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Origins of Myths & Superstitions—Part 2
The Number 13
Great importance was given to the number 12. This importance originated from the 12 lunar cycles that make a year. The first number outside of that circle was regarded with suspicion. Greek, Roman and Norse mythology all tell tales of the number 13 leading to destruction. Even today, in some buildings the 13th floor, room 13 or the house number 13 are often omitted.
TRISKAIDEKAPHOBIA is the fear of the number 13.
Friday 13th
To understand the superstition about Friday 13th, it is necessary to give a brief history of the Knights Templar.
In 1099 CE, the Roman Catholic Church, via the Christian Crusades, regained control over the holy city of Jerusalem. However, the lands surrounding Jerusalem were still in the hands of the Moslems.
Hugh de Payens, with nine knights vowed to protect the route that pilgrims took on their journey to the city of Jerusalem. They chose as their command post the ruins of the temple of King Soloman on Mount Moriah. This warrior order thus became known as the Knights of the Temple of Soloman, or the Knights Templar. During their first nine years, the Templars excavated beneath the ancient temple, and found a network of tunnels. There has been much speculation as to what was found there, ranging from the Ark of the Covenant, treasure, ancient texts revealing secret knowledge or the Holy Grail. The secrecy of the order has intrigued historians for centuries and has been the source for many legends.
Historical chronicles do record that in 1118 CE the warrior order was officially recognized by the Roman Catholic Church and were only answerable to the Pope. For the next two hundred years, the Knights Templar gained tremendous wealth and power. Upon their return to France about 1127, the Knights Templar greatly increased their ranks. Their investments through gifts in lands and titles grew. Many noblemen who didn't want to join a crusade donated their lands instead and others who joined the order transferred any wealth they owned to the order.
The Templars created the first banking system. Pilgrims would deposit their money with the Templars in Europe. Throughout their journey, the pilgrims visited Templar strongholds and presented a coded chit. The Templars then provided the pilgrim with funds, deducting the amount from the chit. Since these journeys were often perilous and occupied by bandits, it became a safe way in which to travel. The Paris Temple became a key European financial centre. The Templars were also bankers to kings and states and originated the modern-day concept of a letter of credit.
Within fifty years, the Knights Templar had acquired commercial interests of farms, vineyards, stone quarries and mines. They also had a large fleet for the purpose of carrying pilgrims, troops, horses and commercial cargo. The Island of Majorca in the Mediterranean became their main seat of naval power. Their commercial activities rivaled many states and could be compared with multi-national conglomerates of today. They were trusted by nobles and kings to provide counsel and to protect wealth. They also lent money, often to royalty in need of funds to finance wars.
The Templars introduced to medieval Europe major changes, some of which had been acquired from the contacts they made with the Arabs such as math and science.
The Knights Templar also built an extraordinary number of castles, churches, cathedrals and temples all over Europe. These edifices were built in styles previously unknown. Most noticeable were the unusual icons which suggest pagan connections. An excellent example can be found in Rosslyn Chapel in the village of Roslin, Scotland. The chapel was built in 1446, by Sir William St Clair, more than a century after the formal suppression of the order. Many people have speculated that the ornate carvings in the chapel hold the key to the secrets of the Templars, including the Templars’ fabled treasure.
In the end, the Order became too powerful and a challenge to Papal authority and to King Phillip IV of France.
Success, wealth and power stimulated envy and resentment, especially from those who were heavily in debt to the order. France was one of those states in great debt to the Templar organization, and its King Philip IV grew increasingly jealous of the wealth of the Knights. The situation came to a head when the King wanted to avoid repaying the loans he had already received from them and the Templars refused Philip IV's request for more money. The secrecy surrounding the Order also bred suspicion. Because the Knights Templar were so strong and powerful, the only accusation that could bring them down was heresy.
Philip, with Pope Clement V’s blessing, apprehended, simultaneously, all the Templars in France in a carefully planned operation. In the early hours of Friday, October 13th, 1307, the Grand Master Jacques DeMolay, along with other prominent Templars, was arrested in the name of the Inquisition, charged with heresy and tortured. The Pope ordered the arrests of the Knights Templar in other parts of Europe but the situation was most severe in France.
Templar property was confiscated. Some of it was appropriated by King Phillip and the rest was granted to a military rival order, the "Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem", commonly known as the Hospitallers. The Hospitallers devoted themselves to caring for pilgrims, and set up a hospital and a hostel in Jerusalem.
Seven years later, on March 18th, 1314, Jacques DeMolay was burned at the stake on an island in the Seine for the crime of church heresy. Before DeMolay died, he predicted that King Phillip and the Pope, Clement V, would die within the year. DeMolay’s prediction came true. Both the King and the Pope died in 1314.
Did DeMolay take the Templar secrets with him to his grave? There is strong evidence that the Order went underground. An organization as rich and powerful as the Knights Templar had the means to arrange for their treasure to be safely hidden. About fourteen years before the arrests in 1307, proposals had been made to amalgamate the Knights Templar and the Knights Hospitallers. The Templars were strongly opposed to this. Their resistance may have been because they wanted to safeguard the secrets they had preserved all these years. Given this advance warning that they may lose control over their Order, the Templars had plenty of time to make contingency plans.
Immediately after the arrests, the King's agents found the Templar treasury had vanished without trace, as had almost the entire Templar fleet. Confirmation of the disappearance of the treasure was made by John of Châlons, a Templar sergeant, who gave evidence at the trial. Châlons said that some of the Templars had been tipped off about the arrests and managed to escape aboard ships with the treasure. One theory is that as Scotland was outside papal control, these Templars fled to Scotland. To this day the Templar treasure has never been located.
The Templars already had a presence in Scotland since David I granted land holdings to the Order. The Temple in Midlothian was the main Scottish House of the Templars. The villiage of Roslin is in close proximity to the Midlothian Temple, providing a link to Rossyln Chapel.
For nearly two hundred years, the Knights Templar were a leading force of change. With their vast commercial interests, land holdings from Europe to the Middle East, their introduction of a banking system, their naval supremacy and the knowledge they learnt from other cultures, the Order’s influence was widely felt. When suddenly on Friday 13th October, 1307, the order collapsed, it is not difficult to imagine the effect it had on world affairs at that time. Such news would have had as dramatic an impact as the Kennedy assassination or 9/11 in our time. The number 13 was already viewed with suspicion. That the arrests took place on a Friday 13th ensured that from that day on, Friday 13th would be considered unlucky.
PARASKEVIDEKATRIAPHOBIA is the fear of Friday 13th.
People who have this phobia will skip work, refuse to travel, and not start anything new on that day. In Britain a study showed that on Friday 13th, the risk of being admitted to hospital because of a road accident on that date can go up as much as 52%. This is probably due to increased anxiety leading to the chance of crashes.
There always must be at least one Friday 13th appearing in any year and there can never be more that three. |