The Eight Lost Knights Templar Treasures and the decoding stone of Seborga. Italy.
The imagery of the Knights Templar is definitely present in Seborga. It is also interesting that the name “Seborga” means “Sepulcher.” Another factor of mystery there suggestive of important tombs. One of the most popular phenomena associated with the Knights Templar is the notion of a missing Templar treasure that may also refer to the “the great secret” suggested in the history of Seborga. It is no surprise that an interesting tale of lost Templar treasures is also part of the fabric of this storied place.
There are some scant references to what may be termed the lost eight treasures of the Knights Templar in Seborga. Located somewhere in the Principality is an incised stone that is said to reveal the location of the eight lost treasures of the Knights Templar. The stone does in fact have some interesting designs carved into its surface including a lateral line that spans the one side of the stone in the only photographs available. Other designs that stand out are a large “S” and “T” near the top as well as what appears to be a simple Greek or Templar cross.
In order to really figure out the stone this author would need better and closer photos of all sides of this strange stone to come to any conclusions about the locations that are said to be revealed. Better yet a visit to Seborga would be the best way to solve this. Given that we can only speculate what the eight lost treasures are. Are they different components of the so called “great secret” of the Knights Templar that was said to also have been brought to Seborga and shared with a Cathar Bishop and the Knights of St. John? Is it the storied Temple Treasure of Jerusalem? What could it be?
I applied an octagonal template oriented to true north to Seborga to explore the possibility that the eight lost treasure locations could be found using that method. So far there are no really interesting correlations using that method. It may be that if anything was really hidden that these things would have been hidden in obscure and remote locations that would not be obvious to anyone who was schooled in Knights Templar history.
In many other treasure stories, similar imagery is present. One of the most popular themes in lost treasure yarns is the Temple Treasure of Jerusalem that was sacked from the Temple Mount by Titus under the auspices of Emperor Vespasian in 70 A.D. The many stories linking the treasures of Rennes le Chateau and Oak Island include these overtones in theories put forth as to the content of any treasure vault associated with those two places. So it would be no surprise if any lost treasure associated with Seborga would also include such items. After all Seborga was said to be the first place the original members of the order visited upon their return from the Holy Land bearing “the great secret.”
Is it possible that eight different items from the Temple Treasure were split up and hidden in different places if it had been the Templars and not Titus who had found it? It may also be speculative to theorize that the Templars had found the missing Temple Treasure in Europe if they found where the Visigoths who sacked it from Rome had hidden it. It is also possible that the Knights Templar could have come into possession of any number of biblical and Christian relics during their occupation of Jerusalem and the Holy Land. It was not unusual for Crusaders to return with items they believed to be authentic relics. The Cathedrals of Europe for instance are full of such items.
It is also interesting to speculate about the eight lost treasures in league with other treasure stories we all may know and love prior. For instance, we could speculate that any lost items associated with Rennes le Chateau, Shugborough Hall, Stirling Castle, and Oak Island are part of these lost eight Templar treasures. This of course is just an idea but here we have a starting point for how a group of treasure legends or reality can be attributed to one source in the form of the legendary Knights Templar. This is of interest as many of our favorite treasure stories hold a unique place in the minds of the public and their popularity seems to surface time and time again.
This is of interest as many other subsequent treasure stories are associated with people like Charlemagne who had seemingly created a “Man in the Mountain” mythology including an appendant mystery involving a hidden tomb with manuscripts and valuable items. So it is no surprise a similar story exists with the Knights Templar who came from an era about 400 years after Charlemagne.
This tradition could have easily descended from what Charlemagne and had done. Even his later descendants of the 13th century like Frederick II Holy Roman Emperor had involved themselves in solving the mysteries left behind by Charlemagne centuries earlier. Crusader Frederick Barbarossa also took part in this mystery solving activity that had been left as a tradition by Charlemagne. The story of the lost treasures of Seborga may also in some ways adhere to this template. Charlemagne had seen the promise of lost riches and manuscripts as a way to remind his descendants of their legacy. Had the Knights Templar done the same thing?
What is interesting about Seborga in relation to many of these other treasure stories is that it makes more sense that this is an important place to the original order of the Knights Templar as recorded in history. Proof of their influence in any lost treasure stories in North America is speculative at best though many people attempt to link these two things together. If any such relics or original Knights Templar items were brought to America I suspect they weren’t brought until after the American Revolution when those that possessed them may have felt the United States was a safer place to store such items.
Even then it is still gross speculation that any of these things made their way to America. Given that there is no doubt that other similar stories were developed in America that could potentially still uncover some interesting history and possible hidden treasures. It is obvious that there were those in the post American Revolution era that concerned themselves with such things. If the Knights Templar and Charlemagne had left treasure stories also meant to teach a lesson then why not the United States as well?
It is not uncommon to see the imagery of the Knights Templar associated with these kinds of treasure tales. Places like Gisors, France, Montsegur, the Montserrat Monastery, Valencia Cathedral, and many more have holy grail stories associated that involve the Knights Templar. Then of course we also have the speculative tale of the “Lost Templar Fleet” and associated treasure. Depending on your point of view we may take all these tales with a grain of salt. There is an endless supply of rationales as to why the Knights Templar would hide treasure especially at the time of their persecution beginning in 1307.
Over the next seven years prior to them being officially disbanded it is not too much of stretch to imagine brothers of the order hiding items or wealth they thought was important. It is also not out of the question that they would have left an obscure path of clues as to the locations of such things that only other brothers may have been able to understand. In the case of these European stories it is much easier to establish a real Knights Templar connection.
Why are there eight treasures? We know that the number eight was valued by both the Knights Templar and Knights of St. John as associated with the Beatitudes and the number of points in their respective style of cross pattee. This is also reflective of the octagonal plan of the Dome of the Rock sometimes referred to in Templar terms as the Templum Domini or template of god. This in turn leads us to the notion of Templars using Templates to create Temples that dicatate the temporal fabric. So called Templar architecture does include a value of the octagonal form. If any treasure is hidden is the theme of the Beatitudes included somehow? Or is the whole treasure story indicative that the Beatitudes are the treasure itself? I think it is at least a good guess that the value of eight comes from the Beatitudes. Is there an octagonal structure in this story somewhere that may have been used by the Knights Templar to hide things?
In the past I have speculated that some lost treasure stories are meant to initiate people into the value of the group that had left or hidden any treasure. Many times a story that resembles folklore becomes attached to a real treasure story. For instance the Oak Island treasure could simply be a stash of wealth captured by privateers or pirates. Over time a kind of legendary template is applied thus leading us to tales of Bacon’s Vault and the Temple Treasure being located there. The same could be said of the possible presence of a lost Knights Templar treasure there. Given that it is still remotely possible these more far flung theories could also be true. The nineteenth century popular fad of treasure hunting may have also supplied us with many outrageous theories and stories that simply don’t hold up under scrutiny today that in turn have muddied the waters with regard to the many people who search for such things. It was also not uncommon for competing groups of treasure hunters to have concocted all kinds of bizarre stories to confound others that were searching for the same treasure.
Interestingly there is one possible site in what is today Israel that is associated with an important part of Knights Templar history. The eight Beatitudes are based on the eight moral lessons given to us by Christ on his famous Sermon on the Mount. One of several possible locations speculated to be the place where this happened is known of as the Horns of Hattin. Hattin is of course the place where the Templars met their final defeat that eventually led to Saladin taking Jerusalem in turn eventually leading to the Templars expulsion from the Holy Land in their retreat to Cyprus. The Templar leader at that time was none other than Guy Lusignan whose family was also directly related to the de La Roche de La Tour, and Rochefoucauld families that may be part of the Oak Island story later in history.
So here we see that people who may have had possession of any Templar “treasures” are indeed involved with Oak Island and the history of Nova Scotia and the United States. So that may indicate a scenario where these relics could have been brought to Oak Island or the United States in the years just prior to or after the American Revolution.
The extended family of the Rochefoucauld’s for instance had personal friendships with Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and many other prominent Revolutionary War figures during and after their time in France. Though this may upset any “Templars in America” fans there is much more evidence available that suggests this than is available in any studies of the Knights Templar or the era in which they existed. Still we can’t forget the associations that these important families did have to the original Knights Templar and Latin Kings of the Crusades.
This notion is also interesting in league with any knowledge held by the Cassini family with regard to these mysteries. For example the younger Dominique Cassini also associated with Jefferson and company during their time in France. Jefferson even corresponded with Cassini later about how to establish Prime Meridians and the application of more modern nautical clocks used in navigation.
Who better than these famous astronomers and cartographers to encode the location of any possible Knights Templar treasures? The Cassini family had been the directors of the famous Paris observatory on the Paris Meridian for three generations. This is why it is of great interest that the first Dominique Cassini from the late seventeenth to mid eighteenth century was from Perinaldo Italy which is part of the original Principality of Seborga. In other words the elder Cassini could have easily been privy to any story involving the Knights Templar in Seborga as well as the legend of the eight Templar treasures there. This may also why their family name pops up in association with more than one storied treasure legend. Note also the famous Cassini Space Probe having been named for them.
As I stated before the later people who created the Cremona Document used a prime meridian created by the Cassini family for their Great Map of France that was used as a “0” reference point in the map included in said document. This was not the Paris Meridian but a meridian they had created that served as both a dividing line in their sections of the Map of France but had also been used in calculations to determine the exact size and shape of the earth. Right here in the middle of this whole thing may be the answer as their family name is also prominent in the landscape mysteries of Rennes le Chateau and Perillos France. The later Dominique Cassini’s friendship with Thomas Jefferson could definitely be a factor in any of these lost treasure stories.
In fact, it is entirely possible that Jefferson had used stories he learned in France to craft the Legend of the Bruton Vault in Williamsburg and also possibly the Beale Treasure Legend. Note that both Thomas Jefferson and the Cassini family may have all been Knights of Malta as well. Some sources state this is true as Jefferson’s Masonic records were lost in a fire long ago. It is clear that Jefferson and Franklin had a close personal relationship with duc d’Anviell Louis Alexandre Rochefoucauld the son of Jean Baptiste Rochefoucauld the duc d’Anville who lost his life in Nova Scotia as part of the ill-fated d’Anville Expedition. Louis Alexandre attended literary salons and likely Masonic Lodges with his friends Jefferson and Franklin and he had been the first to print Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence in French. At this time our American friends could have easily been exposed to a variety of Knights Templar and lost treasure lore in myth and possibly reality.
If Jefferson had copied the template of a story like the Lost Eight Knights Templar Treasures of Seborga then it is no surprise that he either created similar stories or had crafted stories to encode the location of some of these things that had been brought to America. Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin both had associations in England and France that suggest all of this is possible. During his trip to Europe as Secretary of State it is clear that Jefferson at least traveled within ten miles of Seborga on his way to points east in Italy.
At the least even if no relics or original Knights Templar items had come to America these men could have easily crafted a similar legend in league with American Freemasonic organizations such as their more modern version of the Knights Templar. They could have even obtained items and documents they thought important to include in any activity such as this. It is clear that Thomas Jefferson played a hand in the propagation of what is known of as the Legend of the Bruton Vault in Williamsburg which tells of a supposed stash of Sir Francis Bacon’s hidden at the Bruton Parish Church. In this way we may be looking at a story that involves the Lost Eight Knights Templar Treasures of America. Or at least something similar.
Proving the original order of Knights Templar came to North America is difficult. Proving that some Knights Templar and Latin Kings descendants involved themselves in similar activity in Europe and America in the era of the Revolution is very easy to accomplish. At least it is speculation with many historical sources to back it up. Given that it is hard to come to any conclusions without finding anything or any treasure!
The reality or notion of such treasures in America would seemingly fall under the auspices of any effort to assign a uniquely American folklore to these valued stories about the Knights Templar is evidenced in the literary works of people like Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Sir Walter Scott, Cooper, Mark Twain, Ignatius Donnelly, Emerson and others who were all in turn associated with the Society of the Cincinnati and Freemasonry. This also includes famous painters like Samuel Morse (Morse Code) and the Hudson River School of painting artists. In other works I have associated these artists with some interesting lost treasure stories in upstate New York that later relic dealer and builder of “Bannerman’s Castle” on an island in the Hudson River was also aware of.
The notion of eight lost treasures also goes hand in hand with my theories about how the octagonal Powder Magazine in Williamsburg functions as an axis mundi or datum that suggests eight directions on the globe. One lost item of American Revolution history has already been found by this author using this template. Jefferson’s construction of his estates Poplar Forest and Monticello may also function in this manner leading to other “treasures” like the Beale Treasure or “Bacon’s Vault” in Williamsburg.
The Newport Tower also seems to function in a similar manner as valued by people like mid-nineteenth century relic and arms dealer Francis Bannerman who is obviously involved in the weird history surrounding the Cremona Document. Bannerman for instance arranged to have his castle on the Hudson built exactly due west of the fabled Newport Tower. He knew what was going on apparently. The Powder Magazine in Colonial Williamsburg is also assocaiated with a series of strange lost vault or treasure legends.
The item of American history found by me was once missing and I have not revealed the solution to this because in researching this it became obvious that other secrets were hidden in specific pieces of art that will reveal more locations. These pieces of art need to be examined in person. At this point I am still working on that and will reveal more soon. So far two locations of importance have been identified. If this sounds like a modern arm chair treasure hunt then it is also possible that some of these treasure stories are very similar to the more modern versions. So far I have identified two places and items that seem to be associated with things that Jefferson and Franklin had intentionally hidden.
This story may change the scope of how many people view lost treasure stories in America. Some of them may have been crafted to initiate the seeker into a path of learning in which the original ideals of America will not be forgotten as established by the Founding Fathers. Along the way there are likely items such as a draft of the Declaration of Nathaniel Bacon or Declaration of Independence which are treasures on a par with the way the original Knights Templar viewed the Beatitudes.
The legend of the Eight Templar Treasures in Seborga may also be similar but has the potential to reveal secrets about the original order instead of American history. With this in mind it is not out of the question that some of these Templar treasures could have at some point been moved to the United States for safe keeping. Indeed this is part of the theories of fellow authors Ken Bauman and James Becker who speculate how Solomon’s Treasure was brought to the United States and hidden at Fort Knox. There are many theories out there today that are similar to this notion.
In the end it would be difficult to solve the mysteries of Seborga without travelling there and then having a huge budget to chase down additional clues and travel to many locations in Europe. With that said it is possible that the places I have already speculated may be some of these locations. Rennes le Chateau, Perillos, Montsegur and Montserrat stand out as possible targets to associate in this manner.
I will continue to work on this interesting story and supply you all with the results of my findings soon after I come to a conclusion. Thank you to all of the people who value what I do and I appreciate everything. Also in the immediate future is an examination of the Cathars and their involvement in Seborga. Seborga represents a real connection between the Knights Templar and Cathars that many have speculated about with no evidence in the past. More on the way soon!!
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