The Truth Behind the Knights Templar: Some Say the Knights Found the Holy Grail

20, 2006 — The mystery of the Knights Templar has been in the public conscious lately because of their portrayal as the guardians of the Holy Grail in Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code" and other contemporary works.

Intrigue and controversy, though, have followed them since medieval times.

"I think every generation hopes that there is a secret, there is one secret and if only we could get the key to that secret we would understand so much and we all look for it in past movements," said the Rev. Robin Griffith-Jones, the mater of the Temple Church and an expert on the Knights Templar.

The Knights Templar began in 1120 as a band of modest monks who took up arms to protect pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem.

"The Knights Templar were conspicuously brave," Griffith-Jones said. "They were dreaded and feared in equal measure by the enemy. They were known among the European forces to be the most talented and ferocious fighters."

The knights were handsomely rewarded for their services by rich patrons. They amassed a great wealth and held sway over kings and popes.

Just as fast as they appeared, they disappeared from sight. In the early 14th century, King Phillip of France declared the Knights Templar heretics, hunted them down, and raided their vast treasuries.

Since then, their legend has grown.

"This is a rich ground for fantasy, for theory, for dreams, for questions to which we will never really know the answers," Griffith-Jones said.

After being wiped out by King Philip, the surviving members formed a new group, the Freemasons, some say. They are rumored to have found the Holy Grail and other religious secrets in Jerusalem.

"We hope that there is something, a key discovered in ages gone by, and if only we could pick up that key and turn the lock, vast amounts would be revealed," Griffith-Jones said.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=1864996...TC-RSSFeeds0312

Some say that on the night before king Phillip arrested the knights, they loaded their vast treasure onto a few ships and sailed off to Wales. Also, after the knights were arrested, they were brutaly tortured, and later admitted to spitting and urinating on the cross, in addition to stealing from the poor. No one knows if they were lying just to end the torture or confessing their sins They were also burned at the stake.

I'm not sure if I remember this correctly, but the knights later held many of their meetings in king solomon's castle, where they found the Holy Grail nad the Shroud of Turin.

That is without doubt the most significant sentence. It's a legend.

There is no evidence that the Templars claimed to have found the Holy Grail (for that matter there is no evidence that the Holy Grail ever existed)

There is no evidence that the Templars formed the Freemasons, and indeed many Freemasons now deny their society is so old.

There is no evidence that anything was loaded onto the Templar fleet, and there is certainly no evidence about what happened to that fleet

On second thoughts, perhaps this is the most significant sentence:

When acre fell to the Mamluks in 1291 the grandmaster died as well as a number of knights after the accursed tower fell and the egyptian and Syrian forces battled their way into the city. The Grandmaster and most of his knights died as they defended their compound with sultan impatient threw 2,000 of his best troops in the ruins with the foundations collapsing, killing all within.

Roger De Flor was a templar at the time and left before the city fell and charged the rich frankisn citizens of Acre extortion amounts of money to bring them to cyprus or maybe frankish held areas of Greece. The money he made from that endeavoe he formed the catalan grand company which was mercenray group which worked for the Byzantine Emperor. After De Flors murder by Byzantine agents under the Emperor's son the CRC went on the ramage, razing large parts of Thrace and greece eventually taking Athens and held it till the Ottomans would expand into Greece and seize the city.

It is possible that a Templar ship left the holy land with the Templar treasury, there was certainly alot of time to do so, at least by the time The king of Cyprus arrived to aid the garrison in its final days. Before the Templars arrest in Paris Jaques De Molay almost certainly knew, maybe not to its extent, but partially knew at least that the King of France was out to curb or maybe even finish the order. De Molay may well could have gave the order for templar ships to make their escape maybe from La Rochelle or another friendly port. He would not want to have left ready treasure into the French kings hands a man whose greed was well knowed.

Certainly not every templar was captured or killed many eacsped to england, scotland, and portugal. England imprisoned the templars for a time but Edward II did not carry out any executions and was very lenient and the portugeuse left the templars with many becoming the Knights of Christ, another military order. So it was perfetcly possible that Templar treasure existed maybe used to bribe kings and princes to allow them safe passage or sanctuary in their lands. If it contained any holy relics we will perhaps never know but it was certainly not impossible that they may have some valuable artifacts

The evidence that the Templars claimed to have found the Grail is the article provided surely?

I wouldn't state so clearly that they do not or have not ever existed, that would be a little foolish, and besides personally I believe all legend stems from truth or an actual event.

Interesting post!

their "legend" has grown.

"This is a rich ground for "fantasy", for "theory", for "dreams", for "questions" to which we will "never really know" the answers," Griffith-Jones said.

After being wiped out by King Philip, the surviving members formed a new group, the Freemasons, "some say". They are "rumored" to have found the Holy Grail and other religious secrets in Jerusalem.

"We "hope" that there is something...

this is speculation at best....

Sorry, unless I have missed it the only "evidence" in that article is the unfrounded rambling of someone who should know better, claiming that it is "rumoured" that the Knights Templar "may" have found the Holy Grail. I know of no source contemporary with the Knights Templar in which they make any claim to have found the Holy Grail, it is something that later theorists and fantasists have attributed to them. Neither is there any evidence that the Holy Grail exists - in fact it is almost unheard of until the 12th century at the earliest, suggesting very strongly that its very existence is a myth.

I'm not saying that it's in any way conclusive proof that the grail didn't exist, but I will stick by my original assertions that there is no evidence that the Templars claimed to have found the grail, no real evidence that the grail existed, no evidence connecting the Templars and Freemasons, and no evidence as to what happened to the Templar ships or what was aboard them.

Frankly, I'm disgusted by the actions of the Rev. Griffith-Jones. He should know that his words will carry weight amongst people wishing to believe them, and he should never have allowed such unfounded speculation to escape his lips in the guise of history.

I agree that many legends stem from truth, but a great many can be shown to have derived either from fiction or from unconnected history. Just because it's a legend doesn't mean that it hasn't come from imagination or confusion.

^^^ why dont you just rename yourself on the members name page to supersceptic or something?

(I dont think your listening to reason so there's no point me arguing)

A thousand apologies, I clearly misunderstood you. I'd be delighted to listen to reasoned debate

My main point though was (and is) that although several modern theorists have suggested that the Templars might have found the holy grail there is a: no evidence to support such a claim, and b: no evidence that the Templars themselves ever made such a claim themselves.

The interview with Rev. Griffith-Jones is unfounded speculation, but if you know of any actual evidence which supported his claims I'm sure we'd all be delighted for you to share it.

BUT, if no actual evidence (by which I mean real evidence recorded at the time of the Templars or very shortly afterwards) can be produced then any claims that the Templars found the grail is, and will remain, modern myth.

I'm not a supersceptic, I just happen to believe that the Templars have had more unfounded speculation written about them as though it were history than any other group, and would like in my own small way to try to seperate history from fantasy.

Good arguement. If Foxe didn't apologize and their was a fight thread, I would of told you guys to take it their

If i tried to submit an essay at Uni and claimed that the proof that it was fact was that i had written an essay on it my teacher would quite rightly give me zero and if i continued in such a vein i would soon be refused acceptance for any of my ideas

hm..
i thought the knight templars only carried the pandoras box.
Didn't moses used the pandoras box to evaporate the water to create a way?
legend tells that the knight templar carried a box. maybe they meant they carried something in the box.

blah little confused.

HAHA If I claimed the bible was written by man through the word of GOD i would be laughed at, If I claim the Bible was written by man and man alone I would be laughed at.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_Templar

Did they exist and have power,yes. Did the church ex-communicate them yes, did the church destroy history,yes. DID the Church change the world for it's own benefit and profit/power? OH YES.

The Catholic church destroyed much of man's history do imply there own doctrine. The destruction of the past was a means to the future,for the church.

Religion tried to destroy Science,now Science will destroy religion.

Live not your life to a doctrine written by those who seek power,through false tactics, live as though you already own them. The church was always for you, not for THEM.

Pandora's box is an ancient Greek legend about a gift from the gods contraining all the evils of the world which Pandora (herself a product of the gods) is told not to open. Naturally she does and all the terrible things which infest our world are let free. Later, Pandora opens the box again and hope is released.

Unless I'm very much mistaken Pandora's box has nothing to do with Moses or Templars. According to the Bible, the Israelites used the power of the Ark of the Covenant to part the Jordan, and I suspect this is what you are thinking of. The Templars have nothing to do with the Ark of the Covenant either.

The Shroud of Turin was and is a fake. It is not the burial cloth of Jesus. It was a work of art in the medieval times. It was not uncommon for painters to use a technique of shadowing on cloth.

I believe another legend was that the Templars had the still living and talking head of John the Baptist in a Box and it gave them advice. A direct link to God perhaps. And a very far fetched legend.

Another legend said the head in a box was called Baphomet, who was supposedly a Demon.

I don't believe that there has ever been any evidence about these legends one way or the other. I think both were Medieval propaganda.

I don't believe anyone has ever found the Holy Grail. It is more a symbol then an actual relic of Jesus.

The Medieval Templars were destroyed because they lended money to the monarchs of Europe. Specifically, the King of France, who had the Pope at that time under his thumb.

Hitler was found holly grail but it was not what he expected so he killed the man who found it.

After that holly grail is somwhere in Germany or perhaps in Swiss bank!

Hitler didn't find the Holy Grail, the Grail is not a solid object. Supposedly its the bloodline of Jesus Christ. Now what Hitler found in Vienna, Austria, was the Spear of Destiny, as legend has it.

On March 12, 1938, the day Hitler annexed Austria, he arrived in Vienna a conquering hero (some reports state he spent one or two days at his mother’s grave in Linz before going to Vienna on the third or fourth day after the Anschluss). One version of the legend has him going straight to the Schatzkammer in the Hofburg Imperial Palace to take possession of the Spear; in another version he has Col. Buch collect it up and bring it to him at a State Dinner being held in his honor at the Royal Palace. Again the tales are divided on whether Hitler kept the Spear in his possession for months or immediately sent it to St. Katherine’s Church in Nuremberg, the spiritual capital of Nazi Germany.

Though a number of historians cast doubt on Hitler's obsession with the Spear as it was reported by Trevor Ravenscroft et al, recent work by researcher and author Alec MacLellan has unearthed material from Ravenscroft's original source that seems to validate some of stranger assertions. In fact, Ravenscroft's primary source, Walter Stein, did speak with an Irish newspaper reporter, repeating what Ravenscroft quoted.

Ravenscroft maintained that the spear came into the possession of the United States of America on April 30, 1945; specifically, under the control of the 3rd Army led by General George Patton. Later that day, supposedly in fulfillment of the legend that to lose the Spear meant death, Hitler committed suicide. Patton became fascinated by the ancient weapon and had its authenticity verified. Patton did not go on to use the spear, as orders came down from General Dwight Eisenhower that the complete Habsburg regalia including the Spear of Longinus were to be returned to the Hofburg Palace, where it remains today. This part of the legend has recently been shown to be quite false. The spear was not recovered until a month or more after Hitler's alleged suicide, and Patton never had possession of it. It is interesting to note that George Patton, in his poem Through a Glass Darkly, curiously posits himself as Longinus in a previous lifetime.

Ravenscroft was not the only post-war college professor and author to add to the Spear mythos. Dr. Howard A. Buechner, M.D., professor of medicine at Tulane and then L.S.U., added a strange chapter to the tale in his two books on the Spear. He was contacted by a former U-boat submariner who claimed to have helped take the Spear of Destiny to Antarctica in 1945 and to have helped to recover it in 1979. Buechner was a retired Colonel with the U.S. Army who served in World War II, and had written a book on the Dachau massacre as a witness to the event. He was presented by the pseudonymous “Capt. Wilhelm Bernhart” with the log of the 1979 Hartmann Expedition and photos of some of the objects recovered.

According to Buechner, the Spear currently on display in the Schatzkammer in Vienna is a fake. He claims that he had evidence that Heinrich Himmler, head of the Occult Bureau of the SS, had formed a circle of Knights dedicated to the Holy Lance and further, had Japan's greatest swordsmaker create an exact duplicate of the lance. Buechner claimed that the duplicate went on display in Nuremberg while the real one was used in arcane black magic ceremonies in a specially appointed castle in Wewelsburg, Germany. Even wilder, he wrote that Hitler personally had selected Col. Maximilian Hartmann to send several of his most prized possessions, including the Spear of Destiny, and Hitler and Eva Braun's ashes to Antarctica. According to him Col. Hartmann recovered the Spear of Destiny from the ice in 1979 and it is now in hiding somewhere in Europe, in the possession of the Knights of the Holy Lance.

source - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spear_of_destiny

Interesting. Wales is where the Jewish and Roman historians record the last leaders of the first Christians heading off to after the destruction of the Temple.
First leader was James the Just, then a couple of his cousins, and then the Jutus family leaders which were supposed to have gone to Wales. ( I posted this on another thread about early Christians.)

This is an idea which was popularized in the Da Vinci Code. However, the grail is not, in fact, the bloodline of Christ, but rather the cup which holds the blood of Christ. That could be interpreted to mean a bloodline, but it can (and usually is) also be interpreted to mean an actual cup. Specifically, the cup from which Christ drank at the last supper.

There are many films featuring the holy grail in this form, most notably Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and the slightly more silly Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

-Pilgrim

I loved Indiana Jones movies ! What exactly the grail is, is a very hazy picture for me. There is no proof of a physical cup nor a timeline of the bloodline. Who knows !! I'll stick with Monty Python !

Being the supersceptic that I am (hehe, that still makes me chuckle) I was going to point out that the bloodline theory is only one possible idea, and frankly it's not one of the best. Although it has recently been popularized by the Da Vinci Nonsense it was, I believe, first posited by Baigent and Leigh in their equally ludicrous work Holy Blood and the Holy Grail. Since so much of Holy Blood has since been shown to be ridiculous nonsense it throws a massive shadow of doubt over the whole theory. Incidentally, did anyone else see the interview in which Michael Baigent was forced into admitting that many of the sources used in Holy Blood were largely untrustworthy, and that they had actually been duped into believing stuff which people had just made up? He squirmed and tried to wriggle out of it, but in the end had to admit mistakes - it was fantastic.

I would go further in fact. To my knowledge the very earliest mentions of the Holy Grail come not from Christ's own time, or the time of his immediate followers, but from the mid-medieval period, more than a millennium later. Since the grail remained entirely unheard of for over a thousand years, then suddenly exploded into popular culture, we really have to consider the possibility that it was in fact an invention of the medieval storytellers. If that were indeed the case then the Holy Grail could only be what they told us it was, the actual cup used by Christ at the last supper.

On a scale of silliness I would put Monty Python somewhere between Indiana Jones and the Da Vinci Code.

This is true. The grail first appeared in romances of the late 12th and early 13th centuries. The Arthurian Legend, which with the grail is closely associated, actually predates it by several centuries. Given this, the very existance of the grail must be called into question.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_grail

-Pilgrim

I think the mythos concerning the Ark of the Covenant is more interesting...since it's actually Biblical and apparently really did exist--(or, as a skeptic would say, early churches were said to/claimed to have it.)

Plus, this Indiana Jones movie was more interesting.

And if there is no holy grail?

Would it change anything?