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By 1130 c.E., the Knights Templar order had begun to amass huge amounts of money
as well as large estates (Selwood 1999). They were granted holdings by the rulers of Barcelona, Provence, Navarre and Aragon. St. Bernard of Clairvaux, one of the most powerful Christian clerics of the time, promoted their interests with his preaching and writing and swelled the number of knights serving in the order (Selwood 1999). In 1129, Hugh de Payens, 3 the leader of the order, returned to Palestine with a large troop of Tem- plars to battle the Muslim army under its general, Nour-ed-deen (Light of Religion). 4 The Balliol and Barres families of France and Scotland contributed land and money to the Templar cause, as did William de Warrenne, Roger de Mowbray, Ralph de Hastings, Robert Marsel and Gilbert de Lacy.
By 1 170, however, the Muslims under Salah-ed-deen (Integrity of Religion, Saladin ) with 40, 000 soldiers had retaken the Holy Land. Pope Alexander in 1171 issued a bull granting the Templars exemption from prosecution in any religious or civil court of law in return for their support in winning back Jerusalem. The order was now not only fan- tastically wealthy, but free of any external control over its activities. The only law mem- bers were bound by was that of the Master Templar. By this time also, a large part of the Templar force was composed of horsemen called Turcopoles, of Turkish, Syrian and Palestinian descent. These were mercenaries who followed a Middle Eastern lifestyle; they were not Christian, but Moslem or Jewish. Further, the Templars themselves had started to become morally corrupt. When one of their members, Walter du Mesnil, mur- dered a Muslim aristocrat who had converted to Christianity, he fled for refuge to a Tem- plar priory and the order refused to give him over to the civil authorities.
By this time the resources of the order had become phenomenal. Addington com- piles the following (selective and incomplete) list in his History (pp. 85-102), which we have tabularized:
Addington’s Templar List
8. The Knights Templar, Freemasons and Cabala in Scotland
135
Mongberg
Germany
House
Nuitz
Germany
House
Tissia Altmunmunster
Germany
House
Near Regensberg
Bamberg
Germany
House
Middlebourg
Germany
House
Hall
Germany
House
Brunswick (Braunschweig)
Germany
House
Rorich
Germany
Fiefdom
In Pomerania
Pausin
Germany
Fiefdom
In Pomerania
Wildenheuh
Germany
Fiefdom
In Pomerania
Bach
Hungary
Herefordshire
House
Hampshire
House
Worcestershire
House
Suffolk
House
Suffolk
In addition to the stunning list given above, there were also several preceptories in Scot- land and Ireland, which were dependent on the Temple at London. 5 Addington summarizes:
The annual income of the order in Europe has been roughly estimated at six millions ster- ling! According to Matthew Paris, the Templars possessed nine thousand manors or lord- ships in Christendom, besides a large revenue and immense riches arising from the constant charitable bequests and donations of sums of money from pious persons.,..
The principal benefactors to the Templars amongst the nobility were William Marshall, 6 Earl of Pembroke, and his sons William and Gilbert; Robert, Lord de Ross; 7 the Earl of Here- ford; William, Earl of Devon; the King of Scotland; William, Archbishop of York; Philip Harcourt, dean of Lincoln; the Earl of Cornwall; Philip, Bishop of Bayeux; Simon de Senlis, Earl of Northampton; Leticia and William, Count and Countess of Ferrara; Margaret, Countess of Warwick; 8 Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester; Robert de Harecourt, Lord of Rosewarden; William de Vernon, Earl of Devon, etc.
As the reader gathers from this lengthy enumeration of holdings and privileges, the Knights Templar were an enormous, extraordinarily rich and very powerful organiza- tion. In essence, they were the first multinational corporation — one over which no court or tribunal had jurisdiction. The seal of the brotherhood featured “a man’s head, deco- rated with a long beard, and surmounted by a small cap, and around it are the letters Testis V. Magi” (Addington 1892, p. 106). At this time, Templar masters in England included persons named William de La More and Amadeus de Morestello. Clearly, Mus- lims, as well as Jews, were in England.
From Addison’s (1892) account, we now turn to that of Piers Paul Read, who wrote a critically acclaimed history of the Templars in 1999. Read’s work is very well researched, and he delves into the ancient origin of the group, predating the Crusades. He starts by recounting the history of the Jewish people. At the point when King David reconquers Palestine from the Jebusites, we are given great detail concerning David’s assembling of materials for a Jewish worship center, the First Temple, built by David’s son Solomon Around 950 b.c.e.
After Solomon’s death, the Jewish state went into decline and was conquered by sev- eral eastern nations in succession. In 586 b.c.e., King Nebuchadnezzar, a Chaldean, destroyed the Temple of Solomon and enslaved the Jewish population, taking many of them (including those of Davidic descent) to Babylon. However, by 515 b.c.e., the Per- sians under their king Cyrus had defeated the Chaldeans and permitted the Jews to return to Judea, where they rebuilt their temple. By the fourth century b.c.e., the Macedonian |
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