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1058 Malcom III becomes king of Scotland.
1073 Pope Gregory VII announces that, after one thousand years
of the Christian church, henceforth only the bishop of Rome
may use the title of papa (pope) and that all secular princes
must henceforth kiss the opoe’s foot as a gesture of reverential
humility which they were not to extend to any other pope.
1093 King Malcom III of Scotland dies.
1096 Hughes de Payen born in Vitrey, son of mother Alef of
Montbard. (his death is in 1244).
1100 Henry I becomes king of England
1104 Count Hugh of Champagne visits the Holy land and Jerusalem
returning to Europe in 1108.
1114 Count Hugh of Champagne returns to Jeruslalem and is accompanied
by his vassal Hughes de Payen who remains in Jerusalem with
eight other knights among them: Godfrey of Saint-Omar, Archambaud
of Saint-Aignan, Payen of Montdidier, Geoffrey Bissot and a
man known as both Rossal or Roland.
1119 On Christmas day, Hugh Of Payen and eight knights take
a vow before the Patriarch in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
ofpoverty and chastity and obedience and become the Poor Fellow-Soldiers
of Jesus Christ. The Knights Templar are conceived.
1125 Hugh, Count of Champagne returns to Jerusalem, having
repudiated his unfaithful wife, disinherited the son he believed
was not his, passed his county to his nephew, Theobald, renounced
all his worldly goods and took vows of pervery, chastity and
obedience as a Poor Fellow-Soldier of Jesus Christ.
1127 Hughes de Payen visits western Europe to seek recruits
and support for his Order and visits Fulk of Anjou to try to
persuade him to marry King Baldwin’s daughter Melisende and
become heir to the throne of Jerusalem.
1128 Hughes de Payen in Anjou. He meets with King Henry I of
England who gives him gold and silver. Many other Frankish noblemen
join his cause, many selling their property for the new cause
of the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Jesus Christ. He travels to Scotland.
Pope grants a “rule” to the Templars which makes it an officially
recognized group of “Knights”. Hughes do Payen becomes first
Grand Master. ( a rule was a Papal decree which allowed the
Templars the right to bear arms and travel freely across lands
under the contol of the Pope and his appointed kings.
1131 king of Aragon bequeathes one third of his lands to the
Templars.
1135 King Stephen suceeds Henry I as king of England.
1138 Pope Innocent II issues a bull (Omne datum optimum) granting
the Templars new power. The bull established that the Templars
should be exempt from any and all intermediary ecclesiastical
jurisdiction and be subjec only to the Pope. The Patriarch of
Jerusalem lost authority over the Order. The bull allowed for
the Temple to have its own oratories, permitted priests to join
the order as chaplains making the Templars wholly independent
of the diocesan bishops of outremer and the western bishops.
It entitled the Temple to receive tithes but not to pay them,
allowed for the right to have cemeteries attached to its houses
and to bury travellers and their “confratres” (rights which
had considerable monetary value. They became entitled to take
booty from the enemy and were answerable only to their Master
who must be one of their nuber and chosen by them without any
pressure from secular powers.
Why was Pope Innocent II so generous to the Templars one might
ask? It turns out that Bernard of Clairvaux helped bring him
to power. Pope Innocent II was born Gregorio Papareschi from
a Roman upper class family. His election as Pope had been contested
by a rival taking the name Anacletus II who was backed by the
Norman King of Sicily, Roger II. Innocent fled to France where
he won Bernard’s support who was held in such high esteem throughout
France and England that Bernard was able to persuade Henry I
of England and Louis VI of France to back Innocent II. Morbert,
the Archbishop of Magdeburg was successfull in persuading the
German bishops and King Lothair III to back Innocent II. Technically
then, there were two Popes, but Anacletus II was supported by
only the Church of Scotland, Aquitaine and Norman Italy. Anacletus
died in 1138 and in 1139 Innocent II returned to Rome.
1147 Pope Eugenius III cossed the Alps to France and proceeds
to Clairvaux. Pope Eugenius had been on of Bernards monks at
Clairvaux and knew Bernard well. On 27 April he visited the
Templars in their new enclave north of Paris where he appointed
Brother Aymar the Templar Treasurer in Paris and declared that
the Templars should receive one twentieth tax on all Church
goods that the Pope had instituted to pay for the new crusade.
Present were King Louis of France, the Archbishop of Rheims,
four other bishops and one hundred and thirty knights. The new
master of the Templars, Everard of Barres had brough his best
men from Portugal and Spain with many sergeants and squires.
It was at this time that the Templars received the right to
wear the scarlet cross over their hearts, the same symbol which
came to be recognized in subsequent lore, the Red Cross of the
Knights of legend.
1147 The Second Crusade begins. The Templars called upon by
by the Franks to help them them reach the Bysantine port of
Attalia. Louis, the French king calls upon the Templars for
money, having exausted his resources paying the extortionate
prices for goods charged by his Byzanine “allies”. The King
Louis of France wrote to Abbot Suger instructing him to repay
the Temlars two thousand silver marks, a sum equivalent to half
the annual income of the royal demensne. The French forces are
joined by German forces at the fortress of Acre in June, 1148.
The Crusade is a total failure, mainly because of the bickering
among the various groups, but also the breakup of the marriage
of King Louis who’s wife was far wealtheir than he and who refused
to support him. The principal backers of the Crusade all die
in short order. Abbot Suger of Saint-Denis dies in January 1151,
King Conrad III of Germany dies in in February 1152 and Everard
of Barres, Grandmaster of the Templars resigns to become a monk
at Clairvaux the same year. Pope Eugenius III dies in July 1153
and the grand old man Abbot Bernard of Clairvaux dies in August
1153.
1148 Templars found the town of Baldock, near Letchworth in
Hertfordshire, England.
1149 In spite of the failure of the Second Crusade, the Templars
continued their work in Jerusalem and were well established
in the Temple Mount having quarters for at least 300 Knights
and 1,000 sergeants . They constructed the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre
1154 Henry II takes the throne of England, suceeding king Stephen
1161 New Temple completed and occupied in England. The New
Temple extends from Aldwych up the Strand and half-way along
Fleet Street, then down to the Thames, where it has its own
wharf.
1183 The death of his older brother, Henry, makes Richard III,
son of Henry II, heir to the throne but he decides to take up
the cross and go on crusade which leaves his brother John to
look after the kingdom back home. Henry reluctantly follows
but dies 6 July, 1189.
1185 (England) The London Temple is established just off the
Strand
1189 Henry II of England dies.
1199 Richard the Lionheart killed 6 April by a bolt from a
crossbow while trying to regain land lost to one of his vassals,
the Viscount of Limoges.
1204 - 5 King John (England) entrusts the Templars with the
Crown Jewels for their protection (The Templars were often employed
in the transfer of money and precious stones and were the de
facto “bankers” in England and France.
1214 William I, king of Scotland dies, Alexander II becomes
king of Scotland.
1215 Magna Carta signed.
1209-1244 Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars of southern
France. It was during this period that the Spanish priest Dominic
Guzman would establish the Dominican Order.
1229 Holy Office established, officially known as the Holy
Roman and Universal Inquisition. The Dominican order become
the official inquisitors and torturers for the next 5oo years,
developing specialized methods of torture to inflict maximum
pain while attempting to avoid actually killing the victim of
their torture.
1249 Alexander III suceeds Alexander II as king of Scotland
1259 Henry III (England) seeks Templar’s aid during the Baron’s
Revolt.
1259 London Temple used by Parliament (England)
1260-1266 Henry III of England pawns the Crown Jewels to the
Templars for cash.
1271 Tedaldo Visconti, the archbishop of Liege is elected Pope
and takes the name Gregory X.
1274 Pope Gregory X calls a council at Lyons to propose a new
crusade in May. No one comes except James I of Aragon. Michael
of Bysantium promises to unite the Eastern and Western orthodox
churches in the hope that Charles of Anjou would be disuaded
from attacking Byzantium. Charles of Anjou, Count of Provence,
brother of Loius IX of France, with cash supplied by the Pope,
mounts campaign against the German heir to Frederick II and
is successful. Pope declares Charles to be king of Sicily and
Naples making his the strongman of the Mederanean. Charles,
with the Pope’s help, convinces Maria of Antioch to relinquish
her claim on the throne of Jerusalem and buys her off for ten
thousand gold pounds. and a promise of four thousand gold pounds
a year for life. Charles’ cousin is Grand Master of the Templars
who has assured him of Templar support. The call for a new crusade
by the Pope fails. Since the loss of Jerusalem Acre has become
the major base of the Templars. King Hugh of Cypress has claimed
the kingship of Jerusalem, and is desparatedly trying to claim
anything else he can lay his hands on with little success and
eventually retreats to Cypress.
1277 Charles of Anjou completes his deal with Maria of Antioch
to buy the kingship of Jerusalem. He sends an armed force to
Acre , backed by troops from Venice and the Knights Templar.
King Hugh of Cypress gives up his claim to Jerusalem and Charles
of Anjou is declared king of Jerusalem.
1279 King Hugh of Cypress tries to have another go at seizing
something, anything, and sets sail for Acre to try to seize
that city. He arrives with his vasseals and calls for support
from the local power brokers, but no one comes. His vassals
aren’t required to put in any more than four month’s service
and they take off when the time is up, leaving poor Hugh alone
and up against the Templars who support Henry of Anjou and have
the backing of the Venetians.. Poor old Hugh gives up and returns
to Cypress but seizes all Templar property in Cypress to get
even with the Templarts for resisting him in Acre. The Pope
tells his to give the property back to the Templars and Hugh
tells the Pope to go stick it. By this time in history, the
monguls, under decendents of Genghis Khan rule over Persia (Iran)
and the land between the Tigres and Euphrates rivers (Iraq).
The big mover and shaker is the sultan Kala’un.
1281 The monguls try to take Damascus, tens of thousands die
in the effort which ends in failure.
1282 March 30, an event known in history as the “Sicilian Vespers”.
In one swoop, an underground organization many believe was the
origins of the “Mafia” kill every Frenchman in Sicily. Charles
of Anjou had been planing to try to conquer Byzantium and had
been massing troops for the battle. This sudden change in affairs
causes him to have to attempt to retake Sicily but discovers
that King Pedro III of Aragon has the same idea. Suddenly they’re
busy fighting each other for Sicily and the whole deal in Bysantium
gets put on the back burner. Meanwhile, Michael of Byzantium
who had offered up the Eastern orthodox religion as a way to
get Charles off his back can now comfortably forget about that
deal and does. Charles gets his but whipped in a naval battle
with Pedro III in the Bay of Naples. The Pope comes to his aid
but it’s too little, too late and Philip III, dad to the up
and coming schemer Philip IV, gives his uncle Henry of Anjou
a boost by attacking Aragon while King Pedro III is busy fighting
Charles for Sicily. You gotta wonder if there ever was a time
when everyone isn’t fighting everyone. And Hugh, remember Hugh?
He tried his darndest to seize something, anything and had been
forced back to Cypress. Well he gets it in his head to try to
take Jerusalem while everyone else is busy fighting each other.
He sets sail for Tyre but, bad luck Hugh gets blown off course
and ends up in Beirut. Obviously not cut out for the war stuff,
he decieds to continue on by ship to Tyre and sends his troops
overland but they are attacked by Muslims. Hugh is convince
the Templars had something to do with it. He contiues on the
Tyre, where he is well received and waits to be welcomed at
Acre. Bad luck is on his side again. Acre is being run by Odo
Poilechien and he isn’t about to rock the boat. Everyone in
Acre likes it just peachy keen the way things are. The Templars
there are content, and the Venetian traders aren’t about to
do anything to disrupte their trade. Meanwhile, Hugh’s vassals,
being under only a four month contract, pack up and go home
when their time is up and Hugh is left wringing his hands. It
must have been just too much for him.
1284 King Hugh of Cypress dies. Crown passes to his sickly
seventeen year old son John who dies within a year. The crown
of Cypress goes to John’s fourteen year old brother Henry. Five
days earlier, Sultan Kala’un had taken the crusader port of
Marquab. During THAT time, Charles of Anjou had also died. What
with Charles now dead, he can do what his father Hugh couldn’t
and he sets sail for Acre. Poor old Odo Poilechien didn’t really
have a plan, but the Templars and the Knights Hospitallers did.
They told Odo it best he recognize Henry since the only real
opposition was Charles II (Charles of Anjou’s son) and he was
still busy trying to take back Sicily. Odo needed the Templar’s
and Hospitaller’s support, so he recognized Henry as controling
Acre.
1286 King Henry of Cypress declared “King of Jerusalem”. Alexander
III, king of Scotland dies leaving no heirs.
1288 A new Pope in Rome, Nicholas IV. Edward I is battling
it out with Phillip IV for Bordeaux in France. King Charles
II of France still fighting it out in Sicily with Aragon and
Genoa, which was also at war with Venice. Not much of anyone
is thinking crusades anymore.
1289 March, Kala’un (remember him, the mogul, descendent of
Ghengis Kahn?) well he’s been busy and now he shows up in Tripoli
and starts bombarding it with his catapults.. The Venetians
and the Genoese high tail it out of the port with as much as
they can load on their ships. The Templars and Hospitallers
evacuate Prince Amalric of Cyprus and the countess Lucia of
Tripoli but the Templar commander who stays behind is killed.
Kala’un takes Tripoli. All the males are killed and all the
women are taken for slaves. Kala’un has the city taken apart
stone by stone. Te residents of Acre are now just a little freaked
out. Kala’un offers King Henry (remember him, the kid brother
of John, son of that poor sod Hugh of Cypress?) a truce of ten
years, ten months and ten days. Henry doesn’t like the sound
of that... sounds like he’s a whole lot smarter than his dad.
He sends out messengers to the various courts of Europe pleading
for help, but he gets a general round of vague excusses why
no one is available.
1290 In response to Henry’s plea for help, a group of people
arrive from northern Italy. They are described as a mob of near-rabble
but ready to fight the “infidel”. One day a drunken gathering
of these Italians turns on some Moslem merchants in Acre and
butchers the lot. Kala’un who has been waiting for a response
to his offer to the ten year truce sees this as an excuse to
clean things up and demands that the guilty Italians be turned
over to him for punishment. Beaujeu of the Templars advises
the council of Acre that the guilty Italians, Christian or not,
should be turned over to the sultan. The council, knowing that
this would mean certain death for the Italian Christians refuses
to act on the Templar advice. The sultan starts moving on the
Palestine coast. The Templars warn the council of Acre that
their spies report the sultan is on the move and heading for
Acre. The council doesn’t believe the Templars. Beaujeau sends
an envoy to the sultan to try to stop his advance. The sultan
says he isn’t interested in the people, just the city and will
ransom Acre for Venetian gold zecchine (ducats) equal to the
population. Beaujeau takes the offer to the council at Acre
who insult the Templar master and accuse him of treason. By
good luck, the sultan died before he reached Acre so things
got delayed. The sultan’s son, al-Ashraf had sworn to his dad
that he would carry on the attack on the Christians and the
folks at Acre were supprised when the armies showed up at Acre.
Hoping to fend off an invasion, they sent an envoy to the new
sultan but the envoys were sent to the dungeons before they
even had a chance to plead their case.
1291 April. The main body of the sultans forces arrive at Acre
and prepare to assault the city. Acre has about fifteen thousand
men, the sultan has about one hundred and fifty thousand men.
You figure it out. King Henry arrived at Acre May 4th with about
two thousand men. By May 15th, five of the outer towers of Acre
had fallen. On May 18th the sultan began an all out assault.
Guillaume de Beaujeu, the Templar commander was mortally wounded,
King Henry, seeing that this didn’t look good, hightailed it
out of the port and went back to Cypress, leaving the folks
at Acre to fight it out. Anyone who had any brains at all tried
to get out by ship. Some ships were so oveloaded they sank.
The sultan’s men took the city and slaughtered every male they
came upon, taking the women for slaves. The rumour is that the
price of a slave fell to a single drachma because of the surplus
they picked up in Acre. The Templars were the last to hold out
in their stronghold along with as many women and children as
they could, but they were cut off from the sea and any hope
of being re-supplied. The sultan tired of trying to take the
Templar stronghold and offered terms. Peter de Severy was in
charge of the Templars. He accepted the sultan’s offer that
they would leave their fortress in Acre for Cypress with their
arms and whatever else they could carry. A hundred Mamelukes
led by an emir of the sultan were admitted to the Temple to
monitor the withdrawel of the Templars and refugees who had
gathered there. The Marmelukes, however, began sexually assualting
the women and boys angering the Templars who killed them all.
The took down the sultan’s flag and let the sultan know that
they would not surrender their Temple stronghold and would fight
to the death. The sultan apologized for the behaviour of his
men and re-offered the terms as before. Peter de Severy took
a few of his men to discuss the terms with the sultan. Upon
arriving at the sultan’s encampment, the Templars were seized
by the sultan’s men and immediately beheaded. Meanwhile, the
sultan had been driving a tunnel under the temple foundation.
On May 28 the sultan’s men breached the temple and it subsequently
collapsed. Everyone in the temple was killed and no Christians
were left in Acre.
The only fortress left was at Tyre. When the sultan and the
Mamelukes approached Tyre, the commander of Tyre left immediately
for Cypress. Tibald Gaudin, the treasurer of the Templars was
at Sidon and was elected the new grand master. The sultan’s
army arrived at Sidon a few weeks after the fall of Acre and
the knights fell back to their fortress by the sea. The new
Grand Master immediately set sail with the Temple treasure for
Cypress. The Templars, judging the situation to be hopeless
left by sea as well, leaving Sidon open to the sultan’s men,
under the emir Shujai, entered and took control of Sidon on
July 14 whereupon they commenced taking it down. In short order
Beruit on July 31. Next fell Haifa. The Templars had a castle
at Athlit which they abondoned on August 14th and they also
abandoned their castle at Tortosa soon afterwards. For the first
time in 170 years, the Templars had no foothold in the Holy
land. The Templars and Hospilallers received permission from
Henry of Cypress to set up there. The following year Tibald
Gaudin died nd the last grand master of the Knights Templar
was elected. His name was Jacques de Molay. He began his Templar
vocation at age twenty one in the year 1265. He became Grand
Master at age forty eight. In spite of the losses in the Holy
land, De Molay was in charge of the best fighting unit in Christendom,
they had their own fleet of ships, thousands of agricultural
manors in Europe, mills, trading monopolies and their financial
operations, transfer of funds, and protection and transport
of valualbles. While illiterate, de Molay was an experienced
commander. He set about to restore morale and discipline. He
had problems with king Henry of Cypress who tried to control
the Templars in that country, but the Templars appealed to Pope
Boniface VIII who was technically their boss. The Pope answered
the call by telling Henry of Cypress he should be happy to have
the Templars in these uncertain times to help protect him. Molay,
unfortunately, started getting it into his head that he should
lead a new crusade. The Pope, however, was busy celebrating
his own success and planning his jubilee in Rome and put any
ideas of a new crusade on the back burner. Unfortunately for
de Molay, he was so obsessed with his plans for a new crusade,
and pleased with the strong support he got from Boniface VIII,
that he failed to notice, it would appear, the conflicts that
were going down between Phillip IV and the Pope. It may be that
de Molay didn’t consider Phillip IV of France to be anyone much
worth a second thought as he was only one of many European monarchs
fighting each other for real estate on the continent. Wasn’t
Phillip, after all, busy fighting Edward I? The Grand Master
had made a fatal oversight.
1305 Bernard de Goth, archbishop of Bordeaux, with the backingy
of Phillip IV of France becomes the new Pope taking the name
Clement V.
1306 Robert the Bruce crowned King of Scotland
1306 All Jews in France are arrested/deported, and their property
seized.
1307 July, Edward II becomes King of England
14 Sept., 1307 Philip IV (France) issues secret orders to his
Seneshal and Baillis calling for the arrest of all Templars
across France.
Friday 13th October, 1307 Templars all across France are arrested
in the early hours in one decisive swoop.
14th October, 1307 Trial begins in Paris
24th October, 1307 Jacques DeMolay confesses to the accusations
under torture from William Imbert, Chief Inquisitor of France.
25th October, 1307 Jacques DeMolay is brought before the University
of Paris, where he repeats his confession.
27th October, 1307 Pope Clement V writes to Philip IV, informing
him he is concerned that he was not informed of the arrests
of the Templars.
1st November, 1307 Hughues de Pairaud, Visitor of the Order
confesses to the Inquisition.
22nd November, 1307 Clement V issues the Papal Bull Pastoralis
Praeemenentae.
24th December, 1307 Jacques DeMolay revokes his confession
before the Pope’s emissaries.
1308 Templar fleet arrives in America
February, 1308 Pope Clement V suspends the powers of the Inquisition.
First arrests of Templars in Ireland begins.
24th - 29th March 1308 Philip IV summons representatives of
the three Orders of the Realm, the Estates General.
5th - 15th May, 1308 Estates General meet at tours.
27th June, 1308 72 Templars present their case to Clement V
5 July, 1308 Pope Clement V issues the Papal Bull, Subit Assidue.
12th August, 1308 Pope Clement V issues the Papal Bulls, Faciens
Misericordiam and Regnans in Coelis.
March, 1309 Episcopal inquiry into the Order begins.
September, 1309 papal inquisitors arrive in England
22 November, 1309 Papal Commission Begins inquiries into the
accusations against the Order.
26th November, 1309 Jacques DeMolay appears before the Papal
Commission for the first time.
14 December, 1309 Edward II of England writes his sherrifs
to hold Templars, but they seemingly ignore the orders as many
Templars still wander at large.
14th March, 1310 A full list of accusations is read to the
Templars who apear to mount a defense. The accusations comprise
127 articles.
28th March, 1310 Templars meet in Paris to defend the Order
against the accusations.
4th April, 1310 Pope Clement V issues the Papal Bull Alma Mater.
7th April, 1310 Two Templars, Pierre de Bologna and Renaud
de Provins, mount the first real defense.
10th May, 1310 54 Templars burned at the stake as heretics,
destroying any chance of defending themselves and others of
the order... dead men can’t talk.
6 August, 1310, Pope Clement chastizes King Edward II for not
allowing inquisitors to use “sensible torture” to get more information
from captured Templars.
16th October, 1311 Council of Vienne convened after being delayed
for 12 months by Pope Clement V
22 March 1312 Pope Clement V issues the Papal Bull, Vox Excelso
which officially suppressed the Order of the Templars.
2nd May, 1312 Pope Clement V issues the Papal Bull Ad Providam.
6 May, 1312 Pope Clement V issues the Papal Bull Considerantes
Dudum.
21st March, 1313 The Knights Hospitaller donate 200,000 livre
to Philip IV for his role in destroying the Knights Templar.
18th March, 1314 Jacques DeMolay, Geoffrey de Charney, Hugh
de Peyraud and Guy de Auvergne are brought before the Papal
Commission in Paris to receive life sentences.
Jacques DeMolay revokes his confession, angering Philip IV who
over rules the Commission and sentences him and de Charney to
death.
19th March, 1314 Jacques DeMolay and Geoffrey de Charney are
burned alive at the stake on a small island in the River Seine
called Ile des Javiaux.
20th April, 1314 Pope Clement V dies.
29th November, 1314 Philip IV dies in a hunting accident.
1314 Battle of Bannockburn. Very small force defeats English
force with the help of mounted Templar Knights.
September, 1326 Edward II tricked into going to France by his
wife and her lover, Roger de Mortimer, on pretence of negotiating
back Bordeaux from the French. As soon as Edward was in France
Isabella, his wife, dispatched a band of mercenaries to England.
Edward’s boyfriend and his father were captured and stangled.
September 22, 1327 Edward II, Prince of Wales, met his end
at Berkely Castle in Gloucester after being held the past year
in various prisons. A red hot iron spit was shoved up his rectum.
1328 England recognizes Scotland as an independent country.
13 June, 1329 Pope accepts Robert I and his sussessors as the
rightfull Kings of Scotland
1330 William St. Clair dies while taking the heart of Robert
I to Jerusalem
1337 One Hundred Year’s War between France and England begins.
Invention of English longbow changes military history. Mounted
Knights no longer a superior force. Crossbows in common use.
1342-1348 Plague ravages all Europe. Over one third of entire
population dies.
1348- Edward III of England creates the Order of the Garter
consisting of two groups of 13 men.
1357 First recorded exhibition of the Shroud of Turin (believed
to be that of Jacques de Maloy).
1381 Peasant’s Revolt in England. Simultaneous uprisings occur.
Mob storms London. Chief Justice of England and Archbishop of
Canerbury are beheaded by rebels. Rumours of a Great Society
abound but no trace is found. The Freemasons are born.
1440 -1490 The Chapel is built at Roselyn Castle. William St.
Clair introduces First Degree and Mark Masonry. Sir William
Sinclair appointed Patron and protector of Scottish Masons (1441)
by James II, of Scotland.
1473 19 February Nicolas Copernicus is born.
1485 August 22 King Richard III killed at battle of Bosworth
with Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond who becomes King Henry VII.
1509 Henry VIII becomes King of England (his older brother
died of tuberculosis, opening his way to the throne).
1516 Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon have a daughter, Mary.
Henry wants a son and marys Anne Boleyn, mother of Queen to
be, Elizabeth I.
1534 Clement VII, last of the Medici Popes dies. Michelangelo
is still working on finishing the ceiling of the Cistine Chapel.
England makes split with Roman Catholic Church. Henry disolves
monastaries in 1536 and 1539 and redistributes their land to
his friends.
1543 24 May, Niclolas Copernicus dies.
1547 Edward VI becomes king of England at age ten. He reigned
only six years and died just short of his 16th birthday of tuberculosis.
He repealed the laws of heresy. The duke of Northmberland tried,
unsuccesfuly to bring Lady Jane Grey to the throne. She reigned
only nine days to be succeded by Queen Mary I who began cancelling
the anti-Roman laws. Known, affectionately, as Bllody Mary,
she was a bloodthirsty queen.
1555 Queen Mary has the Anglican bishops Latimer and Ridley
burned at the stake at Oxford in 1555 but allowed them to have
sacks of gunpowder tied to their necks to end their lives quickly.
She burned Archbishop Cranmer at Oxford the following year for
an encore.
1559 Roman Inquisition begins.
1564 15 Feb. Galileo Galilie is born.
1587 Queen Mary executed, Queen Elizabeth 1 takes over.
1588 Spanish armada against Queen Elizabeth of England by King
Phillip of Spain fails and is lost.
1583 James Stuart, son of Mary, Queen of Scots and great-grandson
of Henry VII, becomes James VI of Scotland.
1598 First Schaw Statutes set up the Lodge System in England.
1599 First recorded minutes of a Masonic Lodge. Second Schaw
Statutes published.
1601 James VI joins the Lodge of Scoon and Perth, being No.
3 on the present roll of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, at age
35.
1603 Queen Elizabeth I dies. James VI of Scotland becomes James
I of England. He authorizes a new translation of the Bible that
we know today as the King James version of the Bible meaning
that this book was now available in the English tongue where
previously it was available only in Greek and latin.
1604 Fellow Craft Degree of Freemasonry introduced by Francis
Bacon.
1605 Guy Fawkes foiled in plot to destroy parliament and blow
up the king.
1607 Inigo Jones manuscript.
1610 Galileo makes public his view of the structure of the
solar system... He is condemned by Pope as heretic. Under protection
of Medici Court, Galileo proves light and heavy object fall
at same rate, establishes new ideas about buoyancy and makes
discoveries of planets.
1620 Refugees of 30 Years War in Europe (Germany) begin flooding
into England bringing adherents of Rosicrucianism.
1625 Charles I ascends to throne of England and comes into
conflict with the House of Commons. New Model army created under
Cromwell.
1628 Second St. Clair Charter confirms the Earl of Rosslyn
as the Grand Master Mason.
1629 Charles I of England dissolves Parliament.
1633 Charles I refurbishes Holyrood Abbey for his Scottish
Coronation and includes Masonic tombstones in the north wall,
including one for the Earl of Sutherland. Galileo arrives in
Rome to face the Inquisition who are ready to condemn him to
death for his scientific work. The Grand Duke of Tuscany in
Florence, a Medici, the Patron of Galileo is in a bind because
he depends on the Pope for power and so he stops paying Galileo’s
expenses. Galileo renounces his scientific findings and is sentenced
to house arrest. He dies a broken man and is denied a public
funeral by the Papacy.
1637 Diary of Earl of Rothes (England) records the phrase “Masone
Word” on 13 October (anniversary of arrest of Knights Templar).
1638 National Covenant issued by nobels opposed to arbitrary
rule of Charles I (ie, ruling without Parliament).
1641 Sir Robert Moray is initiated into Freemasonry at Newcastle
by a warrant from Lodge of Edinburgh’s St. Mary’s Chapel.
1642 Charles I deposed by Parliament of England. 8January Galileo
Galilei dies having been confined to house arrest by Roman Inquisition
for expressing his scientific knowledge.
1643 English Civil War begins.
1645 Royal Society holds first meeting in London.
1646 End of the main phase of the English Civil War at Oxford.
1646 Elias Ashmole initiated in Warrington in an ad hoc Lodge.
Charles I defeated by forces of Cromwell.
1649 January 30, Charles I executed, Cromwell established commonwealth
but rules England in dictatorial style. Charles II lives in
exile in France.
1650 Rosslyn Castle is destroyed. Cromwell and Monk spare the
Chapel at Rosslyn.
1652 Wilkins, Ashmole and Wren meet for first time.
1658 September, Cromwell dies, his son takes over.
1660 Army deposes Cromwells son and invites Charles II back
to England on May 29th. Monarchy restored by Charles II
1666 Great Fire of London
1662 Royal Society of the Advancement of Science formed by
Freemasons.
1672 Isaac Newton is elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.
1677 Charles II builds the Holy Royal Arch Symbol of the Crown,
which was orighinally used by his father Charles I in his campaign
against Parliament, into the entrance of Holyrood House.
1685 Charles II dies, James II becomes King of England and
replaces government officials with Roman Catholics.
1689 Parliament denies James II succession to the throne. Mary,
James daughter, and William of Orange share the throne.
1701 Act of Succession passed saying that crown would pass
to nearest Protestant relative of the House of Stuart. Law passed
that excluded any person not from the Church of England from
the throne. Anne, daughter of James II becomes Queen of England.
1707 Act of Union joins England and Scotland.
1714 Queen Anne dies, nearest relative is Sophia, granddaughter
of James I. Sophia’s son George I becomes king. First minutes
of the Grand Lodge of York.
1717 Formation of the English Grand Lodge.
1721 The First Noble Grand Master, John, Duke of Montague is
elected to the English Grand Lodge.
1725 Irish Grand Lodge formed.
1726 First known record of a Masonic Third Degree ceremony
in Scotland.
1737 Scottish Grand Lodge is formed. Willam St. Clair is elected
the first Grand Master.
1738 Pope issues the first Papal Bull against Freemasonry.
1747 Grand Lodge of Scotland is issued the First Charter to
a travelling military lodge.
1752 George Washington is made a Freemason in the town of fredericksburg
at Lodge Fredericksburg.
4 July, 1776. Declaration of Independence signed, creating
new nation of the United States of America. Declaration signed
by 13 Freemasons.
13 October, 1792. Cornerstone of the White House laid on the
anniversary of the death of Jaques de Molay. Six freemasons
in attendence.
1826 March 13, Captain William Morgan of Batavis, New York
signs a contract to publish a book he says will reveal Secret
signs, the grips and rituals of Freemasonry. The printers shop
is set on fire. Captain Morgan is arrested for non payment of
debt but an anonymous benefactor pays the debt. He is abducted
and is never seen again, presumed murdered.
19 March, 2003 Anniversayof death of Jacques de Molay. United
States of America begins war (drops first bombs) to take back
Iraq (Ur). Great Britain joins United States in War. Both countries
led by Freemasons.
