II.   Sovereign

The Temple, also known as the Inner, Middle and Outer Temple, also known as the Inner and Middle Temple is a historic and secret ecclesiastical, legal and financial structure established from 1539 whereby trained lawyers as members of four (4) Inns being the Lincoln Inn, Grays Inn, Inner Temple and Middle Temple effectively controlled the lower courts as well as the purchase and control of the Court of Chancery by the four (4) Inns from the 17th Century:

(i) In 1185, following the successful Pisan campaign to capture major Greek Island from the Byzantines using Basque, Sicilian, Gascon and English mercenaries, the Pisans agreed to establish a branch of their banking empire known as the Ordo Pauperes Templum or “Order of the Poor of the (Money) Temple” in London. King Henry II Plantagenet (1154-1189) of England granted the “Knights Templar” the former grounds of Southampton House and surrounds west from Arundel St and the boundaries of the Thames and Fleet St east to the boundary of Bouverie St and Temple Ave; and

(ii) Similar to all banking compounds of the Pisan banking order, the Knights Templar commissioned significant and imposing stone defenses and walls to be erected around its London land holding, completed by 1194, with two (2) minor entrances to the east and west, one (1) major entrance from the docks and area onto the Thames (now known as the Middle Temple Gatehouse) and the primary land gate located at the beginning of Fleet st near St Clement Danes known as Bar Gate, or simply the Bar; and

(iii) Within the walled compound known collectively as “The Temple”, the Pisan banking order created a massive wall following the path of Essex St dividing the western compound and the “Bar Gate” from the eastern remainder of the compound. This became known as the Outer Temple and was the walled compound in which banking, money changing, conveyances, loans and credit were conducted via entrance from the north or “Bar Gate”. By tradition, a merchant or trader had to be “admitted to the Bar” in order to engage in commerce within the walled compound known as the “Outer Temple”; and

(iv) A second internal wall was also constructed dividing the Outer Temple to the west from the north eastern part of the Temple compound following the Middle Temple Lane. This internal divide separated the Outer Temple from the Middle Temple area and the “Inner Temple” to the north east corner. The Middle Temple area then housed warehouses, markets were erected connected from the south gate (Middle Temple Gate) and the warehouses and docks for merchants. The Middle Temple was therefore for wholesale trade and business between merchants of the sea and the bank; and

(v) The Inner Temple to the North East corner was only accessible by an internal gate from the Middle Temple and the East Gate and was the main treasure vaults, chancery of documents and accommodation for banking staff, mercenaries and visiting Pisan nobles. This is the site of what is known as the Temple Church; and

(vi) In 1284, Pisa under Doxi (Doge) Albertino Morosini (1279 - 1290) suffered a massive defeat against the Genoese. However, it was not until 1312 that the Pisan banking empire and facilities were finally attacked in a coordinated campaign organized by Philip IV (1285-1314) of France, the Genoese and their Spanish allies; and

(vii) While the Pisan banking empire was destroyed in Europe, King Edward II Plantagenet (1307-1327) of England refused to attack and confiscate the banking compound or “Temple” to then hand it to the King of France on behalf of the Pope, despite being married to Isabella the daughter of the King of France. This enabled the Pisans to ship vast amounts of gold and treasure away secretly via the Thames before the Temple was finally lost. Following increased internal unrest, Isabella and her love Roger Mortimer captured and then killed the King in 1327 and the Temple compound was attacked, partially destroyed and the little remaining gold and valuables taken by Isabella; and

(viii) The absence of the former treasure of the Pisan bank known as the Temple on the Thames gave rise to the legend of the Templar Treasure in England. In 1328, the abandoned and partially destroyed site of The Temple was turned over to the French controlled Bank known as the Ordo Hospitallier as the new bankers; and

(ix) In 1381, the Temple site was a major focus of the Peasants Revolt, spurred on by mythical stories of buried Templar Treasure. The complete Knights Hospitallier compound was breached, buildings were burned and walls and defenses systematically dismantled by the army of peasants in search of the buried Templar treasure; and

(x) Upon the death of King Richard II Plantagenet of England 1399, a struggle arose over succession between cadet branches of the Plantagenet lines known as the House of Lancaster symbolized by the Red Rose, headed by Henry of Bolingbroke later Henry IV (1399-1413) versus Edmund of Langley of the House of York symbolized by the White Rose. During the increasingly bitter feud over the crown, the nobles and administration of the kingdom also divided into those supporting the House of Lancaster versus the House of York including the twelve (12) Hospita Cancellarie (Inns of Chancery) in London; and

(xi) Under the reign of the House of Lancaster, influential lawyer, clerk and judge Sir John Fortescue (b.1394-d.1480) not only served in high position, but was responsible in the year 1441 in reforming several Inns of Chancery including Furnival Inn, Clement Inn, Lyon’s Inn, Cliffords Inn, Strand Inn and Thavie’s Inn to form a new teaching college of law known as the Hospita Curia in favour of the House of Lancaster. This Inn later became known as “Lancaster’s Inn” only to be corrupted as Lincoln’s Inn during the early 18th Century to hide its origin; and

(xii) A number of Inns of Chancery rejected the influence of the House of Lancaster over the Hospita Curia formed in 1441 and in 1456 Sir Thomas Bryan (d.1500) succeeded with the support of the Chancery Staple Inn and Barnard’s Inn of forming a rival “Hospita Curia” or Inn of Court known as the “York Inn” and “Gray’s Inn” on account of Baron Grey of Wilton helping finance the purchase of the property for the teaching college; and

(xiii) In 1455 the first “official” organized battle of the War of the Roses occurred at the Battle of St Albans between the forces of King Henry VI Lancaster (1422-1461 then 1470-1471) and Richard, Duke of York.

(xiv) In 1458, Thomas Bourchier the Archbishop of Canterbury and Chancellor succeeded in negotiating a complex “temporary” peace settlement primary based upon the formation of a new sacred and noble order to unite the divided Houses of Plantagenets and “roses” known as the Ordo Templum Rosa Crux or the Order of the Temple of the Red/Rose Cross. The Temple ruins were then conveyed to this new order and declared to be hallowed and neutral ground, ordering the planting of both red and white roses in newly cleared gardens, with the western half of the site (Outer Temple and part of former Middle Temple) granted in lease to the York Inn to administer and the eastern half of the ruins (part of the former Middle Temple and former Inner Temple) to the Lancaster Inn, later known as Lincoln’s Inn. A procession was then arranged from the ruins of The Temple to St Pauls Cathedral on March 25th in which the newly invested members of the Order of the Temple were forced to hold hands in pairs. While the ceremony was abandoned until the end of the War of the Roses, the Order of the Temple of the Red/Rose Cross survived; and

(xv) In 1485, Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond (later Henry VII 1485-1509) defeated Richard III Plantagenet (1483-1485) at the Battle of Bosworth Field to bring to an end the War of Roses and herald the rise of the Tudors. Henry VII shunned the Order of the Temple of the Red/Rose Cross as a Plantagenet entity, instead accepting the honor and exclusive membership of the European Order of the Golden Fleece.

(xvi) Henry VIII Tudor (1509-1547) similarly shunned the Order of the Temple of the Red/Rose Cross and in 1540 reconstituted the Plantagenet Order of the Temple of the Red/Rose Cross to the Order of the Garder (“Guardians”), removing its rights over The Temple to a new home at Windsor Castle, with the patron saint of the newly formed order being St. George of England, or Francesco Zorzi – best friend and confidant of Henry VIII and first saint of the Church of England; and

(xvii) At the same time the Plantagenet Order of the Temple of the Red/Rose Cross lost its claim over the Temple, Henry VIII Tudor (1509-1547) granted the four (4) Inns of Court the lease of the lands of the Temple and a new Order being the Ordre du Mark du Maistre du Maisun meaning Order of boundaries (of law and international jurisdiction) and of teaching of law and of law of homes (domestic law). This Order which unites all four (4) Inns of Court has since chosen to keep its position as the first and primary lodge of Freemasonry strictly private; and

(xviii) In 1608 James I Stuart (1603-1625) granted the Temple lands jointly to the Lincoln’s Inn and Gray’s Inn as a Royal Peculiar now directly controlling the Curia Cancellariae (Courts of Chancery) in perpetuity for a fee to the monarch of ten (£10) pounds paid annually. In reply, Goldsmith John Williams (1584-1627) was commissioned by the Inns to produce an extravagant gold cup weighing two hundred (200) ounces and costing six hundred sixty six (£666) pounds which was then filled with nine hundred thirty two (932) English Gold Sovereign coins and given to King James as a gift, weighing six hundred sixty six (666) troy ounces; and

(xix) In 1673, the Inner and Middle Temple as well as the Lincoln’s Inn and Gray’s Inn successfully purchased the Temple property as well as the property upon which both the Lincoln’s Inn and Gray’s Inn reside from Charles II Stuart (1660-1685) as a non-Royal Peculiar owned as absolute Allodium in perpetuity, free from any rent, taxes or claims for £666 including the purchase of the Court of Chancery.

The reference to the Temple site in London being “New Jerusalem Temple” is in direct reference to three (3) deliberate design elements:

(i) The Herodian Temple as the most sacred temple to Mithra was constructed around an Inner Temple, Middle Temple, Outer Temple and Precinct complex, similar to the original design of the Pisan Knights Templar compound; and

(ii) The ruins of the Temple Church were commissioned to be wholly remodeled and rebuilt based on the 4th Century design of the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem beginning 1458 following the founding of the Order of the Temple of the Red / Rose Cross; and

(iii) From 1608, the “square mile” and “golden square” being the boundary of Old London was regarded by the elite as the boundary of the Outer Temple, while the precinct was the shoreline of the Island of Britain. Hence the “Church of England” literally represented the whole Island, which also represented literally the New Jerusalem Temple.