The Knights Templars
From New Age Village
The Knights Templars of the Temple of Solomon were a military order, founded by a Burgundian, Hugues de Payns, and Godeffroi de St. Omer, a French Knight, in 1119, for the purpose of protecting pilgrims journeying into the Holy Land. They were soon joined by other knights, and a religious chivalry speedily gathered around this nucleus. Baldwin I., King of Jerusalem, gave them as headquarters a portion of his palace, contiguous to a mosque which tradition asserted was part of the Temple of Solomon, and from this building they took their designation. One of the purposes of the Society was to convert and fender useful knights of evil life, and so many of these entered the order, as to bring it under the suspicion of the Church, but there is every reason to believe that its founders were instigated by motives of the deepest piety, and that they lived in a condition akin to poverty, notwithstanding the numerous gifts that were showered upon them, is the best proof of this. They had properly constituted officials, a Grand Master, knights, chaplains, sergeants, craftsmen, sensechals, marechals, and commanders. The order had its own clergy exempt from the jurisdiction of diocesan rule, and its chapters were held as a rule in secret. The dress of the brotherhood was a white mantle with a red cross for unmarried knights, and a black or brown mantle with a red cross for the others. The discipline was of the very strictest description and the food and clothing stipulated were rough and not abundant. By the middle of the twelfth century, the new order had got a footing in nearly all the Latin kingdoms of Christendom. Its power grew apace, and-its organization became widespread. It formed, as it were, a nucleus of the Christian effort against the paganism of the east, and its history may be said to be that of the crusades. Moreover it became a great trading corporation, the greatest commercial agency between the east and west, and as such amassed immense wealth. On the fall of the Latin kingdom in Palestine, the Templars had perforce to withdraw from that country, and although they continued to harass the Saracen power they made but little headway against it, and in reality appear to have undertaken commercial pursuits in preference to those of a more warlike character. When the Temple was at the apogee of its power, its success aroused the envy and avarice of Philip IV. of France, who commenced a series of attacks upon it. The election of Pope Clement V., who was devoted to his interests, and a denunciation of the order for heresy and immorality gave Philip his chance. For several generations before this time, strange stories had been circulating concerning the secret rites of the Templars which were assisted by the very strict privacy of these meetings, which were usually held at day-break with closely guarded doors. It was alleged that the most horrible blasphemies and indecencies took place at these meetings, that the cross was trampled under foot and spat upon, and that an idol named Baphomet (q.v.) (Baphe metios, baptism of wisdom) was adored, or even the Devil in the shape of a black cat. Other tales told of the roasting of children, and the smearing of the idol with their burning fat, and other nonsense was wildly promulgated by the credulous and ignorant. A certain Esquian de Horian, pretended to betray the "secret" of the Templars to Philip, and they were denounced to the Inquisition; and Jacques de Molay, the Grand Master, who had been called from Cyprus to France, was arrested with one hundred and forty of his brethren in Paris and thrown into prison. A universal arrest of the Templars throughout France followed. The wretched knights were tortured en masse, and as was usually the case, under such compulsion, confessed to the most grotesque crimes, and the most damning confession of all, was that of the Grand Master himself, who confessed that he had been guilty of denying Christ and spitting upon the Cross, but repudiated all charges of immorality in indignant terms.
The process dragged on slowly during more than three years, in consequence of the jealousies which arose among those who were more or less interested in its prosecution. The pope wished to bring it entirely under the jurisdiction of the church, and to have it decided at Rome. The king, on the other hand, mistrusting the pope, and resolved on the destruction of the order, and that none but himself should reap advantage of it, decided that it should be judged at Paris under his own personal influence. The prosecution was directed by his ministers, Nogaret, and Enguerrand de Marigny. The Templars asserted their innocence, and demanded a fair trial; but they found few advocates who would undertake their defense, and they were subjected to hardships and tortures which forced many of them into confessions dictated to them by their persecutors. During this interval, the pope's orders were carried into other countries, ordering the arrest of the Templars, and the seizure of their goods, and everywhere the same charges were brought against them, and the same means adopted to procure their condemnation, although they were not everywhere subjected to the same severity as in France. At length, in the spring of 1316, the grand process was opened in Paris, and an immense number of Templars, brought from all parts of the kingdom, underwent a public examination. A long act of accusation was read, some of the heads of which were, that the Templars, at their reception into the order, denied Christ (and sometimes they denied expressly all the saints) declaring that he was not God truly, but a false prophet, a man who had been punished for his crimes ; that they had no hope of salvation through him; that they always, at their initiation into the order, spit upon the cross, and trod it under foot; that they did this especially on Good Friday; that they worshipped a certain cat, which sometimes appeared to them in their congregation; that they did not believe in any of the sacraments of the church; that they took secret oaths which they were bound not to reveal; that the brother who officiated at the reception of a new brother kissed the naked body of the latter, often in a very unbecoming manner; that each different province of the order had its idol, which was a head, having sometimes three faces, and at others only one; or sometimes a human skull; these idols they worshipped in their chapters and congregations, believing that they had the power of making them rich, and of causing the trees to flourish, and the earth to become fruitful; that they girt themselves with cords, with which these idols had been superstitiously touched; that those who betrayed the secrets of their order, or were disobedient, were thrown into prison, and often put to death; that they held their chapters secretly and by night, and placed a watch to prevent them from any danger of interruption or discovery; and that they believed the Grand Master alone had the power of absolving them from their sins. The publication of these charges, and the agitation which had been designedly got up, created such a horror throughout France, that the Templars who died during the process were treated as condemned heretics, and burial in consecrated ground was refused to their remains. When we read over the numerous examinations of the Templars, in other countries, as well as in France, we cannot but feel convinced that some of these charges had a degree of foundation, though perhaps the circumstances on which they were founded were misunderstood. A very great number of knights agreed to the general points of the formula of initiation, and we cannot but believe that they did deny Christ, and that they spat and trod upon the cross. The words of the denial were, Je reney Den or Je reney Jhesu, repeated thrice ; but most of those who confessed having gone through this ceremony, declared that they did it with repugnance, and that they spat beside the cross, and not on it. The reception took place in a secret room, with closed doors; the candidate was compelled to take off part or all of his garments (very rarely the latter), and then he was kissed on various parts of the body. One of the knights examined, Guischard de Marzici, said he remembered the reception of Hugh de Marhaud, of the diocese of Lyons, whom he saw taken into a small room, which was closed up so that no one could see or hear what took place within ; but that when, after some time, he was let out, he was very pale, and looked as though he were troubled and amazed (fuit valde pallidits et quasi turbatus et stupefactus.) In conjunction, however, with these strange and revolting ceremonies, there were others that shoved a reverence for the Christian church and its ordinances, a profound faith in Christ, and the consciousness that the partaker of them was entering into a holy vow.
M. Michelet, who has carefully investigated the materials relating to the trial of the Templars, has suggested at least an ingenious explanation of these anomalies. He imagines that the form of repeption was borrowed from the figurative mysteries and rites of the early church. The candidate for admission into the order, according to this notion, was first presented as a sinner and renegade, in which character, after the example of St. Peter, he denied Christ. This denial was a sort of pantomime, in which the novice expressed his reprobate state by spitting on the cross. The candidate was then stripped of his profane clothing, received through the kiss of the order into a higher state of faith, and re-dressed with the garb of its holiness. Forms like these would, in the middle ages, be easily misunderstood, and their original meaning soon forgotten.
Another charge in the accusation of the Templars seems to have been to a great degree proved by the depositions of witnesses; the idol or head which they were said to have worshipped, but the real character or meaning of which we are totally unable to explain. Many Templars confessed to having seen this idol, but as they described it differently, we must suppose that it was not in all cases represented under the same form. Some said it was a frightful head, with long beard and sparkling eyes; others said it was a man's skull; some described it as having three faces; some said it was of wood, and others of metal; one witness described it as a painting (tabula picta) representing the image of a man, (imago hominis), and said that when it was shown to him, he was ordered to "adore Christ his creator." According to. some it was a gilt figure, either of wood or metal; while others described it as painted black and white. According to another deposition, the idol had four feet—two before and two behind; the one belonging to the order at Paris was said to be a silver head, with two faces and a beard. The novices of the order were told always to regard this idol as their saviour. Deodatus Jaffet, a knight from the south of France, who had been received at Pedenat, deposed that the person who in his case performed the ceremonies of reception, showed him a head or idol, which appeared to have three faces, and said, " You must adore this as your savior, and the savior of the order of the Temple," and that he was made to worship the idol, saying, " Blessed be he who shall save my soul." Cettus Ragonis, a knight received at Rome in a chamber of the palace of the Lateran, gave a somewhat similar account. Many other witnesses spoke of having seen these heads, which, however, were, perhaps, not shown to everybody, for the greatest number of those who spoke on this subject,, said that they had heard speak of the head, but that they had never seen it themselves; and many of them declared their disbelief in its existence. A friar minor deposed in England that an English Templar had assured him that in that country the order had four principal idols, one at London in the sacristy of the Temple, another at Bristelham, a third at Brueria (Bruern in Lincolnshire), and a fourth beyond the Humber.
Some of the knights from the south added another circumstance in their confessions relating to this head. A Templar of Florence declared that, in the secret meetings of the chapters, one brother said to the others, showing them the idol, ' Adore this head. This head is your God, and your Mahomet." Another, Gauserand de Montpesant, said, that the idol was made in the figure of Baffomet (in figuramBaffometi); and another Raymond Rubei, described it as a wooden head, on which was painted the figure of Baphomet, and he adds, " that he worshipped it by kissing its feet,and exclaiming, Yalla," which he describes as "a word of the Saracens " (verbum Saracenorum). This has been seized upon by some as a proof that the Templars had secretly embraced Mahometanism. As Baffomet or Baphomet is evidently a corruption of Mahomet; but it must not be forgotten that the Christians of the West constantly used the word Mahomet in the mere signification of an idol, and that it was the desire of those who conducted the prosecution against the Templars to show their intimate intercourse with the Saracens. Others, especially Von Hammer, gave a Greek derivation of the word, and assumed it as a proof that Gnosticism was the secret doctrine of the Temple. The confessions with regard to the mysterious cat were much rarer and more vague. Some Italian knights confessed that they had been present at a secret chapter of twelve knights held at Brindisi, at which a grey cat suddenly appeared amongst them, and that they worshipped it. At Nismes, some TempMrs declared that they had been present at a chapter at Montpellier, at which the demon appeared to them in the form of a cat, and promised them worldly prosperity; and added, that they saw devils in the shape of women. Gilletus de Encreyo, a Templar of the diocese of Rheims, who disbelieved in the story of the cat, deposed that he had heard say, though he knew not by whom, that in some of their battles beyond sea, a cat had appeared to them. An English knight, who was examined at London, deposed, that in England they did not adore the cat or the idol to his knowledge, but he had heard it positively stated that they worshipped the cat and the idol in parts beyond sea. English witnesses deposed to other acts of "idolatry." It was of course the demon, who presented himself in the form of the cat. A lady, named Agnes Lovecote, examined in England, stated that she had heard that, at a chapter held in Dines-lee (Dynnesley, in Hertfordshire), the devil appeared to the Templars in a monstrous form, having precious stones instead of eyes, which shone so bright that they illuminated the whole chapter; the brethren, in succession, kissed him on the posteriors, and marked there the form of the cross. She was told that one young man, who refused to go through this ceremony, was thrown into a well, and a great stone cast upon him. Another witness, Robert de Folde, said that he had heard twenty years ago, that in the same place, the devil came to the chapter once a year, and flew away with one of the knights, whom he took as a sort of tribute., Two others deposed that certain Templars confessed to them that at a grand annual assembly in the county of York, the Templars worshipped a calf. All this is mere hearsay, but it shows the popular opinion of the conduct of the order. A Templar examined in Paris, named Jacques de Treces, who said that he had been informed that at secret chapters held at midnight, a head appeared to the assembled brethren, added, that one of them " had a private demon, by whose council he was wise and rich."
The aim of King Philippe was secured; he seized upon the whole treasure of the temple in France, and became rich. Those who ventured to speak in defense of the order were browbeaten, and, received little attention; the torture was employed to force confessions; fifty-four Templars who refused to confess were carried to the windmill of St. Antoine, in the suburbs of Paris, and there burnt; and many others, among whom was the Grand Master himself, were subsequently brought to the stake. After having lasted two or three years, the process ended in the condemnation and suppression of the order, and its estates were given in some countries to the knights of St. John. It was in France that the persecution was most cruel; in England, the order was suppressed, but no executions took place. Even in Italy, the severity of the judges was not everywhere the same;, in Lombardy and Tuscany, the Templars were condemned, while they were acquitted at Ravenna and Bologna. They were also pronounced innocent in Castile, while in Arragon they were reduced by force, only because they had attempted to resist by force of arms; and both in Spain and in Portugal they only gave up their own order to be admitted into others. The pope was offended at the lenity shown towards them in England, Spain, and Germany. The order of the temple was finally dissolved and abolished, and its memory branded with disgrace. Some of the knights are said to have remained together, and formed secret societies. The result, in effect, was the same everywhere. Convicted of heresy, sorcery, and many other abominations, the wretched Templars were everywhere punished with death by fire, imprisonment, and their goods escheated to the various crowned heads of Europe, nearly all of whom followed the avaricious example of Philip of France. Jacques de Molay, the Grand Master, brought out on to a scaffold erected in front of Notre Dame in Paris, and asked to repeat, his confession and receive sentence of perpetual imprisonment, flared into sudden anger, recanted all he had said, and protested his innocence. He was burnt, and summoned the Pope and the King with his dying breath, to meet him before the bar of Heaven. Both of these dignitaries shortly afterwards died, and it remained in the public mind that the outcome of the Grand Master's summons had proved his innocence.
As has been said, there is every reason to believe that there was some foundation for the charges of heresy made against the Templars. Their intimate connection with the East, and the long establishment of the order therein had in all probability rendered their Christianity not quite so pure as that of Western Europe. Numerous treatises have been written for the purpose of proving and disproving the Temple heresy, to show that it followed the doctrines and rites of the Gnostic Ophites of Islam (Baphomet being merely a corruption of Mahomet), and it has been collated with various other eastern systems. Hans Prutz, in his Geheimlehre furthered the view of the rejection of Christianity in favor of a religion based on Gnostic dualism, and at once raised up a host of critics, But many defenders of the order followed, and it was proved in numerous instances the confessions wrung from the Templars were the result of extreme torture. In not a few cases were they acquitted, as in Castile, Aragoa, Portugal, and at many German and Italian centers. It has also been shown that the answers of a number of the knights under torture were practically dictated to them. In England, out of eighty Templars examined, only four confessed to the charge of heresy, and of these two were apostates. The whole question may perhaps be summed up as follows. The Templars, through long association with the East, may have become more tolerant of paganism, more broadminded, in their outlook, than their bigoted stay-at-home countrymen. Expressions as regards the worthiness of Saracen nations, among whom the Templars had many friends, would be regarded askance in France, Spain and England, and habits acquired by residence in the East would probably add to the growing body of suspicion regarding the loyalty of the order to Christianity. It it even possible that the Templars introduced into their rites practices which savored of Gnosticism or Mahomedanism, but that is unlikely. They were, in short, the victims of their own arrogance, their commercial success, and the superstitious ignorance of their contemporaries.
It has frequently been asserted that on the death of Jacques de Molay a conspiracy was entered into by the surviving Templars which had for its objects the destruction of papacy and the several kingdoms of Europe, and that this tradition was handed on through generations of initiates through such societies as the Illuminati and the Freemasons, who in the end brought about the French Revolution and the downfall of the French throne. Such a theory, however enticing to the pseudo-occultist, the defender of the theory that occult tradition has descended to us through a direct line of adepts, or the fictioneer, can receive no countenance here, and must be dismissed as a mere figment of enthusiasm or imagination.
Back to Knights Templar
