Templar Initiation and the Charges of Secret Rites
The ceremony of initiation into the Knights Templar is one of the most mysterious subjects in medieval history. The Order’s Rule prescribed a long and demanding process of initiation, but the actual details of the ceremony have been debated for centuries. The supposed secrecy of the ceremony, and the bizarre and obscene charges that emerged from the trial of 1307, have given rise to a vast and complex mythology of Templar initiation and secret rites.
This cluster page examines what is known about Templar initiation and the charges that were brought against the Order in 1307. It is a companion to the biography of Jacques de Molay and to the article on Baphomet.
The Latin Rule on Initiation
The Latin Rule (Regula Latina) of the Templars, the legal code of the Order approved at the Council of Troyes in 1129 and elaborated over the following decades, includes a long section on the admission of new brothers. The relevant clauses prescribe, in detail, the procedures for receiving a new member into the Order.
According to the Rule, the process of admission included:
- A request for admission: A man who wished to enter the Order would approach the community and ask to be received.
- An examination of his motives: The community would examine whether the man was of good character, of free birth (or, in some cases, of servile birth but with the consent of his lord), and whether he was of sound body and mind.
- A period of probation: The candidate was often required to spend a period of time in the Order before being formally received, during which he would be tested for his suitability.
- The formal ceremony: The candidate was received into the Order in a formal ceremony, in which he made his vows and was given the mantle of the Order.
- The profession: The candidate made his profession of vows — poverty, chastity, obedience — before the assembled brothers.
The Latin Rule. See What the Rule of the Templars Said.
The Ceremony of Initiation
The actual details of the initiation ceremony are not described in the Latin Rule, and the surviving descriptions are largely from the trial of 1307, when many brothers described the ceremony in confessions extracted under torture.
According to the confessions, the ceremony included several elements that became the basis for the charges of heresy and obscene practices:
- The denial of Christ: According to some confessions, the candidate was required, at least three times, to deny Christ. In the standard form, the candidate was asked: “Do you believe in the Lord Christ?” to which the correct answer was: “I do not believe.”
- The spitting on the cross: According to the same confessions, the candidate was required to spit on the cross, usually a small crucifix placed near the altar. The spitting was usually done on the ground, or on the floor of the church, and not on the cross itself.
- The obscene kiss: According to the confessions, the candidate was required to kiss the Grand Master, or the preceptor of the house, on the mouth, the navel, and the buttocks, or sometimes on the navel and the buttocks only.
- The reception of the head: According to some confessions, a head, sometimes described as a skull and sometimes as a figure with three faces, was shown to the candidate, and the candidate was required to venerate it. The head was often called Baphomet.
These charges were extracted under severe torture, and most brothers retracted their confessions when the torture stopped. The story of the trial. See The Trial and Suppression of the Knights Templar.
The Baphomet
The most famous object of the supposed secret rites was the Baphomet, a mysterious head that the Templars were said to venerate. The Baphomet was described in various ways in the trial records:
- As a skull of unusual appearance.
- As a figure with three faces, or three heads.
- As a golden head, sometimes with precious stones for eyes.
- As a dried head, sometimes identified with a specific historical figure, such as Hugh of Burgundy or the countess of Toulouse.
The Baphomet. See What Was Baphomet?.
The Charges of Homosexuality
In addition to the charges of denial of Christ, spitting on the cross, and obscene kisses, the Templars were also accused of homosexual practices. The charges of homosexuality were based, in part, on the obscenity of the kisses at the initiation ceremony, and in part on the supposedly close physical contact between the brothers in the Order’s life.
There is no direct evidence for the homosexual practices alleged in the trial, and most modern historians consider the charges to have been either fabrications or exaggerated reports of close physical contact between the brothers. The Order’s life of shared dormitories and shared meals would, in the modern world, be considered an intimate environment, and it is possible that some of the alleged practices were based on misunderstanding or prejudice against the Order’s communal life.
The Secrecy of the Order
The charges of secret rites were given weight by the Templars’ well-known culture of secrecy. The Latin Rule included specific prohibitions against the disclosure of the Order’s internal affairs, especially to outsiders. The penalties for revealing the Order’s secrets were severe, up to and including expulsion from the Order.
The Rule’s prohibition on disclosure was interpreted by some contemporaries as evidence of sinister practices. The chronicler William of Tyre wrote that the Templars were “secret and almost unknown,” and that they had a “certain hidden meaning” to their ceremonies. The 12th-century Syriac chronicler Michael the Syrian (c. 1126–1199) also mentioned the Templars’ “strange and hidden” ceremonies in a passage in his Chronicle.
The Order’s emphasis on secrecy was, in fact, a common feature of medieval monastic orders. Most religious orders had rules against the disclosure of internal affairs, and the Templars’ rule was not unusual in this respect. The Rule’s prohibition on disclosure was intended to preserve the Order’s esprit de corps and to protect the Order from hostile outsiders, not to conceal heretical practices.
The Trial of 1307
The charges of secret rites became the basis of the trial of 1307. The trial, conducted under the direction of King Philip IV of France and Pope Clement V, led to the suppression of the Order in 1312 and the burning of Jacques de Molay in 1314.
The trial of 1307 is examined in detail in The Trial and Suppression of the Knights Templar and in The Trial of Jacques de Molay. The legal and historical basis of the trial. See Were the Knights Templar Guilty of Heresy?.
The Modern Mythology
The charges of secret rites have given rise to a vast and complex modern mythology. The mythology includes:
- The idea that the Templars had discovered secret knowledge beneath the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, including the Holy Grail and the Ark of the Covenant.
- The idea that the Templars had heretical beliefs, derived from the Cathars or from contact with Muslim and Jewish mystics.
- The idea that the Templars had performed magical rituals based on Gnostic or Egyptian models.
- The idea that the Templars had been the original guardians of the Holy Grail, as suggested by Wolfram von Eschenbach in Parzival.
These ideas are examined in detail in Templar Mythology, Symbolism and Hidden Knowledge.
The Truth About Templar Initiation
The actual truth about Templar initiation is probably much less dramatic than the trial records suggest. The Order’s initiation was almost certainly a solemn, monastic ceremony in which the candidate made his vows and was admitted to the brotherhood. The Latin Rule’s emphasis on secrecy was intended to preserve the Order’s discipline, not to conceal heretical practices.
The bizarre and obscene charges of the trial were, in the words of the modern historian Malcolm Barber, “the product of intense physical and psychological pressure.” Most of the brothers who confessed under torture retracted their confessions when the torture stopped. The most likely explanation for the charges is that they were fabricated, either by Philip IV’s government to justify the destruction of the Order, or by former Templars who had been expelled from the Order and bore grudges.
Conclusion
The ceremony of initiation into the Knights Templar was, in reality, a solemn monastic ritual. The charges of secret rites that emerged from the trial of 1307 were, in all probability, fabrications extracted by torture. The myth of the Templars’ secret rites, however, has been one of the most powerful and long-lasting elements of the modern Templar mythology.