>>14347033 (LB)
THE DARK HISTORY OF THE KNIGHTS TEMPLAR
A French-Jewish nobleman, Hugues de Payens, together with eight
other crusaders of Jewish origin, including Andre de Montbard,
Geoffroi Bisol and Geoffroi de Saint-Omer officially founded the Order
of the Knights Templar in 1118. There is, however, certain infor-
mation that the order was actually founded four years earlier
(Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, "The Temple and the Lodge", Lon-
don, 1998, p. 72). In 1114, the bishop of Chartres mentioned "la
Milice du Christ" in a letter, the name by which the order was
originally known. The bishop could hardly have got the year wrong,
since he died the following year.
Hugues de Payens became the first grand master of the order. The
freemasons Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas claim that there
were originally eleven Knights Templar, who attempted to secure safe
passage between the port of Jaffa and Jerusalem (Christopher Knight,
Robert Lomas, "The Second Messiah: Templars, The Turin Shroud &
The Great Secret of Freemasonry", London, 1998, p. 111). They called themselves the Poor Knights of Solomon's Temple, where they were first based. Jerusalem was liberated from Muslim rule 19 years earlier (1099), but the Christian armies who occupied the city and the
surrounding area were under constant threat from enemy Arabs. For
this reason the Church was grateful for the services of de Payens and his knights.
A secret Jewish order was behind these men, the Order of Zion
(l'Ordre de Sion), founded in the monastery of Notre-Dame du Mont
de Sion, on mount Zion, just south of Jerusalem, in June 1099 by the
39 year-old Godfroi de Bouillon, duke of Lorraine - a descendant of
Guillem de Gellone, who was of the seed and tribe of David. The first
grand master of the order was Hugues de Payens, who later founded the Knights Templar. Another member was Andre de Montbard. The original name was Chevaliers de l'Ordre de Notre-Dame de Sion. There is information that suggests that the Order of Zion may have been founded already in 1090 (Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln, "Holy Blood, Holy Grail", p 111).
The elite of the Order of Zion has consisted of 13 leaders. The order's main goal was always to reinstate the Merovingian dynasty (Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln, "The Messianic Legacy", London, 1987, p 381).
When Jerusalem was conquered during the Crusades in 1100, a
Merovingian, Baldwin I - the younger brother of Godfrey of Bouillon,
was the first king of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
This secret movement also founded the Knights Templar and
constituted its ruling core. The Order of Zion was the invisible head
organization and the Knights Templar its military and administrative
branch. Up to 1188, these two orders had the same grand master.
The Knights Templar saluted each other with: "Hail, Zion!" or "Zion be
praised!"
Bertrand de Blanchefort, a grand master of the Knights Templar
between 1156-69, was also grand master of the Order of Zion (1153-
1188). He is said to have been a Cathar. Originally, all grand masters
were Cathars. The castle of Blanchefort is situated in the area of the
Mediterranean coast west of the Rhone which was then called
Septimania and which was principally populated by Jews. Septimania
was also known as Gothia (Gotie). As early as A. D. 391, the area was inhabited by the Goths, who founded a kingdom in southern Gaul around A. D. 418, the capital of which was Toulouse.
Many Jewish Merovingians were later counted as Visigoths. For this
reason they were often called 'Goths'. Intermarriage had been
common.
In 768, a Jewish kingdom was founded in Septimania. The king-
dom was practically independent and Mosaic law was enforced. Tou-
louse and Narbonne were the most important centres for the Jews.
Many Jews had Christian slaves.
Architects of Deception, pg.33,34 Juri Lina