The Secret History of Freemasonry

The Templars, the Francs Metiers, and Freemasonry 93

of Acre on July 12, 1191, Richard was given lodging in the house of the
Templars, whereas the king of France was garrisoned in the castle. The
chronicle of Bernard the Treasurer also informs us that Richard the
Lionheart often took counsel from the Templars. * Further, according to
Guillaume de Tyr, the occasion of Richard's truce with Saladin on
August 10, 1192 inspired the following:

When the king of England had made a truce with the Saracens, he

made ready his ships, to have his vessels loaded with people and

provisions... then he told the Templar grand master: "Master, I

know full well that I am not loved by everyone, and that if I set sail

and it is known that I am at sea, there is no place I can land where

I will not be killed or captured. So I ask you to lend me your

brother knights and men at arms who will come sail with me.

When we are far from here, they will lead me as if I were a Templar

until I am back in my own country ..." The grand master told him

he would do so gladly, and he secretly summoned his knights and

men at arms and had them board a ship. The king took leave of

Count Henry, the Templars, and those native of that land and

boarded the ship. During the evening he boarded the Templar ship

and took his leave of his wife and her retinue. They sailed off in

one direction, and the others continued off in another direction."^11

These close ties between the Templars and Richard the Lionheart
(who did not hesitate to don Templar dress), were such that certain
authors, Rebold for example, were of the belief that the king was a
grand master of the Templar Order.+ There is not a shred of truth in
this, but the respective power and prestige of the king and the Temple,
closely allied, served to make both parties even stronger. When we

• de Tyr, Histoire des Croisades, vol. 4, 65-67, 183, 201. It should be noted that the
  tame circumstances applied to Philip Augustus. Aymard, treasurer of the Temple in
  Paris, was his trustworthy ally when he was the administrator of the Royal Treasury (cf.
  Leonard, + introduction to the Cartulaire manuscrit du Temple, 119).
  Rebold, Histoire des trots Grandes Loges, (Paris: Franck, 1864), 671, 681. This
  author, who is serious and capable all the same, indicates that the nomination of Richard
  the Lionheart to the chief mastery association of the Templars would have occurred in
  1154 or 1155. Richard, however, was not born until 1157!