Chapter 11: The Templars
Please read Chapter 11, The Templars, in Templar Continuum. Copy the following questions into an email, insert your answers and send to the Templar Officers with TC 11 from__________ (your Templar name) in the subject line.
1) What three vows did the knights probably take?
2) Explain the special circumstances regarding the vow of poverty.
3) Who helped write the Rule of the Templars?
4) What other important document did this person write regarding the Templars?
5) What did Bernard have to say about the secular knights of the day?
Templar Continuum Course | 2ndDeg. Templar Study Hall
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Special Note from Katia, Templar Prioress: We read in this chapter that a Templar could temporarily “lose his coat” if he slept with a woman. Losing one’s coat over sex was probably a rule on the books which applied when a Templar man had sex with a non-Templar woman, with a prostitute or other girl. We believe the Daughters of Tsion existed and historical records do show proof of several female Templars, listing them by name and even depicting them in a few drawings. Those few women Templars that history has recorded are the few that somehow couldn’t be hidden, that weren’t kept a secret, probably due to the need to recruit other women (always quietly) or due to their noble rank. Several of the known female Templars were women of noble rank and others were sisters or daughters of male Templars.
The women in the Templars were called the Daughters of Tsion. On the official books they were listed as Templar Clerics, Cistercian nuns or other nondescript titles. The fact that having sex with a woman did not get a Templar expelled from the order and was considered almost a minor offense,gives support to the theory that women were not looked upon by the Templar authorities as dirty temptresses.
It is highly likely there were thousands of women in the Templars, just as many as the male fighters. Women working with and balancing out menwas a radical concept for a religious order posing as monastic. Theonly way for the Templars to exist under Rome’s authority was to behave like a traditional celibate order. They could not (though Bernard tried) declare that Christianity has a sacred feminine, has a goddess, and that she should be honored via women priestesses as Christ is honored via male priests.
It is interesting that celibacy was NOT REQUIRED by the Catholic Church of its monks until the 1500’s! The Templars were disbanded in 1307. During their entire existence celibacy was not the rigid requirement it later came to be. The orthodox Christian priests with whom the Templars had considerably more contact with in the Holy Land took wives and had children. Marriage was considered wholesome and healthy, but sadly only by a few. Templars considered it sacred also — the Sacred Marriage or Hieros Gamos.
We believe in the underground thread which has been whispered to initiates year after year for the past thousand years that women were a vital part of this fascinating and always mysterious order of esoteric Judeo-Christians. One meaning of the word esoteric is “inner” and the Templars were certainly deep within the inner circle of the Christian mysteries.
Please read Chapter 12, A Day in the Life, in Templar Continuum. Copy the following questions into an email, insert your answers and send to the Templar Officers with TC 12 from __________ (your Templar name) in the subject line.
1) The Templars would have seen themselves as _______ first and__________second.
2) Write out a schedule of an average Templar’s Day, including notes on how certain tasks were performed.
3) T/F: Full knights and sergeants ate together at the same time.
4) Just how important were horses to the Templars?
5) What would happen if a Templar broke a rule? Give a summary.
6) Was this typical of the day? In other words, was this process the norm for those who broke a law or rule elsewhere?
7) What sorts of infractions would result in expulsion from the order?List at least five.
Templar Continuum Course | 2ndDeg. Templar Study Hall
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Please read Chapter 13, A Daring Plan, in Templar Continuum. Copy the following questions into an email, insert your answers and send to the Templar Officers with TC 13 from__________ (your Templar name) in the subject line.
1) What was the “Daring Plan” referenced by the chapter heading?
2) Why was Troyes such a good place for “conspirators” to meet?
3) Burgundy had become a separate Merovingian kingdom as early as_____________[year].
4) Who was “Boso,” and why was he important?
5) What sorts of changes came with the Carolingians?
6) What did Pope Urban II do at Cleremont Ferrand in 1095?
7) What was the response to his actions? Why?
Templar Continuum Course | 2ndDeg. Templar Study Hall
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Please read Chapter 14, Consolidation, in Templar Continuum. Copy the following questions into an email, insert your answers and send to the Templar Officers with TC 14 from__________ (your Templar name) in the subject line.
1) In what year was Godfroi de Bouillon offered the Crown of Jerusalem?Did he accept?
2) What title did he take instead? Did he last long?
3) Who was Peter the Hermit, and what did he do?
4) What were some of the reasons that the Pope made the Templars answerable only to himself?
5) Describe the relationship between the Cistercians and the Templars.
6) What positive change in the economic history of Europe can be ascribed to the Templars?
Templar Continuum Course | 2ndDeg. Templar Study Hall
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Chapter 15: The Founding Fathers
Please read Chapter 15, The Founding Fathers, in Templar Continuum. Copy the following questions into an email, insert your answers and send to the Templar Officers with TC 15 from __________ (your Templar name) in the subject line.
1) When did the founders first leave France for the Holy Land?
2) When did they return to France?
3) What were the knights doing in the meantime?
4) What was going on in Champagne during this time?
5) What interesting things was Bernard of Clairvaux doing with his monestery? Why might he have been doing this?
6) What sorts of skills and interests did the Templars have?
7) Where might they have found this sort of information?
Templar Continuum Course | 2ndDeg. Templar Study Hall
Questions on this page by Lady Christine
