Templar Transmission Theory

[Tamrin]

Knights Templar parade in 1930. (CORBIS CORPORATION)

[Tamrin]

The Real History Behind The Templars

From Indiana Jones to The Da Vinci Code - the truth behind the fiction

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By Sharan Newman

[Excerpt - Author's Page - Linked Above][/center]

When I was asked to write THE REAL HISTORY BEHIND THE TEMPLARS I thought I knew quite a lot about them already. I was wrong. The story of the Templars is much more complex than I ever guessed. During the two hundred years of their existence they went through many changes. They fought steadily to protect the Crusader kingdoms and even when they were driven out of the Holy Land they never gave up the dream of returning. Some Templar knights were heroes and some villains. Some of their leaders were brave and competent; others were brave but unintelligent.

The image of the Templar Knights was always greater than the men themselves. Living up to that image wasn’t always possible. This is the story of the reality of the Templars. It is also the story of their legend. Tales about the deeds of the knights existed from the beginning, some less flattering than others. But it was not until five hundred years after the order was dissolved that the myths really started. What is there about the Templars that attracted the mythmakers? Why does the modern world still need these medieval knights?

THE REAL HISTORY BEHIND THE TEMPLARS addresses both the facts and the legends of this group that ended seven hundred years ago but refuses to disappear. It was fascinating to research and write. I hope you’ll be as enthralled as I was with the true story.

[Azaziel]

Philip,

I have just finished reading this book, I did enjoy it, and she seems to have stayed loyal to her aim

[Tamrin]

The Compasses and the Cross

[Azaziel]

Philip,

I am reading this book at present, to be followed by another of S Dafoe books on the Templars, Nobly Born

[Tamrin]

Exaggerating noble connections is easy where the connection can no longer be authoritatively qualified or denied. Not surprisingly, many groups claim to be descended from the Knights Templar:

Rosamond Weavers

[Excerpt - osdir.com - Linked Above]

Here is the Rosamond family crest showing a cross, made up of a weaver's needle, surrounded by roses. Godstalk Rosemondt corresponded with Erasmus who some say "Laid the egg that Luther hatched." The Protestant heresay was not the first. Did weavers join the Templars?

The Waldensian weavers, the Lollards, and other religious groups formed by weavers led to the Reformation and the founding of the Protestant church. The Cathars were weavers, and are associated with the Knight Templars. Some of Rosamond/Rougemont Recusants in Spitalfields were forced to flee to America and Canada where they founded historic weaving mills and the city of Altemonte. There is a weaver museum there located on Rosamond St. My Rosamond kin may be the most ongoing religiously persectuted family in history.

[Tamrin]

The Knights Templar in Scotland:
The Creation of a Myth

[Conclusion - Article by Robert L.D. Cooper, AQC, v.115, pp.94/152]

The stimulating and though[t] provoking ideas of a variety of writers must be seen as but one way of attempting to understand the past. What has been attempted here, albeit very briefly, has been to examine some of the more common elements of the Scottish version of the myth, by testing them as if they were hypotheses. That testing has been carried using sources and evidence well known in the academic world but not so well known elsewhere. That process has revealed some major shortcomings with the Popular Approach. It is somewhat disappointing that so many authors obviously have a limited knowledge of Scottish Freemasonry, or more correctly, a limited knowledge of the difference between Freemasonry in Scotland and that practiced elsewhere. More serious is the dismissal, virtually without discussion, of enormous bodies of relevant material. That relating to the Battle of Bannockburn is a prime example.

On the darker side it is of concern to note that the modern myth had its roots in late 18th and 19th century anti-masonic attacks by Barruel and Robison. Those Freemasons who devised a ‘traditional history’ in which the medieval KT and modern Freemasonry were intimately connected, had no way of knowing that ‘their’ myth would be adopted and embellished for purposes other than the innocuous pleasure of their fellow Freemasons. The perversion of the myth into anti-Semitic and anti-masonic diatribes that led to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and ultimately the Holocaust, can be traced from the writings of Barruel and Robison. One wonders where today’s constant repetition of the myth might next lead.

This myth is unusual in that it does not appear until after the history of Freemasonry itself first appears in print, with the publication of Anderson’s Constitutions in 1723. Even then the myth does not begin to obviously resemble the myth as it is known today until the mid-19th century when it was created from a variety of ‘Traditional Histories’ by a relatively few authors. The influence of the Romantic Movement, and its promotion of medieval notions of chivalry etc., cannot be understood as a major impulse in its creation. This myth is, therefore, part of a long line of mythologizing begun by stonemasons beginning in the 1628 St Clair ‘Charter.’ The myth has a dynamism that is markedly different from that of other myths, particularly those of classical antiquity, which demonstrates that it is ‘young’ and has not, yet, reached the fixed maturity of other myths. Fortunately, the origin and development of this myth took place at a time when it was easily recoded and thus future generation of masonic historians will, hopefully, continue to chart its progress and development.

This limited survey of material relating to how Scottish Freemasons perceived their past demonstrates that they were as susceptible to outside influence, then as now. Originally Scottish Freemasons had an understanding of their past that was reasonably straightforward and simple. Once printed histories began to appear which suggested a more exotic past, especially those with the sanction, tacit or otherwise, of those in authority these new versions were eagerly consumed and no doubt believed. Anderson, Ramsay, Lawrie, Brewster, Hutchinson, Walker Arnott and assorted others were writers who initiated, and perpetuated a fantastic history of Freemasonry. Each built on, and elaborated, the mythical work of their predecessors whether or not they were Freemasons. That process continues today.

All the essential elements of the modern myth were created during the Romantic period when a nostalgic view of the chivalric codes of the middle ages was fashionable and which culminated in, not only of physical displays of chivalry (i.e. the Eglinton Tournament), but also were manifest in a host of artistic and literary works. At a time when Scottish culture was fashionable and when there was a widespread belief that chivalry could still be relevant, a romantic Scottish masonic chivalric Order was synthesized — the present KT.

The myth as we know it today was created by the Masonic KT of Scotland. They appear to have done so for a number of reasons:

• To legitimise the newly created Order.
• To provide themselves with a ‘Traditional History.’
• To differentiate the Order from other branches of Scottish Freemasonry.
• To create an Order superior to ‘ordinary’ Freemasonry.
• To demonstrate a particularly ‘Scottish’ interpretation of the myth, that is, a different version from the then dominant French version.

Here lies the crux of the matter. None of the ‘Traditional Histories’ of any of the branches of Freemasonry are, or were, intended to be taken literally. Our forebears in all the Orders manufactured suitable ‘pasts’ for allegorical purposes. They did so with romantic notions at heart but understood that these histories were not literal truths. It seems that, after all, Freemasonry is: A peculiar System of Morality, Veiled in Allegory and Illustrated by Symbols.

Glenlyon Installation

[Tamrin]

Jun 30, 2008 8:57:59 GMT 10 Tamrin said:

The Knights Hospitaller, the other great Order of warrior monks, has certainly welcomed women since the Twelfth Century (Sire, p.102) (and the term `Masone' was associated with both Orders (Sire, p.162)). Full brothers and sisters had to be of noble birth and they wore the cross of their Order, (lay members wore the half cross or square; i.e., the chevron, now used as the stripes of a sergeant or other N.C.O.) (Sire, p.102). The issue of women does not seem to have been regarded as an obstacle to proposals to merge the two Orders.

Order of St. John of Jerusalem (Hospitallers) - Females

[Tamrin]

Jun 30, 2008 8:51:32 GMT 10 Tamrin said:

A variation on the Templar Transmission Theory, in relation to our origins, holds that, during a truce in the Crusades, Richard I initiated Saladin into one or more orders of chivalry and, in return, Saladin initiated Richard in an Islamic, Sufi or Arabic Order, which subsequently became attached to the Templars.

Indeed there are some intriguing parallels between some of our traditions and some Islamic ones. I am inclined to suggest these parallels derive from once widespread conventions or archetypes of initiation. Most groups involved being subsequently suppressed in the West, with virtually only freemasonry being spared, (we are therefore inclined to think of such practices as having always been peculiar to freemasonry).

What ever the case may be, while browsing the internet, I came across the following item, taken from a work by Muhammad Hamidullah, which may be of interest to those investigating the theory of masonic links with Arabic institutions (via the Templars or not). It pertains not to religious practices but to charitable aid to all and to what we would describe as "meeting on the level and parting on the square". The page (no longer extant) was headed "The Prophet of Islam - His Biography". The site was: www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/prophet/profbio.html, make of it what you will:

An Order of Chivalry
.... Foreign traders often brought their goods to Mecca for sale. One day a certain Yemenite (of the tribe of Zubaid) improvised a satirical poem against some Meccans who had refused to pay him the price of what he had sold, and others who had not supported his claim or had failed to come to his help when he was victimised. Zuhair, uncle and chief of the tribe of the Prophet, felt great remorse on hearing this just satire. He called for a meeting of certain chieftains in the city, and organized an order of chivalry, called Hilf al-Fudal, with the aim and object of aiding the oppressed in Mecca, irrespective of their being dwellers of the city or aliens. Young Muhammad became an enthusiastic member of the organisation. Later in life he used to say: "I have participated in it, and I am not prepared to give up that privilege even against a herd of camels; if somebody should appeal to me even today, by virtue of that pledge, I shall hurry to his help."

A further interesting Islamic society is the Iraqi Ikhwan al-Safa, or Brethren of Purity. Of whom we read:

Brethren of Purity

[Excerpts - Article from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Linked Above]

The ranks were:

• 1. The "Craftsmen" – a craftsman had to be at least 15 years of age; their honorific was the "pious and compassionate" (al-abrâr wa 'l-ruhamâ).
• 2. The "Political Leaders" – a political leader had to be at least 30 years of age; their honorific was the "good and excellent" (al-akhyâr wa 'l-fudalâ)
• 3. The "Kings" – a king had to be at least 40 years of age; their honorific was the "excellent and noble" (al-fudalâ' al-kirâm)
• 4. The "Prophets and Philosophers" – the most aspired-to, the final and highest rank of the Brethren; to become a Prophet or Philosopher a man had to be at least 50 years old; their honorific compared them to historical luminaries such as Jesus, Socrates, or Muhammad who were also classified as Kings; this rank was the "angelic rank" (al-martabat al-malakiyya).

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According to "Ikhwan as-Safa" (Rasail 21st., p. 166), "Know, that among us there are kings, princes, khalifs, sultans, chiefs, ministers, administrators, tax agents, treasurers, officers, chamberlains, notables, nobles, servants of kings and their military supporters. Among us too there are merchants, artisans, agriculturists and stock breeders. There are builders, landowners, the worthy and wealthy, gentlefolk and possessors of all many virtues. We also have persons of culture, of science, of piety and of virtue. We have orators, poets, eloquent persons, theologians, grammarians, tellers of tales and purveyors of lore, narrators of traditions, readers, scholars, jurists, judges, magistrates and ecstatics. Among us too there are philosophers, sages, geometers, astronomers, naturalists, physicians, diviners, soothsayers, casters of spells and enchantments, interpreters of dreams, alchemists, astrologers, and many other sorts, too many to mention."

Image of teachers among the Brethren, c. 1287 CE