Knight Templars and Pirates

I found this article very interesting and listed the source website very intriguing to the templar history and North America

One legend has it that the Jolly Roger obtained its appellation from the French name for the red flag, the "Jolie Rouge." And so it may be, for the flag was first used by a French order of militant monks known as the "Poor Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon" - commonly known as the Knights Templar.

The Templars, were pious men. They gave up all their worldly possessions when they entered the Order, only carrying money on special occasions when they traveled alone, turning over whatever money that remained upon reaching their destination. They were ferocious warriors; pitching themselves into the midst of their enemies, astride charging warhorses, against incredible odds. Contemporaries had this to say of Templars:

The Templars are most excellent soldiers. They wear white mantles with a red cross, and when they go to war a standard of two colors called balzaus is borne before them. They go in silence. Their first attack is the most terrible. In going, they are the first. In returning, the last. They await the orders of their Master. When they think fit to make war and the trumpet has sounded, they sing in chorus the Psalm of David, "Not unto us, O Lord" kneeling on the blood and necks of the enemy, unless they have forced the troops of the enemy to retire altogether, or utterly broken them to pieces. Should any of them for any reason turn his back to the enemy, or come forth alive [from a defeat], or bear arms against the Christians, he is severely punished; the white mantle with the red cross, which is the sign of his knighthood, is taken away with ignominy, he is cast from the society of brethren, and eats his food on the floor without a napkin for the space of one year. If the dogs molest him, he does not dare to drive them away. But at the end of the year, if the Master and brethren think his penance to have been sufficient, they restore him the belt of his former knighthood. These Templars live under a strict religious rule, obeying humbly, having no private property, eating sparingly, dressing meanly, and dwelling in tents.1

"The warriors are gentler than lambs and fiercer than lions, wedding the mildness of the monk with the valor of the knight, so that it is difficult to decide which to call them: men to adorn the Temple of Solomon with weapons instead of gems, with shields instead of crowns of gold, with saddles and bridles instead of candelabra: eager for victory -- not fame; for battle not for pomp; who abhor wasteful speech, unnecessary action, unmeasured laughter, gossip and chatter, as they despise all vain things: who, in spite of their being many, live in one house according to one rule, with one soul and one heart." -- St. Bernard of Clairvaux

"in turn lions of war and lambs at the hearth; rough knights on the battlefield, pious monks in the chapel; formidable to the enemies of Christ, gentleness itself towards His friends." -Jacques de Vitry
Being men of principle; their rules of conduct were strict. They were willing to die for their beliefs, and so were feared on the battlefield and respected in life. Such was their reputation, that in battle, there were instances where the enemy would turn and run at the very sight of Templars entering the field. Their Rule of Order stated that breaking rank was worthy of losing ones habit. They neither asked nor gave quarter; the were expected to fight until death stayed their sword arm. Retreat from an enemy would not be countenanced unless the odds were greater than three to one against them and they were forbidden to ransom themselves if captured. They fought like men possessed, either prevailing in their cause, or suffering death under the banner of Gol'gotha - the place of the skull - where their Christ died.
Templars were not to succumb to the temptation of thinking that they killed in a spirit of hate and fury, nor that they seized booty in a spirit of greed. For the Templars did not hate men, but men's wrongdoing.

They were dedicated to the protection of travelers and pilgrims of all religions, though they themselves were Christians, in fact many Templars were of Palestinian birth, spoke perfect Arabic, and were familiar with every religious sect, cult, and magical doctrine, including that of the Islamic Assassins. The Grand Master Philip of Nablus (1167 A.D.) was a Syrian.2 They were great statesmen, politically adept economic traders, and they were allied with the great sailor-fraternity that had created a worldwide trading empire in Phoenician times. They became immensely powerful - had the largest fleet and the most successful banking system in Europe. But they could not sustain their grip on the Holy Land. Their losses3 were too great, and they were eventually driven off the Levant by Saladin, their Moslem adversary, in 1291. They continued to fight for their cause in the only manner they could - on the high seas.

The best known Templar pirate ship was the Falcon, "the greatest that had been built at that time."4 She was in the harbor when the fortress of Acre fell "and rescued many 'ladies and damsels and great treasure and many important people'4 by evacuating them to 'Atlit."
After the orderly navel evacuation of 'Atlit, the Templars retreated to their Mediterranean island bases on Cyprus, Rhodes and Sicily. Until their dissolution, they, together with the Order of St. John, continued as the foremost maritime powers in the Mediterranean, continuing to effectively wage war on Moslem shipping.

The Templars were still very powerful but in the eyes of European monarchs and the Church, the Templars raison d'tre had ceased with the loss of the Holy Lands. Jealousy and covetousness reigned. Phillip IV, who was deeply in dept to the Order, had seen their treasures stored in Paris, and designed to make it his own.

On Friday morning October 13th 1307 - and the reason for which Friday the 13th has become known as an unlucky day - King Phillip IV together with Avignonese Pope Clement V, ruthlessly suppressed the Order throughout Europe, with false accusations, arrests, torture and executions. (Timeline) Though they were offered communted sentences and comfortable lives if they would renounce their Order and plead guilty to the charges, for some mysterious reason, they preferred to remain true to their principles5 and received their punishment.

A large number of Templars escaped that day to an uncertain future, and found refuge abroad. On the eve of the arrests, the entire Templar fleet mysteriously vanished from the port of La Rochelle carrying with it a vast fortune, the fate of which remains a mystery down to this day.

Just as a terrorist to one is a freedom fighter to another, so it was with the Templars and their fleet. Wanted by the Pope and all the crowns of Europe, they came to be viewed, by the "comfortable folks" on the mainland, as pirates.



After being driven out of the Holy Land as well as Europe, but still formidable at sea, the refugee Templars found sanctuary in Scotland, where Templar graves bear witness to them having lived and died there in the fourteenth century. King Robert the Bruce had no interest in persecuting the Order, in spite of a papal bull ordering him to do precisely that. To the contrary, he took advantage of their fugitive status, offering them asylum in return for their help in his war for independence against King Edward II of England. Templars have been suggested as the source of mounted soldiers who assisted Robert the Bruce's Scots Guard at the battle of Bannockburn, as the Scots did not have a mounted force.
As the Scots Guard continued through the years, two of the prominent families involved in its history were the Sinclairs and the Stuarts. Both families trace their lineage back to members of the Knights Templar, as well as to prominent figures of the New Testament. Hugues de Payns the first Grand Master of the Templars was married to a Sinclair.
There is also evidence that the Templar fleet traveled to North America in 1398 (almost 100 years before Columbus) with the Sinclairs, and settled there at least temporarily. Connections are made between the tower ruins along the eastern coast of the United States, objects discovered in the Oak Island "Money Pit", and the Templar Order.
The Sinclairs (or Saint-Clairs) castle near Edinburgh, was situated next to Rosslyn chapel, which was constructed by the Sinclairs according to the floorplan of Solomon's original temple. Engraved in the masonry around the chapel are maize and aloe plants, which grew only in North America.
Throughout Scotland, as well as within Rosslyn Chapel, there are carvings and tombstones dating back to the 15th, 16th, and 17th century using combinations of Templar imagery (skull and crossbones, Templar swords, Templar crosses) and Masonic symbols (compass and square).
The Stuart royal house became one of Freemasonry's biggest supporters during their reign of Scotland and England.
Some also suggest that the rituals used in modern Freemasonry have their origins in the ancient texts discovered by the Templars in the ruins of Solomon's Temple while excavating to build their stables. Recent archaeological digs in the area have supported this theory by finding serveral Templar artifacts buried beneath the temple. In the 1950's, a scroll made entirely of copper was discovered in the caves near Qumran. When translated with the other "Dead Sea Scrolls", this "Copper Scroll", as it has become known, was identified as a treasure map listing various precious metals, religious artifacts, and writings supposedly buried beneath the temple in Jerusalem.
By the 17th and 18th centuries, the skull and crossbones was a symbol with a powerful reputation but identified with no official organization. The Templars had long since gone underground and evolved into other organizations. The symbol was usurped and came to be associated with the pirates of which we are more familiar. They changed the flag to suit their needs replacing the crossbones with swords, adding hourglasses or other symbols.
Anonymous Pilgrim V.2, tr. A. Stewart, Anonymous Pilgrims, I-VII (11th and 12th centuries), Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society 6, London, 1894 p 29-30.
A History of Secret Societies, Arkon Daraul, 1962, Citadel Press, NY
At Harim in 1164 they had sixty dead from a contingent of sixty-seven; in the space of a little over two months in 1187 they lost 290 knights at the Springs of Cresson and at Hattin; in 1237, while besieging Darbsak, the Templars of Baghras were heavily defeated by Aleppan troops, leaving them with only twenty survivors from a force of 120 knights; at La Forbie, in October 1244, they emerged with only thirty-three knights from the 300 they had contributed to the army; less than six years later, at Mansurah, the Grand Master told Joinville that 280 of his knights had been killed. It is natural to see such losses in human terms, but at the same time it should not be forgotten that each of these knights represented a large financial investment. In 1267 the cost of maintaining a knight for the defence of Acre for a year was ninety livres tournois. As a good estimate of the average annual income of the French monarcy at the time of Louis IX's first crusade is approximately 250,000 livres tournois, this means that even if each knight killed at La Forbie represents only a year's investment of Templar resources, the total loss was still little short of a ninth of the annual Capetian income. - Barber, Malcolm, "The New Knighthood", p232
Ramon Muntaner, Cronica Catalana, p. 368-9, also the Chronicle of Muntaner tr Goodenough p466-9.
Principle - guiding sense of the requirements and obligations of right conduct: a man of principle.


Paraphrasing the crusade historian William of Tyre, "Accepting that 'mistakes tend to creep into lengthy communications' [Prov 10:19], we invite our reader to correct errors in the spirit of kindness." - CC LXIII, p 101.

Source:http://www.skullandcrossbones.org

MASONIC MEMBERSHIP CARD

MASONIC MEMBERSHIP CARD- Author Unknown
I hold in my hand a little scrap of paper
2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches in size.

It is of no intrinsic worth,
not a bond, not a check or receipt for valuables,
yet it is my most priceless possession.

It is my membership card in a Masonic Lodge.

It tells me that I have entered
into a spiritual kinship with my fellow Masons
to practice charity in word and deed;
to forgive and forget the faults of my brethren;
to hush the tongues of scandal and innuendo;
to care for the crippled, the hungry and the sick,
and to be fair and just to all mankind.

It tells me that no matter where
I may travel in the world,
I am welcome to visit a place where good fellowship prevails
among brothers and friends.
It tells me that my loved ones, my home,
and my household are under the protection
of every member of this great Fraternity,
who have sworn to defend and protect mine
as I have sworn to defend and protect theirs.

It tells me that should I ever be overtaken
by adversity or misfortune
through no fault of my own,
the hands of every Mason on the face of the earth
will be stretched forth to assist me in my necessities.

And finally, it tells me
that when my final exit from the stage of life has been made,
there will be gathered around my lifeless body,
friends and brothers who will recall to mind my virtues,
though they be but few,
and will forget my faults,
though they may be many.

It tells me that, and a great deal more,
this little card,
and makes me proud yet humble,
that I can possess this passport
into a society of friends and brothers
that are numbered in the millions.

SO MOTE IT BE !!

I SEE YOU'VE TRAVELED SOME

I SEE YOU'VE TRAVELED SOME

- Author unknown

Wherever you may chance to be

Wherever you may roam,

Far away in foreign lands;

Or just at Home Sweet Home;

It always gives you pleasure,

it makes your heart strings hum

Just to hear the words of cheer,

"I see you've traveled some."

When you get a brother's greeting,

And he takes you by the hand,

It thrills you with a feeling

that you cannot understand,

You feel that bond of brotherhood
that tie that's sure to come

When you hear him say in a friendly way

"I see you've traveled some."

And if you are a stranger,

In strange lands all alone

If fate has left you stranded

Dead broke and far from home,

It thrills you--makes you numb,

When he says with a grip of fellowship,

"I see you've traveled some."

And when your final summons comes,

To take a last long trip,

Adorned with Lambskins Apron White

and gems of fellowship

The tiler at the Golden Gate,

With square and rule and plumb

Will size up your pin and say "Walk In",

"I see you've traveled some."

I feel guilty

Coaching is a corner stone

After vacation I finally had a chance to go to our monthly business meeting and a topic of coaching brothers who are moving up in the degrees. To be honest, I felt kind of guilty do to the work load of starting a new business and changes in my life. I then realized the excitement I felt moving up in the degrees and studying the degree work. I made time to go to degree work and study with a coach. Now it is time for me to give back a little and I shy away. I am looking forward to the York Rite in fall but after that meeting I felt like crap.. I am going to find a balance to at least one brother to coach this year. I am tired of feeling like crap... It is time to give back. I encourage all to get with the secretary and find some brothers who need help and help them out. This is my goal for the year and I hope one you will make too.
Fraternally,
Shane Hale

I Apologize for this

I just got home from the monthly lodge meeting and a brother approached me about my blog saying it was a good read but he was concerned. He stated "Why do you have a link to Masonic Secrets Revealed?" I was numb to the fact knowing that my site did not have such a link.
Then it dawned on me!! I used a Google Adsense Widget that was a part of my Google Blogger account. Wanting to monetize a little and make a few pennies on pay per click advertising. I remembered Google uses adsense to target content and keywords.

For example: If your site was about apples and you had a bunch of stuff about apples and you used adsense it would display content oriented stuff like apple pie or secrets to growing apples placement advertising. So if some knuckle head was selling a book revealing masonic secrets then it would display on a Masonic oriented site.

I have removed my adsense widget and want to apologize to every brother. Sometimes you can become numb to advertisements to not really pay attention to what they actually are saying. To all the readers I am sorry.

Thanks to the brother who made me aware of it!!