C1209 Bcs Date of the first non-biblical reference to Israel, contained on a stele of the Egyptian Pharaoh Merneptah. This approximates the traditional date, c1200 BC, for the arrival of the Jews in the Promised Land after their Exodus from Egypt.
C993 BC 5 David conquers Jerusalem and makes it his capital; he brings the Ark of the Covenant to the city.
C958-c951 BC 5 Solomon builds the Temple in Jerusalem; the Ark of the Covenant is placed in its holy of holies.
586 BC 5 Assyrians capture Jerusalem and destroy the city and Solomon’s Temple. The Ark of the Covenant is destroyed or lost at or before this time.
520 Bc 5 Work begins on the construction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem.
63 BC s Palestine (as the Romans call it) becomes part of the Roman Empire.
20 bc-64 ad 5 Construction of Herod’s Temple.
C30 AD 5 Crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth in Jerusalem.
70 AD s The Roman emperor Titus puts down the Jewish Revolt and destroys Jerusalem and Herod’s Temple.
135 AD 5 After the Second Jewish Revolt the Roman emperor Hadrian obliterates all trace of the Temple and builds a temple of Jupiter on the site.
Cl 40 AD 5 Valentinus teaches Gnosticism, which flourishes throughout the second and third centuries.
313 AD 5 Edict of Toleration legalises Christianity throughout the Roman Empire.
326-28 AD 5 Helena, mother of the emperor Constantine the Great, makes a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and discovers the True Cross and the Holy Sepulchre.
335 AD 5 Dedication of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
622 AD 5 Mohammed, the founder of Islam, flees his opponents in Mecca and establishes himself in Medina; this flight, hegira, marks the beginning of the Muslim calendar.
632 AD s Death of Mohammed, by which time he has conquered all Arabia and brought it under the sway of Islam.
633 AD 5 Mohammed’s successor the caliph Umar declares a jihad against the Byzantine Empire.
633-37 AD 5 Arab Muslim armies invade Syria, Iraq and Palestine.
638 AD 5 Jerusalem is conquered by an Arab army under the caliph Umar.
710 AD 5 The Arabs invade Spain.
732 AD 5 Arab army defeated at Poitiers in France by Charles Martel.
750 AD 5 Umayyad dynasty overthrown by the Abbasid dynasty which transfers the capital of the Arab Empire from Damascus to Baghdad.
938 AD 5 Jerusalem’s Muslims attack the city’s majority Christian population during Palm Sunday procession and set fire to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
969 AD 5 Fatimids invade Egypt and found Cairo.
1004 s The Fatimid caliph Hakim launches a ferocious persecution of Christians throughout Egypt and Palestine.
1009 5 A turning point in Western attitudes towards the Muslim East comes when the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is destroyed on the orders of the caliph Hakim.
1014 5 By this year over 40,000 churches have been destroyed as a result of anti-Christian pogroms incited by Hakim.
1055 5 Seljuk Turks take Baghdad.
1056 s Muslims forbid Christian pilgrims to enter Jerusalem.
1063 s The papacy gives its blessing to a Crusade against the Muslim occupation of Spain.
1064 5 Hundreds of unarmed Christian pilgrims are murdered within sight of Jerusalem.
1071-80 5 Seljuk Turks occupy Asia Minor, Syria and Palestine.
1074 5 The Byzantine Emperor appeals to the Pope for help but without result.
1085 5 Christians capture Toledo from the Muslims in Spain.
1095 5 Again the Byzantines appeal to the West for help. Pope Urban II calls for a Crusade to defend the Byzantine Empire against the Seljuk Turks and to liberate Jerusalem.
1113 5 Foundation of the Knights Hospitaller.
1119 s A large party of unarmed pilgrims is attacked by Muslims and many hundreds are killed while on their way from Jerusalem to the River Jordan (Easter). Foundation of the Knights Templar (Christmas Day) to defend pilgrims and the Holy Land.
1120 5 At the Council of Nablus (January), the Templars are accepted in the East. Probably during this year Templars are headquartered in al-Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
1127 5 Hugh of Payns, the first Templar Grand Master, meets Bernard of Clairvaux.
1129 5 Council of Troyes. Establishment of the Latin Rule of the Templars.
Cl 131 s/n Praise of the New Knighthood written by
Bernard of Clairvaux.
1130s-1140s 5 The Templars given grants of land and put in charge of castles by the emerging kingdom of Portugal as part of its struggle to repel the Muslim occupation of the Iberian peninsula.
C1136 5 The Templars are put in charge of Baghras castle to defend the Amanus Pass north of Antioch.
1139 5 The papal bull Omne Datum Optimum establishes the Templars as an independent and permanent order within the Catholic Church, answerable only to the Pope.
1140s 5 Templars build the Paris Temple, which becomes the headquarters of their international financial empire.
1144 5 The County of Edessa falls to Zengi, marking the start of the Muslim reaction against the Crusaders.
1148-49 5 The Second Crusade.
1149-50 5 Gaza is granted to the Templars.
C1152 s The Templars are given Chastel Blanc (Safita) and Tartus.
1153 sAscalon falls to the Franks.
1164—1167 5 King of Jerusalem’s Egyptian campaigns supported by the Templars.
1171 5 Saladin puts an end to Fatimid rule and founds the Ayyubid dynasty in Egypt and Syria.
1173 5 The Templars murder the Assassin envoy.
1176 s The Assassins threaten Saladin.
1181 s Chretien des Troyes begins his romance, Perceval, The Story of the Grail.
1185 5 Temple Church in London is consecrated by Patriarch Heraclius of Jerusalem.
1187 5 The battles of the Springs of Cresson (1 May) and of Hattin (4 July). Jerusalem falls to Saladin (2 October).
1191 sThe Templars establish new headquarters at Acre.
1191-92 5 The Templars occupy and briefly own Cyprus.
1202-04 5 The Fourth Crusade. It is diverted by the Venetians to the Byzantine capital, Constantinople, which it captures (1204).
1208 5 Albigensian Crusade launched against the Cathars.
1218 s Templars build a new fortress at Athlit.
1218-21 5 The Fifth Crusade.
1228-29 s Crusade of Frederick II; he regains Jerusalem by treaty.
1236 s The Christians capture Cordoba in Spain.
1244 5 Fall of the Cathar stronghold at Montsegur. Loss of Jerusalem. Battle of La Forbie.
1248-54 5 Crusade of St Louis.
1250-60 5 Emergence of a Mameluke sultanate in Egypt and Syria.
1266 5 The Mamelukes take the Templar castle of Saphet (Safad).
1268 5 The Mamelukes take Beaufort castle from the Templars.
1271 5 The Templars abandon Safita (Chastel Blanc) and the Hospitallers abandon Krak des Chevaliers to the Mamelukes.
1271-72 5 Crusade of Edward of England; he agrees a ten-year truce with the Mamelukes.
1291 s Fall of Acre to the Mamelukes (May); the Templars evacuate Tortosa and Athlit (August).
1300-01 s Templars attack the Egyptian coast; attempt to retake Outre me r fails.
1302 5 Loss of Ruad off the Syrian coast and the massacre of the Templar garrison.
1307 s Arrest of the Templars in France (October).
1308 s James of Molay and other Templar leaders meet secretly with papal emissaries at Chi non and are absolved.
1310 5 Burning of fifty-four Templars as relapsed heretics near Paris.
1312 5 The papacy abolishes the Templars and transfers their property to the Knights Hospitaller.
1314 s James of Molay, the last Grand Master, and Geoffrey of Charney are burnt to death in Paris (March). Pope Clement V dies (April). Robert the Bruce wins the battle of Bannockburn (June). Philip IV of France dies (November).
1319 5 Establishment of the Knights of Christ, successors to the Templars in Portugal.
1418 5 Prince Henry the Navigator becomes Grand Master of the Knights of Christ.
1456 s Construction of Rosslyn Chapel.
1487 5 Publication of Malleus Maleficarum, the witchfinders’ handbook.
1492 5 Christopher Columbus discovers America. The Christians capture Granada and drive the Muslims out of Spain.
1497 5 Vasco da Gama, a member of the Knights of Christ, finds the sea route round Africa to India.
C.1550 5 Origins of the Freemasons in England and Scotland.
1571 5 Destruction of the Templar archive in Cyprus by the Ottomans.
1687 5 Publication of Principla Mathematica by Sir Isaac Newton.
1717 5 Foundation of the Freemasons’ Grand Lodge in London.
1736 or 1737 5 Ramsay’s Oration declares that
Freemasons are the descendants of the Crusaders.
C1760 5 George Frederick Johnson states that Freemasons are the direct heirs of the Templars.
1776 s American Declaration of Independence.
1789 5 Outbreak of the French Revolution.
1793 s Louis XVI goes to the guillotine; ‘James of Molay is avenged!’ 1797 s Augustin Barruel blames the Templars and Freemasons for the French Revolution.
1843 5 Scottish masonic order of Knights Templar invents the myth of the Templars at Bannockburn.
1844 s James Smith, founder of the Mormons, is killed by a mob.
2001 5 Discovery of the Chinon Parchment in the Vatican Secret Archives.
A note on names
The names of all persons In this book have been rendered Into English forms, so Hugues do Payns, one of the founders of the Templars, Is Hugh of Payns; Jacques do Molay, the last Grand Master of the Templars, Is James of Molay; and Guillaume do Nogaret, the persecutor of the Templars, Is William of Nogaret. Similarly Salah al-DIn Yusuf Ibn Ayyub Is simply Saladin.
Acknowledgments
With acknowledgment—and thanks—to Paul Simpson for his contribution to the chapter Born Again Templars: Templars in Popular Culture.
World History
