The Double-headed Eagle

[Tamrin]

THE DOUBLE-HEADED EAGLE AND WHENCE IT CAME
By Bro. Arthur C. Parker, New York

(Excerpt - Linked Above)

When our ancient brethren, the holy Crusaders, passed through Byzantium on their way to the tomb of the Saviour, the double-headed eagle which they saw embroidered in gold on heavy banners of silk, borne aloft by the Seljuk Turks, had been four thousand years on its way. To these same Crusaders this emblem was an honoured one, and though the enemy displayed it, yet they would fight to death for its possession and in triumph bear it, dripping with blood, to their encampments on the Levantine shore. It was from this Eastern Empire that the knights took this banner to adorn the courts of Charlemagne, and as a sacred relic hung it in the great cathedrals, whose architects and masons had so often been honoured by this Emperor of the West.

[Tamrin]

THE DOUBLE-HEADED EAGLE

[Excerpt - Article by Pierre Mollier, www.renaissance-traditionnelle.org - Linked Above]

The double-headed eagle is today the emblem of the most widely practiced system of high Masonic degrees in the world: the Ancient and Accepted Scottish rite. Originally the degrees conferred under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Councils were based strongly on the Judeo-Christian tradition. After evolving over two centuries, this rite now promotes a universalistic spirituality. It is interesting to note that this universal vocation already existed for the emblem selected during the origins of the rite. For an iconographic historian, “the eagle, with the dragon, are the only animals that have existed as an emblem in all countries and in every period.. Since the most ancient times, communities have made the double-headed eagle—half-eagle, half mythical animal, like the dragon—an emblematic figure. When Freemasonry adopted some of the Western symbolic imagery in the last thirty years of the eighteenth century, the double-headed eagle was naturally included among these emblems.

An ancient Hittite Eagle

[magusmasonica]

I have heard a theory or two regarding the Kushite (Ethyopian) origin of the double headed eagle. Any thoughts on this possibility?

Love and Light,

[Tamrin]

I am intrigued but not surprised: Pray tell.

The double-headed eagle is featured at St Mary's Church in Lalibela, Ethiopia - one of eleven churches carved from solid rock (according to legend by white men) which feature "Templar" emblems. I would however be interested in this particular emblem originating in Kush (I had thought it derived from Rome, when the empire, traditionally depicted by an eagle, had two heads, one in Rome and the other in Constantinople). Note, the Kushite kingdom had been forced south into Ethiopia.

Of related interest please refer to this linked post.

Double headed eagle, Bet Maryam, Lalibela

[jmd]

It would be fascinating to find yet earlier imagery that depicts double-headed eagles. Personally, I find this highly interesting, and have in the past tried to similarly find early imagery (both online and, before that existed, off-line) as has already been presented above.

This is a separate question, however, to how it makes its way into Freemasonry, and its relevance thereto.

I'd be especially curious as to WHY the double-headed eagle, understood at the time not as the images presented above, but as the Habsburg emblem, was not only introduced into some of the higher (and yes - I'm using that term ) degrees/grades, or become associated with, specifically, the 'knight of the East and West'. I can of course see that the Eagle looks in both directions at once and that, since Eagle, would have a Solar association (hence not 'North and South'), but the title of Knight of the East and West suggests to me a derivation from the emblem rather than the other way around.

I write this away from my shelves, so without the benefit of double checking materials - hopefully, errors on my part will lead to discussions and new insights