La Maisnie Champenoise - Knights Templar, Hospitallers, Teutonic Knights, etc.

The Knights Templar

History - Grand Masters - Symbols

CROSSES

Introduced in 1147, the "cross gules" or red cross quickly became the Temple's exclusive sign, so much so that chroniclers still refer to it as the "cross of the Temple" or the "Templar cross", without always specifying its color, which suggests that everyone knew its shapes and colors. All the crosses used by the Order of the Temple are shown below:

SEALS

This "Seal of the Army of Christ" (Sigillum Militum Xpisti) is one of the most famous seals of the Order of the Temple and belonged to the 19th Grand Master, Renaud de Vichiers: it represents two knights on one horse, with a spear pointing forwards and the horse galloping from dexter (right) to sinister (left). The knights are messengers of the Temple, heralding the Light from the East.

This seal may symbolize the Order's initial poverty, paying homage to its first two members, Hugh de Payens and Geoffrey de St Omer, when the Temple's army was still called the Order of the Poor Knights of Christ. On a deeper level, it also symbolizes the order's dual nature (exoteric and esoteric, warrior and monastic), as well as man's dual nature (divine and human), and finally it also represents the being's division into the spiritus (spirit), animus (soul) and corpus (body).
Some other seals often used by the Knights Templar are as follows:

THE SECRET TEMPLAR ALPHABET

The first mission assigned to the Knights Templar was to guarantee the safety of all pilgrims in the Holy Land. They soon strayed from this duty and amassed such wealth that they became the treasurers of the king and the pope. As a security measure, they encrypted letters of credit that they had issued between their 9 000 commanderies. Their substitution alphabet was deduced from the so-called "cross of the eight beatitudes", which stood as the order's emblem:

They replaced each letter with a symbol, according to the following system of substitution:

THE NUMBERS 3, 8 AND 9

In traditional societies, numerals and numbers were not only used for expressing quantities, but also for establishing links or symbolic media, because they express ideas and forces, and constitute "living beings" gifted with strength or vital flows that move an invisible yet real "current" when pronounced, which will influence the ambient reality to which the numeral or number refers. The cosmos is a set of numbers, which explains the importance of their interpretation, representing one of the oldest symbolic practices.
Plato made it the very highest degree of knowledge and the very essence of the inner, cosmic harmony.
According to St Martin, numerals and numbers are the visible envelopes of beings, determining both their physical harmony and their vital, spatial and temporal forces, and their interdependent relations with the First Principle. They are principles that are co-eternal with truth and derived from the Divine Spirit.
In the words of the philosopher Philolaus: "It is the nature of number which teaches us all things that would otherwise remain impenetrable and unknown to every man. Truth is the proper, innate character of number".
Numbers can be decrypted to penetrate the heart of the Knowledge of the visible and invisible worlds and reach the substance of the divine. This numerical power was not lost on the Temple, which favored certain fundamental numbers that it added to the multiple aspects of its spiritual and temporal existence. Modern authors, failing to stay rational, have multiplied the "Templar numbers" at will and according to their mood, whereas others have done the exact opposite in talking about sheer chance. As far as the latter case is concerned, the downside is that although chance did not exist for a traditional mindset (such as in the Middle Ages), the few numbers curiously and repeatedly used by the Temple had to come from somewhere. These numbers could only "come" from a "subtle reality", a transcendental reality coming from the Spirit, the Supreme Principle, in order to "mark" and "inform" the being of the Temple, giving it its own personality in accordance with its nature and mission.
Three numbers are encountered within the order: 3, 9 (three squared) and 8.

The number 3 (omnipresent)

The 3 religious vows (common to all monastic orders).
The 3 mandatory alms every week.
The 3 annual fasts.
The 3 meals per day.
The 3 meat meals per week.
The 3 presentations of the novice before the Chapter prior to the reception ceremony.
The obligation to accept a 3 against 1 fight.
The 3 assaults of the enemy before the Temple's counterattack.
The 3 horses that the Knight Templar received when setting off on an expedition.
The obligation for every Knight Templar to freeze 3 steps in front of the master's abacus.
The 3 masses per week that the order's chaplains had to celebrate.
The 3 "obscene kisses" during initiation proceedings, given to the brothers by those receiving: kisses on the lips, navel and backbone, according to Hughes de Bure, or on the mouth, anus and penis, according to Raoul de Gisy (see B. Marillier, op. cit.).
The 3 signs of the cross that the Templars had to make before engaging in combat.
The 3 colors of the Temple.
The 3 provinces of the Temple of the East.
The 3 keys to the coffers held by the Grand Master and two other high dignitaries of the order.
The 3 high dignitaries of the order ranking above all other knights: the Grand Master, the Seneschal and the Marshal.
The 3 groups of knight brothers on horseback, forming a Temple squadron.
The 3 windows or groups of windows often allowing light into the order's churches and chapels.
The 3 rows inside the Templar churches and chapels.

The number 3 is universally essential. It is the first indivisible number and expresses the spiritual and intellectual in God, the universe and man. That was already the meaning given to it by the Celts. It is the synthesis of the being's trinity, where it is the union of 1 (male principle) and 2 (female principle), i.e. the union of Heaven and Earth. Consequently, 3 is the most complete expression of the divine, the cosmic harmony and the full accomplishment of the revelation. It is also the number for all sorts of triads (spirit/soul/body, life/death/resurrection, heaven/earth/hell, and so on) and pagan (especially Indo-European) and Christian divine Trinities.

The number 9

The 9 traditional founders of the order.
The 9 Knights Templar required to form a commandery.
The 9 provinces of the Temple of the West.
The 9 years' preparation for the Temple (1118 to 1127).
The 72 articles (7 + 2 = 9) of the Primitive Rule.
The 180 years (1 + 8 + 0 = 9) for which the order was in existence.
The 9 000 Templar commanderies (unverifiable number given by Matthieu Paris).
The 117 (1 + 1 + 7 = 9) charges leveled at the order during the Inquisition.
The death of the last Grand Master, Jacques de Molay, also characterized by the number 9: he was executed on March 18 (1 + 8 = 9), 1314 (1 + 3 + 1 + 4 = 9).

The number 9, the last of the single numbers, has a strong ritual value. It announces both the end and the beginning, therefore a transposition to a new plane, leading to a rebirth. The number 9 measures the gestation period and symbolizes the reward for hard work and the accomplishment of the creation. The number of the novena (nine days of prayer), the source of grace, 9 (Aeneas) is the number of steps (Jacob's and Joseph of Arimathea's ladders feature 9 rungs) to be cleared by he who is looking for God, in the image of the 9th tarot card, the Hermit or the Pilgrim. Finally, 9 is the number of he who fulfils the Divine Will.

The number 8

The 8 days of penitence to be suffered by a Knight Templar guilty of a venial sin.
The 8 sacraments received by the Knights Templar.
The 8 angles of the cross pattee humettee.
The 8 articles of the oath taken by the future Knight Templar.

But the number 8 is especially prevalent in the Temple's architecture, in the form of octagonal churches and chapels, although the Knights Templar did not do so every time.

The number 8 also refers to the cosmic balance, because it is the number produced when adding the four cardinal points and the four intermediate directions.

The number 8 signifies the sentence for the impious and the reward for the righteous, and symbolizes accomplishment and the Advent, hence its Marian nature.

Above all, the number 8, following the 7 days of Creation, represents the "path" to another life, a rebirth and a resurrection. That is why baptismal fonts and the first baptisteries used to be octagonal (churches in Poitiers, Fréjus, Aix-en-Provence, Ravenna, etc.).

Through the Christly octagon, we pass from the profane, terrestrial world (represented by the square) to the sacred, celestial world (represented by the circle or dome). This was the role played by Templar churches and chapels.

Also note that the number 8 symbolizes the judgment of the Lamb, as indicated in the Book of Revelation, of the righteous and Christ considered, just like Melchizedek, like the figure of the "King of Justice" or the "King of the World".

ABRAXAS

Abraxas, a magic and sacred formula, was used by Greek Gnostics to designate the name of the god of the year. The word originates from the first seven letters of God's name in Hebrew and refers to the seven planets, the seven archangels, the seven deadly sins, the seven days, and so on. When factorized according to the Greek number system and added together, the seven letters of the word give the number of the annual cycle - i.e. 365. It therefore stands as the symbol of all of Creation, the cosmos and Knowledge (gnosis). According to St Jerome, Abraxas corresponded to the mystical and hidden number of Mithras, the sum of whose letters in Greek (MEIOPAE) also produces 365.

Abraxas stones come in the form of intaglios (semiprecious stones with an incised engraving) or gems mounted on a ring worn by Gnostic Christians and later by Templar Grand Masters, who often used it as a counter-seal or in seals. These gems date back to the 2nd century AD, to the time of the famous Gnostic philosopher Basilides of Alexandria, whose doctrine attempted to synthesize the Christian, Egyptian, Mithraic, Greek and Celtic movements; some of the information from this doctrine can be found in the Temple's doctrine. The Order of the Temple used Abraxas stones at the time of Hugh de Payens, who inherited it from the family of the Counts of Champagne and who revived its usage. Abraxas stones were not used exclusively by the Knights Templar. They were consistently used throughout the Middle Ages and spread within guilds, particularly master builders and stone-cutters, and within middle classes and the nobility.

The central figure is a composite being with a man's chest and upper limbs, wearing a classical-style breastplate, but the arms unprotected. He has the head of a rooster turned to the right or left, with the beak facing forward or lifted heavenwards. His lower limbs consist of two snakes bent towards the top. The monster is holding two objects: a shield in the right hand and a whip or flagellum in the left hand, sometimes replaced with a staff. This strange creature combines several symbols of a "mythical-divine" nature, whose initiation value was not lost on the Knights Templar.

First of all, the two complementary symbols - the rooster (in this case, replacing the eagle) and the snake. The rooster, symbolizing wisdom and vigilance, crowed to drive away the darkness and allow the sun to rise and shine. It embodies the Initiate who is reborn after the initiatory death of the night in the light of a new life cleansed of all stains. The snake, personifying the telluric and chthonian forces, symbolizes the telluric energy required for the process for rebirth, for a new life sublimated by the Knowledge procured by the Good, with the snakes' heads looking heavenwards, the universe of the perfect Spirit. By periodically sloughing its skin, the snake is the sign of the perpetual, original movement and the eternal succession of the cycles. The classical-style breastplate signifies the need to fight to acquire Knowledge and Wisdom, which are never given but conquered. The shield, which often bears the Greek letters I A W (iota, alpha, omega) symbolizes the protection of the Initiate in his quest for Knowledge and Wisdom, and the whip or staff represents power.

The Abraxas used by the Temple (generally almost exclusively by the Grand Master and the high dignitaries) is often accompanied by three Greek letters, which are then placed not on the shield but on the edge of the seal, and seven stars bearing the seven letters of the name Abraxas. The inscription is always the same: SECRETVM TEMPLI, which speaks for itself.

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