Ordinum equestrium et militarium catalogus in imaginibus expositus by Filippo Bonanni (1638-1725). Peter Partner compared this book  to a modern day coffee book. It is indeed loaded with illustrations and devoted to a very popular subject: Chivalric orders. During the 18th century, everything that had to do with nobility, heredity and power was of extreme interest to a lot of people who were on the outside looking in — the European bourgeoisie. Filippo Bonanni managed to find the most obscure orders and organizations throughout history (that might be a subject in itself), but his Knight Templar looks rather strange. The armor is almost Roman! The accompanying text is fair and rather sympathetic to the Knights. There is one obvious mistake about the date when the Order received its Rule.

Post bellum sacrum, auspiciis Urbani II. & Godefridi Bullionei commissum, ad ea conservanda, quae feliciter recuperata erant, Hospitalliorum exemplo, Templariorum ordo a Gallis Principibus institutum fuit; Ejus Auctores praecipui fuerunt Hugo de Paganis, & Goufredus a S. Audomato, Equestri ambo dignitate insignes, & quia loco juxta Templum Domini, a Balduino Rege concesso, commorabantur, Fratres Templarii sunt appellati. More Canonicorum Regularium vivebant, & peregrinos per Loca Sancta contra latronum, & Barbarorum insidias ducebant; donec de mandato Honorii Papae, & Stephani Hierosolymitani Patriarchae anno 1118 data fuit eis regula, quam a Bernardo conscriptam affirmant, & alba vestis ex lana, & Eugenii demum Authoritate crux rubra attributa; ut vestes albas in signum innocentiae deferentes, per cruces rubras martyrium ob Christi nomen suscipiendum non dedignaretur, & ad sanguinem efundendum ob terrae Sanctae defensionem essent parati. Narrat Vitriacus in hist. Orient. cap. 65 Vexillum deferri ab illis bipartitum ex albo & nigro colore, eo quod Christi amicis candidi essent & benigni; nigri autem & horriblies inimicis. Crucis tesseram habebant octogonam similem Melitensi. Hieronymus tamen Romanus contendit, suisse duplicem & quasi patriarchalem, qualem exhibemus n. 106. Multis tandem exantlatis laboribus iste ordo Viennae in Concilio Patrum decreto extinctus fuit, & ejus bona Hospitalariis addicta tempore, quo Rhodiorum insulam incolebant. Ejus abolitionis disquisitionem apud Marianam invenies lib. 15. cap. 10. Platinam, Villanum, Azorium & alios. Nos eorum Equitem indumentum in imagine producimus. [click to continue…]

Alphonse Jourdain, count of Toulouse lays down legal grounds for donations to the Order of the Knights Templar:

Anno ab incarnatione Domini MCXXXIIII. Ego, Idelfonsus, comes Tolosanus. do et offero Deo et militibus Xpisti qui in Templo Salomonis Deo serviunt et civitatem sanctam cum habitatoribus custodiunt, advenientes quoque et redeuntes defendunt, tantam potestatem et licenciam in omni terra mea, quantam in partibus orientis a rege Iherosolimitano, a principe Antiocetio et a comite Tripolitano habent, videlicet ut quisquis in omni provincia mea aut se ipsum aut pecuniam aut terram aut villam aut castellum aut etiam civitatem vel aliquid horum que a me feualiter tenent eis dare voluerit, et ipse dare, nullo calumpniante. et ipsi accipere libere possint, ut in eternum domus militum lherosolimitana possideat ac vice hereditario in perpetuum teneat, nulli pro his nisi Deo soli serviens. Factum et confirmatum est donum istud in curia Sancte Marie de Podio, in die assumptionis ejusdem, cernentibus et audientibus istis Guillelnimo, episcopo Podiensi, Raimundo Berengario, comite Barchinonensi, Guillelmo de Monte Pessulano, Rotgerio Biterrensi, Rostagno de Sabrano et multis aliis. [click to continue…]

Charta Transmissionis

The Latin text here is taken from the OSMTH page. I have checked it against Acta Latomorum where it first appears in printed form. As a result a few transcription errors have been fixed. This charter is believed to be a forgery by those who do not subscribe to the notion that the Knights Templar somehow managed to survive as a secretive organization after being officially disbanded in the 14th century. In fact, even if the Knights Templar indeed remained hidden underground the validity of this document is questionable.

The only way I personally can judge the authenticity of this text is by its language. For instance, I am quite surprised to find the phrase “ad majorem Dei gloriam” which was, as far as I can tell,  only used once (by pope Gregory the Great) before Ignatius Loyola created the Jesuits’ famous motto. And yet, the author of the charter clearly uses these words as if they were formulaic! Another interesting feature is the phrase “privilegia contuli”.This simply cannot be found in any medieval text that I have access to. This formula, however, is used routinely (usually in the plural – contulimus) in university diplomas of the much later period. Undoubtedly, the creator of the Larmenius Charter had such a diploma! Also, Larmenius calls himself hyerosolimitanus. One has to wonder regarding the last time a Knight Templar was even allowed in Jerusalem… On the whole, the language of the Charter does not appear medieval. It reads very much like restored Classical Latin from the golden age of European universities. Nonethless, a beautiful document (pictured).

Ego frater Johannes Marcus Larmenius, hyerosolimitanus, Dei gratia et secretissimo venerandi sanctissimique martyris, supremi templi militiæ magistri (cui honos et gloria) decreto, communi fratrum consilio confirmato, super universum templi ordinem, summo et supremo magisterio insignitus, singulis has decretales litteras visuris, salutem, salutem, salutem. [click to continue…]