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

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Banking
The Templars got into banking almost by accident. When members joined the order, they often donated large amounts of cash or property to the order since all had to take oaths of poverty. Combined with massive grants from the Pope, their financial power was assured from the beginning. Since the Templars kept cash in all their chapter houses and temples, it was natural that in 1135 the Order started lending money to Spanish pilgrims who wanted to travel to the Holy Land. The Knights' involvement in banking grew over time into a new basis for money, as Templars became increasingly involved in banking activities. One indication of their powerful political connections is that the Templars' involvement in usury did not lead to more controversy within the Order and the church at large. The charge was typically sidestepped, by a stipulation that the Templars retained the rights to the production of mortgaged property.

The Templars' political connections and awareness of the essentially urban and commercial nature of the Outremer communities naturally led the Order to a position of significant power, both in Europe and the Holy Land. Their success attracted the concern of many other orders and eventually that of the nobility and monarchs of Europe as well, who were at this time seeking to monopolize control of money and banking after a long chaotic period in which civil society, especially the Church and its lay orders, had dominated financial activities. The Templars' holdings were extensive both in Europe and the Middle East, including for a time the entire island of Cyprus.

Ruin

Two Templars burned at the stake, from a French 15th century manuscriptThe fall of the Templars may have started over the matter of a loan. Philip IV, King of France needed cash for his wars and asked the Templars for money, who refused. The King tried to get the Pope to excommunicate the Templars for this but Pope Boniface VIII refused. Philip sent his councillor, Guillaume de Nogaret, in a plot to kidnap the Pope. Boniface VIII later died only a month later from shock due to the attempt and ill treatment. The next Pope, Benedict XI, lifted the excommunication of Philip IV but refused to absolve de Nogaret. It is suspected that the Pope's death was from poisoning through an agent of Nogaret. The next Pope, Clement V, agreed to Philip IV's demands about the Templars, and later moved the papacy to Avignon. On October 13 (the unlucky Friday the 13th), 1307, what may have been all the Knights Templar in France were simultaneously arrested by agents of Philip the Fair, later to be tortured into admitting heresy in the Order. The dominant view is that Philip, who seized the treasury and broke up the monastic banking system, was jealous of the Templars' wealth and power, and sought to control it for himself. These events, and the Templars' original banking of assets for suddenly mobile depositors, were two of many shifts towards a system of military fiat to back European money, removing this power from Church orders. Seeing the fate of the Templars, the Hospitallers of St John of Jerusalem and of Rhodes and of Malta were also convinced to give up banking at this time. Much of the Templar property outside of France was transferred by the Pope to the Knights Hospitaller, and many surviving Templars were also accepted into the Hospitallers.

Many kings and nobles supported the Knights at that time, and only dissolved the order in their fiefs when so commanded by Pope Clement V. Robert the Bruce, the King of Scots, had already been excommunicated for other reasons, and was therefore not disposed to pay heed to Papal commands. In Portugal the order's name was changed to the Order of Christ, and was believed to have contributed to the first naval discoveries of the Portuguese. Prince Henry the Navigator led the Portuguese order for 20 years until the time of his death. In Spain, where the king of Aragon was also against giving the heritage of the Templars to Hospitallers (as commanded by Clement V), the Order of Montesa took Templar assets.

Heresy and pardon

The manuscript illustration (c. 1350) alludes to the accusation of sodomy against the templars.Debate continues as to whether the accusation of religious heresy had merit by the standards of the time. Under torture, some Templars admitted to homosexual acts, and to the worship of heads and a mystery known as Baphomet. Their leaders later denied these admissions, and for that were executed. Some scholars discount these as forced admissions, typical during the Inquisition. Others argue that these accusations were in reality due to a misunderstanding of arcane rituals held behind closed doors which had their origins in the Crusaders' bitter struggle against the Saracens. These included denying Christ and spitting on the Cross three times, as well as kissing other men's buttocks.

According to some scholars, and recently recovered Vatican documents, these acts were intended to simulate the kind of humiliation and torture that a Crusader might be subjected to if captured by the Saracens. According to this line of reasoning, they were taught how to commit apostasy with the mind only and not with the heart. As for the accusations of head-worship and Templars trying to syncretize Christianity with Islam, some scholars argue that the former referred to rituals involving the alleged relics of Saint Euphemia, one of Saint Ursula's eleven maidens, Hughes de Payens, and John the Baptist rather than pagan idols. The latter they ascribe to the chaplains creating the term Baphomet through the Atbash cipher to mystify the term Sophia (Greek for "wisdom"), which was equated with the Logos (Greek for "Word"). This is a controversial interpretation, and is partly based on conjecture.

Conspiracy theories related to the suppression of the Knights Templar often go far beyond the suggested motive of seizing property and consolidating geopolitical power. It is the Catholic Church's position that the persecution was unjust, that there was nothing wrong with the Templars, and that the Pope at the time was manipulated into suppressing them. In 2001, Dr. Barbara Frale found the Chinon Parchment in the Vatican Secret Archives, a document that shows that Pope Clement V secretly pardoned the Knights Templar in 1314.

As he burned at the stake, Jacques de Molay, Grand Master of the Knights Templar, cursed King Philip and Pope Clement V to meet eternal justice within the year. Pope Clement V died only one month later and Philip IV seven months after that. Commentators were extremely pleased with such a development and often featured this story in their chronicles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_Templar

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[Knights Templar]

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Self-styled orders and claims of descent
The Templars play strongly in both the ritual and foundation of various branches of modern Freemasonry. The Scottish Rite, which was formed in France in the 18th Century, includes references to the Templars in many of its ritual degrees — primarily the section known as "Council of Kadosh" (degrees 19–30) and the final two degrees (31 and 32), known as the "Consistory".

Frank S. Land was serving in the DeMolay Council of Kadosh in post-World War I Kansas City, Missouri when he developed the idea for a fraternity for boys. Thus was born another modern Masonic organization related to the Templars in 1919 — the Order of DeMolay. While the organization was not directly descended from the Templars, its namesake Jacques de Molay, the last of the Grand Masters, is firmly entrenched in many of its rituals.

The Commandery of Knights Templar is the third major branch of the York Rite and open only to Christians. York Rite and Chivalric Masonry claim to be inspired by the Templars, but are not direct descendants of them. Here also, the Templars are firmly enshrined in the orders and rituals.

Some historians and authors have tried to draw a link from Freemasonry and its many branches to the Templars, with some Masonic organizations claiming a direct descent from them. This alleged link remains a point of debate among scholars.

The Order of the Solar Temple was an example of a "neo-Templar" group, founded by Luc Jouret and Joseph Di Mambro in 1984, that fraudulently claimed descent from the original Knights Templar. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Masons Carl Kellner and Franz Hartmann based their Ordo Templi Orientis, or "Oriental Templar Order" (often abbreviated "OTO") drawing upon Templar lore and from the highest degrees of Freemasonry. They borrowed symbolism extensively from Rosicrucianism, Illuminism, and Eastern mysticism. Kellner and Hartmann were later joined by high ranking Mason Theodor Reuss and occultist Aleister Crowley, who jointly drew the movement away from Masonic and Templar rites and deeply into the occult.


Although there are several self-styled orders that claim to be descended from, or revivals of, the Templar Order, an ecumenical Christian society based on the principles of chivalry, which styles itself as the Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem, (SMOTJ) was founded in 1804, with the support of Napoleon. It is dedicated to charitable works and antiquarian research. This "order," though not a genuine Order of Chivalry, operates on the basis of the traditions of the medieval Knights Templar. In 2001, the United Nations appointed the SMOTJ group as a non-governmental observer (NGO), which does not necessarily contribute to recognition as an Order of Chivalry. To be an Order of Chivalry in reality, an organization must be established as an Order by the country in which it is headquartered, with the head of State as its sovereign. SMOTJ has neither qualification. It is also important to note that SMOTJ is not connected in any way with any organization or aspect of Freemasonry.

Legends
The rapid succession of the last direct Capetian kings of France between 1314 and 1328, the three sons of Philip IV the Fair, led many to believe that the dynasty had been cursed – thus the name of "cursed Kings" (rois maudits). It is said that Jacques de Molay, the last master of the order, cursed King Philip while lying on his execution pyre.

The Knights Templar later became surrounded by legends concerning secrets and mysteries handed down to the select from ancient times. Perhaps most well known are those concerning the Holy Grail, the Ark of the Covenant, and secrets of building. Some sources say the Holy Grail, or Sangreal, was found by the order and taken to Scotland during the scourging of the order in 1307, and that it remains buried beneath Rosslyn Chapel. Some say that the order also found the Ark of the Covenant, the chest which contained sacred objects of ancient Israel, including Aaron's rod and the tablets of stone inscribed by God with the Ten Commandments.

These legends are connected with the long occupation by the order of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Some sources record that they discovered secrets of the Master Masons who had built the original and second temples secreted there, along with knowledge that the Ark had been moved to Ethiopia before the destruction of the first temple. Allusion to this is made in engravings on the Cathedral at Chartres (considered along with the Cathedrals at Amiens and Reims to be one of the best examples of gothic architecture), great influence over the building of which was had by St. Bernard of Clairvaux, who was also influential in the formation of the order. Further links to both the search by the order for the Ark and to its discovery of ancient secrets of building are suggested by the existence of the monolithic Church of St George in Lalibela in Ethiopia, which stands to this day and whose construction is incorrectly attributed to the Knights Templar. There is also an underground church dated to the same period in Aubeterre in France.

During the 14th century, England under King Edward II was at war with Scotland. In 1314 he engaged the Scots in battle at Bannockburn. A persistent tale would have it that the Scots won the battle largely due to the intervention of the Knights Templar on the side of their King Robert the Bruce. In reality, none of the contemporary or near contemporary accounts of the Battle of Bannockburn mention the Knights Templar at all, and it is certain that if the outlawed Templars had intervened on the side of the Scots, the chroniclers would have mentioned it. The tale is connected to Freemasonry and dates no earlier than the mid eighteenth century.

Templars are also listed among the crew of Henry Sinclair's (Earl of the Orkneys) legendary voyage from Scotland to North America in 1398. There is growing speculation surrounding relics that would indicate the possibility that the Knights Templar possessed the charts of pre-Columbian voyages to America. Christopher Columbus' navigators were members of the extant Portuguese Templar Order, and the Templar cross was featured prominently on the sails of his ships in 1492.

Fringe researchers and aficionados of esotericism have claimed that the order stored secret knowledge, linking them to the Rosicrucians, the Priory of Sion, the Rex Deus, the Cathars, the Hermetics, the Gnostics, the Essenes, and, ultimately, lost relics or teachings of Jesus such as the Shroud of Turin or a "Judas Testament."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_Templar

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Grand Masters from 1118 to 1314

Artistic representation of Renaud de Vichiers' (1250-1256) seal depicting the Temple of JerusalemHuguens de Payns (1118-1136)
Robert de Craon (Robertus Burgundio) (1136-1146)
Everard des Barres (Ebrardus de Barris) (1146-1149)
Bernard de Tremelay (1149-1153)
André de Montbard (1153-1156)
Bertrand de Blanchefort (1156-1169)
Philippe de Milly (Philippus de Neapoli/de Nablus) (1169-1171)
Odo (Eudes) de St Amand (Odon de Saint-Chamand) (1171-1179)
Arnaud de Toroge (Arnaldus de Turre Rubea/de Torroja )(1179-1184)
Gérard de Ridefort (1185-1189)
Robert de Sablé (Robertus de Sabloloi) (1191-1193)
Gilbert Horal (Gilbertus Erail/Herail /Arayl /Horal/Roral) (1193-1200)
Phillipe de Plessis Plaissie`/ Plesse` /Plessiez (1201-1208)
Guillaume de Chartres (Willemus de Carnoto) (1209-1219)
Pierre (Pedro) de Montaigu (Petrus de Monteacuto) (1219-1230)
Armand de Périgord (Hermannus Petragoricensis aka Hermann de Pierre-Grosse) (1232-1244)
Richard de Bures (1245-1247)
Guillaume de Sonnac (Guillelmus de Sonayo) (1247-1250)
Renaud de Vichiers (Rainaldus de Vicherio) (1250-1256)
Thomas Bérard (1256-1273)
Guillaume de Beaujeu (Guillelmus de Belloico) (1273-1291)
Thibaud Gaudin (Thiband Ggandin) (1291-1292)
Jacques de Molay (1292-1314)


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_Templar

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Places associated with the Knights Templar

The floor plan of Temple of Jerusalem and some construction lines; Source of inspiration for Templar constructionsBannockburn, site of the Battle of Bannockburn in Scotland
Convento de Cristo, Castle of Tomar and Church of Santa Maria do Olival in Tomar, Portugal.
Castle of Almourol, Idanha, Monsanto, Pombal and Zêzere in Portugal
Castle of Soure, Coimbra, Portugal
Quinta da Regaleira in Sintra, Portugal
Kolossi Castle in Cyprus
Lundy Island, Devon, England
Westerdale, North Yorkshire, England
Temple Church, Inner Temple, London, England
Hertford, England the Guardian
Holy Sepulchre in Cambridge, England Round Church
St Sepulchre's in Northampton, England
Rosslyn Chapel and Orphir Church in Scotland
Temple Mount, Dome of the Rock, and Well of Souls in Jerusalem
Chapel Chwarszczany in Poland
La chapelle saint-Georges d'Ydes in France
Church at Laon in France
Round Church of Lanleff in Brittany, France
The castle of Barberà in Spain
The castle of Ponferrada in Spain
Krak des Chevaliers (Castle of the Knights Hospitaller)
Chastel Blanc Syria
Oak Island, Nova Scotia (fabled western outpost)
Irrigation system in Aragon, Spain
Church of San Jacopo in Campo Corbolini, in Florence (Italy)
Tempelhof in Berlin, Germany

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_Templar

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   posted 11-16-2005 09:56 PM                       
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This one goes out to our good friend, Baphomet:

The Baphomet


Allegedly a goat-headed devil figure

Central to the accusations brought against the Knights Templar, was the accusation that, they worshipped an idol named Baphomet, which is said to have taken the form of a head or sometimes a Black Cat. The truth behind this mythos varies with various scholars.

The Baphomet is one aspect of the Templars mythos, could generate so many theories as to its true origins is amazing. The interest in the Baphomet has survived over 600 years and taken many forms. The opinions on the Baphomet vary greatly from scholar to scholar and mystic path to mystic path. The purpose of this section is to shed some light on some of the theories and the connection, if any, to the Knights Templar.

Mistakingly some describe the Templars as Devil worshipping Occultists, while historians of the twentieth century were of the belief that the Templars were party to the machinations of a corrupt government and church. It remains to be seen what the common consensus of this century will be regarding the order.

Twentieth century historians may have believed in innocence, the Baphomet mythos did survive as is indicated by the following dictionary definition: "Baphomet was the deity worshipped by the Knights Templar, and in Black Magic as the source and creator of evil; the Satanic goat of the witches' Sabbath and one of the names adopted by Aleister Crowley."

The image of the Baphomet is as varied as the explanations as to its etymology. A listing of some of the more common descriptions of it.

An idol with a human skull
Ahead with two faces
With a beard - Without a beard
With the heads of a cockerel
With the head of a man
With the head of a goat and the body of a man
Wings and cloven feet
The upper body of a woman (maternity)
A candle on its head - a symbol of revelation combining male sexual potency with the four elements and intelligence

Theories on the etymology of the Baphomet are many. To some it is believed to be a corruption of the Moslem prophet "Mahomet" or in English Mohammed. The Templars fought along side Moslem Assassins during their time and it is held that they may have adopted Islamic beliefs. This doesn't really hold water to anyone familiar with Islam as the religion forbids all forms of idolatry.

Another train of thought is that Baphomet is really a joining of two Greek words meaning absorption into wisdom. In either case the fact remains that the Templars were accused of practicing their initiations and rituals in front of a large idol of the demon Baphomet.

How did this belief come to be? Since King Philip of France sought to own the vast Templar wealth, he along with his puppet Pope Clement V had the Templars captured and tortured. During these tortures they made many confessions, among these, the disclosure that they had worshipped an idol said to be the Baphomet.

Were these claims true? Perhaps we'll never know. Jacques de Molay, who had earlier confessed his and the Templars guilt slowly burned at the stake insisting the order was innocent of all but one offence, that of allowing torture to cause them to lie and confess untruths.


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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.
The number 58 is less puzzling if one remembers that five (5) is the number of the pentagram and eight ( is indicative of Isis. We may now complete the simple equation which exposes her secret number: 5 X 8 = 40 = 58 - 18 ISIS

The numbers 5 and 8 are also exhibited in the beliefs of the 'Brothers of the Rose Cross', where the rose is constructed with a centre of five petals, surrounded by eight petals.

- David Wood, Genisis

Isis' 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

Public indignation was aroused by charges of worshipping the devil in the form of an idol called Baphomet. Baphomet was the Templar symbol of Gnostic rites based on phallic worship and the power of directed will. The androgynous figure with a goat's beard and cloven hooves is linked to the horned god of antiquity, the goat of Mendes.
- Peter Tompkins, The Magic of Obelisks

Some confessed that they had also worshipped an idol in the form of a cat, witch was red, or gray, or black, or mottled. Sometimes the idol worship required kissing the cat below the tail. Sometimes the cat was greased with the fat from roasted babies. The Templars were forced to eat food that contained the ashes of dead Templars, a form of witchcraft that passed on the courage of the fallen knights."
- John J. Robinson, Dungeon, Fire and Sword

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 abufihamat (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

During 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'.
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

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

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 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.

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

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 Perc (12??) tells of the flight of Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea to England and includes the following intriguing passage:
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

We found indisputable evidence for the charge of secret ceremonies involving a head of some kind. Indeed the existence of such a head proved to be one of the dominant themes running through the Inquisition records. Among the confiscated goods of the Paris preceptory a reliquary in the shape of a woman's head was found. It was hinged on top, and contained what appeared to have been relics of a peculiar kind."
- Baigent, Leigh & Lincoln, The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail

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."
- The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown ofthe 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

http://www.crystalinks.com/baphomet.html

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[Knights Templar]

Jason

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   posted 11-16-2005 10:14 PM                       
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Pretty cool topic. Left out of all the mystique about the Knights Templar is the fact that they were some of the deadliest warriors to ever walk the earth, monks and all.
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[Knights Templar]

Jason

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   posted 11-17-2005 11:10 PM                       
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Archangel, or anyone else, does anyone have any guesses as to what actually happened to the Knights Templar?

They have to be the subject that most interests me in the field of "alternate archaeology."
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[Knights Templar]

Smiley4554

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  posted 11-18-2005 09:45 AM                       
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The Knights Templar also (rumor has it) of a lost treasure.

I think it's interesting that the beginnings were so humble.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_Templar

After they were almost completely destroyed, they migrated to the British Isles, and from there to America while mingling with the Freemasons ostensibly to "hide" and keep the "treasure" safe.

Some say they are still around, but masquerading with the ranks of the Freemasons.

http://www.veling.nl/anne/templars/baitime1.htm

http://www.veling.nl/anne/templars/eleven.html

http://www.evolvemagazine.com/display_article.asp?art_num=5-52

Sometimes, it helps to have a map handy.

http://www.rosslyntemplars.org.uk/location2.htm

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"It is not what happens to you in life that matters. It's how you handle what happens to you that counts." Kim

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Please contact me by using the PM on the site. I will respond much faster. Thanks! Kim

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Posts: 5579 | From: Arkansas...USA | Registered: Jan 2001   

[Knights Templar]

Smiley4554

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  posted 11-18-2005 10:27 AM                       
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http://www.rosslynchapel.org.uk/exhibitions/exhibitions.htm

http://www.theunjustmedia.com/from_templars_to_freemasonry.htm

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"It is not what happens to you in life that matters. It's how you handle what happens to you that counts." Kim

http://www.panoramio.com/user/120220

Please contact me by using the PM on the site. I will respond much faster. Thanks! Kim

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Posts: 5579 | From: Arkansas...USA | Registered: Jan 2001   

[Knights Templar]

Jason

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   posted 11-19-2005 01:58 PM                       
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Hi Smiley, thanks for the info and glad that someone else is also interested in this.

Some of the Knights Templar were said to have gone to Switzerland and founded the banking system there. The banking system of the Swiss is said to be one of the most secretive, and resepcted in the world so that makes sense.

Others were said to have gone to Scotland and helped Robert LaBruce gain Scottish independence. This would also make sense, too, because the Scots won the war against the English though they were outnumbered, and were said to have been helped by "knights in white." Part of this is, of course, dealt with in the movie Braveheart.
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Posts: 318 | From: Dorm Room | Registered: Oct 2005   

[Knights Templar]

 
Jason

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   posted 11-19-2005 02:08 PM                       
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Scotland wasn't popular with the church at the time that time, by the way, because LaBruce was supposed to have executed one of his enemies in the church. The Pope expected the Scots to rise up against him, offended that he would actually do something like that in a church. When they didn't, well, the Scots lost some favor with the Pope so it would make sense for the Templars would go there.
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Posts: 318 | From: Dorm Room | Registered: Oct 20
 

[Knights Templar]

Rachel Dearth

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   posted 11-24-2005 01:58 AM                       
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Knights Templar
in the Grail Legend

Aerial view of the Templar Castle - far left.
If you are interested in Christian legends, such as the Holy Grail or the Shroud of Turin, one group from the past will invariably be mentioned; the Knights Templar. During the Crusades, the Templars made for themselves a legacy of great achievement and discovery. Although they were ultimately disbanded, tried as heretics, and tortured, they claimed to be the most devout and flawless knights to take part in the Crusades to the Holy Land. The Templars were called heretics due to accounts of their beliefs, such as the accusation that they worshipped a severed head as sacred, specifically that of the devil Baphomet. This head, however, was probably the image of Christ's face on a cloth, variously called the Mandilion, the Veil of St. Veronica, or the Shroud of Turin.

One very important question regarding the Grail Legend is, "Where did the story begin?" Although sources for the legend range from Celtic to Oriental, the classical version of the story began in the time of the Crusades. One of the first mentions of the Grail was in 1204 in the chronicles of a French monk named Helinandus. He stated the Grail was the cup used by Christ at the Last Supper. The more well known texts begin with "Perceval", by the French cleric and poet Chretien de Troyes, born about 1135 while the Crusades still held Jerusalem. He was patronized by Countess Mary of Champagne, daughter of King Louis VII and Eleanor of Aquitaine. They lived in a kingdom of courtly love and chivalry, much like that outlined in the Arthurian tales. Mary's husband, Count Henry, died one week after his return from a trip to the Holy Land.

Another Grail author, Wolfram von Eschenbach, stated that Chretien derived the story of the Grail from a provincial cleric named Kyot, probably Guyot de Provins, a supporter of the Templars.


Legendary Templar Grave
"Wolfram's authority, Kyot or Guyot de Provins, was said to have lived in Jerusalem and at the court of Frederick Barbarossa, as well as being an initiate of the Templar mysteries..." *

In several Grail romances, including "Parzival" by Eschenbach, the knights of the Grail are identified, directly or indirectly, as the Templars, wearing white surcoats with red crosses. Eschenbach portrayed the Grail as being a sacred stone, like the Philosopher's Stone; more of a Gnostic or Muslim view of the legend.

Not coincidentally, the power and acclaim of the Templars gained them a place in the legend of the Holy Grail and other relics.

"The Templars were also named as the keepers of the Grail in the anonymous romance "Perlesvaus", but now they were crusaders against pagan Islam. The Grail was the chalice of Christ's blood, not a mystic stone, which might also signify "vas Hermetis" o r the Philosopher's Stone of the alchemists, capable of transmuting all to spiritual harmony. There was no peace or compromise with Muslim chivalry or faith in the "Perlesvaus". Its French author claimed that it was based on a Latin book written by a monk of Glastonbury; but its detailed accounts of weapons and armour and military strategy, as well as its praise of the Knights of the Grail protecting their sacred secret in their mantles embroidered with red crosses, suggested that the writer was a member of the Templar Order. The Grail was described as the Eucharistic chalice of the Last Supper brought over to Britain by Joseph of Arimathea; but that was its final and fifth form as seen by King Arthur after attending a sacrament given by hermits. The blee ding lance was also the lance of Longinus, which pierced Christ's side on the Cross and was rediscovered by the Crusaders at Antioch. Also visible was the bloody sword that had cut off the head of St. John the Baptist, revered by the monastic knights." *

One's immediate instinct is, as is usually the case, that the group with the money and power control the writing of history. However, there is evidence which may promote the idea of the Templars being closely linked to the Grail and the other relics. T o examine this link, it is necessary to understand the importance of a city conquered by the Crusaders; Constantinople, today called Istanbul, Turkey.

"What was certainly true was that Constantinople was held by the Crusaders to possess more holy relics than the rest of the Christian world. By a long and elaborate process of international bribes, saintly King Louis the Ninth of France arranged for th e Byzantine Crown of Thorns in its sealed casket to be redeemed from Venice and to be enshrined in Paris within the miracle of the building of the Sainte Chapelle. Even when the Treasury of the basilica of San Marco was gutted by fire in 1231, the most ho ly of the looted relics were providentially spared by the flames." *

This is not difficult to believe. History states that the rulers of this ancient city scoured the known world for Christian artifacts, not the least of which was said to be the Holy Rood, or the true cross of Christ. In Scotland, the Templars, specific ally the St. Clairs, were the traditional guardians of holy relics such as a portion of the True Cross, a sacred stone, and several sacred apocryphal scrolls which are said to be hidden somewhere inside Rosslyn Chapel, built by the St. Clair family.

"Rosslyn Chapel is the Third Day of Creation in stone. It is a rebuilding of the Temple of Solomon carved within its luxuriant friezes of plants and leaves and flowers. It was also built as a Chapel of the Grail with the Knights of the Grail buried in its vaults. In my quest to decipher this secret, I had to search for what the Grail was meant to be before I could discover it at Rosslyn. Its myth also derives from the time of the Crusades." *

A particularly important link between Rosslyn Chapel and the Grail legend turned out to be a small, obscure tombstone, almost hidden in a dark corner of the Chapel.

"In the case of the chalice on the tombstone of Sir William de St. Clair at Rosslyn, the cup encloses an octagonal rosy cross with the flower signifying Christ's blood in the centre. It is one of the earliest representations of that symbol, held to be part of the Gnostic revelations or secret Gospels known to the Knights of the Order of the Temple of Solomon [The Templars] and later to the Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross, which considered the heart of Jesus to be the temple where the life of the world dw elt as well as a rose and a cup. It also suggests a connection between the Templars and the Cathars, before their destruction in the Albigensian Crusade. The Cathars were also Gnostics, who were much influenced by the troubadour Courst of the Langue d'Oc, particularly by the seminal knightly romance epic, the "Roman de la Rose", and the later Grail romances. In these, the Templars riding with their red cross were the keepers of the secret of the rose within the chalice. The Grail on the St. Clair tombston e also explains why the Grail is still held to be within the Apprentice Pillar in Rosslyn Chapel, a pillar built especially to enclose it. If Templar relics did reach Rosslyn, a communion cup or chalice within it might have been called the Grail, and left with the St. Clairs for security. The present Knights Templar of Scotland possess a jeweled communion cup of the Middle Ages, which may descend from the Templar treasure carried to the Firth of Forth. And as the guardians of the Holy Rood, the St. Clairs might well have been thought worthy to guard a Holy Grail." *

So, what is the point of this treatise on the Knights Templar and Rosslyn Chapel? My point is this. IF one suspends their immediate disbelief, and imagines that the Grail might exist, the means by which the legend came down to us is via the exploits of the Knights Templar. Rosslyn Chapel in Lothian, Scotland was built by the St. Clair family based on the sacred geometry of the Templars, such as the 8-pointed Maltese type cross. Beneath Rosslyn Chapel are buried several Templar Knights. Rosslyn Chapel i s filled with mysterious and symbolic carvings which are said to detail where the secret Templar treasure is hidden. Inside the Apprentice Pillar, there is also said to be a metal chalice; possibly the Grail. Although this is unlikely, Rosslyn was the sit e of heavy Templar activity, and the home of the Templar St. Clair family who were guardians of holy relics. If the Grail existed, it may have come there at some point, even if it isn't there now. But no matter what lies under or in Rosslyn Chapel, it is a shrine both to God, and to the endless quest, started a thousand years ago, to find the Holy Grail.

* Quotes taken from "The Sword and The Grail" by Andrew Sinclair, (a book I HIGHLY recommend!)

http://www.ufodigest.com/shadowmag/paranormal/grail.html
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[Knights Templar]

 
Rachel Dearth

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   posted 11-24-2005 02:02 AM                       
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Notes on the Knights Templar

The myths
Pope Clement V [Bibliotèque nationale]
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"There are many popularly believed myths about the Order of the Temple. The first is that there is very little evidence surviving about the Order. In fact, a great deal of evidence survives. It is true that the central archive of the Order is lost: this was originally held at the Order's headquarters, at first in Jerusalem, then at Acre, then (after 1291) on Cyprus. After the dissolution of the Order by Pope Clement V in 1312 the archive passed into the possession of the Hospital of St John. Presumably it remained on Cyprus and was destroyed when the Ottoman Turks captured the island in 1571." [p. 8.]
"...a good deal of material about the Templars remains. The Order is far from being a mystery." "Other myths about the Templars abound, It is not true, for example, that the Templers were found guilty as charged in 1312; Pope Clement V actually declared the charges not proven, but dissolved the Order because it had been brought into so much disrepute that it could not continue to operate. The Templers were not monks...." [p. 12.]
"The Order of the Temple was not destroyed because it had outlived its purpose, because it was corrupt, or because it was in decline." [p. 236.]
"Historians from the Middle Ages to the present day have developed a 'model' of the rise and fall of the Templars: the pure ideals of the first knights became contaminated as the Order grew rich and became involved in politics; the Order became corrupt and greedy and increasingly unpopular, and meanwhile the West lost interest in the Crusades; so when Philip IV of France attacked the Order for its money, no one defended it and the Order fell. This 'model' has gained wide acceptance despite the fact that it is false, because it provides an attractively simple explanation for the otherwise unjust and inexplicable fall of the Order." [p. 240.]
"[Walter] Scott and [George] Macdonald misused the Templars for literary effect, but some writers deliberately developed the myth of the Templars for political or religious purposes, even fabricating physical evidence in order to 'prove' their arguments. The German Freemasons claimed that the Templars were a secret society with esoteric knowledge, and that they were destroyed because of this knowledge, which Philip IV wanted to obtain. In 1796 Charles Louis Cadet de Cassicour portrayed the Templars as part of a secret conspiracy which was behind the French Revolution and the execution of Louis XVI, in revenge for the death of James de Molay in 1314. Such writers were following the example of those who had contrived the original charges against the Templars: projecting their own fantasies and interests on to their victims. Most influental of these writers with a historical-religious purpose was Joseph von Hammer Purgstall, who in 1818 published a work called The Mystery of Baphomet Revealed. Hammer wanted to discredit the Freemasons, and attacked the 'Templar masons' in order to undermine the whole movement. He argued, using archaeological evidence faked by earlier scholars and literary evidence such as the Grail romances, that the Templars were Gnostics and the 'Templars' head' was a Gnostic idol called Baphomet. He did not realise that Gnostics did not have idols and that Baphomet is simply the Old French word for the name Mohammad." [p. 242.]
"Recently the Templars' supposed secret knowledge has become associated with the Turin shroud, the relic held by the cathedral of Turin, which some believe to be the shroud of Christ. In 1978 it was suggested that this shroud, which shows an image of Christ's head, could have been the famous 'Templars' head'. Modern scientific analysis, published in 1989, has dated the shroud to the fourteenth century, probably to the 1320s or 1330s — after the dissolution of the Templars." [p. 244.]
"The Templers were not particularly secretive — no more so than other religious Orders of their period, and certainly no more so than the other leading Military Orders, the Hospital of St John and the Teutonic Order." [p. 13.]
"Perhaps the Templars were particularly insistent about evicting non-members of the Order from chapter-meetings, but there is no evidence for this." [p. 14.]
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[Knights Templar]

Rachel Dearth

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   posted 11-24-2005 02:03 AM                       
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Chroniclers of the Order
"This book does not attempt to replace the great scholarly works on the Order by Marie Luise Bulst-Theile, Alain Demurger, Alan Forey and Malcolm Barber." [p. 15.]
Archbishop William of Tyre composed his history of the crusader states between 1165-1184:
"There was nowhere for them to live, so King Baldwin II (1118-31) gave them his palace on the south side of the 'Lord's Temple' or Dome of the Rock (this palace was the Aqsa mosque, which the crusaders called 'Solomon's Temple')" [p. 23.]
William of Tyre wrote that the concept of the first Military Order sprang from the Church and that they were the equivalent of monks.
Simon, a monk of St Bertin wrote around 1135-7 that the first Templers were crusaders who decided to stay in the Holy Land after the First crusade.
The Anglo-Normon monk Orderic Vitalis (1075-c. 1141) wrote in the 1120s or 30s that they were pious knights but not monks. He does not record their origins.
Abbot Bernard of Clairvaux wrote a letter before 1136 that influenced subsequent writers' view of the Templars as knights who lived like monks. The uncertainty of subsequent writers over how the Order began indicates that its founding was not noticed in the West at the time.
"Abbot Bernard had been present at the Council of Troyes in January 1129 when the Council established the Rule of the Order of the Temple and gave the Brothers a habit." [p. 27.]
"However, Bernard's role was played only after the Order had come into existence. The survey so far has shown that contemporaries and near-contemporaries were not sure when the Order of the Temple began, or why it began, or who was responsible for its beginning." "Later writers had heard other stories." [p. 29.]
"Describing their deeds after 1150, [William of Tyre] brushed over their successes, minimised their positive role and emphasised their failures." "Yet examination of William's account and comparison with other, often more contemporary sources, indicates that his picture of the Military Orders was not accurate." [p. 87.]
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Posts: 143 | Registered: Sep 2005 

[Knights Templar]

 
Rachel Dearth

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   posted 11-24-2005 02:04 AM                       
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History of the Order
Two templars on one horse with the banner of Beausant, as illustrated by Matthew Paris. The British Library, BL Royal Ms 14, fol. 42v. [Plate 1.1.The Knights Templar in Britain, Evelyn Lord. p. 5.]
"It is difficult to say how many Templars there were in the Latin East... but it has been suggested that the Orders of the Temple and the Hospital could each put an army of three hundred Brothers in the field, knights and armed sergeants (non-knights), as well as mercenaries or hired soldiers." [pp. 53-54.] [See Forey, The Military Orders, pp. 68-9, 79.]
"Military Order castles were garrisoned by a small number of Brothers and a large force of hired mercenaries. At the Templars' castle of Safed in Galilee in the 1260s there were 50 knight-Brothers, 30 armed sergeant-Brothers, 50 turcopoles (native lightly armed mercenaries) and also 300 hired archers." [p. 62.] [Forey]
"On 6 April 1291 Acre, the last major European Christian stronghold in the Holy Land came under attack from the troops of Sultan al-Ashraf Khalil. The seige lasted over a month and the Muslims began their final assault on 18 May. [p. 85.]
"The Order's preference for calling an official 'commander' (Latin: preceptor) causes problems for modern historians trying to work out the Order's leadership structure." [p. 117.]
"The standard was baucant (piebald), with a black and white section. Contemporary illustrations differ over which part of the banner was white and which was black. Matthew Paris, the chronicler of St Albans Abbey, shows it with the upper section black and the lower section white; the Order's own frescoes at San Bevignate, Perugia, show it with a white upper section (with cross superimposed) and a black lower section." [p. 118.]
"Most of the poeple living in a commandery in the West would never have fought the Muslims and were not expected to do so." "The non-military sergeants or serving Brothers did manual work, such as carpentry, looking after animals, working as smiths or stonemasons." [p. 128.]
Other people living in commanderies were hermits, servants and pensioners. [p. 136.]
"A Templar commandery was a busy place, a mixture of a secular farm and/or industrial site and/or business centre, plus the daily round of religious observance." [p. 137.]
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Posts: 143 | Registered: Sep 2005