Knights Templar
In 1118 a religious order was founded that became known as the Knights Templar. At that time it consisted only of the Nine Original Members of the Knights Templar. More were to follow.
In 1121 Fulk of Anjou visited the Knights Templar in Jerusalem and joined them, or at least took the same oaths that the Knights Templar took. He seems to have become the 10th member of the Knights Templar. (See "The Second Messiah" p 84)
In 1124 Hugh de Champagne is said to have joined the Knights Templar, thus becoming the 11th member. (See "The Second Messiah" p 84) Other sources have stated that he was the 10th member. I have no idea who is correct.
In 1127, on Christmas Day, the Knights Templar finished their digging under the site of King Herod's Temple. They returned to Europe with scrolls that detailed the lives of of Jesus Christ and his brother James the Just which told of them as being Jewish Freedom Fighters instead of Jesus Christ really being the Son of God. (See "The Second Messiah" p 84)
In 1128 they were elevated to the status of a Holy Order by the Pope.
It is said that the Knights Templar invented International Banking.
Much has been written about the Knights Templar. Some of it is probably true and a lot of it is probably false.
One theory about the origins of Freemasonry is that it formed from the remaining Knights Templar who escaped the torture and murder of the Knights Templar by the Catholic Church and King Philip IV of France. Others think that Freemasonry was already in existence at that time and the Knights Templar simply joined with the Freemasons, where their secrets would be safe from others. Perhaps Freemasonry already existed as a group of Freethinkers and the members of the Knights Templar who escaped the wrath of the Catholic Church simply joined the Freemasons since the Freemasons knew how to keep secrets.
It is said that the Knights Templar discovered something in the Holy Land that made them very wealthy and rather immune from the Catholic Church and thereby from the various Governments that were under the control of the Catholic Church at that time. Thankfully the Catholic Church has lost most of the power and control it once had over the people and their leaders. Whatever they found remains one of the great secrets of olden times. If anyone really knows they have kept quiet. This Secret is said by some to be the real Secret of Freemasonry!
What did the Knights Templar find? Whatever they found seems to have really upset the then ruling Catholic Church.
The KT did study astronomy, alchemy, sacred geometry, numerology, and astronomy which the Church did not seem to want anyone to study except perhaps the Church leaders. Such study was probably considered heresy unless it was done by the Church. This is the same Church that refused to accept that the Earth revolved around the Sun for a long time even though it had been known in most cultures even before the birth of Jesus Christ.
It is speculated that the surviving Knights Templar helped Scotland defeat the English at the Battle of Bannockburn on 24 June 1314. June 24 is an important date in Freemasonry.
Perhaps they found the Holy Grail or even the Ark of the Covenant.
For more information about the Knights Templar see "The Hiram Key" Chapter 3, and "The Second Messiah" chapter 4.
The common idea about the Knights Templar is that they were founded to protect pilgrims who wished to visit the Holy Land. This is a far stretch as there were only Nine original members and perhaps hundreds of thousands of the enemy. Their real reason for existing seems to have involved the plundering of, or retrieval of (depending upon your way of thinking), the Secrets hidden under the ancient ruins of King Solomon's Temple. (Archeology can also be considered plundering.) They were supported in Jerusalem by King Baldwin II for the years that they were digging up the site where King Solomon's Temple once stood.
It is said that the Knights Templar had, and may still have, the real Shroud of Turin.
There is a part of the York Rite of Freemasonry called the Knights Templar.
In 2001 a document sometimes known as the Chinon Parchment was found in the Vatican Secret Archives by historian Barbara Frale that seems to have cleared the name of the Knights Templar of their Blasphemy, not that it did any good for those that the Catholic Church and King Philip IV of France had roasted like Chestnuts on an open Fire. The priests and politicians of that time period must have been a real bunch of low-life perverts to be able to condemn a man, or a Woman, to be Burned at the Stake. Perhaps they also roasted hotdogs and had a keg of beer for these events. If there is a Hell I hope that all the priests and friars who participated in the early Inquisition, the torturing of others, and the Burning at the Stake of those they decided to slowly roast, get their chance to roast in Hell forever. No punishment is too much for people with that low of concern for other people. As they said at Watts, "Burn Baby Burn!"
I was a bit surprised to learn that the Inquisition of the Catholic Church is still alive and well under a new name. The Inquisition is now called the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. I think they have probably given up on Burning People at the Stake. Tree-huggers would now really frown on cutting and burning trees for an activity like this, unless the condemned had done something really serious like the killing of a Spotted Owl or swatting a mosquito. Tree-huggers and other liberals seem to have no problem with women murdering their future children by abortion.
The most accepted date of the creation of the Knights Templar seem be 1118, but they may have existed as much as 4 years earlier. (See "The Temple and the Lodge" page 42-43)
It is said that the Knights Templar followed the Rule of the Cistercian Order, which is another monastic order of the Church. They lived in a closed monastic community. (See "Cracking the Freemasons Code" by Cooper page 2)
It is said that until 1128 the Knights Templar consisted of only 9 knights. (See "The Temple and the Lodge" page 43)
This is the common name given to the Order of Poor Knights of the Temple of Solomon.
It was officially created by the Council of Troyes in 1128.
It was a corporate organization of religious soldiers that was to be governed by the Catholic Church.
(See "The Knights Templar and their Myth" pages 4-6)
They wore a white mantle and later Pope Eugenius III gave them permission to wear a red cross on the mantle.
(See "The Knights Templar and their Myth" pages 9)
King Alfonso I of Aragon gave them 1/3 of his kingdom. (See "The Knights Templar and their Myth" pages 10)
The Knights Templar established the first system of banking in Europe where a person could deposit money in one place and get it back in another. This system seems to have been established by 1147, when King Louis VII went to the Holy Land on a Crusade. (See "The Knights Templar and their Myth" pages 11)
The Knights Templar built Chastel Pelerin in 1217. The Knights Templar also spent 1,100,000 besants rebuilding Chastel Safad in 1240. See "The Knights Templar and their Myth" page 21)
The Knights Templar in Portugal changed their name to the Knights of Christ sometime after 13 October 1307. (See "Rule by Secrecy" page 308)
The Knights Templar assisted King Robert the Bruce of Scotland in defeating the English to secure Scotland's independence on 24 June 1314 at the Battle of Bannockburn. Officially they did not exist at this time since they were officially dissolved in 1312 by Pope Clement V. (See "Rule by Secrecy" page 308-9)
Ernesto Frers says in his book, "The Templar Pirates" that after the Order of the Knights Templar was banned by the Vatican the Knights Templar committed themselves to roaming the seas and seeking revenge on the Pope and the Catholic Kingdoms that served the Catholic Church. They had their great fleet moored at La Rochelle in 1312 when they were banned. (See page 1)
The Knights Templar, or their offspring, are said by some to have influenced or caused the following:
Voyages of Christopher Columbus.
Founding of Freemasonry as the civilian branch of the Knights Templar.
French Revolution.
Founding and independence of the USA.
Garibaldi's unification of Italy.
Union's winning of the Civil War in the USA.
(See "The Templar Pirates" page 3)
The Knights Templar stayed out of the Third Crusade and they fought against the Nazari Islamic sect of the Assassins instead. They also seemed to fight against the Knights Hospitallers. (See "The Templar Pirates" page 33)
The Knights Templar seems to have been interested in knowledge of almost any kind. This may have led them to build the great cathedral at Chartres. (See "The Templar Pirates" page 36)
In 1133 Alfonso of Aragon died and left his entire kingdom to the Knights Templar who exchanged the kingdom for a large sum offered by the nobles of Aragon. (See "The Templar Pirates" page 39)
It is said that after the arrest of the Knights Templar on Friday 13 October 1307, the Knights Templar in Germany incorporated themselves into the Teutonic Knights of the Hanseatic League. (See "The Templar Pirates" page 41)
While living at, and excavating, the old location of King Solomon's Temple they seem to have found something that made them very wealthy and very powerful. Whatever they found made them powerful enough that they only had to answer to the Pope. It is said that they unearthed the Holy Grail, or the Ark of the Covenant, or the secret teaching of Jesus, or something that has become known as Solomon's Key. (See "Cracking the Freemasons Code" by Cooper page 2)
It is said the The Knights Templar got the knowledge of the ancients when they dug it up at the ruins of King Solomon's Temple. This knowledge of the ancients is said to no reside in Britain, somewhere. (See "Cracking the Freemasons Code" by Cooper page 8)
It is claimed by some that the KT developed the Tarot as a safe way to carry training materials. (see "The Second Messiah" p 89)