Mackey A G - Encylopedia of Freemasonry - The Grand Masonic ...

400 KNIGHT
KNIGHT
it is a tetractys of ten dots . This is the first of
the philosophical degrees of the Scottish Rite .
2. The Seventeenth Degree of the Chapter of
Emperors of the East and West .
Knight of the Eastern Star. (Chevalier
de l'Etoile d'Orient .) The Fifty-seventh Degree
of the collection of the Metropolitan
Chapter of France .
Knight of the East, Victorious . (Chevalier
victorieux de l'Orient .) A degree found in
the collection of Hocart .
Knight of the East, White. (Chevalier
d'Orient.) The Fortieth Degree of the Rite of
Mizraim .
Knight of the Election . (Chevalier du
Choix .) The Thirty-third Degree of the Rite
of Mizraim.
Knight of the Election, Sublime . (Chevalier
sublime du Choix .) The Thirty-fourth
Degree of the Rite of Mizraim .
Knight of the Golden Eagle . (Chevalier
de l'Aigle d'or.) A degree in the collection of
Pyron .
Knight of the Golden Fleece. (Chevalier
de la Toisson d'or .) The Sixth Degree of the
Hermetic Rite of Montpellier .
Knight of the Golden Key . (Chevalier
de la Clef d'or.) The Third Degree of the
Hermetic Rite of Montpellier .
Knight of the Golden Star . (Chevalier
de l'Etoile d'or.) A degree contained in the
collection of Peuvret .
Knight of the Grand Arch . (Chevalier
de la Grande Arche .) A degree which Thory
(Acta Lat ., i . 295) says is contained in the
Archives of tie Lodge of Saint Louis des Amis
Reunis at Calais .
Knight of the Holy City, Beneficent .
(Chevalier bienfaisant de la Cite Sainte .) The
Order of Beneficent Knights of the Holy City
of Jerusalem was created, according to Ragon,
at Lyons, in France, in 1782 1 by the brethren
of the Lodge of Chevaliers Bienfaisants . But
Thory (Acts Lat . i . 299) says it was rectified at
the Congress of 'Vilhelmsbad . Both are perhaps
right . It was probably first invented at
Lyons, at one time a prolific field for the
hautes grades, and afterward adopted at Wilhelmsbad,
whence it began to exercise a great
influence over the Lodges of Strict Observance .
The Order professed the Rite of Martinism ;
but the members attempted to convert Freemasonry
into Templarism, and transferred all
the symbols of the former to the latter system .
Thus, they interpreted the two pillars of the
porch and their names as alluding to Jacobus
Burgandus or James the Burgundian, meaning
James de Molay, the last Grand Master of the
Templars ; the three gates of the Temple signified
the three vows of the Knights Templar,
obedience, poverty, and chastity ; and the
sprig of acacia referred to that which was
planted over the ashes of De Molay when they
were transferred to Heredom in Scotland .
The Order and the doctrine sprang from the
Templar system of Ramsay . The theory of
its Jesuitic ongin can scarcely be admitted .
Knight of the Holy Sepulcher . 1 . As a
Masonic degree, this was formerly given in
what were called Councils of the Trinity, next
after the Knight of the Christian Mark ; but
it is no longer conferred in America, and may
now be considered as obsolete . The Masonic
legend that it was instituted by St . Helena, the
mother of Constantine, in 302, after she had
visited Jerusalem and discovered the cross,
and that, in 304, it was confirmed b Pope
Marcellinus, is altogether apocryphal. The
military Order of Knights of the Holy Sepulcher
still exists ; and Mr. Curzon, in his Visits
to the Monasteries in the Levant, states that the
Order is still conferred in Jerusalem but only
on Roman Catholics of noble birth, by the
Reverendissimo or Superior of the Franciscans,
and that the accolade, or blow of knighthood,
is bestowed with the sword of Godfrey de
Bouillon, which is preserved, with his spurs, in
the sacristy of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
Madame Pfeiffer, in her Travels in the
Holy Land, confirms this account . Dr . Heylin
says that the Order was instituted in 1099,
when Jerusalem was regained from the Saracens
by Philip of France . Faryn, in his
Theatre d' Honneur, gives a different account
of the institution. He says that while the
Saracens possessed the city they permitted
certain canons regular of St . Augustine to have
the custody of the Holy Sepulcher . Afterward
Baldwyn, King of Jerusalem, made them
Men-of-Arms and Knights of the Holy Sepulcher,
and ordained that they should continue
to wear their white habits, and on the breast
his own arms, which were a red cross potent
between four Jerusalem crosses . Their rule
was confirmed by Pope Innocent III . The
Grand Master was the Patriarch of Jerusalem .
They engaged to fight against infidels, to protect
pilgrims, to redeem Christian captives,
hear Mass every day, recite the hours of the
cross, and bear the five red crosses in memory
of our Savior's wounds . On the loss of the
Holy Land, they retired to Perugia, in Italy,
where they retained their white habit, but
assumed a double red cross . In 1484, they
were incorporated with the Knights Hospitalers,
who were then at Rhodes, but in 1496,
Alexander VI . assumed, for himself and the
Popes his successors, the Grand Mastership,
and empowered the Guardian of the Holy
Sepulcher to bestow Knighthood of the Order
u pon pilgrims . Unsuccessful attempts were
made Ey PhiliII ., of Spain, in 1558, and the
Duke of Nevers, in 1625, to restore the Order .
It is now found only in Jerusalem, where it is
conferred, as has been already said, by the
Superior of the Franciscans .
2 . It is also the Fiftieth Degree of the
Metropolitan Chapter of France .
Knight of the Interior . (Chevalier de
l'Interieur .) The Fifth Degree of the Rite of
the East according to the nomenclature of
Fustier .
Knight of the Kabbala . (Chevalier de la
Cabale .) The Eighth Degree of the collection
of the Metropolitan Chapter of France .
Knight of the Lilies of the Valley . This
was a degree conferred by the Grand Orient of
France as an appendage to Templarism . Th$