Monday

Columbus and the Knights Templar

The question no one ever seems to ask: Why didn't the Americans discover Europe? Asians had come across the Pacific, why didn't their expertise in navigation cross the continent and let them cross the Atlantic? Europeans had the compass and the sextant, but the voyage across the ocean isn't that hard if you don't care to know your position that precisely.

The answer, or at least one of them, is that they didn't care. Unlike Asia, then as now crowded with too many people, the American continents were sparsely populated with abundant food. There was no reason for them to want to go exploring, though undoubtedly some curious hotshots sailed out of sight.

Other Europeans and Africans had clearly made the journey across the Atlantic. From Leif Erickson to Kon-Tiki, visitors had stepped ashore. Why was Columbus' journey the one to change the world? Columbus brought back gold that came from Africa. Some had made the voyage. But clearly Columbus sparked the largest wave of explorers, soldiers and immigrants. In many ways, it's too bad that others didn't spark more interest: The combination of smallpox and other diseases wiped out nearly 90% of the population. If others had come sooner with their contagious diseases, the American natives would have gone through the plagues that wiped out huge numbers of Europeans... but not at once. It's one thing to lose a third of your population in several waves over centuries. It's another to have them all hit at once.

The answer, or at least my speculation, is threefold: First, many of the original curious hotshots didn't bother to come back with the news. Second, the sextant and compass meant you could find your way back home and also back to your original landing spot. You could make navigational charts and maps. Third, the religious inquisitions made fleeing the old world very attractive for one group that knew what it was like to be persecuted to death: The Knights Templar.

As I wrote in a previous column, no one knows (or is willing to talk about) where the Knights Templar came from or what happened to the majority of it's members when it was officially dissolved by papal decree in 1312. To be sure, we know where some of them went: Portugal. Quoting from The Temple and the Lodge: "In Portugal, the Templars were cleared by an inquiry and simply modified their name, becoming the Knights of Christ. They survived under this title well into the sixteenth century, their maritime explorations leaving an indelible mark on history. (Vasco da Gama was a Knight of Christ; Prince Henry the Navigator was a Grand Master of the Order. Ships of the Knights of Christ sailed under the Templar's familiar red patte cross. And it was under the same cross that Columbus's three caravels crossed the Atlantic to the New World. Columbus himself was married to the daughter of a former Grand Master of the Order, and had access to his father-in-laws charts and diaries.)" A picture of the sail here. Heck, one guy claims to have enough evidence that the Templars had been coming to the Americans for over a hundred years prior to Columbus.

(Aside: This last theory is counter-intuitive. One of Columbus' more important discoveries was that the compass didn't point north as determined by the stars. The magnetic north pole is not at the north pole. If other explorers had used a compass in their journeys across the Atlantic, this would be one of the first things they'd mention.)

This explanation makes a great deal more sense than the historic one about Queen Isabella hocking her jewelry. One essay on the voyage asks the question, who bought the jewels? Countries can get credit easier than most. Columbus had tried to convince several countries to finance his trip. Indeed, it's a bit of a mystery to me why Chris would ask anyone else besides his wife's country. Maybe Portugal just didn't come up with the money in time; maybe Chris' father-in-law didn't want him galavanting off and giving away their secret. Maybe Spain was jealous of Portugal's success and wanted to get in the game before they claimed the whole new world. Of course, Columbus' history isn't well known. What we know for sure is that Spain was a hostile place for formerly safe groups. In 1492, Spain was mopping after a long but ultimately successful war to drive away the Moors and starting the notorious Spanish Inquisition. It has long been speculated that many of Columbus' crew and possibly even Chris himself were Jews fleeing oppression in Spain. The timing is curious, though circumstantial, and it's hard to believe in coincidences.

So that's my theory. The former orders of the Templars got while the getting was good and it was a bit of an accident that his discovery was made public. Once the new continents became known, everyone rushed in to steal the natives gold, allowing all sorts of people to travel half a world away from The Spanish Inquisition. Christopher Columbus married well and was in the right place at the right time. He was a good navigator but not very bright. He died thinking he'd found the West Indies. Somehow, I think other people knew better.

One of the great questions surrounding Spain's domination of the New World: Where did the gold go? Spain nominally "claimed" the populated continents so they could convert heathens to Christianity, but what they mainly wanted was to loot the natives. They were real good at that, and it made Spain an international powerhouse. But less than a century after Columbus' voyages, the Spanish Armada was in such poor shape that the English crushed the fleet. What happened?

Some answers that I don't fully buy into include: A lot of the treasure sunk or was pirated during transport. A lot of the gold went to corrupt royalty and not to the country. The gold did have a major economic effect, but not a good one, and massive inflation throughout Europe shifted power away from Spain. Still, that doesn't seem to cover all the stolen riches.

I don't know either, but if the Templars were involved, it seems likely that they got their hands on a chunk of the treasure, perhaps at sea. This money could be used to further hide the Templars. Or maybe it's just squirrelled away, and some part of the Templars' treasure really is gold.

Merry Columbus Day

Re: Wanda Sykes

from that Mad Cat, JD

Hail To The 'Chief'

Last Night

Moose & Squirrel

Kiefer Sutherland

'CSI: Miami'

Rolling Stones

The Jordanaires

Frances Shand Kydd

'The Passion of Christ'

A&E

Piracy Showdown

'Miss Condom'

Outhouse Races