Templar Dates to Remember
from the archives of H.E. The Baron of Richecourt KGCTJ
January
(1129) Council of Troyes. This Council formally adopts the Templars into the Church and replaces their Augustinian rule with a Benedictine rule. The Council also brings the new Order into line by prohibiting certain semi-heretical practices of the Order (i.e. baptism of infants, etc.).
February
8th (1250) Battle of Mansurah. At a ford outside the Egyptian town of Mansurah,280 Templars are killed after being goaded into battle by the Count d’Artois. This day marks the end of the Crusader advance during the Sixth Crusade.
March
10th (1208) The Albigensian Crusade (1208-1226) begins two months after the murder of the Papal Legate, Peter of Castlenau, in southwestern France. The Crusade diverts resources from Palestine and permanently dampens the crusading spirit in Europe.
18th (1314) Jacques de Molay, last Master of the Temple, and Geoffrey de Charney, Preceptor of Normandy, are burned at the stake as relapsed heretics.Known history of the Order ends on this date.
22nd (1312) Pope Clement V suppresses the Templars at the Council of Vienne with the Papal Bull Vox in Excelso.
27th (1188) Third Crusade (1188-92) begins when The Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick I (Barbarossa) takes the cross.
29th (1138) Omne Datum Optimum (All Good Things), the first Papal Bull granting privileges to the Templars, is issued by Pope Innocent II. Milites Templi (Soldiers of the Temple) and Militia Dei (Soldiers of God) follow in 1144and 1145.
April
5th (1291) Final seige of Acre by the Mamlukes begins.
13th (1204) Constantinople falls to the army of the Fourth Crusade, after a four day battle. Some historians believe that the Crusaders took the 
Shroud of Turin (which later may have gone to the Templars) during the sack of the city. Both the Templars and their benefactor, Pope Innocent III, harshly criticize this crusade because it diverts the Crusaders from aiding Palestine.The city remains in Latin hands until 1261, when it is retaken by the Byzantines.
20th (1314) Pope Clement V dies. Some historians later claim he was cursed at the stake by Jacques de Molay. This legend is reinforced when the Babylonian Captivity (The Papacy in Avignon), begun by Clement in 1309, degenerates into the Papal Schism between Urban VI and Clement VII in 1378.
May
18th (1291) Guillaume de Beaujeu, last Master of the Temple in Palestine,is killed at the seige of Acre.
24th (1218) Fifth Crusade (1218-21) begins.
28th (1291) Acre falls to the Mamlukes who slaughter everyone inside the city.
June
10th (1190) Frederick Barbarossa drowns in Anatolia.
24th . Saint Day of John the Baptizer, written in the original Templar Rule for special observance. It was long believed to be the Summer Solstice andthus has pagan and esoteric Kristian connotations.
July
4th (1187) Battle of Hattin. A force of Frankish nobles, Templars, and Hospitallers is destroyed by Saladin at the Horns of Hattin. Saladin follows up the battle with a massacre of over 100 Templars and Hospitallers.
4th (1190) King Richard I (Lionheart) of England and King Philip II (Augustus)of France leave Vézelay, France for the Holy Land.
(King Richard Lionhart eventually defeats Saladin). The USA was founded on July 4th to show it was a holy land type of new beginning, a reversal of the defeat of the infamous Battle of Hattin. The founding fathers of the USA as Rosicrucians and Masons may have viewed the newborn country as the New Jerusalem, or new Kingdom of Heaven.
13th (1099) Jerusalem falls to a Crusader army. The Frankish presence in Palestine begins.
August
14th (1291) The Templar castle of ‘Atlit, the last Crusader fortress in Palestine, is abandoned. The Frankish presence in Palestine ends.
20th (1191) Massacre at Ayyadieh. Richard I has over 2700 Muslim prisoners and their families massacred before the gates of Acre.
September
7th (1191) Battle of Arsuf. Richard I routs Saladin’s army. The military orders are instrumental in winning the battle.
14th (1307) King Philip IV (the Fair) of France issues the arrest order for the Templars to his officers.
17th (1248) Sixth Crusade (1248-54) begins. Saint Louis IX of France arrives at Limassol. The Master of the Temple, Guillaume de Sonnac, is among the Frankish leaders awaiting him there.
October
2nd (1187) Jerusalem surrenders to Saladin. The Kingdom of Jerusalem ceases to exist.
9th (1238) On the Feast of St. Denis, James I, Count-King of Catalonia and Aragon, takes Valencia City, in southeastern Spain. This opens up the entire region to the Christians, who create the Kingdom of Valencia out of the former taifa Muslim kingdom. This enormous territory, half the size of Aragon and Catalonia put together, puts James on an equal footing with his Castillian, Léonese, and Portuguese rivals on the peninsula.
13th (1307) Arrest of the Knights Templar in France by Philip IV. The infamous Friday the 13th, from whence the bad luck tradition sprang.
OCT 13. TEMPLAR REMEMBRANCE DAY. You should also remember (and look for!) the Templars of the Past on any Friday the 13th, not just an October one. They will be out and about on those days and may come to you,someone with like minded esoteric Christian warrior beliefs, so be on the lookout.
17th (1244) Battle of La Forbie. A combined force of Khorezmians and Egyptians destroy the Frankish army. 200-300 Templar knights are killed.
November
Katia Prioress inserts: Another Lent: The Templars observed two Lents per year, 40 days before Easter and 40 days before Christmas. Easter Lent is lunar based so its dates vary, and Christmas Lent is solar based,making its dates fixed. So on November 14 of every year we begin an Advent Lent that lasts forty days culminating on Dec. 24 and coming to an end Christmas Day. During Lenten periods people would refrain from sexual relations with their spouses, letting the sexual energies build and slowly build. The joyous day, be it the fertility holiday of Easter Sunday or the glorious “birth” of Light on Christmas Day would be all the more powerful since it included the climactic ending of sexual abstinence(in other words there were bedchamber rites which made the holiday more fun!).
18th (1095) Council of Clermont
24th (1202) Fourth Crusade (1202-4) begins with the capture of Zara (in Dalmatia)after a five day seige. The Crusaders do this at the behest of the Venetians,despite Zara’s being a friendly city. Zara is a rival of Venice and the Crusaders owe the Venetians money.
27th (1095) First Crusade (1095-9) begins. At the Council of Clermont, UrbanII’s call to take up the Cross against the Muslims is enthusiastically answered by all levels of European society.
29th (1314) Philip IV dies in a hunting accident. He is succeeded by three sons–Louis X, Philip V, and Charles IV–who all die early. The Capetian line becomes extinct in 1328. Philip’s grandson, Edward III of England, later claims the French throne and begins the Hundred Years War. Legend attributes these woes to Jacques de Molay’s dying curse.
