In my estimation, Odo became Urban II solely "because" of the power and influence of the rulers of Champagne and Burgundy.

Throughout his entire time in the Vatican he fought tenaciously against an antipope, Clement III, who had been placed on the throne of the Vatican in 1080 by Henry IV, the Holy Roman Emperor. Through its whole period of influence the Troyes Fraternity never lost an opportunity to plague, annoy, and even attack successive Holy Roman Emperors. Undoubtedly it did so as a sign of its own contempt for the office and specifically for Charlemagne, its first recipient, the man, who with his father, Pepin 111, had stolen the sacred birthright of the Merovingian kings.

Odo of Lagery, as Pope Urban 11, went on to achieve a great deal as pope, but history shows that nothing was more important to him than the task he had been set by the Troyes Fraternity. This was quite simple. Urban was to call for a crusade that would ultimately leave the Holy Land and especially Jerusalem in supposedly Christian hands. He would probably have needed little encouragement for a whole host of reasons, even had he not been dancing to the tune of the Troyes Fraternity. Number one on his list would have been the proliferation of dangerous and unpredictable armed men who were storming all over western Christendom, with little else to do but cause problems, particularly for the Church.

One of the byproducts of feudalism was a plethora of "younger sons" of noble families, all trained from childhood to kill people in the most barbaric manner imaginable. The adage "might is right" was entirely appropriate for such violent times. The world had discovered the age of the mounted knight, a formidable fighting machine that might be equated with the armored tank of a later age. William of Normandy had shown how successful well-trained and equipped horse warriors could be when he Burgundy. Throughout his entire time in the Vatican he fought tenaciously against an antipope, Clement III, who had been placed on the throne of the Vatican in 1080 by Henry IV, the Holy Roman Emperor. Through its whole period of influence the Troyes Fraternity never lost an opportunity to plague, annoy, and even attack successive Holy Roman Emperors. Undoubtedly it did so as a sign of its own contempt for the office and specifically for Charlemagne, its first recipient, the man, who with his father, Pepin III, had stolen the sacred birthright of the Merovingian kings.

Odo of Lagery, as Pope Urban II, went on to achieve a great deal as pope, but history shows that nothing was more important to him than the task he had been set by the Troyes Fraternity~ This was quite simple. Urban was to call for a crusade that would ultimately leave the Holy Land and especially Jerusalem in supposedly Christian hands. He would probably have needed little encouragement for a whole host of reasons, even had,he not been dancing to the tune of the Troyes Fraternity. Number one on his list would have been the proliferation of dangerous and unpredictable armed men who were storming all over western Christendom, with little else to do but cause problems, particularly for the Church.

One of the byproducts of feudalism was a plethora of "younger sons" of noble families, all trained from childhood to kill people in the most barbaric manner imaginable. The adage "might is right" was entirely appropriate for such violent times. The world had discovered the age of the mounted knight, a formidable fighting machine that might be equated with the armored tank of a later age. William of Normandy had shown how successful well-trained and equipped horse warriors could be when ruling Jerusalem, which was generally an open and very cosmopolitan place, had not been deteriorating.

A dozen other possibilities for Urban's call to arms have been suggested but none of them hold as much water as the simple explanation that "someone" wanted to control not only Jerusalem, but also a string of trading contacts that ran through the Levant. I hope the evidence will demonstrate that the organization I call the Troyes Fraternity, as part of the Golden Thread, had more to gain than anyone.

So it was that Urban II, at a great gathering just outside Clermont Ferrand in the Auvergne, France, made his first plea for a crusade in 1095. He followed this with a tour through numerous cities and states, all the time encouraging, harassing, and even bullying the divergent forces of feudalism to join together in this great and glorious quest. So it was that on Friday 15 July, 1099 the Crusaders breached the walls of Jerusalem and poured through to claim the city as a Christian acquisition.

What is of extreme importance is the identity of the man who led the forces that were first through the breach. He was none other than Godfroi de Bouillon, Duke of Lorraine and a person who knew himself to be of Merovingian descent. Godfroi was also related to many of the other characters who will emerge as our story unfolds and Ols presence in Jerusalem on that fateful day was no coincidence. Close on his heels was his kinsman, Ettiene-Henri, the ruler of Champagne at the time, who if not the prime mover in the Troyes Fraternity, certainly played a crucial part in its running. Ettiene-Henri's brother, Hugh, would become the first Count of Champagne.

Godfroi de Bouillon was a man with a mission. Much of his childhood was spent at or close to the important stronghold of ion de Vaudemont, once the most important administrative and religious center in Lorraine and a place mentioned earlier in connection with the cult of Rosemerth that had developed there. In addition to Sion de Vaudemont itself, both Godfroi's titles, Lorraine and Bouillon, center on longitudinal salt lines and he had strong dynastic ties with the family ruling Champagne at the time of the First Crusade.

Godfroi was directly related to the martyred Merovingian, Dagobert II, who had been treacherously murdered, almost certainly with the consent of the Church, in 679. Godfroi appeared nineteen generations after Dagobert on his father's side. A history of his life shows that he had never desired anything other than to be a crusader and to play a part in capturing Jerusalem. It is a fact that Godfroi sold practically everything he owned to raise sufficient funds to take what amounted to a private army to the Holy Land and strenuous efforts were made back in Champagne and Burgundy to ensure that he and his own private forces would be first into the city.

As a reward for his efforts, Godfroi de Bouillon was offered the chance to become the first Christian king of Jerusalem yet, with a singular and sudden burst of modesty, he point blank refused this specific honor. Within a few short months, he was dead. With virtually his last breathle confirmed his own suspicions that he had been poisoned. Godfroi's brother, Boudoin was present in the city at the time. Although at first only willing to accept the same title that Godfroi had created for himself, "defender of the Holy Sepulcher," Boudoin of Boulogne was eventually prevailed upon to take the crown and, almost certainly with great reluctance, became Boudoin I of Jerusalem in December of the year 1100. There were very good reasons why both Godfroi and his brother Boudoin were reticent to take the Jerusalem crown and they form part of the encoded story cycles surrounding the Holy Grail, which will be dealt with in a subsequent chapter.

Historians have singularly failed to recognize either the Troyes Fraternity, or the actions it took regarding the capture of Jerusalem. Part of the reason for this ignorance lies in the fact that those ordering events in Champagne were working on several fronts simultaneously. It was only the recognition of the salt line connections of the people concerned, together with a careful piecing together of events that followed, that alerted me to either their existence or their ultimate intentions. With patience and great skill, the Troyes Fraternity, as a strand of the Golden Thread, was organizing the pieces of a giant chess game that covered most of western Europe and also the Near and Middle East. The second stage of the plan, run concurrently with "creating" a Champagne Pope, had been the formation of a new and very special monastic Order.

Another very influential member of the Troyes Fraternity immediately ahead of the First Crusade was a man who had been born in that very city. He would become known as Robert of Molesme and he came from the same noble, ruling elite that would characterize all the major movers and shakers in this fantastic story. 

Like Godroi de Bouillon, Robert was coached from childhood to fulfill the part he was to play in the ingenious strategy that was put into place at the end of the eleventh century and appears to be much more than simply "the right man in the right place." As a youth he had entered the Benedictine monastery of Moutierla-Celle and soon became Prior there. Moutier-la-Celle lay only a few kilometers from Troyes and was much patronized by the ulers of Champagne. No doubt encouraged by them, Robert left Moutier in 1075 and built a new and even more austere abbey in Molesme, also in Champagne. This was the second of his attempts to hijack the Benedictine Order and to create from it an offshoot that would suit his own purposes. The first had been somewhat earlier, at St-Michael-de-Tonnere, yet again in Champagne.

With significant backing from Troyes, Molesme prospered, and was under the strong influence of the great Burgundian monastery of Cluny, where the reforming zeal within monasticism had first been inspired. However, Molesme did not quite suit Robert's purpose, or that of the Troyes Fraternity. With the First Crusade already underway, in 1098, and with a small group of handpicked recruits, Robert was granted land by the Counts of Champagne and the rulers of Burgundy. The area chosen was south of Dijon, capital of Burgundy, and close enough to the center of power for regular communication to take place. The new monastic Order took its name from the region it now inhabited, which was called Citeaux. Henceforth it would be known as the Cistercian Order. Citeaux stands on the same longitudinal salt line that passes through Dijon. 

Robert did not stay long in Citeaux before returning to Molesme. His purpose was merely to "found" the new Order, the day-today running of which was first of all nominally left to one of his deputies, Alberic, but very soon the infant Order was being carefully managed by a man who had been specifically trained by Robert. The man in question was Stephen Harding, one of the few characters in the early stages of the plans laid down by the Troyes Fraternity who was not of Champagne or Burgundian birth. Stephen was English, though he had been carefully rehearsed in the previous years as to what would be expected of both him and the new monastic Order. He suited the position well because he was Anglo-Saxon by birth and heavily influenced by the old Culdean form of Christianity mentioned earlier.

Stephen Harding carefully began to structure the infant Order, writing its various rules and, in careful co-operation with those ruling these events, he laid the foundations for the greatest monastic Order Christianity would ever know. Stephen was not the greatest of the Cistercians, a singular honor that fell to another and even more influential character, Bernard of Clairvaux, but he was a capable administrator and saw the Cistercians through their first, crucial years.

The Cistercian way of life was deliberately hard and unremitting and it was structured like no other Christian monastic Order that had gone before. Nominally, it called itself "reformed Benedictine" but it differed markedly from its supposed parent.

There are two distinctly different ways of looking at the Cistercian Order. From the perspective of the "man in the street" at the beginning of the twelfth century, it represented the acme of the monastic ideal. It espoused extreme poverty, hard work, and prayer. This is how it would come to be viewed and is the reason why it flourished so well - virtually exploding across the landscape of Europe and beyond. But there is another Cistercian Order and one that was meticulously planned to serve a very specific purpose within the remit the Troyes Fraternity had set itself. It is also clear that the Cistercian Order had aspects that, if not considered un-Christian, could certainly be traced to preChristian times.

Cistercianism, in a day-to-day sense, was a two-tier system. It was composed of choir monks, who were broadly similar to Benedictine monks in at least some respects, but it also had a lay brotherhood, which differed from any of its predecessors on the monastic scene. The primary objective of the Cistercian Order was to "grow" and it did so rapidly because of a series of strategies that carried a stroke of genius.

The Cistercians were, from the word go, sheep breeders. The choice of this humble animal for the foundation of what turned out to be a virtual empire had historic parallels. It went way back into the period of the Megalithic priesthood, of which the Troyes Fraternity was the latest manifestation. Sheep breeding and wool production had been practiced on a massive scale in Minoan Crete, with up to 50,000 sheep being owned by the Palace of Knossos alone. It was the absolute mainstay of Minoan civilization. There is strong evidence that the Essene communities of the Jordan Valley had also earned their living by rearing and shearing sheep. There is absolutely no doubt that sheep rearing was a tried and tested strategy and a hallmark of the Golden Thread for over six thousand years. It had built the most powerful and vibrant civilization ever to prosper in Megalithic Europe and it had also fostered a pre-Christian monastic Order with which the Cistercians had much in common. In line with their long and illustrious predecessors, the Cisterciams took sheep rearing and made it into an art form. On the way, they sowed the seeds of the modem world and of capitalism.

The Cistercian method of survival and growth was essentially quite simple. The infant Order would search out a piece of marginal land, which it would occupy. Because of its piety and ostensible Christian zeal, the Cistercians would never be refused rights to the areas it occupied by those who held the land. Donations of more land, and of money, were never refused. n terms of wealth, the Cistercian Order would eclipse every monastic Order that had preceded it and probably stands as the most successful of all time. This fact is mostly due to the forethought that went into planning the institution and the way it managed so successfully to hijack the selective piety of landowners and to exploit a rapidly increasing population. The achievements of Cistercianism would have been phenomenal in themselves and yet they represented only one facet of the Troy Fraternity's overall strategy.

The ultimately huge network of abbeys, granges, and other holdings that the Cistercians built and acquired saw the landscape of many countries dotted with pockets of self-sufficient democratic communities. By papal decree and by its own Order the Cistercian movement gave nothing away to any other institution; it was freed from paying taxes in every country it inhabited and it possessed a willing and skilful labor force. Both choir monks and lay brothers were fed and had shelter, in an age where neither could be taken for granted. When Cistercians grew sick or old, they were cared for in custom-built inftrmaries and, above all, they were safe from what certainly was a cruel and violent world beyond the gates of the abbeys.

Cistercian monks wore white habits of sheep's wool, a departure from the Benedictine Order of which they were supposed to be a part. They also washed regularly, something that shocked other monastic institutions, since washing was considered both unhealthy and an unnecessary and vain indulgence. This was something the Cistercians shared in common with the Essene and it has been suggested that the name "Cistercian' referred specifically to the "cisterns" in which water for communal washing was stored. In the ruins of Qumran and at other Essene centers in the Jordan Valley, evidence has been found of shallow baths, which are taken to be places of ritual immersion. Also like the Essene, the Cistercians looked towards a "New Jerusalem."

In our book The Templar Continuum, Stephen Dafoe and I showed that the parallels between the Cistercians and the Essene were so great it is virtually certain that St. Stephen Harding, and those planning the Cistercian movement, possessed copies of Essene books. These would not otherwise be known to the world until the discoveries at Qumran during the middle of the twentieth century.

The plans for the Cistercian Order, laid down by St. Stephen Harding and the Troyes Fraternity, were meticulous. However, its greatest leading light and certainly one of the most important men ever to be born in western Europe did not become a Cistercian until some years after its creation. His name was St. Bernard of Clairvaux.

St. Bernard of Clairvaux was the son of Tescelin Sorrel and Aleth, the daughter of the Lord of Montbard. He was born on the family estates of Fontaines de Dijon, Burgundy, in the year 1090. The place of his birth still exists and a check with a satellite navigation plotter shows the building itself to be as plumb on the longitudinal salt line that runs at 5 degrees 1 minute East of Greenwich. Fontaines de"Dijon is extremely close to the mysterious little village of "Is," a location that carries the name of the ancient Goddess to this day and which was an important center of Goddess worship during Roman times and probably before.

Bernard was closely blood tied to a number of Champagne families, understanding of this man, his motivation, ideas, and actions is likely to open the door to a better understanding of the Troyes Fraternity and its imperatives as part of the Golden Thread.

Throughout all of his life, Bernard left messages, the meaning of which were quite evident to the elect, though the majority of them would have meant nothing to the uninformed. Most importantly, Bernard was not simply "in" the Church, he "was" the Church of his day. He came to be far more powerful than any pope and almost certainly declined that office himself. It is inconceivable that the Vatican would have been denied him had he desired it. Nevertheless, he "owned" the papacy during his adult life and deliberately steered the Roman Catholic Church in a direction that would have been unthinkable before his day. Historically speaking the story of his life is a fascinating one but the full significance of his impact on western Europe is only really possible to understand in light of his true beliefs and intentions.

Little is known of Bernard's very early life. In true medieval style, some versions of his biography suggest that he lived a dissolute and wasted existence until he decided to take holy orders. Later tales tell of a deeply religious child,,already the subject of "visions" by his third year. He exploded into history in the year 1112, when, at the age of 22 he sud(Itnly appeared at the gates of Citeaux, at that time still a tiny monastery. Legend has it that Bernard arrived at the head of no fewer than 31 relatives and friends. Approaching the abbot, Bernard declared himself, and them, determined to join the new Cistercian Order so recently established at Citeaux. In all probability, he was expected.

From the date of his arrival, Bernard's rise was nothing short of meteoric. Only three years after arriving at Citeaux, and still at the relatively tender age of 25, Bernard left Citeaux. He was destined to found a new abbey at Clairvaux near Troyes, in other words as close to the seat of power in Champagne as possible. Here, on land specifically granted by Hugh, Count of Champagne, he was installed as abbot and began, immediately, to have a profound effect on Church affairs. This continued, not only within the Cistercian Order, but also far from the cloistered fastness of Clairvaux and to the very throne of the Vatican.

Bernard's own abbey of Clairvaux became the mother house of some 68 further Cistercian houses, though this was just a tiny fraction of all the Cistercian abbeys that would eventually exist worldwide. From the very start of his career, Bernard gained the reputation of being a strict disciplinarian. This seems to have done nothing to curb his popularity, with Church leaders and secular rulers alike.

By 1130, still only 40 years of age, Bernard was already in a position to virtually guarantee the Holy See of Rome to Pope Innocent 11 against the political intrigue and strong support of the antipope, Anacletus II. This action assured Bernard of a position of authority and influence within the Catholic Church of his day. Eventually..one of Bernard's own novices from Clairvaux, Eugene III, was elected Pope. Beyond this point Bernard became, for the rem.Nnder of his life, the most powerful voice in Christendom.

Bernard was, at heart, a mystic. It was an event early in his personal career that is said to have had the most profound bearing on his later actions and beliefs. He was holding Mass before a Black Madonna, for which he had the most profound reverence. During the service, he claimed that the figure had lifted her hand to her breast, whereupon drops of milk from the Madonna had fallen into his open mouth. According to Bernard's own testimony, his life was henceforth changed forever. He rapidly became an enthusiastic champion of Mary the Virgin. Thanks to the position he held in the eyes of the Vatican, he was able to convince the western Catholic hierarchy to proclaim the Virgin Mary "Queen of Heaven." This was a position she already held in the eastern Churches but not in the West. Of course, this story must be taken with a pinch of salt because it is obvious that Bernard had been trained from childhood to occupy the position that became his. Undoubtedly, he was the most gifted and able of all his siblings because even his older brothers dutifully followed him into the Cistercian Order.

My research suggests that there was a very real attempt to "hijack" the established Catholic Church during the twelfth century, through a series of actions I have called "the great heresy." The special worship of Mary, as the latest representative of the Great Goddess, formed part of the daring plan. St. Bernard of Clairvaux was a prime mover in what can be seen as a very definite and deliberate perversion of established Church teaching, even though he is still deeply revered within the Church for his piety and humility.

To accuse St. Bernard of Clairvaux, one of the most famous doctors of the Church, of being party to such a plot, if not one of its prime movers, must seem like the most colossal heresy to fervent Catholics. But when all the evidence is reviewed, it becomes apparent that Bernard of Clairvaux was no Christian in the medieval orthodox sense of the word. He was, in truth, an advocate of a feminine principle within western religion and a lineal descendent of the Golden Thread. Bernard may well have believed in the life and ministry of Jesus, but if he did so, it was had fallen into his open mouth. According to Bernard's own testimony, his life was henceforth changed forever. He rapidly became an enthusiastic champion of Mary the Virgin. Thanks to the position he held in the eyes of the Vatican, he was able to convince the western Catholic hierarchy to proclaim the Virgin Mary "Queen of Heaven." This was a position she already held in the eastern Churches but not in the West. Of course, this story must be taken with a pinch of salt because it is obvious that Bernard had been trained from childhood to occupy the position that became his. Undoubtedly, he was the most gifted and able of all his siblings because even his older brothers dutifully followed him into the Cistercian Order.

My research suggests that there was a very real attempt to "hijack" the established Catholic Church during the twelfth century, through a series of actions I have called "the great heresy." The special worship of Mary, as the latest representative of the Great Goddess, formed part of the daring plan. St. Bernard of Clairvaux was a prime mover in what can be seen as a very definite and deliberate perversion of established Church teaching, even though he is still deeply revered within the Church for his piety and humility.

To accuse St. Bernard of Clairvaux, one of the most famous doctors of the Church, of being party to such a plot, if not one of its prime movers, must seem like the most colossal heresy to fervent Catholics. But when all the evidence is reviewed, it becomes apparent that Bernard of Clairvaux was no Christian in the medieval orthodox sense of the word. He was, in truth, an advocate of a feminine principle within western religion and a lineal descendent of the Golden Thread. Bernard merely as one part of a continuum that was infinitely older. The fact that St. Bernard claimed Jesus as his personal savior has little to do with the matter in hand. There are innumerable examples of people from around the same period and later who behaved in exactly the same way as Bernard. Ultimately their actions prove that their apparent behavior was deliberately at odds with their true beliefs. These are radical statements, but I hope to show that they are well founded.

What mattered to Bernard of Clairvaux was the survival of a religion that was already ancient when the first pyramids were being built in Egypt. In his comprehension, it must be allowed to survive and flourish. Any price to be paid in the apparent loss of personal integrity was of little consequence. In terins of attitude to faith it seems that Bernard practiced the same principles as a group of people known as the Mandeans. The Mandeans are very much alive today and inhabit parts of Iraq. These people have beliefs that are singularly at odds with established Christian doctrine, but they have vowed to survive as a people with a unique culture. The Christian world eventually hedged them in on all sides. Their chief means of retaining the uniqueness that sets them apart is expressed as follows:

When Jesus oppresses yorr, then say: "We belong to you." But do not confess him in your hearts ...

The well-defined group of which Bernard was a part understood very well the message he was really imparting. They were holders of an age-old truth. Knowledge of this fact imbues the words and actions of Bernard with a profound relevance. What those aware of the Golden Thread in Bernard's own time heard from their leader was definitely not the message that came across to orthodox Catholics. There was a deliberate duplicity of word and action that can be seen surfacing time and again throughout St. Bernard's remarkable career.

Of course, I do not expect those reading this book to simply accept this massive assertion on trust. Much of the remainder of this book is dedicated to showing why St. Bernard of Clairvaux acted in the way he did. In this respect, he was far from being alone. A better understanding of Bernard and his real motivations is possible when we take a close look at the main fascinations of his life. The evidence that follows, together with these imperatives, helps to demonstrate where his true allegiances lay.

1. Bernard showed a reverence for the feminine, expressed in his adoration of the Virgin Mary. This was quite at odds with the doctrine and dogma of the Roman Catholic Church prior to his day.

2. Bernard had a particular reverence for sacred architecture, of a type that suddenly appeared in France during his lifetime. He considered that church buildings should be free from any ornamentation that was not strictly necessary. He seems to have been responsible for the founding of many of the great Gothic cathedrals of northern and central France and took a personal hand in their design. There is certainly no doubt that he understood the principles that underpinned Gothic architecture. worship, the ears were more important than the eyes. This falls in line very much with his reverence for the particular form of architecture he championed.

4. Bernard showed a particular fascination for anything associated with the life of the Jewish King Solomon. He had a great interest in Solomon's Jerusalem Temple, as described in the Old Testament. As we shall see, he was a prime mover in the formation of the Knights Templar, who were named for Solomon's Temple. Bernard also displayed what amounted to a virtual obsession with a strange piece of literature from the Old Testament, which is attributed to Solomon and which is known as "The Song of Songs."

5. On more than one occasion Bernard referred to God as being "Height and breadth and depth and width." This declaration underpins a fascination for numbers and for geometry. As we shall see, both lie at the heart of a true knowledge of the Golden Thread.

6. At a time when Jews in France and the surrounding regions were not especially popular, Bernard showed them great respect. On several occasions he traveltd significant distances to protect a people who were not of his own faith. He personally stopped or prevented several pogroms. And all this came from a man who was apparently committed to a dogma that expressly blamed the Jews for the trial and crucifixion of Jesus. 

ark statues are not Christian in origin, a fact that Bernard must have known. A high percentage of the great Gothic cathedrals originally planned or sanctioned by Bernard were on sites that housed Black Madonnas.

Little of this may seem particularly surprising, until the reasons for these specific interests and beliefs are understood. Once they are, Bernard becomes a man whose real motives are radically different from the ones that have been ascribed to him by orthodox sources.

The abbey that Bernard built, at Clairvaux, close to Troyes in Champagne, occupied a very important geographical setting and one that makes it obvious that its builder fully understood Megalithic geometry and that he was truly a priest of the Golden Thread. The site of Clairvaux is now a prison and only fragments of the original abbey survive but when this location is checked carefully on a detailed map, several factors make themselves known.

Clairvaux occupies a position on the latitudinal salt line to be found at latitude 48 degrees 11 minutes North and is in such a position that the circumference of the Earth at the latitude it occupies is "exactly" two thirds that of the equatorial circumference of the planet. There are very important reasons why this latitude would be significant in Megalithic terms. The distance across one Megalithic degree of the circumference of the Earth (East-West) is 60 Megalithic minutes of arc at the equator. At Clairvaux it is exactly two thirds of this, which can be seen as equivalent to 40 equatorial Megalithic minutes of arc. The number 40 is the most potent and important number of all to Megalithic mathematics. In addition, and perhaps most surprising of all, the position of Clairvaux was chosen with such meticulous care that the abbey can be shown to stand precisely 31 Megalithic degrees West of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. St. Bernard's own knowledge of these matters is aptly demonstrated by a specific event in his life.

Bernard was a great traveler, continually moving around on his diplomatic quests. Whilst he was on his extensive journeys to champion the cause of a new pope, Innocent 11, around 1130, Bernard's underlings found themselves in a dilemma. Such was the popularity of Clairvaux that people were seeking to become monks there in great numbers. This meant new accommodation had to be built as the community grew ever larger and St. Bernard's lieutenants took it upon themselves to move the abbey of Clairvaux a kilometer or so further down the valley, to where more land was available. Work was already underway on this project when Bernard returned. For reasons that have never been fully understood before, Bernard was absolutely furious about the relocation of Clairvaux, and insisted that it be reinstated on its original site. Clearly, St. Bernard of Clairvaux knew the real importance of the "absolute" positioning of his abbey, attested to by his anger on this occasion.

The name of St. Bernard of Clairvaux will surface again many times in the pages that fo) low. He is an integral part of the story of Goddess survival in the modern world and of the Holy Grail. At a personal level, he was a remarkable man. He could be irascible, argumentative, and yet deeply likeable. So great is his historical influence that he was canonized within 20 years of his death. He was also formerly declared a Doctor of the Church as recently as 1830. St. Bernard is generally considered to have been the last of the Fathers of the Church. His saint day is celebrated on 20 August, which is the anniversary of his death at Clairvaux in 1153. By his own admission St. Bernard was a mystic, a fact that, despite his apparent pragmatism in matters of conduct, he never sought to deny during his life. The depth of that mysticism and the secrets it protected has never been revealed from the twelfth century up to the present day.

Late in the nineteenth century, the skull of this little man from Dijon was reverentially placed into a magnificent golden reliquary. The creation of this solid gold casket predated Bernard's own life by several centuries and how St. Bernard's only surviving remains came to be placed in it represents a story that is worthy of a book in its own right. The reliquary was then put in the Treasury of Troyes Cathedral, where it resides to this day on public display. It will be obvious to readers already that Troyes is clearly the most fitting place for this most revered relic and it was most certainly placed there by people who already knew most if not all the fantastic story that follows in this book. Those responsible were legatees of the Troyes Fraternity and were priests of the Golden Thread, which I hope to demonstrate is as alive today as it was when St. Bernard of Clairvaux walked the streets of Troyes himself.

Amongst so many remarkable achievements in the life of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, there is one accomp1ishment that stands out as being more important than any other. This was his championing and indeed virtual creation of a companion Order to the Cistercians. Instead of monks, who lived isolated and peaceful lives in or near to their abbeys, the new brothers would be ferocious warriors who would travel across the known world and beyond. This Order was properly known as "The Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon" but it is best known today as the Knights Templar.

A round the year 1118, a small group of minor French nobles nived at the palace of King Baudoin II of Jerusalem. Baudoin, brother of Godfroi de Bouillon, had died only months before and since he had no children, he had been succeeded by his nephew, Baudoin of Bourg. Baudoin II lived in a palace on the Temple Mount, close to the Mosque of Omar that still stands on the site. The French knights begged assistance and accommodation from the king. He graciously gave them the stables of the old Temple as their headquarters. Nine years later these same nobles returned to France. There, with the aid of St. Bernard, they were formerly declared to be a religious Order in their own right, with all the privileges that this inferred.

But why had this strange little group gone to Jerusalem in the first place and what did they do there for nine long years, prior to the official foundation of the Knights Templar? The general explanation for their presence was that it was their sworn desire to guard the roads from the coast to Jerusalem, in order to keep pilgrims safe on their journey to the Holy City. Clearly, this is nonsense. Firstly, there is no evidence whatsoever that the pilgrims in question were in any real danger and in any case nine knights, no matter how diligent, could not have had much of a bearing on the situation.

During the whole period of their initially the embryonic Templars never sought or admitted a single recruit to their cause, except for one, Hugh, Count of Champagne. We shall come to see that why he was a very special and noteworthy exception.

The truth of what the knights were really doing in Jerusalem has been a source of speculation for decades. The various possibilities have been discussed by so many authors that the total weight of the books produced would probably exceed that of Solomon's Temple itself. It is now often suggested that the original Templars spent the intervening period digging beneath the ancient stables, intent on discovering Jewish relics. These, it is said, may have represented actual treasure, or something of more intrinsic worth.

Some of the supposed early Templar actions have passed to modern Freemasonry, where a section of Freemasonic ritual was created at some time in the past that offers a graphic account of their exploits as "human moles." However, even this garbled account does little to indicate what the true finds might have been. Some light may be thrown on the mystery if we could discover more about the men concerned, the relationships they enjoyed with each other and the source of their shared enthusiasm for the project. Knowledge of the existence of the Troyes Fraternity can provide us with evidence that has never surfaced previously.

The first Templar knights were led by a minor aristocrat called Hugh de Payen. This man held a fief in northwest Troyes, at precisely that point through which the longitudinal salt line passes, (48 degrees 19 minutes North, 4 degrees 2 minutes East.). Hugh de Payen was a vassal and cousin of his important namesake Hugh, Count of Champagne and was without doubt a leading light in the Troyes Fraternity.

The original Templar band also included Andre de Montbard, who was none other than the uncle of St. Bernard of Clairvaux. In fact, many of the members of the first Templar brotherhood seems to have formed a tight little family group and, where it is possible to identify the points of origin of the original Templar knights, they were, to a man, of salt line ancestry.

Hugh de Payen may have been blood tied to the Montbards, who were St. Bernard's family on his mother's side. Meanwhile, the Montbard and Champagne families were also related to Baudoin II, which partly explains how the original nine knights came to be welcomed into Jerusalem in the first place.

The original story of the knights turning up at the gates of the palace in Jerusalem, dusty from their journey and with no visible means of support is clearly ludicrous. In reality, in twelfth-century France friends could not come much higher than the Counts of Champagne, who ruled a rich and powerful region. The influence of this family would have been enough to ensure the small band of a welcome at the court of Baudoin II. Hugh of Champagne himself seems to have been content to allow the first Templars to commence their expedition without him, though we can be reasonably sure that he was kept well in touch with the proceedings. It wasn't long before he joined them in Jerusalem and became a Templar himself.

Whatever the brotherhood forming the Templars had in common, apart from their salt line heritage, it was to make them unbelievably rich. For some unknown reason, historians have often played down the importance of the Templars in European affairs. Speculative writers have chosen the opposite direction, at times elevating the Templars to the rank of "'supermen." Both points of view are equally at odds with the truth. What is certain is that the Templars took the world by storm. In a couple of decades, their place in European history was assured. It would be incredible to suggest that it all happened by chance. In reality, a great deal of planning, probably for generations, lay behind the Templar enterprise and their initial trip to Jerusalem.

secret. The survival of the object would have been of the most tremendous importance to the Christianity of the day. Holy Communion lay at the very heart of Christian mysticism. To possess the cup once used by Jesus in the first Communion would have bestowed upon its possessors incredible status. It is hard to contemplate such a secret being maintained or even to understand why it should be.

Not all Grail stories, even the later ones, consider the Grail to be a cup at all. In some versions of the legend, the Grail is a stone. It has been frequently suggested that what the Knights Templar actually found in Jerusalem was the Ark of the Covenant. Essentially the Ark was a wooden box, covered in sheet gold and provided with long poles for handles. It was used to carry the sacred laws of the Hebrew people, carved onto two stones, as they had been passed down to Moses on Mount Sinai. The Hebrews believed that God himself lived in the Ark. The Ark was created whilst the Jews were wandering in the wilderness, immediately after the flight from Egypt. It remained with them through the 40 years of their stay in the desert until they eventually arrived in, and conquered, Palestine.

Once Jerusalem was secured, a permanent home was created for both the Ark and its contents. King Solomon, around the year 900 BC, constructed a magnificent temple on what had been the sacred threshing floor. Within this building there was a room specifically created to house the Ark.

All of these facts are mentioned in the Old Testament of the Bible, but beyond the life of Solomon, no record of the survival of the Ark exists. It is as if the object simply disappeared from history. The very mystery of the disappearance of such a holy object has funded the many stories relating to the survival of the Ark. Some authors think that it was discovered by the Knights Templar, hidden in the cellars of Solomon's Temple. Later, it is suggested, the Ark was brought to Europe.

Once again, the question must be asked. If the Templars discovered the Ark of the Covenant, why did they choose the keep the find a secret? There is nothing regarding this assertion that stands up to any kind of scrutiny. A whole kingdom could have been bought for the sale of the true cup of Jesus or the genuine Ark of the Covenant. If the Templars had a genuine relic of this importance, the fact was never mentioned during the two centuries of their official existence. Neither has it surfaced since.

A few months after returning from Jerusalem in 1127, most of the original Templar knights found themselves involved in an elaborate ceremony. This was held, appropriately, in Troyes. In January of 112 8 a council was convened during which the Templar Order was officially recognized by the Church. Its rules were accepted, having been drawn up by St. Bernard of Clairvaux to match those of the Cistercian Order. Hugh de Payen was granted the title of first Grand Master. Henceforth, the Templars would wear white mantles like those of the Cistercians but unlike their brother monks they would not shave. In a short time, Templars became quite distinctive with their long beards and ultimately, they sported the famous red cross that was to become their emblem. Their Order made it plain that they were to fight for Christianity wherever this was necessary, but especially in the Holy Land and particularly against the Muslims there. solemn and binding vows. Although the Templars showed tremendous and even fanatical bravery in the face of their enemies, as the Order grew, only a very small percentage of Templar brothers would ever come to meet an enemy in battle. On the contrary, the vast majority of Templars existed to support and administer a growing empire of farms, churches, castles, ships, and other economic institutions. Like the Cistercians, the Templars were farmers par excellence, also specializing in sheep rearing. The advantage they had over the Cistercian Order is that they could travel and indulge in commerce with the secular world.

In 1139, Pope Innocent 11, who was every bit St. Bernard's man, issued a papal Bull. In this Bull, Pope Innocent declared that, henceforth, the Templars would be responsible to no religious or secular authority but the Pope himself. There are clear reasons why this should have been a prudent move as far as the Holy See was concerned. The Templars were already becoming extremely powerful, particularly in military terms. The existence of such an army, which responded only to the wishes of the Pope, would have added tremendous weight to papal authority. It might even sway the judgment of otherwise wayward monarchs throughout Europe. In reality, 1he Templar Order became so powerful it behaved more or less as it wished.

But even before the papal Bull, Hugh de Payen had traveled extensively, gaining favor wherever he went. Almost as soon as the Templar Order was established, in 112 8, he visited England. Throughout the whole realm, he was received with the greatest enthusiasm. However, in all his travels Hugh never mentioned one word about any Jerusalem discovery.

Everywhere the Grand Master went the younger sons of nobles flocked to join the Order. Only two years later Hugh returned to Palestine, taking with him a personal entourage of 300 fully armed knights. Behind him, he left an already wealthy institution in Europe. Money was amassed from every conceivable direction, and most of it was put to good use making more money. None of it appears to have resulted from anything found in Jerusalem. During the two centuries of Templar existence, the same silence prevailed, though perhaps this is not so surprising, bearing in mind the nature of the Order.

Secrecy attended the real intentions of the Templars from the word go. Only on those occasions when financial transactions affected the exchequers of kings do we ever find any real reference to Templar wealth. This pattern went on for nearly two hundred years.

A knowledge of the Troyes Fraternity and its overall strategy demonstrates that the Templar Order had been an intended part of its raison d'etre from the word go. Under the pretence of traveling to fight for Christianity, the Templars spread their influence far and wide. They became the world's first bankers and they effectively created both credit and the check book.

Any person wishing to travel, for example from Paris to London with a large amount of money, could use the Templar network to ensure their safe arrival Money would be lodged at the Templar headquarters in Paris and the client would receive a cipher note. Upon arriving in London, the merchant would go to the Templar headquarters there, where the cipher note would be redeemed for local currency. This was an extremely useful service at a time when roads and byways were plagued by outlaws. Of course, this service was not free. At the time, to charge interest was against Christian law, but who could argue with an institution that was under the direct authority of the Pope himself?

The Templars; quickly assembled a large fleet of ships, both fighting craft and merchantmen. With great skill and overwhelming force, they patrolled the shipping lanes in the North Sea and the Mediterranean, creating safe passage for their own ships. Under the pretence of keeping their forces in the Holy Land supplied with horses and fighting men, the Templars created trading networks that were specifically geared to plans being laid within Champagne itself. Their command center was, and remained, Troyes.

Wool from England, much of which was produced by the Cistercian monasteries, was transshipped by the Templars to Flanders. There it was woven into fine cloth. Other Templars secured the roads of western Europe, building tolls and keeping thieves at bay. Finished woolen cloth from Flanders was taken to Champagne, where great fairs were established. Each of the cities of the region held fairs at specific times during each year. Merchants came to the Champagne fairs from all over Europe and far beyond creating a network of international trade that made the region famous for three centuries.

In an incredibly short period of time, the Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon had created what amounted to a monopoly of trade throughout Europe- and across the Mediterranean. In one way or another they made money from almost any transaction that took place, and all in the name of their support for Christianity. Meanwhile, the inner workings of their own institution remained shrouded in mystery. True, the rules of the Order were laid down for anyone to see, but what actually took place behind the secret walls of the Templar establishments was barred to all but the select few under the direct authority of the Pope himself?

The Templars; quickly assembled a large fleet of ships, both fighting craft and merchantmen. With great skill and overwhelming force, they patrolled the shipping lanes in the North Sea and the Mediterranean, creating safe passage for their own ships. Under the pretence of keeping their forces in the Holy Land supplied with horses and fighting men, the Templars created trading networks that were specifically geared to plans being laid within Champagne itself. Their command center was, and remained, Troyes.

Wool from England, much of which was produced by the Cistercian monasteries, was transshipped by the Templars to Flanders. There it was woven into fine cloth. Other Templars secured the roads of western Europe, building tolls and keeping thieves at bay. Finished woolen cloth from Flanders was taken to Champagne, where great fairs were established. Each of the cities of the region held fairs at specific times during each year. Merchants came to the Champagne fairs from all over Europe and far beyond creating a network of international trade that made the region famous for three centuries.

In an incredibly short period of time, the Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon had created what amounted to a monopoly of trade throughout Europe- and across the Mediterranean. In one way or another they made money from almost any transaction that took place, and all in the name of their support for Christianity. Meanwhile, the inner workings of their own institution remained shrouded in mystery. True, the rules of the Order were laid down for anyone to see, but what actually took place behind the secret walls of the Templar establishments was barred to all but the select few.

Amazingly, when the Order was outlawed and abolished in 1307, no trace of any great treasury was ever found. All that remained for the crowned heads of Europe to appropriate were the lands owned by the Templars. Even the vast Templar fleet, usually tied up at La Rochelle, disappeared from history without trace. Every Templar establishment in France and far beyond was ransacked. If anything of worth had been brought out of Jerusalem at the commencement of the Order - it was never rediscovered after 1307.

In my estimation, consideration of what the Templars might have actually discovered beneath the Temple Mound in Jerusalem is of secondary importance, as is the mystery of the years they spent there before becoming a fully fledged monastic Order in their own right. A close look at the popes who were in office between the nine knights arriving at the palace of Baudoin 11 and their return to France in 1127 shows that they were of predominantly Italian extract and were therefore not predisposed to support Champagne interests. In addition, the ecclesiastical mouthpiece of the Troyes Fraternity, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, needed years to build his influence to such an extent that he could come to persuade the Pope that an Order of fighting monks was either religiously legal or politically expedient. In other words it was important for the Templars-to stake their claim in Jerusalem as quickly as possible but they probably knew that they must remain there years before recognition by the Church would be forthcoming.

Nevertheless, the question of the lost Templar years remains, as does the fact that they were billeted in the stables adjoining the royal palace, almost certainly right over the ruins of the first and second Jewish Temples. It should be remembered that there

was not one, but two very definite Jerusalem connections associated with the Golden Thread and its European offshoot, the Troyes Fraternity. The movers and shakers in Troyes were of Merovingian descent, which meant they were also ultimately of Benjamite Jewish blood. In addition, the bloodline of Jesus, via Mary Magdalene, had passed into that of the Merovingians at an early date. It is quite possible that information regarding items safeguarded in the anterooms of the Jerusalem Temples had been passed down the generations. It seems therefore extremely likely that what the Templars had been dispatched to discover was likely to have been "knowledge" rather than any tangible artifact, which the Romans would almost certainly have removed in any case after the Jewish uprising of AD 66. 

Bearing in mind the great similarities between the Cistercians and the Essene of the Jordan Valley, ancient books were certainly already held by the Troyes Fraternity. It is quite possible that what they sought was further corroboration of their own past and heritage. Events that took place in Europe, both during Templar times and afterwards, substantiate this belief.

In a sense, so much has been written dealing with what the Templars may or may not have discovered in Jerusalem that this has merely served to obscure what was really happening during the twelfth century. A short re-cap might be helpful. A group of nobles springing from the Merovingian bloodline. 

However, not every churchman or king was stupid and there came a time when the great heresy was recognized for what it truly was. The destruction of the Templars and the gradual demise of the Cistercian Order could have put paid to the influence of the Golden Thread forever. It is fortunate for the freedoms most of us still hold dear today that over three thousand years of experience and knowledge were not so easily swept aside.

f anyone doubts that the Holy Grail was an invention of the priesthood of the Golden Thread and its medieval manifestation, the Troyes Fraternity, they merely have to monitor its first appearance in western literature. Across several centuries, ideas about what the Grail might actually be and the adventures of those who sought it, captivated people throughout the whole of Europe and beyond. As we shall see, the Grail has a truly ancient pedigree. However, its medieval connection with the Goddess began in Champagne and during the pivotal period during which the Cistercians and the Templars were at their most powerful.

The Holy Grail was first mentioned in the Champagne city of Troyes, which has already figured heavily in the pages of this book. Later stories relating to the Grail originated in many different parts of western Europe but the Troyes story was most certainly the original. It was written around 1188, by a man about whom we know very little. His name was Chretien de Troyes.

Chretien's story is entitled Le Roman de Perceval and it is the tale of a hero, a young man by the name of Perceval. Perceval sets off on a mysterious journey, leaving behind his widowed mother. The young man wishes to gain his knighthood and the narrative deals with all kinds of adventures that he encounters on the way. During his travels, Perceval comes across an old man. This is the famous "Fisher King" of all later Grail stories. The Fisher King owns a castle, to which the young hero is invited. It is during a banquet at the castle that the Grail first appears. Very few details are offered regarding the Grail. We are told that it is created from gold and that it is studded with precious jewels. It is also made clear that whenever the Grail appears, it is carried by a beautiful young virgin. Beyond these few facts, Chretien remains silent regarding the Grail.

Chretien makes it clear in his narrative that Perceval is ignorant of the fact that he is supposed to ask a question relating to the Grail. This is a rather ambiguous question, and the closest approximation to Chretien's version in modern English would be: "Whom does one serve with it?" Much of what follows in this book will be aimed at answering this strange question of the Grail and also in explaining what the question means.

In Chretien's story Perceval fails to ask the question, and wakes the next day to discover that the Fisher King and everyone in the castle has mysteriously disappeared. He staggers from the castle to find that a terrible blight has come upon the land. Later he learns that the Fisher King is his own uncle. At the point where the story breaks off, Perceval undergoes a sort of religious crisis regarding the events in the Grail castle and this has a bearing on his subsequent belief in God.

If Chretien de Troyes did complete the tale of Perceval, the finished draft has not survived. This might be because a great fire ravaged the city of Troyes at about the time the story was under construction. It is equally possible that Chretien only half understood the truth of the Grail story himself

The origins of the Grail extend far back into prehistory. Although the Grail is sometimes referred to as a stone, or even a plate, most commonly it came to be thought of as a cup of some sort. Specifically it has become directly associated with the chalice used by Jesus at the Last Supper. In this regard, the symbol was far from new with the advent of Christianity. Its lineage goes back into the recesses of our most distant religious beliefs. There has never been any doubt in my mind that the basic allusion here is to the "sacred womb" of the Goddess, which had been transformed into magic vessels in the story cycles of many important hero and semi-divine character known as Bran.

These magic cauldrons were a form of "cornucopia" or horns of plenty and even in Celtic mythology, they are sometimes called horns. In fact, the association with the horn is very early, and quite symbolic. The horn is yet another representation of the womb and it was also a drinking vessel. The reverse aspect of the horn, i.e. its external features, was closely associated with the phallus. As a result, both male and female organs could be represented by the same object. The horns and magic cauldrons could supply food in times of famine, but some of them even had the ability to bring slain warriors back to life.

In Greek terms the horn, and therefore the sacred vessel of the womb, became the Krater, which also means cup. There is a constellation of stars known as the Krater. In modern parlance this is "Crater" and is a group of six stars to the south of Virgo, the Virgin. It is best seen from northern latitudes low in the sky in the spring. As the summer advances, so the Sun appears to move along the zodiac. As it does so, it gets closer and closer to Virgo. At this time the tilt of the Earth seems greater, so the Crater disappears from view. Crater is below and Do the right of Virgo, the constellation that is so closely associated with the fertility goddess.

The Sun occupies the constellation of Virgo at harvest time. In Greeks, a sacred name was "Krataiis," "the strong one," an alternative and oft-used name for Hekate. In turn, Hekate was identical to Persephone, one of the most evocative expressions of the Great Goddess. Women often wore amulets depicting Hekate. She was the goddess who helped at the time of childbirth. If Crater is a "womb," then it is undoubtedly the womb of the figure that is now known as Virgo, the Virgin. As the constellation of Crater dips to meet the horizon, so the bounty from the womb of Virgo spills out onto the land, bringing fruit and grain to the northern hemisphere.

Despite the fact that something akin to the Grail goes far back into the recesses of mythology, the work of Chretien de Troyes is the obvious starting point in terms of Grail stories in medieval times, since nothing before it carrying the actual word "Grail" exists. So truncated and obtuse is Chretien's contribution to the Grail that it seems to offer little that could have led the world into the frenzy that was to become the search for the Holy Grail since. But perhaps a better understanding of the world of which Chretien de Troyes was part may throw some light on the importance of this first little tale and what happened after.

Although little is known about Chretien himself, the city of Troyes during his period is not such a mystery. We do know about Chretien's patrons around the time he was composing the Perceval tale. Much of Chretien's previous work had been of a very different nature. Most of it was lyric poetry and had been dedicated to Marie de Champagne, the wife of the Count of Champagne, one of the most powerful regional rulers of the period and undoubtedly the latest representative of the Troyes Fraternity. But the Perceval tale was not created for Marie. This work was dedicated to Philippe d'Alcace, Count of Flanders, whose own domains lay predominantly further north, with his capital in the present day city of Lille. Nevertheless Philippe is known to have spent much of his time in Troyes, and we can take it that he too was a priest of the Golden Thread and a member of the Troyes Fraternity. Lille is one of the capital cities of old France that is sited on a longitudinal salt line.

Around the time that Chretien de Troyes was creating his Perceval story, western Europe was in ferment. Despite the best efforts of the Knights Templar, Jerusalem had recently been lost to the forces of Islam. This almost unthinkable event came after a century of dominance by kings allied to the Troyes Fraternity who occupied the throne of the Holy City. Everyone was blaming his neighbor for this terrible state of affairs. One fact was certain; there were not the resources, the will, or perhaps both, to reverse the disaster. Successive new Christian crusades had done little or nothing to throw back the hordes of Muslims. The Saracens, under the command of Saladin, finally captured Jerusalem in 1187 and Muslim forces would eventually use this gain as a springboard to oust the Christians from the Holy Land altogether.

All of this represented a monumental disaster for western and eastern Christianity alike but it was of even more significance to the Troyes Fraternity. It had been the pretence of access to the holy sites of Jerusalem that had allowed the economic powerbase of Troyes to be built and nobody suffered more from the loss of the Holy Land than the Knights Templar.

St. Bernard of Clairvaux had beeirf dead for 25 years when Chretien de Troyes was writing his first Grail story. It is quite conceivable that Chretien would have known Bernard, who spent much time in Troyes. The loss of this most pivotal character had clearly also been a blow to the aspirations of those ruling events in Champagne.

Walking through the streets of Troyes in his own period, Chretien would have encountered a number of wonderful churches, many of which remain. He would also have seen a great and glorious cathedral. Though now crowded in by narrow, picturesque streets v~ith numerous cafes and white-gabled houses, it is still one of the glories of France. This is the Cathedral where the skull of St. Bernard of Clairvaux is now housed in its magnificent reliquary.

Probably even during Chretien's life, there had been a huge revolution in church architecture. The massive, fortress-like, Romanesque churches of an earlier time were being replaced by the soaring masterpieces of the Gothic era. New techniques in building, supposedly discovered in the Middle East, were being employed. Instead of architectural forces pushing down hard on massive foundations that had to be gargantuan to take the weight, new techniques were employed. And a pointed arch that lies at the very heart of what became known as "Gothic" design, allowing stresses to be distributed more evenly. In turn, this made it possible to give these very beautiful buildings much thinner walls. It also permitted vast window spaces.

New methods in glass making, the techniques of which are now lost to us, meant that the huge windows could become a blaze of colored light. This new glass did not depend on the quality of the light shining through it, but offered the same steady, radiant glow through even the most gray of winter days.

The best makers of glass at this time were Flemish, and therefore the subjects of Philippe d'Alcace, Count of Flanders. This was the man for whom Chretien de Troyes seems to have been working when he wrote the Pereeval story. In the preface to his story of Perceval, Chretien states that the idea for the tale actually came from Philippe.
Chretien would certainly have been very familiar with the Knights Templar. By the end of the twelfth century the Templars represented an institution that was rather less than a century old. They already constitutea the single most important economic group in the whole of Europe. Troyes retained central command over the whole Templar Empire.

It is likely that the Templars had assisted in the design and building of many of Troyes' new churches. Templars were accomplished architects and masons. Their ideas and acumen had fully inspired the Gothic style of architecture that was rapidly gaining in popularity.
The Templars had gone from strength to strength and by the period at which Chretien was writing his tale of Percival, they virtually controlled entire economies. Hardly a decision was made by any monarch of the period that did not involve discussions with the Templars. Financially speaking they held the crowned heads of Europe in the palms of their collective hands. Nevertheless, by Chretien's era the Knights Templar were the subject of sustained criticism in certain sections of society. The gradual loss of the Holy Land was being blamed, in part, on their unwillingness to fight against Muslim forces with whom they were said to be too quick to form alliances. Such accusations were strenuously denied. Even an institution as large as that which the Templars represented could never have secured the entire Levant without significant assistance. Chronicles from the period demonstrate that the necessary commitment was definitely lacking, especially from the kings of Europe. Under these circumstances, the indignation voiced by the Templars is probably justified.

It is difficult to say exactly what medieval society as a whole really thought about the Templar Order. Those who inherited powerful positions within society certainly feared the Templars, and with good reason. This was a period during which no monarch could have afforded to support a large standing army of his own. The Knights Templar, on the other hand, now had thousands of men at arms, kept in a constant state of readiness. Such was their fighting skill that virtually no force, even if equal in terms of numbers, would have stood any chance of beating them in open combat. The Templar vow was that they would never leave a battle, or seek surrender, unless they were outnumbered by at least three to one. In practical terms, they never seem to have deviated from this undertaking.

Templar strength had not really been a problem to the crowned heads of Europe while the majority of the Templar knights were garrisoned far from Europe, in the Holy Land. However, with the fall of Jerusalem many of the brother Knights were back in the lands of their birth and no area had given birth to more of them than France itself. Monarchs had other reasons to feel rather uneasy about the Templar institution. For most kings, great or small alike, money was hard to come by. Wars were frequent and costly. Those waging wars would use any means at their disposal to get their hands on sufficient wealth to feed an army large enough to meet their needs. Often this money came from Templar funds. There are examples, from both France and England, of situations that necessitated the total exchequers of kings being deposited in Templar establishments. These were held in lieu of the vast amounts owed to them by the sovereigns in question.

The Templars often arbitrated in disputes between rulers and their vassals. Their impartiality seems to have been trusted implicitly during the eleventh century. By the middle of the twelfth century, things were probably different. The sheer economic and military strength of the Templars would have made it inadvisable for the most autocratic rulers to turn away their offers of arbitration, even if these were not so welcome.

The more time that passed, the greater did the wealth of the Templars become. Nobles who had fought in the Holy Land, and who may have been impressed by the Templar ideals, would often leave vast tracts of land to the Templars at their deaths. It has been suggested that coercion took place to bring about these ends. Most likely, these assertions represent part of the slur campaign that that would lead to the destruction of the Templar Order in the fourteenth century.

As we have seen, the Templars became the first bankers of Europe. Templar money was constantly being used and increased. Much of what we now accept as capitalism was forged from the feudal way of life endemic to Europe in the medieval period by the efforts, ideas, and sheer business sense of the Knights Templar. It was the Templar way of doing business that would eventually put paid to feudalism in the West. Ultimately, the principles to which the Order held and the services it offered were copied by the wealthy families that inspired the Renaissance. This came a couple of centuries after the Templars had been outlawed, but the methods used were exclusively theirs. As we shall see, in many respects the Templars, or at least their legatees, were still involved.

Chretien de Troyes did not directly mention the Templars in his Perceval story, probably for the sake of political expediency. However, later writers on the Grail theme certainly did. Almost from the very start, Templarism seems to be connected with the search for the Holy Grail. There are very specific reasons for this and the main one relates to "chivalry."

The knight as a military convention had already come into his own a century and a half before the time of Perceval. One of the reasons popes had been willing to create the Templars and to go on supporting the Order, lay in their fear of heavily armed warriors, against whom the ill-trained and equipped infantry of the period had no chance.

Over the years, the Church had suffered as much as anyone, partly because it was a tremendously wealthy institution that was vulnerable to aristocratic infighting. Before the advent of the Templars, and other military monastic Orders such as the Knights Hospitaller, the Church had relied on the goodwill of its subjects to protect its own interests. If only "might" was right, then the Church itself was vulnerable to the mounted warrior knights. It was therefore fairly inevitable that Catholicism would ultimately come to adopt its own fighting forces, which, ostensibly, was exactly what the Knights Templar represented.

The evolution of the idea of "chivalry," demonstrated by warriors who were also monks, became popular, even with secular knights. The "quest," undertaken by Chretien de Troyes' Perceval, may not have been intended to represent a Christian ideal at all and it certainly was not one that involved a search for the chalice of Jesus. However, it was the sort of story that the Church was quick to recognize, and to adopt. In terms of the Grail, as it came to be understood, the chances of anyone actually finding the cup from which Jesus drank at the Last Supper must have seemed incredibly remote. But this was an age of incredulity by modern standards and successive Church leaders clearly saw in the developing Grail legends a way of focusing attention on the deepest mysteries of Christianity.

If the Grail, as an image of Jesus' suffering and sacrifice, had not already existed by the twelfth century, something akin to it would have had to be invented. Chivalry and the ideal of the quest were a way by which the Church could direct the violent men of the time along paths that suited its own purposes. Meanwhile sovereigns were also happy. The holy "quest" brought at least some of the most powerful sections of a disparate and self-seeking minor aristocracy to a common purpose.

Chretien de Troyes' own tale of Perceval contained not one element of Christian doctrine and the writer offered little information as to what "his" Grail might actually be. He certainly did not equate it in any way with the cup of Jesus. Nor does he show it to be the vessel used to catch the drops of blood from Jesus' body at the time of the crucifixion, as was later claimed to be the case. All of this was to follow. As a legacy of Chretien's work Church and state alike would show itself happy to adopt the Grail and its objectives as their own. But tales of the "magic cauldrons" prove conclusively that the Grail as a vessel was no new invention. It was already thousands of years old when Chretien wrote about Perceval. Because the objects that became equated with the Grail were much older than Christianity, they could not originally have had any connection with the faith. In my comprehension, there were people at large in Chretien's world who were well aware of this fact. It is almost certain that the mysterious writer Chretien de Troyes was one of them. And events were taking place in England that would come to have an important bearing on later Grail legends. News was going round that the bodies of the famed King Arthur and his wife Guinevere had been located.

The King Arthur of popular imagination is a character based almost entirely on medieval ideas. More than one historian has dared to suggest that no such person ever existed. This is hardly likely to be the case however, because the name of Arthur exists through the length and breadth of Britain. It is mentioned in a number of early British documents and appears in many French legends. To put this character fully in context is difficult because Arthur lived in a period that quite rightly became known as the Dark Ages. Contemporary documentary accounts of Arthur are virtually non-existent.

Arthur, son of Uther Pendragon, is a character who has been dear to my heart since childhood. There is barely a location in either Britain or France associated with Arthur's supposed life that I have not visited. I believe that I must have read almost all the information available regarding this most enigmatic of British heroes. After years of searching, I came to understand that to tie down the genuine historical character' of Arthur is impossible. The real Arthur was undoubtedly a warlord. He seems to have been a general in chief of the various Celtic factions that were trying to stem the Saxon incursions into Britain in the sixth century. There is absolutely no factual evidence that he was King of all Britain, or even all England. During his period of history, such a rank and position would have been impossible.

Undoubtedly someone by the name of Arthur did achieve
significant military success against the Saxons. He may have prevented the Germanic invaders from ever gaining control over the area that is today known as Wales. My own past research shows that many of the battles associated with Arthur and the Saxons were fought very close to the present border of England and Wales. This is especially true of the English county of Shropshire.

Arthur has to be of importance to our present search, if only because so many of the Grail legends feature him. The fact that they do may have more to do with medieval symbolism than any actual connection between Arthur and the Grail itself. There are many connections between Arthur and salt line locations, most of all in the Shropshire Welsh border. There is a latitudinal salt line at 2 degrees 51 minutes West that more or less follows the English-Welsh border for much of its length. Arthur's Battle of Baddon, which I have previously associated with "The Brython," a hill fort between Oswestry and Welshpool, was fought more or less on the salt line. This would also be true of the Battle of Bassus. My evidence shows that this took place in what is the modern settlement of Baschurch, in Shropshire.

The more northerly English town of Carlisle has also been associated with Arthur since time out of mind. Many people have suggested that the location of Camelot, Arthur's famed capital and castle, can be found in the region of Carlisle. Although some distance to the north Carlisle is very close to the same longitudinal salt line at 2 degrees 51 minutes West.

In total, the tales of Arthur are wide ranging. So many locations are included as possible sites for his life and victories that it would be impossible to suggest that all of them have salt line connections. It seems that many ancient stories attracted Arthur's name over the years. All in all, he has become the epitome of the British capacity to survive, even against fearful odds.

One of the most important salt line locations directly associated with Arthur of Britain also features strongly in Grail stories. This revered spot and resort of the New Age reveler is Glastonbury. Glastonbury Tor is a strange hill, rising from an area of much lower ground. It is situated in the southwest of England, in the county of Somerset. So significant is Glastonbury Tor that is must surely have been a place of deep and abiding mystery in prehistoric times. In those days, it rose as an island in the flooded land. Many people have suggested that this was "Avalon," the magical isle to which the body of Arthur was taken after his last battle of Camlan.

The whole concept of Arthur and Avalon may be something of a medieval invention. In popular myth, Arthur was not dead when he was taken to Avalon, but merely injured. There, it was said, he and his knights would sleep away the centuries until Britain was once more in need of him.

Whether Celtic imagery gave way to medieval opportunism it is difficult to say. Claims were made in the late twelfth century that the bodies of Arthur and his queen, Guinevere, had been located in the grounds of the abbey at Glastonbury. This monastic house stood just below the Tor. The sit& of this abbey has also long been associated with Joseph of Arimathea. He is said to have come to Britain after leaving Mary Magdalene, and the other Marys, in southern France. Joseph was almost certainly a real character because his name is mentioned in the New Testament. He it was who asked for the body of Jesus after the crucifixion and who supplied the tomb where Jesus would lie before rising from the dead. Legends suggest that Joseph, a merchant, traveled to England and that, at Glastonbury, he built the first Christian church on English soil. In 1191, the monks at Glastonbury Abbey claimed, during building work, to have unearthed the bones of a man and a woman in the region of the Lady Chapel. The bodies were found at a great depth. They were buried between two ancient, inscribed pyramids. The bones were accompanied by a lead cross, which bore the legend:
Here lies the famous King Arthur, in the Isle of Avalon.

At this period it was a boon for any abbey or cathedral to hold the relics of important religious characters. For this reason alone, the claims of the monks of Glastonbury have to be taken with a very hefty pinch of salt. However, the position of Glastonbury is such that the latitudinal salt line at 51degrees 09 minutes North passes right through Glastonbury Tor. The Tor stands immediately adjacent to the abbey. And here we get to the nub of the matter. Someone had taken the deliberate decision to associate Arthur with the prehistoric salt line site that also carried legends relating to the very commencement of Christianity in Britain. But this was a form of Christianity supposedly espoused by a Jew, and a man who must have known Jesus personally. The same legend regarding Joseph states that he brought the Holy Grail, the chalice of Christ, with him to Glastonbury. We should not forget that there are also legends associating Glastonbury with the first English Church by way of the mysterious "Culdees," mentioned earlier.

Despite a natural skepticism, the expert Leslie Alcock suggests that the Arthurian finds might have been genuine." It is known that the form of lettering used on the lead cross that was found with the bodies was of a tenth-century form. Such letters could not be contemporary with letters used in Arthur's own fifth- or sixth-century period. But neither were they relevant to the twelfth century, when the bones were found. Alcock suggests that the real Arthur had been buried at Glastonbury, and that subsequent building work meant demolishing the mausoleum in which he had been laid. By the tenth century, Arthur was already a popular character. When the lead cross was made to mark the grave, the monks concocted an inscription that made him into a king, which he had never been.

In the light of my own research, this explanation seems a little too convenient, but it isn't beyond the realms of credibility. Certainly, the discovery of the bones came at a most important time in the re-emergence of salt line awareness. The bones were found just three years after Chretien de Troyes wrote his first Grail story and four years after the loss of Jerusalem. No tale associating Arthur with the Grail emerged before the bodies of he and his queen were claimed for Glastonbury. Although locally popular, Arthur appears to have been a relatively minor player in British folklore until that time.

An alternative explanation for a bogus burial at Glastonbury is also trotted out regularly. It is suggested that the Norman/English King of England at the time, Henry II, arranged the whole business as a sort of public relations exercise. Rumors had been going round that Arthur had risen in Wales. In this case, the spirit of the "original Arthur" found the form of a flesh and blood character. This was Arthur, son of Geoffrey of Anjou and Constance of Brittany. Henry may have attempted to lay these rumors to rest by producing a very dead Arthur. A few crumbling bones were not likely to come back to life under any circumstances.

This possible explanation is clearly flawed. Medieval people may have been suggestible, but they were not stupid. Any attempt to equate Arthur son of Geoffrey of Anjou, and the historical Arthur was symbolic. Anyone with real influence would have been aware of that fact. The very last person who would have wanted to find the grave of King Arthur, a totally British king, would have been the Norman Henry 11. Even if he had, he would surely not have wanted to discover it down in the southwest. This was far too near the Celtic heartland of Wales and Cornwall, where rebellion was always a threat.

Whether or not Arthur and his wife were laid to rest at Glastonbury, their present fame knows no bounds. Arthur will come into this story time and again, but he certainly was not associated with the Grail when the first chroniclers were working on the subject.

As Arthur and his queen were being disinterred, and immediately after Chrerien de Troyes wrote his seminal work towards the end of the twelfth century, there was a sudden explosion of interest in the Grail. In the 1190s, a Burgundian writer called Sir Robert de Boron leaped into the ring with Joseph d'Arimathie - Roman de lEstoire dou Saint Graal. This is a complicated tale and could well point to Glastonbury. The story deals with the Grail as a receptacle for the blood of Jesus. The drops of blood were collected by Joseph of Arimathea at the time of the crucifixion. In this story, the cup was not brought to Avalon by Joseph himself but arrived via his sister's husband, a man named Hebron. Hebron changes his name to Bron on arrival at the blessed place.

There appears to be a mixture of mythologies at work here because Bron is almost certainly synonymous with Bran. Bran is a Celtic deity and hero. It is likely that Sir Robert, either deliberately or accidentally, got the two characters confused. Once ensconced in the "Vale of Avaron," Bron takes on the guise of the "Fisher King." Here we find a character that figures in almost every Grail cycle, Bron has a family of twelve sons, the twelfth of which is Alaine. When a fabulous table is constructed to honor the Grail, or in this case "Graal," Alaine, who is celibate, takes the "Siege Perilous." The Siege Perilous is synonymous with the seat occupied by Judas Iscariot at the Last Supper. In later Grail cycles, by which time the table is in King Arthur's capital of Camelot, Galahad replaces Alaine in this seat. Like Alaine, Galahad is sexually pure.

Next on the Grail bandwagon comes a mysterious writer by the name of Wauchier. His Grail is quite different from that in the previous two stories. In Wauchier's account, the Grail is capable of feeding the assembled guests at a banquet. In some ways it appears more like a person than a vessel.

By far the most influential of the early Grail works is that of Wolfram von Eschenbach. This is entitled Parizival. It gave rise to a tradition that culminated in the musical tribute created by the composer Wagner. Wolfram's book appeared at the very end of the twelfth century. The author claimed that the work of Chretien de Troyes was incomplete and therefore of little merit. His own information supposedly came from Kyot le Province, who in turn is said to have received it from a learned man of Spanish nationality named Flegetanis. Wolfram is emphatic that Flegetanis was born of an Israelite family and that he was directly descended from Solomon.

Like almost all the writers of the period Wolfram doesn't seem entirely sure what the Grail is, or more likely deliberately hides the fact. And it is with the work of Wolfram that a fabulous female character appears in the Grail romances. Wolfram calls her "Repans de Schoye." It is she who bears the Grail, which rested on a green silk cloth. Wolfram tells us that it "... surpasses every earthly ideal," and that it is "... the perfection of earthly paradise, both root and branches."

For probably the first time Wolfram also equates the Grail with a stone. He calls this "Lapis Exillis." There are many interpretations of this phrase, for language at the time was written as it sounded and there was little in the way of established norms in spelling. The phrase could be "Lapis ex caeli," which means stone from the sky, or perhaps "Lapis Elixier" the famed Philosopher's stone of alchemy. 

Wolfram tells us something about Flegetanis, the man who supplied the original material for his book. Flegetanis observed things in the starry constellations about which he preferred not to speak. These represented arcane mysteries. Flegetanis claimed that there was a thing called the Grail, the name of which he had read clearly in the constellations. The Grail, he said, had been left on the Earth by a group of angels. From time to time noble, baptized men had been called upon to guard it.

It is quite possible that, in part at least, Flegetanis was referring, in an astronomical sense, to the constellation Crater, mentioned in the last chapter but there are other clues here. Information known to that group of people I have referred to as the "Megalithic priesthood," had been preserved by them for thousands of years. It included an understanding of the salt line system and of Megalithic mathematics. As we shall see, these people were also the recipients of other practical information, which would fuel their endeavors for many centuries beyond the time of Flegetanis. Being of the line of Solomon, Flegetanis himself might also have been of the Megalithic priesthood. It is unlikely that either he, or other members of his Fraternity, would have any absolute understanding of how and where all this fabulous knowledge had emerged. Stories of it being handed down, direct from the deity, by angels, would be quite understandable.

Following, as it did, hard on the heels of the other early Grail stories, Wolfram von Eschenbach's book, Parzival, is probably the most enigmatic of all the Grail cycles and is certainly the work that has attracted the most attention. It carries the same mystical and magical stories to be found, elsewhere. However, in the hands of Wolfram they seem to be forerunners of many belief patterns that sprang up in the years~following his death. This is particularly the case with regard to Kabalism, for many of Wolfram's images seem to be Kabalistic in nature. We don't know where Wolfram was when Parzival was written, but it is likely that he was well traveled. All over France, Kabalistic schools were developing. Some were already well established by his time and it is noteworthy that one such school was located in Troyes. It has also been suggested that St. Bernard of Clairvaux was personally interested in Kabalism and that he had experts in the subject working in his own abbey.

Kabalism grew out of Judaism, though it was to become a mystery school of Christendom. Culled from certain sections of early Judaic thinking it represented the esoteric aspect of Jewish thought and practice. Kabalists were not unlike certain factions of Buddhism or Hinduism and they had much in common with some sects of Gnostic Christians. They believed that it was possible to achieve a "union" with the Godhead that surpassed earthly matters or indeed the material world in total. To tread the Kabalistic path meant advancing, step by arduous step, toward this ideal. Although virtually a medieval European invention, Kabalism has much in common with esoteric studies that are still popular today but it also spawned an interest in "alchemy," a more practical aspect of Kabalistic studies. Modem chemistry owes practically everything to its alchemical origins, though it is not likely that any self-respecting chemist today would be willing to admit the fact. 
Wolfram's stories are replete with knights who wear white tunics with red crosses on them. It is quite clear that these men are Templars. There is nothing especially extraordinary about this fact since at the time Parzival was written, the Templars were reaching the pinnacle of their success in Europe. Talking in allegory, Wolfram describes locations where such Templar-type knights exist. He claims that it is from this group of especially favored individuals that rulers for states all over Europe are dispatched in times of need. To Wolfram, the Grail is frequently portrayed as the magical stone. In the narrative names appear, mystically carved into the stone, though these disappear when the intended individual has read them.

Many Grail researchers have paid great attention to the details of Wolfram's stories, which appear to have been written with two distinctly different audiences in mind. In one respect, Parzival is the "adventure story" of its day. It would have been of great interest to learned individuals. These avid readers must have suffered from "religious indigestion" considering the deeply Christian quality of much of the reading material available to them. But time and again the writer urges the knowledgeable to "read between the lines" of his stories, in order to glean the truth of what is being said.

Since Wolfram was writing well within the timescale of the Knights Templar, it becomes clear that the Grail, whatever it might be, was somehow associated with them. As Wolfram wrote his story, the Templars still had over a century to consolidate their positions throughout Europe but when their end did come, it was fearful and, apparently, sudden.
A t dawn on Friday 13 October 1307 a series of raids took place a

all over France. The object of this exercise was to arrest as many Templar knights as possible and to seize their lands and property across the entire kingdom. King Philip IV of France was the instigator of these events. He had managed to lure the Grand Master of the Templars, Jacques de Molay, to France, so that he too could be taken into custody at the appointed time.

Molay and perhaps dozens of other Templar knights were tortured in the most horrible ways imaginable. It was very important that Philip TV, known as "the Fair," should extract as much evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the Templar Order as he could. Philip didn't care much about impressing the Pope, for the Pontiff too was virtually a captive in France at the time of these events. But he was anxious to prove to the monarchs of other European states that his attack on the Templars was justified. This, he reasoned, would convince them to take similar actions themselves. His attack on the Templars was a calculated risk, for the institution was powerful, even beyond the confines of France. It was a risk he had obviously decided to take, perhaps for several reasons.

The charges brought against the Templars were many and varied. As a number of historians have pointed out, they may have been guilty of nothing except being the wrong institution in the wrong place at the wrong time. Leaving aside for a moment the possibility that they truly were a heretical sect, intent on destroying the Christian faith, what reasons would Philip have had for trying to wipe out the Templars altogether?

The main impetus was most likely greed. The Templar Order was extremely rich. Philip was a man of his time and it was the nature of medieval kings to store their treasure in specific
ocations, for use in times of war. He almost certainly assumed that the Templars behaved in the same way. By this period, the Templars had become somewhat lax in their observance of the Order that bound them. They were lavish in their entertainment of men like Philip. Their leaders dressed in fine clothes and walked through vast halls decorated sumptuously by the most famous artists of the day. Philip had observed these facts at first hand. It probably never occurred to him that the very economic methods of the Templars meant that their wealth lay wherever the next economic opportunity was to be found. Treasuries there were, but not on the scale that Philip expected. The Templars were creating a form of proto -capitalism, and that meant that the true value of Templar Inc. lay in the confidence that its clients retained regarding its power and ability to supply what was wanted, but Philip was not a Templar, and so did not understand all these facts.

The King had previously sought honorary admission to the Order. This request had been granted to certain other princes of the blood royal. Unfortunately for the Templars, Philip had been refused. This fact must have irritated such a proud man as the French king beyond belief. The thought of collecting everything that the Templars owned in terms of land, ships, goods, and treasure, might have been a significant incentive for Philip to turn on his erstwhile friends but is unlikely to have been the only reason. In the years since the final loss of the Holy Land, at the end of the thirteenth century, the Templars had become, essentially, a European based group. The Order was still growing. It represented thousands of fully armed soldiers, each with his arms and entourage, and with nobody to fight. The Templars had taken strict vows never to cross swords with fellow Christians,
but how much reliance could the King of France place on a mere piece of paper?

Stories had been circulating that the Templars wanted a European country of their own. It was being rumored that they had their sights set on southern France. Philip did not rule the entire region, but he would not have wanted such a powerful army, with its own territorial objectives, sitting on his doorstep. By all surviving accounts, Philip was a suspicious, cruel, and calculating individual. Doubtless, he saw in the rest of humanity a reflection of his own nature. There is reason enough here for Philip IV to want an end of the Templar Order but what were the circumstances that allowed him to put his plans into action?

Philip picked his moment very well. Towards the end of the thirteenth century, and especially during the late 1280s, western Europe had suffered from a series of very wet years. The result had been catastrophic for farmers, of which the Cistercian Order and the Templars were the most successful example. Sheep had died in thousands for several years running. This meant that yields of wool were low. The Cistercians, who had grown lax in their ways and opulent beyond belief, suffered the most. Many of the great Cistercian houses had mortgaged up to ten years' wool production in advance to Flemish merchants. When the bad years came, they simply could not produce tfte goods and had to buy wool in from other sources in order to meet their obligations. In England, Scotland, and France, royal assistance was necessary to save the Cistercians from bankruptcy. This alone meant that when the Templars found themselves in difficulty, their brother monks were in no position to help them out, since Cistercian influence was at an all time low.
Added to this was a general lack of public support for both Historians show great surprise at the fact that the last Grand Master of the Templars, Jacques de Molay, walked into Philip's trap like a mesmerized rabbit, though the intensive research of Stephen Dafoe and myself would tend to suggest that his actions represented a deliberate strategy. We strongly believe that Jacques de Molay acted in the way he did, simply to "buy time" for the careful reordering of both Templar and Troyes Fraternity personnel and economic interests which may already have been taking place for years.

There remains a further possibility, and despite Philip IV's generally cruel disposition and overbearing personality, it cannot be ruled out. It is likely that Philip was in possession of genuine proof that the Templar Order was guilty of some heinous crime against the Church. Jacques de Molay stood accused, along with the Order of which he was the head, of specific crimes. He admitted to all the charges put to him whilst he was under torture. Of course, this means nothing. But the record shows that Philip IV and Pope Clement brought the following charges against Molay and his Order:
 

1. The denial of Christ and defiling the cross.

2. The worship of an idol.

3. The performance of a pervtrted sacrament.

4. That they were guilty of ritual murder.
Specific evidence was heard. For example, it was testified that those seeking admission to the Order had been instructed to spit on the crucifix and to tread it underfoot. They were told concerning Christianity. "Don't have faith in this. It is too new."

It was said that the Templars had worshiped a strange bearded head, which was supposedly known as "Baphomet." Templars were accused of homosexuality, of debauchery and in fact just about every crime imaginable. Of course no reasonable defense was allowed because the Templars; were guilty from the moment Philip had the idea to snare them. But even bearing these facts in mind, it still seems more than likely that the Knights Templar represented a genuinely heretical sect. Though none of the Knights remotely deserved what came to them, technically, they were probably guilty as charged by the standards of the time.

The reason that we cannot know the extent of their guilt for certain is that only a few of the Templar brotherhood would have been aware of any heretical beliefs at all. Few people now doubt that the Templar Order constituted a body not unlike a modem Masonic Fraternity. There would therefore have been a system of progressive enlightenment into the true beliefs of the institution. Of the most profound secrets, novice members would have been totally ignorant. Only the most trusted Templars, the Preceptors of countries or districts, and the Grand Master himself would have known the whole story.

Under torture, it is likely that almost any Templar would have eventually pleaded guilty to whatever charges were laid before him. But if the interrogators did not know what accusations to put, this may not have been a problem. It should also be he chose not to make, for his own political reasons
and to safeguard a Vatican that must have known full well what real Templar beliefs and motives had been all along.

Many authors have quite fairly suggested that during the two centuries of its existence the Templar movement had mixed with a number of peoples of different religions. This was especially true in the case of Islam, with which it had excellent relations in some parts of the Near and Middle East. It is known that the Templars advocated a coming together of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. This in itself is not too far away from some strands of Islamic belief. Followers of all these religions are declared by Muslims to be "Peoples of the Book." If we are to accept that the Templars had become a heretical sect, the Muslim association might be the most likely explanation were it not for certain facts.

The original Grand Master of the Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon, Hugh de Payen, had come from a longitudinal salt line location, in Troyes. Chief patron of the Templars, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, had been born on another longitudinal salt line, this time in Burgundy. The same had also been the case with many subsequent Grand Masters, though the origin of some is unknown. However, the last Grand Master, Jacques de Molay, was born in a village close to the Jura city of Besancon. This is situated on the longitudinal salt line at 6 degrees East. It is on the same salt line that first alerted Xaviar Guichard to the existence of this extraordinary Bronze Age spider's web. And if this is not proof enough in itself of a continuing thread, matters go further. The man who stood beside Jacques de Molay and who died with him on 18 March 1314 was Geoffrey de Charney, Preceptor of Normandy. Geoffrey's ancestral lands lay in central France. His family held the small town of Lirrey, which occupies
perhaps the whole Order for 200 hundred years, maintained a common belief with Bernard.

The bearded head mentioned in the original charges is interesting, and it may represent the vestiges of a much earlier and essentially pagan belief. The Celts, in particular, had a "cult of the severed head." Examples of sculpted stone heads can be found all over the Celtic world. This head my also have related to John the Baptist, for whom the Templars had a special reverence. Even more likely is the suggestion that the bearded head could have represented the "Green Man." Effigies of the Green Man are to be seen in many Gothic churches and cathedrals. Generally speaking, the Green Man is simply a face. He is usually depicted as being composed of branches and leaves and quite often has the tendrils of plants emanating from his mouth and nostrils. Few historians now doubt that the Green Man is a hangover from the days of nature worship and, in particular, worship of the Goddess.

Of specific interest is the name that Philip's representatives said the Templars attributed to this head, namely "Baphomet." The word Baphomet has a very special meaning. As early as 500 BC Hebrew writers and scholars had begun to use a code, which has come to be known as the Atbash Cipher. A full realization of the importance of the Atbash Cipher only came to light with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Essene in particular used this method of hiding specific truths. The Atbash Cipher is a fairly simple substitution cipher. It was the highly respected New Testament scholar Dr. Hugh Schonfield who realized exactly what Baphomet meant when the Atbash Cipher was applied to it.

In all probability, the name Baphomet had nothing to do with the mysterious bearded head of the Templars, and the confusion
may have been due to ineptitude on the part of Philip IV's interrogators. However, the word was still of tremendous importance to the Templars because once it has gone through the mill of the Atbash Cipher, Baphomet comes out as "Sophia."

Readers will recall that Sophia was the name early Christians had given to what ultimately became known as the Holy Spirit. This was the third component of the original Neolithic Trinity, as personified in Minoan Crete, and it clearly represented the Goddess.

So, let us look at the evidence again, now in full possession of all the facts. The Knights Templar was composed of, or at least led by, people who were born in salt line locations. They seem to have shared something important in common which related in some way to the old Megalithic culture of western Europe. These people from the late Stone Age and the Bronze Age had been Goddess worshipers. The Templars were dedicated to the Virgin Mary, for whom they showed what amounted to an obsession. This had also been true of their founder, St. Bernard of Clairvaux. Bernard had deliberately manipulated the Catholic Church of his day to virtually deify Mary. The Templar Order was accused of worshiping Baphomet, which we know is a code word and which really means Sophia. Sophia, in turn is early Christian speak for the Holy Spirit, often represented as a dove. The dove has represented the Goddess for thousands of years.

It seems more and more likely that the true religious imperatives of the Templars meant that, in fourteenth-century Christian terms, they were "guilty as charged." However, their accusers either did not know the true depths of their heresy, or preferred not to speak about it publicly. In my estimation, the Templars, or rather their leaders, had been and remained, throughout the whole of
may have been due to ineptitude on the part of Philip IV's interrogators. However, the word was still of tremendous importance to the Templars because once it has gone through the mill of the Atbash Cipher, Baphomet comes out as "Sophia."

Readers will recall that Sophia was the name early Christians had given to what ultimately became known as the Holy Spirit. This was the third component of the original Neolithic Trinity, as personified in Minoan Crete, and it clearly represented the Goddess.

So, let us look at the evidence again, now in full possession of all the facts. The Knights Templar was composed of, or at least led by, people who were born in salt line locations. They seem to have shared something important in common which related in some way to the old Megalithic culture of western Europe. These people from the late Stone Age and the Bronze Age had been Goddess worshipers. The Templars were dedicated to the Virgin Mary, for whom they showed what amounted to an obsession. This had also been true of their founder, St. Bernard of Clairvaux. Bernard had deliberately manipulated the Catholic Church of his day to virtually deify Mary. The Templar Order was accused of worshiping Baphomet, which we know is a code word and which really means Sophia. Sophia, in turn is early Christian speak for the Holy Spirit, often represented as a dove. The dove has represented the Goddess for thousands of years.

It seems more and more likely that the true religious imperatives of the Templars meant that, in fourteenth-century Christian terms, they were "guilty as charged." However, their accusers either did not know the true depths of their heresy, or preferred not to speak about it publicly. In my estimation, the Templars, or rather their leaders, had been and remained, throughout the whole of
Philip IV's arrest of the Templars in France was soon followed by a proclamation direct from the Pope, excommunicating all Templars who would not willingly abandon the Order, and also instructing good Christian kings to seize Templar property. In fact, the reaction he received was very mixed. It is a fact that the Templars of France were doomed and many countries in Europe more or less followed the Pope's edict. However, some monarchs, for example that of Portugal, simply ignored the papal decree. In Spain the Templars changed their name and carried on much as before, whilst in Germany the Templar institution openly confronted the state in a menacing manner, and also continued to operate.

The crown of France was able to write off the massive dept it owed to the Templar Order and it gained substantially in terms of Templar land, but it never found the supposed treasuries of the Order. It was even denied possession of the Templar's huge fleet of ships, which sometime immediately before the arrests of 1307 simply weighed its anchors and literally disappeared from the pages of history. More to the point, there is strong evidence that the Templars had already taken action to counter the threat from France.

At almost exactly the same time as Philip moved against the Templars, we find small but impoftant pockets of resistance developing in what is now Switzerland, against its ruler, the Holy Roman Emperor. Local areas, known as cantons, rose up and in a series of masterstrokes of military genius won a number of decisive battles that freed them from any outside control. It is almost certainly no coincidence that folk tales from the region talk about the peasant farmers of the cantons being assisted by white-mantled knights.
From a strategic point of view, a relocation of at least some of the Templar wealth and economic interest east, into the Alps, would have made great sense. This probably began to take place two decades prior to 1307. The Alpine terrain was beyond the influence of France and was difficult for any ruling elite to control, yet these little cantons came to own and jealously guard the only realistic routes of commerce across much of Europe. Everything about Switzerland simply screams that it was a Templar created state, or at least inspired by those who actually ran Templarism, yet historians have completely failed to recognize the fact.

It had been as early as 1291 that the three original cantons of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden had agreed to band together to fight any common enemy. This pact is the starting point of what would eventually become the Swiss state. In 1315, exactly the same year as Jacques de Molay, Grand Master of the Templar Order, was being put to death in France, the three cantons struck a crushing blow against the Holy Roman Empire. On 15 November 1315, a large group of Hapsburg knights, seeking to gain control of the important Reuss valley, were utterly defeated and destroyed by the combined forces of the fledgling cantons. It is not difficult to see the guiding hand of the Troyes Fraternity at work, though clearly the organization had changed its remit.

Templar knights who fought alongside the peasants of the cantons were confronting an enemy that the Troyes Fraternity had recognized since the time of Charlemagne. This was the Holy Roman Empire, which had been responsible for the death of Dagobert II and the usurpation of the Frankish throne. Nothing could have given the Troyes Fraternity, or more properly the Golden Thread, greater pleasure than to carve a nation for itself out of the very body of an institution it hated so much. The rumored Templar state became a reality, though not in southern France. The chosen destination was high up in the Alps, in the most defensible series of natural fortresses Europe has to offer.

Events taking place in Switzerland subsequently would show it developing into a sort of state the world had not seen before and which hasn't existed since. Across over seven hundred years, despite numerous languages and radically opposing religious imperatives, the Swiss have stuck together. Personal freedoms in Switzerland are a virtual obsession and each canton still has great control over its own running. Despite the potential for disagreements and civil strife, Switzerland has prospered. It has an influence on the world well out of proportion to its size or geographic location and it owes this to several factors:
 

Switzerland is and has been for centuries one of the major banking centers of the world.

It has retained a strict neutrality, even through two world wars. Though it did not participate in the League of Nations and has not been an active member of the United Nations, it has a strong bearing on world events, partly through its economic strength.

Switzerland was the starting point of the International Red Cross, which to this day still has the famous Templar red cross as its symbol.

Switzerland is pathologically secretive. It is almost impossible to ascertain anything about its true economic might, or how deep its tendrils run into the earth of the world economy.