10/13/2020
TODAY IN HISTORY (Oct. 13, 1307):
The Knights Templar, together with their Grand Master, Jacques De Molay, were simultaneously arrested in Paris by order of the King of France in league with the Pope. The Templars were later tortured and forced to confess to charges of heresy. Their Order was eventually dissolved years later, and their properties confiscated. Their much fabled wealth and treasures, however, were never found, consequently triggering an entire world of fascination towards the disbanded Order. Even today, stories and myths linked to the Templars, such as those involving tales of Chivalry, lost treasures, and the Holy Grail, continue to captivate, intrigue, and inspire the imagination of both scholars and story-tellers alike. The Knights Templar have transcended above the margins of history and into the realm of legend.
One such legend that recently became popular was the theory that the superstition surrounding Friday the 13th being “unlucky” was said to have originated from that day of the Templars’ arrest, the day being both a Friday and the 13th day of the month. In truth, however, the origin of the Friday the 13th superstition cannot be academically pinpointed, although it is unlikely to have anything to do with the Templars’ arrest. There is currently no authentic record of such a superstition prior to the 19th century, and those that came afterwards had nothing at all to do with the Templars’ arrest. Such was merely a recent invention, mentioned in the 1989 book “Born in Blood” by John Robinson, and later sensationalized in the best-selling novel “The Da Vinci Code” by Dan Brown. Sadly, since then, clueless people have been spreading the myth as fact. Even a few gullible Freemasons themselves, especially those who believe their so-called Templar lineage, have been propagating the myth amongst themselves, as if taking pride that their supposed predecessors have unwittingly created such an enduring and endearing superstition.
Jacques de Molay
1244 – 18 March 1314 was the 23rd and last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, leading the Order from 20 April 1292 until it was dissolved by order of Pope Clement V in 1307.
"The cardinals dallied with their duty until 18 March 1314 when on a scaffold in front of Notre Dame, Jacques de Molay, Templar Grand Master, Geoffroi de Charney Master of Normandy, Hugues de Peraud, Visitor of France and Godefroi de Gonneville, Master of Aquitaine were brought forth from the jail in which for nearly seven years they had lain to receive the sentence agreed upon by the cardinals.
In conjunction with the Archbishop of Sens and some other prelates whom they had called in. Considering the offences which the culprits had confessed and confirmed, the penance imposed was in accordance with rule — that of perpetual imprisonment. The affair was supposed to be concluded when, to the dismay of the prelates and wonderment of the assembled crowd, de Molay and Geoffroi de Charney arose. They had been guilty, they said, not of the crimes imputed to them, but of basely betraying their Order to save their own lives. It was pure and holy; the charges were fictitious and the confessions false.
Hastily the cardinals delivered them to the Prevot of Paris, and retired to deliberate on this unexpected contingency, but they were saved all trouble. When the news was carried to Philippe he was furious. A short consultation with his council only was required. The canons pronounced that a relapsed heretic was to be burned without a hearing; the facts were notorious and no formal judgment by the papal commission need be waited for.
That same day, by sunset, a pile was erected on a small island in the Seine, the Isle des Juifs, near the palace garden. There de Molay and de Charney were slowly burned to death, refusing all offers of pardon for retraction, and bearing their torment with a composure which won for them the reputation of martyrs among the people, who reverently collected their ashes as relics." (Note: the account varies by one day, not unusual for chronicles of the middle ages).
Jacques de Molay issued his dying curse against the King & Pope Clement V, saying that he would meet them before God before the year was out. Pope Clement died only a month later & King Philip died later that year in a hunting accident. Succession to the throne of France passed rapidly through Philip's sons. Louis X the Quarreller lasted for only two years, leaving a pregnant wife who gave birth to the next king, John I the Posthumous, but the baby lived for only five days. The throne then went to another of Philip IV's sons, Philip V the Tall, who was crowned at the age of 23 but died at 29. Since he had no sons the throne then went to his brother Charles IV the Fair, who himself died six years later without a male heir & ended the Capetian Dynasty!
