Knights Templar

Representation of a Knight Templar (Ten Duinen Abbey museum, 2010 photograph)

Depiction of two Templars seated on a horse (emphasising poverty), with Beauséant, the "sacred banner" of the Templars (Matthew Paris, c. 1250)

The Catholic Military order of the Knights Templar or Templars, also known as the Order of Solomon's Temple or by its official name Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon (Latin: Pauperes commilitones Christi Templique Salomonici), was founded in Jerusalem around 1119. It was officially dissolved by Pope Clement V at the Council of Vienne on 22 March 1312 by the bull Vox in excelso after the Templar Trials, which were instigated at the insistence of king Philip IV of France, called Philip the Fair (French: Philippe le Bel).

The spiritual background of the Order of Knights Templar

The Templar Gnosis

The spiritual background of the Templars is often referred to as Templar gnosis, which is not a trans-worldly gnosis, but a strictly Christian gnosis, oriented towards the transformation of the Earth in the sense of the Christ.

„It was, I repeat, not heretical Gnosticism, nor the poorly veiled deism of the Latin Averroism of Paris and Padua, but devout Christianity, faithful to the Church in its own estimation; admittedly of ecclesiastical-political and socio-critical views, which had to shy away from the light of medieval publicity.“ (Lit.: John, p. 111f)

„At this time we see, among many things which, if you look at them, I would like to say, make the soul of man happy, how, among many things which come into being soon after the Crusades have achieved their first successes, the Order of the Knights Templar is founded in 1119. Five French knights under the leadership of Hugo de Payens joined forces and founded an order on the sacred site where the Mystery of Golgotha had taken place, which was to consecrate itself entirely to the service of the Mystery of Golgotha, and which had its first important religious house right next to the site, where the Temple of Solomon once stood, so that, in a certain sense, ancient sacred wisdom prepared for Christianity and Solomonic wisdom could work together at this site, with all the sentiments and all the feelings that arose in the highest degree from the holiest enthusiasm for the Mystery of Golgotha and its bearer. In addition to the usual monastic vows of the time, the duty of obedience to the spiritual superiors, the first Templars undertook to cooperate in the most intensive way to include in the sphere of European control the places where the Mystery of Golgotha took place.

They should think of nothing - as it was contained in the written and especially in the unwritten rules of the Order - but how they can be completely filled in their heart, in their soul, with the sacred Mystery of Golgotha, and how they can serve with every drop of their blood the inclusion of the sacred site in the sphere of authority of the European will. At every moment of their lives they should think, they should feel, that they belong entirely to this task, and that they will spare nothing in order to realise this task with all the strength that is at the disposal of each individual. Their blood should not belong to themselves, but solely to the task we have marked. And when faced with a threefold superiority - so they were ordered - they must not flee; each Templar must maintain his position, even if three infidels want to dispute it with him. And at every moment of their lives they had to think that the blood that ran in their veins did not belong to them but to their great spiritual task. What they were to acquire in wealth should not belong to any individual. Not the individual should have any property, but only the whole Order. From the individual, the one who defeated one of the enemies was to gain no other property than the hempen cord girded around the loins, the sign of their voluntarily undertaken work for what was then regarded as the salvation of the European spirit. A great, mighty task, not so much of reflection as of deep feeling, was set, a task which went towards strengthening the life of the soul as an individual, as a personal one, only so that this individual life of the soul might be completely absorbed in the ongoing stream of Christian development.“ (Lit.:GA 171, p. 118f)

The Knights Templar are sometimes described as the "purest order" in the world.

„In the sense of the founding of the Knights Templar, it was first what the Templars had done for Jerusalem, and then what could be done to Christianise the whole of European culture. For gradually the Templars spread in influential societies over England, France, Spain and part of Italy, over Central Europe, everywhere the Templars spread. And in the case of individual Templars, the whole soul was filled with the feeling of the Mystery of Golgotha, with the feeling of all that is connected with the Christian impulse...

... something very great had happened in the circle of the Templars, without these Templars knowing the rules of Christian initiation through anything other than sacrificial service. First in the Crusades, then in the spiritual work in Europe, their souls were so inspired by the intense devotion to the Christian impulses and to the Mystery of Golgotha that the result was the experience of Christian initiation in many Templars, in a considerable number of Templars.“ (Lit.:GA 171, p. 123f)

Literatur

• Martha Strachwitz: Schwarz-Weiss. Das Templerdrama, Verlag für Freies Geistesleben, Basel, 1926
• Robert L. John: Dante, Springer-Verlag, Wien 1946, ISBN 978-3-211-80023-2
• Arthur Schult: Dantes Divina Commedia als Zeugnis der Tempelritter-Esoterik, Turm-Verlag, Bietigheim 1979, ISBN 978-3799901840
• Joseph P. Strelka: Dante und die Templergnosis, A. Francke Verlag, Tübingen 2012, ISBN 978-3772084430
• Theodor Merzdorf: Die Geheimstatuten des Ordens der Tempelherren, Halle 1877 pdf
• Inge Ott: Das Geheimnis der Tempelritter, Vlg. Freies Geistesleben, Stuttgart 2005
• Peter Tradowsky: 13. Oktober 1307 / Zur Vernichtung des Templerordens vor 700 Jahren (Freie Vereinigung für Anthroposophie MORGENSTERN), Berlin 2007
• Marcus Schneider: Templerwirken und Gegenwartskarma. 700 Jahre Gegnerschaft 1307 - 2007, 2 Vorträge, als Hörbuch-CDs, ISBN 978-3-03752-28-4
• Judith von Halle: Die Templer. Band I. Der Gralsimpuls im Initiationsritus des Templerordens, Vlg. für Anthroposophie, Dornach 2012, ISBN 978-3037690413
• Judith von Halle: Die Templer, Bd II: Der Gralsimpuls im Initiationsritus des Templerordens, Vlg. für Anthroposophie, Dornach 2013, ISBN 978-3037690468
• Andreas Meyer: Die letzten Templer. Band I: Die Geschichte der Templer und die Motive der Protagonisten des Templerprozesses aus Sicht der historischen Forschung, Infolücke-Verlag (ILV), Basel 2014, ISBN 9783905955958
• Andreas Meyer: Die letzten Templer. Band II: Geisteswissenschaftliche Forschungen und Hintergründe zur Entstehung, Vernichtung und Fortentwicklung des Templerimpulses, Infolücke-Verlag (ILV), Basel 2014, ISBN 9783905955965
• Bernhard Steiner: Ein Impuls für die nächste Kulturepoche. In: "Wochenschrift DAS GOETHEANUM", Nr. 15-16, 11. April 2014, S. 3
• René Becker: Vor 700 Jahren. In: "Wochenschrift DAS GOETHEANUM", Nr. 12, 21. März 2014, S. 5
• Robert Bouchal, Gabriele Lukacs: Das geheime Netz der Templer. Wege und Spuren in Österreich., Pichler Verlag, Wien - Graz - Klagenfurt 2010
• Gérard Klockenbring: Vom Beitrag Frankreichs zur Aufgabe Europas. In: Europa und sein Genius. Herausgegeben von Heinz Eckhoff, Fischer TB, Frankfurt a.M. 1986, S. 18 - 39
• M.J. Krück von Poturzyn: Der Prozess gegen die Templer, Stuttgart 1963
• Bruno Nardini: Das Handbuch der Mysterien und Geheimlehren, Goldmann TB Esoterik, München 1994, S. 169 - 203
• Jules Viard (Hrsg.): Les Grandes Chroniques de France, Band 8: Philippe III. le Hardi, Philippe IV le Bel, Louis X. le Hutin, Philippe V le Long, Champion / Société de l'histoire de France, 1934
• Sabine Delmarti: Jacques de Molay: son histoire, sa personnalité, son rôle au sein de l'ordre des Templiers, son héritage, Paris 1999 ISBN 2-7328-3442-4
• Alain Demurger: Der letzte Templer. Leben und Sterben des Großmeisters Jacques de Molay, München 2004 ISBN 3-406-52202-5
• Alain Demurger: Die Templer. Aufstieg und Untergang 1120-1314, München 1991 ISBN 3-406-38553-2
• Alain Demurger: Die Verfolgung der Templer. Chronik einer Vernichtung. 1307-1314, Verlag C.H.Beck 2017, ISBN 9783406706653
• Maurice Druon: Die unseligen Könige. 4 Bände, hist. Roman, Frankfurt/Main 1958
• Tobias Daniel Wabbel: Die Templerkathedrale: Der Geheimcode von Chartres, Gütersloher Verlagshaus 2012, ISBN 978-3579065670
• Tobias Daniel Wabbel: Der Templerschatz: Eine Spurensuche, Gütersloher Verlagshaus 2010, ISBN 978-3579065472
• Barbara Frale: The Chinon Chart. Papal absolution to the last Templar, Master Jacques de Molay, in: Journal of Medieval History 30 (2004), S. 109-134
• Barbara Frale: L' ultima battaglia dei Templari: dal codice ombra d'obbedienza militare alla costruzione del processo per eresia. Viella, Rom 2001, ISBN 88-8334-037-X
• Barbara Frale: Strategia di un delitto: Filippo il Bello e il cerimoniale segreto dei Templari. Giunti, Florenz 2001, ISBN 88-09-02052-9
• Barbara Frale: Il papato e il processo ai templari: l'inedita assoluzione di Chinon alla luce della diplomatica pontificia. Viella, Rom 2003 (= La corte dei papi, 12), ISBN 88-8334-098-1 (Elektronische Version der Seiten 9-48, PDF)
• Barbara Frale: I templari. Il Mulino, Bologna 2004, ISBN 88-15-09798-8
• Jules Michelet: Le procés des templiers. Imprimerie Royale, Paris 1841, 2 Bände; Nachdruck, mit einem Vorwort von Jean Favier, Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques, Paris 1987, ISBN 2-7355-0161-2, ISBN 2-7355-0162-0
• Dieter H. Wolf: Internationales Templerlexikon, Innsbruck 2003, ISBN 3-7065-1826-0
• Piers Paul Read: Die Templer, München 2005, ISBN 978-3-86820-042-3.
• Frank Onusseit: Tempelritter für Dummies, Weinheim 2008, ISBN 978-3-527-70353-1.
• Andreas Beck: Der Untergang der Templer, Freiburg 1997, ISBN 3-451-04575-3.
• Malcom Barber: Die Templer. Geschichte und Mythos, Mannheim 2010, ISBN 978-3-491-96276-7.
• Rudolf Steiner: Die okkulten Wahrheiten alter Mythen und Sagen, GA 92 (1999), ISBN 3-7274-0920-7 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
• Rudolf Steiner: Die Tempellegende und die Goldene Legende , GA 93 (1991), ISBN 3-7274-0930-4 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
• Rudolf Steiner: Das christliche Mysterium, GA 97 (1998), ISBN 3-7274-0970-3 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
• Rudolf Steiner: Innere Entwicklungsimpulse der Menschheit. Goethe und die Krisis des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts, GA 171 (1984), ISBN 3-7274-1710-2 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org
• Rudolf Steiner: Konferenzen mit den Lehrern der Freien Waldorfschule 1919 bis 1924, GA 300 a-c (1995)
• Rudolf Steiner: Vorträge und Kurse über christlich-religiöses Wirken, V, GA 346 (2001), ISBN 3-7274-3460-0 English: rsarchive.org German: pdf pdf(2) html mobi epub archive.org

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