Any normal boy in his childhood dreamed of becoming a brave pirate. However, today even venerable historians hardly know that the famous pirate flag - a skull with bones - was "invented" not by evil corsairs, but by the famous Templars. Andrei Sinelnikov, a well-known historian and expert on secret orders, agreed to tell the Stages how this happened.
Andrey, is it possible that "Jolly Roger" was invented by the Knights Templars?
- First, let's deal with the medieval maritime powers. Since the 12th century, the flags of the Italian fleets: Venetian, Genoese, Pisa and Amalfi have been met in the southern seas of Europe. And also the standards of the Vikings and the Hanseatic League. That's probably all. In addition, there were scattered ships of all sorts of robbers and petty rulers. But from the close-knit sea brotherhoods with their ports, cities and colonies, we can only remember pirates.
And now about the Jolly Roger. This black and white flag with a skull and bones was the flag of the Knights Templar. This, by the way, is incontrovertible proof of the close relationship that united the Order with the pirates. The Jolly Roger is the banner raised by the Templars on the masts of their fleets after the dissolution of the Order!
However, the mark of a white skull with crossbones on a black background was not invented by the templar sailors from La Rochelle, Genoa, Sudak or any other port. It was not invented either by the king of Sicily, who raised it a little later on his warships, or by the relatives of the Scottish Templars, on whose graves it was carved. In fact, it was an ancient symbol and talisman chosen by the Order of the Temple as the banner of their struggle against the Vatican.
It is well known that the "Jolly Roger" was raised by those corsairs who primarily sought to attack the Pope's ships in the Mediterranean and Catholic Spain in the Caribbean and the Atlantic. The skull on the flag is the well-known biblical Baphomet. By the way, he was also depicted on the coat of arms of Genoa and denoted the belonging of this port to the Order of the Knights Templar. In general, pirates appeared en masse in the sea at the beginning of the XIV century, after the famous defeat of the templars. Accordingly, the banner on the masts of pirate ships indicated that they belonged to the rebel fleet of the Order.
It turns out that pirates did not really exist?
- Sea robbers have always been. As far as the Mediterranean is concerned, the oldest document of pirates is a clay tablet from the island of Pharos dating from the 13th century BC. e. It mentions the raids of Berber ships on the African coast. Later, Greek merchants who traded with Phenicia and Anatolia regularly complained about sea robbers. But when we talk about pirates, we mean the period of great geographical discoveries. Then all this freedom was at the hand of the Templars. There was a single flag and a single unwritten code, the norms of which largely coincided with the rules of the Order of the Templars.
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But how did the knights become pirates, what moved them?
“They took up an ungrateful trade, fleeing brutal persecution from the Pope and the French king, who were joined by the Inquisition. Thus, to their unchanging secret mission to eliminate papal authority was added a quite natural thirst for revenge. Many knights managed to escape on their ships, leaving the port of La Rochelle under cover of night, and some of them took refuge in the possessions of Henry Sinclair on the Orkney Islands in Scotland. Influenced by the stories of the Viking voyages across the Atlantic Ocean, Sinclair decided to go on an expedition in search of unknown lands lying on the other side of the ocean in order to hide there a "great secret", a treasure of various kinds of jewelry and books. This treasure may have been buried on Oak Island ("Oak Island") in Canada. Other templars left Genoa for Sicily. Still others - settled in the Crimea or went to Russia, to Novgorod and Vladimir. Fourth to Portugal. It is important to note that most of the great corsairs of the golden age of piracy were either Templar or related in some way to the order. Indirectly, their fabulous wealth, accurate maps, and descriptions of the seas served as the foundation for the expansion of colonial imperialism.
How did the fate of the pirates develop?
- In general, the direction of movement of the pirate republics was oriented towards the Caribbean Sea and the shores of America. To New Arcadia, as they called it. We know such famous pirate ports as the Caribbean Tortuga, Port Royal in Jamaica, Santo Domingo. In the future, they switched to the service of those sovereigns who gave them shelter. Even in the US War of Independence, pirates played an important role. The further history of the Templars is associated with Freemasonry. It is highly likely that the knights used it as a cover for their goals and actions. It is known that Columbus was directly associated with the Templars, if he was not a member of the Order himself. His mysterious past suggests that he was hiding his true identity. For his voyage across the Atlantic, he used navigational charts that could only be obtained from the Templars. In the 19th century, the Knights Templar, through Freemasonry, played a major role in the liberation of South America from colonial oppression. In this process, they could not have done without the help of the pirates, who supported the revolutionaries in the sea battles. It remains to note the great interest that has arisen in recent years in secret societies, in their true nature, reflected in numerous studies, scientific publications and simply fiction. Perhaps this is not accidental: maybe the great masters decided that it was time to reveal some secrets and put their story up for public judgment - in an attempt to remove the barriers with which the ruling forces and the Vatican fence the truth from truth seekers.who supported the revolutionaries in sea battles. It remains to note the enormous interest that has arisen in recent years in secret societies, in their true nature, reflected in numerous studies, scientific publications and simply fiction. Perhaps this is not accidental: maybe the great masters decided that it was time to reveal some secrets and put their story up for public judgment - in an attempt to remove the barriers with which the ruling forces and the Vatican fence the truth from truth seekers.who supported the revolutionaries in sea battles. It remains to note the enormous interest that has arisen in recent years in secret societies, in their true nature, reflected in numerous studies, scientific publications and simply fiction. Perhaps this is not accidental: maybe the great masters decided that it was time to reveal some secrets and put their story up for public judgment - in an attempt to remove the barriers with which the ruling forces and the Vatican fence the truth from truth seekers.that the time has come to reveal some secrets and expose their history to the public's judgment - in an attempt to break down the barriers with which the ruling forces and the Vatican fence the truth from truth seekers.that the time has come to reveal some secrets and put their story to the public's judgment - in an attempt to remove the barriers with which the ruling forces and the Vatican fence the truth from truth seekers.
Interviewed by Dmitry Sokolov