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The Eight Pointed Cross of the Scottish Knights Templar

The Eight Pointed Cross is to be found within the sacred geometry of Rosslyn Chapel.

Cross Section of Rosslyn Chapel showing its Sacred Geometry
with the  generous permission of historian , Tim Wallace-Murphy,
from his book "The Templar Legacy & The Masonic Inheritance within Rosslyn Chapel",
in turn with the very kind permission of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland



ISBN: 9521493-1-1 £ 7.95
Click images for larger versions

The Medieval Cross
In 1147 Pope Eugenius III ordained the use of the blood-red Cross  of the Order. (1) A Bothwell-Gosse in the "Knights Templar"(2) points out that there are few reliable ancient representations, but the Eight Pointed Cross is probably older as the Cross of the Order than the Cross with the square ends, and must have existed before the Templar Cipher. He concludes that it was used before 1250 AD.  Herbert Norris in "Medieval Costume and Fashion"(3) notes that the Templar knights wore the red Eight Pointed Cross on the left shoulder of their white mantles, the sergeants wore black mantles and the squires brown mantles.

Templar Cipher
The Geometry of the Cross allowed the Templar's to use it as a basis for a Cipher to encode their messages.

The Knights Templar in Scotland
In 1312 the Papal Bull "Ad Providam" ordered that all assets of the Order were to be given to the Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem (Order of Malta) and this was carried out except for Spain and Portugal, and Scotland, where the Order combined with the Hospitallers to continue as The Order of St John and the Temple until the reformation. When Sir James Sandilands, Preceptor of the Order, converted to Protestantism, the Order is thought to have ceased. (4)

19th Century Templar Revival in Scotland
The   Order revived within Freemasonry in Scotland under a charter from the Duke of Kent dated 19th June, 1811  and was inaugurated as the "Grand Conclave of Knights of the Holy Temple and Sepulcher, and of St. John of Jerusalem, H.R.D.M.X K.D.SH".(5)
On 7th December 1825, it was decided that the knights should use a white cloak or mantle with a red cross of 8 points on the left breast.
R T Macpherson portrayed a Templar knight at Rosslyn Chapel in c 1838.

The Templar Beatitudes
The Eight Points of the Cross recall the Templar version of the Beatitudes:

Templars, Maryculter

The Eight Pointed Cross flies over Templars, Maryculter, near the site of St Mary's Chapel, Scotland's second most important Templar Preceptory, on the south bank of the Dee in North East Scotland.
 

An early representation of the Eight Pointed Cross is carved in a prominent stone on the exterior of the 16th Century East Wall of Garway Templar Church in Herefordshire.

Garway Eight Pointed Cross

References:
(1) The Templars, Piers Paul Read, Weidenfeld & Nicholson ISBN: 1-84212-142-1 pages 91,92
(2) Knights Templar, A. Bothwell-Gosse ISBN: 0766138631 page 85
(3) Medieval Costume and Fashion, Herbert Norris ISBN: 0486404862 page71
(4) )History of the Order of the Temple of Jerusalem: From 1118 to 2005, Chev Leo Thys KCTJ  page 18 ISBN: 9-0901-9317-0  
(5) The Knights Templars and the Complete History of Masonic Knighthood from the Origin of the Orders to the Present Time, Charles G. Addison, Robert Macoy, page 548
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