The Long Awaited Theoretical History of the Knights Templar Order Post 1307

the interesting points I discovered doing my research on the mysterious Knights Templar Order of old and even the modern Order today. This book is a great conversational guide to the many fascinating points regarding the mysterious history of the Knights Templar post the demise of the order in 1307 (Black Friday the 13th). There are over 125 pictures in the book and the interior is done in full color or colour if your English. This book will help all those future fans of my 9th Templar Series the fictional adventure mystery thriller scheduled to debut sometime next year, understand many of the interesting discoveries I used to craft the novel. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I enjoyed the research and the writing of it. The foreword is by George Smart, the History Channel documentary commentator from the Knights Templar documentary and the author of his own book on the Knights Templar. Here is the link to go check out my book and hopefully purchase it for your own use or your own Knights Templar Fan.

It has fascinated me for years… I have read the books that speculate on all kinds of things from the Holy Grail to the Ark of the Covenant.  Maybe the lost writings of either Jesus or others that lived with him or were around him during those times over 2,000 years ago.  Something that would or might take the Church scholars by surprise maybe even fly in the face of the current Church dogma?

I think whatever it was it was more than something that could make them materially rich…. that just does not make sense to me.  Some think that this was all profit driven and that the Templars were actually just in the pursuit of cash and riches… not me.

That theory plays well with those that think they may have found some relic or mystical formula for alchemy to help them make non-precious metals into GOLD.  Some have speculated that Hugh found the elixir or ultimate holy grail… the Fountain of eternal Youth…. something that everyone would want….  Again, I doubt it.

Whatever it was it was so powerful that his own Liege Lord the Count of Champagne joined the order and truly the Servant became the Master.  This was just unheard of during those days of aristocracy, title and position.  No, it had to be something fantastic but profound and life changing.

I also think it directly tied them to the Call of Service by Christ.  They felt they were the agents of Christ himself on a mission to bring peace and christianity to the region and all others.

The banking and commerce activities of the Knights Templar were the methods by which they raised the monies to conduct their mission not just build their wealth for the sake of stockpiling funds… they saw this banking and commerce system as an infrastructure to bring about profitable peaceful travel and trade in a safer environment and with middle managers that could be trusted for the utmost confidence in getting your funds back and in not betraying you in order to take your possessions.

Whatever they discovered the world has been curious for the past 900 years.  Discovering that secret has become a quest of enlightenment for many of us.  Personally I believe the answer may lie in something that is a hybrid of all these theories.

Whatever it has it caused Abbott Bernard de Clairvaux to champion this order for the rest of his life and call upon the Church of Rome and the Vatican to give them special powers that no other order was given… their own clergy, they paid no taxes or tithes to the Church or any other ruler.  They traveled across boundaries and borders at their will… and only answered to their Grand Master and he to the Pope himself.  They invested in the most formidable fighting force of the day… the Special Forces, SEALs and Rangers rolled into one unit with the power of a heavy M1 Abrams Tank Unit crashing into a ill-prepared enemy.  They’re appearance alone on the battlefield scared their opponents.  They fought in the toughest situations to the last man in many cases and did not retreat unless they were ordered to do so.  They were many times the point of the spear, the flanking and rear guards of the crusader armies.  They invented the term Shock and AWE.

All this because they found something that caused men to know they were special.  So what was it?  We may never know or we may come to know about this yet.  Let’s be hopeful.  Cheers!

While I did the research on the Knights Templars for my two fictional books, “The Theoretical History of the Knights Templar Post 1307″ due out later this year and the fiction thriller adventure novel, “The 9th Templar,” I found so many interesting facts and legends woven into the fabric of the Templar lore.  It made me start to wonder if setting up a series of at least   planned tour circuit to explore these possibilities would be of interest to others?  I began to explore where I would start the tour and where we would end the tour.

I believe the Tour should start in Jerusalem because that is where the Templars were given their birthright by King Baldwin and later the Pope to commence their mission.  It would of course include the Battle of Hattin and the major citidals of Acre and other Templar strongholds in the region.  Next it would hop to Cyprus, where the Templars were gifted the island from King Richard and it was later their base of operations when they were driven from the holy land by the Saracens.  From here we would stop in Turkey to visit Constantinople and the ancient city where some believe the Templars acquired some of their additional secrets when the Crusaders sacked it during the 4th Crusade.

Next we go to Venice, the home of many of the Templar trading, commerce and shipping interests.  From here we travel to  Switzerland to see where some believe the Templars went to form their new community and then a country based on their own belief systems and things they held important such as secrecy and banking.  We will travel by train through Austria and the Swiss mountain passes to the oldest democracy on the earth, Switzerland. Many believe it was the Templar influence that created the idea for a mandatory army of everyone to be well-trained to defend against invaders.  This led to the defeat of the Austrian King Leopold in 1314 by peasants against his well-organized and heavily armed army of professional soldiers at the battle of Mortgarten.  We will visit Sion to see where many think much Templar influence may have settled.  Then onto Geneva to see the Templar influence on banking.

From here we travel to the South of France. Then on around to the Cathar region where the Templars had strongholds surrounding Chateau Rennes les Chateau the village of many mysteries. Then to Avignon where the French Pope sold out the Templars (Clement V).  We will depart France and cross the Pyrenees Mountains to Spain and Portugal to see where the Templars took refuge and reformed after the 1307 arrests.  This calls for visits around Segovia Spain, Almoural Castle, and other Templar castles and then on to Portugal to see Tomar and the bustling City of Lisbon.  From here we would head North again to France to the birthplace of many of the Templar founders.

We would visit several Templar strongholds and cathedrals near Paris, including Notre Dame, the original site of the Temple of Paris and the site of the burning of Jacques de Molay in Paris and then onto La Rochelle, where the Templar Fleet was said to have sailed from with the treasury, secret relics, and ancient mysteries.   From here we travel to Mont St. Michel the monastery that some believe the Templar fleet stopped and took refuge at while preparing for the remainder of their trips north to Scotland and the Baltic regions.   We will turn and cross to Champagne to see the region where Sir Hugh de Payens was from and the Count of Champagne, who it is believed financed the original expedition to the Holy Land under the guise of the first crusade to discover great secrets, knowledge and wealth, which he intended to use to build his power base.  But as we know the laws of unintended consequences could have played a major role in changing the course of the Count’s original plan for Sir Hugh and his men in his service.  From here we will travel to London to see the English influence at the Temple Church and other castles around the region known to be related to the Templars.  We travel north to Herefordshire to see the Royston Cave and onto Scotland to tour Edinburgh and Rosslyn Chapel and the original Rosslyn Castle ruins.  From here we jump over to Denmark and take a ferry out to Bornholm island, where the Templars had a major fortification in the Baltic to protect their northern interests and act as a secure staging area.   We return to Holland to discover the interests in Amsterdam that the Templars had on the concept of the stock market and concept of corporations.  From here we return to Paris for food and fun and a jet ride back to the States.

Now if this type of tour sounds of interest to you.  Then let me know and we will begin to include you in further communications about forming this tour and getting group costs at as deep of discounts as possible.  We will begin to plan and formulate ideas of other places we should visit as part of this tour.  If you have ideas please let me know.

I hope taking a historical tour like this is as exciting to you as it is to me.  It could be the trip of a lifetime.

Post if you are interested with your ideas and also send me a personal email of your interest in further information at Economicdeveloper@gmail.com

My story is about the 9th Templar.  It is based on real facts surrounding one of the earliest mysteries around the Knights Templar Order, the names of the nine founding knights, including Hugh de Payens.  Most agree that the name of the 9th member of the founders was kept a secret and not recorded.  Some confuse latter members as potential members of the order then, but history does not confirm that timing to be correct.  So, my fictional novel is the story of why Sir Hugh de Payens kept that name in secrecy and what great secret that 9th founding Templar was charged to keep at the request of Hugh de Payens and Bernard Clairvaux the great religious leader that was surely in on this secret plan and more than likely helped greatly in the design of this secrecy and plan to protect the Knights Templars discovery from under the Temple of Solomon.

Most of the posts in this blog are points that I researched or found interesting when I was writing the fictional adventure thriller manuscript named the 9th Templar.  It is my intent to build your fascination and enjoyment of this subject for any of you out there that have an interest in this marvelous period of time and the Great Legacy of the Most Powerful Religious, Economic and Military Order in the Medieval ages, the Knights Templar.  These men were unique and their secrets are still mostly unknown to mankind.

It is for this reason that so much media, movies and books have been written and recorded around this subject.  I hope you enjoy the blog as much as  I enjoy sharing it will all of you!

The Templars immediately went back to Europe to meet with Abbot Bernard de Clairvaux and seek out his counsel. It was after this that the Order of the Temple of Jerusalem gained great stature with the church and this created a new profession from which nobles could send their sons into noble service and donate their possessions to the order. This created an enormous swell of new knights and assets to finance the combat in the Outremer. So what was so compelling that these Knights discovered? Apparently Bernard de Clairvaux of the Cistercian Order took that secret to his grave along with the original founders unless something was created to pass on this knowledge to the order members through a process of enlightenment and attained learned privilege. Nobody knows for sure at this point or do they?

Christ visits his Knights in Vigil at their Supper of the Bestowing of the Blessings

Was there some strange secrets with regard to the life of Christ, his crucifixion and resurrection. Did they find proof of his blood relations and link to his alleged wife Mary Magdalene? Did Christ leave some secret writings or instructions that were so controversial to the current church dogma that it moved the Abbot to pledge his support to these knights in order to protect the valid instructions of christ while he sought diplomatic solutions to the churches own teachings? These are all possibilities. Yet there are other things that could have shaped what could be one of the most controversial conspiracy theories involving religion yet today. One thing is fairly certain. The Templar’s felt compelled to devote their lives to both service to Christ and his faith or at least as they saw things in those times and perhaps fairly secretively unveiled to them and not outsiders and they were devoted to becoming fierce warriors and retaking the Holy Land from the Muslims and the Jews for that matter.

This has been the basis for my own mystery carried forward to modern times in the 9th Templar novel series but as in any good thriller don’t expect the answer to be predictable and expect that the eventual answer may totally seem both absurd and yet very plausible simultaneously… and the actual clues of this theory are all around us today. The ultimate knowledge of their discovery has driven multitudes of books and written speculation and entertained us all for centuries. But what if it was actually all true and as they say the truth is many times stranger than good fiction.

Nothing is more opportune for this diversion or questioning of history than the Templar diaspora ( dispersion of a large group of people across a wide spectrum usually caused by an event of persecution to escape from their original lands and find new homes in a safer territory.) The Templars had some small holdings in Scotland at the time of the Templar persecution but really there were very few actual wealthy families involved in the Order of Temple of Scotland at the time. What historians debate is that a large contingent of Templars could have left France or in my opinion migrated North from lower England to settle in Scotland. While Robert the Bruce was excommunicated from the Church, and did seek to be reinvested by the Church, there was still ample opportunity for him to use the Templar situation to his advantage in his refusal to submit to Edward I, of England and the Church. The Templars would not have wanted to be very visible during all of this commotion and hullabaloo. It is unlikely that they would have wanted anything written about them, this decreases the argument that since there is nothing written they must not have had any significant presence in this Scottish history. Now here is where you have to apply deductive logic and use human nature as a guide, if you heard your brothers were being arrested, tortured and some killed, would you want records of your own activities? “I think not.” Now I myself doubt seriously that the Templars charged into the fray and turned the tide of the battle of Bannockburn, I agree with most that by that point 1314 or so, most of the Templar knights were quite old and hadn’t lifted a sword for combat in nearly 15 years.

Depiction of the Templar Heavy Cavalry Charge at Bannockburn 1314

Secondary to that the recruitment of fresh younger knights was nearly impossible since they were in hiding from the rulers of Christendom. Now I do allow for the very likely adaptation of the order in this extreme survival time, that they probably had to forgo their vows of chastity in order to secretly rebuild the order and regain some youth in their knights ranks, but this would take at least two decades to produce any fruitful outcomes, if they did indeed make such modifications to their vows. In addition, it would seem also likely that they would have to modify their vows with regard to collective or cooperative wealth to allow the noble families to rebuild their economic capacity and afford to invest some portion of their funds into the collective needs of the Order. What we know is that the Templar’s made hundreds of modifications to their vows since the original vows were directed to be written under the authorization of Abbott Bernard de Clairivaux of the Cistercian Order. So making modifications would not be anything unusual to the order.

This is how I believe the legend or lore of Roslyn Castle and Chapel could have taken some significant credibility… it was built nearly a hundred years after the public fall of the Templars, by a Family claiming to be the Scottish Leadership of the remaining knights of the Templar Order. This if true would seem to humanistically support my theory of probable modifications in order to survive. In addition, enough time had passed that folks in the order may have felt comfortable writing down the verbally passed along history of by now at least three additional generations since the fall of the order in 1307. This should not be hard for most of us to believe since the bible itself was written generations later after Christ and from this same process. In future writings I will discuss the other likely locations of Templar flight from persecution. I hope you enjoy this discussion.

The ruse has been well thought out… whatever they discovered had to be something that was so unbelievable and shocking it moved one of the most prominent Catholic Abbots of the times to plead with the Vatican at the Council of Troyes in 1129 to give these Knights a Papal Bull (authority granted by the Pope) that recognized their order and gave them special powers and favors not only in the Holy Land (Outremer) but also in Christendom (modern Europe). He wrote the famous letter saying that these Knights feared nothing because God was their protector and his holy divine purpose was carried out by them through their commitment to the order to fulfill Christ’s desired outcomes to create a plan for all humanity and free the Outremer from Muslim control and thus reinstate christian control over the city of Jerusalem and the entire region of the Holy Land.

So if you ask yourself if the findings under the Temple found by the Knights Templar were in fact the inspired words of Christ or his divine revelation of his will for the Knights to go out and kill the Muslims to regain control of the Holy Land or some other inspired secret unknown to the church and the general population or at least suppressed by the Church until this discovery, why did Christ order to them to fight and kill others? Perhaps this entire grail theory has been very convenient even the makings of good romantic mystery thrillers but it would seem hard to believe that Christ would condone the slaughter of Jerusalem or the other battles in the Holy Land.

Christ the Great Traveler, Healer, Prophet & Saviour

So, what if the entire grail story was just an elaborate ruse to throw us off the real trail? What if the holy grail and the blood of Christ and all the other popular mystery lore was just a red herring a distraction from the real discovery? Think about this if you would. Ask yourself what would be so shocking that it would cause the Catholic church to grant such special favors and power to the Knights Templar? Was this done out of respect for their mission as Bernard de Clairvaux would have you believe or was this Cistercian Abbot really a diplomatic emissary for the Vatican attempting to do some damage control with these knights? What if the real pact between the Knights and the Papacy was not done out of respect at all but out of fear of the discovery becoming known to the masses and thus causing the Catholic church huge problems. I believe it has to be something that would shake the very foundations of the Catholic Church and Christianity. Yes, in my opinion this was truly a case of black mail or extortion by the Knights Templar. They had something that the Church would surely want suppressed and/or destroyed. But what could be so powerful that it would shake the very foundations of the church. Something that the Pope and the Papacy had hoped on that Friday the 13th of October in 1307 when they conspired with King Phillip IV (the Fair) to arrest all the Templars in one movement early on the morning of Friday the 13th that cool October morning. But instead the relic or discovery secret was not to be found by any of the arresting squads of soldiers. Legend has it that Jacques de Molay had laid out a failsafe escape plan in cause the Knights were arrested or detained so that the Knights Treasury and Secrets would not be found by the King or the Church.

So, if you are wondering what would drive the Church to take such brutal actions of betrayal and align themselves with the Monarchs of Christendom at least the KIngs of France and England in order to first gain control of this discovery or suppress the Knights Templar Orders ability to continue to blackmail the Papacy, you will just have to read my latest fiction novel, “The 9th Templar.” This is the story of what was discovered and how it shook the very roots of christianity and rocked the foundation of the church that Peter built laying the foundation for the Catholic Church. The outcome may surprise you.

Here is where I see the conundrum for the Templars and where the story becomes quite confusing. First it seems apparent that the Templars had well placed spies in all of the courts of the Monarchs of Christendom. So, they had to know that the King of France was laying a trap for them. Why did Jacques de Molay allow the order to get trapped in this position? Was there a failsafe plan that he had already executed and this was simply a tactic of deceiving his enemies? If our answer is that NO he did not know of the trap and plot, then he and the Templars were not nearly as powerful and did not have the intelligence network that they were reported to have had at the time. That seems highly unlikely. What is possible is that this was a ruse… but I don’t think so, or Jacques de Molay was so arrogant he was riding in and defying the King to take action… this appears more likely.

The next conundrum is did Jacques de Molay prior to this appearance in King Phillip IV (the Fair’s) court put in place a failsafe plan to safeguard the Templars treasury, holdings, secrets and archives? The story gets very dicey here… some say that there were 18 ships of the Templars laid at harbor at their La Rochelle Seaside Fortress on October 12th, 1307. Then in the middle of the night those ships sailed off and were not seen again. Many have speculated that this was how Jacques de Molay shipped the Templar treasury, relics, archives and such away from the King of France and to safe keeping somewhere else. But the controversy is that surely there would be some better records of those ships being in the harbor and there would be some record somewhere of their coming to berth. But none exists to my knowledge.

Now legend says the Templars took refuge possibly in Scotland and supported King Robert the Bruce, since he was excommunicated by the Catholic church and an enemy of the King of England, now also a Templar enemy this does have some possible validity. But also we have even better evidence of their involvement in the Swiss Confederation formation and their possible overland route to what is now Switzerland. It is highly possible in my mind that the Templars did in fact become instrumental in the formation of this neutral country and at the time kingdom. This makes sense because we know that the Templars had been engaging amongst themselves in the debate of establishing a kingdom on the continent of Christendom and the debate was whether to do so in the South of France or possibly on strategic islands around Christendom literally ringing it in. So the creation of a mountainous and easily defensible interior kingdom would be a unique and very templar like outcome. But the possibility also exists that since they were so large and massive they executed several strategies simultaneously. They sent the ships to sea, scattered to Switzerland, Scotland, Spain and Portugal and also established bases on islands in Madeira also took some refuge amongst their former enemies in the middle east.

Keeping the Templar Secret a Knights Vow

The biggest conundrum would be how did they maintain their level of secrecy from 1307 until the present if they were able to do so and how did they perpetuate their wealth? Was their over-all plan to control commerce and thus the political and economic influence of the Monarchs until such time as they could invest in their overthrowing of these feudal ruling class monarchs? I think that is a great possibility.

None the less, the Templars have kept us engaged and interested in this theoretical list of possibilities for the past 700 years since their alleged demise in 1314.

Hugh de Payens- Founder Knights Templar Order

There are many mysteries regarding the Knights Templar Order but most seem to focus on either their discovery under the temple and/or their continuation after 1307. I find some of the more mysterious issues to be regarding the founder Sir Hugh de Payens.

What I find interesting are the following controversial and inconclusive alleged facts about Sir Hugh;

He was married to Elizabeth de Chappes according to deeds and census scrolls in the area, but later records show he was also married to Catherine St. Clair. The same family that yes built the Rosslyn Castle and Chapel in Scotland a couple centuries later.

In addition history says he died in battle possibly in March or May, there is no definitive date. Yet, he was not brought back and buried or placed in a tomb. Nobody seems to know where or if he was buried.

This seems quite strange for a very formal and burgeoning group of Knights who were obviously loyal to Sir Hugh not to make exceptional plans and accommodation for his formal burial.

Last is the mystery of why he kept the identity of his 9th founding knight secret? What purpose would or did this serve? It was obviously done on purpose as the Templars kept meticulous notes on their roster.

Finally, what did he discover under the Temple of Solomon that so inspired Abbott Bernard de Clairvaux to advocate for their special privileges from the church at the Council of Troyes? Whatever it was very much moved the future Saint and Doctor of the Church to create the most powerful status in all of Christendom.

Some believe Sir Hugh did not die in 1136 and that it was forged and faked so that he could carry on his mission in secret. Yet others have even speculated he found the Holy Grail and thus upon drinking from the cup of Christ was given eternal life as the guardian of the grail.

Nobody knows what is actual or factual but it does create the very earliest mysteries of the Order and thus begins the legend of his Knights of the Temple of Jerusalem.

Templar Organizational Structure:

Grandmaster- the #1 person CEO of the order who makes all major and final decisions, chairman of the governing council

Seneschal- #2 in command and answers to the Grand Master. He carries out the GM’s instructions to the brothers

Preceptors- higher ranking members of the order usually former combatants who are part of the governing council

Marschal- The Minister of War in charge of all field military operations and campaigns

Masters- Commander of the Orders within each Kingdom or Province answers to the governing council

Provincial Masters- Regional commander over several smaller commanderies (castles, villages, farms,etc.)

Master of the Lands- The Chief administrative officer in charge of monetary matters in each region or province

Commander of House & Farms- These are the operational officers in charge of non-military Templar commerce operations

Commander- This is the military commander of a large squad of knight usually assigned by each commendery

Templar Knight

Knights/Priors- Noble born men groomed completely as special heavily armed combatants and usually mounted for shock and awe

Sergeants- Commoners soldiers usually on foot that hold lower rank due to their lack of noble birth

Squires-noble born youth that attend to a knight and his needs & care for his weapons and animals eventually become a knight

Draper- These folks are in charge of the clothes for the order

Under-Marshal- The person in charge of all equipment and supplies- today they would be called quartermasters

Chaplains- The Catholic Priests drawn from within the order not from other orders and they are non-combatants

Craftsmen- the largest portion of the order. These are the folks that make everything work in the orders affairs and operations

Turcopoles- Turkish/Greek warriors recruited as light cavalry and foot soldiers but lower rank than sergeants

Templar Architecture:

Paris France- Templar Citadel & Temple

Castle- a fortified structure with steep thick walls that housed a group of combatants ready to protect a region

Battlements- the walk way around the upper walls of the castle from where the knights could defend the castle

Concentric Walls- a series of walls that surround a castle in layers, so that you can retreat to each layer if overwhelmed

Donjon/Keep- A strong central tower that can be defended as a last stand. It houses the leaders, meeting rooms, arsenal, etc.

Great Hall- the main gathering place for meetings, large events, ceremonies, and large forma meals. It would have a reception hall

Gatehouse- each castle may have a series of these with each wall system. It is entrance portal to the castle. Heavily fortified.

Garderobe- the hollowed out area of a castle that drops dung to an open hole far below… it is the toilet for everyone

Cathedral- an ornate religious church that is the central power projection of religion in the area. Highly decorated with symbolism

Round Churches- Templars styled smaller churches in a fashion that many believe was similar to the inner Temple of Solomon

Murder Holes- openings in the castle wall where knights could shoot arrows, drop rocks or pour boiling liquids on enemies

Moat- A large deep ditch dug around the castle filled with water if it was available to narrow the enemy’s approach options

Parapet- a crenellated structure that is higher than the castle wall in a row so that knights can stand and hide behind them

Portcullis- a gate of crossed iron or timber beams that could be dropped behind the draw bridge or left closed while the drawbridge was extended for protection of the castle entrance.

Postern Gate- a secret gate not very visible to enemies where spies and troops could be snuck out at night

Towers- Large observation defensive structures far higher than the castle walls they are placed strategically around the castle

Turret- small round towers that normally protrude from the castle so archers can shoot down on the enemies

Ward/Bailey- the large central courtyard of the castle where all daily life and interaction takes place within the castle

Key Templar Dates:

1000 BC- King Solomon’s Temple built-in Jerusalem on the Temple Mount

AD 33- Christ is crucified

AD 70- The Romans sack Jerusalem and the Jewish Treasure and Holy of Holiness is lost to history

AD 638- Muslims conquer the holy land (Outremer)

AD 1095- Pope Urban II calls for the first crusade against the infidels and offers eternal pardon of sins for combatants

Ancient Medieval Jerusalem in the days of the 1st Crusade

AD 1099- Jerusalem falls to the Crusaders of Christendom and they massacre the inhabitants- Priory of Sion formed

AD 1118- Hugh de Payens asks King Baldwin to form an elite unit of 9 knights to protect the pilgrims they barrack under the temple

AD 1128- Hugh discovers something under the temple of Solomon and seeks Bernard Clairvaux a Cistercian abbot’s advice in France. The Abbot petitions the Pope at the Council of Troyes for the official recognition of the Knights Templar Order.

AD 1139- Pope Innocent II by papal bull decree exempts the order from all

Omne Datum Optimum

taxes, tithes and only answering to the church

AD 1146- Second Crusade Begins

AD 1187- The Templars are massacred at the battle of Hattin by Saladin and his forces Jerusalem falls a little later

AD 1191- Third Crusade begins

King Richard the Lion Heart

AD 1192- Richard the Lion Hearted and Saladin agree to terms to allow religious pilgrims to visit Jerusalem freely

AD 1202-1204- Constantinople is sacked by crusaders and secret relics fall into the hands of the Templars

AD 1291- Acre the last Christian stronghold on the coast of the holy land falls to Muslims. Templars move to Cyprus

AD 1291- Roger de Flor leads the naval brigade that rescues the remaining Templars from Acre

AD 1293- Jacques de Molay becomes the Grand Master of the Templars

AD 1295- Templars argue over the strategy of projecting power in the loss of the Outremer era. Roger de Flor recommends an island castle and naval defense strategy but Jacques de Molay and the governing council prefer to establish a stronghold and Templar kingdom in the Southern Coastal Region of France. The monarchs of Christendom especially Phillip 4th do not like this.

AD 1307- Friday October 13th- Jacques de Molay and 66 knights are arrested in King Phillip 4th (the Fair’s) court

AD 1308- Under pressure from the Pope Clement V ( a boyhood friend of King Phillip) Edward II, arrests the Templars in England

AD 1310- 54 Templar Knights held at Chinon Castle are burned at the stake to compel confessions from the remaining prisoners

AD 1312- Templar Order is dissolved by the Pope at the Council of Vienne all possessions and holdings are given to Hospitallers’

AD 1314- Jacques de Molay and Geoffroy de Charney are burned at the stake in Paris near Notre Dame. Jacques de Molay in his dying breath curses Phillip the 4th and Pope Clement V, and both die within the year.

AD 1314- Rumors that elements of the Templars have fled to Scotland and are in support of King Robert the Bruce in his defense against the English are raised as legend says a group of heavily armed knights charged out of the woods at the battle of Bannockburn and routed the huge English army by shock and awe of their heavy cavalry.

AD 1315- Battle of Morgarten at Gothard Pass where a small force of 150o lightly armed peasants defeated the Austrian Habsburg Duke Leopold I, who was trying to establish a short invasion route to Italy. Legend says the Templars trained and directed the ambush of the far superior Austrian forces. This led to the formal establishment of Switzerland, which is the oldest democracy. Many of the Swiss ideals are directly related to Templar philosophies and symbols yet today. Switzerland was a mountainous region directly adjacent to France and easily accessible to the fleeing Templars.

AD 1319- The Order of Christ is founded in Tomar Portugal by King Dinis and established as the new home of the Templars HQ.

AD 1347- King Magnus Eriksson of Sweden charters the first entity to establish a perpetual ownership of a mining operation. His line was directly connected and in support of the Templars. This concept of a body of anonymous ownership collective was a Templar design. The perfect way to invest money anonymously without giving away identities and thus creating a risk of detection.

AD 1397- First modern bank is established in Venice, by Giovanni Medici, a known Templar family in a strong Templar operational base. The Venetians built most of the Templar ships and many believe Venice was the naval port the Swiss Templars utilized for sea access. It was from this that the first modern bonds were sold to finance new investments and pay off war debts and paying interest to the bond shareholders. Another Templar banking concept.

AD 1446-Rosslyn Chapel is constructed by the Scottish Sinclair family a long-standing Founding member of the Templar order.

AD 1415- Prince Henry the Navigator a Templar led the Portuguese exploration of the Americas

AD 1492- Columbus also a Templar was exploring looking for a route to the spice islands but rediscovered North America

Columbus decorates the Templar Flag on his Sails for his voyage

AD 1519- Magellan a Templar navigator led the first successful round the world voyage and opened up new discoveries including the cape of Africa and the Indian ocean islands and Asian routes.

AD 1602-Dutch East India Company is formed and stocks are able to be traded or exchanged at varying values. A Templar Concept so that they can invest their vast sums of monies in multiple commerce operations across many kingdoms eventually. Establishing the first of many stock exchange house across Europe and eventually the world. The perfect intelligence gathering apparatus for investing anonymously in all types of operations.

AD 1609- Royal Bank of Amsterdam is formed and begins to take deposits and make loans with interest, highly linked to the same members that founded the Dutch East India Company alleged to be from Templar families.

AD 1668- The First Central Bank is formed again a major Templar Concept for organizing a vast banking empire that is growing immensely in popularity and profits. This bank was again formed in Sweden as the Riksbanken creating a central currency for trade and commerce.

AD 1741- Swiss Private Banking is borne officially with the launch of the Wegelin Private Bank. This the birth of the secretive Swiss banking system renowned world-wide for their secrecy and security in the most violent and inhospitable times. All Templar founding ideals of the order.

AD 1804- Emperor Napoleon restores the Ordre du Temple as a direct rebuke to the French Kings before that had caused the Order’s demise. This has now been the foundation of the modern Templar Order ever since. Subsequently the Templar’s officially set up operational facilities in Jerusalem, London, Geneva, Portugal and America and now in several other countries expanding the order once again along the original ideals. Including becoming a chartered recognized NON-Governmental Organization holding stature within the United Nations and being the only military and Christian order recognized by all the Royal Houses of Europe and Scandinavia today.

AD October 25, 2007- The Vatican declares the Templars were innocent of all allegations and absolves the Templars of all crimes against the church with a full 700 year too late pardon of their grave mistake and heinous act against the followers of Christ. This due to a document found by Vatican Archives researcher, which indicated that the Pope knew of their innocence in 1307-1314 but turned his head as the atrocities were committed against the order.

AD 2012- 50th Anniversary of the American Sovereign Military Order of the Knights of the Temple of Jerusalem Convent & Investiture is held in San Antonio, TX.

The List of Grand Masters through 1314:

The Heraldry of the Grand Masters of the Knights Templar 1118-1314

1118-1136- Sir Hugh de Payens- his tomb was never found nor was his place of death ever confirmed

1136-1149- Robert de Craon

1149-1152- Everard des Barres

1152-1153- Bernard de Tremelay

1153-1156- Andre de Montbard

1156-1169- Bertrand de Blanchfort

1169-1171- Philip de Milly

1171-1179- Odo de St. Amand

1181-1184- Arnold of Torroja

1185-1189- Gerard de Ridefort

1191-1193- Robert de Sable

1194-1200- Gilbret Erail

1201-1209- Philip de Plessis

1210-1219- Guillaume de Chartres

1219-1232- Peter de Montaigu

1232- 1244- Armand de Perigord

1244- 1247- Richard de Bures

1247-1250- Guillaume de Sonnac

1250-1256- Reginald de Vichiers

1256- 1273- Thomas Berard

1273-1291- Guillaume de Beajeu

1291-1293- Thibaud Gaudin

1293-1314- Jacques de Molay

Sir Hugh de Payens-1070-1136 AD (Founder Knights Templar Order- Poor Fellow Soldiers of Christ of the Temple of Jerusalem):

Hugh de Payens was a noble knight in the service of the Count of Champagne and a member of his court. He was born in the village of Payns in eastern France about 10 kilometers from the city of Troyes. He married Elizabeth Chappes, who bore him one male child, Thibaud, rumored to have joined the Cistercian Order himself and rising to become an Abbot.

King Baldwin II grants Hugh de Payen the establishment of the Knights Templar Order 1118

He traveled to the Holy Land in the service of the Count of Champagne in 1095 and took part in the eventual conquest and occupation of Jerusalem. During the looting and massacre of Jerusalem, it is rumored that Sir Hugh was more interested in following the leads that his Liege Lord had given to him of the clues that would lead him to the secrets that might allow them to find the Jewish treasury hidden from the Romans in AD73 when they sacked Jerusalem. This led him to establish the Knights Templar Order and barracks it under the Temple of Solomon, where they are again rumored to have excavated for 8 years until they found something of great importance and Sir Hugh rushed back to Christendom to seek the counsel of Bernard de Clairvaux in 1126. Sir Hugh was granted permission to form the Knights whom he called, the Poor Fellow Soldiers of Christ of the Temple of Jerusalem from King Baldwin II in 1118. It was noted by historians that there were 9 original members including Hugh himself, all of them were family and friends of Hugh de Payens. The 9th Member of the Order was never named and history says he was kept anonymous. This was a great mystery and the beginning of the great Templar story that carries forward to today.

The Knights Templar were recommended by Bernard de Clairvaux to Pope Honorius II, to be sanctioned as an official Order recognized by the Church in 1129 at the Council of Troyes. Then in 1139 Pope Innocent II, gave the Knights their special commission granting them freedoms and privileges like never granted before, in the Papal Bull, Omne Datum Optimum. This allowed the Knights complete autonomy with no required feudal obligations to any monarch or kingdom, they were absolved of paying taxes, giving tithes to the church, and were allowed to ordain their own monks as priests. They answered only to the authority of the Pope on all issues of diplomacy.

Sir Hugh is recorded to have died in 1136 in the Outremer but his exact death is not recorded and no details were recorded of where and how it occurred. In addition, there are no records of his tomb and thus he faded into Templar history as an enigma.

St. Bernard de Clairvaux (role with the Templars) 1090-1154 (The Doctor of the Church):

Abbot Bernard was sent to the newly established and reforming order of the Cistercians to form a new Abbey in the Valley of Clair where he quickly became an advocate of a new Latin Nobility reformation of Christianity. He was related to one of the founding members of the Templar Order and for this reason, Sir Hugh sought him out. In addition, his Latin Rules of Christian Order were highly supported by Count Hugh of Champagne. He upon reviewing of the discoveries of Hugh de Payens when he came to the Abbey of Clairvaux, Abbot Bernard wrote the now infamous, letter titled, ” De Laude Novae Militiae,” praising the Knights by saying; paraphrased, “A new kind of Knight has appeared on this earth, one that is both warrior and religious in spirit and nature. A knight worthy of admiration for their duality of purpose, resisting the temptations of the flesh and earthly possessions while doing battle with spirits of evil that seek to separate men from God’s own divine plan and love for them. These new knights should be feared above all others, for they do not fear death on the battlefield as this only hastens their day to be with their Lord God through the transformative power of our Lord Jesus Christ. They do not retreat in the face of overwhelming odds but rather charge forward protected by the Armor of God himself and striking with the sword of God as their vanquisher of evil men on the battlefield. Theirs is the noblest of calling to give up earthly pleasures and fortune for the religious rewards of heaven above.”

St. Bernard de Clairvaux writes the Templar Rules of Order 1127 AD

Then Bernard de Clairvaux wrote the Templars Rule of 72 orders to live their lives by in daily practice and petitioned the Pope at the Council of Troyes to recognize this new order of knights and sanction their order for duality of purpose. Pope Honorius II granted this to the knights in 1129.

Abbot Bernard was canonized as the first Saint of the Cistercian Order in 1174 by Pope Alexander III. In 1830 he was dubbed the “Doctor of the Church” by Pope Pius VIII. Legend says he took the secret discovery of the Knights Templar founder to the grave with him, never recording it for history in any known written journal.

The 9 Founding Original Knights of the Templar Order:

The 9 Founding Knights of Templar Order

• Sir Hugh de Payens, of Champagne Region of France the First Grand Master
• Godrey de Saint-Omer
• Payen de Montdidier
• Archambaud de St. Agnan
• Andre de Montbard
• Geoffrey Bison
• Rossal and Gondamer, believed to have been monks originally from the Cistercian Order
• The ninth knight remains unknown and that is the great mystery to the origins of the order

The Accusations against the Templars by King Phillip 4th of France and validated by the Church through torture:

1. During the reception ceremony for postulant knights the brothers were required to deny Christ, God, and the Virgin Mary
2. That the brothers did sacrilegious acts against holy relics and images of Christ or the cross such as spitting & urinating on them
3. That the Receptors practiced obscene acts of homosexuality against new entrants
4. Templar Priests did not consecrate the Host, and brothers did not believe in the holy sacraments
5. That the brothers practiced idol worship such as head of John the Baptist, a devil headed figure called Baphomet etc.
6. The brothers practiced institutional sodomy since they took a vow of chastity regarding women
7. That the Grand Master and other high-ranking Templars absolved brothers of their sins
8. That the Templars held their ceremonies and chapter meetings at night and in absolute secrecy where cultish acts transpired
9. That they acquired property and abused their charitable duties using any means to acquire wealth and property possible

There were over a hundred specific allegations, but these were the most damning of the allegations that seemed to turn the general public sentiment and the church inquisitors extremely hostile towards the Templars in captivity.

A typical Day in the life of an original Templar Knight:

2 AM- Rise for Matins- Brothers pray, check equipment and then sleep again till dawn

6 AM- Morning Mass

9 AM- Prayers and Quiet Reading

10 AM- Drill Practice and Military Training

Noon- Prayer, Nourishment, Drink and Chapel for follow-up Prayer

1 PM- Military Drills and equipment repair and care of their animals

3 PM- Vigils for the Dead, Prayers for the needs of the Order

Dusk- Evening Prayer then followed by Supper

Dark- Communal drink and socializing with the brothers followed by prayer and the Grand Silence, check animals & equipment

8 PM- Go to bed for rest

Key Templar Churches:

The Templars placed heavy emphasis on symbolism as part of their codex to their secret mysteries. The best way to experience the width and depth of their investment into their hidden secrets is to review their creation of some of the world’s most magnificent Churches and Cathedrals yet today.

Templar Church Paris- Musee de Artes Today

Tomar Portugal- HQ of the Templars post 1307

Tomar Portugal Templar Church

Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris- The very location where the last Grand Master was burned at the stake on the island approaching the church.

Church of Vera Cruza, Segovia, Spain- in the heart of Spanish Templar Territory in a fairy tale valley in the Shadow of the mighty Alcazar Castle

French Church, now called the Musee de Arte Metiers- French Templar Territory near Paris

Torres del Rios, Spain

Chartres Cathedral, France- Carved with many symbols related to the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail

Canturbury Cathedral, England- carved with heavy symbolism related to the Templars

Olsker Church, Bornholm Island, Denmark- the passage between Scandinavia and continental Christendom

Osterlars Church Bornholm Denmark

Canturbury Cathedral

Chartres Cathedral

Osterlars Church, Bornholm Island, Denmark- a Templar island stronghold

Church of the Cross, Ethiopia a legendary church rumored to have been built by the Templars as they sought the Ark of the Covenant from the Queen of Sheba domain

Rosslyn Chapel- believed to be the hiding place of many Templar secrets but more likely a red herring to throw people off the trail of the actual Templar secrets.

Ethiopian Church of the Crospeople off the real trail of the Templar secrets

Temple Church of London- one of the most significant commerce centers for the Templars in their day.

Key Templar Historical Locations for Templar Lore Today:

Paris Temple- HQ of the Templars until their demise in 1307. The power seat of the Order and the governing council also believed to have been where the treasury resided, you can visit Isle de la Cite, where the grand master was burned at the stake in 1314 in front of Notre Dame Cathedral. Find the ruins of the old Paris Temple.

Rosslyn Chapel Scotland- the symbolism is intricate and overwhelming

Osterlars Bornholm Denmark

Church of Torres del Rios – Spain

Vera Cruza Church Segovia Spain

Notre Dame Cathedral

Temple of the Mount and old Jerusalem (where it all began)

Royston Cave, Herefordshire, England- unique carvings related to the Templar flight from persecution

Bornholm Island, Denmark- a Templar fortress and stronghold in the Baltic region that may have been a primary base of operations for that region.

Chinon Castle, France- where they held a large contingent of Templars prisoner during the 1307-1314 inquisitions

Rhodes Castle-Island of Rhodes

Templar Castle of Rhodes Island

Chinon Castle the Keep that Held Jacque de Molay

Templar Village, Aveyron- France- the most in tact Templar fortified village today

Tomar Castle, Portugal- the new HQ of the Templars post 1307

Peniscola Castle, Spain- on the coast protecting access to the sea lanes

Peniscola Castle- Spainish coast

Acre– the last stand of the Templars in Outremer

Axum Ethiopia and the Church of the Cross- Legendary hiding place of the Ark of the Covenant

Castle of Kolossi on Cyprus- HQ of the Templars when they fled the Outremer

Sion, Valais Canton, Switzerland- Home of the Castles Tourbillion and Valere on twin peaks high in the Alps, thought to be settled by the Templars post 1307

Chastel Blanc Keep- Syria

Ponferrada Castle

Ponferrada Castle- Spain

Chastel Blanc- Syria

Rennes le Chateau, France- the area where many Templar secrets seem to seep into everything a worthwhile visit

Chateau de Gisors Castle- the final prison of Jacques de Molay and a former Templar castle with huge underground caverns and tunnel systems

Typical Templar Holding:

Castle Carbonne Italy- Typical Templar Holding

A typical templar holding would be a small castle that would probably have a village nearby that is part of its property and thus serfs that are bound to the castle and its former Lord. Once it becomes a Templar possession the Templars would become their Master of the Lands and assign a Commander to the Castle with some Knights. The village would continue to farm, forge and any other type of commerce paying their tribute to the Templars instead of the Kingdom. This of course would create some economic hard feelings between the Templars and the Rulers of the Kingdom as the Templar economic base widened and further reduced the revenue of the Kings.

Templar Beausant:

Templar Battle Standard the Beausant

The battle pennant of the Templars which was normally black and white and sometimes with a red templar cross in the center worn on the end of a lance usually carried by a mounted commander into battle.

Templar Jolly Roger Flag:

Made famous by the greatest Templar naval admiral or commander, Roger de Flor. His black flag with a skull and crossed swords became the symbol of fear on the sea lanes between Christendom and Outremer. He was a fierce raider and unorthodox Templar not carrying much for the rules but loving his brothers and he had great loyalty to the Order and the Grand Master. Later pirates took this as their own symbol to scare merchant ships.

Admiral Roger de Flor’s Naval Flag

Templar Crosses:

There were four major variants of the Templar Crosses they are as follows;

Templar Knights Cross of Christ

French Flared Cross

Scottish Cross

Patte Templar Cross

Pattee Cross-

Scottish Cross-

Knights Cross of Christ-

French Flared Cross-

Switzerland Linkage:

The time of 1307-1315 was one of major unrest for the 160,000 templar brothers spread around Christendom. The monarchs captured about 660 of their fellow armed knights, but most of the order fled or blended into the country side into obscurity to seek refuge in safer regions out of the reach of the hostile and greedy Kings of England and France mainly and far from Italy where the Church that had betrayed them had great power and influence. Switzerland was the perfect hideout. In those years and days the area was just a loose knit unorganized rabble of peasants with mountains on all four sides and narrow passes that enter it from the more organized regions of Christendom. It was a very easy locale for the Templars to flee to as it bordered the Eastern edge of France. While legend says that the Templar treasury was vacated by ship from ports such as La Rochelle, it is not as likely as an overland route to Switzerland. The ports would have had too many spies and commerce traders and the freight and ships would have been too vulnerable to

Castle in Sion-Valais Canton

capture. The Swiss successfully fought off Austrian Invaders in 1315 at the battle of Morgarten at Gotthard Pass, where it is said that Templar warriors instructed and directed the attacks that ambushed and defeated the much larger Army of Duke Leopold. Just after this time the Swiss Confederation was formed and remains the oldest democracy on earth. Switzerland is renowned for it’s banking and research prowess coupled with a fierce neutrality of others political matters and wars as well as the strictest banking rules in the world with secrecy as their ultimate tenet. All of these could have directly sprung from the Templar influence. The Swiss flag is the reverse of the Templar white mantle and red cross instead with a red back ground and white cross. The French-speaking village of Sion, (meaning Holy Land) is long rumored to be the original settling place of the Templars in Switzerland.

Decline of the Templars:

The decline of the Templars began in the defeat they suffered at the hands of Saladin at the Battle of Hattin July 4, 1187, where the

Mamluks charge the Templars at Hattin 1187

Crusaders led by their overly cocky and less than bright military Grand Master Gerard de Ridefort foolishly made encouraged the crusaders to camp on low ground in the sweltering heat before reaching the Sea of Galilee just a few miles away. After this defeat the Crusaders suffered a string of defeats culminating in their loss of Acre in 1291. Once Acre fell the Templars found themselves with no Holy Land to protect and the schism amongst them began to develop of either retaking the Holy Land, which most doubted was possible at the time, creating a land based empire in the South of France (probably Languedoc Region where they had strong former Cathar ties and where the French King was highly disliked) or creating a naval based empire on the islands around Christendom and the Mediterranean Sea, where they could strike at their will in any direction and be fairly secure of invasion or hostile actions by the rulers of Christendom and the Church. The seeds of discontent existed heavily then between the Templars, the rulers of Christendom who owed them a vast and huge sum of monies and the Church which did not like their now highly entrenched autonomy from the Papal control and with no need of Papal wealth for their purposes of their intentions. These sowed the seeds from which the Church and Monarchs would launch the eventual demise of the Templars, culminating in their capture on October 13, 1307 and the burning of their last known Grand Master Jacques de Molay on the Isle de Cite March 18, 1314 in the middle of the Seine River.

Tribute Memorial to Jacques de Molay Paris France

Glossary of Key Medieval & Templar Terms:

Council of Troyes 1128 -Vatican authenticates the Templars

Papal Bull of Medieval Times

Council of Troyes- The gathering of the church cardinals in Troyes, France in 1129 to hear Papal authority on church related issues of concern across Christendom.

Papal Bull- A holy decree given by the Catholic church making a church rule on the interpretation of any matter under their direct authority, which cannot be overturned by non-church influences.

Omne Datum Optimum- 1139 declaration by Pope Innocent II giving the Templars absolute autonomy and answering only to the Church, no taxes, no tithes, no travel restrictions and no governance by other feudal kings.

Templar Secret Codex-Book of Knowledge & Codes

Templar Codex- A book or scroll that is believed to serve two purposes. One it contains the universal translation to coded messages that the Templars use for secret communications. Secondary but more important is that it is the coded history of the actual Knights Templar Order, including the knowledge acquired, secrets they discovered, and relics of evidence and factual tangible evidence of their discoveries as well as the use of secret universal knowledge for other matters such as astrology, alchemy, the Holy Grail, Ark of the Covenant and the Lost Gospels of Christ and other apostles of Jesus during this lifetime. The Codex would be the Templars key to universal understanding of most if not all of life’s mysteries that remain misunderstood or not divulged by modern religions, science and governments.

Larmenius Charter- A Charter of Transmission giving the oral continuation of the Templar Order to Father Jean-Marc Larmenius by Jacques de Molay before his death in 1314. From this the Palestinian born Christian then had the charter updated to include the successive next 22 Grand Master of the Order up until its official public reappearance officially in 1804, with Napoleon’s decree of their reinstatement as an official order under Napoleonic Law and Rule.

Black Madonna-The concept and belief legend that depicts ties of the Virgin Mary to African descent and most notably ties to the house of the Queen of Sheeba and then through ties to the Egyptian Goddess Isis and Horus. Showing the direct correlation of

Black Madonna

Christianity to earlier religions.

Cistercian Order-Primarily founded by the Abbot Bernard de Clairvaux and following the strict Rules of St. Benedict as their guiding principles. They were sometimes referred to as the White Monks. Their philosophy was often not popular with the other monastic orders. In later years around 1891, they became called the Trappist Order.

Levant-The Mediterranean region of the parts of Turkey, Iran, Egypt and Arabia and including Cyprus, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Palestinian Territories and Lebanon today, that were considered the area of conflict for the crusades in medieval times.

Cathars-A rebellious Christian movement mostly in the Northern Italy, German Rhineland and French Languedoc regions of Europe. Their views were of dualistic nature and Gnostic movement. They believed in the new Testament but believed there were additional sacred books not included by the Catholic Church, which supported their views. Those additional books were the Interrogation of John at the Secret Supper and The Book of the Two Principles. They were wiped out by the Catholic Church in the Albigensian Crusade and finished off by the Inquisition from 1226-1314 approximately. The beliefs were believed to have been brought to Europe through Byzantine trade routes.

Aramaic Language- The Mother tongue of Christ. It is based on the Syrian Semitic family of Aram from ancient history. The language was derived as the root language to many other languages such as Canaanite, Phoenician and Hebrew and has some linkage to some other Arabic languages.

Caliph-Title given to an Islamic ruler of a community or land, believed to represent the political successor to the Messenger of God, the Prophet Muhammad. Thus the Caliph has the authority of Muhammad to direct his people as he sees God directs him to do.

Infidels- Primarily a medieval christian term meaning “One Without Faith.” This term meant that the person being called this term had either rejected the christian view of faith or had not been made aware of it out of their own ignorance to Gods obvious enlightenment of christian rules of faith.

Holy Roman Emperors- This was the title given to the Ruler of the Medieval Territories that were considered Roman Catholic, and it was translated to mean the Protector of the Church or Faith, directly supported by the Papalcy as their military ruler. Charlemagne was the first ruler dubbed this title by the Pope Leo III in 800 AD.

Carolingian Rulers-Founded by Charles Martel in 676 AD as the ruling family over much of the Franks. They did not believe in hereditary lineage being passed to illegitimate born children of the throne. They lost power in the rise of the Capetian Dynasty.

Capetian Dynasty- Founded by Hugh Capet, the seeds of modern monarchy spread from this French line of royal families across most of Europe. Today the King of Spain and Duke of Luxembourg are both Capetian rulers by birth from the house of Bourbon.

Gnosticism called an acute Hellenistic christianity movement believing in esoteric or intuitive knowledge as the path to the salvation of the soul from the material trappings of the earth. Some believe that the Gnostic religion or teachings taught that Jesus as the Divine Being attained this through his application of intuitive knowledge not divine birth.

Dead Sea Scrolls- 972 texts written on scrolls in Aramaic, Greek and Hebrew of which 60% have not been canonized into the original Hebrew bible. They were found in 1947 on the Northwest shore of the Dead Sea. They point to many differences of opinion as to the actual early christian belief system and original teachings of Christ and other ancient religious scholars.

Copper Scrolls-A scroll written on metal made of copper and tin found in 1952 in Cave #3 of the Dead Sea Scrolls dig sites by a Bedouin tribesman. This scroll does not tell a tale but rather is a coded list of items and their hiding locations around the Holy Land. It is by legend believed to be of Jewish origin and could be the clues that might someday lead an explorer to the original resting place of the Ark of the Covenant, Holy Grail or other Jewish Treasures hidden from the Romans.

Gospel of Thomas-Discovered in 1945 in Nag Hammadi Egypt and not canonized by the catholic church. These teachings are believed to be rooted in the Gnostic movement demonstrating that Jesus gave instruction through his teachings and divine words on how to achieve eternal life, not through his sacrifice of atonement for our sins as the Son of God. It is thought that these teachings may also hint at the actual faking of the crucifixion of Christ by the Church as a dogma to build religious concept of guilting us into submission to the church dogma.

Jewish Treasury- The vast horde of gold, silver, precious gemstones, bronze statues and possibly the ark of the covenant and holy grail of christ that were believed to have been hidden from the Romans when they sacked Jerusalem in 70 AD.

Isis Cult-She was worshipped as the ideal woman both mother and wife, of intense beauty and inner peace and gentleness. She controls both nature and the spiritual realms. She was said to be instrumental in using her magical powers for the resurrection of the God Osiris when he was murdered by Set, so her control over life and death and the access to both the underworld and the heavens as a gateway is very akin to the Catholic views of the Virgin Mary. Her son Horus was the God of War. Legend says the Nile river was created by her tears flowing at the death of Osiris.

Joseph of Arimathea- A wealthy Jewish man of the Sanhedrin Council who gave his own personal tomb for Christ to be buried. He was later believed to be part of the underground movement to get the pregnant Mary Magdalene out of the Jerusalem and reportedly took her with his own wealth to the Southern France region of the mediterranean basin to hide her from the Church and the Romans.

Jihad-an Islamic term meaning “struggle” or battle against evil or those of non-Islamic faith that would stop the spread of the prophets teachings to all mankind. It is often associated as a duty or calling to carry out an Islamic mission to address evil or those not of Islamic faith.

The Torah-The first five books of the Jewish Bible. Said to have been given by God to Moses on the Mount of Sinai.

The Jewish Book of Torah

Roscrucians- Founded in late medieval Germany by Christian Rosenkreuz as a secret society governed by 8 members. This society was following the belief system of combining theurgy (invoking the presence of Gods) Alchemy and Astrology to change the knowledge and physical nature of mankind. This hermetic movement was considered a cult by the Church. It was highly respected and secretly engaged by many of the noble scientists of those times in secrecy and may have been the basis upon which the Royal Society was formed in England for scholarly pursuits.

Rex Deus- The Bloodline of Christ, related to the belief that Mary Magdalene was in fact not a repentant prostitute as the Church would have us believe, but rather a prominent religious leader and apostle under Jesus, and later his wife. Upon his death the then pregnant Mary fled to Europe through a network of Jesus supporters to establish the bloodline in Europe.

Muhammad, the Great Prophet (570-632)- The founder of Islam. He was said to have been given the oral instruction of God’s commandments for our lives by the Angel Gabriel over 23 years. Those were written down into 114 chapters of God’s direct instruction for living our lives in God’s design into the Quran. He was born in the village of Mecca and died in Medina.

Nestorian Christians-Taken from the doctrine of Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople from 428-431 AD, it is based on the

Nestorian Christians in China

duality of Christ both as human and spiritual beings. (Thus you can see the duality link to the Templars). Nestorius was trained at the Academy in Damascus and thus had great eastern influence believed to be linked to Christ’s own journey of enlightenment to the far east in Asia during his lost years of record age 12-30. The Nestorians established their own Christian Church of the East, covering Sees in Egypt, Persia, India and China. During the Muslim conquest of Persia and India, the Caliphate in 644 gave them protected status. The community thrived as the Church of the East and Nestorian doctrine is stilled revered by the Assyrian Christian Church today.

Nazoreans- Usually referred to as the first Orthodox Christians as the followers of Christ that believed him to be the Messiah. This order was founded by James the Just, the brother of Jesus. Most of the teachings are from the Gospel of the Nazarenes and the sometimes referred to as the Gospel of the Hebrews. This was greatly influenced the Gospel of Matthew. The Church gives no credence to the Gospel of the Nazarenes and treated it as a non-inspired written testimony of Christ.

Richard I the Lion Heart, King of England (1157-1199)-He was considered the best of the Crusader battlefield commanders

Richard the Lionheart leaves Holy Land

and fought Saladin to a stalemate over Jerusalem. He was much beloved by the Templars and had their full support. It is believed that when he was captured upon his return from the Holy Land to Europe by Duke Leopold of Austria, that Eleanor of Aquitaine, his mother asked the Templars to take the ransom to free him and bring him safely home. He was the King of England, but did not like to actually live there as he was of French ancestry, and saw himself as the rightful ruler of both France and England. He spent his later years battling for control of the French throne.

Saladin (1138-1193)- Considered to be the greatest Muslim warrior and battlefield commander of all time. He became the first Sultan of Egypt and Syria, forming the Ayyubid Dynasty. He defeated the Crusaders and the Templars at the Battle of Hattin and eventually sacked and retook Jerusalem for the Muslims. He had great admiration for his fairness from the Templars. He was of Kurdish descent.

Quran (Koran)- Muslim book of religion regarded as the literal direction of God with 114 chapters believed to have been revealed to the Prophet Mohammad over a period of 23 years by the Angel Gabriel. Written down between 610-633 AD.

Hospitaller Knights- Believed to have been founded by Gerard de Tum, “Blessed Gerard” officially in 1096, the order was based around the Amalifitan Hospital in Jerusalem as a place for the infirmed and injured to be treated. The order was influenced by the Rules of St. Augustine and the Benedictine Order of the church. Their original name was the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, then the Knights of Rhodes, later the Knights of Malta. Today the Knights of Malta are believed to be the oldest non-profit organization in existence and are also considered a non-governmental organization sanctioned and recognized by the Papacy and the United Nations. The Hospitallers were believed to have been the actual torturers of the Templars under the Jesuit monks direction. The order of course was given all Templar possessions by the Pope in 1312 when the Church dissolved the Templars.

Teutonic Knights (1190-Present)-The Order of the Brothers of the German House of Mary in Jerusalem, founded and led by their Prussian first Grand Master Heirich von Bassenheim as a military order in Acre and giving allegiance to the Holy Roman Emperor and the Papacy. They fought in Europe to spread christianity through the Baltic region and eastern Europe.

Illuminati- Founded in 1776 by Adam Weishaupt, of Masonic origins this group sought to attain the ultimate attainment of knowledge and believed that by infiltrating the Masonic Lodges and the Catholic Church they could weave such information together to better understand the ultimate universal power of true knowledge through enlightenment. They were pledged to absolute secrecy and loyalty to their Leaders and Master.

Assassins (Hashshashin)-believed to have been founded by Hasn-i Sabah, (the old man of the Mountain) in 1080 just prior to

Masyaf Syria Fortress of the Assassins

the first crusade. Their headquarters was on the mountaintop in a fortress called Alamut in NW Iran. Masyaf in Syria became their new HQ after the mongols sacked Alamut in 1256. They were highly trained in the art of clandestine tactics and assassinations. They traded in knowledge and secrets and were not trusted by Muslim or Christian. Saladin gave them a wide birth and avoided conflicts with their

Mongols-A fierce warlike people who primarily speak Mongolian from the Central Asian regions of Russia, China and Mongolia. They were strong stout mostly short people who lived off the land that they captured and had mobile homes called a Ger. Their warriors fought mostly from horseback with swords and heavy bows in dual combination all at high-speed charge. Their opponents feared them. The Various famous leaders include Genghis Khan and Attila the Hun. Their conquest of Eastern Europe, Asia and the Middle East nearly wiped out Islam. They are highly loyal in their ranks and follow mostly the path of Tibetan-Buddisim and the teachings of the Dalai Lama.

Mongol Warrior

Gentiles- Those of non-Jewish belief and origin.

Mamluks-These warrior slaves were mostly Turkish. They fought for Saladin until his health failed and he eventually died. Then the slaves became the masters as they took over as the Sultans of Syria and Egypt around 1250. They defeated the Mongols and then crushed the remaining Crusaders at Acre in 1291, which wiped out the Christian hold on the Holy Land.

Mamluk Warrior on Foot

Baphomet- a pagan symbol of duality related to both male and female and heaven and hell. Also it was speculated that it was a mispronunciation of the word Muhammad by the crusaders.

Ark of the Covenant-The holy house where God’s spirit dwells. Also called the Ark of Testimony. It was built by Moses after he returned from the Mount of Sinai with Instructions from God on how to construct it. Inside the Ark is where Aaron’s Rod is along with a jar of manna and the rock tablets in which God inscribed the 10 commandments to Moses. Many believe the Ark was taken by the Queen of Sheba to what is now Ethiopia to her palace in Axum, then later sent overland to the Great Zimbabwe Civilization and then taken by the Templars eventually upon their own discovery of it to Chartres Cathedral in France, where it was hidden until modern times. Many think it was removed during WWI to somewhere else for safe keeping by the modern Templars, who are alleged to be the

Ark of the Covenant

guardians if it now.

Holy Grail- The legendary medieval story about Arthurian lore that his knights sought the chalice that was either used to drink the wine at the last supper passed around by Christ where he did the first act of transformation of the wine to blood sacrament or other speculate that it was the chalice in which Joseph of Arimathea caught Christ’s blood at his crucifixion was the same chalice passed around at the last supper. By all lore the chalice is supposed to give those that drink from it eternal youth and health and the healing power of Christ’s blood. The Knights Templar have long been rumored to have found the grail under the Temple of Solomon and are supposed to be the guardians of the Grail today. Many believe the Cathedral of St. Mary in Valencia is the host of the grail or that the grail is hidden in another Templar sanctuary. That chalice is made of agate which was a popular material for chalices in the days of Christ.

The Secretive Vatican Archives

Vatican Archives- These are the Archives of everything the Catholic Church has collected through out time. The archives are alleged to have over 52 miles of shelving. They are the private property of the Pope and the Holy See. They are completely separate from the Vatican Library, which is open to the public and researchers. Many believe the Church has collected many secret manuscripts and acquired vast libraries such as the collections from Alexandria, Constantinople and even from the Jews. It is considered the ultimate hiding place of a treasure trove of secrets not revealed to the common man.

Constantinople-The Eastern Capital of the Roman Empire and later Ottoman Empire on the

Medieval Constantinople

location of the Byzantine Empire capital. Her walls were supposed to be impenetrable. She was the home of some of the greatest Cathedral, Palace and Library in the Eastern World. It is still the home of the Greek Orthodox Church. She fell to the Crusaders when they were supposed to be in route to the Holy Land. The Templars are alleged to have taken part in the sacking in order to gain access to the ancient records and library before the crusaders destroyed the contents within the city and the Templars were said to have taken the treasures out of the city and transported it to their own holding citadels until they could review them and send them to their final storage area hidden from the world by the Templars. The Church was rumored to not be happy that the Templars took the library and relics before their operatives could get to them.

The mighty walls of Constantinople

Ancient Jerusalem- The Home of three religions claim to their religious heritage, including Christianity, the Jews and the Muslim’s Holy Shrine of Dome of the Rock. It has created the most contentious real estate on the planet still today.

Merovian Dynasty-Founded by Childeric I, son of Merovech in 457 AD, this line of Kings was also called the Long Haired Kings, ad they ruled the Franks in the ancient area of the Gauls. Their claim was that they were of the direct bloodline of Christ and thus their power and ruling claim was ordained by God himself.

Cohens (Kohens)- Jewish Priests and Religious Scholars of ancient lineage thought to be of the house of Levi of the original 12 tribes of Judea.

Desposyni-The direct descendants of christ and those now that follow his esoteric Nazarene Essenes teachings carried out of the Holy Land after his death by his brothers and his wife who was speculated to have been with child.

Cabala (Kabbalah)- a Jewish Rabbinic teaching of esoteric thought and teachings of how the mystical teachings of early Judaism were able to interact with God and his unchanging universal knowledge of the interconnecting spirits of our souls and the universal mysteries of God himself and the miracles that those powers can have in a transformative basis on our physical life.

Coptic- The Oriental and Middle Eastern Christians that were formed in 451 at the Council of Chalcedon, and headquartered in Alexandria, as the Patriarch of Africa and the Eastern Orthodox churches and Holy See of Africa. The religion is deeply rooted in the Egyptians and were possibly very connected to the Templars pursuit of knowledge within Africa and the recovery of the Alexandria Library documents, many think may have been hidden in Timbuktu.

The Abbraxas Seal- The Seal of the Grand Master. Many believe this seal contained a special stone that could be used in the development of alchemy and thus was one of the many sources of the Templars power and wealth.

Outremer- The term for the area we now call the Holy Land.

Christendom- The term used for the area we now call Europe.

Avignon Papacy 1309-1376

French Papacy (Avignon era)- a time in which the church moved its power to France as Clement V was elected Pope (a Frenchman) and close confidant of King Phillip IV (the Fair). The Papacy lasted for 8 popes from 1309-1376. Then the power was rested back to the Holy See in Vatican City within Rome.

Bernard de Clairvaux- The Frenchman was the founder of the Cistercian Order (white monks) and first Saint of the Cistercian order. He was the most powerful religious leader of his day. He was often called the Pope Maker, for his power of persuasion of getting Popes he felt were worthy of the title nominated to the highest position in the Catholic church, though he never sought the office himself. He was later named the “Doctor of the Church.”

Hugh I. Count of Champagne- The Liege Lord of Sir Hugh de Payens and the person believed to have sent Sir Hugh on the crusades in search of information pertaining to the location of the hidden Jewish treasures. He was quite an enlightened and educated Lord and nobleman. His court had many Eastern Philosophers that visited. It was by accident that Sir Hugh discovered something believed to be far more valuable and life changing than his original mission.

Chinon Parchment- Catholic Church document found Templars Innocent by decree

Chinon Parchment- This document was issued by the Vatican just after the Templar executions and decreed that the Templars were innocent of their allegations. But the Church buried the document in the Vatican Archives until it was found in 2007 by a Vatican archive researcher.

9th Templar- The mysterious ninth member of the founding order that may have been kept anonymous as an elaborate precaution to safeguard the Templar secret discovery and their newly acquired knowledge in case the Church betrayed them or others sought to take their discoveries by force.

Best Templar Films:

Ironclad

Arn the Templar

Arn the Knights Templar- this has to be the ultimate Templar film made in Finland and Sweden. There are two versions both are uniquely different segments of story

Kingdom of Heaven

Ironclad- a more recent Templar story of the defense of a castle in England against Prince John while Richard the Lion Hearted is away in the 3rd Crusade

Kingdom of Heaven- a similar story of the fall of Jerusalem during the time just after the 2nd Crusade it shows the treachery & arrogance of Grand Master de Ridefort

Recommended Reading:

Templar Code for Dummies, Wiley Publishing

Chivalry Code by Brent Kenton Jordan

The Enigma of the Knights Templar- Marilyn Hopkins

The History of the Knights Templar- Charles Addison

The Warriors & the Bankers- Steven Dafoe & Alan Butler

The Trial of the Templars- Malcolm Barber

The Rule of the Templars- J.M. Upton-Ward

St. Bernard de Clairvaux- Bruno James

History of the Crusades- Stephen Ruciman

Foucault Pendulum by Umberto Eco

On Friday October 13th the Grand Master of the most formidable Army and economic power in the world rode smugly into King Phillip IV (the Fair’s) royal court in France in hopes of settling the growing tensions between his order of immense power and wealth and the Most powerful ruler in Christendom. King Phillip had not only poisoned and kidnapped one Pope, but also installed his boyhood friend Clement V as the new Pope and moved the seat of the Vatican to Avignon, France. His lead henchman William De Nogarrett had meticulously planned for this day for over two years. They arrested the Grand Master Jacques de Molay, the last publicly known leader of the Knights Templar and his 66 knights in escort. That night they seized across all over Europe (Christendom) all the templar strongholds and arrested as many of the knights as they could find and seized their assets. Or so they thought! To put this into perspective for you, the Knights Templar had grown from a force of just 9 founding knights from the first crusade led by their first Grand Master and founder, Sir Hugh de Payens, a French Knight from the Champagne region of France, into a force of 160,000 sworn to secrecy members with over 9,000 castles, farms, villages, vineyards, and other locale based assets engaged in commerce and trade. They had a standing army of the toughest and most well armed knights on the planet of 20,000. They had more money than all the rulers of christendom combined and some said even more than the Holy Roman Church. Most of these rulers, including King Phillip owed massive amounts of debts to the Templars. he had hoped that in one fell swoop he would rid himself of their debt, grab their riches and secret treasures and relics and take control of the world;s first multi-national economic empire. But that night he only arrested some 600 knights across the order. He found no treasure or relics. It was as if the entire Templar infrastructure had just disappeared in one evening. Legend says when Nogarrett himself led the raid on the Templar fortified harbor castle in La Rochelle, home of the Western Atlantic fleet of the templars, it was deserted. Town folks he interrogated told him that on Oct 12, 1307 (the night before) that 18 Templar ships sailed from La Rochelle harbor loaded with Knights, horses and heavily laden with supplies, they sat low in the water from the enormous weight. No one ever recorded seeing the fleet ever again. The Templar fortune, secrets, and relics have never been found.

Now let’s go back to their humble beginnings to see what inspired this nearly 200 year development into the most feared and powerful order in the world.

In 1118 Sir Hiugh de Payens asked King Baldwin the ruler of occupied Jerusalem for the Crusaders for permission to create a new band of knights dedicated to protecting the highways and roads around the Outremer (Holy Land) so that Pilgrims could travel safely from place to place. King Baldwin granted him the request and gave Sir Hugh and his 8 other knights a stable and headquarters under King Solomon’s temple. Here is where the mystery begins. So as you know the King and all records show that 9 knights founded the Knights Templar, but history only names 8. So why did the Sir Hugh and his Knights keep the name of the 9th Templar secret? Second, while the Templars did patrol the roads and earn great respect from their opponents and the locals for their honor, courage and chivalry… they also are believed to have excavated under the Temple of Solomon for 8 years… until one night Sir Hugh found something or some things that profoundly changed not only his own personal life but transformed his entire focus and purpose. Whatever they found under the Temple of Solomon. History says that Sir Hugh immediately departed with a couple of his most trusted inner circle knights and traveled to see the most powerful religious leader of their time in France. He went to the Abbey in Clairivoux to see their Abbott Bernard de Clairvioux. It is said that when Bernard de Clairvioux read the scroll that Sir Hugh Found, which only he could translate since it was written in the old dialect of Jesus, Aramaic, it so shocked him, that he immediately began to plan with Sir Hugh to build the importance and mission of the now Knights Templar into a completely new concept. An official order approved by the Pope and the Catholic church granted with powers to cross borders without taxes, pay no tithes to the church, pay no taxes to any ruler and exempt even from having other monks as their religious clergy. The Templars were christened as both Warrior Knights and Monks… nothing like this had ever existed before. Two purposes within one man a dualism like no other force on the planet. People who joined the order were sworn to secrecy, had to give up all their possessions to the order, and had to adhere to the 72 rules of the order, which required absolute obedience, chivalry, and chastity and protection of Christ’s message to the infidels to promote religious development of Christ’s desire for humanity. Rich people flocked to he order. The order became the first international bankers inventing a method for allowing you to travel with a coded message of your assets and then cash it in at a templar priory or stronghold so you could travel without fear of robbery.

The order became the most feared force of knights on the battlefield. Their knights had the best weapons, heaviest and most elite cavalry and their strategy of never retreating or surrendering unless they faced more than 4-1 odds made them the most feared force in the campaigns. Their presence on the battlefield was said to scare most opponents into so many mistakes that the Templars bashed and crashed through the enemy ranks at their own pleasure.

Now imagine, this grand group of knights that built the most wonderful cathedrals with their masons and money. The Mason’s who could not be Templars because they were not of noble birth, even formed their own secret order and used their masters name as one of their highest achievement groups within their own order.

But to this day nobody has ever found the tomb of the first Grand Master Sir Hugh de Payens. His death was not factually validated only approximated. Nobody could ever officially say they saw him die much less be buried and/or entombed. So what ever happened to the illustrious Sir Hugh? What did he discover that so impacted Cardinal Bernard de Clairvioux that he fully supported the Templars as special knights of God until the day he died. The Cistercian order says that Cardinal Bernard de Clairvoux took this secret to his grave with him. Some say Sir Hugh was seen years later in the Far East conferring with a group of rare Christian Monks in China and Tibet, called the Nestorian Christians. Some say he followed Christ’s own journey to enlightenment to the far east to decipher the secrets he had discovered and Christ himself’s own directions for becoming one with God. Some say Sir Hugh was seen many times over history taking different names but always holding court in some royal family function, attending some special event, digging up architectural facts and seeking knowledge and enlightenment at any opportunity. History notes many instances where the supposed disbanded Templars might have intervened in major events and changed the outcome of tyranny. Two such examples were the defeat of the English by Sir Robert the Bruce at Bannockburn Scotland, where the Templars charged in from the flank with a heavy cavalry that so terrorized the English knights that the superior force of nearly 5-1 fled from the battlefield. Sir Robert the Bruce, is is rumored gave refuge to a group of Templar Knights that landed in his country and did not allow them to be turned over to the Church. For their gratitude and loyalty to the Bruce they invested their veterans to roust the English out of Scotland.

Then in Switzerland, before it had formed as a republic… it was said that a small band of knights in white mantels taught the peasants tactics in warfare and set a major ambush for Austrian Archduke Leopold. There at Mortgarten Pass the band of 1400 lightly armed peasant soldiers defeated the 15,000 knights of the Austria. From this point the Swiss banded together and formed the worlds first and now oldest democracy. The Swiss would go on to become the worlds foremost bankers and innovators of many ingenious new items such as watch making and precision instruments used in science. They also created the worlds most strict adherence to secrecy, especially in banking and a standing army of every citizen soldier (the first national guard) and neutrality in matters of foreign policy. This should sound familiar they are all tenets of the Knights Templar’s own order. In fact the Swiss Flag today bears a strange resemblance to the ancient templar orders white cloaks (mantels) with bright red cross.

So just how coincidental is all this? You will have to decide as you read this modern day thriller. Today the story has become even more thrilling. It is a tale of two boys who are separated at birth and reunited nearly 25 years later. Their lives become intertwined to not only discover the reason of their upbringing and also to discover the purpose or legacy that they are each called to follow. All this while people are trying to kill them for reasons they do not understand. They join forces in order to solve the mystery, stay alive and find the true purpose of their own lives. The story is filled with really sinister villains from the most powerful organizations on the planet today, a secret order within the Catholic Church, the Government of the United States, Islamic Terrorists, a super rich and very savvy technology and green sustainable billionaire and a secret order of assassins.

I hope you enjoy the story. It starts off 25 years earlier than today with an assault on a secret group of monks high in the Swiss Alps at their mountaintop Castle/chateau. Everyone in the Chateau is killed by a highly trained group of dark cloaked assassins disguised as monks. Then just as help is beginning to arrive, the strangest thing happens, …. the band of murdering assassins lines up and does something nobody would expect…. You’ll have to read the book to get the rest of the story. I do promise you that you won’t want to put it down once you start reading.