Knights Templar

The Enigma of the Templars and Gothic Architecture

After Innocent II was elected Pope with St. Bernard’s backing, he granted the Templars the right to build and run their own churches. This was a first in the history of the Church, which ruled as an absolute power at the time. This privilege meant that from now on, the Templars were answerable only to the Pope and beyond the reach of other authorities, including kings and lesser rulers. It also reduced their responsibilities to the Papacy, letting them hold court, impose their own taxes and collect them. Thus they could realize their worldly ambitions free of any pressure from the Church.

In the process of planning their churches, they developed their own style of architecture, later to be known as “Gothic.” In The Sign and the Seal, Graham Hancock states that Gothic architecture was born in 1134 with the construction of the north tower of Chartres Cathedral. The person behind this work of architecture was St. Bernard, the Templars’ mentor and spiritual leader. He felt it important that this construction symbolize in stone the cabbalistic approach and the esotericism that the Templars esteemed so highly.

As Graham Hancock wrote, St. Bernard, the patron of the Templars,

“played a formative role in the evolution and dissemination of the Gothic architectural formula in its early days (he had been at the height of his powers in 1134 when the soaring north tower of Chartres cathedral had been built, and he had constantly stressed the principles of sacred geometry that had been put into practice in that tower and throughout the whole wonderful building.)”

Elsewhere in the same book, the author writes:

The entire edifice had been carefully and explicitly designed as a key to the deeper religious mysteries. Thus, for example, the architects and masons had made use of gematria (an ancient Hebrew cipher that substitutes numbers for the letters of the alphabet) to “spell out” obscure liturgical phrases in many of the key dimensions of the great building. Similarly the sculptors and glaziers-working usually to the instructions of the higher clergy-had carefully concealed complex messages about human nature, about the past, and about the prophetic meaning of the Scriptures in the thousands of different devices and designs that they had created.

(For example, a tableau in the north porch depicts the removal, to some unstated destination, of the Ark of the Covenant-which is shown loaded upon an ox-cart. The damaged and eroded inscription, “HIC AMICITUR ARCHA CEDERIS,” which could be “Here is hidden the Ark of the Covenant.”

Clearly he had regarded the Templars’ architectural skills as almost supernaturally advanced and had been particularly impressed by the soaring roofs and arches that they had built. . . Soaring roofs and arches had also been the distinguishing features of the Gothic architectural formula as expressed at Chartres and other French cathedrals in the twelfth century-cathedrals that . . . were regarded by some observers as “scientifically… far beyond what can be allowed for in the knowledge of the epoch.”30

The Battle of Hattin

Following the death of the Latin King Baldwin I in 1186, Guy de Lusignan – who was known to be close to the Templars – succeeded to the throne in Palestine. Reynald de Chatillon, Prince of Antioch, became the new king’s closest aide. After fighting in the Second Crusade, Reynald had stayed behind in Palestine, where he became good friends with the Templars.

Reynald’s cruelty was well known in the Holy Land. On the 4th of July, 1187 the crusader armies fought their bloodiest battle at Hattin. The army numbered 20,000 infantry and a thousand mounted knights. Assembling this army stretched to the limit the resources of towns along the border, leaving the others unprotected and vulnerable. The battle ended with the virtual annihilation of the crusaders. Most lost their lives, and every survivor was captured. Among the prisoners of war were King Guy himself and the leading commanders of the Christian army

According to the Templars’ own records, Saladin, the great commander of the Muslim forces, was fair. Despite all the cruelty inflicted on Palestine’s Muslim population over the previous 100 years of Christian rule, the defeated forces were not ill-treated.

While most Christians were pardoned, the Templars had been responsible for the savage attacks carried out on the Muslim population, and for this reason, Saladin had the Templars executed, along with the Grand Master of the order and Reynald de Chatillon, both known for their inhumane cruelty. King Guy was freed after only one year in captivity in the town of Nablus.

After Saladin’s victory at Hattin, he advanced with his army and proceeded to free Jerusalem. Despite serious losses, the Templars survived their defeat in Palestine and along with other Christians, withdrew to Europe. Most headed for France where, thanks to their privileged status, they continued to increase their power and wealth. In time, they became the “state within the state” in many European countries.

Acre, the crusaders’ last stronghold in Palestine, was captured by the Muslim army in 1291. With this, the original justification for the Templars’ existence-the protection of pilgrims in the Holy Land-disappeared as well.

Now the Templars could concentrate all their efforts on Europe, but needed a little time to adapt to this new situation. During this transitional period, they relied on the help of their friends in the royal houses of Europe, of whom the best-known was Richard the Lion-Hearted. His relationship with the Templars was such that he was regarded as an Honorary Knight Templar.31

Furthermore, Richard had sold to the Templars the Island of Cyprus, which was to become the temporary base of their order, while they strengthened their position in Europe to counteract their losses in Palestine.

Cyprus: A Temporary Base

In order to understand the links between Cyprus and the order, we need to examine the events that culminated in the 3rd Crusade. By July 4, 1187, Jerusalem was conquered. Guy de Lusignan was taken prisoner the same day to be freed a year later, after swearing an oath never to attack the Muslims again.

Germany, France, and England made the joint decision to launch the 3rd Crusade in order to retake Jerusalem. But before proceeding to attack the Holy City, they considered it essential for their success to first capture a harbor, where they could land troops and supplies. Acre was selected; and King Philip of France and England’s King Richard began their sea journey

After King Richard’s naval forces took Cyprus, Templar Master Robert de Sable entered the scene with a proposal to purchase Cyprus from Richard the Lion-Hearted. A price was fixed at 100,000 bezants (then gold currency of Byzantium), and de Sable made a down payment of 40,000 bezants. This sum, available so soon after the defeat at Hattin, is enough to illustrate the order’s financial strength.

In 1291, Acre fell to the Muslim army. As the Christian presence in Palestine came to an end, the Templars moved on. Some settled in Cyprus, later to serve as their temporary base in the Mediterranean. The Templars had been hoping to acquire a kingdom, such as the Teutonic Knights had won for themselves in northern Europe, except they wanted theirs in center of Europe-preferably in France.

In Europe, under the guidance of their Master based in France, the rest of the Templars carried on their usual activities, with an unequalled degree of freedom. The Grand Master enjoyed a status on a par with kings; the Templars owned land in most countries of Christendom, from Denmark to Italy. A massive warrior army formed the basis of their political power. Because all the ruling houses of Europe were indebted to the Templars, they feared that their future was threatened.

The throne of England was seriously indebted to the order. King John had emptied the coffers of the treasury between 1260 and 1266 in order to finance his military operations; and Henry III, likewise, borrowed heavily from the Knights Templar.32

The situation in France was such that the Templars offices in Paris housed their own treasury as well as the state’s and the treasurer of the order was also the treasurer of the King. The Royal household’s finances were thus under the control of the Templars and dependent on them.33

Decadence and Its Unmasking

After Christian presence in the Holy Land ended on June 16th, 1291, the Templars returned to Europe. Even though their original purpose-protecting European pilgrims-had ceased to exist, they kept on strengthening their power base, increasing their number of soldiers and amassing ever greater fortunes. But from this date onward, events began to turn against the Templars.

While their numbers and their wealth were on the rise, their greed, arrogance and tyranny increased accordingly. By now, the Knights Templar had grown apart from the Catholic Church’s teachings, beliefs, and practices. In general, no longer did any European have anything to say in their favor. In France, expressions like “to drink like a Templar” were common and widespread. In Germany, “Tempelhaus” meant whorehouse, and if anyone acted in an unacceptably arrogant way, he was said “to be proud as a Templar.”34

Richard the Lion-Hearted had a close relationship with the Templars. Despite his glorious title of “Lionheart,” he was a cruel and merciless ruler.

When he and his crusader army reached Palestine, they came to Acre, which had then been besieged for two years by the last remaining Christian army in Palestine. Facing the crusaders was Saladin’s army which, despite many attempts, hadn’t managed to break the siege and relieve the 3,000 Muslims inside the Acre castle. With the arrival of Richard the Lion-Hearted, Acre’s already weakened resistance was weakened further. In the end, on July 12th, 1192, Acre fell. This was the crusaders’ first victory after their defeat at the Battle of Hattin.

3,000 Muslims lived in the town, more than half of them women and children. Richard demanded a huge sum as ransom for the lives of his 3,000 captives. Saladin agreed, but could not raise the requested sum at once, so installments were agreed upon. Some had already been paid when one was delayed. On August 20th Richard, who had grown tired of sitting and waiting, decided to slaughter all 3,000 Muslim prisoners. His soldiers placed the block on the front walls of the castle and, one by one, beheaded all of the 3,000. It took them three whole days. On the right, this act of barbarism is depicted from a Christian perspective.[/box]

The kingdoms of Europe, especially France, were angered by the Templars’ political intrigues and shadowy designs. After having plenty of opportunity to get acquainted with them, people started to realize that their order was not comprised of genuinely religious knights. Finally in 1307, Philip the Fair, King of France, and Pope Clement V realized that the Templars were seeking to change not only Europe’s religious landscape, but its political balance as well. In October 1307, they moved in on the Templars, with the view of liquidating this decadent, treacherous order.35

The Templars’ True Face

Modest missionaries, fighting for Christianity-this was how the Templars presented themselves to the ordinary people. Undeservedly, they were perceived to be saints of great virtue, mentors of Christianity, devoted to aiding the poor and the needy. It’s amazing that they managed to create such a positive image while leading lives contrary to Christian teachings and, on the way acquiring status and wealth through donations, trade, banking and even looting. The few who discovered their true identity did not dare to speak out against this powerful order. Philip, King of France, feared the dangers their financial strength could create for him.

It was high time to unmask the Templars. As a Masonic writer of the 18th century explains:

The war, which for the greater number of warriors of good faith proved the source of weariness, of losses and misfortunes, became for them [the Templars] only the opportunity for booty and aggrandizement, and if they distinguished themselves by a few brilliant actions, their motive soon ceased to be a matter of doubt when they were seen to enrich themselves even with the spoils of the confederates, to increase their credit by the extent of the new possessions they had acquired, to carry arrogance to the point of rivalling crowned princes in pomp and grandeur, to refuse their aid against the enemies of the faith… and finally to ally themselves with that horrible and sanguinary prince named the Old Man of the Mountain Prince of the Assassins.36

The Templars became increasingly confident and impertinent in their practices and in disseminating their teachings, trusting in the unjustifiably positive image they had managed to create throughout society. This in turn led to an increase in the numbers who witnessed their perversion and began to whisper about it.

Whatever might the Templars be doing behind the closed doors of their palaces? The knights’ avarice, inhumanity, greed and zeal, already well known, awakened the curiosity of the locals, the clergy, and the monarchy. The Papacy was almost certain that this group, which it could no longer control, was living an irreligious life and abusing the privileges it had granted them.

Rumors and complaints circulated about the Templars. There were increasingly credible accusations that they engaged in forbidden practices and other wrongdoing and that was why they operated under strict secrecy. People had begun to whisper of secret rites performed in their palaces, rituals of Satanist worship, and various immoral relationships.

All these rumors were combined with actual fact-what servants in Templar palaces and the people living in the vicinity of them witnessed and reported. The Papacy found itself in a predicament, not knowing what to do. Clement V, elected Pope in 1305, was trying to calculate the damage to Christianity – and therefore, to the Vatican – and how to minimize its effects. At the same time, he had to put an end to constant pressure from regional dioceses and the King of France. Meanwhile, in Cyprus, Jacques de Molay, leader of the Templars, was making preparations for war, as the order had not given up hope to go back in the Middle East. He was recalled to France and ordered by the Pope to investigate these allegations.

All this, however, was unacceptable to the French King. He quickly passed a new law, under which he had the Templars arrested. On October 13, 1309, they were accused in the courts with the following charges:

1. That during the reception ceremony, new brothers were required to deny Christ, God, The Virgin or the Saints on the command of those receiving them.
2. That the brothers committed various sacrilegious acts either on the cross or on an image of Christ.
3. That the receptors practiced obscene kisses on new entrants, on the mouth, navel or buttocks.
4. That the priests of the Order did not consecrate the host, and that the brothers did not believe in the sacraments.
5. That the brothers practiced idol worship of a cat or a head.
6. That the brothers encouraged and permitted the practice of sodomy.
7. That the Grand Master, or other officials, absolved fellow Templars from their sins.
8. That the Templars held their reception ceremonies and chapter meetings in secret and at night.
9. That the Templars abused the duties of charity and hospitality and used illegal means to acquire property and increase their wealth.37

Perversion in the Templars’ Faith and Practice

The documents at hand, together with the allegation made against the Templars, demonstrated that this was no ordinary order of knights. It was a darker organization altogether: one of perverted faith, frightening methods, and cunning strategies. It was well organized and well prepared, always scheming, always ready and dangerous, and-unlike anything seen before-forward thinking, with comprehensive plans for the future.

During their time in the Middle East, the Templars had established and maintained contact with mystic sects belonging to different religions and denominations, including sorcerers. They were known to have close links to the hashashis (assassins) who, while influential, were regarded as a perverted sect by the Muslim population. From them, the Templars had learned some mystic teachings and barbaric strategies, as well as how to organize a sect.

As will be seen in the coming chapters, the order’s higher echelons in particular had also acquainted themselves with-and incorporated into their practice-beliefs based on the mystic teachings of the Cabala, the influence of the Bogomils, and Luciferians, thus leaving Christianity behind. According to the Templars, Jesus was a god ruling in another world, with little or no power in our present one. Satan was the lord of this material world of ours.

Now the rumors were confirmed: Candidates for the order were indeed required to deny God, Christ and the Saints, committed sacrilegious acts, spit and urinate onto the holy Cross, be kissed square on the mouth with the “Oscolum Infame” or “The Kiss of Shame” on the navel and buttocks by the more senior Knights Templars, during the initiation ceremony.

That they freely practiced homosexuality and other sexual perversions, that the Grand Master wielded total authority over everything, that they practiced rituals of sorcery and used Cabalistic symbolism was clear evidence that the order had had become a sect blasphemous to Christianity. Their questioning revealed yet another of their unorthodox practices: Without being specific, they had admitted to idolatry, but during their ongoing interrogation, it gradually emerged that without any doubt, they were worshipping Satan.

The Templars revered an idol of Baphomet; a demon with the head of a goat, whose image was later to become the symbol of The Church of Satan. From Peter Underwood’s Dictionary of the Occult and Supernatural:

Baphomet was the deity worshipped by the Knights Templar, and in Black Magic was the source and creator of evil; the Satanic goat of the witches’ Sabbath…38

During their trial, almost all Templars mentioned having worshipped Baphomet. This idol they described as having a scary human head, a long beard and frightening, shining eyes. They also mentioned human skulls and idols of cats. The consensus among historians is that all these figures are objects of Satanic worship.

The demon Baphomet has ever since been an object of Satanic veneration. Details about Baphomet were later conveyed by Eliphas Levi; a 19th-century Cabalist and occultist, whose drawings illustrate Baphomet as having a goat’s head with two faces, and a winged human body that is female above the waist and whose lower half is male.

Most Templars confessed that they didn’t believe in Jesus because they held him to be “a false prophet”; that they had committed acts of homosexuality during the admission ceremony as well as afterwards, that they worshipped idols and practiced Satanism. All these admissions entered the court records, and following their trial, most of the Templars were imprisoned.

Much has been said about the Templars’ homosexual practices, and it has been suggested that their insignia-of two riders on the back of one horse-represented this custom. In his novel Foucault’s Pendulum, Umberto Eco extensively touches upon this aspect of the Templars.39

After their confessions in the courts of the French King, the Pope himself interrogated 72 of the Templars. They were asked to swear an oath to tell the truth and then, proceed to confirm that their previous confessions were truthful: that they rejected belief in Jesus, that they spat on the holy cross and committed all the other acts of perversion they’d admitted to. They then knelt down and asked for forgiveness.

The interrogation of the Templars culminated in the dissolution of their order. In 1314, Grand Master Jacques de Molay was burned at the stake. Templars who had managed to escape arrest by fleeing to other countries were pursued throughout the whole of Christendom. Other countries including Italy and Germany followed suit, arresting and interrogating the Templars they could apprehend. But for various reasons, some countries offered the Templars refuge.

On November 10, 1307, England’s Edward II wrote the Pope that he would not persecute the Templars and that in his country, they would remain safe. But two years later, after interrogating the Templars, the Pope issued a Papal Bull declaring that the Templars’ “unspeakable wickednesses and abominable crimes of notorious heresy” had now “come to the knowledge of almost everyone.” Upon reading it, King Edward agreed to prosecute the Templars.

Finally, at the Council of Vienne in France in 1312, the Order of the Knights Templar was officially declared illegal in all of Europe, and captured Templars were punished. On March 22nd, Clement V issued a Papal Bull under the name of Vox in Excelso (A Voice from on High), in which the order was declared to be dissolved and-on paper, at least-its existence erased from the official records:

… Hark, a voice of the people from the city! a voice from the temple! the voice of the Lord rendering recompense to his enemies. The prophet is compelled to exclaim: Give them, Lord, a barren womb and dry breasts. Their worthlessness has been revealed because of their malice. Throw them out of your house, and let their roots dry up; let them not bear fruit, and let not this house be any more a stumbling block of bitterness or a thorn to hurt.

. . . Indeed a little while ago, about the time of our election as supreme pontiff before we came to Lyons for our coronation, and afterwards, both there and elsewhere, we received secret intimations against the master, preceptors and other brothers of the order of Knights Templar of Jerusalem and also against the order itself.

. . . [T]he holy Roman church honoured these brothers and the order with her special support, armed them with the sign of the cross against Christ’s enemies, paid them the highest tributes of her respect, and strengthened them with various exemptions and privileges; and they experienced in many and various ways her help and that of all faithful Christians with repeated gifts of property. Therefore it was against the lord Jesus Christ himself that they fell into the sin of impious apostasy, the abominable vice of idolatry, the deadly crime of the Sodomites, and various heresies.40

The Templars Go Underground

Liquidating the order of the Templars proved harder than anticipated. Even though Grand Master de Molay and many of his brothers had been eliminated, the order survived, albeit by going underground. In France alone, there were more than 9,000 representatives to be found and across the countries of Europe, thousands of castles and other strongholds were still in their possession.

According to historical sources of the time, the Inquisition had captured and punished only 620 out of a total of 2,000 knights. It has since been estimated that the knights’ actual grand total was in the vicinity of 20,000, each of whom had a team of seven or eight Templars of other professions at his service. A simple calculation based on eight Templars per knight gives us a total number of 160,000 organizing and carrying out the order’s activities, including shipping and commerce. The Pope and the French King couldn’t possibly locate and confiscate all of their property.

This network of active members across Europe and along the Mediterranean coast, 160,000 strong, was the largest logistical force of their time. In terms of property, they could measure up to any king and this wealth assured their protection and safety. Despite the Papacy’s claim that the Templars had been annihilated, not only did they survive the Inquisition by going underground, but they kept on being active, especially in England and in Northern Europe:

[I]n the years following the loss of the Holy Land, the Templars had shown a continuing desire to create a ‘state’ of their own. . . [W]e are now left in no doubt that the Templars indeed manage, against all odds, to carve out their own nation. It wasn’t some Eldorado in the New World, nor a hidden kingdom of the Prester John variety in darkest Africa.

In fact the Templars remained absolutely central to everything that was happening in Europe, and what is more they were partly instrumental in the formation of the Western World as we know it today. The Templar State was, and is, Switzerland.41

In order to carry on their activities in safety, Templars escaping persecution and arrest in France and some other countries of Europe needed to regroup somewhere. They chose the confederation of cantons now known as Switzerland.

The Templars’ influence in Switzerland’s formation and traditional makeup can still be easily recognized today. Alan Butler, a Mason and co-author of The Warriors and the Bankers is an expert on the subject of Templars. In a discussion forum held in 1999, of he said:

There are a few important reasons why this [that the Knights Templar went to Switzerland after their liquidation] is likely to have been the case. For example:

1. The founding of the embryonic Switzerland conforms exactly to the period when the Templars were being persecuted in France.
2. Switzerland is just to the east of France and would have been particularly easy for fleeing Templar brothers from the whole region of France to get to.
3. In the history of the first Swiss Cantons, there are tales of white-coated knights mysteriously appearing and helping the locals to gain their independence against foreign domination.
4. The Templars were big in banking, farming and engineering (of an early type). These same aspects can be seen as inimical to the commencement and gradual evolution of the separate states that would eventually be Switzerland.
5. The famous Templar Cross is incorporated into the flags of many of the Swiss Cantons. As are other emblems, such as keys and lambs, that were particularly important to the Knights Templar.42

A significant number of Templars found refuge in Scotland, the only monarchy in 14th century Europe that didn’t recognize the authority of the Catholic Church. Reorganizing under the protection of King Robert the Bruce, they soon found the perfect camouflage to hide their existence in the British Isles. Outside of the state and local governments, the Masons’ Lodges were the most powerful organizations of the time, and and the Templars first infiltrated them, then brought them under control. Lodges that had been professional bodies were turned into ideological and political organizations, which are now the Freemason Lodges of today. (This is what Masons call “progress from operational to speculative Masonry”)

Another Masonic source estimates that between 30,000 and 40,000 Templars escaped the Inquisition by wearing Masons’ cloth and mingling with them. So as to flee abroad, others obtained and used the “Laissez passer” (free passage) given to Masons.

Some Templars escaped to Spain and entered orders like the Caltrava, Alcantra, and Santiago de la Espada, while others moved on to Portugal and they renamed themselves the Order of Christ. Still others fled to the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation and joined the Teuton knights, while another large group of Templars is known to have joined the Hospitalers. In England, the Templars were arrested and interrogated, but quickly released again. In still other countries, the Templars remained unmolested.

The Templars seemed to have disappeared from the history until 1804; when Bernard-Raymond Fabré Palaprat became Grand Master. Truly interesting is an accidental discovery he made in 1814… In one of the bookstalls along the river Seine in Paris, he came upon a handwritten Bible of the Yuhanna translation in the Greek language. The Bible’s last two chapters were missing; and in their place were notes divided by – and containing – numerous triangles.

Examining these notes a bit closer, he realized that this was a document listing the Grand Masters of the Templars, beginning with the fifth Grand Master, Bertrand de Blanchefort ( 1154), through the 22nd, Jacques de Molay, the 23rd Larmenius of Jerusalem (1314) and then on to Grand Master Claudio Mateo Radix de Chevillon (1792). This document suggested that Jacques de Molay passed the title of Grand Master on to Larmenius of Jerusalem. It could be concluded that the Templars never ceased to exist. They live on today in the lodges of Freemasonry.

In Foucault’s Pendulum, Umberto Eco writes:

After Beaujeu, the order has never ceased to exist, not for a moment, and after Aumont we find an uninterrupted sequence of Grand Masters of the Order down to our own time, and if the name and seat of the true Grand Master and the true Seneschals who rule the Order and guide its sublime labors remain a mystery today, an impenetrable secret known only to the truly enlightened, it is because the hour of the Order has not struck and the time is not ripe…43

Many sources suggest that after the death of Jacques de Molay, survivors of the order planned a conspiracy. Supposedly, the Templars sought to bring down not only the Papacy, but the kingdoms that had declared them illegal and executed their Grand Master. This secret mission was handed down through generations of members, preserved and maintained by later organizations like the Illuminati and Freemasons.

It’s widely accepted that the Masons played a major role in the downfall of the French monarchy and the ensuing Revolution. When Louis XVI was guillotined in a public square in Paris, one of the onlookers shouted,

“Jacques de Molay, you have been avenged!”

Continue to: From Templars to Freemasonry (Chapter II)

Source: https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/templars/knights_templars01.htm

Notes:

1. Encyclopedia Britannica 2001 Deluxe Edition CD, “Crusade, The Council of Clermont.”2 World Book Encyclopedia, “Crusades,” Contributor: Donald E. Queller,
2. Ph.D., Prof. of History, Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, World Book Inc., 1998.
3. Encyclopedia Britannica 2001 Deluxe Edition CD, “Crusade, Preparations for the Crusade.
4. Dr. Tom J. Rees, “The Story of the First Crusade,” 1999, http://www.brighton73.freeserve.co.uk/firstcrusade/Overview/Overview.htm
5. Geste Francorum, or The Deeds of the Franks and the Other Pilgrims to Jerusalem, trans. Rosalind Hill, London, 1962, p. 91.
6. Dr. E.L. Skip Knox, “Fall of Jerusalem,” 2001, http://crusades.boisestate.edu/1st/28.htm.
7. August C. Krey, The First Crusade: The Accounts of Eye-Witnesses and Participants, Princeton & London, 1921, p. 261.
8. Desmond Seward, The Monks of War, Penguin Books, London, 1972.
9. August C. Krey, The First Crusade: The Accounts of Eye-Witnesses and Participants, p. 262.
10. Albert Pike, Morals and Dogma, The Roberts Publishing Co., Washington, 1871.
11. Christopher Knight, Robert Lomas, The Hiram Key, Arrow Books, 1997, p. 37.
12. G. Delafore, The Templar Tradition in the Age of Aquarius; Christopher Knight, Robert Lomas, The Hiram Key, p. 37.
13. C. Wilson, The Excavation of Jerusalem; Christopher Knight, Robert Lomas, The Hiram Key, p. 38.
14. Alan Butler, Stephen Dafoe, The Templar Continuum, Templar Books, Belleville-Ontario, 1999, p. 70.
15. Finke, Papsttum und Untergang des Tempelordens; Henry D. Funk, “The Trial Of The Knights Templar,” The Builder, 1916.
16. Teoman Biyikoglu, “Tampliyeler ve Hurmasonlar” (Templars and Freemasons), Mimar Sinan, 1997, no. 106.
17. Alan Butler, Stephen Dafoe, The Templar Continuum, p. 55.
18. Ibid., p. 55.
19. Ibid., p. 9.
20. Gmelin, Die Tempelherren; Henry D. Funk, “The Trial Of The Knights Templar,” The Builder, 1916.
21. The Rule of the Templars, as recorded by scribe John Michael at the Council of Troyes, 1128.
22. John J. Robinson, Born in Blood: The Lost Secrets of Freemasonry, New York, M. Evans & Company, 1989, pp. 70-71.
23. Ian Wilson, The Shroud of Turin – The Burial Cloth of Jesus Christ?
24. Teoman Biyikoglu, “Tampliyeler ve Hurmasonlar” (Templars And Freemasons), Mimar Sinan, 1997, no. 106.
25. Butler, Stephen Dafoe, The Templar Continuum, Templar Books, p. 70.
26. Ibid., p. 73.
27. Langlois, in Deux Mondes, vol. 103; Henry D. Funk, “The Trial Of The Knights Templar,” The Builder, 1916.
28. Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, The Temple and the Lodge, London: Corgi Books, 1990, p. 81.
29. Ibid., pp. 78-80.
30. Louis Charpentier, The Mysteries of Chartres Cathedral, cited in Graham Hancock, “The Sign and the Seal,” http://templarium.tripod.com/archskill.htm
31. Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, The Temple and the Lodge, p. 65.
32. Eleanor Ferris, The Financial Relations of the Knights Templars to the English Crown, p. 10.
33. Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, The Temple and the Lodge, p. 69.
34. Henry D. Funk, “The Trial Of The Knights Templar,” The Builder, 1916.
35. Genealogy Data, www.gillean.com/Roots/db/dat98.htm
36. Développement des abus introduits dans la Franc-maçonnerie, p.56 (1780).
37. Stephen Dafoe, Unholy Worship? The Myth of the Baphomet, Templar, Freemason Connection, pp. 33-34.
38. Peter Underwood, Dictionary Of The Occult And Supernatural; wintersteel.homestead.com/files/JamesArticles/The_Templars_and_the_myth_of_Baphomet.htm
39. Umberto Eco, Foucault’s Pendulum, A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Publishers, 1989, p.83.
40. Vox in excelso, March 22, 1312; http://www.templar-knights.net/vox_in_excelso_march_22.htm
41. Alan Butler, Stephen Dafoe, The Warriors and the Bankers, p. 84.
42. Did The Templars Form Switzerland? An Interview With Alan Butler conducted December 28th, 1999 by Bonnie Dinelle; http://www.geocities.com/st_stephens_145/kt12.html
43. Manuscript of 1760, in G. A. Schiffmann, Die Entstehung der Rittergrade in der Freimauerei um die Mitte des XVIII Jahrhunderts, Leipzig, Zechel, 1882, pp. 178-190; Umberto Eco, Foucault’s Pendulum, p. 132.

Recommended Book:

This book is intended to provide some of the details that have been passed down from antiquity, from the Templar Tradition. As such, the history from many different Templar lineages are presented, as well some previously secret oral history of the Templar tradition. Some of this history has never been published before! The book also outlines the mission and purpose of the Templars in the past, as well as the stated goal and purpose of the Order for the future. This book is a Templar manual for anyone with the heart of a Templar, and it reinforces the importance of the knighthood values of chivalry today!