the Knights Templar, the Crusades & the Holy Grail (Original Version)

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Danielle Gorree

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   posted 12-08-2005 08:26 PM                       
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An Eastern Origin?
"...They bestowed worship in their chapter on a heathen idol, variously described as to its physical characteristics, but known as a 'Baphomet', which etymologically was the same word [in Old French] as 'Mohammed'. [Once or twice the form Mahomet is actually used by witnesses in the trial.] Like so many persecuted heretical groups of the past, they were said to hold their chapters only secretly and at night."
"It was impossible for the Templars to have 'picked up in the East' the practice of worshipping an idol bearing the name of the Prophet Mohammed, since no such idol existed anywhere in the Levant, even among breakaway sects such as the Ismailis or the Druse. The idea that Muslims were idolaters was itself a part of another system of 'smears', the pejorative representation of the oriental world by western Christians."
- Peter Partner, The Murdered Magicians

"Probably relying upon contemporary Eastern sources, Western scholars have recently supposed that 'Bafomet' has no connection with Mohammed, but could well be a corruption of the Arabic abufihamet (pronounced in the Moorish Spanish something like bufihimat). The word means 'father of understanding.' In Arabic, 'father' is taken to mean 'source, chief seat of,' and so on. In Sufi terminology, ras el-fahmat (head of knowledge) means the mentation of man after undergoing refinement - the transmuted consciousness."
- Idries Shah, The Sufis

Sufi martyr Husayn ibn Mansur al-Hallaj died in 922CE. He was "a pantheist, an alleged miracle worker, and a most definitely unorthodox Muslim, Hallaj was imprisoned and tried for blasphemy for his public descriptions of his mystical union with God. Finally convicted after a nine year inquiry, Hallaj was maimed, crucified, beheaded, and his torso was cremated. Some of the stories surrounding his death include an account of the Caliph's Queen Mother having Hallaj's head preserved as a relic (Singh, 1970). Various Sufi sects have rituals commemorating Hallaj's death, and Shah claimed that Hallaj was the model for the 'Hiram Abiff' character in the Master Mason initiation ritual."
Hallaj "according to the medieval Islamic poet and historian Farid al-Din Attar, turns out to have been known by several titles beginning with abu-....Could the charge that the Templars 'worshipped a head called Baphomet' not have had some factual basis, namely the commemoration of a decapitated Sufi martyr whose head became a relic and who had been given the sobriquet abufihamet? The only problem here is that despite all the other abu- titles belonging to Hallaj, there is no known documentation linking him to abufihamet."
- Frater Baraka, IV, "Baphomet: A 'Mystery' Solved At Last?"
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Danielle Gorree

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   posted 12-08-2005 08:28 PM                       
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(2) A Bearded Head

The Brothers Testimony
The idol was described by Philip the Fair as:

"...a man's head with a large beard, which head they kiss and worship at all their provincial chapters, but this not all the brothers know, save only the Grand Master and the old ones."
- Philip's instructions to his seneschals

During The Trial of the Templars in 1307 Brother Jean Taillefer of Genay gave evidence. He "was received into the order at Mormant, one of the three perceptories under the jurisdiction of the Grand Priory of Champagne at Voulaine. He said at his initiation 'an idol representing a human face' was placed on the altar before him. Hughes de Bure, another Burgundian from a daughter house of Voulaine, described how the 'head' was taken out of a cupboard, or aumbry, in the chapel, and that it seemed to him to be of gold or silver, and to represent the head of a man with a long beard. Brother Pierre d'Arbley suspected that the 'idol' had two faces, and his kinsman Guillaume d'Arbley made the point that the 'idol' itself, as distinct from copies, was exhibited at general chapters, implying that it was only shown to senior members of the order on special occasions."
"The treasurer of the Paris temple, Jean de Turn, spoke of a painted head in the form of a picture, which he had adored at one of these chapters."

"Nearly all the brethren agreed that the head was bearded and had long hair, and the Templars, like the majority of their contemporaries, regarded long hair as effeminate, so the length of the 'idol's hair was remarkable for this, if for no other reason."
- Noel Currer-Briggs, The Shroud and the Grail - A Modern Quest for the True Grail

According to the most consistent accounts, the idol was:

"...about the natural size of a man's head, with a very fierce-looking face and beard."
- Deposition of Jean Tallefer

"He went on to say that he could not describe it more particularly, except that he thought it was of a reddish color."
- Ian Wilson, The Shroud of Turin - The Burial Cloth of Jesus Christ?

The mysterious object at one of the Templars' Paris ceremonies was

"brought in by the priest in a procession of the brethren with lights; it was laid on the altar; it was a human head without any silver or gold, very pale and discolored, with a grizzled beard like a Templars."
- Stephen of Troyes

"Other descriptions, clearly referring to copies, included mention of gold and silver cases, wooden panels, and the like. But the Paris head is different. One gets the distinct impression that this was the holy of holies, accorded ceremonial strikingly reminiscent of that used by the Byzantines."
- Ian Wilson, The Shroud of Turin - The Burial Cloth of Jesus Christ?

The Templar Cord
"In the Inquisition evidence there are several references to members of the order receiving on initiation a little cord that had been in contact with the 'head'."
- Ian Wilson, The Shroud of Turin - The Burial Cloth of Jesus Christ?

Upon being initiated into the Order of the Peacock Angel (Yezidis),"a holy thread, of intertwined black and red wool, is put around the neck. Like the sacred thread of the Parsis and other ancient Middle Eastern cults, this must never be removed; and it sounds like the cord that the Templars were accused of wearing when the Order was suppressed as heretic."
- Arkon Daraul, Secret Societies
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Danielle Gorree

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   posted 12-08-2005 08:37 PM                       
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(3) Theories About the Head


Alchemists' symbol
Caput Mortuum
(the dead head)
John the Baptist?
It is possible that the head idol was intended to represent the severed head of John the Baptist, based on allegations that he was revered by the Order. The Templars took part in the sack of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade in 1203-4. Robert de Clari described the opulence and numerous relics at the sacred chapel of the Boucoleon Palace, amongst them supposedly the head of John the Baptist.
An egregore is a magical entity that is artificially created by the focused thoughts and desires of a medium (analogous in many ways to Tibetan tulpas.) Supposedly a medium or statue could then serve as a tenant for the egregore, nourished by the sexual life-powers of the members.

"The Egregora does [sic] exist in the so-called 'astral plane' and it is a demon, that is to say, an illusory entity. It is not a true Microcosm, but a gestalt of vitalized shells, a focus for everything that is negative, defeatist, maudlin, bigoted, introverted in human nature - a morass completely hostile to progress and to the spiritual evolution of mankind."
- Marcel Ramos Motta (from P. R. Koenig below)

"The representation of the egregore as bust recalls the ancient literary tradition of animated statues or Salome, who wanted the head of John the Baptist, probably to master his visionary powers.....The classic prototype of such an egregore is Baphomet, the alleged egregore of the Templars, who was (as the Roman Emperor of the Gods) likewise worshipped in the form of a bust. In the secret statutes of the Templars, Baphomet was besought with the introduction to the Qu'ran and dismissed with the 24th chapter of the Book of Sirach."
- P. R. Koenig, "Too Hot to Handle"

A Likeness of the Lord?
Another possibility as to the identity of the Baphomet may lie with Nicodemus, who in the Gospel of John who brought spices for Christ's burial. He is also mentioned in the apocryphal Evangelium Nicodemi (4th C.) as a ruler of the Jews who testified in Christ's favor. The Interpolation in the First Continuation of Chrétien's Perceval tells of the flight of Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea to England and includes the following intriguing passage:

"Nicodemus had carved and fashioned a head in the likeness of the Lord on the day that he had seen Him on the cross. But of this I am sure, that the Lord God set His hand to the shaping of it, as they say; for no man ever saw one like it nor could it be made by human hands. Most of you who have been at Lucca know it and have seen it."
- Interpolation in the First Continuation of Chrétien's Perceval

The Skull of Hugues de Payen?
"Another possibility for the origin of the Head relates to the imagery on the first Grand Master's shield, which consisted of three black heads on a gold field. After about two hundred years, it is plausible that this head imagery could have worked itself into the legend of the Baphomet. According to more than one account, the Head was the actual skull of Hugues de Payen, which was preserved as an object of veneration."
- Forrest Jackson, "The Baphomet in History and Symbolism"

The Mandylion/Shroud of Turin?
"Surely this evidence [given by Templars at their trial] suggests that copies of the head, perhaps some of them not unlike the Sainte Face de Laon, others of carved stone or alabaster, such as those of the Nottingham School of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, were widely distributed throughout the order's houses. This would at least explain why nothing resembling a pagan idol was found after the brethren had been arrested, and why none of the pictures found in their chapels raised so much as an eyebrow."
- Noel Currer-Briggs, The Shroud and the Grail - A Modern Quest for the True Grail

The idol was also described as:

"...An old piece of skin, as though all embalmed and like polished cloth."
- Chronicles of St. Denis

Ian Wilson also hypothesizes that the Templar idols were representations of Christ's face copied from the Mandylion/Shroud. A possible surviving example, on a painted panel found at Templecombe, England, shows "a bearded male head, with a reddish beard, lifesize, disembodied, and, above all, lacking in any identification mark....It conforms too, to some of the most rational Templar descriptions: 'a painting on a plaque', 'a bearded male head', 'lifesize', 'with a grizzled beard like a Templars'. (The Templars cultivated their beards in the style of Christ)."
- Ian Wilson, The Shroud of Turin - The Burial Cloth of Jesus Christ?

A Daemon Guardian?
"...The descriptions given of it [the Baphomet] varied wildly. The physical characteristics assigned to the 'Baphomet' seemed to come either from the maufé or demon of northern folklore, or from church reliquaries. It was often said to represent a cat, a beast traditionally associated with witchcraft and heresy."
- Peter Partner, The Murdered Magicians

"INQUISITOR: Now tell us about the head.
BROTHER RAOUL: Well, the head. I've seen it at seven chapters held by Brother Hugh de Peraud and others.
INQUISITOR: What did one do to worship it?
BROTHER RAOUL: Well, it was like this. It was presented, and everyone threw himself on the ground, pushed back his cowl, and worshipped it.
INQUISITOR: What was its face like?
BROTHER RAOUL: Terrible. It seemed to me that it was the face of a demon, of a maufé [evil spirit]. Every time I saw it I was filled with such terror I could scarcely look at it, trembling in all my members."
- from M. Michelet, Procés des Templiers

Based upon the idol's description as a "demon" having "very fierce-looking face and beard", the idol very likely could have been Asmodeus, the "daemon guardian" who helped Solomon build his Temple. A statue of the demon guards the door of the parish church at Rennes-le-Château.

"The Templars' stronghold in Jerusalem, the site of their foundation, was finally overrun by the Moslems in 1244. Thirty-three years later the victorious sultan, Baibars, inspected their castle and is recorded to have discovered inside the tower 'a great idol, in whose protection the castle had been placed: according to the Frank who had given it its name [this is an unreadable word, made in diacritic letters]. He ordered this to be destroyed and a mihrab [Moslem prayer niche] constructed in its place."
- Ian Wilson, The Shroud of Turin - The Burial Cloth of Jesus Christ?

Cults of the Severed Head
"Herodotus (4:26) speaks of the practice in the obscure Issedones of gilding a head and sacrificing to it. Cleomenes of Sparta is said to have preserved the head of Archonides in honey and consulted it before undertaking an important task. Several vases of the fourth century BC in Etruria depict scenes of persons interrogating oracular heads. And the severed head of the rustic Carians which continues to 'speak' is mentioned derisively by Aristotle."
- Julian Jaynes, The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind

A similar tradition could be found in the Celtic cult of the severed head which figured predominently in Peredur, a Welsh romance about the Holy Grail.

"A great lady of Maraclea was loved by a Templar, a Lord of Sidon; but she died in her youth, and on the night of her burial, this wicked lover crept to the grave, dug up her body and violated it. Then a voice from the void bade him return in nine months time for he would find a son. He obeyed the injunction and at the appointed time he opened the grave again and found a head on the leg bones of the skeleton (skull and crossbones). The same voice bade him 'guard it well, for it would be the giver of all good things', and so he carried it away with him."
- Ward, Freemasonry and the Ancient Gods

"One chronicler cites the name of the woman in the story - Yse, which would seem quite clearly to derive from Isis."
- Baigent, Leigh & Lincoln, The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail

"At one time there was only God. He was all omnipotent and existed alone. This caused him to become discontented, thus he split himself in two in order to create a mate. He kept the elements of Order and Logic for his own being and gave his mate the elements of Chaos and Emotion for her being. Her name is Yse (pron. Issa). She became so overwhelmed with love at her creation that when he kissed her, she gave him a reaction which was to become known as the 'Chosen Response'. The Chosen Response was the first acknowledgement and reaction of love between a male and female in the universe, and this became the greatest secret of and mystery of mankind, being 'The Holy Grail'."
- Synopsis from the Merovingian Bible, "Angels Among Us! The Gnostic (Johannine) Christian Path"

Use of the Atbash Cipher
Dr. Hugh Schonfield in The Essene Odyssey "had discovered a system of cryptography - he called it the 'Atbash Cipher' - which had been used to conceal certain names in Essene/Zadokite/Nazarene texts. This system of coding figured, for example, in a number of the scrolls found at Qumran."
- Baigent, Leigh & Lincoln, The Messianic Legacy

Schonfield "showed that by applying the Hebrew Atbash code to the name Baphomet, the name Sophia [ShVPIA], female wisdom, is revealed. Sophia is equated with Isis by Plutarch."
- David Wood, Genisis

Isis's magic was allied to the wisdom of the Egyptian god Thoth. His wife or consort, Nehemaut, was known to the Gnostics as Sophia.

"By this analysis, therefore, when the Templars worshipped Baphomet what they were really doing was worshipping the principle of Wisdom."
- Graham Hancock, The Sign and the Seal

"From the Templars' use of the Atbash Cipher, it is probable that some form of Nazarean or neo-Nazarean sect had continued to survive in the Middle East as late as the twelfth century, and had made its teachings available to the West."
- Baigent, Leigh & Lincoln, The Messianic Legacy


http://www.mystae.com/restricted/streams/masons/mysteries.html
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Danielle Gorree

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   posted 12-08-2005 08:44 PM                       
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I see that sone of this is a repeat of information I posted earlier. My apologies.

Ian Wilson also hypothesizes that the Templar idols were representations of Christ's face copied from the Mandylion/Shroud. A possible surviving example, on a painted panel found at Templecombe, England, shows "a bearded male head, with a reddish beard, lifesize, disembodied, and, above all, lacking in any identification mark....It conforms too, to some of the most rational Templar descriptions: 'a painting on a plaque', 'a bearded male head', 'lifesize', 'with a grizzled beard like a Templars'. (The Templars cultivated their beards in the style of Christ)." - Ian Wilson, The Shroud of Turin - The Burial Cloth of Jesus Christ?


"A great lady of Maraclea was loved by a Templar, a Lord of Sidon; but she died in her youth, and on the night of her burial, this wicked lover crept to the grave, dug up her body and violated it. Then a voice from the void bade him return in nine months time for he would find a son. He obeyed the injunction and at the appointed time he opened the grave again and found a head on the leg bones of the skeleton (skull and crossbones). The same voice bade him 'guard it well, for it would be the giver of all good things', and so he carried it away with him." - Ward, Freemasonry and the Ancient Gods

"INQUISITOR: Now tell us about the head. BROTHER RAOUL: Well, the head. I've seen it at seven chapters held by Brother Hugh de Peraud and others. INQUISITOR: What did one do to worship it? BROTHER RAOUL: Well, it was like this. It was presented, and everyone threw himself on the ground, pushed back his cowl, and worshipped it. INQUISITOR: What was its face like? BROTHER RAOUL: Terrible. It seemed to me that it was the face of a demon, of a maufÄ [/evil spirit]. every time I saw it I was filled with such terror I could scarcely look at it, trembling in all my members." - from M. Michelet, ProcÚs des Templiers

http://www.lundyisleofavalon.co.uk/templars/tempic07.htm
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   posted 12-09-2005 12:37 AM                       
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Apologies accepted, Danielle. I found the perfect topic to visit if I ever run out of sleeping pills.

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[ 12-21-2005, 08:20 AM: Message edited by: incredulous ]
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Smiley4554

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  posted 12-09-2005 09:59 AM                       
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I have a thought...

Yesterday, I was watching a program on The History Channel in which Master Masons were building an "authentic" castle tower for a woman as a surprise for her husband. This was so fascinating, I couldn't keep my eyes off of it!

http://store.aetv.com/html/product/index.jhtml?id=74655

As they finished the tower, the Master Mason made a very, very interesting statement & it really is something worth considering.

The way I understand it is that Medieval castles were built with 2 walls - one interior, one exterior, then the intervening large and empty space betweent the walls was filled with "rock" & debris.

He stated that at the finish of the structure, the Master Mason, according to legend, would ALWAYS place his trowel inside a "hole" in the wall, then seal it up.

So, here's an interesting question...if this is the way castles were built, then why not "hide" the "treasures" within the walls - much like they "hide" the trowel. Some of those walls were 20' + thick. Who would ever know?

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Sarah

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   posted 12-09-2005 11:24 PM                       
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A very insightful idea, Smiley. The myth about Rosslyn Chapel is that the Templars hid their treasure beneath the floor. To get to it, one would have to tear up the whole chapel, which is why it hasn't been done.

The treasure wouldn't be some place obvious. It wouldn't be someplace that people would have a chance to find (I don't think it was on Oak Island).

Masonry. Brick. Mortar.
I'm guessing that it's behind some of the imagery in the chapel, yet only the Freemasons can say for sure which symbolism pertains to it.

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Danielle Gorree

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   posted 12-11-2005 02:37 AM                       
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PRIORY OF SION: THE FACTS, THE THEORIES, THE MYSTERY
Introduction

It has been seven years since I wrote my first article on the Priory of Sion/Rennes-les-Chateau mystery. At the time, I was heavily under the influence of the books Holy Blood, Holy Grail and Lionel Fanthorpe's work. Since then, there have been a number of books released, some better, some worse, than these original influences. I have revised some of my theories, challenged some of my own assumptions, learned some new things, and encountered a great deal of contrary data. Now, I am no longer sure that the hypothesis presented at the end of Holy Blood, Holy Grail is the best for explaining the data, nor am I sure that a Priory of Sion with the characteristics ascribed to it (an 800-year uninterrupted history, 9000 members internationally) really exists. I also am not sure that what is presented as "orthodox" with regard to the Sauniere saga can really be trusted. Still, although I have encountered the work of the debunkers, I am sure of two and only two things:

the Sauniere saga cannot be explained away simply by a mass-trafficking pyramid scheme and a bad taste in décor.
Something called the Order de Sion existed in the Middle Ages up until, at the latest, the 17th century; something called the Prieure du Sion existed from at least 1956 to 1984; whether these two things have any actual relationship to each other, I am still trying to figure out.
I believe that people get lost in certain obsessive details regarding this mystery, in particular details having to do with the life of Jesus, the idea of some type of mysterious bloodline with genes from (G-d/aliens/angels/Nephilim/Merovech/take your pick), lost artefacts (the Shroud of Turin, the Ark of the Covenant, the Holy Grail, the head of John the Baptist, etc.), or conspiracy theories (on the part of the Catholic Church, the French Geographic Institute/IGN, and various ludicrous New World Orders). In this essay, I'm going to attempt to present my current, "millennial" take on this mystery. I will actually attempt to argue beyond the mere basis of statements a and b, but I will attempt to present why I believe this is the case. Since this is not a scholarly essay, it will not be heavily referenced and footnoted, but I believe all assertions in here are defensible, and can present the sources on which I think they are based. Many ideas in here come from the three years of discussion I have had on the priory-of-sion egroups list, with a wide-ranging variety of erudite minds.
In lieu of writing a book on this subject, which I really at this time don't want to do, I think this essay is one of the better ways to communicate my current thoughts on this subject. I apologize for any errors in advance, but cannot claim infallibility, only a desire for accuracy. Should any of these things be proved false, I am fully willing to withdraw those statements. Unlike others writing on this subject, I have no agenda, no desire to manipulate or deceive, only to deal with the information and offer my theories and interpretations. I have decided the best way to present this data is chronologically.

Some would begin this story back in the hoary mists of prehistory, or in the time of Jesus, or with the coming of the Merovingian Franks to Gaul, or in ancient Sumeria. I prefer to start at one particular place.

http://www.fiu.edu/~mizrachs/poseur3.html
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Danielle Gorree

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   posted 12-11-2005 02:39 AM                       
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1090 - 1188 The Ordre de Sion

According to the "prieure documents," a conclave of Calabrian monks who left from the Belgian Abbey of Orval in 1090 helped secure the election of Godfroi de Bouillion as de facto king of Jerusalem during the First Crusade (but as is well known, he refused the title, accepting only Defender of the Holy Sepulchre), based on their belief that he was a descendant of the Merovingians, and by that fact, according to these documents, also a descendant of King David through Jesus and Merovech. In return, Godfroi secured their installation into an Abbey on Mount Sion. These documents also claim that the Ordre of Sion and the Order of the Temple (officially, the Poor Knights of the Temple of Solomon, later known as the Knights Templar, and officially recognized as such in 1118) were, until 1188, one unified organization with the same leadership.

Is there any basis to these claims? Here is what it is apparently true: there was indeed an Order of Sion based on Mt. Sion, and according to a papal bull of the 12th century, it had monasteries and abbeys elsewhere in Palestine (in particular, Mount Carmel), in southern Italy (Calabria), and in France. There is little in the official histories linking Godfroi to this order, but he is said to have founded the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, whose relationships to these other orders (the Temple and Sion) are unclear. And the official histories do not indicate any overlap between these monks and the soldier-monks of the Knights Templar. The Order seems to have occupied its "mother" abbey, Notre Dame de Sion/St. Mary of Mt. Zion, built on the foundations of the original apostolic Cenacle or Coelaneum, up until around 1291 or so, when like many Crusader holdings, it was overwhelmed by the Moslem onslaught. It actually was in the hands of the Franciscans for several more centuries, until it finally was lost to Christian ownership and was converted to a mosque.

I have found interesting links between the Order de Sion and the Carmelites. St. Berthold, the founder of the Carmelites, also originated from Calabria. Fra Lippi, a tutor of Botticelli, who is listed as a PoS GM, lived in Calabria and was known as "The Carmelite". Crotone in Calabria was the home of the Pythagorean school, and Pythagoras is said by Iamblichus to have visited Mount Carmel. Calabria was the "stomping grounds" of Joachim of Fiore and Giordano Bruno. Most interestingly, recent archaeological articles suggest the Essenes had encampments on both Mount Carmel and Mount Zion. St. Therese of Liseux turns up in a number of "PoS churches", and she took her name both from Theresa of Avila, a Discalced Carmelite and mystic, and Therese of Lidoine, a Carmelite nun who was murdered by the Revolutionary Terror in Compeigne.

The Abbey of Orval's web site says only that mysterious monks from Calabria came there in 1070, although little is known about their identity, and they were welcomed there by Count Arnould de Chiny. These "pioneers" moved out after forty years, i.e. around 1110. The legend of Orval claims that it was named by Mathilda de Tuscany, who after finding a lost ring declared the place "a Valley of Gold" (Val D'Or.) That name will turn up again... recent research also suggests that Nostradamus may have found some "Templar" materials at the Abbey of Orval.

What I have found quite interesting about this Order is their choice of real estate. According to a recent (1990) issue of Biblical Archaeology magazine, Mt. Sion seems to have been the "HQ" of the Ebionites of Jerusalem - those "Judaizing" followers of Jesus who looked to his brother James, rather than the "Apostle" Paul, for leadership. Pauline Christians, in fact, avoided the place until the Byzantine period (7th century). It looks like some of these followers even made an abortive attempt to build a 3rd Temple of Solomon on the site after the Great Revolt of 70 CE, using the ruins of the destroyed Herodian templeÖ an effort that seems to have come to an end with the decisive defeat of the Messiah Bar Kochba in 135 CE. This choice does not appear arbitrary: the Old Testament says that Solomon's Temple sat on Mt. Zion, which although identified with Mt. Moriah for many centuries, by the 2nd Temple period was once again recognized as a mountain outside the existing Jerusalem city walls. I believe their choice of Mt. Sion for their Abbey displays an obvious "Ebionite" outlook on their part.

However, it seems like several monks had vacated from this Abbey prior to its emptying in 1291, and it does appear that quite a few went back to Orleans, France with King Louis in the 12th century. Others went to southern Italy (Calabria was the home of the heresies of Joachim of Fiore - a very unorthodox territory). The Order of Sion did not apparently cease to exist, though, even after losing its "mother" abbey in Jerusalem, and according to one perhaps less than totally reliable authority, Gerard de Sede, it continued on for quite some time, until being absorbed by the Jesuits in the 17th century. Prior to this dissolution, though, the "prieure documents" claim Sion and the Templars underwent a separation, at an event called the 'cutting of the elm' at Gisors in 1188. The "prieure documents" claim Sion's first independent "grand master", Jean de Gisors, was elected at this time: Sion and the Temple were no longer under the same leadership, and each went its own way.

This event, like so many others, appears to be based on some historical events, but perhaps shrouded with the clouds of myth. We know that there was indeed an ancient elm tree at the fortress of Gisors, often used as a neutral meeting point for the monarchs of England and France. And, indeed, there was a "parting of the ways" that occurred there, but it was not a division between Sion and the Templars. In January of 1188, the kings of England and France agreed to a truce at this elm tree, so that they could launch yet another common Crusade to the Holy Land. But in August, further meetings at the tree resulted in the collapse of this truce. One side became agitated over the fact that the other was hogging all the shade from the tree, the French and English skirmished, and finally it was cut down after a bloody battle. There is no evidence that Jean de Gisors was there or the Templars, but it seems hard to see why either would be uninvolved with a struggle that occurred in their physical and moral backyards.

Thomas a Beckett met with papal legates at the tree of Gisors, after his "excommunication" of some opponents (including a Hugh St. Clair) at Vezelay. Beckett appears to have been an important figure for Jean de Gisors, who dedicated several buildings to him. He was "martyred" on December 28th, the Feast of the Holy Innocents, for refusing to back down over his stance on the separation of sacerdotal and royal authority. Gisors also has a weird "parallel legend" to RlC: whereas RlC's daemon guardian must be defeated at noon (probably on the summer solstice), Gisor's "treasure" is guarded by a daemon who can only be passed at midnight on December 24th (the winter solstice).
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1188 - 1307: The Rise and Fall of the Templars

Although the Order de Sion and the Knights Templar parted ways, at least according to the "prieure documents", in 1188, they still seem to have had some sort of interconnection, and some artefacts, knowledge, documents, etc. relating to the current 'mystery' seem to have remained in the Templars' possession. Thus, a great deal of investigation into the PoS/RlC mystery seems to revolve around the mysteries of the Templars. Did they possess some type of treasure? Were they heretics, dabbling in Ebionism, Johannism, or Essenism? Did they have some kind of "hands off" pact with the Cathars of southern France? Did they continue to survive in some kind of clandestine fashion after the order's "official" dissolution?

Again, here is what can be known. During their short but meteoric career, the Knights Templar became known for more than just their skill as soldiers or their piety. They became bankers, diplomats, and power-brokers. An elite few even became scholars, attempting to translate Hebrew Old Testament texts (such as the Book of Maccabees) into the vernacular. Charges of heresy and disloyalty dogged them for a long time, even as early as the early 12th century. Some of this undoubtedly arose from envy: as the bankers of Europe, the Temple acquired quite a formidable stash of gold. As it turns out, while northern Templars pursued the Albigensian Crusade with relish, gleefully slaughtering the Cathar heretics in the name of the Pope, southern Templars seem to have been more reluctant to take up arms against their neighbors. Scholars have argued whether this might have had to do with political loyalties (to the kingdom of Aragon) or family ties, but in any case, it does seem somewhat puzzling.

In 1307, on the rather inauspicious date of Friday, October 13th, King Philip the Fair ordered the arrest of the Templars on the charges of heresy. Historians conclude he was mostly after their wealth, having already seized the assets of the Jews in his realm a year earlier. Legal inquiries ensued, and Grand Master Jacques de Molay was thrown in prison. In 1312, during the Council of Vienne, the Pope (who was in Philip's "pocket"), dissolved the Templars as a religious order. Finally, in 1314, after refusing to renounce his claim of innocence, Jacques de Molay was burned at the stake in Paris as a relapsed heretic. Outside of France, Templars endured different levels of treatment - in some countries, they were hardly bothered at all, while in France they suffered torture, harassment, and vigorous persecution. Also, outside of France, the charges were more widely viewed with disbelief. The King and Pope did not outlast deMolay by long, dying several months after him.

As for their orthodoxy, the only real evidence that the Templars were anything less than pious, dumb, and loyal Catholic knights is their testimony at their trial. And, sadly, most of this testimony has to be ruled out, since most of it was obtained under torture. While under the hot irons of the inquisitors, the Templars admitted to intercourse with demons, worshipping black cat familiars, sodomy, and black magic, charges that no scholar takes seriously. In truth, these type of charges are a familiar litany that often turns up when a persecuted group was tortured by the inquisition - they show up during the witch-trials of two centuries later, and of trials of other Gnostic heretics centuries before. Thus, they probably reflect more of the demon-obsessed mind of the inquisitors than anything else.

Yet, there is a hidden "subtext" which suggests that, although many of the charges were trumped up in a Stalinesque (or Kafkaesque) kangaroo court (which we will return to later), heresy was already brewing among the Templars. For one thing, many Templars made a rather confusing confession. They claim they went through initiations by their superiors in which they were told to worship G-d the Father, but were also to spit on the cross and deny the Trinity. This is not the type of thing normally confessed to under torture by someone trying to tell their confessor what they wanted to hear, so the torture would end. After all, why not just say they had gone over to the Devil's side, rather than simply declaring that they had adopted a non-Trinitarian (perhaps "Ebionite"?) Christianity? Many people think the Templars incapable of heresy because they were unintellectual fighting men. However, the heresies of the Middle Ages often spread primarily among illiterate peasants.

A number of Templars outside of France, including some in England, were never tortured, yet made similar confessions. Indeed, many claim that the main heresiarch within the order was Roncelin de Fos, a 13th century Templar who was of Cathar ancestry. At some point, Roncelin began forming clandestine "cells" within the order, spreading his heretical teachings and initiations. Apparently, the leadership was unaware of this internal 'virus,' which may be why De Molay went to the grave honestly protesting his innocence - he truly had no knowledge of heresy within the order. There is also the possibility that some rather innocent deviations on the part of the Templars were simply misunderstood as "heresy" by their inquisitors and blown out of proportion. Whatever the case may be, charges suggesting the Templars were heretics went back to the 1140s - while, interestingly, their 'companion' order, the Knights Hospitaller of St. John, never faced similar chargesÖ but the only remotely heretical artefact the inquisitors ever found was a silver woman's head in a Templar perceptory marked "Caput LVIIIm".

If the Templars ever had a "treasure" other than a great stack of florins, history doesn't record it. Certainly, there are a number of Masonic ritual degrees (like the Holy Royal Arch) that suggest that they conducted some exploration on the Temple Mount, and either found some scrolls or the Ark of the Covenant itself. Other sources, like Ian Wilson, claim they had the "Mandylion" or Shroud of Turin prior to its display at Lirey in the 1350s. And, of course, there are always the persistent rumors that they held secret negotiations with the Hashisheen or Assassins led by the Old Man of the Mountain, Hassan-I-Sabah, or the Druzes of Lebanon, and from them obtained some esoteric materials. Although sources seem to disagree as to whether this treasure was spiritual, material, or documentary, this has not stopped people from looking for it, at Rosslyn Chapel, Gisors, Rennes-les-Chateau, Stenay, and elsewhere.

Equally in dispute has been the fate of the Templars after their 1312 dissolution. In many countries, they were simply folded into "new" military orders which consisted of the same people under a different name - for example, the Knights of Christ in Portugal. In England and in many countries, some went on to join their former friendly rivals, the Hospitallers. This may have been a good decision, considering the number of assets of the Templars turned over to their rivals. In France, most of the knights hung up their swords and retired to non-military monasteries, although a few went "rogue" and became mercenaries, pirates, or freebooters. However, there have always been the persistent rumors that the Templar order "survived" in some clandestine form after its own dissolution. For example, the Charter of Larmenius says that before de Molay died, he appointed a "clandestine" Grand Master to continue the order in defiance of the Pope's bull. Many of the "neo-Templar" orders of today claim they are the continuation of this 'survival', often with little or no proof. And, of course, there are those who say the Freemasons are the heirs of the Knights Templar.

Whatever the "PoS" is or was, it seems to have some interest in the Templar legacy, because in their documents they indicate some interest in Templar "materials" supposedly left behind at Gisors, where many Templars were imprisoned or detained. Assuming there is any validity to the "prieure documents" account, Sion and the Temple would have maintained some type of contact with each other, and the OdS would probably have some awareness of the disposition of their "sibling" order's people, property, and materiel.

http://www.fiu.edu/~mizrachs/poseur3.html
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1307 - 1600: The Reign of the White Queen

Itís not clear what exactly the OdS was up to in the 14th- 17th centuries, although the "prieure" documents suggest that during this time it had some fairly august leadership: Leonardo da Vinci, Nicholas Flamel, Rene D' Anjou, and Sandro Filipepi (better known as Botticelli). The alchemist Flamel translated the mysterious text of the Sacred Magic of Abra-Melin, whose original author was one "Abraham the Jew," through the assistance of some Spanish Rabbis. Upon his return from Spain, he is said to have achieved the "Great Work" of alchemy on the "PoS date" of January 17th. As for "Good King Rene," he seems to have been one of the figures promoting the mythic theme of Arcadia in Europe, a theme that seems an idee fixe for the "PoS". It is the appearance of daVinci on this roster - daVinci, the visionary, the artist, the man who wrote in backwards mirror writing, the inventor, the man who some say put his own face on the Shroud (although others claim it is de Molay's) - that has people most fascinated.

DaVinci seems to have had a "thing" for John the Baptist, which seems quite consonant with the apparent "PoS" interest in Johannism (the idea that John was the true Messiah and Jesus a false one, or, alternatively, that they were equal co-Messiahs). Johannites believe that there was a secret teaching passed from John the Baptist to John the Beloved Disciple (whose given name was Lazarus, but he took the "alias" of John to honor the Baptist), and to a "John" ever since. (Supposedly, every PoS GrandMaster takes the name "Jean" as an honorary title, in addition to being known as "Nautonnier" or Navigator.) Pincknett and Prince believe Da Vinci put his own face on the Shroud of Turin (despite accounts which suggest it was first shown at Lirey 200 years earlier), which was confirmed to them by someone they believed to be a member of the PoS, "Giovanni".

During this time period, the Duke Jean de Berry, who lived in Bourges, commissioned a picture-book known as Les Tres Riches Heures. A horological manuscript, illustrating the seasons of the calendar as well as miscellaneous episodes, the Heures has fascinated people with some of its strange symbolism. For example, it shows the Duke de Berry holding a caduceus or serpent-staff. The picture of the Resurrection also seems somewhat oddly dissonant with New Testament accounts, also. Certain scenes in the Heures also appear to be alluded to by the Rennes-les-Bains cleric Henri Boudet. The 20th century alchemist "Fulcanelli" had a lot to say about hidden symbolism in the Heures, and he in particular pointed to the role of Jacques Coeur of Bourges in its creation. Bourges is considered the esoteric "Coeur" of France.

Queen Blanche d'Evereaux, "The White Queen" of many prieure documents and listed as a PoS GM in those documents, had a chateau near Gisors at Neaufles. There was supposed to be a secret tunnel linking Gisors with her chateau. In the Prisoner's Tower at Gisors was imprisoned one Nicholas Poulain, an ambassador of the Douglasses of Scotland, allegedly for being Blanche's secret lover. Poulain supposedly scrawled a number of alchemical and hermetic diagrams on the walls of his jail. Poulain may have been connected to the "Freres-Aines de la Rose-Croix," a group of "survivor" Templar alchemists in Scotland. Blanche may have given some of his secrets to her "PoS successor," Nicholas Flamel, whose sigils and diagrams in his published works resemble Poulain's. Flamel's brother worked for Jean de Berry. As you can see, all these people curiously interconnect.

(A group called the Freres-Aines was "re-established" in the 20th century by Daniel Caro, who called himself "Gaston Phoebus" after the original man who attempted to bring the Freres-Aines from Scotland to France at the behest of Cardinal Jean-Jacques D'Ossa, the future Pope John XXII, who was present at the Council of Vienne. One of the few places the story of the original Freres-Aines can be found is in Gaetan Delaforge's book on the Templar tradition; "Delaforge" (a pseudonym) was a member of the Solar Temple.)

In 1446, the cornerstone for Rosslyn Chapel was laid. The history of Rosslyn and the Sinclairs who were its lords since the 1280s - they appear to have inherited it from the French de Roscelin family - is like many other things, highly disputed. The Sinclairs claim to be descended from the Norman Santo-Claros ("Clear Light") of St.-Clair-sur-Epte. The "prieure documents" also claim that Hugh de Payns married one Catherine St. Clair, thus establishing a Sinclair presence in the Templars from early on. Finally, they also claim the Sinclairs to have been the hereditary "patrons" of Scottish Freemasonry for several centuries. The implications are obvious; the "priory docs" present the Sinclairs as the "interface" between Templarism and Masonry.
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1600-1780: The Cabal of the Devout

This appears to be an interesting time in the PoS saga, according to the "prieure documents". Apparently, at some point during this time period, the "old" Order de Sion faded from the scenes, but it seems to have transferred some of its ideas and personnel into the Order of St. Sulpice (Sulpicians), the Lazarists of St. Vincent de Paul, the Discalced Carmelites, and perhaps most particularly, a group lampooned by Moliere as a "cabal of the devout" - the Compagnie du St.-Sacrament. The "prieure documents" claim that the Compagnie, which history records primarily as a religious anti-Jansenist movement in France, actually were one of the primary agents behind the "Fronde" against King Louis (and, moreso, his closest advisor Cardinal Mazarin). They claim that they were supporting the Guise-Lorraine families' bid for the throne, and that the man today known as Nostradamus may have been providing "timetables" for the action of the conspirators.

One thing that seems to have made the PoS so angry was Louis XIV's decision, carried out by Colbert, to give France a new national Meridian, based on the observatory in Paris, as calculated by the astronomer Cassini. "Le Serpent Rouge" and other "prieure documents" maintain that in fact, France already had a far older N-S meridian known as the "roseline," and that all Colbert and Cassini did was move it to the wrong place. This roseline or "serpent rouge" seems to have run through several hermetic churches in France, including St. Sulpice in Paris, the Lady of the Roses cathedral in Rodez, St. Vincent's in Carcasonne, and the Church of St. Stephen's in Bourges. Most importantly, it also ran through Rennes-les-Bains, whose name itself comes from Rhedae or Rhodos, meaning "roses". A more romantic line used for its time-telling, geomantic, religious significance was replaced with a much more staid line for travel and commerce.

They seem to have been concerned about this, because in the 1750's in St. Sulpice a copper line was drawn in the floor, and a gnomon or meridian marker installed, as if to remind people that it was once a meridian church. The Sulpicians themselves took their name from Sulpicius, a bishop of Bourges in Merovingian times. Curiously, they themselves went on to found the city of Montreal in Canada, and there they erected a Notre Dame cathedral in the 'geomantic' center of the city. Their symbol, two crossed M's, seems to turn up in other "hermetic" contexts. Another group the "PoS" seems to have been involved with during this time, according to the "prieure documents", were the Essene and Cathar-like Camisards, known for their white shirts of purity and holiness.

During this time, the painter Poussin is active, as is another painter, David Teniers the Younger (he is the 2nd - his father and his son were also both David Teniers). This is important, as their names will turn up later. Poussin is said to have known a great "secret" which he refused to reveal. There are those who say his painting "Shepherds of Arcadia" depicts an actual tomb, the so-called "Poussin Tomb", in the RlC area.

http://www.fiu.edu/~mizrachs/poseur3.html
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1781 - 1901: The Rose-Croix

It is during this time that the PoS and the RlC sagas begin to overlap, at least according to the "prieure documents". In 1781, Marie Negre d'Hautpoul, a resident of Rennes-les-Chateau died. Her family had been involved in Memphis-Misraim and Martinist Freemasonry. What happened after seems to be in dispute (as always), but the "prieure documents" suggest that her confessor, the Abbe Bigou, moved a meridian marker with the words "Et in Arcadia Ego" from a tomb elsewhere on the "roseline" (some say this is the "Arques" or Pontils Tomb which supposedly appears in Poussin's painting) to her gravesite, and then erected a second tombstone with an odd inscription on it. This inscription is apparently a cipher, and even contains Bigou's own name on it. Bigou also supposedly writes two ciphered parchments and has them buried along with other documents (including geneaologies and a Hautpoul "testimony") in his church in RlCÖ to be discovered two hundred years later, after the chaos of the French Revolution.

In the early 1800's, Charles Nodier and Victor Hugo organize a literary salon at the Arsenal Library where Nodier worked, known as the Cenacle. Nodier and Hugo were good friends, and are listed by the "prieure documents" as successive PoS grandmasters. I believe the Cenacle represents the earliest traceable root of the 'real' or 'modern' PoS, which I think began as a 19th century society of Romantics, artists, surrealists, and Symbolists who may or may not have had any real (more likely, it was indirect) connection to the earlier OdS, and who adopted "Et in Arcadia Ego" as their properly elegiac and romantic motto. It is possible that the librarian Nodier may have discovered a number of key texts in the Arsenal library, such as Flamel's translated texts. As for Hugo, he dabbled heavily in Spiritualism and arcana, and he is now an "ascended master" in the Vietnamese religion Cao Dai.

After Hugo, the "prieure documents" claim that the next "grand master" of the "PoS" was Claude Debussy, the composer. Once again, Debussy seems like an unlikely candidate for such a role, but digging into his biography suggests otherwise. Debussy was introduced to Josephin Peladan's Rose-Croix through his friend Erik Satie (and Satie emerges as the bridge between Debussy, Cocteau, and Picasso). Through the Rose-Croix, whose members also included the opera singer Emma Calve, Georges "Count Israel" Monti (mentor of a man who will emerge later, Pierre Plantard), and Eliphas Levi, Debussy may have come to meet the Sulpician scholar Emile Hoffet, and more importantly, another man, Berenger Sauniere.

I will not go into great detail over the Sauniere saga here, as there are other sites which do it far more thoroughly and comprehensively. What Sauniere did or did not do or find is in dispute. He became the parish priest of Rennes-les-Chateau in 1885, and after living through a period of initial extreme deprivation, started displaying a bizarre ostentatious display of sudden wealth. He came under suspicion, was defrocked by the church in 1912, and died in 1917. However, there are two myths about his death that need to be put to rest. He did not die on January 17th, and his coffin was ordered six months before his death (not 5 days). Many also say that Father Riviere, his confessor, denied him last rites and that his funeral was somewhat bizarre. The "prieure documents" claim that Sauniere found Bigou's hidden parchments in 1891, and with Hoffet's help, deciphered the ciphers (encoded within two excerpts from the Gospels). These two ciphers are, of course, legendary at this point. The first said, quite simply:
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Danielle Gorree

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THIS TREASURE BELONGS TO DAGOBERT II KING AND TO SION AND HE IS THERE DEAD.

The second said:

SHEPHERDESS NO TEMPTATION THAT POUSSIN TENIERS HOLD THE KEY PEACE 681 BY THE CROSS AND THIS HORSE OF GOD I DESTROY THIS DAEMON GUARDIAN AT MIDDAY. BLUE APPLES.

Who composed these ciphers is also in dispute, although I agree with my friend Ted Cranshaw that evidence suggests they were generated in the 18th century, and in all likelihood by the Abbe Bigou, not by modern pranksters (i.e. the Marquis de Cherisey). The last one must be deciphered by using a knight's tour of the chessboard, along with the de Vigenere substitution technique. Interestingly, the key for the cipher, "MORT EPEE", comes from the Marie de Negre tombstone, whose entire 128-letter text is a perfect anagram for the ciphertext, minus 14 extraneous letters.

It is claimed that the second cipher refers to three paintings, Poussin's Shepherds of Arcadia, Teniers' Temptation of St. Anthony, and a portrait of Celestine V, all of which Sauniere supposedly went to view at the Louvre during a trip to Paris. (This trip is, like so many other matters, disputed.) The cipher would seem to indicate that these two artists "hold the key," but while some think they know the significance of the Poussin reference (it supposedly points to the "Pontils Tomb"), the importance of Teniers' painting is not clear (he did about five Temptations, each slightly different from the others). However, of the paintings of Teniers that I have been able to see, there seems to be an interesting obscure symbolism that the artist associated with St. Anthony the Hermit - whose feast day is that recurring date, January 17th. As for the painting of Celestine V, its significance is also unknown, although Celestine is the only pope to have resigned his office: what Dante called "The Great Refusal". Incidentally, the Poussin painting appears as a relief, in reverse, at the Shugborough Hall Shepherds' Monument in England, along with a strange cipher beneath it which seems to be the initial letters of a verse from 18th century Romantic poetry.

Sauniere's church contains a daemon guardian, a statue of Asmodeus, and there are those who say that at noon an optical effect that looks like "blue apples" appears through the stained glass windows. There are those who say Sauniere's paymaster, and the "brains" of his operation, was Father Henri Boudet, the parish priest of Rennes-les-Baines. Boudet was a bit of a crank antiquarian who argued that the original language of the Celts, and the whole world, was English. However, Le Vraie Langue Celtique, his "nut book", contains a number of puns, anagrams, and codesÖ as do the tombs he created for Jean Vie and Paul-Vincent de Fleury. The "prieure documents" seem to hint that Boudet was a PoS operative, and that he located a meridian marker in the RlC region.

http://www.fiu.edu/~mizrachs/poseur3.html

1901 - 2000: The PoS Comes into Closer View

Some "prieure documents" suggest Sauniere was loosely connected to a type of aristocratic and Hermetic Freemasonry (despite his being a priest) known as the Hieron du Val d'Or. There seems to be a hint that the Hieron was the "guise" of the "PoS" during that time period. From what people have written about it, the Hieron seems to have been an 'esoteric research center' located at Paray-le-Monial, "ground zero" of the Sacred Heart cult in France. It conducted research into Atlantis and esoteric Catholicism. The "prieure documents" also suggest that after Sauniere's death, the surrealist artist/poet/filmmaker Jean Cocteau became "GM" of the PoS in 1918. Interestingly, right around the same time, Cocteau seems to have partnered with Satie and Picasso on a production (Picasso's work was dominated by PoS-type esoteric themes), and then he and Satie went on to form a musical composing group, "Le Six," that were based on improvisation from Debussy's work. The link between these two "GM"s was Erik Satie.

During the late 1930s and 1940s, which was the period of the Vichy Occupation of France, a young man known only as "Pierre de France," aka Pierre Plantard, aka Plantard de St.-Clair, began publishing a journal called Vaincre, which issued from a group calling itself Alpha Galates. Vaincre's writers included a number of esoteric and political figures. It states that the goals of Alpha Galates were a European federation/union centered on France, the unity of France within its own borders, and a revived chivalry and patriotic feeling. Vaincre also carried stories that were anti-Semitic and anti-Masonic; when asked about this by authors Baigent, Lincoln, and Leigh, Plantard simply said that he had to run stories of that type in order to get it past the Gestapo - really, he and Poirer Murat were actually sending message to the Maquis or Resistance. In 1943, he claims he was interned at Fresnes for Resistance activity. The Resistance seems to have appreciated Plantard's efforts, because he was tapped by General de Gaulle to help organize some of the Paris Committees of Public Safety which were involved in de Gaulle's return to power.

Of course, others insist Plantard was not on the side of the angels during the war, but like his associate Francois Mitterand, who visited RlC in 1981, he was actually an active Vichy collaborator, and part of the Vichy's Uriage-based "educational movement" to turn the youth of France against modernity and progress. There are even accusations that he used Nazi connections to obtain esoteric documents from Martinists and others. As with other matters, figuring out whose side Plantard during WW II was on seems hard to do. The Gestapo under Klaus Barbie in Lyon was infilitrating, dissolving, and even murdering members of esoteric organizations during the Vichy Occupation. Martinist Constant Chevillon was killed when he fell into a "Synarchic" trap set by members of the Fraternite des Polaires, who were connected to the excavations that SS man Otto Rahn was doing in the South of France, looking for the treasure of Montsegur and/or the Grail.

One thing is certain about Msr. Plantard: his geneaology as presented in the "dossiers secretes" appears to be an utter fabrication. And, whatever relationship he wanted to present to the Sinclairs of Rosslyn, he only added the particle "de St. Clair" to his name in 1964. Plantard claims that in 1946, he left Alpha Galates and was inducted into the PoS by the Abbe Francois Ducaud-Bourget. However, there are similarities between Alpha Galates and the PoS, especially in apparent organizational structure, which suggest some other relationship. One also finds a strange semblance between the PoS "statutes" and the degrees and principles of the Rectified Scottish Rite in France (an outgrowth of the Templar Strict Observance) as well as the Memphis-Misraim branch of Masonry. Plantard may have been introduced to these rites by the Mason Camille Savoire.

Who was in charge between Cocteau's death in 1963 and Plantard's claimed accession in 1981 is not clear, but various sources suggest it was either Ducaud-Bourget, Catholic rightist Marcel Lefebvre, or some sort of triumvirate involving Plantard, an Italian (Merzagora), and an American banker (Gaylord Freeman, from Chicago First National). The "prieure documents" suggest there was a "schism" within the PoS in 1956, between some sort of "Anglo-American contingent" (apparently rightists connected to the Knights of Malta) and the main group. Whatever this "schism" was, it led the schismatics to register the group and its statutes with the French bureau of organizations, giving people their first traceable existence of the group in this year. Plantard claims he healed the "schism" and reunited the group. During this time (1961-1978), his associates began depositing the mysterious "prieure documents" (all having to do with treasure, Rennes-les-Chateau, Merovingians, white queens, and hidden secrets) in the Biblioteque Nationnale, under pseudonyms like "Anthony the Hermit".

Plantard claims that he was made Grand Master of the PoS on January 17th, 1981 (up until that time, he was merely its Secretary-General), coincidentally enough close to the time around which Holy Blood Holy Grail was published. But his term did not last long. In 1984, in an interview published in Messianic Legacy, he told the authors Baigent, Lincoln, and Leigh that certain "maneouvres" by his "Anglo-American" brethren could no longer be put up with, and that he was resigning. He died in February of this year (2000), and there are those who say that the PoS, which was his own creation, or at least became his cult of personality, ceased to exist in 1984. Certainly, all there has been since 1984 is speculation about the group and who is running it. No one has stepped forward to give any more interviews. Some think the PoS is now operating in Barcelona, with a Catalan attorney as its current Grand Master.


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Posts: 248 | Registered: Aug 2005