Jacques de Molay goes to the stake
So seven guys from France show up in Jerusalem, talk their way into posession of the temple mount, dig for a couple of years, then return to Europe to build a massive financial empire and revolutionize architecture.
What’s the mystery?
This is an interesting read.
While leaving many unanswered questions, it provides insight to several areas of confusion.
An interesting footnote is that though suppressed in France and disbanded in England and Scotland the Templars survived in Spain and Portugal. They were highly regarded for their aid in the “Reconquista”. They only changed their name to “The Order of Christ” They financed the voyages of Columbus and Vasco da Gama. The order survives in Spain to this day
PFL
According to the RLDS genealogy website, I’m descended from Phillip. So whenever something minor goes wrong, like we get the wrong order in a carry out (I got original recipe instead of grilled at KFC yesterday for example), its due to this curse. We call it the ancient pizza curse.
My uncle was a born-again Christian. When he became a 33rd degree Mason, something very bad in Freemasonry scared him, and he sort of dropped out. He has gone home to be with the Lord, and I have no idea or hint as to what frightened him.
He seemed to enjoy his Freemason membership prior to that
last step, encouraging me in my high school years to think about Demolay. (We had a very active chapter at my high school.) He would say, “Now I can’t ask you to join.” But you could tell that he had a fond wish that my Dad and I would get involved with Freemasonry. Not so in his last years.
Unitarians?
My read of the subject indicates he did give the castles to Knights Hospitalers but the “vast treasures” eluded him. Phillip was deeply in debt to the Templars and this zeroed out that debt. Motive? Yep. And Phillip's life did not end well either.
BFL!
Interesting read. Between the Sultan being allowed to pray in the al-Aqsa mosque, being able to talk their way into ownership of Temple Mount, the denial of Christ in the initiation, and the designs on the inside of their chapel as opposed to religious imagery (reminded me of the inside of a mosque sort of), could they have been an underground Muslim movement? Kind of like the Muslim equivalent of the Jesuits?
I’m sorry. I’m not very good at this conspiracy theory stuff.
We visited an ancient castle in central France, Busseol Castle (google it) where the Knights Templar gathered for the trip to the Holy Land.
I love to visit castles and this one has to be the best and most intriguing. It is small enough that it would remind you of a house you could actually live in and it was furnished with ancient antiques. Built up on a pointed hill with a view in all directions.
It is open to the public but the care taker wanted us to hurry through so he could go to lunch or something. I could have spent all day (and night) there.
Here is a rather old (1852), less dramatic, probably more accurate account of the Crusades and the Templars.
They were the last crusaders to leave by ship the fortress known as Acre, at the end of the Crusades. Most of the Templars stayed and died at the hands of the Muslim conquerors.
There is evidence that after the suppression of the Templars in France on Friday October 13, 1307, many escaped Phillip’s grasp.
The story is that most escaped through England to Scotland where they were protected. England resisted the pressure from the French Pope for a long time. And apparently gave warning to those who were in England.
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To put it mildly, the author is an ignorant ass.
Placemarker
Baloney.
By this time in history, the line between Christianity and Islam had moved well south of the other side of the Pyrenees, which are themselves a very potent barrier.
This castle was probably important in controlling supply lines for Europeans headed into Spain to fight. But the idea that Muslim forces might attack it is ridiculous.