The Continuation of the Order.
But the persecution of the Templars in the fourteenth century does
not close the history of the Order; for, though the Knights were
spoliated, the Order was not annihilated. In truth, the cavaliers were
not guilty,--the brother hood was not suppressed,--and, startling as
is the assertion, there has been a succession of Knights Templars from
the twelfth century down even to these days; the chain of transmission
is perfect in all its links. Jacques de Molay, the Grand Master at
the time of the persecution, anticipating his own martyrdom, appointed
as his successor, in power and dignity, Johannes Marcus Larmenius
of Jerusalem, and from that time to the present there has been a
regular and uninterrupted line of Grand Masters. The charter[27] by
which the supreme authority has been transmitted, is judicial and
conclusive evidence of the Order's continued existence. The charter of
transmission, with the signatures of the various chiefs of the Temple,
is still preserved at Paris, with the ancient statutes of the Order,
the rituals, the records, the seals, the standards, and other memorials
of the early Templars.
The brotherhood has been headed by the bravest cavaliers of France,
by men who, jealous of the dignities of Knighthood, would admit no
corruption, no base copies of the orders of chivalry, and who thought
that the shield of their nobility was enriched by the impress of the
Templars' red cross. Bertrand du Guesclin was the Grand Master from
1357 till his death in 1380, and he was the only French commander who
prevailed over the chivalry of our Edward III. From 1478 to 1497, we
may mark Robert Lenoncourt, a cavalier of one of the most ancient and
valiant families of Lorraine. Phillippe Chabot, a renowned captain in
the reign of Francis I., wielded the staff of power from 1516 to
1543. The illustrious family of Montmorency appear as Knights Templars,
and Henry, the first Duke, was the chief of the Order from the year
1574 to 1614. At the close of the seventeenth century, the Grand Master
was James Henry de Duras, a marshal of France, the nephew of Turenne,
and one of the most skilful soldiers of Louis XIV. The Grand Masters
from 1724 to 1776 were three princes of the royal Bourbon family. The
names and years of power of these royal personages who acknowledged
the dignity of the Order of the Temple, were Louis Augustus Bourbon,
Duke of Maine, 1724-1737,--Louis Henry Bourbon Conde, 1737-1741,--and
Louis Francis Bourbon Conty, 1741-1746. The successor of these princes
in the Grand Mastership of the Temple was Louis Hercules Timoleon,
Duke de Cosse Brissac, the descendant of an ancient family long
celebrated in French history for its loyalty and gallant bearing. He
accepted the office in 1776, and sustained it till he died in the
cause of royalty at the beginning of the French Revolution. The Order
has now at its head Sir William Sidney Smith, of chivalric renown,
who became Regent upon the death of the late Grand Master, Bernard
Raymond Fabré Palaprat. The high and heroic character of Sir Sidney
Smith,[28]--whose deeds of arms at St. Jean d'Acre, rivalling those of
the Royal Crusader, Richard I, obtained for him by Eastern Nations the
appellation of the modern "Cœur de Lion,"--specially pointed him out as
the most worthy of Christian Knights to fill this eminent station. He
who with such noble philanthropy founded and presided over the Society
of Knights Liberators of the White Slaves in Africa, cannot but shed
additional lustre on the Soldiery of the Temple, whose professed object
originally was, and yet is, the protection of defenceless pilgrims, and
the rescuing of Christians from Infidel bondage. Under such a Chief the
Order must prosper, and there are now Colleges or Establishments in
England and in many of the principal Cities of Europe.
[Illustration: BERTRAND DU GUESCLIN,
_From a Wood-cut in a rare gothic folio, printed at Lyons, 1490,
preserved in the Bibliothèque Royale, Paris; and called the "Chronique
de Bertrand du Guesclin."_]
[Illustration: ADMIRAL SIR SIDNEY SMITH. _Engraved by W. Greatbatch
from a picture by F. Opie R.A._]
Thus the very ancient and sovereign Order of the Temple is in full
and chivalric existence, like those Orders of Knighthood which were
either formed in imitation of it, or had their origin in the same noble
principles of chivalry. It has mourned as well as flourished, but
there is in its nature and constitution a principle of vitality which
has carried it through all the storms of fate; its continuance, by
representatives as well as by title, is as indisputable a fact as the
existence of any other chivalric fraternity. The Templars of these days
claim no titular rank, yet their station is so far identified with that
of the other Orders of Knighthood, that they assert equal purity of
descent from the same bright source of chivalry; nor is it possible to
impugn the legitimate claims to honourable estimation, which the modern
brethren of the Temple derive from the antiquity and pristine lustre of
their Order, without at the same time shaking to its centre the whole
venerable fabric of knightly honour.
After this short account of the continuation of the Order, which
we have extracted from Mill's Chivalry, it may be interesting to
describe the present nature and objects of the Institution; and we
shall accordingly make a brief abstract of the statutes established
by the Convent-General held at Versailles in 1705, under the Grand
Mastership of the Regent Duke of Orleans, and by succeeding General
Convocations, so far as they relate to these subjects. The Order of the
Fellow Soldiers of the Temple consists of two distinct classes, termed
a Superior and Inferior Militia; the former comprising all Knights
consecrated according to rites, rules, and usages, with their Esquires;
and the latter, the humbler brethren or persons admitted _propter
artem_, and the candidates, or as they are designated, the _postulants_
for the honours of Chivalry. Except as a serving brother,[29] no one
is eligible even to the lower grade, who is not of distinguished
rank in society, which in Great Britain is understood to imply that
station in life which would entitle a gentleman to attend the Court
of his Sovereign. The Candidate must moreover be strongly recommended
by Sponsors as a Christian of liberal education, eminent for virtue,
morals, and good breeding, and in no case is a scrutiny into these
qualifications dispensed with, unless the aspirant be a Knight of
Christ, a Teutonic Knight, or the descendant of a Knight Templar.
Should he be ambitious of the rank of Novice Esquire, which usually
precedes Knighthood, he is farther called on to produce proofs of
nobility in the fourth generation; and a deficiency in this requisite
can only be supplied by a formal decree of the Grand Master, conferring
on him the nobility necessary for his reception. Considerable fees
are paid by all entrants; and members, on being promoted to the
equestrian honours of the Order, are expected to make an oblation to
the Treasury, the amount of which cannot be less than four drams of
gold,[30] but generally very far exceeds that sum. Before receiving the
vow of profession, which is still administered to all Chevaliers,[31]
the Candidate makes a solemn declaration either that he does not
belong to the Order of Malta,[32] or that he abjures the spirit of
rival hostility which actuated the Knights of St. John in former days
against the Templars. These preliminaries being arranged, his petition
is finally decided on, either in a Conventual house, or by the special
legate of the Grand Master, in whose name only his reception can be
proclaimed, and once armed a Knight, and consecrated a Chevalier of the
Temple, he cannot on any pretence whatever renounce the Order.[33]
At the head of the Hierarchy of the Order, ranks the Convent-General,
or assembly of the Knights, but the executive power is vested in the
Grand Master, whose authority is almost unbounded. He is elected
for life from among the Knights, and it is declared impious to
substitute a successor to him unless he be deceased, or shall have
voluntarily abdicated; he may even nominate his successor by testament
or otherwise to the Convent-General. He can create new houses and
dignities on the Order, cancelling those already constituted, remit
penalties, and confer all benefices and offices, the collation to
which is not specially provided for in the statutes. He confirms all
Diplomas of profession and patents of appointment, and may send legates
possessing powers delegated by himself to different countries. His
interpretation of the laws is valid, even against a statute of the
Convent-General, and he alone has the power of proposing alterations in
the rules to that assembly.
Next in honour to the Grand Master, unless he has publicly appointed a
delegate or successor, are his four Deputes, or _Vicarii Magistrales_,
who are nominated by himself, and removable at his pleasure. After
these follow the Members of the Grand Council, which consists of the
Supreme Preceptor, and eight Grand Preceptors, the Primate of the
Order, and his four Coadjutors General, with all the Grand Priors,
Ministers, and other principal dignitaries that may be present at the
Magisterial City. Each nation of the Order is presided over by its
Grand Prior, appointed for life, whose language comprises the various
subordinate divisions of Bailiwicks or Provinces; Commanderies;
Convents of Knights and Noviciate Esquires; Abbeys of Ladies and
Canonesses; Chapters of Postulants, and Conclaves of Initiation. Except
in special cases, no Chevalier is eligible for a Commandery before
the expiration of two years from his having obtained the honours of
knighthood, and in like manner no Commander can be appointed a Bailli,
nor any Bailli a Grand Prior, before the same period has intervened.
In order that the objects of the Institution may be distinctly
understood, we shall now proceed to translate a decree by the present
Grand Master, bearing date the 4th September 1826, in explanation of
the Vow of Profession which has been already referred to, observing, at
the same time, that the Order of the Temple, being exclusively devoted
to the Christian religion, cannot be considered in the slightest degree
connected with Free Masonry, which, it is well known, welcomes equally
to its bosom the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and the Mahommedan,
requiring from each only a belief in a Divine Being, with a just sense
of moral rectitude and conscientious obligation.
The decree alluded to states, that as the Vow contains many
_dispositions_ which, misconstructed, might appear incompatible with
the advance of knowledge and manners of the age, it is declared that
Candidates sign it under the following interpretation:--
_1st_, That by the Vow of Poverty, the Order does not mean to submit
the Chevaliers to an absolute poverty, but to remind them that they
ought always to be ready to share their fortune with the unfortunate,
and to sacrifice it for the wants of the Order.
_2d_, That the vow of chastity, and of abhorring lewdness, is the
solemn engagement of fulfilling the obligation that society imposes on
all men to labour to overcome their vicious propensities, in order not
to outrage either decency or morality.
_3d_, That the obedience due to the Grand Master, and to the
dignitaries of the Order, does not exclude the duty imposed on every
chevalier of conforming himself, as a man, to natural right, and of
obeying, as a citizen, the government of his country.
_4th_, Lastly, That the Templars are not actuated by the desire of
material conquests,--that their principal aim is not to recover the
dominions of which the Order was despoiled, or the earth which received
the body of Jesus the Christ, but to reconquer to the doctrine for
which was precipitated into the tomb that divine preceptor of men,--the
empire which it always had over the people when it was revealed to them
in all its purity,--in a word, that the Templars are not ambitious of
subduing the physical universe to their domination, but the nations
that cover it to Christian morality.
It has frequently been asserted, that the Templars have always
professed a religion peculiar to themselves, and much at variance with
almost every religious creed at present in existence, but on this
subject it is only necessary to say here, that although they possess
many religious documents of an extraordinary nature, and, amongst
others, a very ancient Greek manuscript of _Evangile_ and the Epistle
of St. John, differing from the version contained in the vulgate, yet
no chevalier is obliged to subscribe to them unless he be a candidate
for certain offices in the Order. This subject is fully explained in
a work lately published at Paris, "Recherches Historiques sur les
Templiers et sur leurs Croyances Religieuses par J. Plivard, officier
superieur d'Artillerie;" and, for the present, we are unwilling to
enter upon it, not having as yet received the _proces verbal_ of the
Convent-General of the Order, lately assembled at Paris, to which
the following question, under the authority of the Grand Master, was
submitted:--"L'ordre etant Cosmopolite, et d'après le veu de profession
dans la Chevalerie, est il convenable de laisser subsister dans les
statuts des dispositions par lesquelles certains officiers de l'Ordre
ne pouvent être choisis que parmis les Chevaliers professant la
religion Johannite?"
The habit of the Order[34] consists, as formerly, of the white tunic
and mantle, with the red cross on the left breast; a white cap with
a red feather; a white silk sash fringed with red; white pantaloons,
buff-boots, gold spurs and an equestrian sword with a silver hilt. The
dress differs somewhat according to the rank of the individual, but
every Chevalier is bound to wear the gold ring of profession, with the
Cross of the Order, and the letters, P. D. E. P.[35] together with
his own name, and the date of his reception engraven thereon. Each
Knight also is decorated with the conventual cross or jewel of the
Order, which consists of a gold cross of eight points enamelled white,
surmounted by the Grand Master's crown, and bearing on its centre a
cross pattee enamelled gules.
In concluding these observations, we regret to say that the Order
of the Temple, notwithstanding its undeniable claims to honourable
distinction, has never enjoyed much consideration amongst our
countrymen. Its exclusive character, together with the great expense
and difficulty which attend admission into its ranks, no Englishman
being legitimately eligible, unless formally recommended by the
illustrious Grand Prior of England, has raised against it a host of
enemies. Hence, calumnies have been propagated against it, and an
institution perfectly unconnected with politics, and actuated by the
purest principles of Christian Philanthropy,[36] has been represented
as engendering false notions of Government and wild infidelity. But
the registers of the Temple contain the respected names of Massillon
and Fenelon; Frederick the Great, and Napoleon[37] sanctioned its
ceremonies, and honoured its officers; and even in these days, princes
of the blood, and some of the most illustrious nobles, of our own
and other countries, have not disdained to display the humble ring
of profession, along with the gorgeous decorations of the Garter
and the Golden Fleece. Scattered over the mighty empire of Great
Britain, there are not more than forty subjects of Her Majesty who are
Knights Templars; and the whole Members of the Order do not probably
at this moment exceed three hundred; but we assert, without fear of
contradiction, that no institution equally limited can boast of a
greater number of distinguished and honourable associates.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: TEMPLARS OF SCOTLAND.]
[Illustration]