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

[Knights Templar]

Rachel Dearth

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Seals of the Masters
"Officials of religious Orders had their own seals to validate documents approved by the Order. The Master of the Temple's great seal was double-sided and showed the circular dome of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on one side and the Orders's symbol of two knights on one horse on the other. There was also a smaller, single-sided seal, which showed the circular dome of the Holy Sepulchre." [p. 114.]
Seals of Brother Otto of Brunswich, commander of Supplingenburg, shows a lion; that of William, Master of the Temple in Hungary and Slovonia, 1297, depicts a winged griffen; that of Bertram von Esbeck, Master of the Temple in Germany, 1296 depicts an eagle with two six pointed stars. [p. 108-09]
Seals of Brother Widekind, Master of the Temple in Germany, 1271, and Brother Frederick Wildergrave, 1289, showed Christ's head [p. 119.]
The seal of Templar officials in Yorkshire c.1300 shows a tower with a pointed roof. The seal of Brother Roustan de Comps, commander of the Order of the Temple at Richerenches, 1232, shows a single knight on horseback, bearing a shield with a cross: probably St. George.
The seal of Brother Bertrand de Blancafort, Master of the Temple, 1168, shows two knights on one horse and the reverse with the circular dome. [p. 114, 116.]
The seals of the Masters of the Temple in England: of Aimery de St Maur, 1200, Robert of Sandford, , 1241, Richard of Hastings, 1160-85, and William de la More, 1304, showed the agnus Dei the lamb of God. [p. 177, 180.]
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[Knights Templar]

 
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Alliances with Muslims
"Complaints against the Templars' alliances with Muslims had some basis in fact." "Such diplomatic contacts and a healthy respect for a formidable enemy were essential for the Templars as part of their struggle to defend Chrisendom in the east. Truces and alliances with Muslims enabled the crusader states to live to fight another day. The fact that Muslim writers always rejoiced over the Templars when they were defeated and depicted them as evil enemies of Islam shows that, despite these alliances and friendships, in reality the Templars always remained what they claimed to be — fanatical warriors of Christ." [pp. 79-80;]
"After the Battle of Hattin on 4 July 1187, when Saladin's army destroyed the army of the kingdom of Jerusalem and captured King Guy and the leading nobles, Saladin bought the Templars and Hospitallers who had been taken prisoner and had every one of them executed." [p. 54.]
"As in the Holy Land, Christian rulers in Spain would also ally with Muslim rulers against other Christians." [p. 90.]
"After 1187 the secular cleric Walter Map made a few remarks on the Templars' vocation." "Map had heard stories which showed that the Templars did not want peace or to convert Muslims; they only wanted to fight." [p. 37.]
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[Knights Templar]

Rachel Dearth

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Wealth of the Templars
Charitable donations decreased with increased political stability in western Christendom, a shifting pattern of piety to the personal away from the institutional, and a shift in royal policy forbidding donations of land without royal licence.
"All these changes reduced the income enjoyed by all religious Orders by the early fourteenth century, They came at the same time (and partly as a result of) inflation which reduced the value of money rents...." [p. 178.]
"They made money in the countryside not only from farming, but also from rents and from commerce and trade." [p. 188.]
In 1275 William de Beaujeu arrived in Acre to discover that the Order "was in a weaker stare than it had ever been, with many expenses and almost no revenues, as its possessions had all been plundered by the sultan." [p. 83.]
"During the 1260s the people of the Holy Land watched with indignation as European crusaders were diverted to fight papal wars in Sicily at the same time as their castles were falling one by one before Baibars's inexorable advance." [p. 85.]
"As the thirteenth century progressed the kings of Aragorn complained more and more that the Military Orders were not meeting their military obligations. The Orders were genuinely short of money because of losses in the Holy Land and a fall in pius donations to all religious Orders in western Europe. The resources in their houses were not impressive." The Templars' house at Huesca "with military obligations apparently only expected to have to arm seven knights and three sergeants...." [p. 98.]
["...the survey in 1308 shows that the Templars' property was unkempt and ruinous." "...there is no evidence of the luxuries or wealth that the Templars were accused of possessing." "But when the value of goods is compared with other inventories taken in the fourteenth century it can be seen that the Templars' goods are on the same scale as those found in peasant inventories, rather than what might be expected from a manorial household." The Knights Templar in Britain, Evelyn Lord, p. 96, 43, 98.]
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[Knights Templar]

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Architecture of the Templars
"From the 1250s the Templars, Hospitallers and Teutonic knights were given or sold many castles by the secular nobility of the crusader states, who could no longer afford to maintain and garrison them." [p. 59.]
The Templars held fourteen fortifications and two other properties in the Iberian peninsula during the 12th and 13th centuries. [p. 92.]
The Templars held five fortresses and fourteen other properties in Eastern Europe. [p. 104.]
"...for the most part [Templar churches] were built in the local style, even when the Order built from scratch. Clearly these Orders did not bring in their own architects and masons from outside when they wanted to build, but hired local workers on the spot." [p. 158.] ["One characteristic of Templar architecture was the church with a round nave, presumed to have been modelled on Solomon's Temple. This does not mean that all Templar churches had round naves, or that all churches with round naves once belonged to Templars." The Knights Templar in Britain, Evelyn Lord, p. 25.] ["The list of expenses [for the London temple in 1308] included the wages of those employed by the Order up to the time of the arrests. Adam the Mason received 4d a day. As he alone is recorded as a mason, he was probably employed for repairs to the fabric rather than any major building work." The Knights Templar in Britain, Evelyn Lord, p. 26.]
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[Knights Templar]

Rachel Dearth

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The Templars as bankers
"The Templars in particular also provided a range of financial services for rulers. This could vary from making loans and looking after valuables to running the royal treasury, as in France. The Templars were not a bank in the modern sense of the word as their financial operations were merely a sideline, a result of their need to store and move large quantities of cash about Christendom. Money deposited with them was not pooled and reinvested, but remained in its owners' strongboxes within the Order's treasury, and could not be accessed without the owner's permission." [p. 162.]
"All religious Orders were used by lay people as a safe deposit for valuables, and were asked to lend money when lay people needed cash. The Templars in particular became well known for providing these sort of financial services for the same reason that they were used by kings as almoners, treasurers, and money carriers: the Order had developed systems for the collection, safe storage and transport of large sums of cash and other valuables in the West for carrying to the East." [p. 188.]
"All religious Orders lent money, but as Christians were not allowed to levy interest (this practice was called 'usury') they had to find other ways of covering the cost of the loans. There were various ways in which this could be done. Some Templar loans from southern France included a clause in the loan agreement that if the coin depreciated in value between the time of the loan and the repayment then the borrower must add a fixed sum to compensate the lender. As the fixed sum would remain the same however much the coin depreciated, it is likely that an interest charge lay buried in this fixed sum. Again, if land was given as the pledge for the debt, it might be stipulated in the loan conditions that the produce from the land did not count towards the repayment of the loan. Complaints of Templar greed could conceivably have sprung from such clauses, but the complainers did not specify loans as a particular cause of grief." [pp. 189-90.]
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[Knights Templar]

Rachel Dearth

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The Templar Fleet
"The Templers did have ships to carry personnel, pilgrims and supplies across the Mediterranean between the West and East and back, but if the Hospital after 1312 is any guide they did not have more than four galleys (warships) and few other ships, and if they needed more they hired them. They certainly could not spare ships to indulge in world exploration — in any case, their ships were not sturdy enough to cross an ocean and could not carry enough water for more than a few days. The Order had vast resources in land, but was always very short of liquid capitol, which was needed to invest in fortifications and personnel in the east." [p. 12.] [The Falcon and the Templar Rose are mentioned by name in Malcolm Barber's The New Knighthood. Piers Paul Read, in The Templars p. 271, claims eighteen galleys, without citation.]
"When the Templars had made their money in the West, they had to get it out to the East. There has been some debate among scholars as to whether any actual transfer of coin took place, but the latest view is that coin was actually carried from the West to the East. This meant that the Templars needed ships to carry their coin, as well as agricultural produce, horses and personnel for the east. They also provided a secure carrying service for pilgrims — safer and cheaper than hiring a commercial carrier. These would have been heavy transport vessels rather than warships. Much of the surviving evidence for Templar shipping comes from the relevant port records or royal records giving permission for the export of produce. At La Rochelle on the west coast of France during the twelfth century the Templars were given several vinyards and produced wine for their own consumption and for export; although the cartulary of their house is lost, the records of the port of La Rochelle show that the Templars were exporting wine by ship. This was not a fleet in any modern sense: again, those would have been transport vessels rather than warships, and the Templars probably hired them as they needed them, rather than buying their own.
"The hierarchial statutes attached to the Templars' Rule, dating from the twelfth century before 1187, refer to the Order's ships at Acre (Sectin 119), but do not state how many ships the Order owned. After 1312 the Hospital of St. John was mainly involved in sea-based warfare and had an admiral in command of its marine operations, but only had four galleys (warships), with other vessels. It is unlikely that the Templars had any more galleys than the Hospitallers. The ships would have been very small by modern standards, too shallow in draught and sailing too low in the water to be able to withstand the heavy waves and winds of the open Atlantic, and suited for use only in the relatively shallow waters of the continental shelf. What was more, they could not carry enough water to be at sea for long periods." [pp. 191-92.]
"... the Templars and Hospitallers accompanied [King James I of Aragon (1213-76)] when he set out on crusade in 1269 — although he had to turn back because of poor weather conditions at sea. During the voyage the Templars' ship lost its rudder and James sent over his own ship's spare rudder, although one of his advisers opposed this, saying that the Templars should have brought their own spare." [p. 97.]
"The earliest references to Templar ships outside the kingdom of Jerusalem come in the first decades of the thirteenth century, when they were operating at Constantinople and in the Bay of Biscay, In 1224 King Henry III of England hired a Templar ship, 'the Great Ship' and its captain, Brother Thomas of the Temple of Spain, for use in his wars in France. Henry later bought the ship from the Master of the Temple in Spain for 200 marks and kept it. Presumably the Templars in Spain had a few ships, if they could spare this one. As mentioned above in the account of his abortive crusade, the Templars of Aragorn accompanied James I of Aragorn as he set sail for the east, but their ship's rudder broke, and they did not have a spare. This does not indicate great naval expertise or investment." [pp. 192-93.]
Sergeant-Brother Roger de Flor commanded the Falcon, assisting in the evacuation of Acre in 1291. Found guilty of profiteering and sentenced to hang, he left the Falcon at Marsailles. [p. 193.]
"The fact that the Templars' Spanish great ship also came equipped with its own captain, Brother Thomas, who remained with it after Henry III had bought it, indicates that this was the normal form of organization for the Templars' ships. Theoretically they belonged to the Order but were run as individual units under Brothers who were experienced sailers. When they were not being used by the Order, for example for carrying pilgrims or produce, they engaged in privateering and other commercial enterprises." [p. 194.]
"[Pope] Nicholas IV also ordered the Masters of the Temple and Hospital to build up a fleet, and in January 1292 he authorized them to use their ships to assist the Armenians. In 1293 the Templars and Venetians equipped six galleys in Venice to help protect Cyprus against the Muslims: there were four Venetian and two Templar ships. On the basis that this was the maximum number of ships that the Templars could find for this important project, a fleet of two is hardly impressive." [p. 199.]
["The Templar pilgrim fleet was based at Marseilles. In 1233 they were granted the right to dock their ships there and carry pilgrims to the Holy Land, but after protests by local ship owners this was restricted to two ships a year, leaving for Easter and in August. They were allowed to carry 1,500 pilgrims in these, and to keep one ship in the port for their own use." Supplying the Crusader states, Barber. p. 322]
["Their main fleet was at La Rochelle, and it was this fleet, berthed away from the theatre of war, that was part of the maritime network linking the Order in the British Isles with the continent. We know the class and names of at least two of the ships plying between La Rochelle and the south coast. In 1230 Henry III issued a licence to the Templars' ship La Templere from La Rochelle to land, bringing wine and victuals for the brothers. A little later another licence was given to the Master and the brothers of the Temple for the vessel called La Buzzard to come into port. (Calender of Patent Rolls, 1225-1232). The Knights Templar in Britain, Evelyn Lord, p. 120.]
["When on official business the Patent Rolls show that the constable of Dover Castle was ordered to provide a ship for the Templars." The Knights Templar in Britain, Evelyn Lord, p. 121.]
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[Knights Templar]

Rachel Dearth

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Witchcraft
"Until the eleventh century the Church had not taken witchcraft and magic terribly seriously: once active paganism had died out in western Europe, witchcraft was viewed as little more than a collection of superstitious practices indulged in by deluded old women. It could be dangerous, but it was not a major threat to society as a whole. However with the discovery of the scientific classical Greek and Arabic texts in the library of Toledo (captured by Alfonso VI of León -Castille in 1085), this attitude changed. For part and parcel with this ancient science were magical texts, based on mathamatics and the study of the stars and planets, and on the innate qualities of plants, stones and animals." [p. 209.]
"The group most notorious for their involvement in magic during the Middle Ages were the secular priests." "The other group with a particular interest in magic was the literati, the educated officials who provided the backbone of royal government." {p. 212.]
"There is no evidence at all that the Templars had any knowledge of science, and certainly they had no knowledge of magic; medieval magic was a supremely literate science, recorded and performed in Latin, whereas the Templers in general were remarkably illiterate...." [p. 12.]
"Most of the Brothers of the Order came from the lower ranks of knights or were not of knightly descent at all; many were craftsmen, or people who performed ordinary agricultural tasks such as herding sheep and cattle." [p. 2.]
"For the most part these people were not educated; the knights and squires could read their own language but not Latin. [p. 3.]
["In the west the members of the Order were monks adhering to their vows of chastity, poverty and obedience, observing silence within the preceptory precincts, and hearing the offices throughout the day and night." "There is no evidence in the 1308 inventories of any intellectual or literary activity." The Knights Templar in Britain, Evelyn Lord, p. 108.]
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[Knights Templar]

Rachel Dearth

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Baphomet
"The charge that the Templars venerated [not worshipped] a head was true, since the Order did venerate the heads of at least two female martyrs, St Euphemia and one of St Ursula's maidens, the former in the East and the latter in Paris. These relics were well known, often seen and fully accounted for." [p. 213.]
"The so-called 'Templars' head' was probably the head of St Euphemia. The Draper of the Order and two knights stated during the trial of the Order on Cyprus that they had not heard of any idols in the Order, but the Order had the head of St Euphemia." [p. 147.]
"Brother William of Arreblay, former almoner to King Philip IV of France, testified that he had often seen on the alter in the Temple of Paris a silver head, and the leading officials of the Order adored it. He understood that this was the head of one of the 11,000 virgins martyred with St. Ursula at Cologne...." [p. 149.]
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[Knights Templar]

 
Rachel Dearth

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The trial
"As the charges against the Templars had no basis in previous criticism, and were clearly 'standard' accusations, why did anyone believe them? The answer to this is two-fold. First, hardly anyone outside the domains of France did believe them. Secondly, within France the charges were carefully grounded in the actual activities of the Templars." [p. 213.]
"In short, the charges were ingeniously devised to make the most of the Templars' weak points, to undermine their strong points and to make it impossible for them to escape." [p. 214.]
"Very little third-party evidence was heard during the French trial. On Cyprus, third-party evidence was heard at length and was virtually unanimous: the charges were absolutely false." [p. 216.]
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[Knights Templar]

Rachel Dearth

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Rosslyn Chapel
"... we have to ask why [Roslin] chapel is associated with the Templars when the Order was suppressed 100 years before it was built. The key to this is the gravestone of William St Clair, who died fighting the Moors in Spain whilst taking Robert the Bruce's heart to be buried in the Holy Land. This has a floriated cross on it that is thought to be the emblem of the Templars. This ancestor of the St Clairs is thought to have been a Templar. Further back in time there is a tradition that Hugh de Payens, the founder of the Order, was married to a Katherine St Clair." The Knights Templar in Britain, Evelyn Lord, p. 153.
["the heart was removed on his instructions and taken by Sir James Douglas on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Douglas was killed on the way (1330)..." Encyclopaedia Britannica, v. 10, p. 104]
"The Knights Templars in the British Island had little or no experience of open battle and why should they have been supporting Bruce against Edward II when on the whole Edward had been particularly lenient towards them?" The Knights Templar in Britain, Evelyn Lord, p. 154.
"Henry and William St Clair testified against the Templars, reporting that they had heard 'things against the brother's secret receptions.'" The Knights Templar in Britain, Evelyn Lord, p. 201.
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The Knights Templar, A new history, Helen Nichlson. 2001: Sutton Publishing Limited, Phoenix Mill Thrupp, Stroud, Gloucestershire UK. ISBN: 0-7509-2517-5. hb 278pp. Also see The Trial of the Templars in Cyprus, Anne Gilmour-Bryson. University of Melbourne, 2000. For a masonic perspective: "The Knights Templar in Scotland, The Creation of a Myth" by Robert L.D. Cooper, Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, vol. 115 (2002) London : Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076, 2003. pp. 94-152.

http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/anti-masonry/templars.html
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[Knights Templar]

Danielle Gorree

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Oak Island (44° 31′00″N, 64° 17′57″W) is a 140 acre (570,000 m²) island in Lunenberg County on the south shore of Nova Scotia, Canada. The tree-covered island is one of about 360 small islands in Mahone Bay, and rises to a maximum of 35 feet (11 m) above sea level.

The Money Pit
Oak Island is noted as the location of the so-called Money Pit, a site of numerous excavations to recover treasure believed by many to be buried there. However, the pit may have been a sinkhole or some other natural formation that was mis-interpreted for centuries. The island is privately owned and advance permission is required for any visit.

Early history
Mid-19th century newspaper stories recount that in 1795, young Donald Daniel McInnis discovered a circular depression on the south eastern end of the island with an adjacent tree which had a tackle block on one of its overhanging branches. McInnis, with the help of friends John Smith and Anthony Vaughan, excavated the depression and discovered a layer of flagstones a few feet below. On the pit walls there were visible markings from a pick. As they dug down they discovered layers of logs at about every ten feet (3 m). They abandoned the excavation at 30 feet (10 m).

About eight years later, according to the original 19th century article, another company examined what was to become known as the Money Pit. The Onslow Company sailed 300 nautical miles from central Nova Scotia near Truro to Oak Island with the goal of recovering what they believed to be secret treasure. They continued the excavation down to approximately 90 feet (27.43 m), and found layers of logs or "marks" about every ten feet (3 m) and layers of charcoal, putty and coconut fibre at 40, 50 and 60 feet (12, 15 and 18 m).

According to one of the earliest written accounts, a newspaper article called "The Oak Island Diggings" from the Liverpool Transcript (Oct 1862) at 80 or 90 feet (27 m) they recovered a large stone bearing an inscription of symbols. The pit subsequently flooded up to the 33 foot (10 m) level. Bailing did not reduce the water level and the excavation was abandoned.

Investors formed The Truro Company in 1849, which re-excavated the shaft back down to the 86 foot (26 m) level where it flooded again. They then drilled into the ground below the bottom of the shaft. According to the 19th century account, the drill or "pod auger" passed through a spruce platform at 98 feet (30 m), a 12 inch head space, 22 inches (560 mm) of what was described as "metal in pieces", 8 inches (200 mm) of oak, another 22 inches (560 mm) of metal, 4 inches (100 mm) of oak, another spruce layer, and finally into clay for 7 feet without striking anything else.

One account states they recovered three small gold links of a chain from mud stuck to the drill. They attempted to prevent the pit from flooding by damming Smith's Cove, and later by excavating a shaft into what was believed to be a flood tunnel from the sea to block it and prevent the pit from filling with water.

The original 18th Century story of the pit's discovery along with the mid-19th century newspaper accounts are based on unverified folklore and may be entirely false. The earliest published description of the Money Pit is a news article in the Liverpool Transcript newspaper in October 1862. This included an oral account of the early years of excavation attempts as told by at least one digger. No supporting material or evidence has surfaced ever since and the story has been impossible to verify. Several researchers have noted that artifacts like the inscribed stone and gold chain links could have been placed in the pit during expensive excavation operations for the purpose of attracting more investors.

[ 12-04-2005, 11:48 PM: Message edited by: Danielle Gorree ]
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[Knights Templar]

Danielle Gorree

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Documented history

The Money Pit was first mentioned in print by the Liverpool Transcript in 1857. More accounts followed in the Liverpool Transcript, the Novascotian newspaper and A History Of Lunenburg County *, but this last account was based on the earlier Liverpool Transcript articles and does not represent an independent source.

The next excavation attempt was made in 1861 by a new company called the Oak Island Association and apparently led to the collapse of the bottom of the shaft into a suspected void or booby trap underneath. The first fatality during excavations occurred when the boiler of a pumping engine burst. The company gave up when they exhausted their funds in 1864.

Numerous further excavations were made in 1866, 1893, 1909, 1931,1935, 1936, and 1959, none of which were successful. Franklin Roosevelt (later President of the United States) was part of the Old Gold Salvage group of 1909 and kept up with news and developments for most of his life. About six people have been killed in accidents during various excavations.

In 1928, a New York newspaper printed a feature story about the strange history of the island. Gilbert Hedden, operator of a steel fabricating concern, saw the article and was fascinated by the engineering problems to be overcome in recovering the treasure. Hedden collected a library of books and articles on the island and made six trips there. Wholly believing that there was treasure buried on Oak Island, Mr. Hedden even ventured to England to converse with Harold Tom Wilkins the author of Captain Kidd and His Skeleton Island. Hedden believed he had found a link between Oak Island and a mysterious map in Wilkins' book. Convinced that the story was no hoax, the very wealthy Hedden bought the southeast end of the island. He did not start to dig until the summer of 1935 after excavations by William Chappell in 1931.

The 1931 excavations by William Chappell sank a 163 foot shaft 12x14 feet to the southwest of what they believed was the site of the 1897 shaft, close to the original pit. At 127 feet a number of artifacts, including an axe, anchor fluke and pick were found. The pick has been identified as a Cornish miner's poll pick: By this time the entire area underlying the Money Pit was littered with the debris and refuse of numerous prior excavation attempts so it it is unlikely this pick belonged to the original party (if any) that created the hole.

In 1965, Robert Dunfield leased the island and, using a 70 ton digging crane with a clam bucket, dug out the pit area to a depth of 140 feet (43 m) and width of 100 feet (30 m). The removed soil was carefully examined for artifacts. As a result the location of the original shaft is no longer known. Transportation of the crane to the island required the construction of a causeway (which still exists) from the western end of the island to Crandall's Point on the mainland two hundred metres away.

Around 1969, Daniel C. Blankenship and David Tobias formed Triton Alliance, Ltd. and bought most of the island. In 1971, Triton workers excavated a 235 foot (72 m) shaft supported by a steel caisson to bedrock. Cameras lowered down the shaft into a cave below were said to have recorded some chests, human remains, wooden cribbing and some tools but the images were not clear and none of these claims have been confirmed. The shaft subsequently collapsed and the excavation was again abandoned. This shaft was later successfully re-dug to 181 feet, reaching bedrock where work was halted due to lack of funds.

The Money Pit Mystery was the subject of an episode of the television series In Search of... which first aired January 18, 1979, bringing the legend of Oak Island to a wider audience. Previously the story had only been known among locals, treasure hunting groups and readers of sensational magazines and anthologies.

As of 2005, the island is for sale with an estimated price tag of $7 million. A group called the Oak Island Tourism Society hopes the government of Canada will purchase the island. [1]

Pit flooding
Treasure hunters had discovered coconut fibres beneath the surface of one beach (coconuts are not indigenous to Nova Scotia). This led to suggestions the beach was converted into a giant "wick", feeding water from the ocean into the pit.

However, coconut fibres were used as shipping dunnage and the fibres may be have been discarded from cargo ships stopping at the island or sailing nearby. Also, the island lies on a glacial tumulus system and is underlain by a series of water-filled limestone cavities (Anhydrite) which could be responsible for the repeated flooding of the pit. Bedrock lies at a depth of 160-180 feet in the Money Pit area.

Upon the invitation of Boston area businessman David Mugar a two week survey was conducted by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in 1995, the only scientific study ever conducted on the site. After running dye tests in the bore hole, they concluded that the flooding was caused by a natural interaction between the island's freshwater lens and tidal pressures in the underlying geology, refuting the idea of artificially constructed "box drains" or flood tunnels. Scientists also viewed some of the videos taken in 1971 and concluded that nothing of value could be determined from the murky images.
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[Knights Templar]

Danielle Gorree

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Buried treasure?

There has been wide speculation about what the pit might contain. Most suggestions include treasure buried by either Captain Kidd, British troops during the American revolution, Spanish sailors from a wrecked galleon, the Inca or even exiled Knights Templar hiding the Holy Grail in the pit.

The notorious pirate Blackbeard claimed he buried his treasure "where none but Satan and myself can find it," leading to inevitable suggestions that he dug the pit but there is no evidence to support this. Perhaps the most far-fetched theory is that English philosopher Francis Bacon used the pit to hide documents proving him to be the author of William Shakespeare's plays.

The pit may contain nothing at all. Since the 1970s fewer people have believed the pit has any connection to pirates, due to the massive scale of the subterranean structure and its similarity to other natural formations found in the area.


History or legend
Given the limited size of the original pit it may be noteworthy that no debris, lost tools or other items mentioned in the early accounts have been found. There is no surviving evidence that any elements described in the original tale (such as oak platforms, an inscribed stone, or even the tree itself) ever existed, although few details have changed since the original version of the story was published.

Some elements contained in the Oak Island story, such as the discovery of tantalising but inconclusive objects and a message in indecipherable code, are common in fictional works on treasure and piracy (such as the Edgar Allan Poe story The Gold Bug). This has led to speculation that the early account of the Money Pit is a combination of several works of 19th century fiction conflated with a local story about a search for buried treasure. Recent research has uncovered possible connections between the pit's 19th century pre-publication history and founders of the Mormon Church along with Masonic elements in the story's earliest oral forms, which could further indicate conflation of its origins or mis-interpretation of the site.

The Oak Island mystery was fictionalized in the thriller novel Riptide by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, published in 1999.

Oak Island was also made into a techno song in 2003 by a group called Mash

19th century sources
"Correspondence," Liverpool Transcript, 15 August 1857
"The Oak Island Folly", the Novascotian, 29 August 1861
"Patrick," the Novascotian, 30 September 1861.
McCully, J.B., "The Oak Island Diggings", Liverpool Transcript, October 1862
"A Member", "A History of The Oak Island Enterprise," 2, 7, and 14 January 1864
Brisay, Des, A History Of Lunenburg County 1895.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oak_Island
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Posts: 248 | Registered: Aug 2005 

[Knights Templar]

Danielle Gorree

Member
Member # 2633

Member Rated:
   posted 12-05-2005 12:02 AM                       
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Rosslyn Chapel, originally named the Collegiate Chapel of St. Matthew, is a 15th Century church in the village of Roslin, Midlothian, Scotland. The chapel was designed by William Sinclair (also spelled "St. Clair") of the St. Clair family, a Scottish noble family descended from Norman knights and, according to legend, linked to the Knights Templar. Construction of the chapel began in 1440, and the chapel was officially founded in 1446. Construction lasted for forty years.

Architecture
Excavations carried out in the 19th century suggest that the extant chapel was intended to form part of a much larger structure, the building of which was halted when William Sinclair died. However some authors have theorised that the Chapel's west wall is actually a model of the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem and is part of the structure by design, rather than proof of another intended stage of building, which would have made the site about the size of a Cathedral. The extant chapel most closely resembles the East Quire of Glasgow Cathedral.

The Chapel is famous for two of its pillars: the Apprentice Pillar and the Master Pillar which stand either side of the Journeyman's pillar and have distinctly different carving. Masonic Architects believe these structures could signify the pillars of Boaz and Jachin. The chapel stands on thirteen pillars, forming an arcade of twelve pointed arches, a fourteenth pillar between the penultimate pair at the east end form a three pillared division between the nave and the Lady Chapel.

Most interestingly are the (pictorial) refererences to the Key of Hiram, a significant piece of Masonic legend in the wall carvings, and in depictions of the New World, purportedly showing maize and aloe vera plants about a century before the discovery of North America, suggesting pre-Columbus travel there (the La Merika theory).

Also many archaeoastronomers believe that the walls are carved with azimuths, that give co-ordinates for sites in Iceland (where the St. Clairs supposedly originated) and across Britain.

Freemasonry?
The chapel has long been famous for its possible connections to Freemasonry and its attendant rituals. This was first publicised by Knight and Lomas, but it is also found in works by Michael Baigent and Leigh and Tim Wallace Murphy (circa 1990), and the connections entered mainstream consciousness when named in the novel The Da Vinci Code for its (possible) links to the Holy Grail. Despite the fictitious nature of this work, its influence has been considerable. The Scottish NGO The Friends of Rosslyn, which own the land surrounding the Chapel and the Rosslyn Chapel Trust which administers the Chapel, have both published a number of books and literature on the Chapel.

Certainly the Chapel is used by the modern Knights Templar (a masonic group rather than descendants of the military religious order) for 'investiture' ceremonies, and because of its connection to one of the more famous freemasons (William Sinclair) and also due to the Masonic architecture and symbolism featured on the Chapel walls, many Freemasons from all over the world visit it. Certain points in its architecture are quite indicative of a Masonic, and Templar, connection.
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Posts: 248 | Registered: Aug 2005   

[Knights Templar]

 
Danielle Gorree

Member
Member # 2633

Member Rated:
   posted 12-05-2005 12:06 AM                       
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American voyages

In addition to the theory that the Chapel was used by Freemasons and Knights Templar is the claim that those groups, stationed at Rosslyn Chapel, journeyed to North America and back before Columbus. This claim is based on several points:

some of what appear to be the oldest graveyards in Nova Scotia (which means New Scotland in Latin) have Masonic symbols and Crusader crosses on them;
the Westford Knight is a rock engraving in Massachusetts supposedly showing a Scottish knight, linked to the Henry Sinclair party, with the Clan Gunn markings;
most importantly, Rosslyn Chapel, although completed six years before Columbus' voyage, allegedly has stone carvings in it of plants native to the Western hemisphere, such as aloe and maize. For more information, see La Merika.

The Holy Grail?
Because of its rumoured connections with Freemasonry, the chapel has inevitably become listed as one of the possible final resting places of The Holy Grail. This is a possibility based on legends of 'Secret Vaults' and the possibility that the similarities between Rosslyn and the Temple of Jerusalem might be more than cosmetic.

The White Lady of Rosslyn Castle is said to hide a secret worth 'millions of pounds' - and some have suggested that this could be The Grail or instructions on how to find it.

St Clair legend suggests that there are three big medieval chests (probably the size of steamer trunks) buried somewhere on the property, and this has inevitably led to various theories as to the chests' contents. Past scanning and excavations in or near the Chapel have not yielded any such chests. Sealed chambers under the basement of the chapel, however, have yet to be excavated for fear of collapse of the entire structure. These chambers are filled with pure white Arabic sand-- rumoured to have been brought to the chapel by the Knights Templar from the Dome of the Rock -- and ultrasonic scans have revealed six leaden vaults within the sand.

Musical Cipher
In September 2005 a musical cipher hidden in mystical symbols carved into the stone ceiling of Rosslyn Chapel was reported as being unravelled by Scottish composer Stuart Mitchell. His feat was hailed by experts as a stroke of genius.

The codes were hidden in 213 cubes in the ceiling of the chapel, where parts of the film of Dan Brown's best-seller The Da Vinci Code were shot. Each cube contained different patterns to form an unusual 6½-minute piece of music for 13 medieval players. The unusual sound is thought to have been of great spiritual significance to those who built the chapel. The melody was unravelled after Mitchell discovered the stones at the bottom of each of 12 pillars inside the chapel formed a cadence of which there were only three types in the 15th century.

Mitchell said the music sounded like a nursery rhyme. "Everyone wants to hear something miraculous but William Sinclair, who designed the chapel, was an architect, not a musician," he said. "It is evident from the nursery rhyme style of the music that he could not play very well. It is in triple time, sounds childlike and is based on plain chant which was the common form of rhythm of the time." The strange combination of instruments in the piece includes bagpipes, whistles, trumpet, a medieval mouth piano, guitar and singers. [1]

References
M. Oxbrow & I. Robertson. Rosslyn and the Grail. Mainstream Publishing, 2005 ISBN 1845960769.
Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas. The Hiram Key. Fair Winds Press, 2001 ISBN 1931412758.
Tim Wallace-Murphy & Marilyn Hopkins. Rosslyn: Guardians of the Secrets of the Holy Grail. Element Books, 1999 ISBN 1862044937.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosslyn_Chapel
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Posts: 248 | Registered: Aug 2005