Who Were The Knights Templar? (Sunday History Read)

www.templarhistory.com ^ | undated | Stephen Dafoe and Alan Butler

[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.

[Redleg Duke]

Your loss.

[Redleg Duke]

"I just never had the interest to "push" myself forward that much."

The is the excuse given by too many uninformed people. The Free Masons do not and are ordered not to use their affiliation for personal gain. The fact that members of this fraternity value fellow members highly is because "Free Masonry Makes Good Men Better".

Suggest you stow your tinfoil brain bucket...you ain't in a Blackbird anymore.

[Redleg Duke]

The Knights of Malta, or Knights Hospitlier were a medical order that worked the Holy Land alongside the Templars. They colluded with the Pope and the French King to dispose of the Templars. The Pope got an eternal oath of fealty from the Hospitlars, the King got his debts forgiven and the Hospitlars got the Templar properties.

During the Peasants Revolt in England, the Hospitlars got what was coming to them. The Grand Master of the Hospitlars in Britian was dragged out by a mob and hanged. Hospitlar monestaries were burned to the ground. Payback's a bitch!

[Redleg Duke]

Hello, Companion!

[AppyPappy]

they do worship satan

You have no idea what you are talking about. You are just making it up as you go along.

[kallisti]

hail eris!

[Ciexyz]

My Dad was a Mason. There's a Masonic symbol on his gravestone, that's what he wanted. His Dad was a Mason. He used to tell me about the black ball system, when his lodge voted on a new member. Each member was given one black ball and one white ball (the white ball meaning, we accept this new member.) If one black ball was found in the jar, then every single member present was obligated to get up and vote again. And if a black ball was again found in the "ballot box" -- the request for membership was rejected.

[TomHarkinIsNotFromIowa]

It has been said.

[Ciexyz]

The Female auxiliary to the Masons is the Eastern Star. You don't hear much about it anymore, but in my Grandmother's day, it was a big social thing. There was also a girls' organization for daughters of Masons called Rainbow Girls, kind of like the Girl Scouts. I remember asking my Mom in the early 60's if I could join the Rainbow Girls, and she said, You don't want to get into that, they're snobby. So I joined the Girl Scouts instead.

[Merovingian]

Et en Arcadia EGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Xenalyte]

We were NOT snobby! At least, not in Houston. We were looked down on by those hoochies on the drill team. :)

ORG is a wonderful organization. My order (Sugar Land 360) went dark a few years back . . . it made me sad. ORG taught me the importance of tradition and bedrock values.

[curmudgeonII]

The masonic bodies to which I belong are Blue Lodges in Pennsylvania [50 year member], Indiana [life member], Scottish Rite [life member], York Rite - including Knight Templar and Knight of Malta, York Rite College, Allied Masonic Degrees, Shrine, National Federated Craft, and I guess I ought to mention the Ancient and Heroic Order of the Gordian Knot, which isn't a very serious organization although John Wayne was taken in as the second member in the U.S. [the only active Synod is here in Indana]. Also the Eastern Star and Job's daughters [which techincally are not masonic orders].

Did I come up with any groups you're not familiar with?

[Snardius]

Good lesson I wonder what will happen to the bankers when the government here in the US finally decides they can't pay( and they can't the national debt will never be paid off in a billion years).

You may be forgetting that the US govt. prints money. When they want to pay off the national debt, they simply print more money. This solution, unfortunately, has a rather negative impact on the economy by causing inflation.

With respect to the national debt...we must have a national debt. Where else would we invest the money in the Social Security Trust Fund?

[Redleg Duke]

Nope. I am a Free Mason, PM, and also have memberships in the Scottish and York Rite, Eastern Star and National Sojourners. I was a De Molay. Used to be a Shriner for 25 years, but too busy for them.

Have you heard of the Tall Cedars of Lebanon, LOS or Amarith?

[CCCnative]

Like another religious group, The Cathars, goodness, love of God and service were no protection against the corruption of men.
Who were that Catharists?
From catholic.com (this was before the Reformation so Christians were "Catholic")
"Catharism was a blend of Gnosticism, which claimed to have access to a secret source of religious knowledge, and of Manichaeism, which said matter is evil. The Catharists believed in two gods: the "good" God of the New Testament, who sent Jesus to save our souls from being trapped in matter; and the "evil" God of the Old Testament, who created the material world in the first place. The Catharists’ beliefs entailed serious—truly civilization-destroying—social consequences. Marriage was scorned because it legitimized sexual relations, which Catharists identified as the Original Sin. But fornication was permitted because it was temporary, secret, and was not generally approved of; while marriage was permanent, open, and publicly sanctioned. "

[topsail]

A very interesting book about the Knights Templar and Robert the Bruce is "The Temple And The Lodge" by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh.

From the back cover:

Dispelling myth and reevaluating European and American history, The Temple and the Lodge is the most illuminating investigation yet published into the evolution of Freemasonry. Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh recount the events that led to the strange and sudden disappearance of the Knights Templar in the fourteenth century and their reappearance in the court of excommunicate Scotish king Robert the Bruce.

Theorizing, and documenting, the survival of Templar traditions through the birth of the Masonic lodge, the authors chart the history of Freemasonry through its medieval roots and into the modern era. They demonstrate the order's contribution to the fostering of tolerance, progressive values, and cohesion in English society, which helped to preempt a French-style revolution in England. In addition, they show how Freemasonry contributed to the formation of the United States as an embodiment of the ideal "Masonic Republic."

...........................................................
The Templars also operated a large fleet of ships which disappeared and were never accounted for. Their flag was said to be the "Skull and crossbones"!

Topsail, Scottish Rite.

[RightWhale]

Worshipping of the Baphomet

Any idea what the Baphomet is or was?

[curmudgeonII]

Have you heard of the Tall Cedars of Lebanon, LOS or Amarith?

Don't know what the LOS is. One of the more obscure organizations is [I don't belong] Ye Antient Order of Corks. It meets, only annually I believe, in Washington, D.C. The officers are:
Worshipful Grand Primo
Rather Worshipful Grand Secundo
Little Less Worshipful Primo Buffo
Hardly Worshipful Grand Screw

[kmiller1k]

bookmark

[Rebelbase]

" can get away with rape or various ccrimes because of the code nobody dares tell on any of the other ones"

You have obviously confused the Masons with the Clintonista type democrats.