[MR] Military Order of Christ (aka the Knights Templar)

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends,

In 1319 the Military Order of Christ in Portugal (formerly the Knights
Templar) was founded.

In 1312, the Knights Templar were disbanded by order of Pope Clement V,
with the conniving of King Philip IV of France. King Dennis of Portugal
refused to persecute Templars in his realm, as he needed their help in the
*Reconquista*. By 1319 Clement was dead (supposedly struck down by the same
"Templar curse" that offed King Philip), and a new Pope, John XXII, allowed
the Portuguese Templars to be reestablished under a new name. In 1323 most
Templar's property in Portugal was returned to the reconstituted order.

The Order reached its peak under the leadership of Prince Henry the
Navigator (1417-1460). Members of the Military Order of Christ were at the
forefront of Portugal's voyages of exploration and (for better or worse)
its colonization of Brazil and Africa.

In 1789 the order was secularized by Queen Mary of Portugal. Today the
Military Order of Christ continues as an order of merit under the
leadership of the Portuguese head of state, but no longer has any official
connection with the Church.

Wikipedia offers an article on the Military Order of Christ at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Order_of_Christ .

So you no doubt ask the question, "Were the Portuguese on Oak Island?"
Possibly. What the television program THE CURSE OF OAK ISLAND has skirted
around is there was a Portuguese presence in the Canadian Maritime
provinces. João Álvares Fagundes made several voyages to the area around
1520-21. He was granted a license to start a colony in what is now
Newfoundland, and brought a number of settlers over, mainly to fish for
cod. The colony was soon forgotten by the Portuguese government (Ah!
Another "Lost Colony"), but is thought to have lasted until at least 1570.
The possibility of Portuguese activity on Oak Island in nearby Nova Scotia
is real, even if it was only temporary fishing camps. Templar treasure,
however, is a very looooong reach, but is far more exciting than fish, so
this bit of history has only been vaguely mentioned once or twice in the
program. It certainly could account for the lead cross the program
continues to crow about.

As always, everybody's favorite online history resource has a page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/João_Álvares_Fagundes .

Yours Aye,


Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆