Love's Eternal Embrace by Karen Michelle Nutt Read Free Book Online Page B

around the 16th Century, they began to cut down
the forests. With the trees went the wildlife. Wild boars vanished
in the 17th Century for lack of acorns and even squirrels became
extinct to Ireland. The last wolf was shot in southwest Ireland
near Killarney over two centuries ago.

 
    The Knights Templar in Ireland
     
    The Knights Templar, formally known as the
Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, once
was one of the most famous Christian military orders. The
organization, started in the Middle Ages, existed for almost two
centuries.
    Around 1129, the Order was a favored charity
and grew in memberships and power. They were among the most skilled
fighting units of the Crusades, but the non-combatant members took
care of the financial end, starting the early form of banking and
building fortifications across Europe and the Holy Land.
    When the Holy Land was lost, support for the
Order faded. Rumors about the Orders’ secret initiation ceremony
created mistrust.
    King Philip IV of France owed a debt to the
Order and took advantage of the situation. On Friday, October 13,
1307, he orchestrated a coup to end the Knights Templar’s rule. On
that day, the Orders’ members were arrested.
    The Knights Templar in Ireland arrived around
1169-71 when the Norman invasion took place. Due to the Orders’
secretive nature, there is little known of their activities in
Ireland. They did own extensive estates of land, mostly in Munster.
At the time, seventy-five percent of the island was a Norman
colony, but the Templars’ military activities in Ireland were
limited. In the Gaelic Irish annals, they are not even mentioned,
proving they had very little interaction with Gaelic Ireland.
    They did however recruit Knights to go to the
Holy Land. Many joined to relieve financial burden to their
family’s estates. The Templars also had a profitable farming
enterprise in Ireland.
    On February 2, 1308, the Templars in Ireland
were arrested and placed in Dublin castle. The Orders’ lands were
seized by King Edward II. The trial didn’t take place until
February 6, 1310 and ended on June 6, 1310. The trial was at St.
Patrick’s Cathedral just outside the wall of the city of
Dublin.
    The Templars were charged with denying
Christ, spitting on the cross, homosexuality, and worshipping
idols. Torture played a big role in France to secure confessions,
but in Ireland it seems it wasn’t used. The Templars never admitted
guilt and none were found guilty.
    In 1312, Pope Clement V disbanded the Order.
In France, the Grand Master Jacques de Molay and a dozen other
Templars were burned at the stake in 1314. In Ireland, the Order
was simply dissolved and the Knights were released. Portugal was
the only European country where the Templars were not persecuted
and arrested.
    There were three divisions of ranks in the
Templars: The aristocratic knights, the lower-born sergeants, and
the clergy. They were required to be of knightly descent and to
wear white mantels. The knights wore a white surcoat with a red
cross and white mantle. The sergeants wore a black tunic with a red
cross on front and back and a black or brown mantle.
    The red cross was the symbol of martyrdom,
and to die in combat was considered a great honor, assuring their
place in heaven. The Knights were equipped with heavy cavalry, with
three or four horses and one or two squires.
    There were seventy-two clauses defining the
ideal behavior of a Knight. A few of the clauses were: Eat meals in
silence. Eat meat no more than three times a week. Do not have
physical contact of any kind with women. This included contact with
members of their own family.
     

 
    For more on the Knights Templar, visit:
    Irish History Podcast
    Knights Templar Wikipedia.org
     
    The Legend of the Dearg-due and other
Vampire Lore:
    The Ultimate Vampire Resource Dictionary
    Vampire Folklore by Region, Wikepedia
     
    Classic Vampire Poems of Interest:
    Der Vampire by Heinrich August
Eckenfelder