The Templar code for dummies

About the Authors......Page 3
Authors’ Acknowledgments......Page 5
Publisher’s Acknowledgments......Page 6
Contents at a Glance......Page 7
Table of Contents......Page 8
Introduction......Page 16
About This Book......Page 18
Conventions Used in This Book......Page 19
Foolish Assumptions......Page 20
Part III: After the Fall of the Templars......Page 21
Part V: Squaring Off: The Church versus the Gospel According to Dan Brown......Page 22
Icons Used in This Book......Page 23
Where to Go from Here......Page 24
Part I: The Knights Templar and the Crusades......Page 26
1. Defining the Templar Code......Page 28
Knights, Grails, Codes, Leonardo da Vinci, and How They All Collide......Page 29
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon......Page 31
Defining knighthood......Page 32
Defining monasticism......Page 34
Warrior Monks: Their Purpose......Page 35
A vow of nine crusader knights......Page 36
Don’t leave home without it: The Templars’ role as international bankers......Page 37
Templars in Battle......Page 39
Betrayed, Excommunicated, and Hunted......Page 40
The riddle of Templar symbols......Page 41
Templars and the fringe......Page 43
2. A Crash Course in Crusading......Page 46
Getting a Handle on the Crusades......Page 47
Fealty, fiefs, and feudalism......Page 48
Pilgrimage......Page 49
Y1K: The end of days......Page 51
The Spanish ulcer......Page 52
The dilemma of the second son......Page 54
Meet the Byzantines......Page 55
Go East, young man!......Page 56
Peter the Hermit......Page 58
Get out the beer, we’re here!......Page 59
Forward ho!......Page 60
The massacre of Jerusalem......Page 61
The founding of Outremer......Page 63
Let’s Give It Another Shot: The Second Crusade......Page 64
A dynamic new Muslim force......Page 66
The Third Crusade......Page 67
Richard and Saladin......Page 69
The Fourth Crusade......Page 70
The Seventh Crusade......Page 71
3. The Rise of the Knights Templar......Page 74
The Perils of Pilgrimage......Page 75
Why bother?......Page 76
St. Helena discovers it all......Page 77
Medieval muggers......Page 78
Where’d everybody go?......Page 80
“The Poor Knights of Christ”......Page 82
The Knights Templar......Page 83
Digging in the temple......Page 86
A windfall of money and power......Page 87
Bernard of Clairvaux......Page 88
The Council of Troyes......Page 89
Opposition to the Templars......Page 90
The Explosion of the Order......Page 91
Eyes of the pope......Page 92
International Bankers......Page 93
Check, please......Page 94
Imitation, the Sincerest Form of Flattery......Page 95
The Knights Hospitaller......Page 96
The Teutonic Knights......Page 97
Up Where the Air Is Thin: The Templars Reach Their Zenith......Page 98
Part II: A Different Kind of Knighthood......Page 100
A Standard Unlike Any Other......Page 102
The Templar Rule......Page 103
Templar do’s and don’ts......Page 105
A Templar day planner......Page 106
The pride and the power......Page 108
Who’s in Charge around Here?......Page 109
Seneschal......Page 110
Knight......Page 111
Lay Servants......Page 112
The signature round churches......Page 113
The red cross......Page 115
The Beauséant......Page 117
Skull and crossbones......Page 118
5. The Poor Knights Crash and Burn: The Fall of the Templars......Page 120
The Seeds of the Fall in the Nature of the Order......Page 121
A little independence goes a long way......Page 122
Money: The root of all evil......Page 123
Huge tracts of land......Page 124
Cracks in the Armor......Page 125
Getting a little too chummy with the heretics......Page 126
Templar bashing: The latest game from the Holy Land......Page 128
Playing politics......Page 129
A new and deadly enemy: Saladin......Page 130
Ethics by Borgia, politics by Shakespeare......Page 134
The horns of Hattin......Page 136
The final curtain......Page 138
The last Crusader......Page 139
King Phillip “The Fair”......Page 140
Pope Clement V......Page 142
The setup......Page 143
October 1307: An unlucky Friday the 13th......Page 144
The Confessions......Page 145
The End......Page 146
6. Cold Case Files: The Evidence against the Templars......Page 148
The Chief Accuser......Page 149
Opening Move: An Illegal Arrest......Page 151
The Charge Sheet......Page 153
Dangerous foreign entanglements......Page 156
Desecrating the cross......Page 157
Denying the sacrament of the Mass......Page 158
Sodomy......Page 159
Embezzlement......Page 160
Baphomet......Page 161
Heads up: So what was it?......Page 163
The Pope Knuckles Under......Page 164
Secretly Absolved......Page 166
Part III: After the Fall of the Templars......Page 168
7. Templars Survive in Legend and in Fact......Page 170
La Rochelle......Page 171
Talking Treasure......Page 172
Cold, hard cash......Page 173
Treasure more mystical than cash?......Page 174
The Scottish Legends......Page 175
Battle of Bannockburn......Page 176
Rosslyn Chapel......Page 177
Portugal and the Order of Christ......Page 181
The Hospitallers......Page 182
Switzerland......Page 183
Templars possessed the Ark of the Covenant......Page 184
A Templar connection to the Shroud of Turin......Page 185
Templars discover America!......Page 186
The Larmenius Charter......Page 191
Rex Deus......Page 194
Templars spawn the modern-day conspiracy theory......Page 195
8. “Born in Blood”: Freemasonry and the Templars......Page 198
The Masonic Fraternity: Who Freemasons Are and What They Believe......Page 199
A quick tour of Masonic history......Page 201
The brotherhood code of the lodge......Page 203
Identifying the Possible Templar Origins of Freemasonry......Page 204
Rosslyn Chapel and the Masons......Page 206
The Templars’ sacred subcontractors......Page 209
The Masonic Knights Templar and Where They Came From......Page 210
Chevalier Ramsay begins a knightly legend......Page 211
Freemasonry’s mysterious “Unknown Superiors”......Page 212
Templar drill teams: The origins of Masonic Knights Templar military costumes......Page 213
Skulls and crossbones!......Page 214
The Templars’ place within Freemasonry......Page 215
9. Modern-Day Templars......Page 218
Order Militia Crucifera Evangelica......Page 219
Ordo Supremus Militaris Templi Hierosolymitani......Page 221
Ordo Novi Templi......Page 222
Order of the Solar Temple......Page 224
Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem......Page 228
Sovereign Military Order of Malta......Page 229
Most Venerable Order of St. John of Jerusalem......Page 231
Order of Christ......Page 232
International Order of Good Templars......Page 233
Part IV: Templars and the Grail......Page 236
10. The Templars and the Quest for the Holy Grail......Page 238
The Holy Grail: A Ten-Century Quest......Page 239
Chrétien de Troyes......Page 240
Perlesvaus......Page 243
The rest of the story......Page 244
The Templars and the Grail......Page 245
The Real Grail?......Page 246
11. The 21st Century Dawns with a New Grail Myth......Page 248
The biblical account of Mary Magdalene......Page 249
Holy Blood, Holy Grail: The Legend Rediscovered......Page 250
The Priory of Sion......Page 252
Rennes-le-Château......Page 253
The peculiar Pierre Plantard......Page 256
The priory exposed......Page 258
Was any of it real?......Page 259
Part V: Squaring Off: The Church versus the Gospel According to Dan Brown......Page 260
12. Templars and The Da Vinci Code......Page 262
The Secret Societies of Dan Brown......Page 263
The Da Vinci Code’s “facts” of the Priory of Sion......Page 264
The “Da Vinci” Templars......Page 267
Opus Dei......Page 269
Leonardo da Vinci and His Last Supper......Page 271
John or Mary?......Page 272
The “missing” Grail found......Page 273
13. The Suppression of the “Feminine Divine”: Truth or Feminist Fiction?......Page 276
Defining Divine Femininity......Page 277
The “lost bride”......Page 278
The mysterious Magdalene......Page 280
Mary’s Marriage: Pros and Cons......Page 287
Pros......Page 288
Cons......Page 290
The women who worshipped goddesses......Page 294
The women who worshipped the male God of Israel......Page 297
The Catholic Church’s Relationship with Women......Page 303
The real burr in the saddle......Page 304
Facing the future......Page 305
14. Getting Our Acts Together: Constantine and the Council of Nicaea......Page 306
Early Christianity: A secret society......Page 307
Dan Brown’s version: Teabing does the talking......Page 309
The Christian conversion of Constantine......Page 310
The real Council of Nicaea and what happened there......Page 312
“Closing the Canon”: Determining the books of the Bible......Page 315
Conflict over celibacy......Page 318
Part VI: The Part of Tens......Page 324
Glastonbury Tor, England......Page 326
Hawkstone Park (Shropshire, England)......Page 327
Takt-i-Taqdis, Iran......Page 328
Sacro Catino (Genoa, Italy)......Page 329
Wewelsburg Castle (Buren, Germany)......Page 330
Montségur, France......Page 332
Castle Stalker (Argyll, Scotland)......Page 333
16. Ten Absolutely Must-See Templar Sites......Page 336
Where It All Began: Temple Mount (Jerusalem, Israel)......Page 337
Temple Church (London, England)......Page 338
Rosslyn Chapel (Roslin, Scotland)......Page 340
Kilmartin Church (Argyll, Scotland)......Page 341
Chinon Castle (Chinon, France)......Page 342
Templar Villages (Aveyron, France)......Page 343
Tomar Castle (Tomar, Portugal)......Page 344
Domus Templi — The Spanish Route of the Templars (Aragon, Spain)......Page 345
Where It Ended: Isle de la Cité (Paris, France)......Page 346
Rosslyn Chapel (Roslin, Scotland)......Page 348
Temple Bruer (Lincolnshire, England)......Page 349
Hertfordshire, England......Page 350
Rennes-le-Château, France......Page 351
Château de Gisors (Normandy, France)......Page 352
Trinity Church (New York City)......Page 353
Washington D.C.’s Rosslyn Chapel......Page 354
Index......Page 356