Ne pas savoir, c’est une chose.

Refuser de savoir, en est une autre !

Fra. Robert Adelsohn Bels

Not knowing is one thing.

Refusing to know is another!

Another possibility for King John II Balliol whereabouts and mysterious withdrawal from the international political scene might have something to do with the Knights of the Temple of Jerusalem, called the Templars. They may have organized a safe withdrawal, a safe retreat and/or hiding place for King John II.

Over the centuries, our dynasts seem to glide discreetly on a temporal red carpet that leads them from one important event in the history of Europe to another. Our dynastes have always been present in the thick backstages of history, and it is only through a thorough study of old, dusty, and often neglected historical documents, that medievists and other specialists will discover them and resurface them, allowing their long-forgotten testimony, if not to rewrite history, at least to fill in the blanks left by time.

We should never forget the secret political aspects of some of these “arrangements”. And behind politics is always money. We know that the English crown chronically in debts to the temple:

“… King John borrowed incessantly from the Order. So, too, did Henry III, who between 1260 and 1266, his treasury depleted by military expeditions, even pawned the English crown jewels to the Templars, Queen Eleanor personally taking them to the Order´s Paris preceptory. In the years before Henry ascended the throne, the Templars also lent money to the future king Edward I. During the first year of his reign, Edward repaid 2.000 marks on a total debt to the Order of 28.189 pounds…”. Source: Mr Baigent and R. Leigh.

No more the kings of England than the others, would ever take the risk to “plug the hole where the money enters”. Did the King of England make a secret agreement with the Templars for the safe release of King John II Balliol?

The Order Grand Master, Hugues de Payens, appointed regional master’s for each “Province” of the Order. Little is known about the first Master of England except that his name was Hugues d´Argentin (Argentan, Normandy, some 60km southeast of Caen). The second one, better documented, was a Knight named Otto (Osto) or Hoston of Saint-Omer (Flanders) but also Osto (Oston) de Boulogne (Flanders), who remained at this position until 1155.

In November 1158, this Otto de Saint-Omer (brother of arms of Hugues de Payens) together with two other “important” brothers of Arms: Richard of Hastings (the future Templars Master in England) and Robert de Pirou, are reported overseeing the Castle of Gisors´s security! They would assume this role for three years. There seems to be a little confusion with the dates of their Mastership in England (see hereunder in Masters of England for Hoston de Saint-Omer and Richard de Hastings!).

Please find listed hereunder the Masters, in England, of the Order of the Temple of Jerusalem. According to the “British History Online, History of Military Orders, by Page W. William”, the first patrons of the Templars in England were:

Robert              de FERRES

Bernard            de BALLIOL

King                 STEPHEN

Queen              MATHILDA

Follows then the list of the Masters of England (Patrons?) until the end of the reign of King John II Balliol.

Hugues             d'ARGENTlN
Hoston             de SAINT-OMER           (1153-1155) (*)
Richard            de HASTINGS               (1155-1185)
Geoffroy           FITZSTEPHEN              (1185-1195)
Robert              de NEUHAM                 (1195-1200)
Thomas            BERARD                      (1200)
Fr. Alain                                                (1205)
Guillaume         CADEIL                        (1214)
Aimery              de SAINTE-MAURE       (1215-1219)
Guillaume         de la GRAVELLE          (1220)
Alain                  MARTEL                      (1220-1228)
Fr. Aimery                                             (1228)
Robert              de MONTFORT            (1234)
Robert              de SANDFORD            (1235-1241)
Fr. Amblard                                           (1250)
Roncelin           de FOS                        (1252-1259)
Robert              de SANDFORD            (1259)
Humbert           de PAIRAUD                 (1270)
Gui                   de FORESTA                (1275)
Robert              de TORTEVILLE           (1276)
Henri                de FAVERHAM              (1277-1278)
Robert              de TORTEVILLE           (1280)
Gui                   de FORESTA                (1288)
Guillaume         de TOURVII LE             (1292)
Gui de              FORESTA                     (1293-1296)
Brian                le JAY                           (1296-1298)
Guillaume         de la MORE                  (1298-1307)

(*) And here we go again… Saint-Omer, a small town in Flanders some 39km west of the city of Balliol, was a ship of the Balliols. We remember having seen previously in this study that Robert de Pynkeni, (Ex.Lib : vice Domini de Pinkinio filia. Pinciniae or Pequigny) was linked to the Balliols of Flanders through Melissande de Pequigny x Willelm de Saint-Omer [Castellan and Lord of Valkenberghe] whose daughter, Euphémie de Saint-Omer, married Balduinus Ist of Balliol in 1096.

So was the regional Master of the Templars, in England, a Knight who grew up, or had his roots, in a ship of the Balliol and whose family was directly linked to the Balliol by wedding. As was fact in Flanders, was also fact in North England where the Balliol happened to be very powerful lords in the Durham region.

However, there is much more to it in Flanders. In anno 1128, the Templar received from the Count of Flanders of the House of Normandy, Guillaume Cliton, their first charter and in that same year, Geoffrey of Saint-Omer (Godefridus de Sancto Andemardo) inherited a farm and some lands, located close to the city of Ypres, which was a ship of the Balliol (Belle) Lineage. However, having made vows of poverty when entering the Templar Order, Geoffrey offered his new estates to the Order. On these estates will be built the first occidental Commandery of the Order, some six years before the first Templar settlements in Ivrea and Milano (Italy) !

So were not only a regional Master of the Templars, in England, interconnected with the Balliol Lineage but also, although on a much higher level, Geoffroy of Saint-Omer, the right arm of Hugues de Payens, first Grand Master of the Order of the Temple of Jerusalem.

And there is still more to it! Among the nine Lords who “officially” created the Order of the Templars, on 27 December 1118 (St. John the Evangelist Day), one more belonged to the noble family of Saint-Omer: Bisol (also called Geoffroy Bisol) de Saint-Omer. If we add the regional Master of England, we end up with three Lords of the Saint-Omer lineages, on very high positions in the Order of the Templars, who were linked to the Balliol.

It is known that Geoffroy de Saint-Omer´s son occupied an important function in the Order because he is reported as having been charged with diplomatic missions “in the name of the Order”.

I found another Knight of Saint-Omer with important functions:  Hughes (Hugo) de Saint-Omer who was Governor of Tiberiade at the time of the First Crusade to the Holy Land. Among other feat of arms, he set out to rescue the city of Jaffa, besieged by Muslims under Al-Afdal, upon request of the Fra. Gerard, the first Grand Master (anno 1120) of the Hospital Knights of St. John via Raymond du Puy (successor and second Grand Master from anno 1120 until 1159). The city of Tiberiade, situated on the Tiberiade lakeside, was one of the main cities of Galilee.

This Hugo was fs. from Wilhelm de Saint-Omer. Both joined the First Crusade as Vassal of Robert II, Count of Flanders. Some historians made Geoffroy de Saint-Omer the brother of Hugo. Some other made him the son of Hugo.

Since Saint-Omer was a ship of the Balliol in Flanders and since, in addition to that, the Balliol were linked to this Lineage by wedding (remember anno 1096 when Balduinus II Balliol, Lord of Balliol (Belle) married Euphémie of Saint-Omer), we can state that both lineages had indeed very close ties.

And there is still more, as if the well is inexhaustible! The Knight Geoffrey de St. Omer knew very well the elderly Canon Lambert of Saint-Omer who was considered as an encyclopaedia of human knowledge.

Lambert de Saint-Omer is also called Lambert of St-Bertin (the Abbey of St. Bertin was in Saint-Omer). This Lambertus was a Benedictine chronicler and Abbott (*ab 1060 +1120) at the Benedictine Abbey of St-Bertin (Saint-Omer, France) and Canon at the collegiate church of Saint-Omer. The encyclopaedia he wrote, called Liber floridus, contained all the knowledge of his time on the Bible, Philosophy and Theology, natural history, geography, and astronomy.

The Knight Geoffrey and the Canon Lambert must have belonged to the same Lineage. So, we came to discover that Lady Jeanne of Balliol, fa. of Balduinus II of Balliol x Agnès de Wavrin, was Canon Lambert’s grand, grand, grand, grandchild. (Source Lady Elisabeth Abbott).

Finally, one of the most crucial and central figures of the Middle Ages. The man whose fervour and convincing speeches embraced entire Western Europe, the Vatican included, making church, nobility, and peasants ready for the biggest adventure and sacrifices ever encountered by Mankind. No doubts that the man who, by preaching the big Crusades to the Holy Land, changed the face of Europe and of the Middle East, for the next centuries to come. This man entered History as Pierre l´Ermite, (Peter the Eremite).

However, his real name was Pierre d´Amiens, a toponym. He was born and lived in Amiens that was part of the county of the same name. The county, at the time of Pierre, was located some 25km of the southern border of Flanders (Artois) and was bordered north-west by the County of Hesdin, County of Ternois and the County of Boulogne, all Godefroid de Bouillon’s father estates. All these counties were vassal counties of the Count of Flanders and were incorporated to Flanders. Much later, in 1493, Amiens was attached to the Kingdom of France.

In this document, we read that a yearly religious office celebrates his death on July, 8th 1115, in the Abbey of Neumoustier, in Huy, (Belgium). An Abbey he founded.

The city of Amiens is less that 13km east of Picquigny. Remember that in 1096 Balduinus Ist of Balliol x Euphémie of Saint-Omer. Euphémie was fa. from Wilhelm, castellan of Saint-Omer and from Mélissande, fa. Arnolf of Pinciniae (Picquigny). The Picquigny Lineage had their castle near Amiens. This castle was the head of the Barony of Picquigny.

There was even, in 1290 in Scotland, a competitor for the succession of King Alexander III of Scotland. His name was: Robert de Pynkeni (…voce Domini de Pinkinio filia…). If he could pretend to be on the roll, among 13 other legal competitors for the succession of the Scottish throne, he must have had very serious references. (See in 1290). And he had a serious one indeed! He is recorded as being issued from the “Royal blood of Charlemagne”. Traces of a Count Guermond de Picquigny, father of Arnoul I de Picquigny (*abt.1020), go back to about the year 990.

Therefore, Pierre l´Ermite must have known very well these Lords of Picquigny and the Balliol since there were several feudal bounds between them as well as between the houses of the Saint-Omer and Balliol.

This brings fresh water to the mill. The link between Godefroid de Bouillon and Pierre l´Ermite was therefore not at all an accidental one. There was much more behind it than a geographical proximity or a temporal synchronicity. A common mission?

Therefore, there was much more behind the names of the lords (hereunder) who founded the Order of the Temple of Jerusalem:

1. Hugues de Payens,                                  Champagne
2. Geoffroy de Saint-Omer,                           Flanders
3. André de Montbard,                                  Burgundy, or Flanders
4. Nivar or Payens de Montdidier,       County of Amiens (Close to Flanders)
5. Archambauld de Saint Amand,                  Flanders
6. Bisol de Saint-Omer,                                 Flanders
7. Hugues de Champagne,                           Champagne
8. Rossal,                              Unknown                                                        
9. Gondemar,                        Unknown

Behind the opaque curtains of History were some key elements at work such as Godefroid de Bouillon, acting for the Order of Sion which was at that time constituted by some Monks, under the Abbott Ormus. A few decades earlier (1070), these Monks installed themselves in the Val d´Or (Orval) on the estates they received from the mother of Godefroid de Bouillon, Ide d´Ardennes.

The duchess of Lorraine, Mathilde de Toscane, Lord Godefroid de Bouillon’s aunt and adoptive mother, is known as having been the protector of the Monks of Orval. She is also the direct proof of the close links between the Counts of Flanders and the Counts of Boulogne: The Count of Flanders Arnoul II x Rozala de Toscane (about 950-1003) which belonged to the same Dynasty as Mathilde de Toscane!

Remember also that the Merovingians after having left Flanders, established their headquarters also in the Ardennes. The Order of Ormus originated in Alexandria (Egypt). It is from there that the Calabrian monks moved to Calabria (Italy) and subsequently to the Ardennes Forest, in Belgium. Less than 1km from the French border and 5km from the French village of Marigny.

Ide or Ida of Boulogne (1040-1113) was born in the Ardennes. She was fa. of Godefroid II le Barbu (the Bearded). Godefroid was Duke of Low-Lotharingia x Doda. Ida is said to be an Heiress of Charlemagne (sic). This version will of course not explain why the Order of Sion wanted her son, Godefroid de Bouillon, King of Jerusalem!

Remember Charlemagne (Charles Ier dit le Grand) belonged to a family that used to be the Mayors of the Palace (maior domus), in Herstal (Belgium). These officials, called in English “Stewards of the royal domains”, acted as mediators between the Merovingian Kings and the people. Charlemagne was of Carolingian origin, no doubt about that, but he was also of Merovingian origin! This theme is developed later in the Essay.

As mayor of the Merovingian Palace of Herstal, Charlemagne’s father, Pépin III le Bref, also called “the Short” (*714-768), did everything to get rid of Childéric III, his Merovingian sovereign. He was the main and final instigator of a long simmering usurpation plan that would end the reign of the Merovingians.

In anno 741, at the dead of his father, Charles le Chauve (the Bold), Pepin III received the office of the Mayor of the palace (one more proof that the Office holders were hereditary). Pepin III, together with his brother, ruled the Kingdom: Pepin III over Francia (Neustria, Burgundy, and Provence), Carloman over Austrasia, Alemannia and Thuringia.

Please note that Charles le Chauve (also called Martel), the very successful king, was an illegitimate child. He was the son of Pepin II and of his mistress Alpaida (Chalpaida) (654-714) who is reported as being a beautiful Belgian girl from Liège, a city only a few kilometers away from palace of the Herstal. Pepin II had with her two sons, Charles and Childebrand. Pepin II, at his dead in 714, had only for fully legitimate heir, a six-year-old grandson! During the power vacuum that ensued, a series of invasions took place that seriously threatened the kingdom. The nobles cleverly reacted and decided to offer the kingdom to Charles.

In 747, after Carloman entered a monastery, Pepin III found himself at the head of both kingdoms as “dux et princes francorum”. This was the title given to the supreme commander of the armies of the Kingdom. Allying now the two key powers, the military and the political, he became, much more than his ancestors did, increasingly aware of the uselessness of the Merovingian Dynasty.

By force of circumstances and for quite some time, their Kings became nothing more than marionettes whose strings of power were skilfully pulled by the mayors. Having now the full charge of the Kingdom, Pepin III cleverly realised that he would be much better off if he could get rid of King Childéric III and replace him officially, rather than de facto.

With this idea in mind, Pépin III sends, around 749-751, a Frankish delegation to the pope Zacharie. He wanted the pope to accept his firm intention to put an end to the declining reign of the Merovingian, convinced him to let him seize the power and to take Childéric´s III crown. In return, he promises to defend the Roman Catholic Church and to extend, through new conquests, its sphere of influence. This was precisely what he Church was waiting for and what the Merovingians stopped to do !

« ...les descendants mérovingiens furent toujours à la base des hérésies, depuis l'arianisme en passant, bien plus tard, par les cathares, les templiers jusqu'à la franc-maçonne­rie. Cette Maison ne donne à travers les siècles que des agitateurs secrets contre l'Eglise de Rome... ». Source: Seigneur et Chevalier. Fra. Robert Adelsohn Bels (1995).

«...The Merovingian descendants were always on the base of heresies, since the Aryanism through, much later, the Cathars, the Knight Templars until the Free Masons. This House gives through the centuries only secret agitators against the Church of Rome...».

The pope accepted Pépin´s request and declared: “The one who exerts truly the power should carry the title of King”. Childeric III was immediately deposed (751). From then on, the Church will claim the right to appoint Kings and Emperors according to its own rules and interests. Henceforth, it will assert its superiority over secular rulers.

It is paradoxical, if not an irony of history that:

1. Pépin III, once Childeric III deposed, was crowned in Soissons. The second Merovingian Bastion of the Merovingian after Tournai and since 487 their new capital! Record shows that Soissons was, in the Xth century, still a Flemish city.
2. Childeric III was jailed until the end of his life in the Abbey of Saint Bertin, near Saint Omer (Flanders). (We met already this Abbey with Lambert de Saint-Omer, also called Lambert of St-Bertin).

After Pepin III deposed the Merovingian King Childeric III, he was, on orders of the Pope, anointed in Soissons by the archbishop of Mainz, with a quite unusual and undue haste! Pepin`s III power being secured, the Church made its next tricky move three years later when Pope Stephen II travelled all the way west to Paris, to anoint Pepin III a … second time! In the Basilica St. Denis.

The Pope, literally carried by the Church’s overwhelming success, realised that the moment was ripe for a new “Coup de Théatre”. He decided, in the same breath, to anoint Charles and Carloman, Pepin III´s two sons. So, the Kingdom would become hereditary! The news of the event skyrocketed throughout the Roman Empire. The message could not be clearer: This old Mayor of the palace´s family is, henceforth, the only valid ruling Dynasty in whole Europe.

Pepin III received the title of “patricius Romanorum” (Patrician of the Roman) and was shortly after the Pope’s visit, elected by an assembly of Frankish nobles as their new King!

Ide was the niece of the pope Etienne IX (1020-1058) who was fs. of Gothelon Ier de Lotharingie. Around anno 1056, she married Eustace II (ab.1020 † 1085), Count de Boulogne and gave rise to: Eustace III (ab.1058 † after. 1125), Count de Boulogne, Godefroid (ab.1061 † 1100), Duke of Low-Lotharingia and Baudouin Ier (v.1065 † 1118), Count d'Édesse and subsequently King of Jerusalem.

Ide d´Ardennes offered the Val d´Or (Ardennes) to some monks of Calabria. These monks, after having settled themselves in Orval, disappeared mysteriously, “apparently” without any historical reasons, to reappear in the Abbey Notre Dame de Sion, south of Jerusalem.

Who was this Pierre l´Ermite? Was he a member of the Order of Sion as were the (some) monks of Orval? Were they there only to defend the “cause” of Ide d´Ardennes and Godefroid de Bouillon?

Back to the subject.

Please note that during the XIIth century, the Order was only accessible to nobles, priests, and chaplains. Non-nobles were only admitted in the XIIIth, by necessity!

Archambauld originated from Saint Amand (in some documents Saint Aignan), a place located in Flanders, some 100km south of the ship of the Balliol in Balliol (Belle).

Nivar came from Montdidier, a place located in the County of Amiens, which juxtaposed the County of Flanders in its southern part (together with the County of Ponthieu and the County of Vermandois).

As written under “In 1096”, Hugues de Payens rode, for months, on his way from Flanders to the Holy Land, together with Godefroid de Bouillon, Bels, Belle and Balliol Knights. We know that, in Jerusalem, Hugues de Payens went, together with some other Knights, to the King of Jerusalem to instigate the creation of the Knight Order of the Templars.

Why not a single Knight from our lineage accompanied Hugues de Payens to the King Balduinus II, has never received any satisfactory historical answer. Were the Knights from our Lineage, from all the Knights who went to the King, not the closest ones to him, to his cousins Godefroid, Balduinus Ist (Godefroid´s brother) and to their father Eustace II, Count of Boulogne (Boonen), than any other of these Knights?

We should not forget that the Kingdom of Jerusalem has been in the hands of the Flemish House of Boulogne (Boonen) from the time of Godefroid de Bouillon (1099-1100) Advocatus Sancti Sepulchri (Protector of the Holy Sepulchre), through his brother Balduinus Ist (1100-1118), to their cousin Balduinus II (Baudouin du Bourg) (1118-1131) up to Melisande x Fulk, Count of Anjou (1131-1143) and x2 with Balduinus III (House of Anjou) from 1143-1162. In 1291, Acre is taken and the Kingdom of Jerusalem ends!

We have seen that Baudouin II (also the first Count of Edessa) was a cousin of the brothers Eustace III of Boulogne, Godefroid de Bouillon and Baudouin de Boulogne. However, the exact way they were related has never been discovered.

Interesting is that Baudouin II, King of Jerusalem, although son of Hugue I^st Count of Rethel, claimed to be descendant of the House of Boulogne and was recognised as such by the Roman Catholic authorities. On the picture, we see him with the blazon of the Counts of Boulogne and not the one of the Counts of Rethel (House of the Manasse). The Manasse originated from Omont, in the Ardennes, a small place located some 40km from Godefroid de Bouillon’s castle and some 50km from the mysterious monks of the abbey of Orval! Much too close to be simple coincidences!

The Knight Templar Order is said to have been “officially” created under the name (la Milice des Pauvres Chevaliers du Christ or l'Ordre du Temple de Jérusalem) on Friday 27 December 1118. In that case, the delegation conducted by Hugues de Payens did indeed request the authorisation from Baudouin II.

However, out of the Ivory tower historians have the creation of the Templar Order earlier, around 1114. Its constitution was written in 1117 and its existence officialised in 1118. The Order is said to be born upon a decision of the Order of Sion constituted by the mysterious monks of Orval (from where they simply vanished to reappear in the Mont of Sion, in Jerusalem). Godefroid de Bouillon is said to have been part of the Order of Sion whose secret purposes will not be discussed in the Essay.

In that case, the delegation would have presented its case, not to the King Baudouin II but to the King Baudouin Ist of Jerusalem (1058-1118) which was no one else than Godefroid de Bouillon’s brother. One more reason to seriously interrogate ourselves why no Knights of our Lineages did undertake the delicate approach since, if they did, the requested authorisation would have been given with absolute certainty! A case not so obvious at all in those times since there were already three Orders operating in Jerusalem:

• The Order of St. Lazarus (created in the IVth century by the Archbishop St. Basile).
• The Order of the Holy Sepulchre (created in 1099 by Godefroid de Bouillon. First rules given by Balduinus Ist of Jerusalem in 1103).
• The Hospital Order of St. John (created in 1099 by Godefroid de Bouillon. Approved by the Pope Pascal II, in 1113).

Another question with no answer: Wo designed these nine Knights to constitute the delegation to the King?

Whoever the King was who accepted the request, he allowed Hugues de Payens and his colleagues to set up quarters in a wing of the royal palace, the captured Al Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount. Because of where it was built, on the ruins of the older Temple, the Crusaders referred to this structure as the Temple of Salomon, and it was from this structure that they took their name of "Knights of the Temple", or Templars.

It was also from below this structure called „The Stables of the Temple of Salomon“, that the 9 first Templars, during nine years, pretended to protect hundreds of kilometers of desertic pilgrim roads to Jerusalem! All they could do was to try to secure the busy pilgrim road between the port city of Joppa and Jerusalem. That is about 65 km. So was the pseudo-protection a habile pretext and a lie!

These nine years were in fact nine years of undercover activities to search for something(s). They were far away indeed to care about the safety of the roads and of the Pilgrims, the mission they were officially (sic) created for!

On the other side and whatever the decision of the King of Jerusalem was, Hugues de Payens´ enterprise was due to succeed because the inner force that led to the creation of the Order had nothing to do with his own personality or the ones of his fellows. It was rather the result of an immense but invisible Force that operated behind the curtains.

Huges de Payen had not so many contacts among the Crusade super big shots! His “world” turned more around Bernard de Clairvaux (a simple French monk at the time) and the Count of Champagne (who happened to be his overlord, a powerful and rich man), both his cousins, than around Godefroid de Bouillon and members of other powerful Flemish patrician lineages.

All in all, it would have been more logic to encounter some Knights from our Lineages, going to the King, rather than the Hugues de Payen´s co-founders.

There is a “History of the Crusades States, between 1165 and 1184” written around 1188 by the Archbishop of Tyre. He wrote that: “…The Templars were a group of noble Knights, devoted to God religious and God-fearing. They entrusted themselves into the hands of the patriarch Warmund of Picquigny, to serve Christ...”.

Warmund of Picquigny (*ca1080) belonged also to a very old Flemish lineage. Patriarch of Jerusalem from 1118 to his death at Sidon in 1128, he became in 1124, the supreme commander of the Crusader Forces that besieged the city of Tyre. He was a very good friend of King Balduinus II, became his regent for one year (1123-1124) during his captivity and was later his successor.

We have seen previously that, in 1096, Balduinus Ist of Balliol (de Besle) married Euphémie of Saint-Omer. Euphémie was fa. of Wilhelm of Saint-Omer (Audomarus, in Latin) and of Mélissande, fa. of Arnolf of Pinciniae (Pequigny) and of Melissande.

So did the Templars pledge themselves to a patriarch who was no one else than the brother-in-law of Balduinus Ist of Balliol, a member of one of the wealthiest lineages of Flanders. As we have seen several times already, this lineage is known to have been the right hand of the powerful Counts of Flanders and present, without fail and for centuries, at every crossroad of History.

This makes it even harder to explain the total absence of Knights from our Dynasty among the nine who met the King of Jerusalem Balduinus II. The King participated at the First Crusade under the command of Godefroid de Bouillon. That in turn would makes it an absolute certitude that the King knew perfectly well the Bels-Belle and Balliol knights. They were from the same “Regiment” !

Conclusion: If our Knights were not among the delegation that went the King, there must have been a very serious reason. One may speculate ad infinitum on the reasons of this non-movere attitude. Fact is that they missed the “big connection” at a big turning point of History. Was their absence intentional or imposed? We may never know!

André de Montbars belonged also to the Flemish nobility. He was the uncle of Saint Bernard (Bernard de Clairvaux) and was linked to the Dukes of Burgundy (Source Fra. Robert Dale Fazzio, Knight OSMTH. Porto).

Gérard de Ridefort, Grand Master of the Templar from anno 1184 until 1189, was also a Flemish lord. His original name was «Gerhard de Sterkeridder» or «Gerard the Strong Knight». He was born in Ruddervoord, a village located some 40km northeast of the Balliol of Doulieu´s ship called «Oosthoven» in the parish of Niepkerke (Flemish) or Nieppe (French), dependent on the Seigneurie of Dampierre. A ship the Bels will inherit later. Actually, he was born less than 10km from the main ship of the Bels in the city of Mouscron area.

Interesting to note is the overwhelming majority of Flemish lords and Knights presence in the early Middle Age historical scenes. This “omnipresence” became a constant of Europe’s history. It started with the Merovingian Dynasty, through the Carolingians, to countless international diplomatic missions via the Battle of Hastings, the Crusades, the Order of the Temple of Jerusalem, etc.

A proof, for instance, that Flemish lords and knights were still very active in Scotland at the time of King John II Balliol, is given by the following text relating an episode of the battle of Berwick (June 30, 1296). Town that was, in those times, Scotland’s main commercial centre.

“…From his camp in Hutton, King Edward Ist, with an army of 30.000-foot soldiers and 5.000 cavalry, rode up to Berwick's town gates and offered its citizens to unconditionally surrender. Their immediate response was to taut him with obscene remarks concerning his parentage and with rude gestures, then they finally defied him to do his worst. The earthwork defences proved to be woefully inadequate as the English forces quickly overran the earth-and-wood ramparts, throwing Berwick's citizens into a state of panic.

The only resistance offered came from the thirty strong Flemish communities that barricaded itself in the town's Red Hall, as they put up a gallant fight against the odds. However, it all ended in tragedy when King Edward torched the Red Hall, burning all its occupants alive, as he avenged the death of his cousin, Richard of Cornwall. Since one of the Flemish archers had managed to fire an arrow which entered through the eyeslit of Richard of Cornwall's helmet, killing him as it pieced his eye and lodged in his brain...”.

According to all these facts, we can state that the Templars, at all levels, knew perfectly well the Bels-Balliol Seigneurial Lineage.

And here is almost the proof for it as far as Flanders is concerned: In the month that followed the approval of the Rule of the Order of the Temple of Jerusalem, by the Concilium of Troyes held on 13 January 1128, Fra. Hugues de Payens and Fra. Geoffroy de Saint Omer ordered a Templar house to be built in Ypres (Flanders). One part of this city called “Upstal” even belonged to Geoffroy de Saint Omer by inheritance.

A document of Ypres, relative to the Templar Commandery, quote for anno 1128: 15 Monks, 13 Brothers, one Abbot and one Chaplain. So was the first Commandery of the Templars in Occident located in Ypres. Precisely in the city where our Lineage was “at home” for, at least, four centuries.

Here is a Map of the city of Ypres in the XIVth century. The Map shows us the Temple estates at the end of the XIIIth century because it ceased all its extensions at around anno 1300 before being dismantled in 1314.

We can see on the southwest part of the city the “Terra Militum Templi” with the “Domus Militum Templi” (in red) or the “Military House of the Temple”. Northeast of Ypres, the Order had another piece of land. Also note the proximity, to the Terra Militum Templi, of the water castle (Dwangburg), in pink, the new Count of Flanders ordered to build after the murder (in 1127) on his predecessor Karel de Goede, by Wilhelm van Ypres (also named van Loo). The place where the water castle was, is called today “Saalhof”. This place became its toponym because it was used as a courthouse under the Count of Flanders Robert de Bethune (+1322).

The “Belle Huis” hospital that belonged to our Lineage was built a few hundred meters away south of the “Halla et Curia Scabinorum”, in the Zuidstrata (today renamed Rijsselstraat, Nr 38) and marked in green. Although built in anno 1272, the Belle Huis is curiously not mentioned on the Map. Source G. Des Marez, anno 1896.

A few months after the foundation of the house in Ypres, the Templar Order became the Fief of Bas-Warneton (Hainaut, some 12km West of Ypres and 19km West from Belle) in donation. This Commandery, although in another County, depended directly on the main one of Ypres.

As we have seen under “Before 1154”, at the North Sea, due to movements of big sand banks triggered by heavy storms, some new land emerged on Flanders’s coast. One place, among other, which reap advantage from this natural phenomenon, was Slijpe (37km NW of Ypres).

There, in Slijpe, was built in 1131, the second Commandery of the Templars Bailiwick of Flanders. A Commandery that would become during the XIIth and XIIIth century the most powerful Templar settlement of Flanders. Although also depending on the main Commandery of Ypres, it had its own dependencies in Duinkerke (43km), near Bruges (Scheepsdale and Sint Pieter-op-den-Dijk) and near Ghent (built in 1180).

Other Commanderies would soon follow, such as:

Cassel                          (31km West of Ypres)

Saint Omer                   (55km  S.W of Ypres)

Leffinge                        (41km North of Ypres)

La-Haie-lez-Lille           (52km southwest of Ypres)

Steene                         (49km West of Ypres)

As we have Lys-Lez-Lannoy and Sailly-lez-Lannoy, both places ca. 2km from Lannoy (Roubaix entity, France). So, we have Saint-André-Lez-Lille some 5km from the city of Lille (France). The Location of La-Haie-Lez-Lille, today disappeared, must therefore have been less than 5km from Lille.

In short, only a few years after the Concilium of Troyes, Flanders had already on its soil, the first seven Templar Commanderies all linked to the main one of Ypres.

In addition to that, several other donations were done to the Templars, not only by the Counts of Flanders but also by some Lords and Middle-class citizen of Ypres. In Sept 1137 and April 1138 Guillaume, castellanus of Saint-Omer and of Fauquemberghes, and his son, gave away the churches of Slijpe and of Leffinghe and the tithes of Leltinghe, Steene and "Erlebaldi capella" to the Templars.

The Balliols donated to the Templars in England. Here some of them we already mentioned:

• In April 1147 and August 1153, in Paris, Bernard (Barnard) Balliol of Barnard Castle, gives to the Templar Order “15 Livrées de ses terres en Angleterres” (15 Liveries of his estates in England).
• In April 1147 and October 1154, Etienne, King of England, confirms a donation at “Dynnestey” to the same Order, by the same Bernard Balliol. (Source Marquis d´Albon).
• From other sources (Lady Elisabeth Abbott) we know that big grants were given by Bernard Balliol in 1147 to the Temple Order in Hertfordshire (Southeastern England) where it had a Chapel and a Preceptory in Temple Dinsley (some 6km south of Hitchin and 60km north of London) and where national Chapters (Chapitres nationaux) were hold. In recognition of the grants, an effigy of Bernard Balliol was created that can still be seen in the church of St. Mary, in Hitchin. The foot of this effigy being found at the site of Temple Dinsley indicates that it has been moved from this place to the St. Mary church.

This case is like the one we will encounter subsequently with the Bels Tile in Flanders, in anno 1570. ”…The funeral tile of the lords Bels, in the church St. Barthélémy of Mouscron (Flanders), very probably came from a chapel of the old cemetery and would have been placed in the ”Chapelle Notre Dame du Rosaire” of the church, in recognition of this family's liberalities in favour of the church of Mouscron...”.

What the Balliols were doing in that far corner of England, some 360km south of Barnard Castle, I do not know. What is known is that the Balliols had also a Manor near Hitching and that they hunted a lot in the region.

The Templars soon controlled the fluvial traffic coming in and going out from Bruges. They imposed taxes on the transportation of wood between Zeebrugge and Bruges. Bruges being in those times the major commercial city of Northern Europe and its economic, cultural, and industrial axis; it is obvious that the Templars made fructuous business there. And who else than the biggest merchants of Ypres, the Bels-Balliol, used the port intensively?

Was the tax collected by the Templars one of the reasons for our Lineage to dig its own Channel between Nieuwpoort and Ypres (Ypres) giving him so a direct access to the North Sea? As we have seen under “in 1251”, there is an ordinance by Balduinus of Balliol, Knight, Bailiff of Flanders, defining the width and depth of this Channel. This Channel was built for transportation of wool from England at the time when the town of Ypres had the monopoly of the woollen manufacture.

Very shortly after their first settlements in Flanders, the Templars settled in the County of Hainaut. However, they remained extremely close to Flanders borders (less than 10km). The Commanderies of Saint-Léger (1157) (the author is born in Leers-Nord, at exactly 4,2km from St. Léger) from whom some Templar houses and stalls in Anzegem (Flanders), Templeuve, Tournai and Rumes (in 1213) depended, were all at a maximum distance of 54km from Ypres and/or from Balliol (Belle).

Later, other big Commanderies in the County of Hainaut will follow such as the ones of Hargimont (1191, Villers-le-Temple, Vaillampont (1209),) etc.

The Commandery of Villers-le-Temple has been founded and was under the command of commander Frater Gérard de Villers, who is buried there. On his tombstone, the knight is represented in his Templar Knight suit. This suit became the model for several reproductions of the Templar Suit.

All these Commanderies, in Flanders and close to its border, were located, without any exception, exactly in an area where our Lineage was very active for centuries: Politically, economically and military.

These established facts allow us to draw the following logical conclusion: The links between our Lineage and the Templars, which lasted for centuries, may no longer to be considered as free intellectual speculation or pure hypothesis but as real facts resulting from their proximity and unavoidable interactions.

Now, the Links we found in Flanders, between the Balliol and the Templars, were also present in England and Scotland.

The regional Masters of the Templar Order of England and Scotland knew the lords Balliol in England very well. They must have known them very well, since the Duke of Normandy (King of England) second Royal Castle happened to be in the County of Durham, 30 miles west from Stokesley that brings us less than 15km south of Barnard Castle!

We also recall that in 1095 Bernardus Ist of Balliol (Rainald’s son and Guy’s Ist [Guido] nephew) started, not far away from Durham (England) the construction of a strong castle that became the “Barnard Castle”, one of the most imposing fortified castles of Northern England. Barnard Castle was the principal fortress and residence of the Balliol family throughout the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. (See pictures under “in anno 1095”).

At the time (1150) of the Templar regional Master of England, the Knight Otto (Osto) de Saint-Omer, the Balliol already inhabited Barnard Castle although it was still under construction. This huge fortress on the Tees River was only to be completed in 1209, under Hugues of Balliol.

Note that Otto was well known to the Balliol of England and of course, of the Bels and Balliol of Flanders. St Omer happened to be a village at 40 km from Bailleul, the core of our Dynasty. And Geoffroy Bisol (*1075+1150), one of the nine founders of the Templar Order, was not only from St Omer but belonged to the St. Omer dynasty.

This dynasty was closely linked to the Bels, Belle, Balliol dynasty. Their ancestors, Raoul de St. Omer (cited in 938-975), Gérard and Romuldus (cited in 994), were administrative officers of the Count of Flanders, just like the Bels and the Belle. It's almost certain that they were already together at the Roman and Merovingian courts.

Links with our dynasty begin with certainty when Guillaume I (Hoston) of St. Omer, is listed as the first lord of Fauquembergues. His son, Guillaume II (1085+1143), married Melissande de Picquigny, daughter of Arnould de Picquigny.

And later, with Euphemia de Saint-Omer, fa. of Guillaume II de Saint-Omer X Melissande de Picquigny, when she married Baudouin de Bailleul.

The King of England, living in his castle in London, placed powerful lords in the Northern regions of England, among them, the Balliols. This brings us to another logical conclusion, if not to the certitude, that the Templars and the Balliols must have had good relations and frequent contacts, be they diplomatic, political, or military. The relations between them skyrocketed with the Balliols rise to power even before they acquired the Kingdom of Scotland.

One should not forget that the Templar Order in Scotland had its Headquarter in Balantrodoch, some 20km south of Edinburgh. The village still exists today under the name “Temple”. Although the Templar Headquarter was some 130km east of Sweetheart Abbey and some 230km northwest of Barnard Castle, it was only 90km from Scone, a place that is sacred in Scottish History and where, among others, King John II Balliol was crowned.

The lands of Balantrodoch where the Templars of Scotland installed their Scottish Headquarters, were given to them by King David of Scotland in 1129. Now, Devorguilla of Galloway was competitor for the Crown of Scotland. After she married the Regent of Scotland John Ist Balliol, her son John II Balliol came to succeeded her. So became he the “grandson” of Margaret of Huntingdon, the elder daughter of David, Earl of Huntingdon who was no one else than the younger brother of King W illiam of Scotland (the Lion). In other words, the estates of Balantrodoch were offered to the Templars by King John II Balliol´s weddings great-grandfather!

And there is more! Lady Isabelle de Warenne, who married King John II Balliol, was heiress at the fourth generation from the King of Scotland Henry, Earl of Northumbria who married Ada de Warenne (1138) via: David, Earl of Huntingdon x Mathilda of Chester. Alan de Galloway x Margaret of Huntingdon and John Ist Balliol x Devorguilla of … Galloway! If we dig, further: Gundreda, fa. of William the Conqueror married (before 1070) William de Warenne!

The following information gathered out of historical records proves us indubitably that the Templars in England knew perfectly well our Lineage and its secular connections, because there was even a Templar Master of England from our Dynasty. I quote:

“…The first mention of the Knights Templars in connexion with England is in 1128, when Hugh de Payens, the master of the order, visited this country, (fn.1) and received aid both in men and money for the cause…”.

“…Among the first patrons of the Templars in this country were Earl Robert de Ferrers (or Ferrières, 1st Earl of Derby), Bernard de Balliol, King Stephen (of England, +1151, the predecessor of Henry II) and Queen Matilda, (Maude of England, heiress and fa. of King Henry Ist of England) but the earliest grant made to them in London of which there is evidence, was Henry II's gift or confirmation (fn.6) of the place on the Fleet by Castle Baynard, the watercourse for a mill, a messuage by Fleet Bridge, (fn.7) and the advowson of St. Clement Danes. (fn.8)…”. (Source: British History Online. House of Military Orders. Chapt 8. The Temple, by Page W. William).

The Templar Master, Bernard Balliol, was issued from the well-known Lords of the lineage of the Barnard Castle Balliols. Lord Barnard II (*Abt. 1137 + by 1194), second Baron of Bywell who succeeded his older brother, Guy II Balliol, to the Balliol estates of Barnard Castle, sometime between the early 1160s and 1167. So was our Dynast Lord Bernard Balliol recorded “…among the first patrons of the Templars…” (in England).

The Order of the Templars was very powerful. It lent, for instance, huge amounts of money to European Emperors and Kings. The King of France is known to have owed gigantic debts to them he could never pay back. Idem for all the English Kings.

The French King, Louis VII, wrote to Suger (1081-1151), Abbot of Saint Denis and regent of the Kingdom:

"…Nous ne voyons pas, nous ne pouvons imaginer comment nous aurions pu sub­sister un instant dans ce pays sans leur assistance (Templiers). Cette aide ne nous fit jamais défaut...". Source : Seigneur et Chevalier by Frater Robert Adelsohn Bels (1995).

“…We do not see, we cannot imagine how we could have survived, a single moment, in this country without their aid (Templars). This help was for us never missing…”.

King Edward Ith of England, for instance, began the process of reimbursement of debts incurred by his predecessors. Records show that after his first year of reign he reimbursed the sum of 2.000 pounds from a total debt of 28.189 pounds!

“…King Edward Ist wanted King John II Balliol to pay the debts made by his predecessors. He even summoned King John II to London to deal with a trivial item: King Alexander’s unpaid wine bill! King Edward also claimed for succession rights to lands which King John II Balliol inherited from his mother Devorguilla, etc.“. Note from Lady Elizabeth Abbott.

We might speculate further, asking ourselves if the Balliols were not brought to the throne of Scotland by additional pressure from the Templars upon King Edward Ist of England? Their influence, added to the already existing pressure issued from the established right to rule through the laws of hereditary (Lineage) precedence, may have been decisive.

“Many Knights” of the Order, after the suppression of their Order by King Philippe le Bel and Pope Clement V, escaped. “Many Knights” means here at least 15.000 people, including 1.000 Knights! Popular imagination of the order being completely rounded up, tortured and massacred is very wrong. It is estimated that less 200 Knights were executed. Therefore, did most of them find safe refuge in Scotland, in Spain and in Portugal. In these two latest countries, they carried on their mission after having changed the appellation of their Order!

Although the official arrest of the Knights and the dissolution of the Order happened in anno 1314, the Order already had problems (sic) “for some decennia before”. It is known that Templars Knights were already arbitrary arrested as soon as anno 1290.

The Order authorities, foreseeing the fate of their Order, may have secretly established safeguards for the future of the Order. This may explain, among other mysteries, why the fortune (treasure) of the Templars was never found although its usurpation was the French King Philippe’s main objective.

And… “for some decennia” … lead us to the last few years of the XIIIth century. Precisely the period of the Balliol rulers in Scotland!

Were bilateral agreements taken with King John II Balliol and the Master(s) of the England’s Templars as soon as anno 1296, during the time they shared captivity in the Tower of London? Agreements that would serve both interests: King John’s II safe retreat and the Templars protection in Scotland via King John’s II faithful barons’ and the Bruce?

That the Bruce did not go well along with the Balliols (powerful Scottish landowners in their own right), the Comyn (Earls of Buchan, the most powerful baronial family in Scotland) and other Flemish Lords, is a well-known fact. But they all had a common interest: Keeping Scotland for the Scots (an irony of History because they were all Flemish) and kick the English out of their country! The Bruce had of course far more chance to success since the Balliol and Wallace already did the preliminary works.

James Elton Bell, Knight Ordinis Balliolensis, wrote in his Bell Roots:

“…Between 1307-1314, the Templar’s activities in Scotland would have continued as they had before the arrests in France by Philip IV.  Pope Clement V´s second papal bull Ad providam, which transferred the Templar’s´ property to the Order of Hospitalers, was ignored in Scotland and it was decades before the Hospitalers even attempted title and possession of the Templar Property there. The reason of this was that after Bruce was crowned King and began to control much of Scotland there were few, if any, Hospitalers who remained. They had a strong English connection which made it difficult for them to remain when Bruce began to gain control of Scotland or to return after Bannockburn. Also, unlike the Scots of that time and the Templar’s, the Hospitalers remained loyal to the Pope...”.

The historian Fra. James Elton Bell complimented the author of this Essay and the Ordo Balliolensis. The Baron wrote to the H.E Ambassador Randolph M. Bell, on 11 Dec 2018 (01:07), after having received an invitation of the Ordo Balliolensis for the next Investiture in Germany (2019):

Dear Ambassador,

Thanks for your kind emails and I do remember you from years ago.

… I have been a member since 2007 [of the Ordo Balliolensis] going through the ranks; if you can, plan to attend and meet Grand Master Robert A. Bels, the best ancient Bell (many spellings) historian, a remarkable man. This elite group does everything first class and since you are planning your knighthood through the English St. John's Order, know that you would always remember the Order Balliolensis (pronounced beyl-yuhl or bay-lee-uhl) grand proceedings. Also, a good days reading, the word of the Grand Master and also my last book "One Hundred and Twenty Five Bell Families contribute to history" at Amazon. Jim Bell.

Ambassador Randolph Marshall Bell (* 1947), a former Ambassador of the United States, acquired excellent knowledge of American-European relations, serving as Director of the Office of the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Benelux Affairs (1996-1999), and from 2000 to 2002 as Director of the Austrian, German and Swiss Office. In 2004, the Ambassador received the Grand Decoration of Honour in Silver for Services to the Republic of Austria.

So, the Templars helped Bruce as they would have helped Balliol if he had reigned just a little bit longer. Unfortunately, the Balliols became King too early!

The Templars were not only a formidable financial power, outranking by far all big fortunes of the time put together, they were also the most powerful army that ever existed.

The German scientific and very serious magazine « Welt der Wunder », published in Hamburg (Germany), is the first ever to publish an approximate evaluation of the fortune of the Templars. In its Magazine Nr 4/11, the editor evaluated this fortune up to 100 billion Euros!

I wrote in my historical book “Seigneur et Chevalier” anno 1996 :

“…What would have been the historic consequences for Europe and for the Middle East if leaders of the Order of the Temple had been conscious of their gigantic military and financial strength? Who in this country (France) would have risked countering the military power of the Templars? Were they not owners of 3.478 castles and 9.000 commanderies spread throughout Europe and the Middle East?

The Order counted in France no less than 15.000 Knights obeying only to the orders of their Grand Master. To these 15.000 Templars Knights we must add a multitude of other Knights, sergeants, brothers of different profession as well as a huge number of sympathizing lords and Knights of noble extraction and rich bourgeois.

Who in this country would have risked countering the financial power of the Templars? Were they not the bankers of Europe? Did they not lend big amounts of money to the Kings of France as well as to rulers and other territorial Princes being, because of their involvement in the Crusades, in pressing need of money?

To quote three examples:

• The Templars saved the French King Louis VII by lending him money when attacked by Turks.
• The Templars saved the German King Konrad III (1093-1152), heir of a powerful Lineage: the Hohenstaufen, after his defeat against Turks in Damascus.
• The Templars saved the King of France Louis IX, by paying, in anno 1250, the ransom required by the Mameloukses for his liberation.

Their aid often represented very important sums of money whose repayment was guaranteed by a letter. The first letter of this kind was the one used by the French King Louis VII for Suger (1081-1151), Abbot of Saint Denis and regent of the Kingdom. (This document is considered as the first letter of change). The King of France wrote to Suger:

"...We don't see, we cannot imagine ourselves how we could have subsisted one instant in this country without their aid (Templars). This help never failed…".  Unquote.

The Templars had connections with our Lineage from the time of the First Crusade. They also knew what happened on the walls of Jerusalem on July 15, 1099, under the command of Godefroid van Bonen. They had an eternal precious link to this man and to his Lineage:

• Were not Godefroid van Bonen and Hugues de Payens (parent of Hugues de Champagne), their brothers-in-arms, together at the original founding ot the Order of the Temple of Jerusalem, according to a decision of the Order of Sion to whom they belonged? The Order of Sion, also called “the Hierarchy”, decided as early as 1096, to create the Templar Knight Order.
• Was the secret essence of the Order not only known by the highest hierarchy that met secretly in the “Cercle Intérieur du Temple de Jerusalem “or “Inner Ring of the Temple of Jerusalem” ?
• Was Godefroid van Bonen not said, in those times, to be the most prestigious representative of this Merovingian Lineage? However, others wanted to make of him a descendant of Charlemagne! More on this theme later in the Essay.
• Was it not his cousin Baudouin II, King of Jerusalem, who allowed the first nine Templar Knights, to remain in the old stalls of the Temple of King Salomon and allowed them to start their mysterious search that would last for nine years?

By the time of the events surrounding the reign of King John II Balliol, all the Knights belonging to the Templar Order were called back to Europe. The Holy Land Crusades turned out to be a gigantic disaster! Non-cooperation of the Templars Supreme Spiritual Grand Master, the Pope himself, led to a huge debacle. Although the Order suffered a very serious blow it never lost its prestige nor its influence and remained (sometimes hidden behind the opaque curtains of History) the most powerful multinational and financial power on earth.

An historian wrote:

“Also imprisoned in the Tower of London at about the same time of King John Balliol were the Master of the Templar Knights and all the English Knights of the Order who had been falsely accused”.

So, not only was the Balliol-Templar connection an old one (remember Bernard Balliol was the second “Patron” of the Templars in England), but it was also still very much alive at the time of the events in Tower of London that involved King John II Balliol. The imprisoned Masters of England may have been either Fra. Guy de Foresta (1293-1296), Fra. Brian le Jay (1296-1298) and Fra.  Guillaume (William) de la More (1298-1307). The latest is reported prisoner in the Tower by Christopher Hibbert.

According to the above-mentioned facts and considering the links the Templars had with the “van Bonen” Lineage, with the Balliol of Flanders, and later of England and Scotland, we think that there is a real and very serious probability that the Templars were indeed instrumental, in one way or another, in safeguarding King John II Balliol after his release from captivity in England.

Here follows two sentences that depict the strong position our Dynasty had in those times, in Flanders. Situation the Templars must have been very well aware of:

“…The Belle Lineage, with its “astonishing wealth and power”, played here a crucial role, if not the most important of all. They helped via finances and diplomatic relations, to stabilise the situation of the County of Flanders and to insure its power for the future…”.

And …

 “…Marguerite II of Flanders (Marguerite of Constantinople), youngest fa. of Baudouin IX, Latin Emperor of Constantinople (x Marie de Champagne) named the Boudewijn van Belle (Balduinus IV), hereditary Marshall of Flanders for: «…Zij zijn het die Vlanderen gered hebben…» or «…It is them who saved Flanders… ».

Interesting to Note: Baudouin IX is also mentioned as Emperor of Romania. (Not to be confused with today’s Romania. Nevertheless, today’s Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, and other neighbouring countries were all affected by the events). Baudouin IX´s brother, Henry (1205), will inherit of the title. His sister, Yolanda, will take it over in 1217 (x Peter de Courtenay) as will their children Robert (1221) and Baudouin II (1228).

This was for our lineages a unique honour. However, the sentence had far more consequences that it first appeared, as a noble recognition for rendered services… It underlined an almost unnoticed unique historical fact that would have enormous social impact and political consequences for the balance of powers of those days Europe.

The Belfry and the Guild Hall (1260-1380) of the city of Ypres were bombed by the Germans and burned totally out during the First World War (1914-1918). In the flames disappeared, forever, a treasure of archives relative to the Templars in Ypres and in Flanders. And what could be saved was definitively destroyed during the subsequent and second German World War.

Another book will show the international relations the Ordo Balliolensis has with other Orders of Traditional Knighthood.

The recent relations between our Order and the Templar Order,

are described in a separated book called:

THE ORDER OF THE TEMPLE OF JERUSALEM.

RECENT CONNECTIONS.