The Origin of Freemasonry and Knights Templar ... - Lodge Prudentia

FREEMASONRY AM) KXKiHTS TEMPLARbanners, when duty called; and whether defendingmoated castle, or mountain defiles, they fought withthat dauntless heroism whicji makes even the swordalmost an object of reverence. When the Christiankingdom in the East tottered to its downfall, theTemplars attempted to secure their own interestsby separate treaties with the Moslems, but theirfortunes were involved with those of the Westernpowers, and all went down together. The chiefseat of the Templars remained at Jerusalem fromthe foundation in 1118 until 1187, when Saladin,Sultan of Egypt, invaded Palestine, and in Octoberof that year captured Jerusalem ;it was then transferredto Antioch, which fellto the Christians in1098, during the first Crusade. It was there thatthe followers of Christ first took the name of Christians;it was there that St. Peter was made firstbishop of the church and there;.the early saints andmartyrs performed their miracles that gave to thecity a sanctity second only to that of Jerusalem.The headquarters of the Grand Master remainedat Antioch for four years, and was then removed in1191 to Acre.* This city was first taken by BaldwinI. in noo, recaptured by the Moslems underSaladin in 1187, and again retaken in 1191, byRichard Coeur de Lion, leader of the third Crusade.It was estimated that at this siegethe Christianlosses reached the enormous aggregate of threehundred thousand men, while those of the Moslemswere but little inferior. In all the great strugglesof human history so terrible a waste of life wasnever witnessed as before the walls of Acre. Itbecame the stronghold of Knighthood and continuedto be the headquarters of the Order until 1217,145