Term Paper on "Pirates and Lost Templar"

Term Paper 5 pages (1654 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

David Hatcher Childress' historical conspiracy theory of Pirates and the Lost Templar Fleet: The Secret Naval War Between the Knights Templar and the Vatican

David Hatcher Childress' book Pirates and The Lost Templar Fleet: The Secret Naval War Between the Knights Templar and the Vatican is a nonfiction book that often reads like a fictional mystery or adventure tale. It is composed of historical documentation, pared with speculation, photographs, and reconstructed scenes between historical figures, which only contributes to this sense of the book as kind of a historical nonfiction novel as well as a book that relates a historical theory. On one side of the conflict is the Vatican, seething with resentment at the wealth and power of the Knights Templar, an organization designed to live a life of poverty in the military service of the Church. On the other side is the Templars, a holy band of brother-soldiers who are enraged that the Church they have helped win land, territory, and power has now turned against their sect for political purposes.

To tell the story of the conflict between the Templars and the Vatican, Childress focuses on the greatest unsolved historical mystery regarding the Templars and proposes a solution. It is especially interesting to read this book in today's context, where issues about early Christian secrets, as debated in the fictional Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, the recent media attention given to the radical Catholic splinter sect Opus Dei, and even the election of the new Pope Benedict have brought issues about the influence of secret or mystery sects in the development of the Catholic religion to the forefront of international attention. More traditional Catholics may not like Childress' occasional wild speculation, which presents an unflattering portrait of the Vatican, but his method of telling history book, drawing together Medieval history, the history of maps and sea navigation, as well as the politics of the European kings and the Roman Catholic popes, makes for a fascinating tale.

The book also provides a history of the Templars, a now little-known sect. The original purpose of this secret organization was to act as an elite military unit of the Church. The Pope banded together the first Templars and charged them with protecting Christian pilgrims going to the Holy Land. The Templars were created as a kind of elite unit, along the lines of the earlier Knights Hospitaller to defend the Holy Land, and to become what Childress calls the founders of a New Jerusalem. Unlike the Knights, they were an extremely secret organization as well as militarily defenders of the crusaders.

Thus, the Templars began as a kind of military religious brotherhood, almost like monks. Also like monks, the Templars took a vow of poverty. But rather than live in seclusion, the Templars lived and fought in the world, often accumulating money and land as they fought, and eventually dealing in international commerce. Also, because the order of the Templars as a whole was allowed to accumulate wealth, the organization grew rich. Originally the members of the order survived, on charity from wealthy and pious patrons, but so many wealthy Christians gave Templars gifts and treasures, and the Templars were so successful in commerce and war that gradually the Templar coffers began to rival the treasures within the Vatican itself.

Also, a great deal of the money was used to make the Templars more militarily powerful, which meant that the Templars posed a potential military threat to the authority of the Pope unlike those of, for example, wealthy monasteries. The persons who composed the organization also grew increasingly elite in terms of their birth and training. The organization drew many persons experienced in commerce who often seemed more eager to free from the taxation and tithes imposed on other orders than to live a holy life. The members of the Templars began to fight with the Vatican as to how to dispose of the spoils they had won in war.

Overall, in this depiction a very unflattering portrait of the Church emerges, much like the obsessively secretive, political and canny world of The Da Vinci Code. However, Childress does not idealize the Knights. They too, like the Vatican of the day, were a powerful, wealthy, and elite secret organization with their own hierarchy and leaders, even though they were supposed to operate only under Vatican command.

Of course, this state of affairs, of a conflict between the Church and one of its own created bodies, could not stand for long. In 1307 King of France, Philip IV and the Pope disbanded the order of the Knights Templar. Knowing the wealth of the organization, Phillip had the Templars arrested on a charge heresy. This was the only charge that would allow the King to get the Templar ships under his control. The Templars were called to stand trial.

But after the order, all of the Templar's ships and treasures suddenly vanished from the port where they were located.

How could such an extensive fighting force vanish into thin air from La Rochelle?

One theory is that some Templars fled to Canada. That would make them some of the earliest recorded travelers to the New World. Because they were so active during the crusades, the Templars, Childress believes, may have had extensive maps. He speculates that perhaps Columbus may have relied upon some of the Templar's records when he set sail. Regardless, now that the Templars were released from church control, the Templars were free to do what they wished with their considerable riches and military expertise. Once they lived in the service of the Church, but now they despised the Church and all it represented.

First, after leaving in secret from La Rochelle in Southern France Childress believes some of the renegade Templars hid in Scotland. Later, some of the remaining Templars were commissioned by the St. Clair family of Rosslyn Chapel in 1298 to make a voyage to Canada. Scotland, the St. Clairs, and the Rosslyn Chapel are all linked to the beginnings of another secret organization, the Scottish Rite Masons who later became the Freemasons. Childress notes that many of the Founding Fathers of America were believed to have been Freemasons. Contrary to the open and democratic image of George Washington and James Madison portrayed in the media, these men had another side to their lives. But this, Childress notes, does not mean that readers should think less of these men for being Freemasons. The influence of the Knights Templar and the Freemasons is one reason that America has freedom of religion -- after the historical persecutions the Templars had endured in France, their brother and sister organizations strongly supported freedom for all, regardless of creed.

Not all of the Templar's influences were so positive. Childress also traces the development of the Templar's renegade fleet of ships to the Pirates of the Caribbean, later made famous in a Disney World ride and a feature film. The Pirates of the Caribbean were feared for they flew the skull and crossbones, which often meant death to any ship that they encountered. The skull and cross bones were a kind of reformed symbol of the Knights Templar, who used to fly under a red cross on a white flag.

It is interesting to note how the skull and crossbones, which many readers probably think is a generic symbol of pirates is connected to the Templar and their specific mission to capture Vatican ships, for gold and for revenge. Childress also shows how the Templars created another term popular in the terminology -- "Jolly Roger," which refers to the skull and crossbones when flown against a red rather than a black background, which means that the ship is prepared for war. The first man to fly the flag was King "top" Roger… READ MORE

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