68 THE ORIGINS OF FREEMASONRY FROM ANCIENT TIMES TO THE MIDDLE AGES
The Influence of the Eastern WorldByzantine Influences
The Christians of the East, subjects of the Byzantine Empire, were still
grouped in the ancient Roman collegia, keepers of the Greco-Latin tra-
ditions that had evolved through contact with the people of the East.
These associations—particularly those of the builders, which had dis-
appeared as legal entities in the West as a consequence of the barbarian
invasions but of which traces and remnants still remained in the monas-
tic associations—appeared to the Crusaders as signs of progress and
dispensers of valuable teachings. The Byzantines were the first to edu-
cate the Crusaders in the art of constructing war machines. In 1137,
during the siege—also a fratricide—of Antioch, Emperor John
Comnenus employed "immense instruments of war, machines that
hurled blocks of stone that were of enormous weight and size."^16 These
machines were a novelty to the Crusaders, but beyond their service dur-
ing battle, they could also be used to lift the stones necessary to con-
struct churches and fortresses.
The Templars, the Crusaders' legion specializing in the building of
military works, did not fail to absorb the lessons from the Byzantine
collegia. Some in the Order, trained in the Cistercian school, were
already of a mind to fraternize with the Eastern builders. Byzantine
lessons gave them the knowledge to erect their defense works and kraks.
"The Templars, always suspected of a leaning toward mysterious
Eastern arts and heresies, took up the mantle of Justinian as represented
by the degenerate fortresses in Northern Syria and, in simplifying it,
served to amplify it."^17 When they set aside their arms and when
truces in the fighting left them leisure time, the Templars, mindful of
their religious vocation, turned to erecting churches dedicatd to the
glory of the Lord. Like their Benedictine teachers, they first built in
the Romanesque style, but here again Byzantium prevailed and
Eastern churches often served as models for those of the Templars.
This influence was extended to the construction of the Orders' com-
manderies in Europe and is especially visible in the shapes of the
Templar chapels, which are either circular, such as those in Paris (the
Rotunda), London (Fleet Street), and Tomar in Portugal, or polyg-