The superstition that Friday the 13th is unlucky may have become associated with Freemasonry through the Knights Templar, a group that is said to have discovered secrets of the Masons:
The Knights Templar
According to conspiracy theorists, the Knights Templar discovered information about the Holy Grail and the bloodline of Christ, and may have had connections with Freemasons. In 1307, King Philip IV ordered the arrest of de Molay and other Knight Templar leaders which then led to the torture & execution of Templars in a number of European countries on Friday, October 13. This date is said to have influenced the superstition of Friday the 13th
Founded around 1118 as a monastic military order devoted to the protection of pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land following the Christian capture of Jerusalem during the First Crusade, the Knights Templar quickly became one of the richest and most influential groups of the Middle Ages, thanks to lavish donations from the crowned heads of Europe, eager to curry favour with the fierce Knights. By the turn of the 14th century, the Templars had established a system of castles, churches and banks throughout Western Europe. And it was this astonishing wealth that would lead to their downfall.
For the Templars, that end began in the early morning hours of Friday, October 13, 1307.
In the days and weeks that followed that fateful Friday, more than 600 Templars were arrested, including Grand Master Jacques de Molay, and the Order’s treasurer. But while some of the highest-ranking members were caught up in Philip’s net, so too were hundreds of non-warriors; middle-aged men who managed the day-to-day banking and farming activities that kept the organization humming. The men were charged with a wide array of offenses including heresy, devil worship and spitting on the cross, homosexuality, fraud and financial corruption.
In the spring of 1314, Grand Master Molay and several other Templars were burned at the stake in Paris, bringing an end to their remarkable era, and launching an even longer-lasting theory about the evil possibilities of Friday the 13th.
The Knights Templar
According to conspiracy theorists, the Knights Templar discovered information about the Holy Grail and the bloodline of Christ, and may have had connections with Freemasons. In 1307, King Philip IV ordered the arrest of de Molay and other Knight Templar leaders which then led to the torture & execution of Templars in a number of European countries on Friday, October 13. This date is said to have influenced the superstition of Friday the 13th
Founded around 1118 as a monastic military order devoted to the protection of pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land following the Christian capture of Jerusalem during the First Crusade, the Knights Templar quickly became one of the richest and most influential groups of the Middle Ages, thanks to lavish donations from the crowned heads of Europe, eager to curry favour with the fierce Knights. By the turn of the 14th century, the Templars had established a system of castles, churches and banks throughout Western Europe. And it was this astonishing wealth that would lead to their downfall.
For the Templars, that end began in the early morning hours of Friday, October 13, 1307.
In the days and weeks that followed that fateful Friday, more than 600 Templars were arrested, including Grand Master Jacques de Molay, and the Order’s treasurer. But while some of the highest-ranking members were caught up in Philip’s net, so too were hundreds of non-warriors; middle-aged men who managed the day-to-day banking and farming activities that kept the organization humming. The men were charged with a wide array of offenses including heresy, devil worship and spitting on the cross, homosexuality, fraud and financial corruption.
In the spring of 1314, Grand Master Molay and several other Templars were burned at the stake in Paris, bringing an end to their remarkable era, and launching an even longer-lasting theory about the evil possibilities of Friday the 13th.
