Knights Templar in The Netherlands - a new map

On his website www.tempelieren.nl (in Dutch) the late Dr Ben Brus embarks on a painstaking journey to identify sites of former settlements of the Knights Templar in The Netherlands. The first version of the website was published in 2003, the 13th and last edition in January 2012.

UK Knights Templar branch recruiting members

"For more than 700 years they have been the subject of myth and legend after an angry Pope ordered their destruction and drove them underground.

Now the Knights Templars are back in the open and have launched a recruitment drive.

Last night an extraordinary public meeting took place to show potential recruits what the Order is about and what can be expected of them. Membership is open to men and women.

Russ Kellett, who is starting a new legion of Templars, said: “The idea is to attract fresh blood into what is an excellent organisation whose aims are to live a pious life and help in a charitable way people who may need our help.

“People believe that the Templars were destroyed between 1307 and 1312 but most of the knights involved simply disappeared and carried on with their work.”

He is reluctant to reveal too much about The Order of the Knights Templars but says many knights in other branches have carried on a family tradition stretching back generations. His legion isn’t the only one to be created in the past two years. He said: “We are still very popular and people are very interested in what we do. The Order does good work in many ways but doesn’t boast about it.”  "

quote and illustration from an article by Steve Lumley published February 19, 2012 on www.express.co.uk

"Knights Templar meet in Australia" - quote

"The flags of the Crusaders flew at Parklands Resort on the weekend as Mudgee hosted The Great Priory of the Order of Knights Templar in NSW & ACT.

The Grand Masters of Queensland and Victoria, the Assistant Grand Priory Royal Arch of NSW and the Provincial Great Marshall of Somerset, UK, were among members who gathered for the Order’s Malta Festival.

The Masonic order’s regalia and ceremonies are based on those of the Knights Templar, who are best remembered for their military role in the Crusades, but also established a monastic order dedicated to protecting pilgrims.
The Knights Templars also founded an early form of banking, under which pilgrims deposited their valuables with the Order before leaving, and in return received a letter of credit to the value of their deposit, which could be redeemed when they arrived in the Holy Land.
The Order has preceptories in Broken Hill, Wagga, Albury, Moruyah, Tamworth, Grafton, Ballina and smaller centres including Geurie, which hosted the weekend’s event in Mudgee.
Preceptories have a charitable as well as fraternal role, giving to causes such as schools.
In addition to a business order on Monday, the Great Priory installed a member into the Degree of a Knight of Malta and invested its officers for the next 12 months.
Following the Malta ceremony banquet on Saturday night, members attended a church service on Sunday which was open to members of the public."

quote and photo from this source: www.mudgeeguardian.com.au

Project Beaucéant publishes map on Knights Templar

On www.templiers.org a map is published with the old settlements of the Knights Templar and other religious military orders in Western Europe and the Near East. This map and website (mainly in French) provide interesting information on the issue. Regrettably, the site does nog contain much information on north west Europe, the focal point of this blog.

Therefor, interested readers are referred to the pages on this blog on different sub-areas within north-western Europe. These pages contain a slowly growing amount of information. Anyone who could add such information or sources thereof is invited to contribute to this site. Please mail any information, preferrably links, to: templarsnow@gmail.com

Rule of the Knights of the Round Table

Charge Given to the Knights of the Round Table by King Arthur

God make you a good man and fail not of beauty. The Round Table was founded in patience, humility, and meekness.Thou art never to do outrageousity, nor murder, and always to flee treason, by no means to be cruel, and always to do ladies, damosels, and gentle women succour. Also, to take no battles in a wrongful quarrel for no law nor for no world's goods.

Thou shouldst be for all ladies and fight for their quarrels, and ever be courteous and never refuse mercy to him that asketh mercy, for a knight that is courteous and kind and gentle has favor in every place. Thou shouldst never hold a lady or gentle woman against her will.

Thou must keep thy word to all and not be feeble of good believeth and faith. Right must be defended against might and distress must be protected. Thou must know good from evil and the vain glory of the world, because great pride and bobauce maketh great sorrow. Should anyone require ye of any quest so that it is not to thy shame, thou shouldst fulfil the desire.

Ever it is a worshipful knights deed to help another worshipful knight when he seeth him a great danger, for ever a worshipful man should loath to see a worshipful man shamed, for it is only he that is of no worship and who faireth with cowardice that shall never show gentelness or no manner of goodness where he seeth a man in any danger, but always a good man will do another man as he would have done to himself.

It should never be said that a small brother has injured or slain another brother. Thou shouldst not fail in these things: charity, abstinence and truth. No knight shall win worship but if he be of worship himself and of good living and that loveth God and dreadeth God then else he geteth no worship here be ever so hardly.

An envious knight shall never win worship for and envious man wants to win worship he shall be dishonoured twice therefore without any, and for this cause all men of worship hate an envious man and will show him no favour.

Do not, nor slay not, anything that will in any way dishonour the fair name of Christian knighthood for only by stainless and honourable lives and not by prowess and courage shall the final goal be reached. Therefore be a good knight and so I pray to God so ye may be, and if ye be of prowess and of worthiness then ye shall be a Knight of the Table Round.

source: www.kingarthursknights.com

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Modern Templar murals at Slijpe, Belgium

Slijpe is a village in the Belgian province of West Flanders and part of the municipality of Middelkerke. It has an interesting Templar link, both historically and recent.

OSMTH-MCO meeting Flanders, 2009

Magistraal Kapittel te Bilzen (Limburg) op 25 april 2009 te Bilzen - Chapitre Magistral 25 Avril 2009 a Bilzen
"Orde Supremus militaris Templi Hierosolymitani militiae Christi Oecumenis Belgicae"

The Creation and Demise of the Knights Templar

In 2009 Carson Taylor Wheet prepared a Bachelor’s Thesis for the University of Arizona, USA. Her thesis investigates the Order of the Knights Templar by examining the varied phenomena that led to the formation of the Order in the early twelfth century and its dissolution nearly two hundred years later.

Since the demise of the Order has recently received a great deal of attention in both historical scholarship and popular culture, the author analyzes and critiques numerous theories concerning the trial of the Templars. She contextualizes it by revealing the causes for the Order’s creation. An array of primary and secondary sources was used to explain why each event occurred despite being unpopular with a significant portion of Christian officials. 

The author ultimately contends that most of the aforementioned theories are insufficient to explain the rise and fall of the Order because they fail to grasp the complexity of each event. The Templars’ creation resulted from a lengthy theological justification for a unique form of Christian holy war, papal ambitions, and a palpable ethos of fear and violence within Christendom that was redirected against an external enemy. Their demise stemmed from secular ambitions, relative papal weakness, and a unique blend of social fears, legal standards, and organizational rules that proved extremely deleterious in their trial.

Click here to read this thesis from the University of Arizona

source: www.medievalists.net

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Godfrey de Saint-Omer - co-founder of the Knights Templar

Godfrey of Saint-Omer (also known as Gaufred, Godefroi, or Godfrey de St Omer, Saint Omer) was a French knight, one of the founding members of the Knights Templar. He is said to have come from the family of the Lords of Saint-Omer, France, possibly the son of William I, Lord of Saint Omer and Melisende de Piquigny. William and Melisende were known to have at least one other son, Hugh.

Both William and Hugh participated in the First Crusade as vassals of Robert II of Flanders. Hugh of Saint-Omer was also mentioned as one of the best knights in the Kingdom of Jerusalem which was established after the conquest op Jerusalem in 1099.

There are conflicting reports as to Godfrey's relationship to William and Hugh. Chronologically Godfrey may have been Hugh's brother but it is also said that he was Hugo's son. On the list of crusaders, a Gauthier de Saint-Omer is listed, which could be a mistake for Gaufred (Gauthier de Saint-Omer was not yet born). Therefore Godfrey probably came to Jerusalem with William I and Hugh around 1099, so during the First Crusade.

The lineage of the Saint Omer family is described in detail here.

Text dapted from wikipedia; Illustration Saint Bertin church and marble statue of abbot Suger. Saint-Omer, Pas-de-Calais (France)- source Wikipedia

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