Knight Templar's Part V ( Port-O -Grail)

PORT-O-GRAIL             

The Mediterranean fleet came around to Portugal where the Templar's had reorganized into the Order of the knights of Christ.  Almourol Castle was a Templar strong hold, on an Island in the Tagus River near Abrantes Portugal (Port of Grail) .

The castle was built in 1171 over the foundation of a Roman castle which in turn was built over the foundation of a Phoenician castle. It was built by Master Templar Gualdim Pais, who was also an excellent navigator and sailor.

Portugal is extremely important in the history of the world but little credit is given to them.  The history of Portugal is directly related to the Templar's and their “lost fleet”.  King Alphonso IV, became the Grand Master of the Order of the Knights of Christ and later Prince Henry the Navigator and also Christopher Columbus became Grand Master.

  Portugal has always had close ties to England, where the Templar's were very strong; England was like Portugal’s big brother.  To be as small as Portugal is and to remain independent in the Middle Ages it helps to have a very strong army and to be strong in seafaring.

 The entire country of Portugal was a Templar strong hold and I wouldn't be over stating it if I said it actually was a Templar country!

 On December 30th 1308, while the case of the Knights Templar had already been a burning issue in France over the past year, the pope ordered King Denis of Portugal to arrest the Knights Templar under his jurisdiction.

 A commission of enquiry was created in the country and was chaired by the Bishop of Lisbon and attended by the superior of the Franciscan Order and a jurist, Joao de Luis. 

28 knights were then questioned, as well as six other witnesses. To prevent the Temple's possessions from falling into other hands, the king ordered the possessions to be confiscated.

  In January 1310, until such time as the Church had officially reached a verdict concerning the accused order. The inquiry conducted in Portugal, though without resorting to torture, could not find any blame concerning the Temple or its members, and a provincial council held shortly after to decide on any follow-ups came to the same conclusion.

 King Denis was worried about the rumors that the Pope was apparently thinking of awarding all the Temple's possessions to the Hospitallers. The Hospitallers already owned several possessions on the south bank of the Tagus. Giving them the Templar holdings on the north bank of the same river, would provide them with such a build-up in what was a strategic area, that they would undoubtedly be capable of undermining the royal authority.

 After various negotiations, the king obtained the ruling in 1319 whereby the Temple's possessions would go to a new, specifically Portuguese order.

The bull of foundation Ad ea ex quibus granted by Pope John XXII on 14 March 1319, first proclaimed the creation of a new order called the "Order of the Knights of Christ" (Ordem de Cavalaria de N. S. Jesus Cristo), and established the fortress of Castro Marim as the knights' house in the south-easternmost part of the country, at the mouth of the Guadiana. 

Then it imposed the rule of Calatrava on the new brotherhood and appointed Dom Gil Martins as Grand Master, the previous Grand Master of the Order of Aviz. 

It transferred all the possessions and rights of the Knights Templar to the new militia, but placed it under the eminent authority of the Cistercian abbot of Alcobaça Monastery, in the diocese of Lisbon. 

The abbot was therefore entitled to visit and collect all the house belongings to the Order of Christ. Each master of the order had to pledge his loyalty to the abbot, ultimately representing the Supreme Pontiff.

 Finally, should the master's position be left vacant, the bull stipulated that the new master should be someone both military and religious, and specifically professed by the new order.

 Unfortunately, in the following century, this protective framework could not hold up against the greediness of the Portuguese sovereigns, attracted to the order's considerable wealth.

                           To Be Continued