The Knights Templar E-Book

Rudolf Steiner

• Herausgeber: Rudolf Steiner Press
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Seitenzahl: 223

Beschreibung

Founded in the early twelfth century, allegedly to protect pilgrims to the Holy Land, the Knights Templar became famous for their pioneer banking system, crusading zeal, and strict vows of obedience, chastity and poverty. Having grown to some 15,000 men, they came to be perceived as a threat by Philip the Fair, who in 1307 disbanded the group and tortured their leaders for confessions. The French king accused the order of heresy, sodomy and blasphemy. Recent works of fiction and popular histories have created a resurgence of interest in the mysterious Knights Templar. Numerous contradictory and fantastic claims are made about them, adding to the enigma that already surrounds the warrior monks of France. In this unique collection of lecture material and writings from Rudolf Steiner, a new perspective emerges. Based on his spiritual perceptions, Steiner speaks of the Templars' connection to the esoteric tradition of St John, their relationship with the Holy Grail, and their spiritual dedication to Christ. He describes the secret order that existed within the Templars, and the strange rituals they performed. He also throws light on the Templars' attitude to the Roman Church, and the spiritual forces that inspired their torture and confessions.

Leseprobe

RUDOLF STEINER (1861-1925) called his spiritual philosophy ‘anthroposophy’, meaning ‘wisdom of the human being’. As a highly developed seer, he based his work on direct knowledge and perception of spiritual dimensions. He initiated a modern and universal ‘science of spirit’, accessible to anyone willing to exercise clear and unprejudiced thinking.

From his spiritual investigations Steiner provided suggestions for the renewal of many activities, including education (both general and special), agriculture, medicine, economics, architecture, science, philosophy, religion and the arts. Today there are thousands of schools, clinics, farms and other organizations involved in practical work based on his principles. His many published works feature his research into the spiritual nature of the human being, the evolution of the world and humanity, and methods of personal development. Steiner wrote some 30 books and delivered over 6,000 lectures across Europe. In 1924 he founded the General Anthroposophical Society, which today has branches throughout the world.

THE KNIGHTS TEMPLAR

The Mystery of the Warrior Monks

RUDOLF STEINER

Compiled and edited by Margaret Jonas

RUDOLF STEINER PRESS

Rudolf Steiner PressHillside House, The SquareForest Row, RH18 5ES

www.rudolfsteinerpress.com

Published by Rudolf Steiner Press 2012

Earlier English publications: See Sources section

Originally published in German in various volumes of the GA (RudolfSteiner Gesamtausgabe or Collected Works) by Rudolf Steiner Verlag,Dornach. For further information see Sources. This authorizedtranslation is published by permission of the Rudolf SteinerNachlassverwaltung, Dornach.

All material has been translated or checked against the original German byChristian von Arnim

Photo of Temple Church courtesy Tom Raines, New Viewmagazine

Translation and selection © Rudolf Steiner Press 2007

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, storedin a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the priorpermission of the publishers

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978 1 85584 281 6

Cover by Andrew Morgan Design featuring detail from Castelo de Tomar(Portugal)Typeset by DP Photosetting, Neath, West Glamorgan

Contents

Introduction by Margaret Jonas

1. Pope Nicholas I and the spiritual life of Europe

1 October 1922

2. The Templars and the Church of Rome (excerpt)

28 December 1904

3. The Templars as initiates of the Grail (excerpt)

1904

4. The Templars and the forces of evil

25 September 1916

2 October 1916

5. Sorat and the demise of the Templars (excerpt)

12 September 1904

6. Templar beliefs

22 May 1905

7. The Soul’s Probation (Four Mystery Plays) (excerpts)

Notes

Sources

Noteon Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures

Introduction

Oh, see the fair chivalry come, the companions of Christ!White horsemen, who ride on white horses, the Knights of God!They, for their Lord and their Lover who sacrificedAll, save the sweetness of treading, where He first trod!

Lionel Johnson: Martyrum Candidatus

After more than 700 years the name of the Knights Templar still evokes a strong response. The recent surge of interest from serious histories to Dan Brown’s popular fiction, The Da Vinci Code, shows that some echo is evoked in present day souls. Were they simply a bunch of loutish crusaders killing and pillaging and finally being unmasked for their perversions and heretical practices? (Sir Walter Scott’s novels encouraged this view.) Were they simply military monks—an occupation unappealing to today’s mind? Were they a secretive international group engaged in finance and conspiracy, planning to control the world—a conspiracy furthermore that is still being carried on today by their descendents in occult brotherhoods? Or were they, as Lionel Johnson’s poem suggests, chivalrous knights relieving the oppressed and opposing evil, successors to King Arthur’s Round Table? Did they hold the Holy Grail, the Ark of the Covenant, the Holy Shroud, protect an alleged bloodline of Jesus Christ, have magical powers, practise alchemy, hide a fabulous treasure, or make contact with America before Columbus? We can find book after book claiming all these things and more. No fringe history worth its salt today would omit a reference to them; they have become an industry. Serious histories tend to ignore any esoteric connection, whilst popular ones run riot with imagination. It is thanks to Rudolf Steiner’s spiritual scientific research that we can begin to get a glimpse of their deeper purpose and meaning, even if we cannot answer all these questions, but first let us look at some historical facts.

By 1100, Crusades to the Holy Land had begun, Jerusalem had been recaptured from the Muslims and was ruled by the Frankish King Baldwin, and the place of Christ’s death and resurrection was a popular place for medieval pilgrims. It was, however, dangerous and unstable and thus in 1118 (or 1119 in some sources) an order was founded, allegedly to protect the pilgrims—the Military Order of the Knights of the Temple of Solomon, or Poor Knights of Christ, so called because they were granted the al-Aqsa mosque, believed to be on the site of King Solomon’s Temple. There were nine founding knights, with Hugo de Payens becoming the first Grand Master: soldier monks, bound by monastic vows, obliged to repeat the daily monastic offices (except in battle) owing allegiance to none but the Pope, trained in warfare and forbidden to retreat in battle unless the enemy was more than three times their strength. In 1128 at the Council of Troyes, the mighty Cistercian St. Bernard of Clairvaux gave them their Rule, and granted them the right to wear the distinctive white habit—tunic and mantle, with the red equal-armed splayed cross being added in 1147. Their motto was Non nobis Domine, non nobis, sed Nomini Tuo da Gloriam (Not for us, Lord, not for us, but in Thy Name the Glory) and their Rule gives in great detail how the monastic vows were expected to be fulfilled:

Obedience

For with great difficulty will you ever do anything that you wish: for if you wish to be in the land this side of the sea, you will be sent the other side; or if you wish to be in Acre, you will be sent to the land of Tripoli or Antioch, or Armenia; or you will be sent to Apulia, or Sicily, or Lombardy, or France, or Burgundy, or England, or to several other lands where we have houses and possessions. And if you wish to sleep, you will be awoken; and if you sometimes wish to stay awake, you will be ordered to rest in your bed.1

Chastity

Not only were sexual relations forbidden, but a monk was not to kiss even his mother or sister, lest he feel temptation. Breeches had to be worn in bed also and a light kept burning in the dormitories to discourage further temptations, though, as we shall see, homosexual activity was later to be levelled against them. Each knight on admission had to wear a red cord around the waist under his tunic to remind him of what had to be overcome.

Poverty

The great wealth amassed by the order did not belong personally to the knights who had to forgo any kind of finery or fancy trimmings to their horses’ harness. A Templar seal shows two knights riding one horse, which is usually taken as an example of their poverty. However, another suggestion is that it is more an image of each knight having a helper from the spiritual world.2

By 1300, the Order was estimated as having 15,000 men of whom only 1,500 were actual knights, the rest being sergeants, lay brothers and assorted workers. To be a knight one had to be of noble birth and bring a substantial dowry to fund the work of protecting the Holy Land, where a number of castles or fortified preceptories—the name for their ‘houses’—were built. In addition to the important task of protecting the Holy Land, preceptories were built in all the main European countries in order to attract suitable fighting men and their wealth. Paris was the chief house in Europe, the site of which is now a small park called the Square of the Temple (Square du Temple). In London the first house was in Holborn, but in 1185 the new London Temple was consecrated with its distinctive round church; the only remaining feature of it which can be seen between the Inner and Middle Temple Inns of Court—between Fleet St and the Thames. Round churches were common—supposedly following the style of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the most sacred site in Jerusalem, built on the place of Christ’s crucifixion—showing a Byzantine influence, which may also have been present in the forms of worship. However, there are notable Templar churches that are not round, such as can be seen at Shipley, and Sompting in Sussex, and round churches that are not necessarily Templar. Much land, including existing churches, was bestowed upon the Order and it is not always easy to discern whether a church was Templar built.

The secrets of church building, the sacred geometry and knowledge of geomancy—the art of where to site according to the flow of earth energy—have been attributed to the Templars, chiefly through surveying remaining sites, but also from the tradition that these secrets were handed on to Masonic guilds and brotherhoods created by the Order, which, it is said, inspired the great medieval cathedrals. There is even a theory that the Templars visited the Americas and brought back silver to fund them.2a We can perceive sacred geometry not only in the surviving churches, however, but at sites such as Cressing, Essex, where two magnificent barns remain, displaying skilful joinery in their harmonious proportions, which must have added to their purpose as granaries for keeping the grain fresh. There is a long-standing tradition that certain geometric forms work in this way, for example the Great Pyramid, of which little replicas have been made for this purpose. In the tiled roof of one of the barns, the rune Ing (shown thus: ) has been picked out—a symbol of fertility to the local Anglo-Danish population. Such practical skills were later to furnish the accusation of magical practices: ‘Item, that [these idols] made the trees flower ... the land germinate .. .’3

Protection of the Holy Land may have been the raison d’etre for the Order, but two other important functions are sometimes overlooked. The Templars were really the first international bankers. Their widespread organization and integrity as a religious order made it possible for people to deposit their money safely in one country and withdraw it in another, thus preventing theft whilst travelling. Letters of credit—the first cheques—were issued and personal accounts were kept. The Paris Temple had a ‘cash desk’, and Templars sometimes acted as auditors for other businesses. Usury, the charging of interest on loans, was forbidden by the Church, but this was circumvented by ‘bank charges’ instead. This highly significant banking activity has been one of the main reasons for hostility towards the Order—bankers are seldom popular, but more especially it has given rise to the conspiracy theory of an international order still existing and controlling the world through finance, see for example Umberto Eco’s novel Foucault’s Pendulum. An interesting theory expressed in a series of history programmes on British TV and now released on DVD entitled The Knights Templar, is that after the Order’s downfall, some members escaped across the Alps to Switzerland and were instrumental in setting up the Swiss cantons as administrative regions. The secretive Swiss financial institutions would be obvious heirs also.

Connected to this function is their other important contribution to the medieval economy in general. They put the land they held to the fullest use in establishing farms, vineyards, mills, mines and all kinds of industry, crafts and trade, thus providing work for local people and a steady income from rent. Markets were set up in small towns and, in villages, land was cleared, drained, fenced, stocked and generally well maintained. Thus the Order held a lot of local control often over and above other landowners, whether religious or secular, and its exemption from taxation increased the discontent felt by some.

As time went on, criticism of the Order grew on account of its wealth and power and alleged arrogance. But then, disturbingly, other rumours began to circulate, horrifying to the medieval mind: secret rituals, which involved denying or spitting upon the Cross, worshipping idols or black cats, homosexual activity not only being tolerated but encouraged, obscene kisses—Beware the kiss of the Templars came to be a smutty joke. And the further accusation of treason was made—alliances with the Saracen enemy. In the Holy Land or Outremer, the situation had changed. Saladin recaptured Jerusalem in 1187 and a Christian army did not re-enter until 1917 under General Allenby. For another century the Order remained as a strong influence, still holding several castles, but in 1291 the city of Acre (Acco) fell to the Muslims and the Order was obliged to withdraw altogether, setting up an Eastern presence on Cyprus. Why then should it continue to exist at all, asked some, or could it not be merged with the fellow Order of Knights Hospitallers? It might have carried on in some form for years had it not been for the greed of the King of France, Philip the Fair, whose nature belied his name, for he was cold, ruthless and opportunistic. He was possessed by an inordinate lust for gold and had already confiscated the wealth of the Jews and Lombards and had debased the gold coinage. Steiner suggests moreover, that he may have been initiated in a previous lifetime into the bloodthirsty and black magical Mexican mysteries, tearing the hearts from living victims.4 In fact after his death, when his heart was embalmed and sent to the monastery of Poissy, it was said to be tiny and shrivelled. He also had imperial expansionist dreams and tried to join the Order but was rejected. Incensed, he was determined to acquire its wealth. He first manipulated the Papacy to get his own ‘puppet’, Clement V, installed on French soil at Avignon. He infiltrated the Order via his agents and persuaded the Pope that the Templars must be disbanded and brought to trial for heresy, sodomy and blasphemy. He struck at dawn on Friday 13th October 1307 with an operation worthy of a twentieth century secret police organization. Orders had been secretly issued beforehand—all Templars that could be found were arrested in one swoop.

It was less easy to persuade his fellow monarchs to do likewise—arrests and torture of the Templars varied from country to country. In England, Edward II forbade torture but later confiscated the Order’s property for himself, whilst Portugal, Majorca and Aragon refused to believe the accusations and allowed the Order to continue in different forms. In France, however, trials were prepared and confessions produced under tortures that were as horrible as anything devised today. Many Knights subsequently recanted so that, in 1310, 54 were burned and the Order was formally dissolved in 1312. On 18 March 1314 the last Grand Master, Jacques de Molay, and Geoffroi de Charney, were burned at the stake near the Pont Neuf on the Île de la Cité. Before he died, Jacques de Molay called upon Philip and Pope Clement to appear before God—and both were dead within a year. In Scotland there were no arrests and many knights joined the campaigns of Bruce and Wallace against the English. In most countries there was some form of admonition however; the lands and properties passed to the Order of Hospitallers, and former Templars were obliged to join other religious orders, still being bound by their monastic vows. Historians vary in their judgement, but tend to suppose there was some truth in the accusations, for how else could such a mighty, brave and powerful organization be brought down?

Let us now see what the spiritual aspect reveals. Steiner spoke about the Templars in several places and also wove them into the medieval scenes in his second Mystery Drama The Soul’s Probation (see note 7 in Sources) where they are in conflict with the local Dominicans. As if trying to set the record straight, he spoke unreservedly of their spiritual dedication. Their blood, he said, belonged to Christ: ‘... each one of them knew this. Every moment of their life was to be filled with the perpetual consciousness of how in their own soul there dwelt—in the words of St. Paul—not I, but Christ in me’.5

The human blood system carries both our ego-consciousness and also the rhythms of our etheric—our life-forces. Repeated prayer and meditation both have a powerful effect and enable the blood to ‘resonate’ with Christ. (The Russian Orthodox Church knows this with the practice of the ‘Jesus Prayer’). When not in battle, the Templars recited the daily offices and heard mass (they had their own chaplains), they were permeated with the effects of such rituals. So intense was their inward penetration that many attained a truly Christian initiation—this is too lengthy to enlarge upon here: but see endnote.6 They were, moreover, part of the esoteric Christian stream of St John, which includes the Manichaeans,6a the Grail, and the Rosicrucians. Here the mystery of transformation of physical substance by the power of Christ’s blood when it fell to the earth is recognized, and the future redemption of evil is a distant goal. In an early lecture,7 Steiner described the Templars as actually being initiated by the Grail itself. How might we understand this? In initiation the etheric body (the body of our life forces) is to some extent loosened from the physical body, and this is what was said to have happened to those who witnessed Christ’s death on Good Friday. One aspect of the Grail legends is that Christ’s blood, which had unsullied etheric (life) forces, was carried in human hearts (a chalice or cup is an image for the heart) so that in Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival23, the Templars are known as the Guardians of the Grail.8 That the Templars were an inspiration for Parzival (written down during their time) is confirmed by Steiner.9 The transformation of one’s ether body, which includes what Steiner called ‘the etherization of the blood’, has an effect not only on the person in question, but rays out into the whole world owing to the ether body’s connection to the cosmos. It is this aspect of the Grail—blood mystery rather than guardianship of a physical cup—that is significant.

Another perhaps more surprising aspect of the Templars’ spiritual life was their devotion to the divine feminine in the person of the Virgin Mary and also possibly Mary Magdalene. There is not much obvious evidence of this save that their churches were almost always dedicated to ‘Our Lady’. It was a feeling they would have had for the manifestation of heavenly wisdom as Sophia, a Gnostic-inspired belief. In the old Egyptian mysteries she was known as Isis, and it has been suggested that the Templars knew this (though not consciously) from former incarnations.2 Moreover, esoteric Freemasonry, which is connected to the Order, takes its founding from the time just after Christ, when the rite of Misraim was founded by Ormus, a priest of Isis, and St Mark in Alexandria,10 and the later Scottish Rite was said to have arisen from the Templars surviving in Scotland. Clearly the extreme avoidance of female company was unbalanced (say, in comparison with the Cathars, also part of this broader esoteric stream), and one can only wonder at what was being prepared in their souls.

To what extent their beliefs were ‘heretical’, is hard to say. They did not found a separate Church for instance. But they were encouraged to seek out those who had been excommunicated by the Church as possible recruits, an unusual command. There were many early Christian beliefs and practices that were later deemed heretical, conveniently labelled Gnostic, though there was no single gnostic school of thought. Teachings came from Egypt, from the Greek mysteries and from esoteric Jewish groups such as the Essenes. One idea that appeared in different guises was that Jesus did not really die on the cross. Many gnostic believers were aware that the divine being of Christ had entered into the man Jesus at the Baptism, and could not reconcile this with the idea of Christ’s death. A God could not die, they thought. He must have withdrawn before the death, or someone else was crucified in his place—there were various theories with the result that the cross was not necessarily venerated in the way the Church taught. It was inconceivable to people imbued with the gnostic understanding of a God that descended from the spiritual spheres, that such a God should have chosen to experience death as a human being. Many Manichaeans, of whose stream the Templars were a part, in particular held these beliefs. In the Middle East, the Templars came into contact with these various teachings which had often been kept alive by small groups or which were more or less ‘non-Christian’. It would be hardly surprising therefore if these did not come to influence their practices. Perhaps they did not fully grasp the mystery of Christ’s incarnation. After all, how many people do today? They also had a special reverence for John the Baptist, which has even led to the suggestion that they could not really have been Christian. He was for them the Water Bearer, the precursor of the Age of Aquarius to come, the preparer (by water) of the future Christian way of Baptism by Fire, the time of true brotherhood, when through Christ the meaning of the Temple will be renewed.11

Steiner confirmed in conversation that there was a secret order within the Templars. It was this that was one of the issues—at the trials there were confessions about the holding of secret ‘chapters’, which only certain brothers could attend. Under torture the accused described how they were received into these—they were required to spit upon or defile the cross, to strip naked and receive kisses on the mouth, the navel and the genitals, to venerate a bearded ‘head’ or ‘idol’. What could this mean? Steiner describes how the Templars went through a kind of’denial of the cross’, a ritual re-enactment of Peter’s denial of Christ, in order to understand it later, to pass through the stages of the four elements on the arms of a cross symbolising the ego, astral, etheric and physical bodies. The seven-stage ceremony then culminated in their being shown an image of the divine Father creator.11 One can see how this became distorted when revealed under torture. At the site of the former preceptory of Templecombe in Somerset, a medieval wooden panel was found which shows the head of a man, bearded and with a remarkably expressive countenance. It may be a representation of Christ—or it could be the image that was venerated in the rituals. The figure on the Turin shroud may also have been used in this way. The image could appear ‘beautiful’ or ‘luminous’ or terrible, like a bleeding head on a platter. At the trials, the head or idol was sometimes named as Baphomet. There is much speculation about the meaning of this name. Idries Shah claims it is known in Sufism as the ‘Head of Wisdom’. The thirteenth century esoteric Jewish work, the Zohar, also refers to the divine creator revealing himself as a mighty bearded head, with a lower shadow-like reflection or counterpart. A detailed account is not possible here, but it suggests the Knights could have had an experience at the threshold of the spiritual world, which could manifest as one of either grandeur or of terror as the pupil is confronted by his own, darker, side. The Templars had contact with these mystical non-Christian beliefs in the Middle East, for on the whole they practised diplomacy rather than persecution, and made positive contacts with the indigenous population of Muslims, Jews and others, thus incurring the accusation of treachery. What of the so-called obscene kisses? One suggestion is that they were given to acknowledge the chakra system in the human subtle-energy bodies, and what had to be overcome in the lower chakra region in particular. A transmission of energy called baraka, passing the breath from a master to a pupil was an Eastern practice that may have been followed also—if these ‘kisses’ happened at all. Why then did the knights apparently confess to so many deeds that horrified their accusers?

Steiner speaks of this in connection with the effect of torture. Under great physical and mental pain, they came to believe that they had actually committed actions which they had striven to overcome in themselves.12 The confessions were largely false. In one of his lectures, Steiner states that this was due to the influence of certain ‘adversary powers’ and revealed more about these, although the subject can only be touched upon here. In speaking about the Apocalypse, the Book of Revelation of St John, he refers to one of the most powerful adversary forces, the anti-Christ, Sorat, the Sun Demon, in connection with the rhythm of 666. Twice this figure is 1332, a little after the Templars’ downfall, but it is clear from history that Sorat’s influence can extend both before and after a specific date. Steiner stated that it was none other than the spirits belonging to this being who entered into the Templars under torture and caused them to vilify themselves.13 This is perhaps why Steiner said in response to a question from an early Waldorf teacher that Baphomet was an ahrimanic entity.13a

But were all the confessions entirely false or did they simply appear confused and were misunderstood? For centuries this has occupied anyone interested in the Templars. Here and there documents have appeared which claim to be the ‘secret statutes’ of the inner order, which were found in the Vatican archives and passed on by Masonic Lodges. They were published in a French history some years ago.14 It is very difficult to say whether they are true, or complete forgeries or somewhere in between. I am inclined to think there is some truth in them but with probable later embellishments. The practices may also have evolved gradually, or could include aberrations in some form, which were not practised by the whole Brotherhood. They speak of two grades with the inner order: the elect and the consoled. Other Christian movements such as the Manichaeans and Cathars also had two ‘grades’ or levels. There is a distinct anticlerical tone, indeed a hatred with regard to the Roman Church, and an exhortation to meet with similarly-minded men of other faiths, such as Muslims and Jews, as well as with Cathars and Bulgars. The reception included a trampling and spitting upon the cross because ‘the Son was not born, nor died, nor was crucified or resurrected’14