Richard Leigh RIP

Holy Blood, Holy Grail co-author Richard Leigh died last week at 64 – obituaries said of a heart condition. Many who knew him believe it was ill health brought on by the aftermath of the disasterous lawsuit by him and his writing partner, Freemason Michael Baigent, against Dan Brown. Between the original suit and the appeal, their court costs came to more than £2.3 million (almost US $5 million).

Pridian's blog Codex Celtica does a good job in laying out Leigh's personality, his life and his most recent setbacks in Death of a Genteel Bohemian.

Templars and National Treasure Book of Secrets?

I spotted a YouTube clip shot in a Border's book store in Washington DC of a scene from National Treasure: Book of Secrets, featuring the comedy relief sidekick character of Riley Poole (Justin Bartha) signing his new book, "The Templar Treasure." Apparently the gag is that no one is buying or asking for an autograph.

Jeebus. Is EVERYBODY writing Templar books these days?

Angels & Demons film delayed by strike

Nikki Finke is reporting that the big screen version of Dan Brown's Angels & Demons will delay its shooting date, due to the strike of the Writer's Guild. The prequel to The Da Vinci Code, re-teaming director Ron Howard and Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon still has a projected worldwide release date of May 15, 2009.

Even though DVC's screen writer Akiva Goldsman received an industry record-setting $4 million (for an adaptation of an existing novel!), apparently Tom Hanks is an unhappy camper over the script as it now exists. It had been anticipated to start filming in Europe in March 2008, but that's now been bumped back. The writer's strike is in its third week.

Still no word from Dan Brown or his publisher about the long-awaited Solomon Key.

Chinon Parchment translation

W:. Phillipe Garver, Master of Lodge Vitruvian No. 767 and Eminent Grand Commander of Raper Commandery No. 1 Knights Templar of Indianapolis just passed along a website link for an English translation of the Chinon Parchment, thereby saving you about $8,000 off of the Vatican edition.

Damian Thompson's Holy Smoke

Damian Thompson's blog Holy Smoke on the the Telegraph.co.uk site has a good piece from Monday, Talking Nonsense About The Templars.


Speaking of Holy Smoke, apparently Polish Catholics have received a vision of Pope John Paul II from beyond the grave. The Vatican News Service is reporting that the vision appeared in a bonfire lit near the late pontiff's Polish birthplace, commemorating his death two years ago.

Update on Vatican Templar Book

More news has been released about the new book being published about Pope Clement V's exoneration of the Knights Templar. According to the Associated Press, "Only 799 copies of the 300-page volume, "Processus Contra Templarios," — Latin for "Trial against the Templars" — are for sale, said Scrinium publishing house, which prints documents from the Vatican's secret archives. Each will cost $8,377."

Reuters describes the edition in more detail:

A reproduction of the minutes of trials against the Templars, "'Processus Contra Templarios -- Papal Inquiry into the Trial of the Templars'" is a massive work and much more than a book -- with a 5,900 euros price tag.

"This is a milestone because it is the first time that these documents are being released by the Vatican, which gives a stamp of authority to the entire project," said Professor Barbara Frale, a medievalist at the Vatican's Secret Archives.

"Nothing before this offered scholars original documents of the trials of the Templars," she told Reuters in a telephone interview ahead of the official presentation of the work on October 25.

The epic comes in a soft leather case that includes a large-format book including scholarly commentary, reproductions of original parchments in Latin, and -- to tantalize Templar buffs -- replicas of the wax seals used by 14th-century inquisitors.

Reuters was given an advance preview of the work, of which only 799 numbered copies have been made.

One parchment measuring about half a meter wide by some two meters long is so detailed that it includes reproductions of stains and imperfections seen on the originals.

I hope their roll of the dice works on this special edition, or the Holy See will have a garage full of them for a long time. I'm afraid I'll have to wait for the paperback edition.

Knights Templar to Mark 700th Anniversary of Arrest, Torture, Executions

(Shelbyville, IN) On October 13, 2007 it will have been 700 years ago that the medieval Knights Templer, the richest and most powerful order of knights in the world, were arrested all across France by King Phillip IV.

Now a group of Indiana Freemasons known as the Knights Templar will commemorate the event in a ceremony on Saturday, October 13, 2007 in Shelbyville, Indiana, dressed in medieval chain mail, helmets and tunics, and brandishing broadswords like their medieval counterparts.

Many claim the arrest of the Templars is why Friday the 13th is considered to be unlucky – a phobia called by the unwieldy name paraskavedekatriaphobia.

Originally formed in Jerusalem at the end of the first Crusade by just nine French knights, within 200 years the Templars rose to become the first international bankers and the most powerful and influential force in Europe and the Holy Land. But on that fateful Friday the 13th in October 1307, the Order was destroyed.

France’s King Phillip IV ordered the Knights to be arrested and tortured into admitting to lurid accusations of heresy, while a weak pope, Clement V, looked on helplessly.

Most historians agree today that Phillip was simply out to steal the Templars’ vast wealth, and invented the charges of heresy as an excuse. That view seems to be shared by the modern-day Vatican.

The Vatican took this anniversary week of the Templars’ arrests to announce they would soon publish a book based on a long lost document that shows Pope Clement V secretly exonerated the order of heresy in 1308.

Renewed awareness of the Knights Templar has come from their mention in Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code and the 2005 film Kingdom of Heaven, but the Freemasons have had their own group called the Knights Templar since the 1700’s, according to Christopher Hodapp, co-author of The Templar Code For Dummies. Hodapp, who is a member of Levant Preceptory, says that new interest in the Templars and the Masons is growing among younger men. “Fans that have grown up with tales of Lord of the Rings and Jedi Knights are looking for something comparable in real life that is legendary, and mythical. You don’t get much larger than life than the true story of the Templars.”

The greatest mystery of the Templars is the whereabouts of their legendary treasure. Phillip claimed he never found it, and wild speculation has existed for centuries as to its whereabouts. Some say escaping Templars sailed to Scotland and formed what became the Freemasons, burying their treasure underneath legendary Rosslyn Chapel near Edinburgh. Others believe it may be at the bottom of a deep pit on Oak Island, Nova Scotia. The movie National Treasure claimed it was in a vault hidden beneath a churchyard off Wall Street.

The modern Templars of Levant Preceptory won’t be talking about treasure on this October 13th. “Concepts of chivalry, like faith, hope and charity, never really go out of style,” says Hodapp, “and that’s what we’re really celebrating.”

The event will be at the Messick Masonic Temple, 519 S. Harrison, Shelbyville, IN at 7:00PM. It is open to the public.

Levant Preceptory is a medieval reenactment group within Raper Commandery No. 1 Knights Templar in Indianapolis, and a part of the family of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Indiana.

- For more information about Levant Preceptory, see their website at www.levantpreceptory.com
- For more about the Knights Templar of Indiana, see www.knightstemplarindiana.com
- For more about the Freemasons of Indiana, see www.indianafreemasons.com
- For more about The Templar Code For Dummies, see www.templarcodefordummies.com

Vatican To Publish Paper To Clear Templars

The Vatican has announced it will soon publish a book revealing documents from the Vatican Office of Secret Archives that will show Pope Clement V's exoneration of the Order.

On October 25, the Vatican office of the Secret Archives will unveil the book Processus contra Templarios, containing "a previously unpublished and exclusive edition of the complete acts of the original hearing against the Knights Templar," the Vatican has announced. Containing reproductions of the original parchment documents, the book is "the most elaborate and important publication yet undertaken" by the Archives, the Vatican states. The book will be a special collector's edition, with only 799 copies produced.

The material will come from Barbara Frale's research and rediscovery of what is known as the Chinon Parchment, a document known about for centuries, but "mis-filed" in the archives in the 17th century. Frakes found the parchment six years ago, and while it has been summarized in print, it has never been fully published before. It describes an inquisition by Clement V and members of the Inquisition of members of the Templar Order imprisoned at Chinon Castle in France. Based on questions put to the knights, according to reports, the Pope found the knights innocent of wrongdoing (although from my reading of the summary, it is unclear whether he pardoned ALL of the Order, or just those who were questioned). Of course, none of this made any difference, since the Templars were imprisoned by King Phillip IV, and Clement was a timid puppet of the king. The knights were tortured and executed, and Clement's pronouncement of their innocence was kept a secret. His opinion of the case addressed their immortal souls, but did nothing to spring them from Chinon's keep.

See also the BBC story.

An image and explanation of the parchment is available on the Vatican website here, but alas, no translation or even Latin transcription is available yet. That's what will be in those 799 books...

It's Talk Like A Pirate Day

Just bein' a reminder.
This be Talk Like A Pirate Day.
Shiver yer timbers.

Raper Commandery #1 Reception for Andy Jackson

I had the extraordinary honor last night to help with Raper Commandery No. 1's reception for Indiana Grand Commander Andrew R. Jackson. Nearly 90 Sir Knights and Ladies were in attendance at the Atheneum. It was a wonderful turnout. Kudos go to Eminent Commander Phil Garver, Standard Bearer (and the evening's sommelier) Tim Brinkmeyer, Senior Warden Carson Smith and especially Junior Warden Jim Dillman (who had a previous engagement with some Canadian fish) for their planning and execution of the evening's festivities. And to our tireless Recorder Wayne Williams for keeping it all straight.

Patty Smith and the ladies of the Beauceant presented Andy's lady Mary with a dozen white roses, and the Commandery presented Andy with a Rosslyn "Bloodline" chalice, inscribed for the occasion, decorated with a Templar cross, and a stem inspired by Rosslyn's Apprentice Pillar.

In light of the honored medieval phrase, to "drink like a Templar," I shamelessly cribbed the Masonic tradition of toasting at the conclusion of the evening, and I spent a couple of days seeking some inspiration for toasts more Templar than Masonic. My favorite of all came from a long-lost source, Prince Valiant.

Sir Knights, be upstanding!
I wish to offer a toast to Chivalry.
May Common Sense ne'er quell our love for high hearted adventure, nor dull expediency prevent our doing brave, splendid, foolish deeds. May we ever serve romance as we ride errant to and fro about a sunlit world. If we be not always wise, God send that we at least be admirable.
With me, Sir Knights, to Chivalry!

BBC Radio 4 "On The Trail Of The Templars"

As we approach October 13th and the 700th anniversary of the arrest of the Templars, there's an increase in media interest in the order. This weekend, there is an excellent BBC Radio 4 Program available on the web, On The Trail Of The Templars.

It requires a Real Player to listen.

There are several pieces to this hour-long program. The show itself is 27 minutes, and there are two extra interviews. The first is with Professor Jonathan Riley-Smith on the development of the Templar order, who gives an excellent explanation of where the Templar wealth REALLY came from (as opposed to digging for treasure). The second is with Rev. Robin Griffiths-Jones, Master of the Temple Church in London (who I've had the pleasure of meeting).

For those of you who have been to the London Temple Church in the past, it appears from photos on the feature page that there has been an unfortunate addition brought on by the Da Vinci Code mania - new steel rails have been erected to keep idiots from kicking the effigies in the floor. *sigh*

The show contains a nice section with Helen Nicholson who cuts through much silliness in no time flat. And there's a bit with a member of the Grand Priory of Knights Templar in England and Wales, which is part of the non-Masonic Ordo Supremus Militaris Templi Hierosolymitani (who apparently took a negative view of joining the Masonic Templars. God love the British. They just can't help taking swipes at Masons).

Masonic Week 2008 Moves To Alexandria

After two years of conjecture, the official word has come. The Allied Masonic Degrees/Masonic Week held every February in Washington DC is at last leaving its long-standing home in the Hotel Washington. Here is the announcement by William Koon:

DC MASONIC WEEK ~ February 6-9, 2008
Hilton Alexandria Mark Center Hotel
It has 480 Rooms and has Shuttle Service to Reagan.
Parking is less than 1/3 what it was at the Hotel Washington.
The $135 rate for 2008 is the same as we paid this year.
Meals have been negotiated at the same level as we paid this year,
and will escalate only at the rate that food rises.
The Hotel is located on I-395 at Exit 4 and is about 3 miles
from the George Washington Masonic National Memorial.
Free shuttle service to the Metro Station at the foot of Shooters' Hill
for those who want to take the Subway into the District.
Hotel Rates will be $135, and are available by calling 1-800-HILTONS,
identifying the Hotel as the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center
and the Group Name is "AMD".
Suites are available at a reduced price for Groups needing them.
INFO FROM: BILL KOON Email: lords@wcoil.com

Levant Preceptory In The news

Levant Preceptory appears in the September 2007 edition of the Knights Templar Magazine, thanks to an article by Grand Commander Andrew Jackson.

Indiana's first period recreation Knight Templar unit will present a special program for the 700th anniversary of the arrest of the Order in France. We will be at Baldwin Commandery No. 2 on Saturday, October 13th in Shelbyville, IN.

Sayeth the Knight..

Here's a sentence you don't see every day.

My chainmaille hauberk arrived today. Forsooth.

A beautiful piece of work from Von Sussen Enterprises at a VERY reasonable price. And ample enough to fit over my pot roast.

Indianapolis INTAKE Article

The Indianapolis paper has its own weekly giveaway called Intake, covering local arts, music, theater, food and the offbeat. I guess I qualify somewhere in there.

I led reporter Jim Walker and his friend on a tour around Indiana Freemasons' Hall for three hours about a week ago, and here is the result.

http://www.intakeweekly.com/articles/6/027719-3026-160.html


Note to fellow Templars, he seemed most enthused about the items in the KT Asylum. A shame he decided to resort to characterizing it as "creepy" once it got into print. *sigh*