Part II
In this part . . .
This part is the heart of the Templar story. Chapter 4 takes you inside the secret universe of a Templar pre-ceptory, to experience the daily life of a Templar knight, the harsh and demanding Templar Rule, the organization of a Chapter House, and the grueling ritual that was the ordinary routine for these warriors of God. The story follows the Templars to the battlefield, where their strict adherence to the code made them the most courageously exposed — and the most feared — warriors of their age.
At the height of their power, the only direction left to go was down. Chapter 5 shows how Fate laid heavy blows on the Order, the loss of the Crusader states, the shock of their arrest and trial, the torments of the Inquisition, and the tragedy of an unimaginable end. Chapter 6 undertakes a little cold-case detective work, by taking a look at the accusations made against the Templar Order — and the likelihood of truth in any of them.
Chapter 4
In This Chapter
● Understanding the day-to-day life of a Templar knight
● Dealing with the heavy burden of sacrifice
● Getting to know the officers in charge
● Living in a Templar commandery
● Identifying the symbols of the Templars
If you’ve done any reading about the Templars, you’ve probably heard lots of rumors. Chief among them was that they were incredibly wealthy, with holdings in the billions (with a b), the most powerful investment bankers in Europe. We’ll let you in on a little secret — it’s all true. But there’s so much more to tell. In order to gain a real picture of the Knights Templar, you need to look at the day-to-day life of the Order.
In this chapter, we describe how the Order was organized and governed on a day-to-day basis. We explain the harsh, everyday life of a typical Templar warrior monk and what was expected of him from the Order. And we wrap up with an examination of the many symbols that are associated with the Templars.
A Standard Unlike Any Other
If you didn’t take a closer look, you could get the wrong impression about the Templar Order — you could easily assume that their title of the Poor Knights of Solomon was nothing but the worst sort of hypocrisy. The Templar Order was wealthy beyond measure; the individual Templar knight was anything but rich. The Templars lived in what a historian might call “extreme monastic asceticism.” We would call it, well, squalor. And it wasn’t even a messy squalor, apart from the various droppings of the barnyard animals all over the place. You have to actually own something before that something can end up lying around in messy piles.
All money from tithes and properties, all gold or possessions of any sort, belonged to the order as a whole. Everything was held communally, without any wealth in the hands of an individual. If a Templar was given a gift as reward for some service, he had to turn it over to the Master. If some small trinket or gift of remembrance was given to a knight by his family, he had to have the Master’s permission to keep it. He couldn’t even trade something to another knight without getting permission first. If a knight were given money to buy something for the community, he had to return every penny he didn’t spend. In fact, if a Templar was found to have money on his person or amongst his things after he died, he was refused burial in consecrated ground. According to the Templar Rule of Order of Conduct, his body was to be thrown to the dogs. If his hidden money was discovered after his burial, he was dug up and then thrown to the dogs. You just didn’t mess with these guys.
In the medieval world, a great deal was expected of a Christian, even an everyday churchgoer. A priest or monk was expected to make a greater commitment still, and a Crusader knight was expected to risk his life for his faith. But no one made a greater sacrifice for his faith than a Knight Templar. He was expected to live in absolute poverty, with no personal possessions apart from his weapons and the clothes on his back. He was expected, like a monk, to give up any and all sexual pleasure, and do without the comfort of a wife and family. But a monk was not expected to make war for his faith — and a Templar was. In fact, a monk was not even permitted to carry arms, and if he found himself in a war zone by an accident of fate, all he had to do was duck, cover, and pray until the calamity passed. No such luck for the Templars.
A Templar was expected to risk his life on Crusade in the same fashion as any other warrior knight. Actually, he was expected to take a much greater risk. In order to live up to the Templars’ reputation, a Templar knight was forbidden to retreat from any battlefield unless the enemy had at least a 3-to-1 superiority over them. An ordinary Crusader knight could use tactics, and he could retreat to regroup if he saw any danger of annihilation. A Templar had to carry into battle with him the heavy burden of being God’s chosen warrior. Which meant, of course, that a very large percentage of Templars were carried off the battlefield on their shields, never to see their homes again.
The Templar Rule
Eventually, nearly 700 rules governed the life of a Knight Templar (expanded from the original 72 rules drawn up at the Council of Troyes). Those rules covered every subject imaginable, and the level of nitpickiness is absolutely staggering. Basically, a Templar couldn’t spit without being told how much to spit, how high, how far, at what time of day, and how many times a day.
Templars lived by the holy rule of the Cistercian monks, with a weighty encyclopedia of added rules tacked on just for them. The Cistercians were a relatively new order of monks who had organized in 1098 in Dijon, France. (Yes, where the mustard comes from.) What made the Cistercians — and, by extension, the Templars — different for their period was that they organized themselves to follow the strict rules of conduct set down more than 500 years before by St. Benedict.
Benedict had been the son of a Roman nobleman, but in his early 20s, he moved to the countryside and lived out a hermit-like existence in a cave for three years. He determined that only by hard work, extreme poverty, and isolation could he best clear his mind to contemplate, serve, and understand God. His example became the classic definition of monasticism. His written guidelines for the monastic life — the Rule of St. Benedict — was not for everyone, not even for all devout servants of the Church. He believed that religious people needed to have social contact. But he also believed that a very small, special group of people in society had what it took to live a strict, isolated life solely dedicated to God.
Patterned after St. Benedict’s example and the even tougher rules of the Cistercians (who thought the Benedictines had it easy), the Rule of the Templars was put together over the course of a century, which is why it sometimes contains an annoying amount of duplication. But the first draft was probably written, for the most part, by the Templars’ first powerful sponsor, Bernard of Clairvaux, who would become St. Bernard after his death.
Over and over again in the Rule of the Templars are certain general rules regarding the overall carriage and behavior of a Templar. A Knight Templar was not to laugh to excess, or to indulge in practical jokes or horseplay; he was to remain silent whenever possible, and was not to raise his voice, except to be heard on the battlefield; he was not to indulge in any displays of anger; he was not to gossip, about anyone or anything. During the period from late afternoon until Mass the next morning, they observed the Grand Silence, and no talking was allowed. Even apart from the Grand Silence, Templars are told that “to talk too much is not without sin,” and “idle talk and wicked bursts of laughter” were forbidden.
Even the Templar knight’s spartan diet was very rigidly controlled, and when he was in the field or roaming around in the Holy Land, he was expected to adhere to it as much as possible.
Apart from all these generalities, there were some pretty unbelievable specifics. And they stemmed from the doubly demanding organization of the Order.
Warriors and monks
Crusading knights took vows that were already tied to the teachings of the Church. Although there was no exact set of rules for all knights, generally the code of Christian chivalry included
● Believing in the teachings of the Church and its rules
● Agreeing to defend the Church
● Being true to your own country, your king, and your feudal lord
● Respecting and defending the weak, while fighting against injustice
● Waging ceaseless and merciless war on the infidel
● Pledging your word, your parole, with honor on pain of death
These were the general guidelines for the Templar knights as well. What made the Templars different was the addition of the vows of a religious order. The monastic life, for any order, required very stringent rules, and the combination of warrior/monk made for a doubly-heavy burden of duty and self-denial. Any man who joined them was making an amazing commitment, because the traditional vows of a monk were poverty, chastity, and obedience — three tough ones if ever there were.
Not all Templars took the rigid religious vows. Some were already married. They were called Fratres Conjugati (Married Brothers), and they simply signed up for a limited hitch and then went home to their wives. It was also possible to join for a set period of time and then be released, like joining the army today. And non-Latin Christians, often of mixed races, could join as sergeants. These “temporary” knights wore a black or brown mantle with a red cross, to clearly distinguish them from the lifetime members, as well as the knights of noble birth, who wore the famous white mantle, signifying their celibacy. Often, these short-timers were from rich and noble families. Serving in the Order was a form of what the Catholic Church called a plenary indulgence, meaning the forgiveness of sin in heaven with the payment of money down here on earth. The written indulgence you were given even covered sins you hadn’t committed yet, which is a handy thing to have around the house. Often these lay brothers connected to the Order left them land or monies in their wills, adding to the Templars’ wealth.
Templar do’s and don’ts
In trying to understand what life was like for a Templar night on a day-to-day basis, it might be better to start with what he couldn’t do, rather than with
what he could do. The list of don’ts is a much, much longer list. On reading it for the first time, you may think that all the joys of life, even the simplest, were forbidden a Templar. It’s even more depressing to think that all 687 rules were not yellowing documents lying around in the back of a closet — they were rigidly and precisely enforced, by a hierarchy of officers (see “Who’s in Charge around Here?”, later in this chapter).
Here are just of few of the more niggling and overbearing strictures under which a Templar had to live his life:
● A Templar was forbidden to eat meat more than three times a week, except at Christmas.
● A Templar knight was not allowed to decorate his horse, bridle, or
saddle, particularly not with the gold or silver plaques that were popular in this period for other Crusading knights.
● A Templar was forbidden to have a lock, anywhere, on anything.
● A Templar was forbidden to stand as godfather for any child.
● Even though Templars were called to prayer in the middle of the night, they were forbidden to sleep in complete darkness, “so that shadowy enemies may not lead them to wickedness.” There would be no hanky-panky in a Templar commandery.
● Falconry and all hunting for amusement were forbidden.
● Carrying any letters from home in your possession was forbidden. When someone wrote to you, the message was read to you, with the Master’s permission.
● Even “excessive abstinence” was forbidden, because it indulged the sin of pride. Sometimes you just couldn’t win for losing.
A Templar day planner
Not only was every form of behavior controlled, but so was every moment of the day. The Templars lived in godliness, hour by hour, and even minute by minute. The day was divided into 12 hours, and the night into 12 hours.
There were what were considered seven sacred (or canonical) times of day, each with its own Latin name: Matins, Prime, Terse, Sext, Nones, Vespers, and Compline. See Table 4-1 for a list of the canonical hours and what went on when.
|
Table 4-1 |
A Day in the Life of a Templar |
|
|
Time |
Sacred Hours |
Activity |
|
2 a.m. |
Matins |
Brothers to join in prayers. Then see to horses and equipment, check in with their squires. Sleep till dawn. |
|
6 a.m. |
Prime |
Morning mass. |
|
9 a.m. |
Terse |
Prayers or quiet reading. |
|
Noon |
Sext |
Mass if not heard earlier; then repair armor and equipment, pegs or tent posts, or other work followed by lunch. Knights eat at first seating, sergeants at second, while a chaplain reads aloud. Then go to chapel to give thanks, ask for Lord's help in tasks. |
|
3 p.m. |
Nones |
Vigils for the dead, prayers for the needs of the Order. |
|
Dusk |
Vespers |
Evening prayer, followed by supper. |
|
Dark |
Compline |
A communal drink with all brethren, followed by prayer and the Grand Silence. Then check horses and equipment before bed. |
|
8 p.m. |
Bed |
This dreary schedule would change on Feast Days or Holy Days, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse — an incredible number of fasts were scattered throughout the schedule for the year. The bells calling the chapter to their prayers were never silent for very long. As you can see from the timetable, a knight wasn’t accustomed to being able to get eight hours of sleep at one time. The time of Matins, the middle-of-the-night prayers, could change from season to season, or from one chapter house to another, but generally speaking, a knight had to get up halfway through the night to pray and to check over his gear, particularly in the field. Because he was only permitted a hard, narrow cot, one blanket of wool, and one bolster (pillow), and he had to wear his clothes and boots while sleeping, it’s not likely that he was sleeping that deeply anyway. Also, these Matins prayers were silent. The Grand Silence had to be obeyed from Compline until Prime the next morning.
Templars ate twice in a day — once at Sext, and again after Vespers. There was one bowl for every two knights which they ate from together. Curiously, the point was so that they could keep an eye on each other and make sure each brother knight ate enough, and didn’t engage in “undue abstinence.” They did drink wine, but they were supposed to dilute it with water. Drunkenness would not be tolerated (although in the waning years of the Order, the term “drink like a Templar” was a common description of being on an all-night bender). The meals were anything but gourmet fare, but what was perhaps even more difficult for the talkative sort was the fact that chatting over a meal was absolutely forbidden. The knights ate in silence, while a clerk or chaplain brother read aloud from the Bible. Every meal. Every day. A Templar ate to keep his body functioning for God, not to enjoy the cuisine or the company.
The length of their surcoat (the long, cloth tunic worn over the top of their armor or chainmail) and hair were specified; types of shirts and styles of shoes approved and forbidden; even the various shades of white used in their surcoats were addressed. To be away from all this fun and games, particularly for more than one night, required the permission of the Master, just like a sophomore needing a hall pass to go to the bathroom.
No women allowed
Women were cut utterly and completely from a Templar’s life, and he was expressly forbidden any contact with them. He was not allowed to kiss a woman under any circumstances, even if she were his mother or sister. Kissing a woman was considered unseemly and could “rouse dangerous passions.” Any carnal contact with a “sinful woman” carried one of the harshest penalties in the Order — the knight’s habit was taken from him, he was paraded in chains to be shamed before his brothers, and then he was kicked out of the Order for all time.
The pride and the power
You may be thinking that only some sort of masochist would want to take on this life. But there were compensations, strange as some of them may seem today. For a devout Christian, being the lords over such a faraway place, the place where Jesus Christ lived and preached and was crucified, was an exciting life. And wherever they walked, these knights were given more than admiration — they inspired awe.
Templars walked with popes and kings, their shining humility and piety untouched by the many scandals that were demeaning the papacy and many of the other monasteries and nunneries in this period.
Masters of a Templar chapter or the Grand Master of the Temple were given extraordinary powers, because they had the complete trust of men in power. They often had plenipotentiary power, meaning the right to bargain in the name of the pope or the king with the enemy. They also had the right to hear confessions and offer absolution if a priest was unavailable (for example, in a time of plague).
One pleasant thing, apart from a love of God, is a constant theme that runs through the Templar Rule — the care of sick and elderly brothers. Despite the oppressive silence between brothers, the lack of fun or laughter, the Master expected these men to bond closely to one another, in war and in peace. Templars took a great deal of pride in their willingness to protect one another, and never to desert each other on the battlefield.
Punishment and penance
What good is it if you have rules, but no form of punishment? The Rule of the Templars also set out types of penance and punishment to be meted out to members of the Order who broke the rules. These weren’t unusual — most monastic orders set down similar kinds of guidelines.
When a member was charged with breaking the rules, he was summoned to a meeting of everyone in the Commandery. The charges were read out, and the offending brother was expected to confess his sins. When he did so or, more rarely, mounted a defense, he was escorted from the room, and the assembled brothers determined his punishment, or in the case of a serious offense, referred the case for a trial.
Among other offenses, a Templar knight could be stripped of his rank (called loss of habit) for fighting with a fellow brother, hurting a fellow Christian in anger, losing or killing a slave or a horse, having sex with a woman, or defacing the Templar uniform.
A Templar could be expelled from the Order (called loss of house) and sent off to serve as a Cistercian monk for committing sodomy, heresy, treason, or cowardice on the battlefield; for murdering a Christian; or for bearing false witness against a brother. The belief was that life as a warrior was a privilege, and being sentenced to a period of solitude and reflection would aid in the offending knight’s reformation and teach him piety and obedience — along with putting him in a nice quiet place away from the commandery.
Who's in Charge around Here ?
Every organization has to have its hierarchy, but the Templars’ was unique. In this section, we cover some of their principal officers — these guys come into play in any discussion of the Templars in war or peace.
These offices were called bailies, meaning something entrusted to someone. It’s the root word for the more familiar term of bailiff.
Grand Master
This office was for life, and the Grand Master was in charge of the entire Order, worldwide. Throughout history, a couple of men retired from the position of Grand Master, with the pope’s permission, but for the most part, dying was the only way out of the job.
The election for Grand Master was held in the East, at the Templar headquarters. It would have been impossible to leave the office empty long enough to wait for emissaries of the Western chapters to go East and vote, and so those commanders simply prayed for a worthy outcome.
There was a reason that the election of the Grand Master was a worrisome enough matter to need their prayers: The Templar Grand Master was a very important person politically. The Templars spent the bulk of their time in the Holy Land (roughly the modern nations of Israel, Lebanon, and Syria), and they knew the language, tactics, and attitudes of the Muslim enemy. This knowledge, in combination with their premier skills as warriors, made the input of the Templars very important in any council of war or peace. When new regiments of knights and soldiers arrived at Acre, which was the Templars’ principal port, the first man they wanted a powwow with was the Grand Master, and sometimes the Grand Master of the Knights Hospitallers, as well. (The main mission of the Hospitallers was to care for the wounded, as guarding the pilgrims had been for the Templars.) Though it was well known in later years that the Templars and the Hospitallers were great rivals, in the early days of the Crusades they appeared to work together and fight together very well.
Master and Commander
The Master and Commander was the local commander in charge of the commandery. He had complete command in the field.
Seneschal
The Seneschal was the right-hand man for the Master and was sometimes called a Grand Commander. In peace, the Seneschal administered all the lands belonging to the chapter house. In war, he handled the movement of the men, the pack trains, the food procurement, and other issues of moving an army.
Turcopolier
This officer was the third in line militarily. He was in command of the light cavalry and the Sergeant brothers.
Marshal
The position of Marshal was a very important one on the battlefield: The Marshal was in charge of all arms, as well as all horses. He was very much a military man, and a Master would usually consult with him, as well as the Seneschal and the Turcopolier, before making any final decisions on tactics.
Under-Marshal
The first officer under the marshal, the Under-Marshal was in charge of the lesser equipment, bridles, padding for saddles, barrels of water, and other supply problems. He held a very important position in battle, because he held the piebald banner, a flag at the head of all, to keep stragglers together.
Standard Bearer
Also called the Confanonier, the Standard Bearer was in charge of the squires. He was their paymaster, their disciplinarian, and the man who checked over their very important work of keeping the knights’ horses and weapons in good order. He didn’t actually “bear the standard” in battle — he marched in front of the banner and led his marching column.
Knight
The knight was the backbone of the battlefield. Knights were the equivalent of the cavalry. A small force of knights was very powerful, skilled in warfare, clad in armor, able to take on a large number of foot soldiers. Only a man whose father and grandfather both had been knights could become one, and if he were caught lying about his lineage, the penalty was severe. No bastard (illegitimate) son could be a knight.
The knights dressed in the famous white habit, adorned with a red cross. There was no mistaking a Templar knight on the battlefield. Hair was cut
short, but knights were forbidden to shave their beards, probably in keeping with the Muslim belief that a beard was a sign of greater masculinity. No sense giving your enemies a reason not to respect you.
Sergeant
Usually from a lower social class than the more noble knights, the Sergeant was still a light cavalry officer, the chief support officer for the knight. Sergeants dressed in a black tunic, and a black or brown mantle, often with a red cross.
Treasurer
The Treasurer’s duties are clear — this was the guy who kept the books.
Draper
The Draper was in charge of all the clothing and bed linen of everyone in the Order. He also had the power to oversee everyone of every rank, and to chastise them if their clothing was not proper for their position, or if anything decorated it, such as a collar of fur on a knight’s white robe or mantle. The Draper was sort of like the fashion police.
Squires
Squires were the young men who, just like in the movies, were there to assist the knight in any way possible, from polishing his weapons to feeding his horses. The difference for a Templar Squire is that this was often a hired position, especially in the first hundred years of the Order. It was only later that many Squires were there specifically to test themselves and their mettle, and to climb to the order of knight.
Lay Servants
Lay Servants could run the gamut, from masons brought in to do building or repair work, to personal servants, to an officer. The hierarchical statutes of the Templar Rule laid out precisely how many of such servants each officer was allowed to have. For a Templar to have too many would be a sin of pride.
Chaplain brothers
One of the most important positions within a Templar commandery was that of the Chaplain brother. The job came with many delicate layers of meaning underneath. He was sort of the internal priest for the Order. He had the power to hear confessions and to give absolution for sins. In fact, Templars were forbidden to say their confession to anyone else without a papal dispensation, which simply means special permission from the pope. This is a very important point, because in effect, what the pope did was to make the Templars spiritually, as well as politically, independent from the rest of the Church. They were not answerable to local clerics or bishops, but only to the pope.
The Templar Commandery: Medieval Fortress and City
When he was not on Crusade, or on some other mission for the Order, a Templar knight generally lived in a place called a commandery or preceptory. This was a complex of buildings that formed a small Templar city, often built around a military stronghold that had either been built by the knights or been given over to them to guard.
The usage of both of these terms interchangeably emphasizes two of the purposes of the Templar stronghold. As a commandery, it was the military outpost for the Latin States (the nations founded in the Holy Land by the Crusading powers), as well as an armory and a defensive stronghold. The word preceptory implies one of its other duties, which was as a school, a place to train new recruits for the Order.
City within a city
At the height of their power, the huge tracts of land held by the Templars in major European cities like London or Paris was nothing short of astonishing. They were self-contained communities within already established cities, with their own local government, municipal infrastructure, law-enforcement, treasury, building and maintenance crews, and food supply.
The signature round churches
Not every Templar church was round like the one that survives today in London, but many were. The distinctive round Templar churches were designed to pay homage to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, and they had a definite Eastern influence. Templar commanderies from Hungary to Portugal to the South of France feature these gorgeous medieval curiosities of construction. The Templars were enthusiastic builders and developed much of their architecture from Byzantine examples. They were unlike anything the Europeans were constructing.
It’s simply a matter of good luck that one of the loveliest and best-preserved of them is not, like so many other Templar sites, in a difficult place for a typical tourist to find. It is easily situated in the heart of downtown London.
The area where the Templar Church (see Figure 4-1) is located is still called Temple Hill, in recognition of the fact that the 5 square miles around it were once Temple property. After the dissolution of the Templar Order in 1307, the area became a magnet for attorneys. It is now the odd and unique area of London called the Inns of Court, a huge, labyrinth complex of brownstones that is office and home for the city’s lawyers and law students. But be careful when you go to take a look — the Inns of Court are considered private property, and the huge doors set in the brick walls surrounding it are only open during certain hours of the day.
Figure 4-1: The Templar Church in London is one of the best surviving examples of Templar architecture.
In the floor of the round nave are full-sized stone effigies, the burial place for the knights and lords who donated the land to the Templars. It’s difficult to believe the church was bombed by the Nazis during World War II — it has been extensively restored as a breathtaking architectural time capsule.
Symbols of the Templars
A wide variety of insignias, emblems, flags, seals, and other images have been attributed to the Templars. The general image most often applied to the Order is an image of two knights riding the same horse, which was visual shorthand that symbolized both their poverty and their ferocity. In reality, the Templar Rule said no knight could own more than three horses, but knights were forbidden to share them — a situation where Christian charity had to give way to military practicality. And there is no shortage of irony that, in spite of this image of poverty, the Templars went on to become the richest religious order in the world.
Different meanings have been attached to the symbol of the two knights over the centuries, but the duality of the symbol can be seen as representing the Templars’ roles as both warriors and monks, poor individually but rich as an order, or, as was alleged after their arrest and trials, a symbol of homosexuality — all of which seem far from the mark of the original meaning.
The red cross
When the Crusades began, the term “to take the cross” really meant what it said. Pilgrims, princes, knights, and paupers took strips of red cloth and sewed them to their clothes in the shape of a cross. So the red cross was not strictly a Templar symbol.
The cross officially adopted by the Templars in 1146 is the Cross of Jerusalem (see Figure 4-2). What makes it distinctive are the lines making up the cross that are of even length (unlike the more common crucifix with a longer vertical line). It is believed that the Templars adopted this form of cross after seeing it in Coptic Churches, an Eastern Orthodox branch of Christianity founded in Egypt.
Figure 4-2: The Cross of Jerusalem.
The cross pattee is similar, in that the horizontal and vertical lines are of equal length, but they are thicker, and the ends are splayed out, supposedly resembling a lion’s paw (see Figure 4-3). A similar design was used by other Orders such as the Knights Hospitallers during the same period, usually appearing in white on their black mantles. And it survived into the 20th century as the German and Prussian Iron Cross medal.
Figure 4-3: The cross pattee.
A related symbol that is often attributed to the Templars, the Maltese Cross (see Figure 4-4), is also slightly different. It became the symbol of the Knights Hospitallers in later years when they changed their name to the Knights of Malta (or their more proper name today, the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta). Its ends form eight points, which are said to symbolize the eight beatitudes of Christianity, spoken by Christ in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7): “Blessed are the poor in spirit, the meek, those who seek justice, the mourners, the merciful, the clean of heart, the peacemakers, and the persecuted.” And you just thought it was a cool design.
Figure 4-4: The Maltese Cross.
The Beauseant
Banners and flags have always been important on the battlefield, both as an easily seen rallying point for troops, as well as a handy identifying device so you didn’t kill your own troops. The banner of the Templars was called the Beauseant, which some claim meant “be noble” or “be glorious.”
The banner itself was a black square over a white square, and it is theorized that this symbolized the concept of “darkness to light” (see Figure 4-5). The black stood for the sinful, secular world, and the white for purity and goodness. In later years, the red Templar cross was added to the banner.
Figure 4-5: The Beauseant, the banner of the Templars.
The Templars took the flying of the Beauseant in battle very seriously. Ten brothers were assigned before a battle to protect the banner, and there were harsh punishments for losing it, dropping or defacing it, failing to fly it while knights still fought, or using its flagpole as a weapon. It was also forbidden for Templars to retreat from a battle if the Beauseant was still flying. No wonder the Templars were always last to retreat from battle — they got punished if they stopped flying the flag during the battle, and punished if they stopped fighting while it still flew!
Skull and crossbones
The symbol of the skull and crossbones has long been believed to be an image tied to the Templar Order, but this one is probably more legend than fact. The flag flown by pirates known today as the Jolly Roger has long been claimed to have been flown by Templar ships after the arrest and elimination of the Order in 1307. Because the knights were on the run, so the tale goes, they had no country and no allegiance to the Catholic Church. The skull has long been a symbol of mortality and death, and these former knights would have doubtlessly mourned the deaths of their brethren and of their Order. No country would give them sanctuary, so they had no choice but to become pirates. Well, okay. It could be true.
The first association between the Templars and a skull seems to be in the equally legendary story of the Skull of Sidon. (Here we go again.) This story goes that a Templar knight broke his vows and fell in love with a woman. When she died, he was so lovesick that he dug up her body and had carnal relations with the corpse. A voice spoke to him afterward that told him to return to the grave in nine months, where he would find a son. When he did so, all that was in the grave was a skull on top of two crossed leg bones. The same voice told him to guard the skull and it would protect him and bring him good fortune. He did so, and it is said that by merely showing the magic head to his enemies, they would retreat in fear. Not exactly a heartwarming tale of romance.
The story actually predated the creation of the Templars, but by the 1300s, it had been attached to them anyway. When the Templars were tried for heresy, it formed the basis of one of the many accusations against them — namely, that the knights worshipped an unholy head of some kind. The story varied, and some believed they were, in fact, worshipping the head of John the Baptist, or of their first Grand Master, Hughes de Payens. And then there could have been another one, called Baphomet. (For more about this head-worshipping business, see Chapter 6.)
The problem for the Templars when they went to trial was that they had done a pretty good public relations job of circulating stories like these to frighten their enemies. Unfortunately, when they lost their favor with the Church, these creepy, occult, and unquestionably heretical stories came back and were used against them as proof that they were up to no good.
When the Freemasons created an order of Masonic Knights Templar in the 1700s, their ceremonial aprons featured a skull and crossbones, and the symbol was also used on the headstones of their deceased members. (For more about the Masonic Templars, see Chapter 8.)
By the way, in case you wondered, the term Jolly Roger is thought to have come from a red flag flown by French ships, referred to as a jolie rouge. The current term is probably a combination of an English mispronunciation of the French term and the obvious description of the grinning skull.