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Who Were The Knights Templar? (Sunday History Read)
www.templarhistory.com ^ | undated | Stephen Dafoe and Alan Butler

Posted on 07/21/2002 10:01:31 AM PDT by Hacksaw

The Knights Templar were a monastic military order formed at the end of the First Crusade with the mandate of protecting Christian pilgrims on route to the Holy Land. Never before had a group of secular knights banded together and took monastic vows. In this sense they were the first of the Warrior Monks.

From humble beginnings of poverty when the order relied on alms from the traveling pilgrims, the order would go on to have the backing of the Holy See and the collective European monarchies.

Within two centuries they had become powerful enough to defy all but the Papal throne. Feared as warriors, respected for their charity and sought out for their wealth, there is no doubt that the Templar knights were the key players of the monastic fighting orders. Due to their vast wealth and surplus of materials the Templars essentially invented banking, as we know it. The church forbade the lending of money for interest, which they called usury. The Templars, being the clever sort they were, changed the manner in which loans were paid and were able to skirt the issue and finance even kings.

They were destroyed, perhaps because of this wealth or fear of their seemingly limitless powers. In either case, the order met with a rather untimely demise at the hands of the Pope and the King of France in 1307 and by 1314, "The Poor Fellow Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon" ceased to exist.

Although originally a small group of nine knights, they quickly gained fame largely due to the backing of Bernard of Clairvaux and his "In Praise of the New Knighthood". Bernard at that time was often called the Second Pope and was the chief spokesman of Christendom. He is also the one responsible for helping to draw up the order's rules of conduct.

In European political circles, they became very powerful and influential. This was because they were immune from any authority save that of the Papal Throne. (Pope Innocent II exempted the Templars from all authority except the Pope.) After the crusades were over, the knights returned to their Chapters throughout Europe and became known as moneylenders to the monarchs. In the process many historians believe they invented the Banking System. The Templars fought along side King Richard I (Richard The Lion Hearted) and other Crusaders in the battles for the Holy Lands.

The secret meetings and rituals of the knights would eventually cause their downfall. The King of France, Philip the Fair used these rituals and meetings to his advantage to destroy the knights. The real reason for his crushing the Templars was that he felt threatened by their power and immunity. In 1307, Philip, who desperately needed funds, to support his war against England's Edward I made his move against the Knights Templar.

On October 13th, 1307, King Philip had all the Templars arrested on the grounds of heresy, since this was the only charge that would allow the seizing of their money and assets. The Templars were tortured and as a result, ridiculous confessions were given. These confessions included:

Trampling and spitting on the cross

Homosexuality and Sodomy

Worshipping of the Baphomet

Philip was successful in ridding the Templars of their power and wealth and urged all fellow Christian leaders to do the same thing. On March 19th, 1314 the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, Jacques de Molay was burned at the stake. De Molay is said to have cursed King Philip and Pope Clement as he burned asking both men to join him within a year. Whether he actually uttered the curse or if it is simply an apocryphal tale what remains as fact is that Clement died only one month later and Philip IV seven months after that.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: archaeology; catholic; christian; churchhistory; crusades; freemasonry; fremasons; ggg; godsgravesglyphs; history; knights; knightstemplar; masons; middleages; pilgrims; templar
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To: lonlyjen
Thanks for resurrecting this thread (on 10-13 of all days).
I missed it’s first run.

Interesting stuff.

121 posted on 10/13/2003 2:53:50 PM PDT by Freebird Forever
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To: Redleg Duke
CoH this year.. WM of my blue lodge finally next year. It's gonna be a blast!
122 posted on 10/13/2003 2:54:19 PM PDT by a_Turk (But the game never ends when your whole world depends on the turn of a friendly card..)
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To: Bohemund
Oh yeah, I expect that you will find fault with Dr. Mizrachs work in this area, WON"T YOU???

Semper Gone

123 posted on 10/13/2003 2:54:20 PM PDT by Trident/Delta (Colt 1911 .45ACP .... The "original" point and click device.....)
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To: Trident/Delta
Idiot...Look at post #112. It was posted BEFORE you asked for a source. I guess you can't read either. Semper Pissed

Yeah, I missed 112. Sorry.

Oh yeah, I expect that you will find fault with Dr. Mizrachs work in this area, WON"T YOU??? Semper Gone

Why would I? Mizrach did a better job discrediting the whole Sion/Templar myth than I ever could have.

Anyway, I see I've touched a nerve. I'll leave you to your "studies."

124 posted on 10/13/2003 3:02:27 PM PDT by Bohemund
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To: Trident/Delta
Come on. You wrote your master's thesis on this stuff, right? You can do better than this.

Shame on Georgetown, they gave me my degree.

Since when does Georgetown offer a masters in Criminal Justice?

http://eis.georgetown.edu/web/home/learning_type.cfm?ID=60

Semper I Don't Care

125 posted on 10/13/2003 3:12:09 PM PDT by Bohemund
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To: drjoe
Read all about it in Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto [Name of the Rose] Eco. Fascinating!!

Also in "The Avignon Quintet" by Lawrence Durrell
even longer and more obscure than Foucault's Pendulum.

126 posted on 10/13/2003 5:03:40 PM PDT by Allan
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To: curmudgeonII
LOS is Ladies Oriental Shrine. Concordant body of the Shrine. My wife belonged when we lived out in Northern California.
127 posted on 10/14/2003 5:28:34 AM PDT by Redleg Duke (Stir the pot...don't let anything settle to the bottom where the lawyers can feed off of it!)
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To: Rebelbase
There are various units within each Shrine Temple. It is for fun and also to raise money to support the Shriners' Burn and Orthopedic Centers. Liberals hate them because they help the poor kids live normal lives, including those from other countries. A kid who grows up healthy is less likely to be a victim...and liberals need victims.
128 posted on 10/14/2003 5:30:26 AM PDT by Redleg Duke (Stir the pot...don't let anything settle to the bottom where the lawyers can feed off of it!)
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To: a_Turk
Good Luck. It is a lot of work and takes a lot of planning, but is it fun too!
129 posted on 10/14/2003 5:31:00 AM PDT by Redleg Duke (Stir the pot...don't let anything settle to the bottom where the lawyers can feed off of it!)
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To: Redleg Duke
I have to express my disapointment with the Shrine in recent years. Although they do excellent work with their childrten no-payment hospitals, I feel that they've really lowered their standards when they eliminated the Scottish or York Rite prerequisite.
130 posted on 10/14/2003 1:37:39 PM PDT by curmudgeonII
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To: curmudgeonII
I totally agree. It also hurts those bodies.
131 posted on 10/14/2003 6:29:23 PM PDT by Redleg Duke (Stir the pot...don't let anything settle to the bottom where the lawyers can feed off of it!)
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To: RightWhale
Any idea what the Baphomet is or was?

I think Baphomet was or is a demon. (Replying to this a year late!)

132 posted on 11/15/2004 1:56:14 PM PST by Hacksaw (You can judge a man by the members of his bump list.)
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bump for later


133 posted on 11/15/2004 1:58:51 PM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: 2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten
I believe this was a Friday, and therefore is the direct link to the Friday 13 superstition.

It was.
As for the source of the superstition, it's as good as any reason I've heard.

134 posted on 11/15/2004 2:15:00 PM PST by dread78645 (Truth is always the right answer)
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To: another cricket

Very astute observation.


135 posted on 11/15/2004 2:19:32 PM PST by MissAmericanPie
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To: Trident/Delta

Are you on the POS mailing list with Steve Mizrach, TCP, Stella, Dante et al? I've been there since it started in 1998.I don't post much anymore, but read faithfully. My favorite study,I even found Godfrey d'Boullion in my genealogy....be whoop now a days though. {G}

Peace


136 posted on 11/15/2004 2:22:04 PM PST by hergus
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To: Bohemund; Trident/Delta

Have you ever conversed online with Steve? If not you don't know all his beliefs by any means. I've posted with Steve since before he became DR.Steve. Give it up, you're out of your league here.


137 posted on 11/15/2004 2:25:38 PM PST by hergus
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To: Hacksaw

Baphoment was said by some of to be a head they worshipped, possibly John the Baptist. Other thinkers even say it might have been a machine that was part of a much older knowledge that the Templars found in their searches under King Solomon's Temple. The real reason they went to the crusades, btw.


138 posted on 11/15/2004 2:29:25 PM PST by hergus
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To: lonlyjen

I think you need to read more valid sources or talk with real Masons


139 posted on 11/15/2004 2:31:09 PM PST by 5Madman2 (DemocRATS are Vermin)
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To: Redleg Duke

It's good to see a thread on Masonry that has not totally degenerated into a "Grand Conspiracy" or "they're all Satanist"

It's also good to see fellow Masons on FR


140 posted on 11/15/2004 2:37:36 PM PST by 5Madman2 (DemocRATS are Vermin)
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