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1.
Hugues de
Payens
1118 - 1136
2. Robert de
Craon
1136 - 1146
3. Everard des
Barres
1146 - 1149
4. Bernard de
Tremalai
1149-1153
5. Andrew de
Montbard
1153 - 1156
6. Bertrand de
Blanchefort
1156 - 1169
7. Philip de
Milly
1169 - 1170
8. Odo de St.
Amand
1170 - 1179
9. Arnold de
Torroge
1179 - 1185
10. Gerard de
Ridefort
1185 - 1189
11. Robert de
Sable
1190- 1193
12. Gilbert
Erail
1193 - 1201
13. Philip de le
Plaissez
1201 - 1208
14. William de
Chartres
1208 - 1218
15. Peter de
Montaigue
1218 - 1230
16. Armand de
Perigord
1230 -1245
17. William de
Sonnac
1245 - 1250
18. Reynald de
Vichiers
1250 - 1256
19. Thomas
Berard
1256 - 1272
20. William de
Beaujeau
1272 - 1291
21. Tibald
Gaudin
1291 - 1295
22. Jacques de
Molay
1295 - 1314
Tradition
tells us that
the surviving Templars became divided into four parties after the
inhuman
crimes commited against them:
(1)
Templars in Portugal and Italy, known since as
Knights of the "Order of Christ"
(2)
Those who accepted Peter d'Aumont- as the
successor of de Molai
(3)
Those who asserted that John Marc Larmenius was
his successor; and...
(4)
Those who refused to accept either d'Aumont or
Larmenius.
Modern
Templarism is
supposed to be derived from the fourth class, although there are no
historically
authentic documents to prove this contention.
Larmenius Period
23. Johannes
Larmenius
1314 - 1324
24. Franciscus
Theobaldus
1324 - 1340
25. Arnald de
Braque
1340 - 1349
26. John de
Clermont
1349 - 1357
27. Bertrand de de
Guesclin
1357 - 1380
28. John de
l'Armagnac
1380 -1381
29. Bertrand de
l'Armagnac
1381 - 1392
30. John de
l'Armagnac
1392 - 1418
31. John de
Croy
1418 - 1451
32. Robert de
Lenoncourd
1478 - 1497
33. Galeas
Salazar
1498
34. Philippe de
Chabot
1516 - 1543
35. Gaspard de
Chobane
1544
36. Henri, Duke of
Montmorency
1574 - 1614
37. Charles de
Valois
1615
38. James de
Grancey
1651
39. Jacques de
Durfort
1681
Post Larmenius Period
40. Phillipe, Duke of
Orleans
1705 - 1723
41. Louis Auguste de
Bourbon
1724 - 1737
42. Louis Henri de
Bourbon
1737 - 1741
43. Louis Francois de
Bourbon
1741 - 1746
44. Louis
Timoleon
1776 - 1792
45. Claude de
Chevillon
1804
46. Bernard
Fabre-Palaprat
1804 - 1839
47. Sir William
Smith
1839-1840
Prince Regent Period
Edward VII of Great Britain, George V of Hanover 1840 - 1850
48. Narcisse
Valleray
1850 (Regent)
49. A. G.M.
Vernois
1866 (Regent)
50. Joseph
Paladan
1892 (Regent)
International Secretariat Established in
Belgium, 1894
Regency Council under Joseph Vandenberg, 1934
Theodore Covias of Belgium named Guardian of the Order, 1935
Emile Clement Vandenberg named Guardian, 1935
Secretariat secretly
removed from Germany during Nazi occupation to neutral Portugal
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The fate of the Order of the Temple will always be a matter of dispute.
What was survived was the Templar legend. In literature and, more
recently, in films they are portrayed as heroic Christians warriors
fighting against evil and alien forces.
More serious works of history have also perpetuated this Templar
legend. As we saw in the last chapter, Jacques de Molay cursed the
French king and the Pope shortly before being burnt at the stake. Since
his curse was against dictatorial authority figures, it was resurrected
at the time of the French Revolution. When the common people rebelled
against their aristocratic overlords, they put King Louis XVI to death.
This was seen by many as the final fulfilment of Molay's curse. Louis
was to be the Last king ever to rule over France.
Elsewhere in Europe, where many
Templars escaped persecution, the Order adjusted its positions. The
Portuguese Templars simply changed their name - like a modern business
might change its name in order to avoid previous debts. They became the
Knight of Christ, who later became famous for their explorations in
Africa and the West Indies. The famous King Henry the Navigator was a
known Grand Master of the Order, and explorers like Vasco da Gama were
members. Christopher Columbus' father-in-law was a Grand Master, and
Columbus sailed across the Atlantic with the familiar Templar cross
emblazoned on his sails. The Order of Christ survived until 1830's.
Similarly in Germany, Spain and other parts of Europe where the Templar
purge was less successful, there is plenty of evidence that they just
joined other Orders - the Hospitallers or Teutonic Knights in Germany,
or one of the local military Orders in Spain.
More mysterious is the fate of the
English, Scottish and Irish Templars. A good case can be made - and
indeed has been made, by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, in The
Temple and the Lodge -that a great many of them fled north to Scotland.
The Scottish king, Robert the Bruce, was especially lenient towards the
Templars and never formally dissolved the Scottish Temple at all. He
was also in desperate need of skilled knights for his campaigns against
the England.
But if Scotland was the final destination of these knights, along with
their fleet and possibly their treasure, what became of them? No doubt
over the years some of them simply forgot their chivalric past. Others,
however, may have helped to found Freemasonry. The semi-secret
organisation, which permeates society at all levels today, explicitly
acknowledges a lineage stretching back to the Knights Templar. Scotland
was one of the main places where a particular kind of Masonry - Templar
in its rites and rituals; mystical in its orientation - first arouse
and flourished.
The Freemasons were not formally
founded until the middle of the 17th century. But at the end of the
17th century Viscount Dundee was still the Grand Master of the Templars
in Scotland. Moreover, at the end of the sixteenth century, there were
still over 500 locations in Scotland registered as Templar property. It
looks as though the Templars and the Hospitallers merged in Scotland.
And we know for certain that the Hospitallers survived, because they
are still with us today as the Knights of Malta and St. John's
Ambulance Brigade.
Apart from the Freemasons, there is
one other mysterious organisation that should be mentioned: the
Prieuré de Sion. This French-based cabal is investigated in the
explosive best-seller The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail.
The authors claim that this organisation, which undoubtedly exists, has
a long history stretching back before the establishment of the
Templars. They maintain it was this Prieuré de Sion which
originally founded the Templars, as part of its ongoing aim to restore
an ancient line of French kings known as the Merovingian dynasty. And
this dynasty is claimed to have an astonishing lineage. its members are
said to be descended directly from Jesus Christ himself!
The book, published in 1982, offered new evidence to make this scenario
plausible. This evidence was discovered in ancient documents they
discovered in French Library vault which they claimed the authorities
tried hard to prevent them finding. It called into question our entire
understanding of the life of Christ as portrayed in the New Testament.
Jesus, they claimed, may not have
died on the cross at all. Instead he survived, married Mary Magdalene
and the couple had children. And from Jesus' children the Merovingian
Kings - and through them a number of other European royal families -
were descended.
No less astonishing was a claim that
former heads of the Order of Sion included the famous British
scientists Robert Boyle and Sir Isaac Newton, French writers Victor
Hugo and Jean Cocteau, Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci, and a host of
other distinguished Europeans.
Any Templar survival down to our own
day would not be as direct as the survival of the Hospitallers. But it
is still possible that there are people alive today who are in
possession of the Templar heritage and secret traditions. They do not
go around in knightly armour. They look no difference from anyone else.
They may be Masons. Or they may belong to some more esoteric lodge,
meeting perhaps once a month to practise magical rituals. Perhaps they
are awaiting a time when Christendom again needs defending from an
alien threat.
And what of their treasure? Does it
still exist somewhere or has it been used up? Was it in fact a real
treasure - money a valuables - or was it merely a metaphorical
treasure? A 'great secret' of some kind?
Perhaps, if it was real treasure, it has been buried and lost, awaiting
accidental discovery by metal detector. Or perhaps it lies deep in the
vaults of a secretive Swiss bank, waiting to be put to use when the
times comes.
These are questions which have intrigued historians and laymen alike
for almost 900 years. They are unlikely to be answered.
The real truth about the
now-legendary Knights Templar
will probably remain forever one of life's great mysteries.
In Hoc Signo Vinces !
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Non
Nobis Domine
by
Rudyard Kipling,
1934.
Non
nobis domine
Not
unto us, O
Lord!
The
Praise or Glory
be
Of
any deed or
word;
For
in Thy
judgement lies
To
crown or bring
to nought
All
knowledge or
device
That
Man has
reached or wrought.
And
we confess our
blame -
How
all too high we
hold
That
noise which
men call fame
That
dross which
men call gold.
For
these we
undergo
Our
hot and godless
days,
But
in our hearts
we know
Not
unto us the
Praise.
O
Power by whom we
live -
Creator,
Judge and
Friend,
Upholdingly
forgive
Not
fail us at the
end:
But
grant us well
to see
In
all our piteous
ways -
Non nobis
domine! -
Not
to us the Praise
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