Another Friday the 13th is upon us. Although there’s some debate over the superstition surrounding this unlucky day, The Count has a very strong opinion of it’s origin and has asked me to share his point of view on it.

A few years ago, an author named Dan Brown released a book called ‘The Da Vinci Code’ which was a bestseller and eventually made into a film. This book, while rooted in a very tangential way to some facts, was almost entirely fiction. Brown’s work was largely based on a very interesting historical fiction entitled, ‘Holy Blood, Holy Grail’. This book posed as a meticulously researched look into the idea that Christ was in fact mortal, and that his bloodline lives to this day. While plausible to some, nearly all of the research in the book has been shown to be completely fabricated. The book also looked at the history of the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon or as they are more commonly known, the Knights Templar. I have read it and I concur that it is almost entirely a fabrication. It’s inaccuracies were later exposed, in some cases by close associates of mine, and thusly ‘The Da Vinci Code’ was revealed to be a fictional account based on a fictional research book. The pretense under which it was published is understandable as it draws more readers in for sales. Nevertheless, volumes of information exist on the Knights and The Count has had more than a few encounters with some of the Grand Masters of the order, including what is commonly believed to be their last official GM, Sir Jacques de Molai. The Count tells me he met Sir Jacques for the first time in 1274 at a secret meeting between representatives of Pope Gregory X and Genghis Khan’s grandson, Khubilai Khan whom he counseled having already served the Great Temujin Khan family for over 80 years at that point. The meeting was one in a long series of Papal attempts to facilitate a Franco-Mongol alliance (which never worked) and it was attended by the then current Grand Master of the Knights Templar, Guillaume de Beaujeu and a few of his Templar Brothers, including Sir Jacques. The Count and Sir Jacques remained friends until Sir Jacques’s death in March of 1314.

Sir Jacques joined the Knights Templar when he was 21 in 1265. That is the youngest age that one can be considered for a knighthood in the order. Eventually he became the leader of the order when Grand Master Theobald Gaudin departed his earthly vessel in 1293. The Grand Masters of the Knights Templar take orders from no one but the Pope. Unfortunately, Sir Jacques’s Pope was a weak man without moral strength or honor. The Count himself refers to him disrespectfully by his birth name Bertrand. Bertrand was a pawn of King Philip IV and he had fair reason to fear him. The King made a large public spectacle of burning one of his predecessor’s (Boniface) Papal Bulls, Unam Sanctum. This Bull had given the Pope’s office absolute power over all of mankind. King Philip IV feared that power and as such famously had the Bull burned in front of the public, effectively castrating the Papal authority. King Philip was also a greedy man as well as poor manager of money. He was in great debt to The Knights Templar after spending all of France’s treasury at war and could find no way to repay it without enduring some personal suffering. Since he would do anything to avoid suffering of any kind, he concluded that he would accuse the Knights Templar of being heretical. In order to trick Sir Jacques into traveling to Europe, King Philip IV made false pretenses of being interested in a new Crusade. Sir Jacques’s loyalty to the cross dictated that he answer this call and as such he delivered himself and several of his best men to the region where they would be easily arrested. On Friday the 13th of October 1307, Sir Jacques and the Knights Templar across the continent were rounded up, arrested and interrogated by the Inquisition. Within a few years, King Philip then convinced his weak pawn Pope Clement V (Bertrand) to back him up. On March 22nd, 1312 the Papal Bull Vox In Excelso by Pope Clement V called for the end of the Order of The Knights Templar. After significant torture Sir Jacques confessed to a wide variety of heresy and was condemned to prison in 1314. After this condemnation Sir Jacques retracted all of the statements he had made, declaring that they were made under torture. This incensed King Philip and he ordered Sir Jacques burned at the stake as so many other Knight’s Templar had already been.

Sir Jacques may have had the last laugh however. While burning at the stake he reportedly yelled, “You who behold us perishing in the flames shall decide our innocence! I summon Pope Clement V to appear in forty days and Philip the Fair in twelve months before the just and terrible throne of the everliving God, to render an account of the blood which they have unjustly and wickedly shed.” The count was there however, and states that in actuality Sir de Molai said this on his way to the pyre. Nevertheless, Philip the Fair died four weeks later and Pope Clement V (Bertrand) died 9 months following that.

Perhaps Pope Clement V was shown mercy when he faced God for unknown to anyone outside the Church, he secretly absolved the Templars of all heresies just one year after they were arrested. See the Chinon Parchment, just now published in 2007 after having been ‘misplaced’ since 1628. Isn’t it odd how the Vatican’s can suddenly produce mitigating historical documents when it falls out of favor?

There is obviously a great deal more information on this subject. It is in fact far too grand for us to address in depth here at The Immortal Count. I bring it to your attention only to show you what many people believe is the true origin of the dark cloud that surrounds the day of Friday the 13th.  2009 has already seen 1 of them and another one is just around the corner. There will not be another year with 3 of them until 2015. The next true Friday the 13th, falling in October as the day of the arrest of the Knights Templar did, is in 2017. That will most certainly be an unlucky day. On the last true Friday, October 13th, in 2008, Her Majesty’s Treasury had to bailout the Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds and Halifax Bank of Scotland with $64 billion dollars to prevent a possible global financial sector collapse. Perhaps that event was only postponed.

∞ Arenas

References:

templarhistory.com

The Freemasons’ Monthly Magazine – 12 Feb, 1864. Page 14