What ultimately happened to the Knight’s Templar is a topic of much debate. Initially connected to the Catholic Church, the knights were created to protect Pilgrims in the Holy Land. The Knight’s however become very powerful and acquired much wealth, something that did not go unnoticed by King Phillip IV of France. King Phillip, in his feud with King Edward I of England had borrowed money from the Knight’s to support the war, and now saw an opportunity to not only erase his debt, but to capture the wealth that the Knight’s held.
A plan was hatched to gain the favor of the Church by spreading lies and rumors about the order including blasphemy and sodomy. The result was the arrest of the Templar’s and the confiscation of much of their wealth. While many of the Knight’s were tortured and “admitted” acts of blasphemy, many of the Knight’s escaped and fled to Scotland were they supported Robert the Bruce in his battle with England at the battle of Bannockburn.
The Templars, needing to find a new home may have found it in what has become modern day Freemasonry. The Templars had waged 200 plus years of espionage and counter espionage by incorporating signs and passwords as a means of verifying identification. It is therefore believed that the origins of some of the “secret” signs used in the initiation of the Freemason candidates may have come from the remaining Templars that had found a home in Scotland.
Unfortunately, we may never find the complete origins of the development of Freemasonry as much of it had been passed on by word of mouth and has been lost over the years. The inclusion of some of the Templar practices is certainly a possibility however, as it is a historical fact that many of the Templars escaped the inquisition. As to the location of the missing Templar gold……that mystery remains.
Scott
