Later this month - March 18th - is the annual Commemoration Day of Jacques de Molay, the last Grand Master of the Poor Fellow Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon. Known more commonly as The Knights Templar.
Fra. De Molay was arrested on Friday 13th October 1307 and was executed a Martyr of the People on 18th March 1314, it was a Monday.
His death saw the end of an Order that would forever spark worldwide intrigue. Igniting the imaginations of storytellers, filmmakers, and conspiracy theorists for generations.
But was it the end?
For Grand Master Jacques de Molay that was certainly the case. After refusing to accept charges of heresy he alongside Fra. Geoffroi de Charney, Preceptor of Normandy, was slowly burned at the stake on Ile des Javiaux a small island in the Seine.
However, for the Order of Knights Templar there is evidence to suggest this was not the end.
Fast forward to the French Revolution and a man called Bernard-Raymond Fabré-Palaprat.
Fabré-Palaprat revealed an ancient document called the Larmenius Charter. This showed an unbroken line of Knight Templar Grand Masters from 1324 to 1804. The charter was named after a man called Johannes Marcus Larmenius who was named Grand Master by Jacques de Molay before his execution in 1314. Larmenius in turn named his successor, Thomas Theobaldus Alexandrinus, in 1324. And he was the first to write his name down on the charter. After him, each master entered his details down to Fabré-Palaprat.
This document, it is said, ended up in the hands of the Freemasons in the early 20th century and is now kept at Mark Masons Hall in London.
Like all things Templar it’s advisable to treat revelations such as these with a dose of skepticism. Especially as these documents arrived at a time of great unrest and were put forward by a man who wanted to establish his own new religion. A document resurfacing that showed not only his Templar connection but that he was the Order’s rightful Grand Master would’ve been extremely useful in getting people on board.
Indeed, some researchers believe the document to be a forgery suggesting it was the work of a Jesuit named Father Bonani, who assisted Philippe II, Duke of Orléans in 1705 to fabricate the document.
Meanwhile, other researchers, such as John Yarker, Friedrich Münter, and Henri Grégoire specifically, believed the Charter to be authentic.
A Papal Bull, Decree XXXVII, columns 763-4, vol. 25 of the "Concilium Avenionense", also known as the Decree of Avignon of 1326, may be a contemporary primary source document written in response to the circumstances outlined in the Charter, and thereby affirm the historicity of the Larmenius claims.
The former owner of the Charter, Fred J.W. Crowe published a literal translation of the Charter showing the Latin is consistent with the fourteenth century. Crowe then submitted the Charter for examination to Sir George Warner, Keeper of the Manuscripts at the British Museum, who also determined the Latin to be of the fourteenth century, consistent with the claims of the Charter.
However, in truth, we will probably never know for sure.
What we do know is on Monday 18th March 1314 two men of honour and great principle paid the ultimate price rather than lie and admit to falsehoods. If they had done so it would’ve most certainly saved their lives. But what of their immortal soul?
RIP Fra. Jacques de Molay, Grand Master, and Fra. Geoffroi de Charney, Preceptor of Normandy.
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