Knights Templar History and Medieval Resources

In 1997 two French researchers, Marion and Courage, claimed to have discovered previously unseen characters on the surface of the Shroud of Turin, using certain image processing techniques. The letters did not make a whole lot of grammatical sense, and few were convinced that they really exist. In 2009, Barbara Frale published a book where she gave her own reading of these words. She also provided additional support for the theory that the Shroud was in the possession of the Knights Templar. Possibly this relic was the actual object that started the rumors about a mysterious "head" worshiped by the Templars. As far as Frale's interpretation of the words on the Shroud, she took them to be Jesus' "death certificate". I have some doubts about the validity of the proposed readings, but before I even attempt to come up with my own it would be nice to independently reproduce the image processing technique. So far, the only source I have for this method is found on this page (in Italian):

Christianismus: Barbara Frale e le scritte sulla sindone di Torino

In essence, the method consists of removing the "fish bone" texture of the canvas, in order to bring up the writing. Unfortunately, I don't have any Photoshop filters to achieve the same result...

It must be added that by simply looking at the untraced results of the two most important words in the inscription, one can see that they are by no means distinct and unmistakable.

This one is supposed to be (Ι)ΗΣΟΥ(Σ) - Jesus:




This one is being interpreted as ΝΑΖΑΡΕΝΝΙΟΣ - Nazarite:



To say the least, I am not convinced that there is much to this theory. But I would still like to try the same imageing techniques!

Need a good proof of the fact that Masonic Templarism that became so prominent in the 19th century is in no way connected with the original Order of the Knights Templar? Here it is.

Templar Freemasonry amongst its various symbols uses what is termed abacus - a wooden staff of office. You will spend countless unfruitful hours trying to find a single dictionary where this word is defined in a suitable sense. It just so happens that the originator of this most solemn Masonic term was none other than Sir Walter Scott. In his novel Ivanhoe, which features rather unsavory Templar Knight character, we find this passage:

In his hand he bore that singular abacus, or staff of office, with which Templars are usually represented, having at the upper end a round plate, on which was engraved the cross of the Order, inscribed within a circle or orle, as heralds term it.

Abacus, of course, is a primitive computational device. As any Latinist should know the word for 'staff' in Latin is 'baculus'. This is, in fact the word used by the Knights Templar in their documents to describe the Grand Master's staff. The similarity of 'abacus' and 'baculus', coupled perhaps with the fact that a diminutive of 'abacus' would be 'abaculus' we may suppose a possible chain of events that took place in the novelist's mind: "a baculus" - "abaculus" - "abacus". But that's really not all that important.

The important question is:

How would it be possible for a group that claims to have been descended from the medieval Order of the Knights Templar to use Walter Scott's novel for inspiration and freely borrow the author's clearly misplaced term? If Masonic Templars were unable to get a word right, being so influenced by Walter Scott's usage, how on earth could they possess a single morsel of the Knights Templar spiritual tradition (provided such a tradition really existed at some point)?

It seems to me that the role of Cornelius Agrippa in originating modern myths about the Knights Templar has been exagerated. I will not bore the reader with multiple references to the works of modern researchers who borrow from each other's books the quote from Agrippa's De Occulta Philosopha. Nobody even bothers to indicate the exact place in the treatise that the quote originates from. So, first things first.

Chapter 39 of De Occulta Philosophia begins as follows:

Nemo ignorat malos daemones malis ac prophanis artibus allici posse, quemadmodum narrat Psellus gnosticos magos consuevisse, quos penes execrandae et abhominabiles turpitudines exequebantur quales olim in sacris Priapi et in servitio idoli quod vocabatur Panor, cui pudendis discoopertis sacrificabatur. Neque istis dissimile est (si modo veritas et non fabula est) quod legitur de Templariorum detestanda haeresi et similia horum de maleficis mulieribus constant, quae quidem anilis dementia saepe in eiusmodi flagitiis errare deprehenditur.

Everyone knows that evil spirits can be summonned through evil and profane practices (similar to those that Gnostic magicians used to engage in, according to Psellus), and filthy abominations would occur in their presence, as during the rites of Priapus in times past or in the worship of the idol named Panor to whom one sacrificed having bared shameful parts. Nor is any different from this (if only it is truth and not fiction) what we read about the detestable heresy of the Knights Templar, as well as similar notions have been established about witches, whose senile woomanish dementia is often caught causing them to wander astray into shameful deeds of the same variety.

Michael Haag ("The Templars. The History & the Myth") believes that by placing the Templars in the same context with witches Agrippa "thrust the order into the phantasmagoria of occult forces which were subject of the persecuting craze for which the Malleus Maleficarum was a handbook." Obvious anachronism aside (the Templars have been well put away by the early 16th century), Cornelius Agrippa says absolutely nothing that his contemporaries did not know. Marino Sanudo (c. 1260 – 1338) in his Historia Hierosolymitana comfortably discusses the worship of the gilded head, the practice of dissolving the ashes of deceased knights and drinking them for increased strength of their comrades, and of course smearing the idol with fat produced by roasting baby girls engendered Knights Templar. This account is often repeated by later writers. In Agrippa's time, for instance, Pietro Crinito (Peter Crinitus, 1475 - 1507) relates these horrific details in his work De Honesta Disciplina (incidentally, a book used by Nostradamus). The tradition continued in such works as Hofmann's (1635-1706): Lexicon Universale. Nicholas Guertler also mentions these allegations, but clearly does not find them to be grounded in reality.

As far as I am concerned, Cornelius Agrippa's brief mention of the Knights Templar is of very little importance. Agrippa himself certainly did not make much of it.

I can imagine there will be added interest in all things Masonic after Dan Brown's new book. How about a little excursion into masonic ring inscriptions?

As the novel would have us believe there is some level of freedom in the inscriptions one chooses to have engraved, there are, however, some traditional inscriptions:

P.D.E.P - (on Masonic Templar rings) stands for Pro Deo et Patria - For God and the Country

In Hoc Signo Vinces (Templar Motto, going back to Emperor Constantine) - With this sign thou shall conquer.

Deus Meumque Jus - (on Inspector General rings, i.e. 33rd degree) - God and my Right.

Virtus junxit, mors non separabit - (14th grade) Virtue has united (us), death shall not part (us). Curiously, I have seen this inscription quoted with the comma after mors and it just does not make much grammatical sense that way.

Ordo ex chao - Order out of chaos.

I feel that it is my obligation to become familiar with Dan Brown's new novel, The Lost Symbol. It is unlikely that Brown will bypass any sort of mention of the Knights Templar in his book. Like most people I am content with just waiting for the bookstores to open their doors. However, it seems like the very beginning of the book has become available on Parade.com:
The Lost Symbol | Parade
Of course, this could be a hoax, but the site looks somewhat legitimate. So, cavete, but who knows...

In Boston, 25 organizations are competing for grant money. One of these buildings is Salem Old Town Hall, designed by Charles Bulfinch, a very influential American Mason, who at one point was appointed the Architect of the Capitol. David Ovason's book "The Secret Architecture of Our Nation's Capital" discusses his role in creating the original dome of the Capitol building. The Bulfinch dome has been since replaced, but he must be credited for much of symbolism one sees in Washington today. It does not get more Templar than that, folks!!!

Salem's Old Town Hall is one of Bulfinch's New England creations. It needs some serious work, including reinforcement of the foundation. You can help this building win a $100,000 grant by voting for it daily until May 17:

Go to OTH's site
Salem Old Town Hall

Or use a direct link
Vote daily for Salem Old Town Hall!

If you want to pass this information around, go ahead!