Knights Templar History and Medieval Resources: Medieval Knights Templar History

Ireland remains one of the most prominent Catholic strongholds of Europe. During the Middle Ages, the island was home to many scholars and mystics, creating a distinct Irish "brand" of monasticism: learned, devout and contemplative. Ireland largely stayed out of the way when in the late 11th century main European powers launched what turned out to be a two-century long campaign to bring Palestine under Christian control. The Order of the Knights Templar came to Ireland as a foreign power in the second half of the 12th century, among other Anglo-Norman, Welsh, Scottish and French invaders. Over time, the Knights Templar in Ireland began to operate very similarly to the way they displayed their presence in England: organizing and providing support for the crusading armies, managing properties and heavily involved in financial dealings of various sorts.

A 19th century Irish historian states that "It does not appear that the Templars of Ireland were as hardly dealt with as those on the Continent; perhaps their conduct was not so flagrant" ("The Knights Templars in Ireland", The Dublin Penny Journal, Volume 2, Number 87, March 1, 1834). Despite lesser harshness directed towards individual Irish Templars, the fate of the Order on the whole was no different in Ireland than in most of Europe. It was disbanded, and its property was given to the Knights of St John, the Templar's bitter rival in the fight for a common goal.

There is a site that goes into considerable detail about the ways Knights Templar held certain numbers in great respect and built their practices around them. Such as:

The number 3 (omnipresent)

* The 3 religious vows (common to all monastic orders).
* The 3 mandatory alms every week.
* The 3 annual fasts.
* The 3 meals per day.
* The 3 meat meals per week.
* The 3 presentations of the novice before the Chapter prior to the reception ceremony.
* The obligation to accept a 3 against 1 fight.
* The 3 assaults of the enemy before the Temple's counterattack.
* The 3 horses that the Knight Templar received when setting off on an expedition.

and the list goes on...

The number 8

* The 8 days of penitence to be suffered by a Knight Templar guilty of a venial sin.
* The 8 sacraments received by the Knights Templar.
* The 8 angles of the cross pattee humettee.
* The 8 articles of the oath taken by the future Knight Templar.


The number 9

* The 9 traditional founders of the order.
* The 9 Knights Templar required to form a commandery.
* The 9 provinces of the Temple of the West.
* The 9 years' preparation for the Temple (1118 to 1127).
* The 72 articles (7 + 2 = 9) of the Primitive Rule.
* The 180 years (1 + 8 + 0 = 9) for which the order was in existence.
* The 9 000 Templar commanderies (unverifiable number given by Matthieu Paris).
* The 117 (1 + 1 + 7 = 9) charges leveled at the order during the Inquisition.
* The death of the last Grand Master, Jacques de Molay, also characterized by the number 9: he was executed on March 18 (1 + 8 = 9), 1314 (1 + 3 + 1 + 4 = 9).


Here is my take on this. Notice that there is a lot more things and entities listed under the auspices of number 3. It seems that 3 is just a good number for most things that are not in particularly great supply. So, there was nothing specifically "Templar" about using 3. 8 and 9, although both numbers with substantial numerological pedigree, are more difficult to come by in most cases. It seems to me that 9 was of particular importance, because the Templars for a long time insisted that there were only 9 members, even when undoubtedly daily operations of the Order required more knights and servants (who technically are also Templars).

http://www.maisnie-champenoise.org/uk/temple2.html

Here is a very concise account of the Templar initiation practices. I have seen longer descriptions, as well as various references to the initiation that are contained in Templar documents (and let's not forget the Chinon parchment, where some of the references are potentially incriminating). For a brief account, though, this should suffice.

A knight was received as a Templar in the following manner:

Their chapters or meetings were generally held at night in their church. The candidate remained outside the door, and was three times asked, by messengers from the grand master, if he wished to be made a ' Templar.' When he had answered, he was formally brought in. 'The rules of our order,' the grand master would say, ' are strict, and you are beginning a life of endurance, and not one of ease; one of danger, and one of self-denial. You will have to watch, when perhaps you will be sighing for sleep; to endure fatigue, when you would fain rest; to be hungry and thirsty, when you are longing to eat and to drink; and to leave one country for another without a moment's hesitation, if your vow requires it. Do you really wish to be a Templar? Are you in good health? Are you betrothed or married ? Are you in debt, and cannot pay? Do you belong to any other order?' If the candidate was able to give satisfactory replies to all those searching questions, the vow of the order was administered to him. It consisted of three things — 'poverty, chastity, and obedience,' and was in these words: 'I swear to defend with my life, my strength, and my speech, the holy doctrines of the Trinity and the Catholic faith ; I promise to be obedient and submissive to the grand master; and to travel by sea or by land if need be, to defend my brother Christians against the Infidels. My right hand and sword shall be dedicated to the service of the king and church against the Moslems; and I swear never to shun a combat with any miscreants if only three in number. I will fight them in single combat, and never fly from an enemy.' The principal duty of a Templar was to fight Infidels; and three seemed their especial number, as they were enjoined to communicate three times a year; to hear mass and eat meat three times a week; and if they failed in doing their duty, they were flogged three times in the presence of the whole chapter. If a Templar failed in his especial duty of fighting the Moslems, he was banished for ever from the order.


From "Heroes of the Crusades", by Barbara Hutton, Paolo Priolo

Vatican scholar: prayer proves Knights Templar not heretical

The Vatican has for the first time published the prayer the Knights Templar composed when "unjustly imprisoned", in which they appealed to the Virgin Mary to persuade "our enemies" to abandon "calumnies and lies" and revert to "truth and charity".

L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, said the prayer was further proof that the order, which was dissolved in the fourteenth century, was not heretical. The knights were innocent of the charges against them, which included the accusation that they worshipped idols such as a "monstrous statue, half man and half goat".

The L'Osservatore Romano article, by Barbara Frale, the Vatican Secret Archives scholar who has made a special study of the knights, said it was untrue that the knights were guilty of "decadence, heresy and immoral practices".

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/commen ... 579987.ece


This document has been already published before. I recovered the shortened version of the original Latin text from a 19th century edition, "Les Templiers" tragedy by François-Just-Marie Raynouard (1761-1836). It is somewhat puzzling in a few places, and I don't know the actual source of this prayer. Anyway, here it is (followed by a translation):

Sancti spiritus adsit nobis gratia. Maria, Stella maris, perducat nos ad portam salutis. Amen.

Domine, Jesu Christe, sancte pater, aeterne Deus, omnipotens, sapiens creator, largitor, administrator benignus, et carissimus amator, pius et humilis redemptor, clemens, misericors salvator, Domine, te deprecor humiliter et exoro ut illumines me, liberes et conserves fratres Templi, et omnem populum tuum chistianum turbatum.

Tu, Domine, qui scis nos esse innocentes, facias liberari, ut vota nostra et mandata tua in humilitate teneamus, et tuum sanctum servitium et voluntatem faciamus ; contumelias iniquas, non veras, contra nos oppositas per graves oppositiones, et malas tribulationes et tentationes, quas passi fuimus, et pati ulterius non possumus.

Omnipotens, aeterne Deus, qui beatum Joannem evangelistam et apostolum tuum valde diligis, qui super pectus tuum in caena recubuit, et cui secreta caeli revelavis et demonstravis, et stante in ligno sanctae crucis, pro redemptione nostra, sanctissimam matrem tuam virginem commendavis, in cujus honore gloriose fuit facta, et fundata religio ; pro tua sancta misericordia liberes et conserves, prout tu scis nos esse innocentes a criminibus contra nos oppositis, et operas possideamus, per quas ad gaudia paradisi perducamur, per Christum dominum nostrum. Amen.


TRANSLATION

May the grace of the Holy Spirit be present with us. May Mary, Star of the Sea, lead us to the harbor of salvation. Amen.

Lord Jesus Christ, Holy Father, eternal God, omnipotent, omniscient Creator, Bestower, kind Ruler and most tender lover, pious and humble Redeemer; gentle, merciful Savior, Lord! I humbly beseech The and implore Thee that Thou may enlighten me, free me and preserve the brothers of the Temple and all Thy Christian people, troubled as they are.

Thou, O Lord, Who knowest that we are innocent, set us free that we may keep our vows and your commandments in humility, and serve Thee and act according to Thy will. (Dispel) all those unjust reproaches, far from the truth, heaped upon us by the means of tough adversities, great tribulations and temptations, which we have endured, but can endure no longer.

Omnipotent, eternal God, who hast so loved the blessed John the Evangelist and Apostle, that he reclined upon Thy bosom at the Last Supper, and to whom Thou revealed and showed the Mysteries of Heaven, and to whom, while suspended on the Holy Cross, for the sake of our redemption, Thou commended Thy most Holy Mother and Virgin, and in whose honor (our) Order was created and instituted; through Thy Holy mercifulness, deliver us and preserve us, as Thou knowest that we are innocent of the crimes that we are accused of, so that we may take possession of the works, by which we may be guided to the joys of Paradise, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Barbara Frale's new book is due in January. A few quotes from the Citizen:

In 2001, a second-year student of ancient documents at the Vatican stumbled across the Chinon chart, a 58- by 70-centimetre parchment misfiled in the secret archives for 400 years. "I thought I was dreaming," Barbara Frale told the Citizen in an e-mail. "It took six months for me to fully grasp that it was real."
...
Ms. Frale, who is writing a book about her find, says the document shows that Pope Clement V did not excommunicate the Templar leaders, but absolved them of heresy and brought them back into the church. Rumours about sodomy and idolatry were misunderstood military hazing rituals. "Historians had concluded that the Templars were innocent, but most people still thought they were heretics, occultists and the like," she wrote.

"Now we have definitive proof. The Templars were not heretics. The order, which was a military brotherhood, simply practised a secret ritual that was grossly misunderstood and misinterpreted."
...
Ms. Frale went on to get her PhD at the University of Venice and is now a historian on staff at the Vatican Secret Archives. Her book, The Templars: The Secret History Revealed is to be published by Arcade in January. Her publishers advertise it as "an explosive new history of the medieval world's most powerful military order, the Templars -- and the momentous discovery that finally allows the full story to be told."

"The revelations will be extremely interesting," Ms. Frale told the Citizen. "For now, I can't say a word."
Mythbusting manuscript

I am sensing that there will be a lot of hype building up in the media. But most curiosly, did Ms. Frale discover something else? All these recent Templar-related events are beginning to sound somewhat orchestrated. I would also like to point out that the title of Frale's book is strikingly non-academic. It is definitely appealing to a very wide audience.

The heirs of the Knights Templar have launched a legal battle in Spain to force the Pope to restore the reputation of the disgraced order which was accused of heresy and dissolved seven centuries ago.
...
The legal move by the Spanish group comes follows the unprecedented step by the Vatican towards the rehabilitation of the group when last October it released copies of parchments recording the trials of the Knights between 1307 and 1312.
...
The Chinon parchment revealed that, contrary to historic belief, Clement V had declared the Templars were not heretics but disbanded the order anyway to maintain peace with their accuser, King Philip IV of France.

Knights Templar heirs in legal battle with the Pope

Ok, first of all, I am not sure that the Chinon parchment can be successfully used as a legal document that pertains to the matter. The Chinon process, as far as I can understand, primarily dealt with a group of individuals, not the Order in its entirety. The subsequent disbandment of the Order was a whole different story. On the other hand, the Chinon document demonstrates that the Vatican owes some explanation. However, the fact that this explanation is demanded by a group that claims to be heirs of the Knights Templar only complicates the situation, because the whoel question of property becomes an issue.

I am most interested, though, in finding out how precisely these Templar heirs are going to prove their lineage. It seems that it would be quite logical for them to know the whereabouts of the Templar treasure!

A scene from the 2005 French TV series called "Rois Maudits".