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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