64 THE ORIGINS OF FREEMASONRY FROM ANCIENT TIMES TO THE MIDDLE AGES
communities of builders. The primary question—one that has always
been subject to controversy—is this: Did the Templars wield any influ-
ence over these brotherhoods and communities and, if so, what was the
nature of this influence?
In this chapter we will examine:
- The direct influence of the Templars on the art of the builders.
In this sense they followed the example of religious communities
such as the Benedictines and Cistercians. - The influence that the Eastern world—Byzantine and Islamic—
exercised over Western civilization at the time of the Crusades
and the primary role assumed by the Templars in this social and
cultural influence, including the close ties they developed to
Byzantine and Muslim guilds. - The Templars' specific involvement in the formation in Europe
of professional communities, primarily those of builders, which
includes our discovery of the source of the francs metiers in gen-
eral and operative freemasonry in particular.
The Templars, Creators of the Brotherhoods of Builders
The Templars, protectors of the Holy Land and guardians of the faith-
ful, were great builders of churches and fortified buildings.
The task they undertook in the areas of protection and defense
evolved into a real need during the Crusades. The earliest Crusades had
very few qualified workers at their disposal. In 1099, during the siege of
Jerusalem, their efforts suffered particularly from the lack of equipment,
war machines, and qualified workers.^1 In 1123, at the siege of Tyre, the
Crusaders paid a king's ransom to an Armenian named Havedic to
come build ballista for them.^2 On entering Tyre in 1124, the Christians
greatly admired the fortifications, the solidity of the buildings and ram-
parts, the height of the towers, and the elegance of the port—proof that
these kinds of works were novel to them and were regarded as revela-
tions.^3 This is precisely the time when the Order of the Templars began
to extend itself throughout the Holy Land with the building of
fortresses, called kraks, which can still be admired today.