Da Vinci Code

Da Vinci Code in the Light of Free Masonry

Dr. Asaf Durakovic

Washington, D.C. March 5, 2008

Freemasonry should have very little concern about the best seller Da Vinci Code if it was not for the specific suggestion that it might be associated with the ancient secret societies like the Priory of Sion, Knights Templar, Rose Croix, and Illuminati. Furthermore, the book contains the allusions of Freemasonry being a part in preserving the mystery of the Holy Grail in the light of the proposed suggestion that the issue of the physical descendency of Jesus of Nazareth continued after the crucifixion to the present time through the line of Merovingian dynasty culminating in the Knights Templar bringing the records of Mary Magdalene to France from the Holy Land during the first Crusade. While it appears to be of some historical fact that the Priory of Sion started in Jerusalem in 1099, there is no evidence of any records of physical descendency of Christ through Mary Magdalene that is not shrouded in the myth and legend. The Priory of Sion was founded by the French King Godefroi de Bouillon in 1099 after his conquest of Jerusalem during the first Crusade. It was a secret society whose sole purpose was the search for the Holy Grail. From the Priory another secret society was formed - the Order of the Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon, commonly known as the Knights Templar. Contrary to the historical belief that their purpose was to protect the pilgrims to the Holy Land, they have been associated from their very beginning with the secret mission not known to anybody beyond their circles, as they were sworn to secrecy. King Godefroi initially appointed nine knights who applied to the Pope for the permission to have the quarters at the site of King Solomon’s Temple, which was also the site of a subsequent temple rebuilt by Herod the Great. That group of knights ceaselessly worked under the protection of their pope-granted conclave, not being intruded upon by any covens or eavesdroppers excavating in the hard rock foundation for the documents leading to the Holy Grail. Their privacy was assured not only by the Pope, but also by King Baldwin of the second Crusade, so that their presence and privacy were protected within the confines of the temple ruins. The Templars believed that the records leading to the Holy Grail were located at the point of the temple’s location of Kodosh Kodoshim – Holy of Holies – of Solomon’s Temple. The result of their toil was well-rewarded, according to the old legends because by being a law to themselves they were permitted to transfer their findings in six great metal caskets to France. A mysterious Papal edict was

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issued by the Pope Innocent II almost simultaneously after their findings were disclosed to the Vatican. It appears that their secret was not disclosed in full because of the amazing power they acquired since the very beginning of the 12th century. The Knights Templar expanded all over Christendom, and their presence was also maintained in the Holy Land, extending also to the Saracens, with whom they had recorded secret meetings. It is well known that the secret societies existed and flourished in the World of Islam as secret brotherhoods with the rituals of the entrance, acceptance, fellowship, masters, and grandmasters, which were collectively known as the Secret Society of Builders (al-Bana). Some records indicate that King Richard the Lionheart was connected to the Templars in some way, which extended to his unusually cordial relationship with victorious Saracen king, who was the mortal enemy of the crusaders. His influence and legacy eventually eliminated all of the eight crusades from the map of the world. It was a logical response to the first crusade, which demonstrated its intentions in the holy land by the ruthless massacre of the entire Muslim and Jewish populations at the capture of Jerusalem in 1099. As the result, Jerusalem and the entire holy land were transferred to the Muslim rule for eight centuries. It is not only a legend but a historical fact that King Richard and King Salahudin were engaged in hand to hand combat in the view of the crusade and Saracen army with extremely chivalrous conduct by King Salahudin stating to Richard, “Your Majesty must be tired, so I suggest that we break our combat and go for some refreshment and resume it later.” King Salahudin was obviously right because the steel armor and the heat of the sun in the Middle East was probably weighing on Richard much heaver than on Salahudin, who fought without heavy armor, on much swifter horse, and less exhausted than his opponent. The chronicles also reveal that King Richard was attended by Salahudin’s personal physician when he fell ill in the second crusade. We have to remember that the crusaders were facing the enemy on their own territory with the mighty, well-organized civilization and the cities with population in the millions such as Damascus, Baghdad, Basra, Alexandria, and Cairo, so the medical help to Richard was much better provided through the hands of Salahudin than through the unskilled hands of frequently illiterate physicians among the crusaders.

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By the end of the 13th century, the Knights Templar became so powerful that they were challenging the authority of the Vatican itself. A well-known historical fact is the massacre of Templars on the fatal Friday, October 13, 1307, by a raid organized by the French King Philip the II Le Bele and Pope Clement the V, who superbly managed the meticulous execution of their order in one single night. While some legends consider the reason for the massacre of the Templars being their enormous wealth much needed by the kings and the popes, the other theories point to the secrets of the Temple of Jerusalem contained in the safe-keeping of Templars was the real fact behind that tragic event. King Philip and Pope Clement were extremely well-organized and wise but not wise enough to match the Templars. A night before the raid, several ships left Calais and likewise several ships left the Port of Marseilles carrying the Templars’ treasure. Yet, it did not redeem the painful death by burning at the stake of the last grandmaster of the Templars, Jacques de Mollay and Duke of Normandy in the year 1314, at the bridge Pont Neuf in Paris. The curse of the grandmaster of the Templars pronounced on King Philip materialized by his untimely death soon after the grandmaster’s execution by the fire, and the curse upon Pope Clement followed. In the last decade of the 18th century, when the guillotine administered the justice of the French Revolution over Queen Marie Antoinette and King Louis the XVI, a legendary dramatic event took place. A man jumped from the crowd to the scaffold, lifted the blood covered head of the king, and loudly announced to the stunned crowd, “This is revenge for Jacques de Mollay.” The Templars waited for nearly five centuries. Both temporal and spiritual powers overseeing the extermination of the Knights Templar had to have some explanation of their actions because naturally, neither their desire for Templars’ wealth nor for the secret documents of the Temple of Jerusalem could be used as the reason for their actions. Pope Clement claimed that he had a revelation in his dream of Templars being involved in the heresy and blasphemy against the Church and God. They were accused that, among the other crimes, they were worshipping a demon called Bahomet and were trying to undermine the legacy of the Church. The Templars’ treasure, according to the legend, was focused to the secret of Sangreal – the Holy Grail.

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The Holy Grail, Priory of Sion, Knights Templar, Freemasons, and Leonardo Da Vinci

An attempt has been made by the Da Vinci Code to imply that Freemasons are somewhat a part of the puzzle of Sangreal kept as the innermost secret of freethinking fraternities, based upon Templars’ excavations in order to secure the dominant position over the Church and the entire world, culminating in the transfer of the secrets of the Alumbrados, an ancient secret society, which survived three edicts of excommunication by the holy inquisition to the subsequent Illuminati, which by no means ended in Bavaria at the end of the 19th century but went into the deeper secrecy until our time aiming for the New World Order. The controversy of Leonardo is far too complex to be focused just on the mysterious outline of Christ and his apostles at the Last Supper. Have we not all heard the theories that Mona Lisa was in fact a man? While it is true that on the right side of Christ, one of the apostles resembles delicate female features with a tunic and robe being in the reverse color of the tunic and robe of Christ, and the positions of the bodies forming the letter v, interpreted by the book as the symbol of the chalice, there is an obvious question. Where is Saint John the Beloved in the fresco? The original number of twelve apostles was maintained even after the betrayal of Judas Iscariot, when Jesus appointed another apostle Mathias to keep the number twelve. There is no substitute for John suggested in the fresco at the refectory wall of Santa Maria de le Grazie, in Milan, which mysteriously survived bombing raids of American pilots at the end of the Second World War. We will come to the issue of Mary Magdalene later. It is well-known that ever so many details were identified in the fresco of the Last Supper while Leonardo worked on it, that his very life was at risk by the ever-watchful eyes of the Holy Inquisition. Those details are so minor that they present no challenge to the magnitude of the proposed interpretation of Mary Magdalene being substitute for John that they escaped scrutiny and attention of permanently monitored Leonardo’s work in the Catholic sanctuary. The absence of the Holy Grail from the table of the Last Supper was not even considered a major transgression. Regardless of the Papal personal liking to Leonardo, such iconoclastic detail of his fresco would have been his death sentence if any, even the slightest detection, was recorded by the ever-present scrutiny during its creation. Not even the knife pointed toward Christ in a threatening position,

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nor Bartholomew turning away from the Master, nor multiple glass cups with no chalice amounted to any significant challenge. The Last Supper survived five centuries of scrutiny, as well as the bombing raid of the Second World War. The Priory of Sion had never claimed the insinuation brought up in Da Vinci Code that one of the thirteenth, Christ included, was a woman. But, the book goes on about the grave and sarcophagus of Mary Magdalene, initially in Arcadia, Southern France, Remes le Chauteau, subsequently traced to Roslin Chapel, south of Edinborough, was a secret protected among the others by the Freemasons. Masonic symbology was found in the Templar Church of London, England, in the Roslin Chapel and innumerable edifices of the cathedrals of Europe throughout post-Crusade Middle Ages long before the speculative Freemasonry. This is an interesting detail because Freemasonry of today frequently considers itself an autonomous secret society with no links to the operative freemasonry before 1717. I am trying to prove them otherwise.

Mary Magdalene, Holy Grail, Priory of Sion, Templars, and Freemasons

The suggestion of Mary of Magdala being united in secret marriage with Christ and resulting in his physical progeny does not even qualify to be considered a controversy particularly among the scholars and historians. The question remains whether Leonardo wanted to ultimately reveal the secret known since the temple excavation in Jerusalem. We have to remember that Leonardo himself was a grandmaster of the Priory of Sion and a free spirit beyond comparison who simply wanted to codify a well-hidden secret in the way that it could be accessible by the superior curiosity and skills. The Da Vinci Code does not reveal the final answer as to what was the secret message in the coded vile that traced the Holy Grail to Roslin Chapel, Southern France, and the escape of Mary Magdalene from Jerusalem to the Jewish community of Gaul, assimilated to Roman Empire by Julius Caesar one hundred years before Christ. Mary Magdalene is explicitly mentioned in the Gospel of Luke (8:2) as a companion of Jesus and the apostles who provided for their well-being and sustenance. Her origins are from the town of Magdala, about five kilometers North and West from Tiberias. It is well-documented not only by the Gospels, but by Josephus, “History of

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Rome,” that she accompanied Jesus on his last visit to Jerusalem at the Passover, was present at the Crucifixion, claimed his body together with John and Mary Mother of Jesus, participated in the burial, and witnessed the open tomb. “Why do you seek Jesus among the dead when he is alive?” Does the Da Vinci Code expand merely on the statement of the two apparitions in white at the site of the tomb or does it contain an implication that Mary of Magdala may indeed be a part of continuous legacy of Christ through his physical progeny? Mary of Magdala, although poorly represented in the world’s history and world encyclopedias, has certainly been a point of curiosity among countless historians and writers trying to separate the myths from the facts about this extraordinary woman. There is a viable theory that she was a young woman of exceptional physical beauty, grace, and artistic talents which she displayed in her matchless dancing skills while being in the employ of a ruthless businessman who was at the same time a captain of the Temple Guard and who earned his fortune greatly due to the talents of Mary Magdalene. The legend of the two Roman physicians appointed by the Emperor Tiberias to investigate the causes of leprosy in the Eastern provinces of the Roman Empire claims that Roman doctor, young Marcus Sejanus, after witnessing her dancing, became hopelessly in love with her and followed her from Tiberius to Cessarea and to Jerusalem, eventually proposing marriage to her. Another similar legend claims that Mary of Magdala married a wealthy Roman aristocrat who made a fortune of manufacturing purple dyes for the clothing extracted from the sea shells of the Mediterranean and who became one of the richest citizens of the Roman Empire. After he was healed from leprosy by Christ, he followed Mary Magdalene and eventually was united with her in marriage. Yet another legend among many states that she decided to follow Christ with the vow of never getting married. Thus, the legend claiming to be a secret of the Priory of Sion about Mary Magdelene being the secret wife of Christ faces considerable competition. Nothing definitive is known about Mary Magdalene after crucifixion of Christ, and the Da Vinci Code claim of her being a symbolic Holy Grail remains nothing but a conjecture. A fact that is well-known is that she has been identified in the line ascending to Benjamin, thus being of the same noble blood of Jacobites, to which Christ himself belongs by being of

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the house of David. Mary Magdalene was a beautiful woman with numerous historical accounts agreeing to her dancing skills, physical beauty, flowing red hair, and a free way of life much misinterpreted by the Christian churches, and who in the house of Simon anointed the feet of Christ. In other history books, she was portrayed as a fallen woman brought before Christ by the priests of the temple of Jerusalem to test his adherence to the law of Moses by passing judgment on the issue of adultery. In those legends, her name was Neemah, which was changed to Mary and while answering to Christ that she was from Magdala, was called Magdalene. Whichever of these theories is true, the fact remains that she was very close companion of Christ and his apostles, testifying to her dedication by the adherence to the Master beyond his apparent physical grave. Whether or not the Prior of Sion had any other verifiable secrets, it never stepped out of the veil of historical darkness, obscurity, and legend.

Mary Magdalene, Holy Grail, and Merovingian Dynasty

A century before Christ, an indelible historic record was presented to the world in the book De bello gallico (On Gallic War) by Gaius Julius Caesar, the emperor of Rome. It describes in considerable detail the Roman Empire campaigns in the country of Gaul, the vast territories of contemporary France fragmented in the tribal and clan domains and united into a formidable force by Gaelic King Vercingetorix, a brave and noble warrior. The war ended in the defeat of Gaul, where Vercingetorix was brought in chains and paraded through the triumphant arch in Rome and subsequently executed for his unwillingness to collaborate with Rome. The Gaul contained no Jewish community long after the conquest by the Roman Empire. While Rome was a pragmatic polytheistic society with a Greek legacy and Jupiter being the head deity with the pleyad of lesser gods and goddesses, the Gaelic tradition was the religion of the forces of nature perpetuated by the druid priests, and instead of temples their worship and meeting places were in the sacred oak groves. The Da Vinci Code suggests that Mary Magdalene escaped to Gaul with her unborn child and being recognized as of the tribe of Benjamin with connection with

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Christ of the House of David, was adopted by the Jewish community of Gaul. The only Jews in the time of Emperor Tiberius and subsequent less fortunate emperors of Rome in the province of Gaul were wine and olive oil merchants skillful in storage of their merchandise in the stone jars. The strong and sizeable Jewish community was mainly present in Rome itself and settled on the other side of Aventine, across the Tiber River, who got special benefits from the government, particularly favored during Nero’s reign by his wife Popaea, to practice their religion and laws within reason. Thus, there is no supportive evidence of Mary Magdalene being a part of the Jewish community of Gaul, which in the Da Vinci Code is called France. France, in fact, did not exist at that time. The book then makes a jump of several centuries claiming that after the birth of Mary Magdalene’s daughter Sarah and her descendants, the line carried out until the time of the Merovingian kings. The secret of the Holy Grail during this obscure time period was kept by the family, being kept in hiding until the Merovingian kings when it became a secret of the royal dynasty. The Merovingians are the first dynasty of France, the name of which was taken from the legendary Meroveh, the fifth-century early king of the Salian Franks, successor of legendary Clodio. They were a part of the Roman Empire as a logical consequence of the Gaelic integration into the Roman armies in the time of Julius Caesar. The Merovingian King Atius, in fact, stopped the progress of the Huns in the year 451. After the fall of the Roman power in France, the Archbishop of Reims converted all Gauls to Christianity, which resulted in the tribal wars with Clovis being appointed as king in 511, the founder of the Merovingian dynasty that lasted for two and a half centuries. They were known as the founders of Paris. It vanished from the history in the middle of the eighth century, previously weakened by the war with Pipin of Herestil. They were succeeded by Carolingians when Charlemagne succeeded his father Pipin. Half barbarian, by his pragmatic intelligence and service to the Church, he united the whole of his domain under the banner of the Church of Rome. The Merovingians therefore had no power after the last King Dagobert was murdered in his sleep. The legend suggests that his son Sigisbert secretly carried the legacy of the Holy Grail to the time of the king Godefroi de Bouillon who had some blood line with the Merovingians. The Priory of Sion and Knights Templar carried the

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secret to the modern age through very much alive secret societies, allegedly including the Freemasons and Illuminati.

What Does It All Have to Do With Freemasonry?

While some theories, particularly in the United States, adhere that the origins of speculative Freemasonry did not start in the operative guilds of the medieval, ancient, and archaic times, I have a different view. Some Masonic historians associate speculative Masonry to Euclides, some with Charles Martel, some with English Atheltan, others link it with the Roman cult of Mithras, originating in Iranian ancient sun worship, others with Essenes, with whom, according to some sources, Jesus spent most of his adult life. The other numerous theories associate operative masons with the architects of the Temple of Jerusalem, while even more obscure theories associate stone masons with the merging of the people of archaic times in the symbol of the Tower of Babel. While the others go farther back in history to Noah’s ark and even more ancient theories of Gilgamesh and the keeper of the secrets Utnapishtim, or with Jabal, son of Lamech, and other landmarks of history and legend. In the midst of all of these theories, penetrating throughout human history and philosophy, the common denominators of freemason questions remain in the realm of duality of life and death, time and eternity, good and evil, as well as the fraternity of mankind, brotherly love, truth, charity, and other noble symbols of humanity. It all relates to the ancient past. I propose speculative masonry to be considered a part of medieval operative Masonry from which it slowly evolved through the German Steinmetzen. Although it is linked in the universal denominators to the freethinking and secret societies of ancient civilizations of Egypt and Greece, as well as non-Occidental cultures, the speculative freemasonry has no claim of descent from these grand epochs and cultures with an exception of the medieval guild of the operative masons with grand heredity from Collegium Romanum. It is essential to become thoroughly familiar with the volumes of the history of Freemasons by Findel and Gould of the late 19th century to understand the transition of the operative Masons from the Roman College to the cathedral builders of medieval Europe. It is equally essential to get familiar with Charles Squires book on the

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connection between the Roman college of Artificers and Middle Ages operative masonry. They all suggest the Hametic influence on Mediterranean Civilization legendarily linked to Noah’s progeny of Ham, Shem, and Yaphet. Anthropological origins of Hametic advent suggests that they were the first inhabitants of the Nile Valley, spreading to Asia Minor and the Middle East. I respectfully disagree to some extent with some of these classic Masonic texts with the well-researched suggestion that Semitic and Yaphetic influence was a contemporary historic tide leading to the current Western World. If we agree with the classical Masonic text written under the pseudonym Leader Scott of 1906 about the Hametic predominance of the origin of the Western Civilization and the merging of the other cultures and civilizations, the Tower of Babel is a well taken illustration of the confusion of mankind at the clash point of different cultures, each bringing new elements into the ever-changing equation of the cultural evolution of mankind. Such dramatic antecedents are exemplified by the Hiksos invasion of the Empire of Egypt, King Kambiz of the Hittites against Pharaoh Mamose, bringing the knowledge of the horse and chariot and steel weapons against water travel and bronze weapons of the Egyptians, Ethiopian steel swords against the copper weapons of Egypt, and bringing the knowledge of science and art of Egypt to the invading barbarian tribes, including the knowledge of the building of the temples. The knowledge of the temple building was preserved in the standing civilizations of Mesopotamian Kingdoms, Egypt, Greek, Etruscan, and Roman culture. The most ancient operative Masons of the Egyptian and Middle East origin advanced to the North, most likely by the Hellenic culture in Greece, also known as Pellasgoi. They migrated to the Apenine Penninsula and mixed with Etruscans, similar to the earlier mixing of the Hebrews and Hittites in the Middle East. These migrations of the people and also of their knowledge of building continued to the North and West, reaching Spain, France, Britain, and as North as Scandinavia, bringing the knowledge of the building skills. Most of the classic Masonic texts agree about their Hametic origin in Egypt. This is supported by the studies of D. G. Hoggart, who published his summary in London Review in 1908 that the Hittites are predecessors of Hellenic culture, not only as a geographic focus, but also a seed of the art and science of the times antiquity. The building of King Solomon’s Temple can be historically placed to the era of one millennium before the Christians. The founding of Rome is

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generally agreed upon as 755 B.C., both being contemporary with grand civilizations of Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, Greece, Etruria, Egypt, as well as barbarian invading tribes such as Hittites. These views are supported by the correct observations of Dr. Hugo Winkler that the art of temple builders in antique civilizations was intercultural. Further support is given by Professor Sayas and his study of the treaty between the king of the Hittites and Pharaoh Ramses II, the King of Egypt in the time of the Exodus of the Jews.

Today’s Descendants of the Hittites

While the origins of the Hittites still remain shrouded in history, it is well documented that their kingdom extended from the Black Sea, Mediterranean, Aegean, and Adriatic Sea. The contemporary Druzes of Lebanon claim Hittite ancestry, originating from Hiram King of Tyre (Hasket Smith, 1891). They were the original builders of King Solomon’s Temple. Although the current Druzes have largely joined Islam, they have always been viewed by Muslims with suspicion because of their secret rituals. They bear a close resemblance to the Masonic initiation ceremonies of the transition from youth to manhood similar to entered apprentice and fellow craft degrees.

The Etruscans

All of the early Roman Emperors were Etruscans. They were present in the Apenine Penninsula long before actual founding of Rome in 755 B.C. The Romans of the Virgil’s Aeneid originated in Asia Minor and appear on the Apenine grounds after the fall of Troy. Even the name of Roma was an Etruscan word, not associated with Romulus. Roman Empire learned its building skills from the Etruscans who were earlier settlers of the Apenine Peninsula and had nothing in common with subsequent language or culture of the Roman Empire. Incidentally, the Latin language has largely evolved by the strong influence of Etruscans and subsequent influence of the vulgar Latin language spoken by the Roman Gaelic legionaries of the time of Julius Caesar. The Etruscans have no association with the Latin language nor do they have common roots with Indo-European languages (Lindsey; Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria).

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The Architects of Rome

While the historical evidence of the Etruscan operative Masonry is welldocumented, there are many contradictory theories about the origins of the operative Western Freemasonry. The single most important evidence of the non-Egyptian origins of the Etruscan masons was discovered in the late 18th century on the mummified remnants of a housewife Shepehun, whose burial cloth contains the Etruscan ritual currently at the Archeological Museum of Zagreb, Croatia. It contains the burial procedure in the Etruscan language. It has to be remembered that Etruria and Rome existed as contemporary civilizations at least at the beginning of recorded Roman history. Rather primitive Rome derived its learning of the temple building from the Etruscans, who were the architects of the grand temple of Jupiter Maximus on the Roman Capitol. According to Professor Dennis the origins of the Etruscans are the same as Pelasgoi of Greece, who migrated to the Italian Peninsula, mixing with Iliric tribes and evolving into the culture called Etrusci, being well settled in Italy long before the building of King Solomon’s Temple, preceding it at least by 200 years. The appearance of the Hittites in Asia Minor is contemporary with the Etruscan Kingdom and the Kingdom of Israel. One thing in common among these early builders suggests the analogy of the Etruscan, Hellenic, and Egyptian art of temple buildings. The Roman operative Masons undoubtedly have some origins with the Hittites, who were influenced by the builders of Mesopotamia and Egypt.

Collegium Romanum and the Origins of Operative Masonry

The Roman College of Architects was constituted within the Empire as a free and accepted entity with privileges of their own, having their own legal administration and their own constitution within the state. The members supervised by the Aediles were the free-born men known as free thinkers with an extensive formal education and skills in the building arts. The records of their activities are the best preserved in the writing of Vitruvius in the era of Augustus. The fall of the Roman Republic and the Age of the Empire, which dissolved most of the corporations of the republic did not affect the

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Roman College. It retained its rights and privileges including the right to secret meetings, their own system of education and training, own rituals, own initiations, and the seals of authority. The membership contained the registers of record keepers, treasurers, fellow crafts, wardens (decurion), masters (magister), similar to the contemporary Masonic structures.

Is There Any Connection Between the Roman College, Steinmetzen of Germany, and English Freemasons of 1717?

The Roman College had lasted throughout the Roman Empire until its fall at the end of the 5th century A.D. The operative Masons were not only an integral part of the building of roads, viaducts, temples, and infrastructure of the Empire, but also a part of each legion of the Roman army. In Britain alone, in the 4th century of the Christian era there were 55 cities with the established Masonic fraternity (Collegia Febrorum). There is no historical evidence of their connection with the English medieval guild of artificers. Their origins are lost in the speculations and legends, such as a legend of Quatuor Coronati (Claudius, Castorius, Semphorianus, and Nicostratus) stone cutters who, as Christians, refused to participate in the Roman idol worship and were executed by the order of Emperor Diocletian in 298 A.D., only 27 years before Christianity was declared the official religion of the Roman Empire. Towards the decline of Rome, sometime in the last decade of the 5th century, the College of Builders dissolved when Ostrogoth Emperor Zeno ruled over destroyed Rome. The reappearance of the Roman College of Builders was recorded in the 5th century on the island Comacina in the Lake Como, in Northern Italy, during the successful victory of General Narses over the Goths, Vandals, and Huns. The island assumed the name of Christopolis until the advent of the Holy Roman Empire in the time of Charlemagne. The island was dedicated to Saint John the Baptist in 1160. The early connection between the Roman College Masons and Mary Magdalene is found in the Masonic Fraternity of Comacines. The masons of the Roman College became entirely Christian by 460. They persisted at the Isola Comacina until the 12th century when the island was destroyed by

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Frederick Barbarosa. The Dark Ages of operative masonry lasted for 700 years (5001200 A.D.). Nevertheless, the Christian edifices contained a strikingly consistent connection between the Roman College and the Crusades, guided by the master masons who had preserved their secret knowledge of operative masonry throughout the Dark Ages. The identifiable mark of the Roman College was a round arch of Germany, France, England, and Italy lasting until 12th century, succeeded by the pointed Italian arches afterwards, the later identified in the grand cathedrals of Europe too numerous to mention in this text. The earliest trace of the French gothic associated with Comacine pointed arch is still present in France, the church commissioned by Charleman at Aix le Chapelle. The masters of Como appear the original germ of the great society of Freemasons who were commissioned to build edifices for Lombards who had no skills to build anything beyond a tent or long house (Scott, 1891). Their presence continued from the basic Roman style to the round arches, real columns, barrel vaults, dome, Byzantine and Saracine ornamentation, to the Gothic pointed styles of the grand cathedrals subsequently extending to Baroque and following styles ending in the modern decline. The operative masons in the Middle Ages congregated in lodges guided by the principles and symbols of strength, force, and beauty, dedicated to common good, charity, secrecy, and fidelity. These masons were given protection by the kings and benediction by the Church. The edifices of Christendom contain the symbols of lions, griffins, gargoyles, as well as the endless knot, three-standards cord going to preChristian time, lion of Judah, and Lion Gates of Mikonos, as the oldest testimony of the occidental masonry. Likewise pentalpha and sexalpha similarly reach back to the preChristian times. Freemasons under such name (Liberi Muratori) were recorded in 604 when Saint Augustine asked Pope Gregory for assignment of some architects in his mission of building churches which were provided by Rome. One of them, Master Polonius, was both a missionary and Freemason under the title of Master Murator.

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Conclusion

The speculative Freemasonry of today was probably built upon the remodeling of the German Steinmetzen who can be traced to Collegium Romanum through Northern Italian enclaves of the masons who preserved their secrets and reexerted their influence in the building of the post-Roman legacy of building grand edifices of Christianity under special dispensations as free traveling men. They were becoming more speculative and less operative until the final form of free and accepted speculative masons in 1717. Its formal constitution in England is a logical site of Roman College in the British Isles because it is a historical fact that Papal Bull was given to a group of the Italian operative masons to build the churches in England in the time of Henry III. These masons identified themselves by the certain secret signs, grips, and the passwords. They were free to travel anywhere bypassing bondage of the feudal system and were bound by the oath of secrecy. Ultimately, the term freemason first appeared in the city of London in 1375 identifying free operative masons who were exempt of taxes and restrictions of movement. They closely resemble the categories of freemasons recorded during the building of King Solomon’s Temple and Collegium Romanum.

What Does It All Have To Do With The Da Vinci Code?

The sum of my argument is that Freemasons existed centuries and millennia before Christ. Originally the builders of Hametic descent, their influence can be traced to the Mediterranean Basin, Asia Minor (Hittites), Greece (Pelasgoi), Etruscan, and Roman times. The presence of ancient operative masons is also evident in the building of the Temple of King Solomon, being the basis of modern freemason ritual. They are further traced to the Roman College, Middle Ages operative masons, Comacines, German Steinmetzen, and speculative freemasonry. The last phase was not an overnight event, but the slow evolution of an ancient craft through the history present as a secret society and most likely associated to a certain extent with Priory of Sion and Knights Templar. The grandmasters of the secret societies of the Middle Ages, including Leonardo Da Vinci, were not bound by the loyalty by any temporal or spiritual power that limited

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the mind of man. While Leonardo Da Vinci, with his incomparable genius extended to not only challenging the Church, but also kings and potentates, as well as the forces of nature with some accounts of working on elixir to postpone the process of aging and death, it is hardly surprising that the last supper contains a presence among the apostles being Mary Magdalene. There is no proof of any kind that it is the case. All theories are conjectures and speculations. Furthermore, the Priory of Sion claim of Mary Magdalene continuing with the physical progeny of Christ was protected by Merovingian secret has no historical base. There is more evidence of the disappearance of Joseph of Arimathea from the Gospels than of the disappearance of Mary Magdalene. Furthermore, there is almost five centuries gap between Mary Magdalene and first Merovingian kings. There was no identifiable Jewish community of any size or influence in the Gaelic provinces of the Roman Empire that would account for the possible asylum of Mary Magdalene after her alleged escape from Jerusalem. Freemasonry needs not be concerned about possible misunderstandings of this dramatic challenge to the doctrine of Christianity and universal legacy of Jesus of Nazareth. Freemasons are removed from this controversy by preceding Christianity as an ancient, independent, and universal fraternity dedicated to the glory of God and the universal principles of freedom of the mind of men.

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