by David Hatcher Childress, extracted from 'The History of the Knights Templar' New Dawn No. 40 & 41 (January-February & March-April 1997) from NewDawnMagazine Website

David Hatcher Childress (born June 1, 1957) is an American author, and the owner of Adventures Unlimited Press, a publishing house established in 1984 specializing in books on unusual topics such as ancient mysteries, unexplained phenomena, pseudohistory, and historical revisionism. His own works primarily concentrate on pseudoarchaeological and pseudoscientific topics such as "UFOs, secret societies, suppressed technology, cryptozoology [and] conspiracy theory." Childress, having no degree, refers to himself as a "rogue archaeologist".

The Knights Templar have been associated with all sorts of incredible activities including:

having the Ark of the Covenant, the Holy Grail, a secret fleet that sailed the oceans, and an awe-inspiring self-confidence and courage that made their enemies shudder in fear.

They were great statesmen, politically adept, economic traders, and they were apparently allied with the great sailor-fraternity that had created a worldwide trading empire in Phoenician times.

Where did ALL the Phoenicians Go? – Library of Rickandria

Despite a great deal of negative propaganda against the Templars at the time of their suppression, they are still known today as the preservers of knowledge and sacred objects.

While the origins of the Knights Templar are said to go back to the building of King Solomon’s Temple by Phoenician masons from Tyre, or even the Great Pyramid and Atlantis, we trace their modern history from the Crusades period of the Middle Ages.

The Knights Templar began when a group of nine "French" knights came to Jerusalem in the year 1118 A.D.

New Jerusalem: Jesus of Borg – Library of Rickandria

These knights petitioned the king of Jerusalem to allow them to live in the ancient Temple of Solomon, then partly a mosque and partly in ruins.

In his book The Mysteries of Chartres Cathedral [8] the French architect Louis Charpentier claims that the Knights Templar built Chartres as a repository for ancient wisdom.

LOUIS CHARPENTIER, 1910-2015 – Sentinel and Enterprise

In that year it is historically recorded that nine "French" knights presented themselves to a Christian King Baldwin II of Jerusalem and explained that they planned to form themselves into a company with a plan for protecting pilgrims from robbers and murderers along the public highways leading to the holy city.

Baldwin II, also known as Baldwin of Bourcq or Bourg (French: Baudouin; c. 1075 – 21 August 1131), was Count of Edessa from 1100 to 1118, and King of Jerusalem from 1118 until his death. He accompanied his cousins Godfrey of Bouillon and Baldwin of Boulogne to the Holy Land during the First Crusade. He succeeded Baldwin of Boulogne as the second count of Edessa when he left the county for Jerusalem following his brother's death. He was captured at the Battle of Harran in 1104. He was held first by Sökmen of Mardin, then by Jikirmish of Mosul, and finally by Jawali Saqawa. During his captivity, Tancred, the Crusader ruler of the Principality of Antioch, and Tancred's cousin, Richard of Salerno, governed Edessa as Baldwin's regents.

King Baldwin II had been a prisoner of the Saracens and knew of their infighting.

Factions such as the Assassins were active in Moslem politics.

Secrets of the Assassins – Library of Rickandria

They also asked to be housed within a wing of the palace, a wing which happened to be adjacent to the Dome of the Rock Mosque which was built on the site of Solomon’s Temple.

The king granted their request, and the Order of the Knights of Solomon’s Temple or Knights Templar was born.

Ten years later the nine knights presented themselves to the Pope, who gave his official approval to the Knights Templar.

Although only nine mysterious knights existed, a tenth joined them, who was the Count of Champagne, an important French noble.

In fact, none of the "poor" knights was apparently poor, nor were they all French.

Several came from important French and Flemish families.

Of the ten original knights, four have not been identified, although their names are known. Furthermore, it seems unlikely that the Knights of the Temple of Solomon were formed to protect the pilgrims to Jerusalem because such an order of knights already existed.

They were the Knights Hospitallers or Knights of St. John, later to become the Knights of Malta.

It is important not to confuse the Knights Templar with the Knights of Malta, as many readers, and some historians, do.

The Knights Templar are quite different from the other crusaders and were sometimes said to fight in combat against each other, even in the "Holy Land."

The Knights Hospitallers, which still exist today as the Knights of Malta, were forced to leave Malta by Napoleon, who stopped at the island on his way to Egypt.

Today the Knights of Malta reside in Italy, still have their own "sovereign country" and are said to be a secret society for the Vatican.

Charles Addison, a London Lawyer, who wrote in his 1842 book The History of the Knights Templar [6] mentions in the first few pages how it was commonly believed the Templars were at odds with the Vatican and their military arm, the Knights Hospitallers.

Addison denies the rumors, but admits such rumors existed.

Charpentier likens the original band of Knights Templar to commandos who raided the ancient Temple of Solomon in order to uncover its engineering secrets and possible lost treasure such as the Ark of the Covenant, possibly hidden deep in a strange cavern system beneath the temple.

With the help of the brilliant French Abbot Bernard de Clairvaux, the nine knights, directed by the Count of Champagne, created the Knights Templar.

Bernard of Clairvaux, O. Cist. (Latin: Bernardus Claraevallensis; 1090 – 20 August 1153), venerated as Saint Bernard, was an abbot, mystic, co-founder of the Knights Templar, and a major leader in the reform of the Benedictines through the nascent Cistercian Order.

With the money that they accumulated, a cathedral at Chartres was built.

Later, other cathedrals were built around Europe and the legends of the "Master Stonemasons" became common.

Incorporated into Chartres Cathedral are beautiful stained-glass windows, many of the colors difficult or impossible to duplicate today.

Hidden within the cathedral are various ancient "cubits" of measure, plus such esoteric devices as the famous Chartres Maze and other visual tools such as sacred geometry, for personal transformation - a sort of personal alchemy of the soul.

Jewish Soul VS. Gentile Soul – Library of Rickandria

Included in the image was the quest for the Holy Grail.

The Holy Grail – Library of Rickandria

When a nobleman would join their ranks, he would surrender his castle and property to the Knights who would use revenues generated from the property to purchase weapons, war-horses, armor and other military supplies.

The ranks of the Knights Templar grew rapidly.

Other noblemen and kings who were not members often gave them gifts of money and land.

King Stephen of England contributed his valuable English manor of Cressing in Essex.

Stephen (1092 or 1096 – 25 October 1154), often referred to as Stephen of Blois, was King of England from 22 December 1135 to his death in 1154. He was Count of Boulogne jure uxoris from 1125 until 1147 and Duke of Normandy from 1135 until 1144. His reign was marked by the Anarchy, a civil war with his cousin and rival, the Empress Matilda, whose son, Henry II, succeeded Stephen as the first of the Angevin kings of England.

He also made arrangements for high-ranking members of the Knights to visit nobles of England and Scotland.

Pope Eugenius decreed that the Knights Templar and only the Knights Templar would wear a special red cross with blunt wedge-shaped arms called the cross patee on the left breasts of their white robes, so that they could be quickly recognized at any time by Christians and by other Templars on the field of battle.

Eugene IV (Latin: Eugenius IV; Italian: Eugenio IV; 1383 – 23 February 1447), born Gabriele Condulmer, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 11 March 1431 to his death, in February 1447. Condulmer was a Venetian, and a nephew of Pope Gregory XII. In 1431, he was elected pope.

Exposing Christianity – Library of Rickandria

The white robes with red crosses became their required dress.

The warrior-knights fought bravely in the Middle East and were highly respected by their Moslem counterparts for their strategy and bravery.

Middle East Exopolitical Saga – Library of Rickandria

In 1129 the Templar Grand Master, Hugh de Payens, led a company of 300 knights, recruited from the noblest houses of Europe, to accompany a huge train of pilgrims to Jerusalem.

Hugo de Paganis, better known by the French translation Hugues de Payens or Payns (c. 1070 – 24 May 1136), was the co-founder and first Grand Master of the Knights Templar. In association with Bernard of Clairvaux, he created the Latin Rule, the code of behavior for the Order.

During this time the Templars formed part of a contingent which, allied with the Assassins of Persia, tried to take the important city of Damascus.

Secrets of the Assassins – Library of Rickandria

Idries Shah (/ˈɪdrɪs ˈʃɑː/; Hindi: इदरीस शाह, Pashto: ادريس شاه, Urdu: ادریس شاه; 16 June 1924 – 23 November 1996), also known as Idris Shah, Indries Shah, né Sayed Idries el-Hashimi (Arabic: سيد إدريس هاشمي) and by the pen name Arkon Daraul, was an Afghan author, thinker and teacher in the Sufi tradition. Shah wrote over three dozen books on topics ranging from psychology and spirituality to travelogues and culture studies.

According to Arkon Daraul in his book A History of Secret Societies [7], the followers of Hasan Ibn Sabah, leader of the Assassins, were definitely in contact with the Templars and apparently the Assassins were prepared to become "Christians" should their goals be met, which they were not.

The Real Tetragrammaton: Further Exposing Christianity – Library of Rickandria

At one point, a payment of 3000 gold pieces from the Syrian branch of the Assassins was made to the Templar order, apparently as some form of tribute.

The exact association between the Templars and the Assassins has remained a mystery.

The Templars, it must be said on this regard, were not noted for political assassinations, as were the Assassins.

Rather, the Templars fell victim to political intrigue and were either publicly executed or assassinated as was Henry Sinclair, Grand Master of the Templars, in 1400, when the Templar Fleet returned from North America.

Henry I Sinclair, Earl of Orkney, Lord of Roslin (c. 1345 – c. 1400) was a Scottish noblesse. Sinclair held the title Earl of Orkney (which refers to Norðreyjar rather than just the islands of Orkney) and was Lord High Admiral of Scotland under the King of Scotland. He was sometimes identified by another spelling of his surname, St. Clair. He was the grandfather of William Sinclair, 1st Earl of Caithness, the builder of Rosslyn Chapel. He is best known today because of a modern legend that he took part in explorations of Greenland and North America almost 100 years before Christopher Columbus. William Thomson, in his book The New History of Orkney, wrote: "It has been Earl Henry's singular fate to enjoy an ever-expanding posthumous reputation which has very little to do with anything he achieved in his lifetime."

Many Templars were of Palestinian birth, spoke perfect Arabic, and were familiar with every religious sect, cult, and magical doctrine, including the Assassins.

For instance, the Grand Master Philip of Nablus (1167 A.D.) was a Syrian. [7]

Philip of Milly, also known as Philip of Nablus (Latin: Philippus Neapolitanus; c. 1120 – April 3, 1171), was a baron in the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the seventh Grand Master of the Knights Templar. He briefly employed the troubadour Peire Bremon lo Tort in the Holy Land.

The Assassins, it might be mentioned, eventually became what is known today as the Ismaili sect of Islam.

Their head is the Aga Khan, and their followers reside largely in Pakistan and India, today.

Aga Khan (Persian: آقاخان, Arabic: آغا خان; also transliterated as Aqa Khan and Agha Khan) is a title held by the Imām of the Nizari Ismāʿīli Shias. Since 1957, the holder of the title has been the 49th Imām, Prince Shah Karim al-Husseini, Aga Khan IV (born 1936). Aga Khan claims to be a direct descendant of Muhammad, the last prophet according to the religion of Islam.

The Aga Khan, a hereditary leadership descended from Mohammed, maintains residences in both London and Bombay.

Prince Aly Salomone Khan (13 June 1911 – 12 May 1960), known as Aly Khan, was a socialite and ambassador for Pakistan. He was the son of the Aga Khan III, and the father of Aga Khan IV.

The father of today’s Aga Khan was married to Hollywood actress Rita Hayworth.

Rita Hayworth (born Margarita Carmen Cansino; October 17, 1918 – May 14, 1987) was an American actress, dancer, and pin-up girl. She achieved fame in the 1940s as one of the top stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood and appeared in 61 films in total over 37 years. The press coined the term "The Love Goddess" to describe Hayworth, after she had become the most glamorous screen idol of the 1940s. She was the top pin-up girl for GIs during World War II.

By 1133, King Alfonso of Aragon and Navarre (northern Spain) had fought the invading Moors in 29 battles and willed his kingdom to the Templars.

Alfonso I (c. 1073/1074[a] – 7 September 1134), called the Battler or the Warrior (Spanish: el Batallador), was King of Aragon and Navarre from 1104 until his death in 1134. He was the second son of King Sancho Ramírez and successor of his brother Peter I. With his marriage to Urraca, queen regnant of Castile, León and Galicia, in 1109, he began to use, with some justification, the grandiose title Emperor of Spain, formerly employed by his father-in-law, Alfonso VI. Alfonso the Battler earned his sobriquet in the Reconquista. He won his greatest military successes in the middle Ebro, where he conquered Zaragoza in 1118 and took Ejea, Tudela, Calatayud, Borja, Tarazona, Daroca, and Monreal del Campo. He died in September 1134 after an unsuccessful battle with the Muslims at the Battle of Fraga.

However, the Templars were prevented from claiming the kingdom because of the Moorish victory over Spain.

Meanwhile, there was a parallel religious order, the Knights of St. John, founded at Amalfi, Italy, in the 11th century.

They went to Jerusalem to protect and minister to the Christian pilgrims but soon extended their mission to tending to the sick and poor all over the Holy Land.

As the years went by the Knights of St. John (Knights Hospitallers) became increasingly militant and, generally speaking, fought along-side the more mystical Knights Templar and the Germanic order of the Teutonic Knights of St. Mary.

Teutonic Order - Wikipedia

With the fall of Jerusalem in 1309, the Knights of St. John retreated first to Cyprus and then to Rhodes.

As the main base for the crusaders in their struggle against the Ottoman Empire, Rhodes was a fortress, a prison, and a supply base for the ships and armies on their way to Palestine and Asia Minor.

When the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet Fatih failed to clarify the succession question of the newly powerful Ottoman Empire, in 1481, a battle between his two sons at Bursa resulted and Cem was defeated by his brother Beyazit.

Mehmed II (Ottoman Turkish: محمد ثانى, romanized: Meḥmed-i s̱ānī; Turkish: II. Mehmed, pronounced [icinˈdʒi ˈmehmet]; 30 March 1432 – 3 May 1481), commonly known as Mehmed the Conqueror (Ottoman Turkish: ابو الفتح, romanized: Ebū'l-fetḥ, lit. 'the Father of Conquest'; Turkish: Fâtih Sultan Mehmed), was twice the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from August 1444 to September 1446 and then later from February 1451 to May 1481.

Cem fled to Egypt but was denied asylum by the Marmelukes who controlled that country for the Ottomans.

Cem took the irreversible step of fleeing to Rhodes where he appealed to the archenemies of the Ottomans, the Knights Hospitallers, or Knights of St. John.

With his brother now in the hands of the crusader army, Beyazit knew he was in trouble and the Ottoman Empire had to respond quickly.

Beyazit shrewdly contacted the Knights of St. John and negotiated a contract to pay 45,000 ducats of gold annually - a huge sum at the time - in return for the imprisonment of his brother on Rhodes and later in the English Tower at the castle in Bodrum, on the Turkish mainland.

Cem Sultan (also spelled Djem or Jem) or Sultan Cem or Şehzade Cem (22 December 1459 – 25 February 1495, pronounced [ˈdʒem sulˈtaːn]; Ottoman Turkish: جم سلطان, romanized: Cem sulṭān; Turkish: Cem Sultan; French: Zizim), was a claimant to the Ottoman throne in the 15th century.

The Knights eventually handed their valuable prisoner over to the Vatican, where Cem was made an interesting offer:

to lead a crusader army to recapture Istanbul (Constantinople).

To stop this final threat from his wayward brother Beyazit spared no expense paying to the Vatican 120,000 gold ducats and a number of sacred relics from Jerusalem including the famous Spear of Destiny.

Bayezid II (Ottoman Turkish: بايزيد ثانى, romanized: Bāyezīd-i s̱ānī; Turkish: II. Bayezid; 3 December 1447 – 26 May 1512) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1481 to 1512. During his reign, Bayezid consolidated the Ottoman Empire, thwarted a pro-Safavid rebellion and finally abdicated his throne to his son, Selim I. Bayezid evacuated Sephardi Jews from Spain following the fall of the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada and the proclamation of the Alhambra Decree and resettled them throughout Ottoman lands, especially in Salonica.

"Whosoever possesses this Holy Lance and understands the powers it serves, holds in his hand the destiny of the world for good or evil."

Adolf Hitler believed in this power and removed the lance from the Vienna Museum when the Nazis took over Austria.

Hitler’s Genealogy – Library of Rickandria

With this hefty payment, the Pope abandoned Cem and the plans for him to lead an army against Istanbul.

Cem died alone at the Terracina prison in 1495.

Rumor had it that he was eventually poisoned.

Today Cem is but a footnote in history, a victim of the diplomatic maneuvers that brought the Spear of Destiny to the West.

The Knights stayed on Rhodes for 213 years, transforming the city into a mighty fortress with 12-meter-thick walls.

They withstood two Muslim offenses in 1444 and 1480, but in 1522 the Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent staged a massive attack with 200,000 troops.

Suleiman I (Ottoman Turkish: سليمان اول, romanized: Süleyman-ı Evvel; Turkish: I. Süleyman, pronounced [syleiˈman]; 6 November 1494 – 6 September 1566), commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent in Western Europe and Suleiman the Lawgiver (Ottoman Turkish: قانونى سلطان سليمان, romanized: Ḳānūnī Sulṭān Süleymān) in his Ottoman realm, was the longest-reigning sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1520 until his death in 1566.[3]: 541–545 Under his administration, the Ottoman Empire ruled over at least 25 million people.

A mere 600 Knights with 1,000 mercenaries and 6,000 Rhodians eventually surrendered after a long siege.

In 1529 Charles V, grandson of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, offered Malta to the Knights of St. John as their permanent base and they began to build fortifications around the Grand Harbor.

Charles V (Ghent, 24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556, King of Spain from 1516 to 1556, and Lord of the Netherlands as titular Duke of Burgundy from 1506 to 1555. He was heir to and then head of the rising House of Habsburg. His dominions in Europe included the Holy Roman Empire, extending from Germany to northern Italy with rule over the Austrian hereditary lands and Burgundian Low Countries, and Spain with its possessions of the southern Italian kingdoms of Naples, Sicily and Sardinia. In the Americas, he oversaw the continuation of Spanish colonization and a short-lived German colonization. The personal union of the European and American territories he ruled was the first collection of realms labelled "the empire on which the sun never sets".

In 1565 the Ottoman fleet arrived at Malta and immediately attacked the fortifications.

With 181 ships carrying a complement of over 30,000 men, the fleet bombarded the fortress with over 7,000 rounds of ammunition every day for over a month and finally took St. Elmo.

But the Turkish marines had suffered many casualties and could not take the other heavily defended forts that were around the bay and inside the island.

News of reinforcements coming from Sicily caused the Turks to retreat from the island and the Great Siege was over.

The Knights of St. John changed their name to the Knights of Malta and were said to be fanatically loyal to the Vatican, and the Pope apparently used them as his personal crusaders and soldiers.

Other Orders such as the Knights Templar and the Teutonic Knights were far more independent, and if anything, were trying their best to subvert the church that was centered on Rome.

In fact, it was sometimes said that the Knights Templar and the Knights of St. John (later to be known as the Knights of Malta) sometimes fought in combat against each other.

The Knights Templar were sworn to fight the Vatican while the Knights of Malta became the Pope’s private army.

The Knights then turned to the Russian Tsar Paul I who offered to found an Orthodox League of the Knights of St. James.

Paul I (Russian: Па́вел I Петро́вич, romanized: Pavel I Petrovich; 1 October [O.S. 20 September] 1754 – 23 March [O.S. 11 March] 1801) was Emperor of Russia from 1796 until his 1801 assassination. Paul remained overshadowed by his mother, Catherine the Great, for most of his life. He adopted the laws of succession to the Russian throne—rules that lasted until the end of the Romanov dynasty and of the Russian Empire. He also intervened in the French Revolutionary Wars and toward the end of his reign, added Kartli and Kakheti in Eastern Georgia into the empire, which was confirmed by his son and successor Alexander I.  He was de facto Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller from 1799 to 1801 and ordered the construction of a number of priories of the Order of Malta.[1] Paul's pro-German sentiments and unpredictable behavior made him unpopular among the Russian nobility, and he was secretly assassinated by his own officers.

This deal with the Russian Tsar particularly enraged Napoleon.

Was Napoleon Jewish? – Library of Rickandria

Napoleon sailed to Malta and made anchor just outside the Grand Harbor in June of 1798.

When he was refused entry by the Knights of St. John, he began to bombard the fortress.

After two days of shelling the French landed and gave the knights four days to leave, thus ending their 268-year presence on the island.

The Pope restored the office of the Grand Master in 1879, and the Knights of St. John still exist today.

They are known as the Knights of Malta, though they no longer reside in Malta at all, but have offices in various cities in Europe.

Even though they have no actual territory, they are still recognized as a separate state by 40 or more countries around the world, similar to the recognition of the Vatican.

Critics of the Knights of St. John/Malta claim that they are a right-wing Catholic organization that worked in Eastern Europe to suppress non-Catholic ethnic groups.

The Wehrmacht General Reinhard Gehlen received the highest honor given by the Knights of Malta shortly after World War II for "services rendered."

Reinhard Gehlen (3 April 1902 – 8 June 1979) was a German career intelligence officer who served the Weimar Republic, Nazi Germany, the U.S. intelligence community, and the NATO-affiliated Federal Republic of Germany during the Cold War.

CIA: Central Intelligence Agency – Library of Rickandria

The Sea Empire of the Knights Templar

They owned over nine thousand manors and castles across Europe, all of which were tax-free.

Each property was farmed and produced revenues that were used to support the largest banking system in Europe.

The Templar wealth and power caused suspicion and jealousy among some members of the European nobility.

Slanderous rumors were spread of secret rituals and devil worship.

Is Your God a Devil? – Library of Rickandria

King Philip IV of France was responsible for many of these rumors.

Philip IV (April–June 1268 – 29 November 1314), called Philip the Fair (French: Philippe le Bel), was King of France from 1285 to 1314. By virtue of his marriage with Joan I of Navarre, he was also King of Navarre as Philip I from 1284 to 1305, as well as Count of Champagne. Although Philip was known to be handsome, hence the epithet le Bel, his rigid, autocratic, imposing, and inflexible personality gained him (from friend and foe alike) other nicknames, such as the Iron King (French: le Roi de fer). His fierce opponent Bernard Saisset, bishop of Pamiers, said of him: "He is neither man nor beast. He is a statue."

Philip IV had taken refuge from an angry mob in Paris at the Templar headquarters there.

The Templars had moved their main headquarters from Jerusalem to Paris after the Crusaders’ defeat in the Eastern Mediterranean.

The Ottoman Navy had taken over most of the Mediterranean and were busy besieging the Knights Hospitallers on Malta.

The Templars gave Philip IV refuge from the mob, but it is said that the King saw the magnificence of the Templar treasure and wanted it for himself.

His nation was bankrupt, he was a weak king who was unpopular with the people, and he knew that the Templars were more powerful and wealthy then he was.

King Philip IV went to Rome in 1305 and convinced Pope Clement V that the Knights Templar were not the holy defenders of the faith but were seeking to destroy it.

Pope Clement V (Latin: Clemens Quintus; c. 1264 – 20 April 1314), born Raymond Bertrand de Got (also occasionally spelled de Guoth and de Goth), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 5 June 1305 to his death, in April 1314. He is remembered for suppressing the order of the Knights Templar and allowing the execution of many of its members. A Frenchman by birth, Clement moved the Papacy from Rome to Avignon, ushering in the period known as the Avignon Papacy.

Jacques de Molay, the last grand master of the Knights Templar, was burned at the stake in Paris in 1314.

Jacques de Molay (French: [də mɔlɛ]; c. 1240–1250[1] – 11 or 18 March 1314[2]), also spelled "Molai", was the 23rd and last grand master of the Knights Templar, leading the order sometime before 20 April 1292 until it was dissolved by order of Pope Clement V in 1312. Though little is known of his actual life and deeds except for his last years as Grand Master, he is one of the best-known Templars.

A contemporary English poem asked the question that many ask today, where did all the Templars and their great wealth go?

The brethren, the Masters of the Temple,
Who were well-stocked and ample,
With gold and silver and riches,
Where are they?
How have they done?
They had such power once that none dared take from them, none was so bold; Forever they bought and never sold...

This question has plagued historians and treasure hunters for centuries.

For hundreds of years there have been rumors that the Knights Templar were not only the defenders of the faith but were also the guardians of the Holy Grail.

The Holy Grail is said to be the most holy of religious artifacts.

Different versions of the legend exist, with the two most prominent stating that the Holy Grail is the cup or chalice used by Christ at the Last Supper or a piece of the cross that he was crucified on.

The chalice version of the Holy Grail has Saint Joseph of Arimathea bringing to England the cup used at the Last Supper which had been used to collect the blood that flowed from Christ’s wounds.

A Welsh version of the Grail story says Saint Joseph of Arimathea brought the Grail to England with the word of Christ and left the holy relic at Glastonbury; there it reached King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table.

King Arthur (Welsh: Brenin Arthur, Cornish: Arthur Gernow, Breton: Roue Arzhur, French: Roi Arthur), according to legends, was a king of Britain. He is a folk hero and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain.

The Grail is said to have taken many forms and King Arthur saw it in its fifth and final form while receiving Communion with hermits, a bleeding lance, which was also known as the Lance of Longinus, which was discovered by the Crusaders at Antioch.

The True Authorship of the New Testament Books was by FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS (Arius Calpurnius Piso) – Library of Rickandria

This last version would put the Templars and the lance in the Middle East at the same time.

Before leaving the legend of the Holy Grail stop and think of the religious significance such a relic would have.

The mysterious Knights Templar had an extensive sea network and may have inherited some of the maps and other secrets of the Phoenicians.

Phoenicians: ANCIENT SPOOKS – Library of Rickandria

When the Templars were outlawed and arrested in 1307 by King Philip IV of France, the huge Templar fleet at La Rochelle, France, vanished and many Knights Templar sought refuge in lands outside of France.

Portugal was one of the few places where they could find some asylum, and it is likely that the Templar fleet made a stop at Almourol castle before continuing to its final destination.

The Castle of Almourol is a medieval castle atop the islet of Almourol in the middle of the Tagus River, located in the civil parish of Praia do Ribatejo, 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) from the municipal seat of Vila Nova da Barquinha, in Portugal's Oeste e Vale do Tejo region. The castle was part of the defensive line controlled by the Knights Templar, and a stronghold used during the Portuguese Reconquista.

It should be noted that many Portuguese explorers and royalty were Knights Templar and later Masons.

Many believe that the Portuguese Knights Templar were instrumental in Portugal acquiring its transatlantic colony, Brazil.

While Portugal was an important haven for the Knights Templar, their main base of operations, until they were outlawed was southern France and Cataluna, the area of the Cathars and the Merovingian kings.

Barcelona, the capitol of Cataluna, was originally a Phoenician port and this area along the border of Spain and France has long thought of itself as Cataluna, a state, people and culture separate from the rest of Spain.

ANCIENT SPOOKS – Part I: The pun factor in spookery – Library of Rickandria

The populace speaks their own language, Catalunian, a language that may have originated with ancient Phoenician.

ANCIENT SPOOKS – Part II: Spookish relations – Library of Rickandria

Outside of Barcelona is Montserrat monastery, site of religious pilgrimage for a long time, probably going back even before the Christian era.

Breaking Free of Christianity – Library of Rickandria

It is a mountain rising 4,054 feet above the coastal plain which eventually became the site of a celebrated Benedictine monastery.

It was at Montserrat that Saint Ignatius of Loyola vowed to dedicate himself to a religious life.

Ignatius of Loyola SJ (/ɪɡˈneɪʃəs/ ig-NAY-shəs; Basque: Ignazio Loiolakoa; Spanish: Ignacio de Loyola; Latin: Ignatius de Loyola; born Íñigo López de Oñaz y Loyola; c. 23 October 1491[3] – 31 July 1556), venerated as Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a Basque Spaniard Catholic priest and theologian, who, with six companions, founded the religious order of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), and became its first Superior General, in Paris in 1541.

The Jesuits – Library of Rickandria

The monastery can be found about halfway up the steep, barren mountain.

Only ruins can be found of the 11th-century Benedictine monastery and the new monastery on the site was built in the 19th century.

According to the Columbia Viking Desk Encyclopedia (1968 version), Montserrat was thought in the Middle Ages to have been the site of the castle which contained the Holy Grail.

"The Renaissance church contains a black wooden image of the Virgin, carved, according to tradition, by St. Luke.

In the Middle Ages the mountain, also called Monsalvat, was thought to have been the site of the castle of the Holy Grail."

Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it. - George Santayana (1863-1952)

George Santayana (b. Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruiz de Santayana y Borrás, December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952) was a Spanish-American philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist. Born in Spain, Santayana was raised and educated in the United States from the age of eight and identified as an American, yet always retained a valid Spanish passport. At the age of 48, he left his academic position at Harvard University and permanently returned to Europe; his last will was to be buried in the Spanish Pantheon in the Campo di Verano, Rome.

One of the most interesting and mysterious of Scottish characters was Prince Henry Sinclair, the last king of the Orkney Islands.

Henry Sinclair, like many other nobles of the Middle Ages, held many titles and he was many things.

He was king of the Orkney Islands, although they were officially an earldom granted to Prince Henry by the King of Norway.

At the same time Prince Henry held other territories as a vassal of the Scottish king.

Prince Henry Sinclair was also a Grand Master of the Knights Templar, a veteran of the crusades and, according to some sources, the possessor of the Holy Grail.

In the year 1391 A.D. Prince Henry Sinclair met with the famous explorers and mapmakers Nicolos and Antonio Zeno at Fer Island, which is located between the Orkneys and the Shetlands.

Voyage of the Zeno brothers - Wikipedia

The Zeno brothers were well known for their maps of Iceland and the Arctic.

Prince Henry would contract them to send an exploratory fleet to the New World.

With the aid of funding from the Knights Templar, who had now been banished by the Pope, Prince Henry gathered a fleet of twelve ships for a voyage to establish a safe haven for the order of Knights and their treasure.

The party was led by Prince Henry under the guidance of Antonio Zeno, the mapmaker from Venice.

The fleet left the Orkneys in 1398 and landed in Nova Scotia, wintered there and later explored the eastern seaboard of the United States.

It is said that the effigy of one of Henry’s close companions, Sir James Gunn, who died on the expedition is to be found carved upon a rock-face at Westford, Massachusetts.

Westford Knight - Wikipedia

The party is said to have built a castle and left a portion of their navy in Nova Scotia.

As we shall see, the famous Oak Island just off the mainland of Nova Scotia is to become part of the mystery surrounding Prince Henry Sinclair.

Prince Henry and his fleet returned to the Orkneys but shortly afterward Prince Henry was assassinated in Scotland.

The year was 1400 and it was another 92 years before Cristobal Colon, known to us as Columbus, was to use his knowledge of Iceland and the Zeno brothers’ maps to make his famous voyage across the Atlantic.

In his book Holy Grail Across the Atlantic [9], Michael Bradley attempts to show that the ancient treasure from the Temple of Solomon was kept at Montsegur in the French Pyrenees, the Cathar region of France.

This mountain fortress was besieged by the forces of Simon de Montfort and the Inquisition on March 16, 1244, but it is believed that the secret treasure escaped.

Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester (c. 1208 – 4 August 1265), later sometimes referred to as Simon V de Montfort to distinguish him from his namesake relatives, was an English nobleman of French origin and a member of the English peerage, who led the baronial opposition to the rule of King Henry III of England, culminating in the Second Barons' War. Following his initial victories over royal forces, he became de facto ruler of the country and played a major role in the constitutional development of England.

The treasure probably included both ancient treasure from the Middle East but also:

• gold
• silver
• jewelry of more modern manufacture

Gold for Humans & Others… – Library of Rickandria

The Knights Templar were well funded in secret by various royalty; after all, the Merovingian kings were of the Holy Blood of Jesus - or so it was claimed.

Bradley asserts that Prince Henry took over as many as 300 colonists to the New World and a literal "Grail Castle" was built in Nova Scotia - the New Scotland.

So strong is the evidence for Prince Henry Sinclair’s voyage across the Atlantic with the Knights Templar that his distant relative Andrew Sinclair wrote a book entitled The Sword and the Grail [12] in which he claimed much the same as Bradley in Holy Grail Across the Atlantic.

The Templars may have also come into the possession of some highly accurate maps made by the Moors and Turks, and in so doing, inherited the secret sea knowledge once guarded so carefully by the Carthaginians and their allies.

Bradley and Sinclair claim that a special Grail Castle was built in an area of central Nova Scotia called "The Cross."

This spot could be reached via river from either side of the Nova Scotia peninsula and at the mouths of both rivers was an island called "Oak Island."

Oak Island - Wikipedia

Curiously, one of these Oak Islands has the famous "Money Pit" which is a man-made shaft hundreds of feet deep with side tunnels.

It is believed that there is a treasure in this pit and millions of dollars have been spent in attempts to reach the submerged bottom of the pit. [12]

It has been traditionally believed that the Oak Island Money Pit was built by pirates to hide a treasure, but Bradley and Sinclair claim that it was built by Sinclair and the Knights Templar. 

Furthermore, they claim, Canada was settled as a direct result of the Holy Grail being taken there.

The Final Stand of the Knights Templar

Michael Baigent (born Michael Barry Meehan, 27 February 1948 – 17 June 2013) was a New Zealand writer who published a number of popular works questioning traditional perceptions of history and the life of Jesus. He is known best as a co-author of the book The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail.

The lost Templar fleet is discussed in Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh’s book The Temple and the Lodge. [3]

Richard Harris Leigh (16 August 1943 – 21 November 2007) was a novelist and short story writer born in New Jersey, United States to a British father and an American mother, who spent most of his life in the UK. Leigh earned a BA from Tufts University, a master's degree from the University of Chicago, and a PhD from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

They point out that the Templars had a huge fleet at their disposal, a fleet that was stationed out of ports in Mediterranean France and Italy as well as ports in northern France, Flanders and Portugal.

"On the whole, the Templar fleet was geared towards operation in the Mediterranean - keeping the Holy Land supplied with men and equipment and importing commodities from the Middle East into Europe.

At the same time, the fleet did operate in the Atlantic.

Extensive trade was conducted with the British Isles and, very probably, with the Baltic Hanseatic League.

Thus, communities subordinate to the Templars (called preceptories in Europe), in England and Ireland, were generally located on the coast or on navigable rivers.

The primary Atlantic port for the Templars was La Rochelle, which had good communication with Mediterranean ports.

Cloth, for example, could be brought from Britain on Templar ships to La Rochelle, transported overland to a Mediterranean port such as Collioure, then loaded aboard Templar ships again and carried to the Holy Land.

By this means, it was possible to avoid the always risky passage through the Straits of Gibraltar, usually controlled by the Saracens." [3]

Philip IV of France persecuted them because of their financial and political power, but to many historians the persecution was part of a continued campaign against early Christian heretics like the Cathars.

Indeed, there is a great deal of evidence to show that the Knights Templar and the Cathars were strongly allied.

The Knights Templar were apparently part of a secret movement to restore the Merovingian kings, who had the Holy Blood of Jesus in their veins.

The question is, what happened to the Templar fleet after they were outlawed?

Traditional history has no answer to this question.

Baigent and Leigh in The Temple and the Lodge [3] claim that the Templar fleet escaped en masse from the various ports in the Mediterranean and northern Europe and left for a mysterious destination where they could find political asylum and safety.

This destination was Scotland.

The Mediterranean fleet had to sail through the dangerous Straits of Gibraltar and then probably stopped at various Portuguese ports that were sympathetic to the Templars such as Almourol castle, near the town of Abrantes.

The fortress of Almourol was constructed by Gualdim Pais, Master of the Order of the Templars in 1171.

Baigent and Leigh go on to say that the Templar fleet sailed up the west coast of Ireland to the safe ports in Donegal and Ulster, where Templar properties were located and arms smuggling to Argyll was common.

The Templar fleet then landed in Argyll by sailing to the south of the islands of Islay and Jura into the Sound of Jura where the Templars unloaded men and cargo at the Scottish Templar strongholds of Kilmory, Castle Sweet and Kilmartin.

Robert the Bruce controlled portions of Scotland, but not all of it.

Significant portions of the northern and southern Highlands were controlled by clans that were allied with England.

Robert the Bruce had been excommunicated by the Pope in 1306, one year before the persecution of the Templars began.

Robert I (11 July 1274 – 7 June 1329), popularly known as Robert the Bruce (Scottish Gaelic: Raibeart am Brusach), was King of Scots from 1306 to his death in 1329. Robert led Scotland during the First War of Scottish Independence against England. He fought successfully during his reign to restore Scotland to an independent kingdom and is regarded in Scotland as a national hero.

Essentially, the papal decree that outlawed the Knights Templar was not applicable in Scotland, or at least the parts that Robert the Bruce controlled.

The turning of the tide for Robert the Bruce, Scotland and the Knights Templar was the famous Battle of Bannockburn which took place on June 24, 1314.

Battle of Bannockburn - Wikipedia

While visiting Scotland I drove out of Edinburgh looking for the site of the Battle of Bannockburn.

It is known to have taken place within two and a half miles of Stirling Castle.

On June 24 of 1314, Robert the Bruce of Scotland with approximately 6,000 Scots miraculously defeated 20,000 English soldiers.

Exactly what took place has never really been recorded.

It is believed by some that Bruce did it with the help of a special force of Knights Templar.

After all, June 24 was also a special day to the Knights Templar; it was St. John’s Day.

Nativity of John the Baptist - Wikipedia

Say Baigent and Leigh:

"Most historians concur that the Scottish army was made up almost entirely of foot soldiers armed with pikes, spears and axes.

They also concur that only mounted men in the Scottish ranks carried swords, and that Bruce had few such men..." 3

..."after a day of combat which had left both English and Scottish armies exhausted... Panic swept the English ranks.

King Edward, together with 500 of his knights, abruptly fled the field.

Demoralized, the English foot-soldiers promptly followed suit, and the withdrawal deteriorated quickly into a full-scale rout, the entire English army abandoning their supplies, their baggage, their money, their gold and silver plate, their arms, armor and equipment.

But while the chronicles speak of dreadful slaughter, the recorded English losses do not in fact appear to have been very great.

Only one earl is reported killed, only 38 barons and knights.

The English collapse appears to have been caused not by the ferocity of the Scottish assault, which they were managing to withstand, but simply by fear." 3

These crusade veterans were like the Green Berets or Special Forces of the Middle Ages.

All combatants suddenly stopped to witness the charging army of Knights Templar, in full regalia with white banners and red cross insignias flying high above the mounted Grail Knights.

The probable strategy behind the Templars’ charge into battle would have been to ride through the thick of the battle and attempt to reach King Edward and his personal guards.

Edward II (25 April 1284 – 21 September 1327), also known as Edward of Caernarfon or Caernarvon, was King of England from 1307 until he was deposed in January 1327. The fourth son of Edward I, Edward became the heir to the throne following the death of his older brother Alphonso. Beginning in 1300, Edward accompanied his father on campaigns in Scotland, and in 1306 he was knighted in a grand ceremony at Westminster Abbey. Edward succeeded to the throne the next year, following his father's death. In 1308, he married Isabella, daughter of the powerful King Philip IV of France, as part of a long-running effort to resolve the tensions between the English and French crowns.

Once engaged with the commanding officers of the English foe, these seasoned war veterans would have easily defeated King Edward’s knights and possibly killed the King himself.

As noted, King Edward and his special knights immediately fled upon witnessing the Templar charge.

The 1995 Oscar-winning movie, Braveheart concluded by depicting Robert the Bruce and his charge at Bannockburn.

My friend Lionel Fanthorpe back in Wales had told me that I should visit Rosslyn Chapel while I was near Edinburgh, so I headed south from the Bannockburn battle area.

Robert Lionel Fanthorpe, FCollP, FRSA, FCMI (born 9 February 1935) is a retired British priest and entertainer. Fanthorpe also worked as a dental technician, journalist, teacher, television presenter, author and lecturer. Born in Dereham in Norfolk, he lives in Cardiff in South Wales, where he served as Director of Media Studies and tutor/lecturer in Religious Studies at the Cardiff Academy Sixth form college.

It was just about noon when I arrived at Rosslyn Chapel in the Lothian Hills south of Edinburgh.

Rosslyn Chapel, formerly known as the Collegiate Chapel of Saint Matthew, is a 15th-century Episcopal chapel located in the village of Roslin in Midlothian, Scotland. The chapel was founded by William Sinclair, 1st Earl of Caithness with a ground-breaking ceremony in 1456. After the Scottish Reformation in 1560, it was largely abandoned but, following a visit by Queen Victoria, it was rededicated in 1862. It was the target of a bombing in 1914 during the suffragette bombing and arson campaign. The interior contains some fine carvings which many historians have sought to interpret.  Since the late 1980s, the chapel has been the subject of speculative theories concerning a connection with the Knights Templar and the Holy Grail, and Freemasonry. It was prominently featured in this role in Dan Brown's bestselling novel The Da Vinci Code (2003) and its 2006 film adaptation. Medieval historians say these accounts have no basis in fact. Rosslyn Chapel remains privately owned.

I parked the car and walked around the small but ornate chapel.

It was a Sunday and there was a church service going on inside, so I looked at some of the graves in the cemetery on the west side of the building.

"Excuse me," I said to him, "but isn’t Rosslyn Chapel associated with the Knights Templar?"

"Oh, yes indeed," the man said. "This chapel was built by William St. Clair, Grand Master of the Templars."

"I co-wrote Mark of the Beast with Trevor Ravenscroft," he said, "plus these other books for sale at the chapel gift shop."

"I’ve read The Mark of the Beast," I said. "Are you Tim Wallace-Murphy?"

"Indeed I am," he acknowledged, a bit surprised that I knew who he was and had read one of his books.

"It’s a pleasure to meet you," I said, and we talked a bit about the Battle of Bannockburn, since I had just come from the area of the battlefield.

"The charge of the Knights Templar at Bannockburn must have been quite a sight," I said.

"Were any of the knights killed?"

"No, not a one," he said. "The English fled in total fear of the seasoned warriors.

Not even one Knights Templar was killed."

"Well, that’s the kind of statistic I like," I said.

Privately, I wondered if this battle was the reciprocal battle to the last stand of the Cathars at Montsegur.

The Cathars – Library of Rickandria

At Montsegur everyone had been killed, at Bannockburn the Grail Knights had triumphed and not a man was lost.

Dr. Tim Wallace-Murphy took me into the gift shop where he showed me his other books on Rosslyn Chapel and its history.

He also told me the story of Rosslyn, which is connected to the Orkneys and the taking of the Holy Grail to North America.

The builder of Rosslyn Chapel, William St. Clair, was the last Sinclair ‘Jarl’ of Orkney, who lived in the middle of the fifteenth century.

Margaret of Denmark (23 June 1456 – 14 July 1486) was Queen of Scotland from 1469 to 1486 by marriage to King James III. She was the daughter of Christian I, King of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, and Dorothea of Brandenburg.

Master Earl William, the ‘Jarldom of Orkney’ passed from the family to the Scottish crown as part of the dowry of Margaret of Denmark on to her marriage to King James III of Scotland.

James III (10 July 1451/May 1452 – 11 June 1488) was King of Scots from 1460 until his death at the Battle of Sauchieburn in 1488. He inherited the throne as a child following the death of his father, King James II, at the siege of Roxburgh Castle. James III's reign began with a minority that lasted almost a decade, during which Scotland was governed by a series of regents and factions who struggled for possession of the young king before his personal rule began in 1469.

William was not only the grandson of Prince Henry and the last Jarl of the Orkneys, but he also had the somewhat peculiar title of Knight of the Cockle and the Golden Fleece.

As Dr. Wallace-Murphy points out in his book, The Templar Legacy & the Masonic Inheritance within Rosslyn Chapel, [13] Sir William St. Clair was a member of a secret group that preserved important knowledge concerning the Holy Grail, the Holy Blood of the Merovingian kings, and the destiny of the new continent across the Atlantic.

Wallace-Murphy speculates that the Knights of the Cockle and the Golden Fleece was the current Grail Order of which Sinclair was possibly Grand Master.

Clearly, the Knights Templar saw themselves as the inheritors of ancient knowledge that went back to Atlantis.

ATLANTIS – Library of Rickandria

They struggled for hundreds of years against the Vatican and the reign of terror known as the Inquisition.

The Inquisition: A History of Christian Torture, Mass Murder & Destruction of Human Life – Library of Rickandria

To the Templars, the true church, one that taught mysticism, reincarnation and good works, was being suppressed by a dark power that called itself the one true faith.

Oppression of these other faiths was done with the familiar devices of:

• torture
• terror
• extermination

Had these sacred relics helped spur on the creation of the United States, a land which Masonic founding fathers like:

• George Washington
• Thomas Jefferson
• Benjamin Franklin

According to Templar historians like:

• Michael Baigent
• Richard Leigh
• Andrew Sinclair
• Tim Wallace-Murphy

the Knights Templar had helped create an independent Scotland, then a "New Scotland" and finally an independent United States.

When Scotland Was Jewish: DNA evidence, archeology, analysis of migrations, and public and family records show twelfth century Semitic roots - Anna’s Archive (annas-archive.org)

The Present-Day Knights?

What of the Knights Templar today?

While Masonry apparently sprang from the Templars, are there other surviving groups?

The "Knights Templar of Aquarius" existed in the 1940s and 50s in England, based in Canfield Gardens, London, and the Island of Jersey.

The head of the order was an Englishman named H.C. Randall-Stevens.

Books by H.C. Randall-Stevens (Author of Atlantis to the Latter Days) (goodreads.com)

Randall-Stevens wrote several curious books, including one entitled The Chronicles of Osiris, and another entitled Atlantis to the Latter Days, [20] which was published in 1954.

In this rare book Randall-Stevens discusses various topics including:

• Atlantis
• the Great Pyramid
• King Solomon’s Temple

Bibliography and Footnotes

1. Holy Blood, Holy Grail, Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh & Henry Lincoln, 1982, Johnathan Cape, London (published in the U.K. as The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail).
2. The Messianic Legacy, Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh & Henry Lincoln, 1985, Johnathan Cape, London.
3. The Temple and the Lodge, Michael Baigent & Richard Leigh, 1989, Johnathan Cape, London.
4. Emerald Cup - Ark of Gold, Col. Howard Buechner, 1991, Thunderbird Press, Metairie, LA.
5. The Secrets of Rennes-le-Chateau, Lionel & Patricia Fanthorpe, 1991, Bellevue Books, London.
6. The History of the Knights Templars, Charles G. Addison, 1842, London.
7. A History of Secret Societies, Arkon Daraul, 1962, Citadel Press, NY.
8. The Mysteries of Chartres Cathedral, Louis Charpentier, 1975, Avon Books, New York, 1966, Robert Lafont, Paris.
9. Holy Grail Across the Atlantic, Michael Bradley, 1988, Hounslow Press, Willowdale, Ontario.
10. The Morning of the Magicians, Jacques Bergier & Louis Pauwels, 1960, Stein & Day Publishers, New York.
11. Prince Henry Sinclair, Frederick Pohl, 1974, Clarkson Potter Publishers, New York.
12. The Sword and the Grail, Andrew Sinclair, 1992, Crown, New York.
13. The Templar Legacy & the Masonic Inheritance Within Rosslyn Chapel, Tim Wallace-Murphy, 1993, Friends of Rosslyn, Rosslyn, Scotland.
14. The Glastonbury Legends, R.F. Treharne, 1967, Sphere Books, London.
15. St. Joseph of Arimathea at Glastonbury, Lionel Smithett Lewis, 1922, James Clark & Co., Cambridge.
16. GENISIS, David Wood, 1986, Tunbridge Wells, U.K.
17. GENESET, David Wood, 1994, Tunbridge Wells, U.K.
18. The Templars, Knights of God, Edward Burman, 1986, Destiny Books, Rochester, Vermont.
19. The Druids, Stuart Piggott, 1967, Thames and Hudson, London.
20. Atlantis to the Latter Days, H.C. Randall-Stevens, 1957, The Knights Templar of Aquarius, London.
21. The Search for the Stone of Destiny, Pat Gerber, 1992, Canongate Press, Edinburgh.

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