ANST - Templars ...

J. Scott & Arisa Ballentine ballentine at earthlink.net
Fri May 8 17:51:06 PDT 1998


Brother Galen, I feel compelled to comment on some of the things you stated.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-ansteorra at Ansteorra.ORG
> [mailto:owner-ansteorra at Ansteorra.ORG]On Behalf Of Keith E. Brandt, M.D.
> Sent: Friday, May 08, 1998 9:48 AM
> To: ansteorra at Ansteorra.ORG
> Subject: Re: ANST - Templars ...
>
> I haven't seen any mention of the Templars being accused of bring back
> 'eastern ideas'. The main reason they were feared is because they
> controlled the European banking system.

To call it a banking system would be to modern, but their financial powers
were extraordinary.  Perhaps the most important function they served was as
a source of letters of credit which could be exchanged at any Templar house
(forerunner of modern checking, well... kinda...).

>King Phillip of France in league with the pope, Clement V. They tortured >a
former Templar officer,Esquiu de
> Florian and he confessed to many atrocities and heresies. The official
> accusation stated they "put their order and its selfish interests before
> the interests of the Holy Mother Church and before moral principle. They
> took a secret oath to defend and enrich their order by any means, without
> regard for right or wrong. They maintained secret correspondence with the
> Muslims. In their initiation rites, new members were required to spit or
> trample on the cross and to deny Jesus Christ. A Templar who attempted to
> reveal the secrets of the order was murdered. The Templars desecrated the
> holy sacraments and omitted the words of consecration in the
> service of the
> mass. They practiced the absolution of sins by laymen without a
> priest. The
> Templars were given permission to engage in sodomy and other homosexual
> acts. It was through the treachery of the Templars that the Holy Land had
> been lost. They worshiped satanic idols in the forms of a bearded head and
> a cat." [Dungeon, Fire and Sword, John Robinson, 1991, p432]. Thus on
> Friday the 13th of October, 1307, the Templars in all Christendom were
> arrested, tortured, and confessed to most of the above charges.

1.  Most of those who confessed did so to spare their lives, many recanted
and were summarily executed (including Jacques de Molay the last Grand
Master of the Templars, and two other principle officers).

2.   It is highly inaccurate to say "...Templars in all Christendom were..."
anything.  The Order was never officially dissolved in Scotland.  The
Templars were welcomed into the ranks of the newly formed Knights of Malta,
the Teutonic Knights, and other church and secular orders.  It was only in
France, under the vengeful thumb of Philip le Bel and Guillome de Nogaret
(sp?) that rank and file members of the order were tortured.

> >... which only drove them (and their knowledge) underground, to be
> >perpetuated and passed down by several "secret societies"  ... most
> >notable being the Masonic orders (that perpetuated that knowledge and
> >spread it in Europe and into the new world ...)
>
> Common story propagated by many, but with little proof. John Robinson also
> wrote 'Born in Blood' which links Templars to Masonry, but he even admits
> that the evidence is circumstantial. Though most Masons like to thing and
> boast the order goes back to the Second Temple era, there is no
> evidence of
> masonry before 1717. There are a series of degrees within York
> Rite Masonry
> of Knight of the Red Cross, Knight of Malta, and Knight of the Temple,
> based on Templar history, but no know true connection. (I am a Mason, and
> holder of these degrees).

So am I, and though I will not debate the history of our mutual affiliation,
I will state that John Robinson does give some compelling evidence of our
Order's existence prior to the formation of the first Grand Lodge.

For those of you who have _no_ idea what we are talking about, I recommend
Robinson's books.  Not only as an interesting read of the Order of the
Temple, but also for some interesting tidbits on life in the middle ages.

Fergus Stout
ballentine at earthlink.net

============================================================================
Go to http://www.ansteorra.org/lists.html to perform mailing list tasks.



More information about the Ansteorra mailing list