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Knights Templar - Interview with Oddvar Olsen |
By Philip Gardiner - http://www.gardinersworld.com
Well folks, we have here an exclusive interview with Oddvar Olsen of The Templar Papers fame (see http://thetemplebooklet.co.uk/Welcome.htm ) and my welcome to you Oddvar and our thanks for giving us your valuable thoughts on the Knights Templar.
PG I wanted to begin with a simple question, but one that seems to be answered in many ways: What were or indeed are, the Knights Templar?
OO Hi Philip and many thanks for inviting me to do this interview. Yes, indeed, what should be an easy question to answer is simply not that easy. The reason for this is that contemporary chroniclers did not write much about the Templars, nor are many documents written by the Templars extant.
So a degree of debate on what they really ‘were’ is understandable, knowing that historians are still arguing about events that have happened only during the last one hundred years.
The Templars were famed in battle, defenders of the ‘truth’ and protectors of pilgrim’s routes to Jerusalem. This is basically how most of the contemporary chroniclers describe them. Were and indeed are they connected with the greatest mysteries in history? Well, as there seldom is smoke without fire, I am at present of the conviction that some of the Templars were adepts of something greater and were not simple Christian knights. Their immense expansion supports this and so does all the fabulous legends surrounding them.
PG Thanks for that. Secondly, there is a question that many of us have and that your all-round knowledge may help us with. Were the Freemasons evolved from the Knights Templar?
OO We know that at least 2000 Knights Templar slipped away from the schensnals of Philip the Fair in France. As the eradication of the Templar in Britain happened months later, it would not surprise me if they camouflaged themselves and created a new society.
The earliest Masonic papers don’t confirm a linage to the Knights Templar, so we can only speculate. The elaborately carved Rosslyn Chapel has been suggested as evidence that the Freemasonic rituals came from the Templars and there are some indications that its builder, William St Clair, may have been privy to Templar heritage.
The Templars in Portugal and Spain were not persecuted as most of their brethren had been across Europe, but nowhere is it suggested that Freemasonry came through that line. As of today, I cannot ignore the possibility that Freemasonry arose out of the surviving Templars, but I would like to see further evidence to be able to confirm this.
PG What do you think the true origin and time of the Templars was?
OO The Knights Templar, were constituted (at least in name) in 1118 or 1119, and most of the Templars met with an horrific death after being imprisoned by the King of France in 1307. I am of the opinion that if the Templars were created earlier, just before or during the First Crusade would most likely have been the period.
This is because the families involved amongst the ‘original’ nine knights were closely related to Godfrey de Bouillon. A document called The Larmenius Charter claims a list of Grand Masters that succeeded Jaques de Molay after his death in 1314 until the present day. However, much debate has ensued and we still do not know if it is reliable or a forgery.
PG Why do you think the Templars were eradicated (supposedly) in the 14th century?
OO King Philip the Fair of France was afraid of the popularity and power the Knights Templar possessed. The king being bankrupt, the dissolution of the Templars was generated simply by greed and to secure and strengthen his own position and kingdom. Not at all an unusual thing to do, the Cathars had suffered a similar fate only a few years earlier, and so had many other ‘heretical sects’ done before them. For the people with power to dissolve opposing groupings was not unusual then, nor is it today.
PG Do you think the Priory of Sion is a real secret society and if so was it really connected to the Knights Templar?
OO Yes, I think the Priory is a real secret society, but not as described in The Da Vinci Code or The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail.
If such a powerful society has existed for as long as Dan Brown and the authors of The Holy Blood Holy Grail suggest, and had had as its members the elite of intellectuality throughout history, it strikes me as highly unlikely indeed that the Priory would impart their mission and secrets to any author.
One would have thought that there were and are other more powerful people in the world that would have been more beneficial for the Priory’s alleged agendas, or maybe not, when one consider how many people that has read The Da Vinci Code! Claims made that the Templars were a branch of ‘The Priory of Sion’ is as doubtful as the Dossiers claiming so. I think all evidence we possess today confirms that this ancient lineage was but a fantasy of Pierre Plantard.
PG Were the Templars involved in the Jesus and Mary marriage concept of Dan Brown, Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln et al?
OO Hm, I not sure yet – As Bernard of Clairvaux, the main promulgator and patron of the Templars, was clearly very dedicated to the Sacred feminine and by the numerous dedications to the Magdalene in the Templar Rule, it is still an open issue that I am still investigating.
PG Were the Knights Templar Gnostics and if so what do you think of their connections to the Sufi Order?
OO Well, I do think that the Templars favoured Gnostic visions and also that the Templars took on Sufi principles. However, it is important to clearly differentiate between those three orders.
PG What do you think of the myriad modern day Templar organizations?
OO As there are so many neo-Templar organisations it is difficult to answer this question directly. From extreme neo-nazi Templar orders that I don’t think offer much personal progress or do much positive for mankind in general, whilst there are other modern Templar organisations that have built their society on chivalric principles, brotherly love and charity.
And I think if more people subscribed to these principles, the world would surely be a much better place to live.
PG And finally why do you think your book The Templar Papers excels from the plethora of Templar books published over the last years?
OO I think its strengths lie in that it is a compilation of articles by various accomplished historians. This offers the reader a selection of theories and facts on the Templar order’s history, its legends and mythos. It also covers a range of subjects that are often overlooked in other books.
The Temple, which The Templar Papers is a compilation of, is renowned for being a melting pot of the latest theories and historical facts, furthermore, it has no agendas apart from bringing understanding on all aspects of the Templars legacy. History needs to be revised as new evidence is found - and this is something that The Temple constantly does
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