Gretchen Cornwall

One of the most contentious points of argument amongst the Templar genre is that of the survival of the Order after the arrests of October 13th 1307.  Many author’s whom I admire deny the existence of the Order into modern times due to a lack of writen evidence.  Academic rigour must be upheld but there are too many intriguing anomalies throughout the last several hundred years, that I feel must be taken into account, before dismissing modern Templarism.

The medieval Order specialized in codes and secrecy, leaving their messages in architecture, stained glass and a complex oral tradition.  The very nature of Templar transmission was secrecy and therefore a simple paper trail would never exist due to the Order having been outlawed by the church and stripped of their public identity.

These were hardened warriors, innovators and more importantly they had beliefs worth living for that a greedy king and his puppets could not subdue.  There are estimates of 9000 to 15,000 preceptories across Europe, Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales at the time of the arrests in France.  

Each of these locations would have included knights, monks, lay brethren and other retainers.  Their numbers were into the thousands.  At their height there were estimates of 20,000 Knights alone across these kingdoms not including support personnel.  This figure could easily treble if not quadruple the estimate of ‘only’ 20,000 knights.  It is simply irresponsible academically to state that they no longer existed and if there is a cry of conspiracy here it is indeed an academic one.  

The conspiracy was originally perpetrated by the Catholic Church who turned on the Knights, but also a few fearful heads of state and by the Templars themselves who were forced underground in order to survive in a world not ready for their wisdom and steel.

Many Knights Templar fled to friendly ports and were taken in by monarchs who found their martial skills a benefit.  Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Scotland and also England – the destination which features most prominently in this book.  Despite the night of infamy, October 13th 1307 – the Templars found their way back to France as well, if they ever left at all.

I’ll be exploring the evidence for their existence in The Secret Dossier of a Knight Templar of the Sangreal – Available on Amazon Kindle between August 20th or September 29th 2015 depending on final editing.

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Love & Light,