It is widely believed that the Templar Knights were based in or near the original site of the Temple of Solomon and widely spread throughout France in the early 12th century. Being religious templar knights and reporting only to the Church, gave them exemption from many laws and enabled them to receive much land and property throughout the country enabling a network of wealth to be created, which some folk still beleive to be a secret of freemasonry today.
It is thought that the roads to Jerusalem were often patrolled by thieves looking to prey on unaware travelers to the holy city. This gave rise to a need for protection by Templar Knights to the travelers and it is thought that fees were generated by the templar knights in exchange for the protection offered.
This simple Templar system became an exercise of the knights which gave rise to the first form of banking whereby a patron would be able to leave funds with a knights templar preceptory in one city and receive a promisary note which could be exchanged in another city in order to eliminate the risk of having to travel cross country with large sums of money.
THE KNIGHTS TEMPLAR IN FRANCE
THE MIGRATION OF THE KNIGHTS TEMPLAR
In the late 12th century the Christian following,including Templar Knights, was removed from the holy city and the Knights Templar were no longer needed and thus returned to France where King Philip governed with the Knights still answerable only to the papal authority.
The King of France had been king since the age of 17 and had inherited much debt from his predecessors. This meant that loans were made from the Jews, the Church and the Knights Templar in order to maintain the country. This inevitably led to poor repayment by the monarchy and caused drastic swings in the economy leading to riots and a call for the removal of King Philip. The Knights templar allowed the king to seek refuge within their preceptory for a few days and it is believed that during this time King Philip forged a plot to arrest The Jews on June 24th 1307 and the Knights templar on Friday 13th October 1307 in order to retain their wealth, property and remove all debts that were owed to them by the monarchy, possibly explaining why Friday 13th is deemed unlucky by some people. It is believed that some of the Knights Templar avoided this arrest tactic and made their way to some of their ships in anchor and sailed for Europe to eventually land in Scotland.
THE KNIGHTS TEMPLAR AND ROBERT THE BRUCE
THE KNIGHTS TEMPLAR IN SCOTLAND
Arriving in Scotland it seems was a choice by the Knights Templar due to the fact that Robert the Bruce had been excommunicated by the church and papal authority did not apply in Scotland. This meant that the Knights Templar had sanctuary from the reaches of the pope in Scotland.
Robert the Bruce was at war with England and was pleased to have the expertise of such battle qualified knights in his army and it is believed that the Knights Templar were integral in the defeat of the English at the battle of Bannockburn. Robert the Bruce is often credited with forming the Freemasons as a means to hide the fact that there were Knights Templar present in his army. This was because he wanted to return Scotland to a state recognized under Christendom and had informed the church that no Knights Templar existed in Scotland. The Knights Templar were then able to continue as they had previously, but now under the name of Freemasonry.
FREEMASONRY AND THE STEPS TO KNIGHTS TEMPLAR
There are various avenues which can be followed in Freemasonry. The three most popular avenues being the Royal Arch, Rosicrucian (Rose Croix) or Knights Templar degrees.
There are 4 world wide accepted degrees which must be completed by a new person deciding to enter freemasonry which shall we say are the basis of understanding to Freemasonry. The other avenues are all different in their teachings and handle different aspects of Freemasonry.
There are many opinions and schools of thought on the dates that speculative Freemasonry came into existence with the most common being 1717.
The Knights Templar were said to have obtained secrets throughout their travels from the ancient mysteries in Alchemy, Magic and Building Techniques scattered through history by the likes of the Greek, Roman and Egyptian civilizations. Perhaps this is myth, however it makes for interesting research reading of the countless number of opinions and conspiracy theories out there in cyberspace.
