h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I read a book recently claiming that the templars were directly related to the jewish army that fought the romans after they killed James the Just-the brother of Jesus.

I don't know if you know the history or not, but the jews looked as if they were going to win. The romans retreated intially, and then they came back and burned the temple. The remaining jews (who wore the white robes of the Essenes) fled to Europe, adopting the traditions of the countries that they lived in as long as they were monotheistic. Only the first born son of the fleeing families was told the truth of their origins and lineage. By their lineage would they recognize other families, should they be approached by a representative. They came eventually to France, and set up their order there.

The rest of course is the Crusades and bloody conquest.

not untrue...

I have just finished reading a book which deals with this very subject...It is called "The Hiram Key" and it traces the origins of the freemasons through the templars and the jerusalem chuch straight back to ancient egypt....highly recommended reading...

I've read the Hiram key too and I agree about how it ties freemasonry with ancient egypt via the Templars and the Temple of Solomon. I like the bit how the Templars found America before Columbus (pirates' skull and crossbones is templar synbolism), and the 2 lines in the dollar sign ($) are the twin pillars of freemasonry.

however, re: templars - read the "Holy Blood and the Holy Grail" and the "Tomb of God" (check out Amazon for copies), which relate the ultimate historical consiracy theory of all time - jeses survived the crudufication, fled tof rance, had descendants (still alive today) and his body (presumably embalmed) buried near Renned-le-Chateau



thompy
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Hi there thompy
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(Apologies for the topic drift)

I've also read the Holy Blood and the Holy Grail. Fascinating reading. Check out also the Messianic Legacy by the same authors. Imagine how powerful the Knight Templar would be if they could prove that one of their members was a direct descendant of Jesus! Apparently, they're just waiting for the right time to reveal all. Is this one of the secrets they discovered in the crusades?

Hi everyone - fascinating subject the Knights Templar as are the other Military Orders of the church (Hospitallers, Teutonic Knights etc.)
Have just finished reading a really good book about he Templars - The Knights Templar A New History by Helen Nicholson, who is a history professor at a UK university (sorry cant remember which one).
She has also written a similar book about the Hospitallers & one about all 3 majot military orders and their influence on medievel romance and epics.
Would recommend all 3 for a slightly more scholrly approach to the subject

Hi there, got the names of the good ones you read? She has quite a few in the online bookstores....
Ta.

Hello all, Peace be upon this house,

I suspect this opinion won't be welcome, and I apologise. I think the Templars, the Hospitallers, the Teutonic Knights, and probably the bleedin Assasins to boot were all looking for ways to serve the god they'd found, and ways to describe the possibility of grace this god presented them with.

Confronted by infinite mercy, and natural justice, I suspect that all these Dark Ages/Medieval evangelists couldn't quite believe what their god was offering, so they constructed a lot of elaborate stories to explain their own surprising access to salvation.

To all in the Kingdom of Ends,

Stella X.

Hi,

I believe that the 'stories' were invented to allegorise certain 'facts' in order that they be protected from profane eyes, and as these stories have successfuly passed down through the generations (in much the same way as nursery rhymes) they can be accurately re-told (and rituals re-enacted) without anyone being aware of the true meaning. A classic example is the Templar invention of the Tarot Cards - of which the minor arcana was the basis of the modern deck of playing cards (with the four Knights removed). The major arcana is popular amongs so-called 'fortune tellers' but, when used correctly, was actually designed to reveal the past!

Hi,

It is unlikely that the Templars were in any way related to the Jewish army that defended Jerusalem in AD70. They were originally 9 French crusading Knights who approached King Baldwin II of Jerusalem in AD1118, offering to act in defence of pilgrims against robbers. 10 years later, they were granted a papal ' Rule' by the Council of Troyes, in spite of the fact that there was little evidence that they did anything other than excavate the ruins of King Solomon's Temple.

Around AD1140, the Templars took the relics they had found to Scotland, where they remained hidden for some 300 years. In AD1440, an exact replica of the original Temple was constructed, which survives today.