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Knights Templar legends

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Main article: Knights Templar

The secrecy around the powerful Order of the Knights Templar, and the speed with which they suddenly disappeared over the space of a few years, has led to many different Knights Templar legends. These range from rumors about their association with the Holy Grail, to questions about their association with the Freemasons. Recent speculation about the Templars has further increased because of references to them in bestselling books such as The Da Vinci Code. (see: Knights Templar and popular culture)

Legendary headquarters

Many legends surround the location of the Templar's first headquarters on the Temple Mount, which had been assigned to them by King Baldwin II of Jerusalem. They were in operation there for 75 years.

The Temple Mount is sacred ground to Jews, Christians, and Muslims, and is believed to be the location of the ruins of Solomon's Temple, and the ancient resting place of the Ark of the Covenant. Some legends say that the Templars dug tunnels under the Temple Mount, and found the Ark of the Covenant, or remnants of the True Cross from the Crucifixion. Pseudo-historical books such as Holy Blood and Holy Grail claim that the Templars discovered documents hidden in the ruins of the Temple "proving" that Jesus survived the Crucifixion and/or was married to Mary Magdalene and had children by her. Indeed, the supposition that the Templars must have found something under the Temple Mount lies at the heart of most Templar legends and pseudo-historical theories. There is no physical or documentary evidence, however, to support such a supposition.

Relics

Other legends of modern invention say the Holy Grail, or Sangreal, was found by the Order and taken to Scotland during the suppression of the order in 1307, and that it remains buried beneath Rosslyn Chapel.

Some sources claim that the Templars discovered secrets of the Masons who had built the original and second temples at the Temple Mount, along with knowledge that the Ark had been moved to Ethiopia before the destruction of the first temple. Allusion to this is made in engravings on the Cathedral at Chartres, great influence over the building of which was had by Bernard of Clairvaux, the Order's patron. Further links to both the search by the order for the Ark and to its discovery of ancient secrets of building are supposedly suggested by the existence of the monolithic Church of St. George in Lalibela, Ethiopia, which stands to this day but whose construction is incorrectly attributed to the Knights Templar.

Some scholars, such as Hugh J. Schonfield, and fringe researchers argue that the Knights Templar may have found the Copper Scroll treasure of the Qumran Essenes in the tunnels beneath the Temple Mount. They suggest that this might explain one of the charges of heresy which were later brought against the knights by the Medieval Inquisition.

Mysterious deaths of the Order's nemeses

The Order was disbanded in large part because of heavy pressure from King Philip IV of France of the Capetian dynasty. The last Grand Master of the Order, Jacques de Molay, was burned at the stake in 1314. Legend has it that he issued his dying curse against the King and Pope, since the Pope died a month later and the King died later that year in a hunting accident, and succession passed rapidly through his three sons between 1314 and 1328. This led many to believe that the dynasty had been cursed – thus the name "the Accursed Kings".

Friday the 13th

Many modern stories (including The Da Vinci Code) claim that when King Philip IV had hundreds of Templars simultaneously arrested on October 13, 1307, that started the legend of the unlucky Friday the 13th. However, closer examination shows that though the number 13 was indeed considered historically unlucky, the actual association of Friday and 13 seems to be an invention from the early 1900s.

Claims of descent and revival

Some historians and authors have tried to draw a link from Freemasonry and its many branches to the Templars. This alleged link remains a point of debate. Degrees in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite such as the Knight of Saint Andrew, the Knight of Rose-Croix, and the 32nd Degree in Consistory make reference to a "Masonic Knights Templar" connection, but this is usually dismissed as being ceremonial and not historical fact.

John J. Robinson makes an utterly unsupported and unsupportable case for the Templar-Masonic connection in his book Born in Blood: The Lost Secrets of Freemasonry, in which he alleges that some French Templars fled to Scotland after the suppression of the Order, fearing persecution from both Church and state. He claims they sought refuge with a lodge of Scottish stone masons within which they began to teach the virtues of chivalry and obedience, using the builders tools as a metaphor; and eventually they began taking in "speculative masons" (men of other professions) in order to ensure the continuation of the Order. According to Robinson, the Order existed in secret in this form until the formation of the United Grand Lodge of England in 1717. An example of Templar-Masonic transitory symbolism can supposedly be found in Rosslyn Chapel owned by the first Earls of Rosslyn Sinclair a family with well documented ties to Scottish Freemasonry, however Rosslyn Chapel itself dates from at least 100 years after the suppression of the Templars.

The case is also made in Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh's book The Temple and the Lodge.

However, historians Mark Oxbrow, Ian Robertson, Karen Ralls and Louise Yeoman have each made it clear that the Sinclair family had no connection with the Mediaeval Knights Templar. The Sinclairs' testimony against the Knights at their 1309 trial is not consistent with any alleged support or membership. In "The Templars and the Grail" Karen Ralls states that among some 50 who testified against the Templars were Henry and William Sinclair.

The Order of the Solar Temple is one infamous example of a "neo-Templar" group, founded in 1984, that claimed descent from the original Knights Templar; there are several other self-styled orders that also claim to be descended from, or revivals of, the Templar Order. One such organization is the Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem (SMOTJ), an ecumenical Christian society based on the traditions of the medieval Knights Templar and principles of chivalry. However, the order is not a genuine order of chivalry, having neither official state recognition nor a head of state as sovereign. SMOTJ was created in 1804 and is dedicated to the preservation of the holy sites in and around Jerusalem, charitable works, and antiquarian research. In 2001, the most prominent faction of the SMOTJ was recognized by the United Nations as a non-governmental organization.

Some people point out a few assumed similiarities between Knights Templar and Switzerland. This is mainly because of the similar flags, the Knights, a square cross flared at the ends, and the modern Flag of Switzerland, a square cross, without flared ends. Also, the Knights were known for their banking.

The idea that the knights were teaching 'stone masons' obedience and chivalry is at odds with what is known about Scottish history where such things were already known, Mediaeval Scotland being every bit as feudal as any other European country of the time.

Ultimately, throughout history and to this day, various organizations have tried to claim links to the original Templar order. To date, none of these claims is historically verifiable nor widely accepted in academia.

Knights Templar in Scotland

During the 14th century, England under King Edward I was at war with Scotland. In 1314 he engaged the Scots in the Battle of Bannockburn. A tale invented by a Parisian romance-writer in the 1700s would have it that the Scots won the battle largely due to the intervention of the Knights Templar on the side of their King Robert the Bruce. In reality, none of the contemporary or near contemporary accounts of the battle at Bannockburn mention the Knights Templar at all, and the excommunicated King Robert the Bruce had very good reason to have nothing to do with the Templars, since he was desperate to keep on the right side of the Pope and of the King of France. It is also worth noting that the Knights Templar had fought for Edward I at the battle of Falkirk in 1297. Militarily he managed very well without them from 1307-1314 and from 1314-1328 and the story could only be seen as a sop to English pride - the 'real' reason for their loss isn't because they were fighting against the Scots but against an elite force of knights. This legend is the Basis for Degrees in Freemasonry known as the Royal Order of Scotland

Discoverers of the New World

Some fringe researchers list Templars among the crew of Henry Sinclair's legendary voyage from Scotland to North America in 1398 despite the dissolution of the Order earlier in the century. Speculation surrounding Templar relics raises the possibility that the Knights Templar possessed the charts of pre-Columbian voyages to America. Christopher Columbus' navigators were members of the extant Portuguese Templar Order, the Order of Christ, and the Templar cross was featured prominently on the sails of his ships in 1492.

Legendary associations with other Orders

'Well of Initiation': architecture based in Templar, Rosicrucian and Masonic symbolism at the "Quinta da Regaleira" (1892-1910), Sintra, Portugal.

Further speculation revolves around the Templar's association with other Orders. This matter is additionally confused because some Orders, such as the Freemasons, started adopting Templar symbols and traditions in the 1700s. (See: Knights Templar (Freemason degree)) Another modern (but much smaller) order that claims Templar ancestry is the Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem.

Revisionist historians and conspiracy theorists claim that the Knights Templar stored secret knowledge, linking them to a myriad of other subjects: the Rosicrucians, the Cathars, the Priory of Sion, King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, the Hermetics, the Ebionites, the Rex Deus, lost relics or gospels of James the Just, Mary Magdalene or Jesus (such as a "Judas Testament"), King Solomon, Moses, and, ultimately, Hiram Abif and the mysteries of ancient Egypt. This, in turn, has contributed to the Knights Templar having several influences on popular culture.

Skull and crossbones

Albert Mackey in his History of Freemasonry repeats a legend in which a group of Masons were attacked by pirates. One of the Freemasons gave the secret sign for help and upon seeing this the pirate captain gave them back all their posessions, letting them go free. Another Masonic legend speaks of three Templars searching the site of Jacques de Molay's burning and finding only his skull and femurs. These they took with them and allegedly were used as the impetus to create the first Jolly Roger flag of Piracy, so that they would never forget. This same symbol is used today by the Yale Skull and Bones society as well as the Bohemian Grove.

Rumored locations

The floor plan of Temple of Jerusalem and some construction lines; possible source of inspiration for Templar constructions

The following is a list of some of the places that have been associated with the Knights Templar, either in fiction or legend, but which have not yet been proven to have a factual association.

Articles related to Templar legends

Notes and references

  1. "The Da Vinci Connection", Sunday Herald, 14 November 2004
  2. "Historian attacks Rosslyn Chapel for 'cashing in on Da Vinci Code'", Scotsman.com, 03-May-06
  3. Ralls, Karen - "The Templars and the Grail" - Quest Books; 1st Quest edition (May 25, 2003), ISBN 0-8356-0807-7 (see p.110 - quoting "The Knights Templar in England" p.200-1)
  4. "Did The Templars Form Switzerland?: An Interview with Alan Butler"

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