A
brief history of the Knight Templars.
The order of warrior monks who were to become
one of the most powerful and controversial organisations in European
medieval history, were known by a variety of names; the Poor Knights
of Christ and the Temple of Solomon, la Milice du Christ or, more
commonly, the Knights Templar. Detailed accounts of the founding of
the order are non-existent. The main source used by historians are
the documents written by Guillaume de Tyre some seventy years after
the event, and while this is commonly accepted as the true account,
alternative versions do exist, some of which are supported by documentation
that makes them seem reasonably credible.
According
to Guillaume de Tyre the Order was founded by a vassal of the Count
of Champagne, a certain Hugh de Payen, acting in collaboration with
André de Montbard, the uncle of Bernard of Clairvaux. In 1118, the
two knights along with seven companions presented themselves to the
younger brother of Godfroi de Bouillon who had accepted the title
of King Baudoin I of Jerusalem. They announced to the monarch that
it was their intention to found an order of warrior monks so that
'as far as their strength permitted, they should keep the roads and
highways safe . . . with a special regard for the protection of pilgrims.'
The new order took vows of personal poverty and chastity and swore
to hold all their property in common. The king granted them quarters
which included the stables of what was believed to be the Temple of
Solomon. The Patriarch of Jerusalem granted the new order of knights
the right to wear the double barred Cross of Lorraine as their insignia.
The original nine knights are generally believed to have been:
- Hugh
de Payen, a vassal of Hugh de Champagne and a relative by marriage
to the St Clairs of Roslin.
- André
de Montbard, the uncle of Bernard of Clairvaux and another vassal
of Hugh de Champagne.
- Geoffroi
de St Omer, a son of Hugh de St Omer.
- Payen
de Montdidier, a relative of the ruling family of Flanders.
- Achambaud
de St-Amand, another relative of the ruling house of Flanders.
- Geoffroi
Bisol,
- Gondemare,
- Rosal,
- Godfroi.
Gondemar
and Rosal were Cistercian monks who were now just transferring their
allegiance. Many would simply see this transfer as one that took place
between the monastic and the military arm of the same order, for the
Cistercians and the Knights Templar were so closely linked by ties
of blood, patronage and shared objectives that many Templar scholars
believe that they were two arms from the same body.
The
position of Hugh de Champagne in this whole affair is curious and
confusing in the extreme. There is a letter to him from the Bishop
of Chartres dated 1114, congratulating him on his intention to join
la Milice du Christ, which is another name for the Knights Templar.
He certainly took up a form of lay associate membership of the order
in 1124 and thereby created a bizarre anomaly in feudal terms, for
by joining the Order and swearing obedience to its Grand Master Hugh
de Payen he came under the direct control of a man who in the normal
social order of things was his own vassal. There is a secret Templar
archive in the principality of Seborga in northern Italy which has
recently been discovered containing documents that demand further
study. It is claimed that St Bernard of Clairvaux founded a monastery
there in 1113, to protect a 'great secret'. This monastery under the
direction of its abbot, Edouard, contained two monks who had joined
the order with Bernard, two knights who took the names of Gondemar
and Rosal on their profession as monks. One document claims that in
February 1117 Bernard came to this monastery released Gondemar and
Rosal from their vows and then blessed these two monks and their seven
companions, prior to their departure to Jerusalem. This departure
was not immediate and did not take place until November 1118. The
seven companions of the two ex-Cistercians are listed as follows:
André de Montbard, Count Hugh I de Champagne, Hugh de Payen, Payen
de Montdidier, Geoffroi de Sainte-Omer, Archambaud de St Amand and
Geoffroi Bisol. The document records that St Bernard nominated Hugh
de Payen as the first grand master of the Poor Militia of Christ and
that Hugh de Payen was consecrated in this position by the Abbot Edouard
of Seborga.
Whether
or not Hugh de Champagne was directly involved in the actual founding
of the Knights Templar is a decision we will leave to scholars of
far greater wisdom than ourselves. Whatever the truth may prove to
be, two things are certain. Firstly the count of Champagne was at
the very least a prime mover behind the scenes even if he is not to
be numbered among the original nine founding knights. Secondly, all
those involved in both founding and promoting the Order were linked
by a complex web of direct family relationships.
The
main reason given for the founding of the Order, to protect the pilgrim
routes, does not bear any close examination whatsoever for the first
ten or twelve years of the Order's existence. It would have been a
physical impossibility for nine middle-aged knights to protect the
dangerous route from Jaffa to Jerusalem from all the bandits and marauding
infidels who believed that the pilgrims who provided such easy pickings,
were a gift from God. The recorded actions of the knights make this
an even more incredible scenario, for they did not patrol the dangerous
roads of the Holy Land to protect the pilgrims, but spent nine years
in the dangerous and demanding task of excavating and mining a series
of tunnels under their quarters on the Temple Mount. These arduous
tasks were completed with the patronage and support of the King of
Jerusalem.
The
tunnels mined by the Templars were re-excavated in 1867, by Lieutenant
Warren of the Royal Engineers. The access tunnel descends vertically
downwards for eighty feet through solid rock before radiating in a
series of minor tunnels horizontally under the site of the ancient
temple itself. Lieutenant Warren failed to find the hidden treasure
of the Temple of Jerusalem, but in the tunnels excavated so laboriously
by the Templars, they found a spur, remnants of a lance, a small Templar
cross and the major part of a Templar sword. These artefacts are now
preserved for posterity by the Templar archivist for Scotland, Robert
Brydon of Edinburgh. Also in his keeping is a letter from a certain
Captain Parker who took part in Warren's excavation under the Temple
and several subsequent ones. Parker wrote to Robert's grandfather
in 1912 and told of how on one of these expeditions he had discovered
a secret room carved in the solid rock beneath the temple site with
a passage leading from it to the Mosque of Omar. Parker went on to
describe how when he broke through the stonework at the end of the
passage and found himself within the confines of the mosque, he had
to flee to save himself from a small army of extremely angry and devout
Muslims. Two questions arise from the nature and position of these
Templar excavations. What were they seeking? And how did they know
precisely where to dig?
On
the exterior of Chartres Cathedral, by the north door, there is a
carving on a pillar, which gives us an indication of the object sought
by the burrowing Templars, representing the Ark of the Covenant, but
in a rather strange context. The Ark is depicted as being transported
on a wheeled vehicle. Legend recounts that the Ark of the Covenant
had been secreted deep beneath the Temple in Jerusalem centuries before
the fall of the city to the Romans. It had been hidden there to protect
it form yet another invading army who had laid the city to waste.
Hugh de Payen had been chosen to lead the expedition mounted to locate
the Ark and bring it back to Europe. Persistent legends recount that
the Ark was then hidden for a considerable time deep beneath the crypt
of Chartres Cathedral. The same legends also claim that the Templars
found many other sacred artefacts from the old Jewish temple in the
course of their investigations and that a considerable quantity of
documentation was also located during the dig. While there has been
much speculation as to the exact nature of these documents, a reasonable
consensus is emerging that they contained scriptural scrolls, treatises
on sacred geometry, and details of certain knowledge, art and science
- the hidden wisdom of the ancient initiates of the Judaic/Egyptian
tradition. Until very recently these legends received short shrift
from academic historians, but that situation is undergoing considerable
change. One modern archeological discovery tends to support the speculative
scenario that the Templars knew where to look and precisely what they
were seeking.. The Copper Scroll, one of the Dead Sea Scrolls discovered
at Quamran, tends to confirm not only the objective of the Templar
excavations but also, albeit indirectly, gives some credence to the
bizarre concept of the transmission of knowledge through the generations
that led to the Templar's discoveries in Jerusalem.
The
Copper Scroll, which was unrolled and deciphered at Manchester University
under the guidance of John Allegro, was a list of all the burial sites
used to hide the various items both sacred and profane described as
the treasure of the Temple of Jerusalem. Many of these sites have
been re-excavated since the discovery of the Copper Scroll, and several
of them have disclosed not Temple treasure but evidence of Templar
excavation made in the twelfth century.
At
about the time the excavations were near completion, Count Fulk of
Anjou sped with all haste to Jerusalem where he took the oath of allegiance
to the new order. He immediately granted the order an annuity of thirty
Angevin livres before returning to Anjou. When one considers that
the vast majority of knights joining the order stayed within its ranks
for their lifetime, this action by Fulk of Anjou is a trifle strange.
His apparent freedom of manoeuvre, despite his oath of allegiance
to the Order of the Knights Templar can be explained by the fact that
Fulk was not only the Count of Anjou and a member of the Templar Orderbut
was married to the sister of the King of Jerusalem who died childless,
thus Fulk himself later became the King of Jerusalem.
The
next notable figure to arrive in Jerusalem was the Count of Champagne
who, as we have mentioned earlier, took the oath of membership in
1124. Behind the scenes in Europe Bernard of Clairvaux, who had become
a senior advisor to the pope, consolidated his position within the
Church. Bernard began to persuade the pope that the new military order
which was already active in the Holy Land should be given papal backing
and a formal position within the Church. For this they would need
a rule, a formal charter stating the aims and objectives of the order,
the obligations of its members to it and the rules of membership as
well as the establishment of a formal command structure.
The
main excavations in Jerusalem were completed in late December of 1127.
Hugh de Payen with all the knights of the new order returned to France.
The Grand Master Hugh de Payen and his principal co-founder of the
order, Andre de Montbard, travelled to England to see the King and,
having obtained safe-conduct from him, went directly north across
the border to Scotland, where the two knights stayed at Roslin with
the St Clairs, who were Hugh's relatives by marriage. The lord of
Roslin made an immediate grant of land to the new order which became
their headquarters in Scotland. The oldest Templar site in Scotland,
once known as Ballontrodoch, is now called Temple after the order.
The
Templars gained official recognition and were granted their rule in
1128 at the Council of Troyes, which was dominated by the thinking
of Bernard of Clairvaux. The new order soon gained an exceptional
degree of legal autonomy, which placed its activities completely beyond
the reach of bishops, Kings or emperors, making it responsible through
its grand master to the pope alone. Before his election the current
pope had been a member of the Cistercian Order, and was a close friend
of St Bernard, who was his principal advisor. This was not the only
example of either nepotism or the 'old pals act' that can be found
in the early years of the Templar Order. The grant of land at Ballontrodoch
by the St Clairs of Roslin was followed by many similar gifts from
other pious members of the aristocracy who also made generous donations
of land and finance to the rapidly growing order. Membership grew
with incredible speed and the order soon numbered among its ranks
representatives from all the leading families in Western Europe. France,
Provence, and the Languedoc-Roussillon areas became its major power
base.
From
the time of their foundation until the fall of Acre, the Templars
exerted influence and then great power in the Holy Land. Guarding
the pilgrim routes, transporting men, materials and pilgrims from
ports in Europe, important though it was, played only a small part
in their activities. They built castles in important defensive positions
and played a significant role in military and established important
bases throughout the Holy Land, to the extent that the Knights Templar
became one of the most significant forces within the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
The Templars soon acquired a well-earned reputation for bravery in
battle and never willingly surrendered to the enemy. However, their
reputation for generalship and strategic thinking is not rated so
highly. Their extensive and costly military activities in Outremer,
as Palestine became known, were sustained by the profits from their
estates and activities in Western Europe
Material
wealth in the early twelfth century was almost invariably based on
land and feudal dues. The Knights Templar owned estates of varying
size scattered throughout every climatic zone in Europe from Denmark,
Scotland and the Orkney Islands in the north, to France, Italy and
Spain in the south. Their commercial interests were impressive and
varied and their activities included the operation of farms, vineyards,
stone quarries and mines. As a result of their two-fold interest in
protecting pilgrims on the one hand and maintaining communications
with their operative bases in the Holy Land on the other, the Templars
operated a well-organised fleet which exceeded that of any state at
the time. For military purposes, this included a number of highly
maneuverable war galleys fitted with rams and for the purpose of carrying
pilgrims, troops, horses and commercial cargoes, they owned a large
number of ships which plied the Mediterranean between bases in Italy,
France, Spain and the Holy Land. Their main seat of naval power in
the Mediterranean was on the Island of Majorca, while their principal
port on the Atlantic coast was the highly ified harbour of La Rochelle
from where, it is alleged, they conducted trade with Greenland, the
British Isles, the North American mainland and Mexico. Within fifty
years of their foundation, the Knights Templar had become a commercial
force equal in power to many states; within a hundred years they had
developed into the medieval pre-cursors of multi-national conglomerates
with interests in every form of commercial activity of that time and
were far richer than any kingdom in Europe.
The
transformative effect of Templar activity upon European culture and
commerce was remarkable and yet many modern Church historians still
accuse the order of being formed of illiterate knights. The so-called
'illiterates' developed sophisticated and coded means of communication
which transcended the linguistic barriers which otherwise would have
fragmented and diffused the commercial impact of their activities.
Among the principal items of their trading activities were those which
we would describe in modern terms as 'technology and ideas'. The Templar
communication network was the principal route by which knowledge of
astronomy, mathematics, herbal medicine and healing skills made their
way from the Holy Land to Europe. Among the technological advances
brought back by the warrior knights were mouth-to-mouth resuscitation,
the telescope and a financial instrument which they acquired from
the Sufis of Islam, known as 'the note of hand'.
The
Templars were great builders. On their own estates they built and
maintained fortified castles and farms, barns, outbuildings and mills
as well as dormitory blocks, stables and workshops. Some Templar castles,
particularly in southern Europe and the Holy Land, were built on defensive
sites which posed incredible difficulties of construction. They were
particularly renowned for building strategically situated castles
with water gates on coasts and rivers. The classic round Templar church,
founded on octagonal geometry and supposedly based on the design of
the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, became such a distinctive
feature of Templar construction that it became almost diagnostic of
their activity or involvement. This type of building formed only a
small part of their church construction programme, albeit of very
special and cabalistic significance. The vast majority of Templar
churches, especially those in the southern regions of Europe, are
small, undecorated, rectangular structures often with apsidal ends.
According
to many scholars, including the ecclesiastical historian Fred Gettings,
the Templars were openly involved in the financing and construction
of the Gothic cathedrals. The sudden flowering of the Gothic style
of architecture, which enabled cathedrals to be built of far greater
height with more windows, brought about a new era in church design
and art that allowed larger naves and greater spaces, uncluttered
by pillars, to be created within church buildings. It is no coincidence
that this architectural form, which cannot be explained as an evolutionary
development from the Romanesque style that preceded it, arose after
the knights returned from their excavations in Jerusalem.
While
many of the great cathedrals were heavily influenced by Templar thinking,
geometry and design, one above all others is a hymn to their direct
involvement and belief, the Cathedral of Chartres. Constructed with
almost unbelievable speed, Chartres Cathedral is portrayed by the
Church as the product of co-operative effort by the townspeople, financed
by the pilgrim trade. This totally fails to explain the massive and
immediate input of financial resources that must have been necessary
in order to pay for the quarrying and transport of the stone and the
enormous expenditure on the vast numbers of stonemasons, sculptors
and other craftsmen who would have been employed to complete such
a vast and complex edifice at such speed. It is highly doubtful if
the proceeds of the pilgrimage to Chartres over the period of its
construction would have paid for the creation and installation of
the stained-glass windows, much less for the construction and decoration
of the entire building. The only source of finance in Europe at that
time which could have produced the resources necessary was the Order
of the Knights Templar.
In
England, craftsmen who work in stone are known as stonemasons. In
France they are known collectively as members of the Compannonage
who, in the twelfth century, were broadly divided into three groups.
These fulfilled separate functions under the umbrella of the same
craft: the Children of Father Soubise were responsible for the construction
of ecclesiastical buildings in the Romanesque style; the Children
of Maitre Jacques were also known as Les Compagnons Passant and one
of their primary functions was the art of bridge building. The craftmasons
who built the Gothic cathedrals were known as the Children of Solomon,
named after King Solomon who, according to the scriptures, commissioned
the first temple in Jerusalem. This branch of the Compannonage were
instructed in the art of sacred geometry by Cistercian monks and it
was the Knights Templar who, acting with the agreement of Bernard
of Clairvaux, gave a 'rule' to the Children of Solomon in March 1145,
which laid down the conditions required for living and working. The
preface to his rule contains words which have been intimately associated
with the Knights Templar ever since:
We
the Knights of Christ and of the Temple follow the destiny that prepares
us to die for Christ. We have the wish to give this rule of living,
of work and of honour to the constructors of churches so that Christianity
can spread throughout the earth not so that our name should be remembered,
Oh Lord, but that Your Name should live. [our emphasis]
It
was not only the Order of the Knights Templar who attained immense
wealth, property, power and prestige in the years that followed the
completion of their excavations in Jerusalem. Under the guiding hand
of Bernard of Clairvaux the once struggling order of Cistercian monks
expanded at a similar rate. Within Bernard's lifetime the Cistercians
established over 300 abbeys throughout Europe, a truly outstanding
era of growth that was never even approached, much less exceeded,
by any monastic order other than the Templars. The Cistercians became
known as the 'apostles of the frontier' due to their habit of refusing
donations of land near major centres of population and opting instead
to site their new establishments in marginal lands in the mountains
and barren reaches of Christian Europe. The Templars on the other
hand, sited their possessions within cities, at centres of pilgrimage
and sea ports as well as in the countryside, with a special emphasis
on estates strategically situated near major trade and pilgrimage
routes. In England and Wales they had over 5000 properties and they
also owned a considerable number in Scotland, Ireland the Low Countries
and the German states; they even had estates in Hungary guarding the
overland routes to the Holy Land. Spain, long a centre of devout pilgrimage
to the shrine of St James of Compostela, was liberally adorned with
Templar strongholds and the order played its part in defending Christian
Spain against Moorish incursions.
Imitation
is the sincerest form of flattery and similar orders arose and achieved
some degree of renown by modelling themselves on the Templars. Two
such orders in Spain were the Knights of Calatrava and the Knights
of Alcantara. Both orders were founded shortly after the Templars
and St. Bernard of Clairvaux is known to have played a part in this.
There were many Templar establishments in Italy, which was one of
the major embarkation points on the sea routes to the kingdom of Jerusalem,
but the most important power base for the Knights Templar in Europe
was the present country of France. In the south are the regions of
Provence and the Languedoc-Roussillon which, in the Templar era, were
separate entities from the kingdom of France. Throughout these southern
regions Templar holdings were plentiful, with over thirty per cent
of the total estates owned by the Templars throughout Europe situated
in the Languedoc-Roussillon alone.
With
Templar holdings strategically placed on hilltop positions that commanded
panoramic views over the trade routes of Europe, important and transformative
change soon took place. Prior to the Templars, Europe was a hegemony
of squabbling feudal fiefdoms, counties and kingdoms. Long-distance
trade was largely non-existent, except by sea, and all travellers
were vulnerable to attack by brigands and extortion by feudal lords
who charged a toll for safe passage through their lands. Towns were
small and relatively powerless, being subject to the all-pervading
will of the Church/State establishment or the arbitrary rule of the
seigneur, or lord, of the district. With the advent of the Knights
Templar all this was about to dramatically change.
The
Templars declared objective of protecting the pilgrimage routes was
not restricted to travel within the Holy Land. Not only did they control
the routes spreading like a fan northwards from the Mediterranean
coast, which were used by the devout in their attempts to reach the
birth place of the Saviour, but they also policed all the other pilgrim
routes as well. A complex series of communication networks linked
every part of Europe to the major international sites of pilgrimage
in Jerusalem, Rome and, most important of all in the twelfth to fourteenth
centuries, St James of Compostela in Spain. These routes alone linked
all the major population centres in Europe. In addition to these were
all the national sites of pilgrimage, such as Canterbury in England;
Chartres, Mont-St-Michel, Rocamadour and the many other sites of veneration
of the Black Madonna in France. With Templar protection, travel by
pilgrim or trader alike along the major routes of Europe was now possible
in comparative safety and freedom from extortion or assault. One other
innovation made by the Templars further enhanced the safety of trade
and accelerated the change in the balance of power between the feudal
lords and the towns. This was the creation of an efficient and sophisticated
banking system.
The
Templars used their immense wealth with skill and wisdom. Not only
did they make substantial strategic investments in land and agricultural
pursuits, but they also invested in basic industries which provided
the essential ingredients for the massive expansion in building, both
lay and ecclesiastical, which began to change the face of Europe.
Using their own commercial insights as well as techniques which they
adopted from their Muslim opponents in the east, they developed the
concept of financial transfer by 'note of hand' into something like
its modern equivalent, developed the bankers cheque and the pre-cursor
of the credit card. This latter development arose from the financial
needs created by the medieval equivalent of the 'package tour industry'
- the pilgrimage trade. Whether to Rome, Jerusalem or Compostela,
pilgrimage was a long, arduous and expensive enterprise for the pilgrim
and a source of immense profit for the Church and innkeepers, ferrymen
and others en route. The pilgrim would be wary of carrying large sums
of money as he travelled, for fear of robbery, extortion or unforeseen
accident. The answer was simple; seek out the master of the local
Templar commanderie and deposit sufficient funds with him to cover
the estimated cost of the return journey, including travel, accommodation
and ancillary costs such as alms and gift-giving to the important
ecclesiastical sites en route and at the final destination. In return
for the financial deposit, the Templar treasurer would give the traveller
a coded chit as a form of receipt and as a means of exchange. At each
overnight stop, or where alms or offerings had to be given, the pilgrim
would hand his chit to the local Templar representative who would
pay any dues outstanding, re-code the chit accordingly and return
it to its owner. When the pilgrimage was over and the weary traveller
had returned home, he would present the chit to the Templar treasurer
who had first issued it. Any balance of credit would be returned in
cash, or if the pilgrim had overspent he would be presented with the
appropriate bill. The entire pilgrimage trade policed by the Templars,
who also acted as the bankers for this form of travel, bears a startling
resemblance to the modern package tour industry. The modern equivalent
of the Templar chit is, of course, the credit card.
Templar
banking practise was not restricted to the pilgrimage trade, they
also arranged safe transfer of funds for international and local trade,
the Church and the State. In the medieval era it was forbidden for
Christians to charge interest on loans and therefore money lending
as a profession had been traditionally restricted to the Jews. This
did little to enhance the reputation of the Jews as a racial group,
which was already jeopardised by the persistent allegation that they
were 'Christ killers'. The Knights Templar found a way around this
restriction which allowed them to lend considerable sums of money
at interest without being subjected to the charge of usury. It was
quite permissible to charge rent for the leasing of a house or land,
so the Templars used this principle in their money lending and charged
'rent' rather than interest for their services rendered. The rent
was payable at the time the loan was granted and was added to the
capital sum borrowed. By this euphemism the Templars avoided being
brought before the courts on the un-Christian charge of usury. Templar
wealth was such that their financial services were not only sought
by the merchants and landowners of feudal Europe, but by the princes
of the Church and State. They lent to bishops to finance church building
programmes; to princes, kings and emperors to finance state works,
building programmes, wars and crusades. Within the twin embrace of
financial security and safe travel, Europe began to transform itself.
Safe and effective trade over longer distances led to the accumulation
of capital and the emergence of a newly prosperous merchant class,
the urban bourgeoisie. The new-found wealth of the city merchants
changed the balance of power still further in favour of the towns
and cities. With the peace and tranquillity of the countryside now
ensured by the activities of the Knights Templar the feudal lords
began to lose the raison d'etre on which their power was based.
The
Order of the Knights Templar, despite its relatively short life span,
was the major instrument of transformative change in medieval Europe.
The Templars brought many blessings of knowledge and technology from
their Arab opponents in the Holy Land, that conferred immense benefits
on the European population. The Gothic cathedrals that arose from
their knowledge of sacred geometry still adorn the European landscape
and form a permanent series of 'prayers in stone' that raise their
spires skyward in silent supplication. When taken as a whole, rather
than studied in isolation, the various activities of the Knights Templar
are like a huge mosaic of individual pieces which together form a
picture which accurately predicted the future. The order was not merely
the medieval pre-cursor of the modern multi-national conglomerate
but was in many respects an early embryonic form of the European Union.
However, success, wealth and power stimulated jealousy and resentment,
especially from those who were heavily in debt to the order.
Philip
le Bel (1268-1314), the King of France, was one monarch among many
who was heavily in debt to the Order. He also had a further cause
for resentment, for when a young man, his application to join it had
been refused. During one period of civil unrest in his nearly bankrupt
kingdom he sought refuge in the Paris Temple.29 Bedazzled by the vast
store of bullion he saw there, he resolved to find a way to make it
his own and cancel his enormous debt to the knightly bankers. He soon
found an opportunity to destroy the Order.
Plausible
reasons for an investigation of any suspect individual or organisation
were not hard to find in that age of repression and injustice. The
perfect means for dubious enterprise had long been perfected. The
dreaded Inquisition had honed its evil arts of torture, secret trial
and condemnation during its sixty year novitiate in the campaign against
the Cathars. Philip knew that there had been contact between the Templars
and Islam and links had also been proved between the Knights and the
Cathars Certain knights who had been expelled from the Order were
bribed or blackmailed into making accusations of heresy against their
former brothers.
The
French King prepared his case with secrecy and skill. The death of
the pope gave him the opportunity to suborn his successor. On Friday
the thirteenth of October 1307, Jaques de Molay Grand Master of the
Templars, and sixty of his senior knights were arrested in Paris:
simultaneously many thousands of other Templars were arrested throughout
the realm of France. A few escaped arrest and once the word got out
the remainder simply fled; an episode commemorated by the saying Friday
the thirteenth, unlucky for some.
Under
the King's orders the Templar high command were tortured for several
years. The financially astute monarch had the gall to charge the Order
for their upkeep for the entire period of their imprisonment. The
final barbaric act of this dreadful charade took place on the Ile
des Juifs, on the 14th March 1314. The elderly Grand Master, Jaques
de Molay and the Preceptor of Normandy, Geoffroi de Charney, were
publicly burnt on a slow fire. Before his death de Molay is on record
as prophesying the imminent demise of the king and the pope. Both
died within the year. When the King's agents visited the Templar treasury
immediately after the first arrests, their great treasure, the very
cause and objective of this brutal enterprise, had vanished without
trace, as had almost the entire Templar fleet The king had been foiled.
French Masonic ritual indicates that Scotland was designated as the
place of refuge or safe keeping for the Templar treasures
One
of the charges against the Templars was that of idolatry; the veneration
or worship of an idol called Baphomet Various translations have been
offered for the name Baphomet; Idries Shah author of The Sufis, claims
that it is a corruption of the Arabic abufihamet (pronounced bufhimat)
which translates as 'Father of Understanding'. Magnus Eliphas Levi
the mystical writer of the last century, proposed that it should be
spelled in reverse as TEM. OHP. AB. This he then construed as Templi
Hominum Pacis Omnium Abbas or 'Father of the Temple of Universal Peace
Among Men'.34 Another legend equates Baphomet with the severed head
of St. John the Baptist who was venerated by the Knights Templar.
The Atbash cipher, an esoteric code used by the Essenes to disguise
the meaning of their scriptures, was applied to the name Baphomet
by the Dead Sea Scroll scholar Hugh Schonfield. The cipher produced
the word Sophia, the spiritual principle of Wisdom which is usually
associated with the ancient Greek or early Mesopotamian goddesses.
The Templar cult of the Black Madonna, black carvings or icons of
the Madonna and Child, supports this concept.
At
first glance this cult looks like a variation upon normal Catholic
practice of the time. The reality is very different however, especially
when we take into account the influence of ancient Egyptian ideas
on the Templars In ancient Egyptian symbolism, the colour black indicates
wisdom. In the cult of the Black Madonna the Templars were venerating
the Mother of Wisdom, the ancient goddess Sophia embodied in the form
of the goddess Isis with the Horus child. This pagan concept was disguised
as the Christian Madonna and Child.
Reactions
to the suppression of the Templars varied from country to country.
German knights of the Order either joined the Hospitallers or the
Teutonic Knights. One leading Scottish Templar, William St. Clair
of Roslin, who was the great-great-grandfather of the founder of Rosslyn
Chapel, was killed in Lithuania fighting for the Teutonic Knights.
In Portugal the Templars were not suppressed at all, they simply changed
their name to the Knights of Christ and carried on under royal patronage.38
Many years later Vasco de Gama the explorer, became a member and Prince
Henry the Navigator was a Grand Master of the re-named Order. The
Archbishop of Compostela made a vain plea for clemency for the brave
knights by writing to the pope begging that the Templars be spared
as they were needed for the Reconquista the fight against the Moors
to recapture Spain for the Catholic monarchy.
This
pressing need for military skills, discipline and dedication to the
Christian re-conquest of Spain was fulfilled in a simple way. Ex-Templars
were encouraged to join similar military Orders which differed only
in that they owed their allegiance to the Spanish crown rather than
the pope. One Order, that of St. James of the Swordor the Knights
of Santiago, was actually affiliated to the Knights Hospitaller to
ensure its survival. They too became immensely powerful and controlled
more than 200 commandaries throughout Spain by the end of the fifteenth
century. Thus Templar influence continued in mainland Europe. In France
and England some Templars joined the Knights Hospitallers, but most
simply seemed to vanish.
People
condemned for heresy in medieval Europe shared a similar fate to the
alleged dissidents condemned in Soviet Russia during the Stalinist
era. The victims became 'non-persons', their records were destroyed
and all traces of them and their beliefs were completely erased. The
only records remaining intact are those of the persecutor, Holy Mother
the Church, hardly the most even-handed or dispassionate of sources.
Thus getting to grips with the reality that lies behind the romantic
myths and legends surrounding the warrior knights is extremely difficult.
The French local archives disclose many details of their land dealings
while other documents disclosing some of their history do surface
from time to time.