Daily Los Angeles herald., 1883-04-06
KNIGHTS 1EMplAR.
History OF the Organization and
Career OF the Highest Secret So
ciety in the World. from It's Incep-
tion to the Present Date-rbe
Coming Triennial Conclave.

in the years A. ID. 1000 and lll3-th,
original organization having been under
two names, the Order of Knights of st
John and the Grand Masters-may no
be uninteresting. The first of the two
orders was the "Order of Knights Hos
pitalers of st. john" organized during
the first Crusade in the year 1899. A. d.
Gerald Tune was elected the first Grand
Master, and it was he who pre-.
sided over the hospital at Jeru.
salem for sick and wounded
Crusaders, during the first crusade. The
membership was rapidly added to by
the accession of gallant and chivalrous
knights, who took the customary monas-
tic VOWS of obedience, chastity and
poverty, assuming as their habit black
mantle with white cross on the breast.
None OF the military spirit shown there
after was part of the original organiza-
tion. The warlike spirit sprung up in
ll6S, sixty-seven years after its incep.
tion, while Gilbert D. Assault was Grand
Master. He was the fifth, installed in
ll63 and holding office for seven years.
The spirit of war had not long been
popular before it took precedence in a
marked degree over the original object
OF the Society, the care of the sick and
wounded
In the meantime, however-in the year
lll3-the Grand Masters OF the Knights
Templar were organized, ostensibly
for the same object as the Knights of st.
John, but soon imbibedt he same fighting
spirit, and took the same course. Hugh
de Payens was the first Grand Master Of
the knights Templar, and held office for
three years. Down to the time when
the last crusade ended, both organiza-
tions used all their endeavors to estab-
lish the Christian power in the land
made holy by the Redeemer's birth, la
bors and death. But it was useless
and bloody task, and the Mahometans
again resumed their sway. The Tenn
plars and Hospitalers, having nothing
to do, returned home. For the same
reason, they forgot their VOWS and be-
cane grossly immoral. King Edward l
OF England appropriated all the wealth
belonging to the societies in England,
while Pope Clement V. and King Philip
~. of France, had all the Knights ar
rested on charge of heresy. This was
in the year 1907, and the captives were
subjected to the tortures of the Inquisi-
ton, having been charged with nearly
every known hideous crime. Portugal
and Germany were the only countries
in which the orders were unmolested
This continued for six years, till, in
1873, the Templars' property was vested
in the Hospitalers, who in that year
took possession of the Island of Rhodes,
after long battle with its pirate
residents. The island was then barren
and worthless, and the two combined
societies went to work and improved it,
it the garden.spot it is to-day.
By 1910 they had progressed so that it
was considered necessary to respect
ability in Europe and the Levant, to be
a Knight of Rhodes. The colony in
creased in strength so much that when
Mahomet L.. with all his forces, attacked
the island he was repulsed with great
loss by the Knights of Rhodes, under the
leadership of Peter D'Aubusson. Sultan
Solyman, of Turkey, captured the
island, however, forty-four years later,
when King Charles V. of Spain rendered
the Island of Malta for the use of the
the title which exists to
this day, Knights of Malta. The tender
was accepted and the Knights removed
to their new location, which proved to
be as barren as the Isle of Rhodes, but
was reclaimed in the same way. Here
the Knights lived in quietude for 276
years, when the island was surrendered
to Napoleon Bonaparte in l79S. This
closed the connection of Malta with the
Order, and Worthy Grand Master HON.
pesch, the last Master in Malta, resigned
and sailed for Europe. The Knights in
the days of the Crusades were not all
Masons, but it is estimated that
q, 900 of them were. The Masons
and the Knights ooalesced more and more
until they were finally joined in the
reign of Henry VII. Of England, who
was chosen their protector. The Scot
tish Templars were organized in l4SS,
while later the Scottish Rite has been
introduced into Europe. On the conti-
nent, the Templars are more or less con-
neeted with Freemaaonry, but in the
United States almost universally so.
The Prince of Wales was installed in
1873. as First Grand Master of the
Convent General of the United Orders
of the Temple and Malta. for England,
Ireland and Wales. and their dependen.
cies."
From its establishment in lib, there
have been forty-nine Grand Masters of
the Knights Templar, of whom all but
one, the present incumbent, were French.
men. From the year 1899, when the
Hospitalers were established, up to the
present time, all but three were of
the same nationality. At present
there are three branches of the Or
der; two Protestant and one Roman
Catholic, each probably descended direct
from the original Knights Hospitalers in
Jerusalem over 500 years ago. When
the Order was temporarily disbanded,
its members were scattered, some Of
them finding their relief in Masonic
Lodges, this being the branch which has
come to the United States. The other
English iangae is presided over by the
Duke of Manchester in London, while
the third, or Catholicbranch, is confined
to Austria, Italy and the Mediterranean
islands.
The first Commandery in this country
was dedicated at Boston in 1889, but up
to the year 1850 but twenty seven en-
campments were represented at the an.
nual conclave, but from that time on the
Order has prospered, having now over
60, 900 members in the United States.