Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Secrets of the Templars

From Medievalists:
Introduction: The eighty-eight charges against the Templars which were used as the basis of interrogations in the proceedings against the Templars in the British Isles, 1309 – 11, included the charge that admissions into the Order were secret, and that only brothers of the order were present.

Item xxxvj’ q[uo]d recepciones fratrum suo[rum] clamdestine fiebant.
Item xxxvij’ q[uo]d nullis presentib[us] nisi fratrib[us] dicti ordinis. 

Outside the British Isles, there is some evidence that outsiders could attend Templar admission ceremonies. Often cited is the example of the German Templar, was arrested and interrogated within France, who stated that in Germany honest, respectable outsiders could attend. However, within the British Isles, all the Templars testified that only Templars attended receptiones, although some qualified their statements. But was this true? The evidence actually given by the Templars and non-Templars suggests that some of them had attended admission ceremonies before becoming full members of the Order. (Read more.)
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