This question asked by Petros, a reader of this website, is really difficult to answer since there is not even an agreement as to when Freemasonry started and who started it.
Unlike Freemasonry however, the Order of the Temple, or the Knights Templar has very clear origins:
After the First Crusade captured Jerusalem in 1099, many Christian pilgrims traveled to visit what they referred to as the Holy Places. However, though the city of Jerusalem was under relatively secure control, the rest of the Outremer was not. Bandits abounded, and pilgrims were routinely slaughtered, sometimes by the hundreds, as they attempted to make the journey from the coastline at Jaffa into the Holy Land.
Around 1119, two veterans of the First Crusade, the French knight Hugues de Payens and his relative Godfrey de Saint-Omer, proposed the creation of a monastic order for the protection of these pilgrims. King Baldwin II of Jerusalem agreed to their request, and gave them space for a headquarters on the Temple Mount, in the captured Al Aqsa Mosque. The Temple Mount had a mystique, because it was located above what was believed to be the ruins of the Temple of Solomon. The Crusaders therefore referred to the Al Aqsa Mosque as Solomon's Temple, and it was from this location that the Order took the name of Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon, or "Templar" knights. The Order, with about nine knights, had few financial resources and relied on donations to survive. Their emblem was of two knights riding on a single horse, emphasizing the Order's poverty.
Now some people believe that there existed an older organization known as the Ordre de Sion, prior to the Knights Templar, and that this order was founded by Godfroi de Bouillon in 1090, nine years before the conquest of Jerusalem. Supposedly, its purpose is to serve the interests of the Merovingian dynasty by restoring to its rightful heir the rulership of France and Europe which was taken from them by the Carolingians in 751. Godfroi de Bouillon, a Merovingian descendant himself, became the first ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem after its capture by the crusaders in 1099.
Bouillon built an abbey on the ruins of a Byzantine basilica. It was named L'abbaye de Notre Dame de Sion and knights were attached to the abbey. According to one chronicler, it was extremely well fortified, with its own walls, towers and battlements. Another historian is more explicit still: "There were in Jerusalem during the Crusades...Knights attached to the Abbey of Notre Dame de Sion who took the name of Chevaliers de l'Ordre de Notre Dame de Sion."
When Godfroi de Bouillon died in June 1100, he was succeeded by his younger brother Baldwin I of Jerusalem. Upon the death of Baldwin I in 1118, the crown was offered to the king's elder brother Eustace III, but Joscelin of Courtenay insisted that the crown pass to Baldwin of Bourcq instead. Baldwin of Bourcq accepted and was crowned king of Jerusalem as Baldwin II on Easter Sunday, April 14, 1118. Baldwin II was called a cousin of the brothers Eustace III, Godfrey of Bouillon, and Baldwin I, and therefore he too was a part of the Merovingian dynasty.
If you will recall, it was Baldwin II who agreed to the creation of the Order of the Knights Templar as proposed by the French knight Hugues de Payens and his relative Godfrey de Saint-Omer. And it was also Baldwin II who negotiated the constitution of its Order.
It is therefore safe for me to say that one of the (secret) duties of the Knights Templar must have been to serve the interests of the Merovingian dynasty, and its umbrella organization, the Ordre de Sion. Furthermore, whatever treasures the Knights Templar supposedly found or accumulated over time, must have been shared with (if not totally surrendered to) the Merovingians. Well at least, that must have been the original agreement or understanding.
So is there a connection between the Knights Templar and the Merovingians? I believe there is, but that is just my humble opinion.
My website is unique in that I also established a connection between the Merovingians and the Rosicrucians by boldly claiming that Christian Rosenkreutz, the founder of Rosicrucianism in 1407, was the reincarnation of Dagobert II, the last of the Merovingian kings who died in 679.
So is there a connection between the Merovingians and the Rosicrucians? I believe there is, but again that is just my humble opinion. It should not be difficult to believe then that the bulk of the Temple treasures excavated in Jerusalem, as well as the Holy Grail, should eventually end up in the hands of the Rosicrucians.
So my belief is that the Knights Templar, the Merovingians, and the Rosicrucians are all interconnected.
But how about the Freemasons, where do they get into the picture, or should I say puzzle?
Before I answer that question, I would first like to discuss the schism which supposedly occurred between the Knights Templar and the Ordre de Sion in 1188. Some people point to the "Cutting of the elm" incident involving the Kings of France and England as the reason behind this schism. I beg to disagree, simply because neither the Templars nor the Merovingians were involved in this incident. Instead, I point to the fall of Jerusalem under the hands of the Muslim Sultan Saladin in October 1187 as the true reason why the alliance between the Knights Templar and the Merovingians ended.
Before the fall of Jerusalem, the Knights Templar were serving the Merovingians who at that time were holding the Kingship of Jerusalem - a position which the warrior monks held with very high spiritual regard. After the fall of Jerusalem, the Templars simply found no more reason for their continued subservience to the Merovingians. Furthermore when Jerusalem fell in the hands of the Muslims, the Templars also lost their headquarters in the Temple Mount which was previously given to them by the Merovingians; after which the Templars were forced to resume their operations in territories no longer controlled by the Ordre de Sion.
Because of this, after 1187, the Knights templar stopped sharing with the Merovingians the great wealth which they continued to amass either through donations from rich benefactors, or through business transactions of their own. The Templars even started electing Grand Masters different from those recognized by the Ordre de Sion.
In 1307, under the direct command of King Philip IV of France, many of the Order's members in France were arrested, tortured into giving false confessions, and then burned at the stake. Furthermore, under pressure from King Philip, Pope Clement V disbanded the Order in 1312.
There were allegations that the Merovingians schemed with Philip IV in this heinous crime committed against the Templars, with the seizure of the Templar's wealth as their main aim. (Pope Clement V's mother was Ida de Blanchefort, of the same family as Bertrand de Blanchefort, a Merovingian). Assuming that these allegations are true at all, it should not malign the honorable reputation built upon by the distinguished members of the Merovingian dynasty such as Dagobert II, Godfroi de Bouillon, and their many saints. Needless to say, if Dagobert II was alive at that time, he would not have participated in this evil plot against the Templars. But then even in the best of families, there exist some rotten apples.
The question as to who really owns the vast wealth accumulated by the Templars must have been a thorny issue among the Merovingians, and even among the Rosicrucians; and this is the reason why this subject is part of their coded message in one of the parchments discovered by Berenger Sauniere:
A DAGOBERT II ROI ET A SION EST CE TRESOR ET IL EST LA MORT
To Dagobert II, King, and to Sion is this treasure and he is there dead.
After the Knights Templar's expulsion in 1307 onwwards from the countries where they had their priories, they reportedly migrated to Scotland where King Robert 1st of Scots, The Bruce, offered them sanctuary in return for their support in his struggle with England.
Here in Scotland is where the Templars became associated with a group of nobility, whom they pledged their allegiance with, and together with they formed what is now known as Freemasonry. The ancient traditions of these noblemen form the bulk of the rites practiced by the Masons of today. Thus, although Freemasonry was started in Scotland by the Knights templar only after 1307, its recognized roots and traditions go a long way back due to its association with these noblemen.
What this group of nobility is, I will be discussing in my next blog.