VI

TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................... VII

PROLOGUE .................................................................................................................. 1

THE TEMPLARS ........................................................................................................................ 1 THE TALE TALES ..................................................................................................................... 3 THE TESTAMENTS ................................................................................................................... 5 THE TECHNOLOGY ................................................................................................................... 8 THE TEDIOUS DETAILS ........................................................................................................ 10 NOTES ..................................................................................................................................... 11

CHAPTER 1. THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS. ........................................................ 13

PRELIMINARIES ..................................................................................................................... 13 THE TEMPLAR NAME ........................................................................................................... 16 ST. BERNARD AND THE TEMPLARS .................................................................................... 21 NOTES ..................................................................................................................................... 24

CHAPTER 2. THE TEMPLAR RULES ................................................................. 29

NOTES ..................................................................................................................................... 51

CHAPTER 3. 1129 1168 .................................................................................... 53

HUGH DE PAYENS. A.D. 1129 ..................................................................................... 53 ROBERT DECRAON. A.D. 1136. .................................................................................. 53 EVERARD DES BARRES. A.D. 1146 ........................................................................... 55 EVERARD DES BARRES. A.D. 1147 ........................................................................... 56 EVERARD DES BARRES. A.D. 1148 ........................................................................... 57 EVERARD DES BARRES. A.D. 1149 ........................................................................... 59 BERNARD DE TREMELAY. A.D. 1152. ..................................................................... 61 ANDR DE MONTBARD A.D. 1153. .......................................................................... 62 BERTRAND DE BLANQUEFORT A.D. 1156. .......................................................... 63 BERTRAND DE BLANQUEFORT. A.D. 1156. ......................................................... 65 BERTRAND DE BLANQUEFORT. A.D. 1158. ......................................................... 67 BERTRAND DE BLANQUEFORT. A.D. 1159. ......................................................... 68

viii

BERTRAND DE BLANQUEFORT. A.D. 1164. ......................................................... 69 PHILIP OF NAPLOUS. A.D. 1167. ................................................................................ 69 PHILIP OF NAPLOUS. A.D. 1168. ................................................................................ 74 NOTES ..................................................................................................................................... 74

CHAPTER 4. 1170 1185 .................................................................................... 83

ODO DE ST. AMAND. A.D. 1170. ................................................................................. 83 ODO DE ST. AMAND. A.D. 1172. ................................................................................. 95 ODO DE ST. AMAND. A.D. 1177. ................................................................................. 97 ODO DE ST. AMAND. A.D. 1179. ................................................................................. 98 ARNOLD DE TORROGE. A.D. 1180. ........................................................................... 99 ARNOLD DE TORROGE. A.D. 1184. ........................................................................ 101 NOTES .................................................................................................................................. 102

CHAPTER 5. LANDS, IMMUNITIES, AND OFFICES ..................................... 109

TEMPLE CHURCH IN LONDON .......................................................................................... 109 POSSESSIONS IN PALESTINE. ............................................................................................ 113 POSSESSIONS IN THE PRINCIPALITY OF ANTIOCH. ....................................................... 118 POSSESSIONS IN THE PRINCIPALITY OF TRIPOLI. ......................................................... 119 POSSESSIONS IN APULIA AND SICILY. ............................................................................. 121 POSSESSIONS IN UPPER AND CENTRAL ITALY. .............................................................. 122 POSSESSIONS IN PORTUGAL. ............................................................................................ 123 POSSESSIONS IN ARAGON, CASTILE AND LEION. ........................................................... 126 POSSESSIONS IN GERMANY AND HUNGARY. .................................................................. 130 POSSESSIONS IN GREECE................................................................................................... 131 POSSESSIONS IN FRANCE. ................................................................................................. 131 POSSESSIONS IN ENGLAND. .............................................................................................. 136 PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES .......................................................................................... 144 TEMPLAR ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT ............................................................. 147 NOTES .................................................................................................................................. 155

CHAPTER 6. 1185 1190 ................................................................................. 177

GERARD DE RIDERFORT. A.D. 1185. .................................................................... 177 GERARD DE RIDERFORT. A.D. 1185. .................................................................... 179 GERARD DE RIDERFORT. A.D. 1186. .................................................................... 180 GERARD DE RIDERFORT. A.D. 1187. .................................................................... 182 GERARD DE RIDERFORT. A.D. 1188. .................................................................... 196 WALTER. A.D. 1190...................................................................................................... 197 NOTES .................................................................................................................................. 198

CHAPTER 7. 1191 1242 ................................................................................. 201

ix

WALTER. A.D. 1191. .................................................................................................... 201 ROBERT DE SABL A.D. 1191. ................................................................................ 201 ROBERT DE SABL A.D. 1192. ................................................................................ 205 GILBERT HORAL. A.D. 1195. .................................................................................... 208 PHILIP DUPLESSIES A.D. 1201. .............................................................................. 210 PHILIP DUPLESSIES A.D. 1213. .............................................................................. 211 PHILIP DUPLESSIES A.D. 1215. .............................................................................. 212 WILLIAM DE CHARTRES A.D. 1217. ..................................................................... 212 WILLIAM DE CHARTRES A.D. 1218. ..................................................................... 213 PETER DE MONTAIGU A.D. 1218. .......................................................................... 214 PETER DE MONTAIGU A.D. 1222. .......................................................................... 215 PETER DE MONTAIGU A.D. 1223. .......................................................................... 217 PETER DE MONTAIGU A.D. 1224. .......................................................................... 218 HERMANN DE PERIGORD A.D. 1232. ................................................................... 219 HERMANN DE PERIGORD A.D. 1236. ................................................................... 219 HERMANN DE PERIGORD A.D. 1237. ................................................................... 219 HERMANN DE PERIGORD A.D. 1239. ................................................................... 220 HERMANN DE PERIGORD A.D. 1242. ................................................................... 221 NOTES .................................................................................................................................. 222

CHAPTER 8. 1242 1291 .................................................................................. 229

HERMANN DE PERIGORD A.D. 1242. ................................................................... 229 HERMANN DE PERIGORD A.D. 1243. ................................................................... 229 HERMANN DE PERIGORD A.D. 1244. ................................................................... 232 WILLIAM DE SONNAC A.D. 1245. .......................................................................... 236 WILLIAM DE SONNAC A.D. 1246. .......................................................................... 237 WILLIAM DE SONNAC A.D. 1247. .......................................................................... 238 WILLIAM DE SONNAC A.D. 1249. .......................................................................... 239 WILLIAM DE SONNAC A.D. 1250. .......................................................................... 241 REGINALD DE VICHIER A.D. 1252. ........................................................................ 242 REGINALD DE VICHIER A.D. 1254. ........................................................................ 243 THOMAS BERARD A.D. 1256. .................................................................................. 245 THOMAS BERARD A.D. 1262. .................................................................................. 246 THOMAS BERARD A.D. 1265. .................................................................................. 246 THOMAS BERARD A.D. 1268. .................................................................................. 247 WILLIAM DE BEAUJEU A.D. 1273. ......................................................................... 248 WILLIAM DE BEAUJEU A.D. 1275. ......................................................................... 249 WILLIAM DE BEAUJEU A.D. 1291. ......................................................................... 251 GAUDINI A.D. 1291. ..................................................................................................... 255 NOTES .................................................................................................................................. 257

x

CHAPTER 9. 1297 1310 ................................................................................. 265

JACQUES DE MOLAY A.D. 1297. .............................................................................. 265 JACQUES DE MOLAY A.D. 1302. .............................................................................. 265 JACQUES DE MOLAY A.D. 1306. .............................................................................. 269 JACQUES DE MOLAY A.D. 1307. .............................................................................. 269 JACQUES DE MOLAY A.D. 1308. .............................................................................. 280 JACQUES DE MOLAY A.D. 1309. .............................................................................. 284 JACQUES DE MOLAY A.D. 1310. .............................................................................. 298 NOTES .................................................................................................................................. 305

CHAPTER 10. 1310 1313 ............................................................................... 313

JACQUES DE MOLAY A.D. 1310. .............................................................................. 313 JACQUES DE MOLAY A.D. 1311. .............................................................................. 318 JACQUES DE MOLAY A.D. 1312. .............................................................................. 344 JACQUES DE MOLAY A.D. 1313. .............................................................................. 345 Notes ............................................................................................................................. 353

EPILOGUE ............................................................................................................... 359

INSIDE THE LEGEND .......................................................................................................... 359 THE CHINON PARCHMENT ............................................................................................... 360 THE ACQUITTAL ................................................................................................................. 364 THE TEMPLAR RITUAL...................................................................................................... 365 CLOSURE .............................................................................................................................. 370 NOTES .................................................................................................................................. 372

APPENDIX: CHINON, AUGUST 17-20, 1308 ................................................ 373

WORKS CITED ....................................................................................................... 385

INDEX ....................................................................................................................... 409

1

PROLOGUE

The Templars

The extraordinary and romantic career of the Knights Templars,

their exploits and their misfortunes, render their history a subject of

peculiar interest. Shrouded in mysticism, claims of important

secrets, allegations of heresy against the church, the Templars went

about their work quietly and efficiently. Though often defeated in

battle, though they were on occasion outnumbered 600 to 20,000,

their deeds of courage are the odes of old. Founded to defend the

pilgrims to the Holy Land, purposed to preserve the Christian faith,

and charged to live the monastic life, these Knights of the Cross

served without wavering for nearly two-hundred years. Yet the

downfall of the Templar order came from a church and state

embroiled in politics.

Although many Templars were born of noble families, these knights

were normal men and at the same time extraordinary men. They

were ordinary in that they were human beings with human

weaknesses and could be seduced by human temptation. They were

extraordinary in that they gave up wealth and fame, and opted for

service to God as warrior monks. The life expectancy of a Templar

in the Holy Land, at times of conflict, was very short. These warrior

monks usually led the vanguard of the Christian armies, much akin

to our modern cavalry. To increase the encumbrance to their duty,

a unforgiving middle-eastern environment constantly exhausted

their resources, as well as their wellbeing.

Born during the first fervor of the Crusades, they were flattered and

magnified as long as their great military power and religious

fanaticism could be made available for the support of the Eastern

church and the retention of the Holy Land. However, when the

crescent had ultimately triumphed over the cross, and the religious-

military enthusiasm of Christendom had died away, they

encountered the basest ingratitude in return for the services they

had rendered to the Christian faith, and were plundered,

2

persecuted, and condemned to a cruel death, by those who ought in

justice to have been their defenders and supporters. The memory of

these holy warriors is embalmed in all our recollections of the wars

of the cross; they were the bulwarks of the Latin kingdom of

Jerusalem during the short period of its existence, and were the last

band of Europes host that contended for the possession of

Palestine.

Arn The Knight Templar (Swedish: Arn - Tempelriddaren) is a 2007 epic film based on Jan Guillou's trilogy about the fictional Swedish Knight Templar Arn

To the vows of the monk and the austere life of the convent, the

Templars added the discipline of the camp, and the stern duties of

the military life, joining,

The fine vocation of the sword and lance,

With the gross aims, and body-bending toil

Of a poor brotherhood, who walk the earth

Pitied.

3

The Tale Tales

The vulgar notion that the Templars were as wicked as they were

fearless and brave, has not yet been entirely exploded. However, I

hope that the copious account of the proceedings against the order,

given in the ninth and tenth chapters of the ensuing volume, will

tend to dispel many unfounded prejudices still entertained against

the fraternity, and excite emotions of admiration for their constancy

and courage, and of pity for their unmerited and cruel fate.

Matthew Paris, who wrote at St. Albans, concerning events in

Palestine, tells us that the emulation between the Templars and

Hospitaliers frequently broke out into open warfare to the great

scandal and prejudice of Christendom, and that, in a pitched battle

fought between them, the Templars were slain to a man. The

solitary testimony of Matthew Paris, who was no friend to the two

orders, is invalidated by the silence of contemporary historians,

who wrote on the spot; and it is quite evident from the letters of the

Pope, addressed to the Hospitaliers, the year after the date of the

alleged battle, that such an event never could have taken place [7].

The accounts, even of the best of the ancient writers, should not be

adopted without examination, and a careful comparison with other

sources of information. William of Tyre1, for instance, tells us that

Nassr-ed-deen, son of sultan Abbas, was taken prisoner by the

Templars, and while in their hands became a convert to the

Christian religion. In the hands of the Templars, he had learned the

rudiments of the Latin language, and earnestly sought to be

baptized [8]. However, the Templars were bribed with sixty

thousand pieces of gold to surrender him to his enemies in Egypt,

where certain death awaited him; and that they stood by to see him

bound hand and foot with chains, and placed in an iron cage, to be

conducted across the desert to Cairo. Now the Arabian historians of

that period tell us that Nassr-ed-deen and his father murdered the

caliph and threw his body into a well, and then fled with their

retainers and treasure into Palestine. Then the sister of the

murdered caliph wrote immediately to the commandant at Gaza,

4

which place was garrisoned by the Knights Templars, offering a

handsome reward for the capture of the fugitives. They were

accordingly intercepted, and Nassr-ed-deen was sent to Cairo, where

the female relations of the caliph caused his body to be cut into

small pieces in the seraglio2. The above act has constantly been

made a matter of grave accusation against the Templars; but what a

different complexion does the case assume on the testimony of the

Arabian authorities!

One must remember that William Archbishop of Tyre was hostile to

the order due of its vast powers and privileges, and carried his

complaints to a general council of the church at Rome. He is

abandoned, in everything that he says to the prejudice of the

fraternity, by Jacob of Vitry, bishop of Acre3, a learned and most

talented prelate, who wrote in Palestine subsequently to William of

Tyre, and has copied largely from the history of the latter. The

bishop of Acre speaks of the Templars in the highest terms, and

declares that they were universally loved by all men for their piety

and humility. Nulli molesti erant! says he, sed ab omnibus propter

humilitatem et religionem amabantur.4 [9]

In 1818, the celebrated orientalist Von Hammer5 brought forward

various extraordinary and unfounded charges, destitute of all

authority, against the Templars [10]; and Von Wilbelm Ferdinand

Wilcke, who has written a German history of the order [11], seems

to have imbibed all the vulgar prejudices against the fraternity. I

might have added to the interest of the ensuing work, by making the

Templars horrible and atrocious villains. However, I have

endeavored to write a fair and impartial account of the order, not

slavishly adopting everything I find detailed in ancient writers, but

such matters only as I believe, after a careful examination of the

best authorities, to be true.

Tales of the Holy Grail, the burial shroud, and the ark of the

covenant, have never been substantiated, and with the exception a

proposed shroud, unfounded. The shroud of Turin, itself, is likely

not the burial shroud of Christ, and even if it were, it would be one

5

more relic to distract the focus of true worship. The grail is a object

of a romantic period, idealized by books of fiction and screenplays

of creative writers. Though entertaining, they do not contain

matters of truth.

In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Dr. Jones approaches an ancient Templar who is guardian of the Holy Grail (or are they just Hollywood props?). From Director: Steven Spielberg

The Testaments

That historical documents are incomplete, and inaccuracies occur

frequently. Complete original works do not exist; these we call the

autographs. Hence, one must find facsimiles of the autographs

copied by the hand of some obscure and forgotten scribe; however,

his copy cannot be found intact. Rather, we find fragments of these

copies. Sometimes there are multiple reproductions supplying

multiple fragments, which are often at odds with one another. We

then take these sets of fragments and construct a manuscript.

These manuscripts may have gaps which we then fill with oral

history. And while we are building this manuscript, someone else is

constructing one using different sources and perhaps writing in a

different language.

6

The original languages are from the 12th to 14th centuries. They

include Latin, Vulgar Latin, Old French, Old English, Italian, Spanish,

German, often a mixture of these. To make matters worst, some

sources are in Arabic is backwards, like Hebrew. Then we have to

deal with inaccurate translations of the original languages during

the 16th through 19th centuries, when we did not know a great deal

about original languages, and when textual criticism was not at its

pinnacle. I often found myself translating a passage written in a

mixture of Vulgar Latin and Old French, to French, and then to

English, often guessing at the meaning of archaic words, and often

saved by a modern marvel called the internet and Wiktionary.

I have made reference to the bias of William of Tyre. He was not

alone. Yet he was an eye-witness to the events he wrote of. In

contrast, many writing as if they were at the fall of Acre, for

instance, were never there. They borrowed someone elses story,

perhaps the one of a crusader knight fleeing in terror to Cyprus with

his prelate or king. In fact, the works of one authentic eyewitness of

the events during the fall of Acre, the last Christian stronghold in the

Holy Land, was produced by an anonymous writer whom referred

to himself a Templar of Tyre.

Charles G. Addisons The History of the Knights Templar: The

Temple Church and The Templars (1842) is loaded with mistakes,

misquotes, unidentifiable characters, and poor documentation. It

should not be considered a source document, though many writers

refer to it. I have used it, with caution, to locate Templar fortresses

and settlements in the Holy Land, usually not locating them under

the name he has used; and confirming the identity of key people,

again, usually not with the same name as used in modern

references.

Other source document obstacles lay in my path. Time, war,

earthquakes, fire, mishandling, etc. have either damaged portions of

complete works or destroyed them. Some have just simply

disappeared. This has happened precisely because the historical

record concerning their sudden annihilation in the early-14th

7

century at the hands of Philip IV ("the Fair") of France has been so

sparse and ambiguous. Time and revolution have damaged and

dispersed the sources, and made the Templars a magnet for

speculation and imagination. Some were kept secret. For instance,

The Chinon Parchment is a historical document, discovered in

September 2001 by Barbara Frale, an Italian paleographer at the

Vatican Secret Archives, who claimed that in 1308, Pope Clement V

secretly absolved the last Grand Master Jacques de Molay and the

rest of the leadership of the Knights Templar from charges brought

against them by the Medieval Inquisition [12] (There is more to

follow on this matter in the Epilogue). The parchment is dated

Chinon, 17-20 August 1308 and was written by Brenger, cardinal

priest of St. Nereus and Achileus, Stephanus, cardinal priest of St.

Cyriac in Thermis, and Landolf, cardinal deacon of Sant Angelo in

Pescheria; the Vatican keeps an authentic copy with reference

number Archivum Arcis Armarium D 218, the original having the

number D 217 [13] (see below for the other Chinon Parchment

published by tienne Baluze in 1693).

In his guide to the Authorized Standard Verion of the Holy Bible,

Rev. Leonard Boyle, points out that even the earliest popes retained

letters, acts of martyrs, and other significant documents in a

scrinium or chartarium. Since the popes in these earliest centuries

of the church did not have a permanent residence, the collected

documents were simply handed from pope to pope. By 649, it is

apparent that these collections had found a permanent home in the

Lateran Palace in Rome. By the eleventh century, the collection is

known to have been moved to the slope of the Palatine Hill near the

Arch of Titus in the Roman Forum. Most of these early records were

on delicate papyrus and have long since disintegrated. Innocent III

(1198-1216) was the first pope to recognize the need for a

regularized form of record keeping. Copies of letters sent were

entered by hand in great registers. This action inaugurated the

Vatican Registers, still among the most important records of the

archives. This series is one of the principal sources for documents

on the papacy between the years 850 and the reorganization of the

8

papacy in 1588. From the perspective of the history of the nature of

documentation, the Vatican Registers are important, in that they

were regular in format and durable.

The Technology

This is a low budget study, and since air travel itself is a financial

drain, and many of the places I needed to goSyria, Lebanon,

Palestine, the Golan Heightshave restricted access, I used another

set of internet marvels: Google Map and Google Earth. From my

recliner, I have walked the halls of the temples in London, Sidon

and Acre. I have walked the streets of France, Antioch, Aleppo,

Safed, and Jerusalem. I have walked upon and studied the ruins of

Templar and Hospitaliers fortifications and castles, including Castle

Blanc, the Pilgrims Castle, Castle of Safed, Krak des Chevaliers, and

the Tower of Aphek. I have knelt on the plains of Gaza and the hills

surrounding the sea of Galilee. Never was I asked for a travel visa

from Syrian or Palestinian official.

As I have performed a virtual pilgrimage to the Holy City, and

wandered amid the courts of the ancient Temple of the Knights

Templars on Mount Moriah. I could not but regard with more than

ordinary interest the restoration by the societies of the Inner and

the Middle Temple of their beautiful Temple Church.

I have ventured into historical archives in London, Paris and Rome.

I have been able to obtain facsimiles of manuscripts that time has

forgotten. In many instances, Google Books contributed to my

endeavors with electronic books that are in the public domain,

having been published before the 20th Century, many of which

contain portions of the text of the aged manuscripts. Modern

instruments of preservation, advanced techniques of scanning, and

compound microscopy, etc., have rendered ancient parchments

readily available to researchers.

9

Examples of the available manuscripts and scrolls.

It is a subject of congratulation to us that we possess, in the Temple

Church at London, the most beautiful and perfect memorial of the

order of the Knights Templars now in existence. No one who has

seen that building in its late dress of plaster and whitewash will

recognize it when restored to its ancient magnificence. This

venerable structure was one of the chief ecclesiastical edifices of the

Knights Templars in Europe, and stood next in rank to the Temple at

Jerusalem.

The greatest zeal and energy have been displayed by the restorators

in that praiseworthy undertaking, and no expense has been spared

to repair the ravages of time, and to bring back the structure to

what it was in the time of the Templars.

Charles G. Addison (1842) says [14],

Mr. Willement, who is preparing some exquisitely stained glass

windows for the Temple Church, has just drawn my attention to

the nineteenth volume of the MEMOIR ES DE LA SOCIT

ROYALE DES ANTIQUAIRES DE FRANCE, published last year. It

contains a most curious and interesting account of the church of

Brelevennez, in the department des Cotes-du-Nord, supposed to

have formerly belonged to the order of the Temple, written by the

Chevalier du FREMANVILLE. Amongst various curious devices,

crosses, and symbols found upon the windows and the tombs of

the church, is a copper medallion, which appears to have been

10

suspended from the neck by a chain. This decoration consists of a

small circle, within which are inscribed two equilateral triangles

placed one upon the other, so as to form a six-pointed star. In the

midst of the star is a second circle, containing within it the LAMB

of the order of the Temple holding the banner in its fore-paw,

similar to what we see on the antient seal of the order delineated

in the title-page of this work. Mr. Willement has informed me that

he has received an offer from a gentleman in Brittany to send over

casts of the decorations and devices lately discovered in that

church. He has kindly referred the letter to me for consideration,

but I have not thought it advisable to delay the publication of the

present work for the purpose of procuring them.

Mr. Willement also drew my attention to a very distinct

impression of the reverse of the seal of the Temple described in

page 106, whereon I read very plainly the interesting motto,

TESTIS SVM AGNI. (Exist to Witness the Lamb of God (Agnus)

The Tedious Details

Agnus DeiLatin Vulgate for the Lamb of Godwas an essential

Templar emblem. Templar seals featured the Agnus Dei, usually

with its right leg folded over a shepherds staff, and with a cross

patte in the background. Some seals even have the legend, TESTIS

SUM AGNI, meaning I am a witness of the Lamb.

Some take AGNI literally to mean Wisdom, making the translation

Exist to Witness Wisdom (perhaps Wisdom of Sophia), which is

the primary bases of drawing a relationship with the Templars and

Gnosticism. However, Agni is the singular, masculine, genitive case

of the noun Agnus, meaning Lamb. This renders Agni as of the

Lamb! The translation of the Latin word AGNI raises several areas of

contention, since a similar word AGNITIO translates to of the nature of

the mind or wisdom. Those who insist on adding the O to AGNI do

not have a fundamental understanding of Latin noun declension. In

other words, they are ignorantly wrong!

11

To guess at the nature of a man or an order of men, based on hearsay is

obviously an uninformed methodology. To conjecture what may have

been in their heart, the condition of their soul, the corpus of the

constitution, without documented evidence, extracted without torture, is

more than prejudicial, and reeks of discrimination. Surely there were

sinful men in the Order; when have there not been fallen men in all

walks of life: a soldier, a builder, a king, or a president? Try to take a

walk in their shoes, where thirst, carnage, intolerance, and martyrdom

was a daily possibility; where chastity was demanded and committed to

by mean of flesh; where the cross not only served a insignia for their

habits, but occupied the epicenter of their being.

Yet midst her towering fanes in ruin laid,

The pilgrim saint his murmuring vespers paid;

Twas his to mount the tufted rocks, and rove

The chequerd twilight of the olive-grove:

Twas his to bend beneath the sacred gloom,

And wear with many a kiss Messiahs tomb.

Notes

1 Williams great work is a Latin chronicle, written between 1170 and 1184. It

contains twenty-three books; the final book, which deals with the events of 1183

and the beginning of 1184, has only a prologue and one chapter, so it is either

unfinished or the rest of the pages were lost before the whole chronicle began to be

copied. The first book begins with the conquest of Syria by Umar in the seventh

century, but otherwise the work deals with the advent of the First Crusade and the

subsequent political history of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

2 A seraglio or serail is the sequestered living quarters used by wives and

concubines in a Turkish household.

3 The name of their reputation, and the fame of their sanctity, says James of Vitry, bishop of Acre, like a chamber of perfume sending forth a sweet odour, was

diffused throughout the entire world, and all the congregation of the saints will

recount their battles and glorious triumph over the enemies of Christ, knights

indeed from all parts of the earth, dukes, and princes, after their example, casting

off the shackles of the world, and renouncing the pomps and vanities of this life and

12

all the lusts of the flesh for Christs sake, hastened to join them, and to participate in

their holy profession and religion.

4 Tr. Lation: We are harming no one! He says, but was loved by all because of the

humility and religion.

5 In 1818, the name Baphomet appeared in the essay by the Viennese Orientalist

Joseph Freiherr von Hammer-Purgstall, Mysterium Baphometis revelatum, seu

Fratres Militi Templi, qua Gnostici et quidem Ophiani, Apostasi, Idoloduli et

Impuritatis convicti, per ipsa eorum Monumenta [10] (Discovery of the Mystery of

Baphomet, by which the Knights Templars, like the Gnostics and Ophites, are

convicted of Apostasy, of Idolatry and of moral Impurity, by their own

Monuments), which presented an elaborate pseudohistory constructed to

discredit Templarist Masonry and, and by extension, Freemasonry itself [262].

Following Nicolai [263], he argued, using as archaeological evidence "Baphomets"

faked by earlier scholars[citation needed] and literary evidence such as the Grail

romances, that the Templars were Gnostics and the Templars head was a Gnostic

idol called Baphomet.

13

CHAPTER 1. THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS.

Every brother who is professed in the Holy service should, through fear of the flames of Hell, give total obedience to the Master; for nothing is dearer to Jesus Christ than obedience, and if anything be commanded by the Master or by one to whom he has given his power, it should be done without demur as if it were a command from God . . . for you must give up your own free will. - The Rule of the Templars, as recorded by scribe John Michael at the Council of Troyes, 11281

Upon this oath, the extraordinary and romantic institution of the

Knights Templars, those military friars who so strangely blended

the character of the monk with that of the soldier, took its origin as I

describe in the paragraphs below.

Preliminaries

About 298 years after the death of Christ, the Empress Helena2, the

mother of Constantine, miraculously discovered the Holy

sepulcher3. Consequently, the first Christian emperor commanded

the erection of the magnificent church of the Resurrection, or, as it

is now called, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, over the sacred

monument that is considered to be the site of the crucifixion of

Christ. Upon its establishment, a tide of pilgrimage set in towards

Jerusalem, and went on increasing in strength as Christianity

gradually spread throughout Europe. On the surrender of the Holy

City to the victorious Arabians, (A.D. 637,) the privileges and the

security of the Christian population were provided for in the

following guarantee, given under the hand and seal of the Caliph

Omar to Sophronius the Patriarch.

From Omar Ebno L Alchitab to the inhabitants of Aelia.

They shall be protected and secured both in their lives and

fortunes, and their churches shall neither be pulled down nor

made use of by any but themselves. [15] Elmacin4, Histort of

the Saracen. Eutychius

14

Under the government of the Arabians, the pilgrimages continued

steadily to increase; the old and the young, women and children,

flocked in crowds to Jerusalem, and in the year 1064 the Holy

Sepulcher was visited by an enthusiastic band of seven thousand

pilgrims, headed by the Archbishop of Mentz and the Bishops of

Utrecht, Bamberg, and Ratisbon5. The year following, however,

Jerusalem was conquered by the harsh Turcomen6. Three thousand

of the citizens were indiscriminately massacred, and the hereditary

command over the Holy City and territory was confided to the Emir

Ortok, the chief of a brutal rustic tribe.

Under the iron yoke of these fierce Northern strangers, the

Christians were fearfully oppressed; they were driven from their

churches; divine worship was ridiculed and interrupted; and the

patriarch of the Holy City was dragged by the hair of his beard over

the sacred pavement of the church of the Resurrection, and cast into

a dungeon, to extort a ransom from the sympathy of his flock. The

pilgrims who, through innumerable perils, had reached the gates of

the Holy City, were plundered, imprisoned, and frequently

massacred. An aureus, or piece of gold, was exacted as the price of

admission to the holy sepulcher, and many, unable to pay the tax,

were driven by the swords of the Turcomen from the very threshold

of the object of all their hopes, the goal of their long pilgrimage, and

were compelled to retrace their weary steps in sorrow and anguish

to their distant homes [16]. The melancholy news of the

profanation of the holy places, and of the oppression and cruelty of

the Turcomen, aroused the religious chivalry of Christendom; a

nerve was touched of exquisite feeling, and the sensation vibrated to

the heart of Europe.

In the midst of this, there arose the fiery enthusiasm of the

crusades; men of all ranks, and even monks and priests, animated

by the exhortations of the Pope and the preachings of Peter the

Hermit7, flew to arms, and enthusiastically undertook the pious and

glorious enterprise of rescuing the holy sepulcher of Christ from the

foul abominations of the heathen.

15

When news of the capture of Jerusalem by the Crusaders (A.D.

1099) had been conveyed to Europe, the zeal of pilgrimage blazed

forth with increased fierceness; it had gathered intensity from the

interval of its suppression by the brutal Turcomen, and

promiscuous crowds of both sexes, old men and children, virgins

and matrons, thinking the road then open and the journey

practicable, successively pressed forward towards the Holy City,

with the passionate desire of contemplating the original

monuments of the Redemption8 [17]. The infidels9 had indeed been

driven out of Jerusalem, but not out of Palestine. The lofty

mountains bordering the sea-coast were infested by bold and

warlike bands of fugitive Moslems10, who maintained themselves in

various impregnable castles and strongholds, from whence they

issued forth upon the high-roads, cut off the communication

between Jerusalem and the sea-ports, and revenged themselves for

the loss of their habitations and property by the indiscriminate

pillage of all travelers. The Bedouin horsemen, moreover, making

rapid incursions from beyond the Jordan, frequently kept up

random and irregular warfare in the plains; and the pilgrims,

consequently, whether they approached the Holy City by land or by

sea, were alike exposed to almost daily hostility, to plunder, and to

death.

To alleviate the dangers and distresses to which these pious

enthusiasts were exposed, to guard the honor of the saintly virgins

and matrons11, and to protect the gray hairs of the venerable

palmer, nine noble knights formed a holy brotherhood in arms, and

entered into a solemn undertaking to aid one another in clearing the

highways of infidels, and of robbers, and in protecting the pilgrims

through the passes and defiles of the mountains to the Holy City.

Warmed with the religious and military fervor of the day, and

animated by the sacredness of the cause to which they had devoted

their swords, they called themselves the Poor Fellow-soldiers of Jesus

Christ. They renounced the world and its pleasures, and in the holy

church of the Resurrection, in the presence of the patriarch of

Jerusalem, they embraced vows of perpetual chastity, obedience,

16

and poverty, after the manner of monks12. Uniting in themselves the

two most popular qualities of the age, devotion and valor, and

exercising them in the most popular of all enterprises, the

protection of the pilgrims and of the road to the holy sepulcher, they

rapidly acquired a vast reputation and a splendid renown.

At first, we are told, they had no church and no particular place of

abode, but in the Year of our Lord 1118, (nineteen years after the

conquest of Jerusalem by the Crusaders,) they had rendered such

good and acceptable service to the Christians, that Baldwin the

Second, king of Jerusalem, granted them a place of habitation within

the sacred enclosure of the Temple on Mount Moriah, amid those

holy and magnificent structures, partly erected by the Christian

Emperor Justinian, and partly built by the Caliph Omar. In these

structures, the monks and priests of Jerusalem had exhibited relics

and all objects likely to be sacred in their eyes. They often had

acquired these through their restless zeal, which led them to take

advantage of the naivet of the pilgrims. Built upon the Temple of

Solomon, the knights previously known as the Poor Fellow-soldiers

of Jesus Christ, became thereafter known by the name of the

Knighthood of the Temple of Solomon.13 [18]

The Templar Name

A few remarks in explanation of the name Templars, or Knights of

the Temple, may be necessary here.

By the Moslems, the site of the great Jewish temple on Mount

Moriah has always been regarded with peculiar veneration.

Mohammed (Mahomet), in the first year of the publication of the

Koran, directed his followers, when at prayer, to turn their faces

towards it, and pilgrimages have constantly been made to the holy

spot by devout Moslems. On the conquest of Jerusalem by the

Arabians, it was the first care of the Caliph Omar to rebuild the

Temple of the Lord. Assisted by the principal chieftains of his

army, the Commander of the Faithful undertook the pious office of

clearing the ground with his own hands, and of tracing out the

foundations of the magnificent mosque which now crowns with its

17

dark and swelling dome, the elevated summit of Mount Moriah14.

[19] [20]

This great house of prayer, the most holy Moslem Temple in the

world after that of Mecca, was erected over the spot where

Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem on Mount

Moriah, where the Lord appeared to David his father, in the place that

David had prepared in the threshing-floor of Oman the Jebusite. It

remains to this day in a state of perfect preservation, and is one of

the finest specimens of Saracenic architecture in existence. It is

entered by four spacious doorways, each door facing one of the

cardinal points; the Bab el Djannat, or gate of the garden, on the

north; the Bab el Kebla, or gate of prayer, on the south; the Bab ibn

el Daoud, or the gate of the son of David, on the east; and the Bab el

Garbi, on the west. The Arabian geographers call it Beit Allah, the

house of God, also Beit Almokaddas, or Beit Almacdes, the holy

house. From it Jerusalem derives its Arabic name, el Kods, the holy,

el Schereef, the noble, and el Mobarek, the blessed; while the

governors of the city, instead of the customary high-sounding titles

of sovereignty and dominion, take the simple title of Hami, or

protectors.

On the conquest of Jerusalem by the crusaders, the crescent was

torn down from the summit of this famous Moslem Temple, and was

replaced by an immense golden cross, and the edifice was then

consecrated to the services of the Christian religion, but retained its

simple appellation of The Temple of the Lord. William,

Archbishop of Tyre15 and Chancellor of the Kingdom of Jerusalem,

gives an interesting account of this celebrated construction as it

existed in his time, during the Latin dominion. He speaks of the

splendid mosaic work, of the Arabic characters setting forth the

name of the founder, and the cost of the undertaking, and of the

famous rock under the center of the dome [20], which is to this day

shown by the Moslems as the spot whereon the destroying angel

stood16, with his drawn sword in his hand stretched out over

Jerusalem [17]. This rock, he informs us, was left exposed and

uncovered for the space of fifteen years after the conquest of the

18

holy city by the crusaders, but was, after that period, cased with a

handsome altar of white marble, upon which the priests daily said

mass.

To the south of this holy Moslem temple, on the extreme edge of the

summit of Mount Moriah, and resting against the modern walls of

the town of Jerusalem, stands the esteemed Christian church of the

Virgin, erected by the Emperor Justinian, whose stupendous

foundations, remaining to this day, fully justify the astonishing

description given of the building by Procopius17. That writer

informs us that in order to get a level surface for the erection of the

structure, it was necessary, on the east and south sides of the hill, to

raise up a wall of masonry from the valley below, and to construct a

vast foundation, partly composed of solid stone and partly of arches

and pillars. The stones were of such magnitude, that each block

required transportation in a truck drawn by forty of the emperors

strongest oxen; and to admit the passage of these trucks it was

necessary to widen the roads leading to Jerusalem. The forests of

Lebanon yielded their choicest cedars for the timbers of the roof,

and a quarry of multicolored marble, seasonably discovered in the

adjoining mountains, furnished the edifice with superb marble

columns18. [21] The interior of this interesting structure, which still

remains at Jerusalem in an excellent state of preservation, after a

lapse of more than thirteen centuries, is adorned with six rows of

columns, from whence spring arches supporting the cedar beams

and timbers of the roof; and at the end of the building is a round

tower, surmounted by a dome. The vast stones, the walls of

masonry, and the subterranean colonnade raised to support the

south-east angle of the platform whereon the church is erected, are

truly wonderful, and may still be seen by probing through a small

door, and descending several flights of steps at the south-east

corner of the enclosure. Adjoining the sacred edifice, the emperor

erected hospitals, or houses of refuge, for travelers, sick people, and

mendicants of all nations; the foundations whereof, composed of

handsome Roman masonry, are still visible on either side of the

southern end of the building.

19

On the conquest of Jerusalem by the Moslems, this esteemed church

was converted into a mosque, and was called Djam al Acsa. A large

area by a high stone wall, which runs around the edge of the summit

of Mount Moriah, enclosed it together with the great Moslems

Temple of the Lord erected by the Caliph Omar. Guards from the

non-Christian peoples trod upon the whole of that sacred ground

whereon once stood the gorgeous temple of the wisest of kings19.

[22]

When the Holy City was taken by the crusaders, the Djam al Acsa,

with the various buildings constructed around it, became the

property of the kings of Jerusalem; and is denoted by William of

Tyre the palace, or royal house to the south of the Temple of the

Lord, vulgarly called the Temple of Solomon20. It was this edifice or

temple on Mount Moriah which was appropriated to the use of the

poor fellow-soldiers of Jesus Christ, as they had no church and no

particular place of abode, and from it they derived their name of

Knights Templars21.

James of Vitry, Bishop of Acre, who gives an interesting account of

the holy places, thus speaks of the Temple of the Knights Templars.

There is, moreover, at Jerusalem another temple of immense

spaciousness and extent, from which the brethren of the knighthood of

the Temple derive their name of Templars, which is called the Temple

of Solomon, perhaps to distinguish it from the one above described,

which is specially called the Temple of the Lord.22 Moreover, he

informs us in his oriental history, that in the Temple of the Lord

there is an abbot and canons regular; and be it known that the one is

the Temple of the Lord, and the other the Temple of the Chivalry.

These are clerks, the others are knights23.

The Rule of the Templar of the Lord conceded to the poor fellow-

soldiers of Jesus Christ the large court extending between that

building and the Temple of Solomon. The king, the patriarch, the

prelates of Jerusalem, and the barons of the Latin kingdom, assigned

the Templars various gifts and revenues for their maintenance and

support [23], and the order being now settled in a regular place of

20

abode, the knights soon began to entertain more extended views,

and to seek a larger theater for the exercise of their holy profession.

Their first aim and object had been, as previously mentioned, simply

to protect the poor pilgrims, on their journey backwards and

forwards, from the sea-coast to Jerusalem24; [23] however, as the

hostile tribes of Moslems, which everywhere surrounded the Latin

kingdom, were gradually recovering from the stupefying terror into

which they had been plunged by the successful and exterminating

warfare of the first crusaders, and were assuming an aggressive and

threatening attitude, it was determined that the holy warriors of the

Temple should, in addition to the protection of pilgrims, make the

defense of the Christian kingdom of Jerusalem, of the eastern

church, and of all the holy places, a part of their particular

profession.

The two most distinguished members of the fraternity were Hugh

de Payens and Geoffrey de St. Aldemar, or St. Omer, two valiant

soldiers of the cross, who had fought with great credit and renown

at the siege of Jerusalem. Hugh de Payens was chosen by the

knights to be the superior of the new religious and military society,

by the title of The Master of the Temple; and he has, consequently,

generally been called the founder of the order.

The name and reputation of the Knights Templars spread rapidly

throughout Europe, and various illustrious pilgrims from the far

west aspired to become members of the holy fraternity. Among

these was Falk, Count of Anjou, who joined the society as a married

brother, (A.D. 1120,) and annually remitted the order thirty pounds

of silver. Baldwin, king of Jerusalem, foreseeing that great

advantages would accrue to the Latin kingdom by the increase of

the power and numbers of these holy warriors, exerted himself to

extend the order throughout all Christendom, so that he might, by

means of so politic an institution, keep alive the holy enthusiasm of

the west, and draw a constant succor from the bold and warlike

races of Europe for the support of his Christian throne and kingdom.

21

St. Bernard and the Templars

St. Bernard, the holy abbot of Clairvaux, had been a great admirer of

the Templars. He wrote a letter to the Count of Champagne, on his

entering the order, (A.D. 1123,) praising the act as one of eminent

merit in the sight of God; and it was determined to enlist the all-

powerful influence of this great cleric in favor of the fraternity. By a

vow of poverty and penance, by closing his eyes against the visible

world, by the refusal of all ecclesiastical dignities, the Abbot of

Clairvaux became the oracle of Europe, and the founder of one

hundred and sixty convents. Princes and pontiffs trembled at the

freedom of his apostolical censures: France, England, and Milan,

consulted and obeyed his judgment in a schism of the church: the debt

was repaid by the gratitude of Innocent the Second; and his successor,

Eugenics the Third, was the friend and disciple of the holy St.

Bernard. [24]

To this learned and devout prelate two knights Templars were

dispatched with the following letter:

Baldwin, by the grace of the Lord JESUS CHRIST, King of

Jerusalem, and Prince of Antioch, to the venerable Father Bernard,

Abbot of Clairvaux, health and regard.

The Brothers of the Temple, whom the Lord hath deigned to raise

up, and whom by an especial Providence he preserves for the

defense of this kingdom, desiring to obtain from the Holy See the

confirmation of their institution, and a rule for their particular

guidance, we have determined to send to you the two knights,

Andrew and Gondemar, men as much distinguished by their

military exploits as by the splendor of their birth, to obtain from

the Pope the approbation of their order, and to dispose his

holiness to send succor and subsidies against the enemies of the

faith, reunited in their design to destroy us, and to invade our

Christian territories.

Well knowing the weight of your mediation with God and his

vicar upon earth, as well as with the princes and powers of

22

Europe, we have thought fit to confide to yon these two important

matters, whose successful issue cannot be otherwise than most

agreeable to ourselves. The statutes we ask of you should be so

ordered and arranged as to be reconcilable with the tumult of the

camp and the profession of arms; they must, in fact, be of such a

nature as to obtain favor and popularity with the Christian

princes.

Do you then so manage, that we may, through you, have the

happiness of seeing this important affair brought to a successful

issue, and address for us to heaven the incense of your prayers.

[25]

Soon after the above letter had been dispatched to St. Bernard, Hugh

de Payens himself proceeded to Rome, accompanied by Geoffrey de

St. Aldemar, and four other brothers of the order, including Brother

Payen de Montdidier, Brother Gorall, Brother Geoffrey Bisol, and

Brother Archambauld de St. Amand. They were received with great

honor and distinction by Pope Honorius, who warmly approved of

the objects and designs of the holy fraternity. St. Bernard had, in the

mean time, taken the affair greatly to heart; he negotiated with the

Pope, the legate, and the bishops of France, and obtained the

convocation of a great ecclesiastical council at Troyes (A.D. 1128),

which Hugh de Payens and his brethren were invited to attend. This

council consisted of several archbishops, bishops, and abbots,

among which last was St. Bernard himself. The rules to which the

Templars had subjected themselves were described there by the

master. They entrusted the holy Abbot of Clairvaux with the task of

revising and correcting these rules, and of framing a code of statutes

fit and proper for the governance of the great religious and military

fraternity of the Temple.

Thus, in 1123, the nine warrior knights under the protection of the

King of Jerusalem, Baldwin II, who had made their home in

Solomons stables, below the Temple Mount, their task to offer

protection to pilgrims, became a religious order that was to grow

rapidly in Europe, helped by the support of St. Bernard of Clairvaux.

23

The Vatican then recognized this order and their full title was The

Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon. Their simple

way of life was reflected in their insignia of two knights riding one

horse. However, this symbol did not reflect the increasing wealth of

the Templars, who became international bankers through the giving

of credit notes against money deposited in one Templar House,

which could be honored in other Templar centers.

The Templars became immensely wealthy and this wealth

ultimately led to their destruction by the French King Philip IV in

1307. He was heavily indebted to the Templars and needed funds

for his war against England. The French King organized the arrest

of all Templars in France on Friday October 13th on false charges of

heresy. This date is the origin of the superstitions around Friday

13th; and we continue to be reminded of the Templars in many

place names throughout the country including: the Inner and Middle

Temple legal institutions in London and strangely the famous

Brunel Temple Meads Station in Bristol and in providing the site for

Hitlers Berlin Airport Templehof.

At the end of the 19th Century, historians accepted that the heresy

charges made against the Templars were valid. However, in recent

times the discovery of later Vatican documents absolving the Order

of the heresy charges have led historians to conclude that their

destruction was based on false statements, extracted by extreme

methods of torture to justify Philip IVs suppression of the Order.

The Templars were in part to blame, as their activities were in some

areas shrouded in secrecy, in particular their initiation rites. When

they were driven out of the Holy Land by Saladin, their records

were taken to Cyprus and subsequently destroyed. Lack of

documentary evidence has since enabled speculation of the wildest

sort to flourish, starting with rumors that the original Knights in

Jerusalem discovered the Shroud of Turin and the Holy Grail under

the Temple Mount. Certainly, the Order was rich in relics and this

led to their growth and increasing wealth.

24

Temple Church, Bristol

Notes

1 Donc, moi Jean Michel, par la grce de Dieu, je mritai d'tre l'humble crivain de

la prsente rgle, comme me le demanda le concile et le vnrable pre Bernard,

abb de Clairvaux, qu'on avait charg de ce divin travail. Tr: So, I, John Michael,

by the grace of God, I deserved to be the humble writer of this rule, as the council

asked me and the venerable Father Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, who had charge of

this divine work. [264]

2 Saint Helena (Latin: Flavia Iulia Helena Augusta) also known as Saint Helen,

Helena Augusta or Helena of Constantinople (ca. 246/50 18 August 330) was the

consort of Emperor Constantius, and the mother of Emperor Constantine I. She is

traditionally credited with finding the relics of the True Cross, with which she is

invariably represented in Christian iconography.

3 The True Cross is the name for physical remnants which, by a Christian tradition,

are believed to be from the cross upon which Jesus was crucified [265]. According

to post-Nicene historians, Socrates Scholasticus and others, the Empress Helena (c.

AD 250 c. AD 330), mother of Constantine, the first Christian Emperor of Rome,

travelled to the Holy Land, dated by modern historians in 326-28, founding

25

churches and establishing relief agencies for the poor. It was afterwards claimed, in

the later fourth-century history by Gelasius of Caesarea followed by Rufinus'

additions to Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History, that she discovered the hiding place of

three crosses, believed to be used at the crucifixion of Jesus and the two thieves

St. Dismas and Gestas who were executed with him, and that through a miracle it was revealed which of the three was the True Cross.

4 Georgius Edu Serecenia, sometime called Elmacin, is cited in Clavis Pentateuchi

(Latin: Key of the Pentateuch), by Auctore Jacobo Robertson (1824). The Aribic

following the citation is unclear and requires further research.

5 Ingulphus, the secretary of William the Conqueror, one of their number, states

that he sallied forth from Normandy with thirty companions, all stout and well-

appointed horsemen, and that they returned twenty miserable palmers, with the

staff in their hand and the wallet at their back.--Baronius ad ann. 1064, No. 43, 56 is cited in [266].

6 The Turkomen also known as Oghuz Turks (a linguistic term designating the

Western Turkic or Oghuz languages from the Oghur languages) were a historical

Turkic tribal confederation in Central Asia during the early medieval Turkic

expansion. The name Oghuz is just the Common Turkic word for tribe. They are

referred to as Western Turks because they moved west from other Turkic

peoples after the Gktrk empire collapsed, and because the majority of the areas

in which they inhabit today (except Turkmenistan and the Turkmen Sahra) are

west of the Caspian Sea, while those referred to as Eastern Turks live east of the

Caspian Sea. The founders of the Ottoman Empire were also Oghuz Turks.

7 Peter the Hermit (died July 8, 1115 in Neufmoutier by Huy) was a priest of

Amiens and a key figure during the First Crusade. According to Anna Comnena, he

had attempted to go on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem before 1096, but was prevented

by the Seljuk Turks from reaching his goal and was tortured. Sources differ as to

whether he was present at Pope Urban II's famous Council of Clermont in 1095; but

it is certain that he was one of the preachers of the crusade in France afterward,

and his own experience may have helped to give fire to the Crusading cause. He

soon leapt into fame as an emotional revivalist; and the vast majority of sources

and historians agree that thousands of peasants eagerly took the cross at his

bidding.

8 Omnibus mundi partibus divites et pauperes, juvenes et virgines, senes cum junioribus, loca sancta visitaturi Hierosolymam pergerent. [All parts of the world

the rich and the poor, the young men and maidens, old men with younger, they

were going to Jerusalem, the holy places shall visit the]-- [17].

9 The term infidels is used loosely throught. The Christian might refer to the Moslem as an infidel, while the Molem might equally refer to the Christian as an

infidel. The simple meaning in one who is not of the faith, whatever that faith me

be.

26

10 Moslem also spelled Muslim, (Arabic: ), is an adherent of Islam, a

monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Moslems consider the

verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Mohammed. Moslem is the Arabic term for one who submits to God. Musulman (Persian: ) is a synonym for

Muslim. This term is modified from Arabic. It is the origin of the Spanish word

musulmn, the Portuguese word muulmano and the Greek word

(all used for a Muslim). In English it has become an archaic usage.

11 To kiss the holy monuments, says William of Tyre, came sacred and chaste

widows, forgetful of feminine fear, and the multiplicity of dangers that beset their

path.--Lib. xviii. cap. 5

12 Quidam autem Deo amabiles et devoti milites, charitate ferventes, mundo

renuatiantes, et Christi se servitio mancipantes in manu Patriarch Hierosolymitani

professione et voto solemni sere astrinxerunt, ut a prdictis latronibus, et viris

sanguinum, defenderent peregrinos, et stratas publicas custodirent, more

canonicorum regularium in obedientia et castitate et sine proprio militaturi summo

regi. (Trans:-Some, however, God, lovely and devout soldiers, charity, fervent, and the world renuatiantes, Patriarch of Jerusalem, and of Christ himself in the hand of

the profession and a solemn vow of service mancipantes astrinxerunt sere, as

aforesaid from the robbers, and to men of blood, to protect the pilgrims, and to

keep the public road, in the manner of canons regular serve the greatest king in

obedience and chastity and without property.) There were three kinds of poverty.

The first and strictest (altissima) admitted not of the possession of any description

of property whatever. The second (media) forbade the possession of individual

property, but sanctioned any amount of wealth when shared by a fraternity in

common. The lowest was where a separate property in some few things was

allowed, such as food and clothing, whilst everything else was shared in common.

The second kind of poverty (media) was adopted by the Templars [54].

13 St. Pantaleon, lib. iii. p. 82.

14 de Barthlemi dHerbelot Bibliothque Orientale p. 270, 687, ed. 1697. William of

Tyre, who lived at Jerusalem shortly after the conquest of the city by the Crusaders,

tells us that the Caliph Omar required the Patriarch Sophronius to point out to him

the site of the temple destroyed by Titus, which being done, the caliph immediately

commenced the erection of a fresh temple thereon, Quo postea infra modicum

tempus juxta conceptum mentis su feliciter consummato, quale hodie Hierosolymis

esse dinoscitur, multis et infinites ditavit possessionibus. (tr Latin: Within a short

time afterwards, according to his concept of the mind which successfully

consummated, the quality of this day is known to be in Jerusalem, and enriched it

with many, and a vast possessions.)--Will. Tyr. lib. i. cap. 2.

15 William of Tyre was born in the Holy Land, born in the Holy Land and was, after a

French education, appointed Archbishop of Tyre and Chancellor of the Kingdom of

Jerusalem. He wrote towards the end of the twelfth century.

27

16 Erant porro in eodem Templi dificio, intus et extra ex opere musaico, Arabici

idiomatis literarum vetustissima monimenta, quibus et auctor et imperarum

quantitas et quo tempore opus inceptum quodque consummatum fuerit evidenter

declaratur. In hujus superioris are medio Templum dificatum est, forma quidem

octogonum et laterum totidem, tectum habens sphericum plumbo artificiose

copertum. Intus vero in medio Templi, infra interiorem columnarum ordinem rupes

est, &c. (tr Latin: There were the same but in the Temple of the building, inside

and out from the work of musaico, the oldest monument of learning Arabic

language, which must, at which time the quantity and the author of the work of the

government initiative and it is finished and that clearly is declared. . . . In the midst

of the areas of the upper of this temple in building, the form of octogonum and,

indeed, the same number of sides, roof, having artfully BURIED DEEP SPHERICAL

lead. . . . Inside, however, in the center of the temple, within the interior of the

columns is the order of rocks, etc.)--Will. Tyr. lib. i. cap 2, lib. viii. cap. 3. In hoc

loco, supra rupem qu adhuc in eodem Templo consistit, dicitur stetisse et apparaisse

David exterminator Angelus Templum Dominicum in tanta veneratione habent Saraceni, ut nullus eorum ipsum audeat aliquibus sordibus maculare; sed a remotis et

longinquis regionibus, a temporibus Salomonis usque ad tempora prsentia, veniunt

adorare. (In this passage, which as yet in the same rock above the temple consists,

it is said they had failed and that is destroyed, David apparaisse an angel....

Saracens have the temple of the Lord in so great a veneration, that none of them

would dare to some filth defile him, but from the distant and remote regions, from

the times of Solomon, the presence of up to the times, they come to adore.)--Jac. de Vitr. Hist. Hierosol. cap. lxii. p 1080.

17 Procopius of Caesarea (Latin: Procopius Caesarensis, Greek:

; c. AD 500 c. AD 565) was a prominent Byzantine scholar from

Palestine. Accompanying the general Belisarius in the wars of the Emperor

Justinian I, he became the principal historian of the 6th century, writing the Wars of

Justinian, the Buildings of Justinian and the celebrated Secret History. He is

commonly held to be the last major historian of the ancient world.

18 Procopius de dificiis Justiniani, lib. 5.

19 Phocas believes the whole space around these buildings to be the area of the

ancient temple.

, , . (tr. Greek: Meanwhile floor of an ancient

temple perinymou keinou Solomon theoroumenos. . . But outside the temple Esti

perialion mega lithostoton the old, as oimai, the great temple floor.)--Phoc

descript. Terr. Sanc. cap. xiv. Colon. 1653.

20 Quibus quoniam neque ecclesia erat, neque certum habebant domicilium, Rex in

Palatio suo, quod secus Templum Domini ad australem habet partem, eis concessit

habitaculum. (tr. Latin: Nor has the church that these existed, nor had a fixed domicile, the King of his in the Palace, which otherwise has the south part of the

temple of the Lord, the habitation of them granted.)--Will. Tyr. lib. xii. cap. 7. And

28

in another place, speaking of the Temple of the Lord, he says, Ab Austro vero

domum habet Regiam, qu vulgari appellatione Templum Salomonis dicitur. (tr. Latin: From the south, however, has the King's house, which is called the common

name of the temple of Solomon.)--Ib. lib, viii. cap. 3.

21 Qui quoniam juxta Templum Domini, ut prdiximus, in Palatio regio mansionem habent, fratres militi Templi dicuntur. (tr. Latin: And since they, according to the

temple of the Lord, as we said before, they have an abode in the palace of the king,

the brothers are said to be the host of the Temple.)--Will. Tyr. lib. xii. cap. 7.

22 Est prterea Hierosolymis Templum aliud immens quantitatis et amplitudinis, a quo fratres militi Templi, Templarii nominantur, quod Templum Salomonis

nuncupatur, forsitan ad distinctionem alterius quod specialiter Templum Domini

appellatur. (tr. Latin: Moreover, the temple of Jerusalem is another very great

quantity and dignity, of whom is the host of brethren of the Temple, the Templars

are mentioned, that the temple of Solomon is called, perhaps especially to the

distinction of another, if it is called the temple of the Lord.)--Jac. de Vitr. cap. 62.

23 In Templo Domini abbas est et canonici regulares, et sciendum est quod aliud est Templum Domini, aliud Templum militi. Isti clerici, illi milites. (tr. Latin: In the

temple of the Lord is the abbot and canons regular, and it should be noted that the

temple of the Lord is one thing, another thing the host of the temple. These clerics,

those soldiers.)--Hist. Orient. Jac de Vitr. apud Thesaur. Nov. Anecd. Martene, tom. iii. col. 277.

24 Prima autem eorum professio quodque eis a domino Patriarcha et reliquis

episcopis in remissionem peccatorum injunctum est, ut vias et itinera, ad salutem

peregrinorum contra latronum et incursantium insidias, pro viribus conservarent.

(tr. Latin: The first of them, however, and that the profession of them by the Lord

for the rest of the patriarch and the bishops of the remission of sins was imposed,

so that the highways and roads, to the salvation of strangers on the other hand and

the raids of robbers lying in wait, according to their strength preserved them.)--

Will. Tyr. lib. xii. cap. 7.

29

CHAPTER 2. THE TEMPLAR RULES

Regula Pauperum Commilitonum Christi et Templi Salomonis.

[26]

(Translation from Latin:- Rule of the Poor fellow-soldiers of Christ

and the Temple of Solomon)

Among the contradictions that are within the governments of

this world, we may rekon it a very great one, that there should

be such an institution as that of armed monks, who make a

vow of living at the same time as hermits and sol