What the Pope had inaugurated was The Crusades. The response to his plea to re-take the Holy Land and the sacred city of Jerusalem for Christianity must have been beyond his wildest dreams. Christendom was electrified by the prospect of Holy War as Knights from across Europe flocked to his banner. By July, 1096, thousands of Knights and Men-at-Arms had converged on the unprepared city of Constantinople. Alexus Comemnus, who had only sought a few hundred men to bolster his own forces, was suddenly a very frightened man. With so many aggressive, highly-charged warriors in his city of conspicuous wealth and great splendour where temptation would have been great, he couldn’t wait to be rid of them. In August he did just that, shipping them across the Bosphorus where they could take out their aggression on the cause of their fury. It took another three years of constant squabbling, hard fighting, and much privation before they reached the gates of Jerusalem. Laying siege to the city the much depleted Christian army, exhausted, half-starved, and dehydrated, seemed spent. But through a combination of prayer, fasting, penance, and religious zeal on 15 July, 1099, the city fell, and a terrible massacre ensued. The streets, it was said, ran with blood. Christendom had avenged itself.

The Crusaders were keen to share out the spoils of their victory. Every faction had to be satisfied. Four new Christian States were to be created in the Holy Land, and would become known as the Outremer; the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the County of Edessa, the Principality of Antioch, and the County of Tripoli. Weighed down with booty many Crusaders now began to depart for home. Yet the territorial gains of the First Crusade still had to be defended.

      Templar Cross

In 1119, some twenty years after the conclusion of the First Crusade, the Knights Templar were formed. They were the creation of the French nobleman, Hughes de Payens. He, along with a small number of his relatives banded together as Armed Christian Warriors dedicated to the protection of pilgrims on their journey to the Holy Land. They approached King Baldwin II of Jerusalem who allowed them to establish themselves as an Order at the Temple Mount, which had been the site of King Solomon’s Temple. Hence, they took the name, ” The Poor Knights of the Temple of King Solomon.” This very quickly became abbreviated as the Knights Templar.

For a time the Templars went quietly about their business but in 1129, at the Council of Troyes, their activities were officially sanctioned by the Church. They were now formally Warrior Monks, authorised to carry the sword and kill in the name of God.

Blessed by the Church and officially authorised as the defenders of Christendom in the Holy Land donations from across Europe began to flood in. Besides this avenue of finance the Knights themselves were obliged to take a vow of poverty and hand over all their worldly goods to the Order.

In 1139, Pope Innocent II issued the Papal Bull Omne Datum Optimum which ordered that the Knights could freely pass through any land, owed no taxes, and were subject to no authority than that of the Pope. With their ever increasing wealth and Papal protection had in very short-order become the most powerful force in Christendom.

The Knights Templars quickly accumulated great wealth and established Chapters in many countries including England, France, Spain and Portugal. Even so, the number of actual warriors was always quite small. The majority of Templars were accountants, lawyers, bankers, and administrators. Despite this it was a very effective fighting force. They were the shock troops of the Crusader army. In 1177, at the Battle of Montgisard, a Christian army led by little more than 80 Knights Templar defeated a much larger Muslim force commanded by Saladin. Because they were so small in numbers the Knights would form in a tightly packed, heavily armed squad and charge straight at the enemy. Their task to punch a hole in the opposing army’s lines for their allies to exploit, and of course they were expected to die for the cause. Montgisard was a famous victory but not a decisive one. It was only to bring a temporary respite for the increasingly beleaguered State of Jerusalem.

In the intervening years the Knights Templar had become immensely powerful and an integral part of the fabric of medieval life. Their Papal sanction as a designated charity had brought the donations rolling in and they greatly increased their ownership of land and property in both Europe and the Outremer. They ran vineyards and farms, bought and sold livestock, controlled an import/export business, were involved in manufacturing, and possessed their own fleet. Their raison d’etre had moved on from simply being the physical defenders of Christendom to the effective bankers of Europe. They introduced the first cheque, designed to protect pilgrims goods during their absence from home. They could deposit their valuables in a Templar House for which they would be provided with a letter of credit which they could then cash in at a later date. Though usury (the charging of interest on loans) was forbidden to Christians by the Church, the Templars used their privileged status to circumvent the rules. They didn’t charge interest they charged rent. This brought them considerable power and also considerable enmity.  

In 1186, Guy de Lusignan, became ruler of Jerusalem. He was a hot-tempered and arrogant man who had a far higher opinion of himself than he could ever justify. He conveniently ignored the fact that he did not rule Jerusalem as of right but only as the husband of Queen Sibylla. Even so, he rode rough-shod over his opponents, of which there were many, and adopted an aggressive policy towards the Muslims. Along with his ally, the amoral thug, Raynald de Chatillon, and with the support of the Templars, he set about deliberately antagonising the Muslims. It was not a sensible strategy. In the previous decade the Muslim world had become unified under one man, Sal-ah-Uddin (Saladin). He had been making in-roads into Crusader territory and by the early 1180’s the Crusader Kingdom was virtually surrounded. At the same time, under the divisive rule of Guy de Lusignan, Christian unity in the Holy Land had begun to fracture.

Many nobles, aware of their increasingly perilous position, counseled Guy to come to a peaceful settlement with Saladin. He was after all known to be a reasonable man who was always willing to negotiate. He did not enjoy war for its own sake and would often weep at the death of his troops. Guy, however, was only interested in reasserting Crusader authority. This suited Saladin who understood his opponent well enough. He had also been deeply offended the previous year when Raynald had ambushed a Haji Caravan and kidnapped his sister. Raynald had then deepened the offence by demanding a ransom for her release. Outraged, Saladin had laid siege to Raynald’s castle Kerak de Chevallier, the most powerful fortress in Crusader territory, but was unable to break in. Saladin, however, never forgave the insult, and it would cost Raynald his life.

Saladin besieged the Crusader fortress of Tiberias that belonged to King Raymond III of Tripoli. It was Saladin’s intention to lure the Frankish army out of their fortifications into open battle where he believed he could defeat them. Raymond was aware of this and counseled against taking the bait. He was, he said, willing to forsake Tiberias for the greater good of Christendom. Guy, however, was not willing to listen. He was determined to confront Saladin and defeat him. The trap worked and Guy abandoned his encampment at the Saffuriya Springs and advanced his army, in oppressive heat, away from their supply of water, to raise the siege. The Frankish army was harassed throughout as Muslim bowmen circled their army  and rained arrows down upon them. Saladin had also secured all the watering holes en-route and had also cut-off their line of retreat. Wth their ability to maneuver restricted and making slow progress the Franks were forced to set up camp on a plateau at a location known as the Horns of Hattin.

Still, the Christian army was a formidable one. It was some 20,000 strong and in its ranks were the leading nobles of the Outremer, 1,200 of its soldiers were heavily armed knights, some 80 of whom  were Templars under the personal command of the Orders Grand Master Gerard de Ridefort, and the Bishop of Acre (the Patriarch of Jerusalem was mysteriously ill) carried with him the relic of the True Cross. They remained confident of victory, after all, God willed that it should be so; but as time wore on their desperate need for water outweighed any military objective. They were hot, exhausted, dying of thirst, and surrounded. Even so, the battle was a bitterly fought affair as time and again the Franks charged in ever desperate attempts to break through the Muslim lines, but Saladin had them firmly in his grip and had no intention of allowing them to escape. Whenever it seemed that the Franks might break through he personally rallied his men and led the counter-attack. On the afternoon of 4 July, 1287, as the sun beat relentlessly down upon the heavily armoured and exhausted knights, many of whom had fallen to their knees to pray for a miracle, Saladin launched the final assault. The Frankish army fell apart, there was to be no miracle.

Many thousands were killed, many more captured. Among the taken prisoner were Jerusalems King Guy de Lusignan and Raynald de Chatillon. Saladin had them both brought to his tent where he offered Guy a cup of iced water. When Guy passed the cup onto Raynald, Saladin allowed him to drink before taking out his sword and cutting off his head. Guy fell to his knees and begged for mercy, but Saladin was neither an executioner nor a bloodthirsty man. He explained that Raynald had caused great offence and that his punishment had been just. Guy would not be killed.

The common soldiers taken prisoner were offered the choice of converting to Islam and being sold into slavery or face execution. Many chose the former, as indeed, did many of the knights. Any Templar Knights captured, however, were to be killed. That is except for one, the Grand Master himself, Gerard de Ridefort, who had not only been captured when Templar Knights were expected to fight to the death, but had then allowed himself to be ransomed. Though he was to be captured again just a month later and this time beheaded, when the news of his capitulation and subsequent behaviour reached mainland Europe it was to do untold damage to the reputation of the Knights Templar. They were never again thought of so highly and began to be viewed as profiteers and a menace to good order. 

Following his victory at the Horns of Hattin, Saladin mopped up any remaining Christian resistance before advancing on Jerusalem. The Holy City itself was in a state of panic. Full of refugees who had fled there for its protection, it was difficult to maintain order, and its fall seemed imminent. As one of only four knights remaining in the city, Balian of Ibelin took command of its defence. Ignoring demands from Saladin that he should do so he refused to surrender the city, and on 20 September, 1187, a siege began. Balian struggled to find enough men to defend the city and had to knight many men on the spot whether they were worthy of the honour or not. The civilian population did not flock to its defence either, fearing a massacre as occurred in 1099, they were too terrified to show themselves. So it was indeed fortunate that the fighting, though fierce at times, was often sporadic, and that the walls of Jerusalem remained strong. But Balian was no fool. He knew that he could not hold out indefinitely against the Muslim army, and he also knew that no help was on the way. He simply wanted to get the best deal from Saladin that he possibly could. Realising the pointless waste of life that a prolonged siege would incur Balian and Saladin negotiated a settlement. It helped that they were both humane men, at least by the standards of the time. There would be no massacre. It was agreed that the Christian population of Jerusalem would be sold into slavery but they had the option of being able to purchase their freedom. The price was set differently for men, women, and children. Aware that most could not pay, Balian haggled over the price with Saladin who reduced it threefold. Balian wanted to secure the release of as many of the prisoners as possible, as likewise did Saladin. Indeed, it is possible that he would have been willing simply to let them go but was unable to do so. Some Muslim nobles paid for the release of some of the poorer prisoners themselves, as did Balian. Perhaps, even Saladin himself paid for a number out of his own purse. The negotiations over on 2 October, Jerusalem was surrendered into Saladin’s hands. With the loss of  Jerusalem, only the port of Tyre held out. Christian power in the Holy Land was broken. It was never to recover. Though it was only two years later that the Third Crusade, that would pitch Richard the Lionheart up against Saladin in what would be an epic confrontation, would begin.

There is little doubt that the reputation of the Templars suffered as a result of their defeat in the Holy Land. The behaviour of Gerard de Ridefort had made him an object of ridicule. They were no longer the unconquerable Warriors of Christ, and they no longer had a Kingdom to defend. Further military catastrophes at Jaffa in 1191, and at the Battle of al-Mansurah in 1250, diminished their reputation even further. Following the Siege of Acre in 1291, they were forced from the Holy Land altogether, and had to relocate to Cyprus.

By the mid-thirteenth century the Templars had lost considerable tracts of land, they were no longer able to protect their trade routes, and the donations had ceased to come in. With the announcement of every new Crusade their fortunes would temporarily revive, but each new Crusade would be less successful than the last.

In 1292, Jacques de Molay, was appointed the Orders new Grand Master. Little could he have imagined at the time that he would be its last.

De Molay, already in his fifties and therefore quite elderly for the times, was a veteran of numerous Templar campaigns. Respected and admired for his courage and tenacity he was the natural choice to be the Orders new Grand Master, and he set about his task with predictable vigour. He was determined to turn around the Templars fortunes. He toured Europe and was received at the Courts of many of the leading Monarchs including Philip Augustus of France and Charles II of Naples. He also travelled to England where he met King Edward I, and was granted a private audience with the Pope. Despite being greeted warmly wherever he went and being lavished with promises of assistance, he could not get a firm commitment to another Crusade. Desperate to regain a foothold in the Holy Land he was even willing to negotiate a joint invasion plan with the Mongols.

De Molay’s determination to revive Templar power, however, unnerved many of those who had profited from its decline and feared the consequences of any resurgence. Rumours began to circulate regarding the Templars secret initiation rites. That they were sacrilegious in some way, perhaps even heretical.

In early 1307, Pope Clement invited De Molay and his rival Fulk de Villaret, the leader of the Knights Hospitaler, to discuss uniting the two Orders. He hoped that by doing so he would be able to wield greater control over them. De Villaret failed to turn up and in his absence discussions turned to the rumours that had been so damaging to the Templars reputation. After repeated re-assurances that the rumours were false and so much tittle-tattle, De Molay and the Pope parted on friendly terms, the allegations against the Templars seemingly dismissed. Pope Clement, however, was not so sure. The Templars were based in France, and Clement requested its King, Philip IV, to investigate further. 

The Templars had long been suspected of being the peddlers of mystery and magic. They were believed by many to be responsible for droughts, the failure of crops, the death of livestock, the sinking of ships, and many dark acts. These rumours had been common currency for sometime and they were given greater impetus by King Philip IV of France who had long cast an envious eye on Templar gold. It is unlikely that Clement was unaware of this and so his choice of Philip to investigate the Templars is tainted by suspicion.

Philip was a man who had a high opinion of himself and even grander designs. In his efforts to achieve them he had run-up a considerable debt, and owed a great deal of money to the Templars. This he could neither repay or had any intention of doing so. When they refused to loan him any further money more he ordered their arrest.

On Friday, 18 October, 1307 (some suggest that this is the origin of the superstition surrounding Friday the Thirteenth) Jacques de Molay and any other Templars in France who could be found were rounded up and thrown into jail. They were then charged with numerous offences including apostasy, idolatry, heresy, sodomy, bestiality, fraud, corruption, and secrecy. Put to the torture, many Templars, including de Molay confessed. People across Europe were scandalised by the forced confessions. The famed Warriors of Christ, it appeared, had all along been working for the Devil. Philip, with popular support, and an overwhelming desire to lay his hands on the Templars famed wealth as soon as possible, now approached the Pope to sanction his move.

On 22 November, Pope Clement issued the Papal Bull Pastoralis Praeeminentiae which ordered that all Templars throughout Europe be arrested and their assets seized. Whereas Philip was concerned only to grab the Templars many priceless treasures, the Pope (though not immune to greed) was mostly troubled by Templar power, especially the rumour that they intended to establish their own Holy State as the Teutonic Knights had in Germany, and the Knights Hospitaler had on the Island of Rhodes. This he believed would pose a direct threat to Catholic hegemony across mainland Europe. It was also felt that because of their presumed great wealth and privileged status they would very quickly become the most powerful of these States. 

Philip was delighted of course, but the Pope now appeared to have pangs of guilt. He ordered Papal hearings be held into the case to determine Templar guilt or innocence. Philip was furious and responded by having dozens of Templars burned at the stake and then threatened to take military action against those Templars still at large. Under increasing pressure Pope Clement agreed to take action and issued the Papal Bull Vox in Excelso which disbanded the Order.

If Philip thought the seizure of Templar assets was to make him rich beyond his wildest dreams he was to be sorely disappointed. The Templars were broke. This has since led to persistent rumours that they had hidden their most priceless treasures or had them shipped abroad. Perhaps, even, their great wealth lay not in material goods but in the possession of a great secret.

Old and sick, suffering the effects of brutal torture, and half-starved, at seventy years of age Jacques de Molay was coming to the end of his life. This, however, did not spare him his execution. On 18 March, 1314, on an island in the Seine, he was bound to a stake, and set alight. Just before the flames were lit he requested that he be allowed to die facing Notre Dame Cathedral, and that his hands should be tied so he could clasp them together in prayer. As the flames licked about him he issued a curse upon both Philip and Pope Clement. That they would both die and have to give an account for their actions before God within the years end. Clement died less than a month later wracked with guilt and begging forgiveness for what he had done. Philip was killed in a hunting accident that November, just as he was preparing to go on Crusade.

Many myths and legends surround the Knights Templar. Their headquarters were built upon the ruins of King Solomon’s Temple and it has long been thought that they must have discovered something there, hence their almost paranoid insistence on secrecy. Did they have in their possession the Ark of the Covenant and was this later taken to Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland for its safekeeping? Does it still lie buried beneath it?  Did they take the Holy Grail to the Castle of the heretical Cathars in southern France and upon their suppression in 1310 was it spirited away to who knows where? It is known that the first recorded owner of the Turin Shroud was the wife of a Templar. Nevertheless, there is little actual evidence to back up any of these claims. As indeed there isn’t to support the notion that the Templars had discovered the Holy Bloodline. That Jesus had married Mary Magdalene and that she had borne him children. A bloodline that continues to this day.  

The word Grail is not completely explained, etymologically. But it has come so far that it must be the Occitan “grazal” or early French “Graal”, in both cases “vascular” or “dish”. It is more uncertain whether we can go back and let it come from the Greek word “crater” = “Wine-mix-vascular”, who in turn Latin cratalis / gradalis = “vascular”, “dish” or “cup” can be reached with the French country.

In the legends that involves King Arthur, the grail is the object that the Knights Of The Round Table are striving to find.

The hunt for the Holy Grail may be seen as a literary image of Christian aspiration, or even the Crusades. Meanwhile, the grail has clear examples of pagan Celts sacred vessels. The finest of these that yet has been found is the Gundestrup cauldron found in Denmark. The Celts used the sacred vessels in religious ceremonies dating back to the Bronze Age.

Image via Wikipedia

Read more about The Arthurian Legend (my articles)…

Idun, A Nordic Goddess
Aavalon, The Sacred Island
Excalibur, King Arthur’s Magical Sword
Camelot King Arthur’s Castle
The Holy Grail
King Arthur
Uther Pendragon, King Arthur’s Father
The Lady Of The Lake
Morgan Le Fay, King Arthur’s Half-Sister
Morgause, King Arthurs Half-Sister
Mordred The Knight
Merlin The Mage

See also:
Who Was Julius Caesar

A W H

If the Knights Templar was one of the most powerful medieval organizations, then how come they were nearly wiped off the history books? On October 13 (Friday the 13th) 1307, all of the Knights Templar in France were arrested including the Grand Master Jacques de Molay and were soon burned at the stake, accused by the Pope and the King of France of heresy. Shortly before his arrest, Jacques de Molay ordered most of the manuscripts regarding the Templar to be burned. Even to this day, many Templar mysteries remain unknown. But their identity and most of what they have done are confirmed.

Somewhere between 1118-1120, a few years after the victory of the First Crusade, Hugues de Payens and nine others formed the Knights Templar with the permission of King Baldwin II. They were granted a wing of the Royal Palace on the Temple Mount, otherwise known to be Solomon’s temple as headquarters. For the first few years of formation of the Knights Templar, it has been widely accepted that the Templars kept their small number of members for secret purposes. The Templars were warrior monks. Just like monks, they prayed five times a day and were sworn to poverty, yet they were the richest organization of their time. As warriors, their original purpose was protecting pilgrims that went to the Holy Land, however many agree that this is to hide their real intentions. They had a very strict rule of conduct; in battles they weren’t allowed to retreat unless if it’s three to one. By 1200, the Templars had grown from a small group of nine to more than 200 members.

A few years after their formation, the Pope gave them many liberties for fighting under the name of God. One of them was to form banks which made it easier for people to store money. Like any large corporate bank of today, the Templars lent money to money desperate monarch. But in turn, the Templars charged a ten percent interest to earn money, another one of the many powers the Pope granted them. This is when the Templars came up with the invention of the check. The check made it safer for people to give or borrow money to another person far away. When King Baldwin II gave permission for the Knights Templar to be formed, he thought they would protect the pilgrims going to the Holy Land. Even though, this was considered one of their highest duties, most Templar historians agree that this was a disguise for their true intention, to find the treasure under Solomon’s temple. In 1947 a shepherd discovered the Dead Sea scrolls; they also discovered a copper scroll inscribing the location of Solomon’s treasure. When they got to the location the scroll inscribed, the treasure was gone, but they found artifacts proving the Templars have been there. One of the possible candidates of what might the treasure might have been is the “Holy Grail”.

There are a lot of speculations about what the Templar did; most of which turned into legends. Many Templar experts believe that the Templars found the “Holy Grail” under Solomon’s temple. But what is the “Holy Grail”? Some of the possibilities are: the cup that Jesus drank at the Last Supper or caught his blood when he was crucified, John the Baptist’s human head, or Mary Magdalene’s body (one of Jesus’ thirteen disciples and Jesus’ supposed wife). The possibility of a cup is very slim because it is not likely that a single wooden cup would be able to survive that long, and if it existed, the chances are, it would have been found because the Templars would not have wanted to worship it. Experts say, if the accusation that the Templars worshipped false idols was true then the probability of John the Baptist’s human head as the Holy Grail might be probable because that would have been something they would have worship. Some experts, on the contrary, have a different point of view; they believe that there was a mistake made when they translated the Latin version of the “Holy Grail”, San greal. Besides the “Holy Grail”, the other translation could have been Sang real or “blood line” which would make the Mary Magdalene’s corpse theory possible. The fact that Mary was Jesus’ only disciple who was a woman is a major evidence of this theory. Another one of the Templar legend is Baphomet. Baphomet was the last word that Jacque de Molay wrote as the Templar’s confessions. The two main possibilities on what did Baphomet meant are: it is an enigma or it is the name of a god. Recent discoveries show that it might be a code to the Templar’s deaths. The theory of Baphomet being a god is also possible because the Templars were accused of worshiping false idols. The common interpretation is a god with the head of a goat and the body of a man but with wings and cloven feet (Anonymous). To this day, we are not sure what is Baphomet. All we can say for sure; Baphomet was Jacques de Molay’s last word of confession. As time went on, these theories, myth, and stories were added up to the already great collection of Templar legends, some of which became the basis of the Arthurian legends. Which of them are true and which of them are not true? Only history can answer that.

On March 18th, 1314 the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, Jacques de Molay, was burned at the stake, accused of heresy (Templar) which almost became the only thing that history remembered them for. Fortunately history had not completely forgotten them, so that their identity, most of what they did, and best of all, the Templars were able to inspire countless legends that still remain today.

The oldest mention of the Holy Blood Procession dates back to 1291. The guilds of Bruges were obliged to participate in a procession of horse- and guilds-men, artisans and marksmen, city councillors and clergy marching in all their splendour with the relic round the city walls. In the 15th and 16th century, profane scenes with giants, the mythical Bayard Horse and the chambers of rhetoric of Bruges were added to the biblical scenes of the mystery plays. The Noble Brotherhood of the Holy Blood is for centuries the organiser of this procession. The theme still is some sort of a Quest for the Holy Grail: a search for the meaning of life and the pursuit of happiness and fulfilment that got many names – like the Kingdom of God or the New Jerusalem… This idea Bruges being a new Jerusalem also is far from new: Bruges was deliberately built as this New Jerusalem.

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The Procession of the Holy Blood is opened by the police, a brass band, horsemen carrying the flags of Bruges, the Holy Virgin Mary as the patroness of the city and of course the Members of the Noble Brotherhood of the Holy Blood.

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Old myths – and the Old Testament – tell us of existential matters: man looking for a lost paradise.

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Abraham is departing from his familiar surroundings for a strange, but better land. But Joseph is sold by his brothers to a caravansary on their way to Egypt – people always will leave their “brother” behind. Joseph however becomes one of the most important men in Egypt, because he is able to interpret the Pharaoh’s visions. When the sons of Jacob, driven by hunger, make their way to Egypt, Joseph saves them. He is, as Jesus, an outcast who brings new life to humanity.

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In all times, there are prophets who have a keen insight and see beyond the facts. They feel what the future will bring.

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The story of Jesus’ life rings in a new time. God is speaking in Him. The birth of Christ is presented by the merchants of Cologne, because this city is the keeper of the relics of the Three Kings.

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There are scenes of Jesus and the teachers and Saint John the Baptist, who prepares the way for Jesus. John is the patron saint of the city of Florence. Therefore it is the Nation of Florence that presents us the scene of John the Baptist, Herod and Salome. The frivolous man in power, Herod, had imprisoned the Baptist because he criticized his way of living: he had taken for himself his brother’s wife.

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During a feast Herodias’ daughter danced so gracefully that Herod swore he would give her anything she asked. Salome demanded the head of John the Baptist.

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Jesus gives the answer to the meaning of life. Following Jesus means: to love God always, even if you are at risk of losing your life. Here is the entry to Jerusalem and the Last Supper, presented by the Rhetoricians of the Holy Ghost or the Thirteen.

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Jesus did not receive a fair trial. The Roman governor Pilate defended his own position, instead of searching for the truth. Jesus had to serve as a scapegoat.

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Jesus was crucified in order to appease the anger of the people and to suppress the tensions in society. As Lamb of God he takes away evil once and for all. With Him a new time begins. From this moment begins the description of Jesus’ physical and moral suffering. He is the symbol of all who are tortured up to this day.

The scenes of the scourging and the crowning with thorns are presented by the masons and stone-masons, because, from the 15th century, their public worship took place in the chapel of the Holy Blood. Jesus is now “on the cold stone” – this statue, a work in 1900 created by Michiel D’Hondt, is venerated in the chapel of the Holy Blood, but is now in the Procession escorted by a platoon of Roman soldiers.

Copyright by embee, used with permission

Copyright by embee, used with permission

The events of Golgotha are represented by the miraculous cross of Damme. According to the tradition, it has been brought out of the sea by sailors. Since 1339 it is venerated in the church of Our Lady in Damme.

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The inexpressible suffering experienced by those who are left. The mother who lost her son. Girls are singing a Stabat Mater. The Pieta…

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Milan, capital of Lombardy, preserves the relic of the Holy Sepulchre. There also is a Church of the Holy Sepulchre – or a Jerusalem Church – in Bruges. The statue showed here is a copy of the one in this church (1702). In front of the Holy Sepulchre and led by grieving women goes Joseph of Arimathea carrying the chalice in which the blood of Christ was received.

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A group with banners is called “the Arms of Christ”. The banners are portraying the instruments of the Passion or Arma Christi.

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The Chamber of the Rhetoricians of the Three Saints present the scene of the Resurrection, because there are three saints in its coats of arms: St Barbara, St Catherine and St Mary Magdalene who was the chief witness of the Resurrection.

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Copyright by embee, used with permission

Now starts the historical section, with a herald announcing the arrival of Thierry of Alsace, returning from the Crusades. He brings the relic of the Holy Blood with him. Tradesmen and members of the guilds go forth to welcome the Count. The band enhances the spirit of the festive arrival in this “good city” while town messengers announce the annual fair and procession.

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There are flagwavers and their flags are showing a pelican who feeds her young with her own blood to save them from starving to death; it’s a symbol of Jesus Christ you’ll find everywhere in Bruges.

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And then there is Count Thierry with the relic. Besides him is his lady, Sybilla of Anjou. There are no Templars in the Procession. Nevertheless, according to the legend, it were the Knights Templar who gave the Count the relic of the Holy Blood. Count Thierry is followed by his son Philip of Alsace, who later will be the commisioner of Chrétien de Troyer, the writer of the first Grail Story, as is told in the article Perceval and the Holy Grail of Bruges.

Copyright by embee, used with permission

Copyright by embee, used with permission

Finally, the Saint George’s Guild opens the most important section of the procession. This guild was also responsible for maintaining order in the medieval city. Is it a coincidence their red cross reminds us of the banner of the Knights Templar?

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The Holy Blood relic is carried by two prelates and four members of the Noble Brotherhood surround the shrine, dating from 1617, and set with hundreds of precious stones amongst which is the “black diamond”, coming from Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland. Here is a last picture of the shrine, taken in the morning, when it was carried out of the Chapel of the Holy Blood…

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Related articles

The Holy Blood of Bruges, a New Jerusalem

Perceval and the Holy Grail of Bruges

The Medieval Procession of Penance at Furnes

The Ghent Altarpiece, also known as the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, completed in 1432 by the Van Eyck Brothers (Hubert & Jan), is a large and complex polyptych, originally made for the Joost Vyd Chapel in Saint Bavo Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium. In the eighties, for security reasons, it was removed to another chapel in the cathedral. The Mystic Lamb is regarded as a true artistic highlight of Christianity and of Western civilisation. It is said – but it’s not sure – that Hubert Van Eyck started the work and his brother Jan, the famous Flemish Primitive who was attached to the court of the Duke of Burgundy, finished it.

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A Masterwork of Mystery

The Ghent Altarpiece consists of a complex series of 24 scenes, with two doors and a central piece which is showing some saints and apostles adoring the Mystic Lamb, or the symbol of Jesus Christ. From the panels to the left and to the right, pious hermits and pilgrims, Just Judges and Knights of Christ are approaching the ceremony in the middle. The upper register shows Christ as a King, between the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist, Adam and Eve. Inside, there are angels singing and making music.

The oil painting offers intricate details and composition, unrivaled realism, mystical meaning and a translucent use of colour which is responsible for the beautiful light. Over the centuries, the masterpieces has retained its luminous colours.

The polyptych, surrounded by mystery, has always been the main attraction of the impressive cathedral of Saint Bavo. After being kidnapped by the French revolutionary forces, some panels of the Mystic Lamb returned to Ghent. In 1816 however, the panels were sold for 100.000 guilders to an antiquary, while the bishopric knew they had a value of at least four times this sum… and indeed, the panels were sold very soon to a museum in Berlin for 400.000 guilders. At the end of the 19th century, these panels were cut lengthwise. In 1919, thanks to the Treaty of Versailles, they returned to Belgium again. Oh yeah, and what are the Knights Templar doing on this very catholic piece of art? 

Maybe the greatest mystery of the many mysteries surrounding the Mystic Lamb, was caused by the lower left panel, called the Just Judges. The original panel got stolen in 1934, has never been found and was replaced by a copy. It’s Belgium’s most famous unsolved mystery. Countless amateur and professional sleuths are still tracking clues. In a BBC interview with crime writer Minette Walters, Ghent’s former police chief Karel Mortier referred to the theft as “the art crime of the century”.

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The Theft of the Just Judges

In the night of April 10, 1934, two panels – the Just Judges and St. John the Baptist – measuring 1.49 x 55.5 centimeter, were stolen from the cathedral. On May 1, the bishop of Ghent received a letter, which said that the sender possessed both panels. The letter was signed “D.U.A.”. Provided he would receive 1 million francs for the Judges, he would return St. John without any charge. DUA asked the bishop to answer him through an advertisement in a newspaper, and St. John was delivered at the railroad station Brussels-North. But instead of the requested sum, the authorities only wanted to pay 25.000 francs… and the Just Judges did not return home.

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November 25… Arsène Goedertier, aged 57, a broker who lived and worked in the small town of Wetteren, aged 57, collapsed after a speech at a political rally. On his death bed, he informed his friend Georges de Vos in private that he had a file on the crime at his home. Goedertier tried to say more… but finally took the secret in his grave. Later, the police found in his home carbon copies of the messages which had been sent to the bishop by DUA. Only one single cryptic line spoke of the possible whereabouts of the Judges: the panel was “in a place where neither I nor anyone else” could recover it drawing attention.

The wife of Arsène Goedertier revealed that her late husband was an avid reader of detective novels and a true fan of Arsène Lupin, the hero in some of Maurice Leblanc’s mystery novels. Arsène, of course, was also Goedertier’s first name, and Lupin was a “gentlemen thief”. Goedertier had read The Hollow Needle (L’aiguille creuse) several times. The theme of the novel was “art thefts”. Arsène Goedertier undoubtedly felt inspired by Arsène Lupin, who always left a trail of coded messages after his thefts. Goedertier used a similar code in his ransom notes.

Arsène Goedertier was an eccentric, but although he might have typed and mailed the ransom notes, I doubt he was the original thief… and he sure didn’t act alone. The broker from Wetteren was in a very healthy financial situation. Maybe he chased some sort of a symbolic revenge. Indeed, Goedertier is said to have been “angry” at the Catholic Church.

Since 1956, former police chief Karel Mortier has dedicated himself to the search for the Lost Judges. Mortier beliefs the panel was hidden somewhere in Saint Bavo Cathedral. X-ray investigations however were fruitless. Another policeman, Chris Noppe, is convinced that the Judges are hiding in the coffin of King Albert I. A few months before the theft, the Belgian King – the hero of the Great War – died in a climbing accident, which was possibly a set up for murder. The body of King Albert I now lies in the crypt of the royal family in the palace of Laeken, near Brussels. Belgium’s own Miss Marple, Maria De Roo, is defending a conspiracy theory, claiming the authorities retrieved the panel. And I think Goedertier and two accomplices worked for Himmler’s SS and were murdered when they double-crossed a nazi agent.

Van Eyck, neo-Templar and alchemist

I do believe Van Eyck’s painting held a “Da Vinci Code”, containing information the true whereabouts of the Holy Grail, also known as the Holy Blood(line) of Christ. In the 16th century, Jan Van Eyck already was described by art historian Giorgi Vasari as an alchemist, suggesting he was a member of a secret brotherhood. In his article 666 = Satan’s Song? – Part 2: The Just Judges and Otto Rahn, Philip Coppens says that modern freemasons have noted how Van Eyck depicted a working lodge in a drawing of Saint Barbara. 

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Jan Van Eyck entered the service of Philip the Good in 1425. The Duke of Burgundy was moving his court between his palaces in Brussels, Lille and Bruges. Van Eyck resided in Lille and mostly in Bruges, where he died in 1440. He performed certain missions for the Duke, but the exact nature of these missions has remained unknown. Both men were very close, the Duke served as godfather to one of Jan’s children.

While working on his masterpiece, Jan’s patron established the Order of the Golden Fleece. The name has never been fully explained, but it is no secret that Philip was very interested in alchemy. In his palace in Brussels for example, he installed a real “alchemical room”. Though Van Eyck was employed by Philip the Good, he took the commission for the Vyd family. He knew he would have to spend a great amount of time on this Ghent Altarpiece. So, even if Jan only completed what Hubert had begun, he needed the consent of his patron. But that seemed to be no problem at all.

The Mystic Lamb clearly depicts Jesus as a King. This was very uncommon in medievalor Gothic paintings. It was also very uncommon in 1432, and even dangerous, to depict a bunch of arch-heretics on your piece of art. Under pressure of King Philip of France, in 1307 many of the Knights Templar were arrested, tortured – so they would give false confessions – and burned at the stake. The Order was disbanded by Pope Clement V in 1312 on the charge of religious heresy and sexual misconduct.

So, here is one of the great Mysteries of the Lamb of God: what are the Templars doing on this “true” catholic masterpiece? The title of the panel is “Milites Christi”, Soldiers of Christ, the official name of the Knights Templar. Moreover, they don’t look like sinners who are seeking forgiveness, do they? No, this one knight in his shining armour rides with great kings and noblemen, bearing the shield and the banner of the Temple!

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On the Ghent Altarpiece, the Mystic Lamb is spilling his blood in the Cup of the Last Supper. This bleeding lamb is common christian iconography, but the Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) and the Chalice usually doesn’t show up together with the Templars, who were regarded as the keepers of the Holy Grail… or the secret of the Holy Blood(line) of Christ.

The Nazi Plot Theory

I have developed the “Nazi Plot Theory” for the first time in a book called Mysteries of the Mystic Lamb (Mysteries van het Lam Gods, 1991). Adolf Hitler came into power in 1933, just a year before the Judges got stolen. I do think the Nazi’s commissioned the theft, because of the mystic and heretic connotations of Ghent Altarpiece. Hitler wanted to seize the iconography of the Mystic Lamb and incorporate it into the Holy Canon of his own “Arian” religion, that had to compete with Christianity.

The Mystic Lamb should be read as a code and some of the panels could be incorporating documents or a map, concerning the Holy Blood brought by the Knights Templar and Thierry of Alsace, Count of Flanders, to Bruges. The first Grail story was commissioned by his son, Philip of Alsace. In the late 19th century the chaplain of the Holy Blood Chapel in Bruges seems to have turned into a satanist. His tale was told by Joris-Karl Huysmans in his book Down There (Là-Bas) and preceded that other story of a satanist priest, who found a treasure and/or a secret concerning the Templars, the Grail and the Holy Blood(line) of Christ. In other words, is the story of Bérenger Saunière, the parish priest of Rennes-le-Château, nothing else than an echo, a hoax, part of a disinformation project designed to turn the eyes of the world to southern France, so that the true secret could remain a secret?

The obsession of the top Nazi’s for the Ghent Altarpiece is a matter of record. During World War II, the Ghent Altarpiece was stolen by the SS and hidden in a salt mine near Salzburg. A special agent was sent to Belgium with only one task: finding the Judges! It was to SS-officer Henry Koehn that Goedertier’s widow spoke of her husband’s fascination for The Hollow Needle. Interestingly, Leblanc’s stories of Lupin, a character he created in 1905, showed a great number of indirect references to the mysteries of Rennes-le-Château…

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Read more:

Mysteries of the Mystic Lamb

The Holy Blood of Bruges, a New Jerusalem

Rennes-le-Château and the Holy Blood of Bruges

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An Elaborate Hoax

His story attracted Pierre Plantard, who wanted to play a vital role in the history of France and concocted an elaborate hoax, planting fake documents in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, that implied Plantard was a descendant of a royal dynasty. In 1967, Gérard de Sède published a book about his friend’s claim to fame. They chose the area and history of Rennes-le-Château as their setting.

The next step was The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, in 1982 published by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln.  They said Saunière found documents implying that the descendants of Jesus and Mary Magdalene were connected to the French royalty.  Saunière found them in his church, in a Visigothic pillar, in 1891. 

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Saunière had been a teacher in the seminary of Narbonne, but being undisciplined, he was appointed in 1885 to Rennes-le-Château. He renovated the church, built a grand estate for himself (the Villa Bethania) and a personal library which resembled the Tower of David in Jerusalem (the Tour Magdala). In 1896, the bishop of Carcassone investigated how Saunière had been able to fund these building projects. The bishop relocated him to a different parish, but Saunière refused and resigned. In 1910 he was tried for fraud; he had been selling masses he never performed. In 1917, Saunière died in poverty.

Some theories developing around Rennes-le-Château and Bérenger Saunière said that the Catholic Church was paying the priest vast sums to buy his silence, because he knew all about The Holy Blood – also known as The Holy Grail (Sang Royal, San Greal, Saint Grail) -, being “the bloodline of Christ”. He might even have discovered the grave in which Christ had been buried. Arch-heretics such as the Templars and the Cathars once were the safekeepers of the Secret. It was also the reason why Saunière lost his belief and got involved with trendy occultist and maybe satanist circles in Paris, featuring the composer Claude Debussy, the Belgian symbolist playwright Maurice Maeterlinck or that other “decadent” writer, Joris-Karl Huysmans. He also knew Emma Calvé, the Maria Callas of her age, who was a high priestess of a Parisian esoteric sub-culture.

And Nothing More?

The Mystery of Rennes-le-Château is probably a hoax, made of facts and fiction, and inspired by hard facts that had nothing to do with southern France, but with the Dutch speaking part of Belgium, Flanders. I even strongly believe that the hoax was made up to turn the attention of the public away from the real secret that was kept in Bruges.

In 1891, the year Saunière allegedly “found” something in his church, Joris-Karl Huysmans – born in Paris from a Dutch father – published his novel Là-Bas (translated as Down There or The Damned) and was the cause of a public scandal because of his depiction of satanist circles in Paris. The novel had a very vivid Black Mass scene, calling Jesus Christ an “Artisan of Hoaxes”, a “do-nothing King”, a “coward God”. 

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The “abominable truth” was that the canon Docre, Huysmans’ black mass celebrant, could be identified as the Flemish priest Louis or Lodewijk Van Haecke, Chaplain of the Holy Blood Chapel in Bruges. Docre/Van Haecke was reputed to have the tattoo of a cross on the soles of his feet, so that he could walk continually upon the symbol of the Saviour. Huysmans said that Van Haecke paid three visits to Paris, where he moved in occultist circles. He was seen in an establishment known for “its clientèle of renegade priests”.

Huysmans stated that the Chaplain of the Holy Blood, keeper of the Holy Grail, lost his faith because Jesus, “the Artisan of Hoaxes”, didn’t die at Golgotha… And who brought the one and only Holy Blood – or Holy Grail – in the 12th century to Bruges? The Knights Templar, together with a Count of Flanders, whose son later would commission Chrétien de Troyes to write the first Grail romance…

The Holy Blood of Bruges, a new Jerusalem: full story.

Read also:

The Mysteries of the Mystic Lamb

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Whenever there is mention of the Holy Grail, Jesus Christ is the first person to come to mind. Jesus was born to a Mary Shalom, who is considered the blessed “virgin mother” by Christianity. Christianity tells us that Mary was filled with the holy spirit and was impregnated by the divine power of God and not a mortal man. Her husband, Joseph of Bethlehem, was to be the adopted father of Jesus on earth, and he served his purpose after being contacted by an angel in his sleep of the Lord’s plans. Jesus was considered to be the Messiah, the Son of God, who had been sent to Earth to teach humans about the Lord’s law and to wipe away sin. He was later crucified, which Christianity says was God’s sacrifice so that all people could be forgiven of original sin. Jesus of Nazareth led his life as a teacher and rabbi, and he traveled throughout the Middle East with twelve disciples whom he chose himself. Jesus taught people the “Word of God” and educated people on the way of living purely. Of the many things that Jesus taught through his ministry, he especially stressed tolerance, love and peace to each and every person he encountered. Jesus is also said to have performed several miracles, including healing a blind man to see again and transforming a meager amount of food into enough to fill the crowd he was teaching several times over.

Jesus’ ministry lasted until he was in his mid thirties; unfortunately, the end of his life soon followed once he had angered many priests and Lords throughout the towns he visited during his ministry. They called him a false prophet and held strong grudges against him. After much debate, it was decided by the Roman Empire that Jesus would be put to death. Jesus of Nazareth was crucified by Pontius Pilot under accusations of sedition against the Roman Empire and Church. Jesus Christ was buried after his death, and according to the Christian teachings, rose from the dead and ascended into heaven as the Prince of Peace in the Kingdom of Heaven. Christianity says that Jesus came in spirit to tell his disciples of his revival into heaven, and he promised them all a place in heaven as well. He left it in their charge to continue his teachings and establish a church against the Roman Empire’s wishes.

Mary Magdalene was a very unique figure in Christianity, blended as either a woman of evil or a woman who held the very heart of Jesus Christ. Magdalene is said to have come from Magdala, which was at the time known for its fishing and fish salting. 1Magdalene is often confused with two other women named Mary in the Bible: Mary Shalom and Mary of Bethany. There are several texts in the Bible that suggest that Mary and Jesus were quite close to one another. The Bible says that whenever Jesus rose from the dead, Mary Magdalene was the person to whom he appeared. He asked her to tell the disciples that he had risen and to continue building the church on his teachings. Mary Magdalene told the news of Jesus to the

other disciples, and this is when it is said that the Holy Spirit poured out over all of them during Passover. According to the Bible, Jesus first met Mary of Magdala on his journey and was asked to help her. It is said that she was possessed, and Jesus drove several demons from her body and freed her from the evil spirits that fed on her. Mary Magdalene was shown as a harlot and a prostitute throughout the Bible. The demons within her were the result of her sins, and she was forgiven by Jesus.

Although the Bible makes Mary Magdalene out as a prostitute, there is little evidence actually proving this. Magdalene was painted as a saint long after her demise, and she was considered by some as blessed among all women. The story of the Holy Grail say that Jesus and Mary fell in love, resulting in a bloodline. Many artists have drawn and sculptured her likeness throughout the ages in which she was admired and adored. Artists like Da Vinci and Michelangelo have both shown a deep interest in Magdalene. In Leonardo’s “The Last Supper,” it is rumored that in the earliest painting he drew Mary Magdalene sitting next to Jesus Christ at the table, and not John, as it was supposed to be. Many scholars and scientists have expressed an interest in what seems to be symbolism. Supposedly, Mary Magdalene and Jesus sit at an angle in the painting which can clearly be expressed as a “V”. The V is to stand for the shape of a woman’s birth canal and also the sign for a male, the chalice. Leonardo is said to have believed that Jesus and Mary had a child together by the formation of where they sat. Also, in his paintings, Leonardo purposely drew Jesus and Mary both in red and blue, as though they corresponded with each other and created one.

Although the Bible speaks so negatively about Mary Magdalene, there are better things said about her in the texts called the “Lost Gospels” and the “Dead Sea Scrolls.” These gospels are said to have been ones that were written at Jesus’ time but were rejected for being published in the Bible during the construction of Catholicism. After the death of Jesus, Catholicism became the new official religion of the Roman Empire, and Paganism was quickly done away with before the establishment. Emperor Constantine and a large council of lords and priests gathered together to shape and mold what would later become the layout of modern-day Catholicism. They began to construct the bible through manuscripts and gospels sent to them. Constantine chose which books would be within the Bible and which ones would be forgotten. Along with the help of the council, the rules and traditions of Christianity were formed, right down to the day that Jesus’ birth would be celebrated. This is why people believe that the Bible is more a creation of man than God’s word, for Constantine could have possibly poured into whatever he wanted to and gotten away with it.

Of all the gospels sent to appeal at the council of Constantine, roughly only 51 manuscripts of the 140 that were sent were accepted and included in the Catholic Bible. 2

The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Lost Gospels were found throughout different time periods in history, and they contained the gospels of Judas, Mary Magdalene, Phillip and Thomas. Science says that Constantine probably rejected these books because they may have hinted at what Jesus had with Mary Magdalene. In several of the gospels, it is said that the disciples were jealous of Mary. They were unaware of why Jesus seemed to love her more than them, and it was recorded that Jesus often kissed Magdalene on the lips and that Jesus and Mary were considered “companions.” A few texts also say that Magdalene was at the foot of the cross during Jesus’ crucifixion scene- like a true wife- and not watching from the sidelines like the Bible says. These gospels proved that Mary Magdalene was more important to Jesus than the Holy Bible has let on. Many believe that she has been unfairly judged.

Modern-day Catholics and Christians both believe that the Holy Grail is actually a cup and not the bloodline of Jesus and Mary Magdalene at all. The Holy Grail, as a cup, was supposed to have been lost after the argument that broke out during the Last Supper whenever Jesus announced that one of the disciples sitting there would betray him thrice. The Bible says that Judas Iscariot got so upset that he left the room and disappeared into the night. As it happened, Judas did betray Jesus to Roman guards who sought to execute him after the Last Supper had taken place.

According to Christian mythology, the Holy Grail was the dish, plate, or cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper, said to possess miraculous power. 3 Whoever finds it would be able to live forever or something along those lines. However, many people do not believe that the cup holds any sort of power. They believe that the legend was started by treasure hunters who hoped to find a cup that would convince others that it was the Holy Grail itself. Historians and scientists both agree that if the Holy Grail were a cup, the chance of it being destroyed since the time it was used is very likely. The cup would have been made out of ordinary materials not strong enough to endure thousands of years of being buried deeply underground. The Holy Grail was possibly fabricated, but many people believe that the cup does exist and is currently in the possession of somebody who has descended from a disciple or follower of Jesus. Many believe that the cup may be near or around Israel, being safely guarded by an anonymous party. Christians do not like the idea of the cup containing an essence of sorts because owning the cup would make one like God Himself. They believe that the Holy Grail is just an ordinary cup worth something beyond measure.

The Holy Grail is also referred to as a holy vessel, a dish that holds the divinity and secrets of Christ’s time here on Earth. Many poets and writers have written about the power and majestic force of the Holy Grail, and it has been admired for hundreds of years. The Holy Grail, as a cup, has been recreated into dozens of films involving adventurers searching for it, or a quest to knowledge. Several movies depict great adventures undertaken by confused and truth-seeking protagonists who wish to find the dish of the Holy Grail and bring it back home. Producers make sure that the cup is not found but try to symbolically show the great love that is created as a result of the journey and the reasons people embark on such quests to find a Holy Grail. But it remains to be that sixty percent of people who practice a branch of Catholicism think of a cup at mention of the notorious Holy Grail, while forty think of a bloodline. 4

Although many people believe that the Holy Grail is a cup or vessel of divine secrets, more people are interested in the thought that the Holy Grail is actually the bloodline created by Jesus and Mary Magdalene. The two were often referred to as lovers in some lost gospels and secrets that were supposedly left in the words of Leonardo Da Vinci and others. There is a belief that Jesus and Magdalene were secretly married under quiet conditions so as to not bring any attention of their union to the Roman Empire. It is obvious why the disciples were displeased by how much Jesus loved Mary, since the social status of women forbade them to have a free- thinking mind. The Gospel of Thomas says that Mary Magdalene would often grasp many of Jesus’ teachings and try to express them in her own way.

It was no secret that many wanted Jesus to be killed because of his radical thoughts on love and peace and teachings against the modern-day Paganism. If Jesus and Mary were discovered, Mary would have been punished severely after the crucifixion of Jesus, which, as the Bible says, he knew would happen. Some believe that Jesus and Mary only married because there was a child involved. In ancient times a woman would marry a man immediately if she were to bear his child so as not to shame the family name or the man in question. Mary and Jesus may have had intimate relations during Jesus’ ministry and may have wanted to marry as soon as possible so as to minimize the risk of being suspected. We can think that Jesus had as many as one to three children. The gender of them all would have to have been one girl and two boys. However, the possibility of Jesus leaving heir of only one child is more than likely. 5 If the two only had a single child, they could have married before Mary was impregnated. She could possibly have been pregnant at the time of the crucifixion as well. There is a reference to a beloved disciple to Jesus in the book of John who is without a name. Perhaps this nameless child was the hidden son of Jesus. 6 Scholars believe that if the two had a daughter, her name would have been Sarah.

Due to explorations of an old tomb in the Middle East, archeologists were led to believe that they found the tomb of Jesus Christ’s family. They surmised that Jesus would have been reburied in a proper family tomb after he was laid to rest by the Roman guards. The diggers found names of people who coincidentally were all mostly known members of Jesus’ family. The name of his brothers, his mother, Joseph, his sisters and even Mary were all within the tomb. Through mathematical formulas and guess work, the archeologists did not believe that the names could have all been coincidences. Although they were forced to close the tomb shortly after, they managed to find another name, “Judas,” and believed that by the place of burial that he may have been the son of Jesus and Mary Magdalene.

If Jesus and Magdalene did have a child or children, Mary and the offspring would have to have been protected after Jesus’ death. The Roman Empire would have seen her as a threat if they knew of the relationship between the two. Also, many believe that Mary Magdalene was selected to continue the church under orders from Jesus before his death, although that would have served as a difficult thing to accomplish. If Jesus and Mary had a child, keeping it hidden would be a main priority, as anyone who was found connected with Jesus after his death was persecuted. 7It is a possibility that Magdalene fled Jerusalem and the Middle East and hid in Egypt. It is also a possibility that Mary Magdalene was hidden by friends and family so that she could nurse and raise her child without the knowledge of the Roman Empire. Magdalene and the bloodline of Jesus would have to have been protected even after her death. Many believe that his is where a group or organization was created to hide the bloodline and the knowledge of Jesus and Mary’s union . The group called the Priory of Sion was supposedly the group that hid and

shielded the Jesus and Mary bloodline. The members of the group were called to have been great artists and famous people of the day and age. They would have protected the secret of Jesus and Magdalene and fought for the life of their descendents.

The thought of this bloodline existing is perfectly illustrated in the best selling novel by Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code. It was followed by a movie that was equally successful, and it got people to wondering if maybe a bloodline of Jesus Christ did exist. It angered the church that such accusations were made, for they continued to say that Jesus was not married and that he had no children.

More than sixty percent of the people who have read The Da Vinci Code later were inspired to take a greater look into their faith and to study the identity of Jesus Christ. 8Scientists and scholars do not believe that there would be many, if any, surviving members of the legacy alive to this day. 8 Whether or not one will find out if this is true or not is hard to decide.

At the end of this quest for truth concerning the Holy Grail, only one thing can be assumed and treasured. The Holy Grail, if in existence, is either a cup of divine power or a bloodline created by Jesus of Nazareth and Mary of Magdala. Perhaps Jesus and Mary Magdalene did have a relationship more than just student and teacher. Maybe the two fell in love, and although Jesus knew his ministry was the most important thing in his life, he could not help loving as any man of flesh does. And perhaps the cup really is the true grail, and maybe it is hidden deep within the earth or destroyed altogether. Or there is a possibility that the cup is in the possession of somebody who will not unleash its secrets no matter what the cost. The cup or bloodline is lost, at any rate. Regardless of what the Holy Grail is, Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene both did exist. Jesus was a wonderful man, a prophet of pure wisdom and a teacher of all things that can make a human’s existence tolerable. No matter how long the Grail continues to elude us, destroyed or not, we can assume that love will always survive any trials, just as Jesus himself taught the world.