Gość: Kagan
IP: *.vic.bigpond.net.au
12.01.02, 07:38
Graham Hancock “The Sign & the Seal” London: Arrow, 1997, pp. 166-7
(166 Holy Ark and Holy Grail)
(…) The favour that Bruce showed towards the Templars in Scotland, and the fact
that many knights escaped arrest in England (because of a delay in implementing
the papal bull there), made it possible for the order to go underground in
British Isles - in other words to survive in a secret and hidden form rather
than to be completely destroyed. For hundreds of years it has been rumoured
that this secret survival took the form of Freemasonry - a view supported by a
specific Masonic tradition that the oldest Scottish lodge (Kilwinning) was
found by King Robert the Bruce after the battle of Bannockburn `for the
reception of those Knights Templar who had fled France'. In the eighteenth
century Andrew Ramsay, a prominent Scots Mason and historian, added credibility
to tradition with a considerable body of work on the connections between
Freemasonry and the Templars. And at around the same time Baron Carl von Hund,
a leading German Mason, declared that 'Freemasonry originated in Knight
Templary, that, in consequence, every Mason is a Templar.'
That such forthright statements should have been made in eighteenth century
(rather than in any earlier century) is not surprising: this was the period in
which Freemasons finally' out of the closet' and began to talk about themselves
and their history. Subsequently, as the new spirit of openness encouraged
further research, it became clear that `Knight Templarism' was and always had
been an important force within the Masonic system. This research, together with
much material not previously uncovered, has recently been incorporated into a
detailed and authoritative study, which itemises many ways in which Freemasonry
was shaped and influenced by fugitive Templars.
It is not my intention here to participate at all in what is undoubtedly a
heated, convoluted and highly specialised debate. The point I wish to make is
simply that the Masonic system did inherit many of the most central traditions
of the Order of the…
(A Secret and Never-Ending Quest 167)
…Temple of Solomon, and that this inheritance was first passed on in the
British Isles in the years 1307-14 by Templars who had survived papal
persecution because of the specially favourable conditions then prevailing in
Scotland.
Nor, as I have already noted, was Scotland the only country in which the
Templars were left unscathed. In Portugal they were tried but found to be free
of guilt, and thus neither tortured nor imprisoned. Of course, as a good
Catholic, the Portuguese monarch (Dennis I) could not afford to ignore papal
instructions completely: accordingly lip service was paid to these instructions
and the Templars were officially dissolved in 1312. Just six years later,
however, they were reborn under a new name: the Militia of Jesus Christ (also
known as the Knights of Christ or, more simply, as the Order of Christ).
This transformation of one order into another enabled the Portuguese Templars
not only to survive the fires of the Inquisition during the years 1307 to 1314
but also to emerge phoenix-like from the ashes in 13 18 - after which date they
seem to have carried on with business very much as usual. All Templar
properties and funds in Portugal were transferred intact to the Order of
Christ, as were all personnel. Moreover, on 14 March 1319, the newly formed
entity received the approval and confirmation of Pope John XXII (Clement
meanwhile having died).
In summary, therefore, despite the harshness of the suppression in France and
elsewhere, the Portuguese Order of Christ, and British (and especially
Scottish) Freemasonry, were the means by which Templar traditions were
preserved and carried forward into the distant future - perhaps right up to
modem times.
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