Knights Templar Part II

  Yeves de Lessines was a Cistern monk and Abby of Cambrom, which was the farm for the Orval Monastery in what is now called Belgium, on the border of Normandy and the French house of Flanders.

  The Cistercian Order were frequently in conflict with the Disciples of the Dominican Monks or also known as the Domini-Caines or the “Dogs of the Lord.”

  The Dominicans were not confined to Monasteries but roamed the countryside like stray dogs. The preaching and imprecations of the Inquisitors have become known as the barking of big, ferocious, ugly, slavering and flea-bitten dogs!

  Yeves, the Abby of the Cambron Monastery in Orval and a brother of the (warrior monks), was approached by a brother Cisternian Monk who was a Flemish Knight, of the Warrior Monk Order of the Knights Templar.

  He conveyed a message from the Grand Master of the Order through the network of spies they had in both the Palace of King Philippe the Fair and the Vatican.

 They knew that they were going to be investigated, dismantled and reorganized by the Church of Rome, which was by now a puppet arm of the Kings Palace.

  They knew that the Dogs of the Lord would come knocking and the order needed to make preparations. The leadership of the Order felt that they would lie low during the investigation but they did not understand the full fury of the inquisition that was about to descend upon the Order of the Poor Knights of the Temple of Solomon.

 They felt that they would be absolved of all wrong doing and would continue with their financial empire at a later date.

  Eighty years prior to the demise of the order, Frederick II Hohenstaufen, Emperor of Germany,  who lived in the first half of the 13th Century, and was known to history as less a Prince than a Butcher.

 Frederick was engaged in turmoil with the Vatican. His Grandfather Frederick I had an “anti-pope” elected. The German clergy referred to the Roman Pope as the Anti-Christ from Rome!

 The Vatican’s Pope’s were primarily elected by the Mafia families of Italy, and the Pope usually managed to have Sicily attack the Empires of the Baltic Nations.

  Having an opportunity that presented itself, Frederick I arranged a Marriage of his son Henry to Constance of Sicily. With the marriage, the Kingdoms of the Vatican were surrounded by the Baltic countries to the north and Napoleons lands to the south.

  This put the Vatican in a very preposterous position, to add insult to injury, Queen Constance, decided to give birth in public, under a tent, in the public square of Jesi, near Ancona.

  Her reasoning was that she was married late in life, at the time of her delivery she was 40 years old and feared people wouldn't believe the child was hers. Her delivery was witnessed by several of the areas Noblemen.

  The Vatican put out the rumor that the Queen had lain with a butcher.  The Vatican went on to say that the “thing born at Jesi” was but a bastard of the Sicilian Queen, and had no rights to the Empire of Sicily.

  There wasn't any less prestigious job in the middle ages than that of a butcher.  Throughout his life Frederick II was known as the butcher’s son!

 

  In reality he was low, mean, unpleasant, and unscrupulous. He was attempting to pose as a distinguished gentleman but he wasn't.

  The men of the meat trade like to remind him he was the son of a butcher.  He had left on the 6th crusade and attacked the people he was supposed to protect.

  History shows that the local’s revolted against Frederick at that point. The people began to riot and to prevent the people from tearing him apart he took refuge in the fortress of St Jean D' Arc.

  He wanted to retreat to his starting point to escape by sea but could not find any soldiers to protect him.  Even his own troops abandoned him; he was under siege in the fortress where he remained for several months.

  He remained in the fortress until the Knights Templar finally came to his rescue.  The only route from the fortress to the seaport went through the village and right past the meat market where the butchers were waiting for him.

  They covered him with waste and excrement, foul smelling and furious he entered the safety of a Templar ship. Later back in Sicily he started a smear campaign against the Templar’s as a means of showing his gratitude!

  Eighty years later King Phillippe the fair, took up where Frederick the II, had failed. The Templar's had learned their lesson with King Frederick II, and held all kings in disdain.

  King Philippe IV (the Fair) of France was deeply in debt to the Templar's and on Friday 13th October 1307 accused them of heresy and had them arrested in France.

  Many were tortured to obtain confessions of heresy. This was a way to avoid paying back debts, and by confiscating further Templar assets, Philippe was able to make further money.

  

 Pope Clement under pressure from King Philippe then issued the bull Pastoralis Praeminentiae on November 22, 1307, instructing all Christian monarchs in Europe to arrest all Templar's and seize their assets.  (To be Continued)