| Episode number | MB12 (Part 12 of 42) |
|---|---|
| Original air date | March 3, 1993 |
| Broadcast | Hour of the Time, WWCR shortwave |
| Chapter title | The End of the Templars |
| Primary text read on air | A History of Secret Societies by Arkon Daraul (1961) |
| Listen | Stream the series on archive.org |
Episode Summary
Episode 12 of the Mystery Babylon series aired on WWCR shortwave on March 3, 1993, two days after episode 10 and one day after episode 11. Cooper opens with an announcement that has nothing to do with history: rumors have been circulating in shortwave and talk-radio circles that he is dead. He answers them with the Beach Boys and a dry aside that he has seen the light and turned it off. The historical content is again a continuous reading from Arkon Daraul’s A History of Secret Societies with Cooper’s commentary throughout.
The episode covers the full arc of the Templar suppression, from the first signs of royal resentment in the mid-thirteenth century through the arrest of virtually the entire French membership on Friday, October 13, 1307, the torture and trial proceedings that followed, and the burning of Grand Master Jacques de Molay at the stake in 1314. Along the way, Cooper draws connections to symbols, dates and institutions that he presents as surviving in the present day.
The reading opens with a scene from 1155. A body of Templars and other Christians, intercepted a fugitive Egyptian prince near Ascalon and sold him to his father’s enemies for sixty thousand gold pieces, leaving the young man to a death by protracted torture. Cooper uses this not to discredit the order but to establish the scale of Templar wealth and the moral indifference of men who operated outside ordinary legal and religious accountability. He then describes the 1162 Papal Bull Omne Datum Optimum, which released the Templars from all spiritual jurisdiction except the Holy See, permitted them their own burial grounds and chaplains, exempted them from tithes while allowing them to receive tithes, and made departure from the Order essentially impossible. Cooper calls this the Magna Carta of their power and traces the clerical resentment it produced, citing Henry III of England’s warning in 1252 that what was imprudently given must be prudently revoked. The Templar Grand Master’s reply, Cooper reads with evident admiration, was that the King would cease to be King if he infringed justice.
The account of Templar wealth accumulates through the episode: nine thousand preceptories by moderate reckoning, annual income put at six million pounds sterling, land and revenues in France, England, Portugal, Castile, Leon, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, Italy and Sicily. Cooper inserts that the individual members practiced genuine poverty under what he calls the world’s first international socialism, while the institution’s collective holdings dwarfed any kingdom. He also notes that the Hospitallers, though nominally a separate order, were, in his view, the same organization operating under a different name.
The initiation ceremony as Daraul reconstructs it occupies a substantial portion of the episode. Cooper reads every exchange in the ritual at length: the preliminary questioning about family lineage, debts, prior vows and lawful birth; the warning from the receptor that the candidate sees only the outward shell; the six promises sworn on the Gospels, covering obedience, chastity, observance of customs, aid in conquering Jerusalem, perpetual membership, and protection of Christian inheritance; the investiture with the white mantle and red cross; the chaplain reciting the 132nd Psalm; the kiss on the mouth from the Master and Chaplain. Cooper underscores the receptor’s warning that the candidate sees nothing but the outward shell of the Order, reading it twice and pausing after each reading. This, he tells listeners, is the key to understanding every secret society: the visible form conceals the real thing.
The charges assembled by Philip IV of France and his agents form the next major section. A degraded Templar named Squin de Flexian, imprisoned on unrelated charges, offered testimony in exchange for release. The ten main charges include denial of Christ on admission, spitting and trampling on the cross especially on Good Friday, a secret alliance with the Saracens, obscene initiation rites, and idolatry involving an entity called the Head of Baphomet. Cooper inserts a clarification: the Head of Baphomet was not an idol but a representation of the seat of the intelligence, the brain, the light, the gift of intellect. Additional charges introduced later claimed Templars worshiped a cat in their chapters and wore cords against their skin that had touched the idol, practices Cooper says survive in Freemasonry and in the Mormon Church.
The arrest operation is dated precisely. On September 12, 1307, sealed orders were dispatched to every royal officer in France. On the morning of Friday, October 13, 1307, almost every Templar in France was in custody. Cooper pauses on this date and gives it two separate glosses. First: this is where the legend of Friday the 13th as an unlucky day was born. Second: it was October, the first October surprise. Before the arrest, he asserts, the Templars had moved their treasure, wealth and relics out of France. None of the gold, jewels or relics recovered from the Holy Land were ever found by the crown.
The torture and trial phase lasted years. Thirty-six of the first hundred and forty prisoners in Paris died during examination. Confessions were extracted, retracted, re-extracted. Edward II of England initially called the charges incredible and wrote sympathetic letters to the kings of Portugal, Castile, Aragon and Sicily; he capitulated after Pope Clement V’s bull of November 22, 1307. Cooper highlights that date, November the 22nd, as one that has direct bearing on subsequent history he will address in later episodes. Nine hundred Templars in hiding came forward to testify in defense of the order; only nine knights came forward to testify at the formal proceedings. On March 22, 1313, the Pope suppressed the Order in secret consistory; on May 2, 1313, the bull was published and the order ceased officially to exist. Fifty-four knights who had volunteered to defend the Order were burned as relapsed heretics before the trials were formally complete. Cooper notes that the number fifty-four recurs later in history, sometimes as fifty-four plus one.
The episode closes with the burning of Jacques de Molay in 1314. De Molay and his companion Guy of Auvergne publicly recanted their confessions on the scaffold. Philip IV, on hearing this, immediately ordered them committed to the flames. Cooper adds the tradition that De Molay, burning, cursed both the Pope and the King of France, summoning them to appear before God within a short span of time, and that both were dead well within that period.
Key Claims Made in This Episode
- Cooper claims the Templar Skull and Bones burial symbol is the same symbol as that of the Yale Skull and Bones society and the pirate flag, showing direct lineage from the medieval order to modern institutions.
- Cooper claims the Templars moved their entire treasure out of France before the October 13, 1307 arrests, and that none of their gold, jewels or sacred relics recovered from Jerusalem were ever found by the crown.
- Cooper claims Friday the 13th became an unlucky day because of the October 13, 1307 arrest of the Templars, making it the first October surprise in recorded history.
- Cooper claims the Head of Baphomet was not an idol worshiped by the Templars but a representation of the seat of intelligence, the brain, the Luciferian light, the same object of veneration found throughout the ancient Mysteries.
- Cooper claims the cord allegedly worn against the skin by initiated Templars, touching the Baphomet idol, is still practiced by Freemasons and by the Mormon Church.
- Cooper claims the Hospitallers and the Templars were, beneath their public identities, a single organization, and that both survive in merged form in the present day.
- Cooper claims the Templars held the wealth equivalent to what he calls the world’s first international socialism, with their individual members practicing poverty while the institution’s collective holdings exceeded those of any European king.
- Cooper claims that November 22, 1307, the date Pope Clement V’s bull ordering Edward II to arrest the English Templars was sent, has direct bearing on later events in history he will address in future episodes.
- Cooper claims Jacques de Molay cursed both Philip IV and Pope Clement V from the stake in 1314, and that both were dead within the short period he named, meeting De Molay before God for final judgment.
Primary Sources Cited in This Episode
| Source | Status | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| A History of Secret Societies, Arkon Daraul (1961) | Not public domain; quoted on air at length, treated here under quotation only | Library copies; see our sources hub |
| William of Tyre, Historia Rerum in Partibus Transmarinis Gestarum (c. 1184) | Public domain (medieval text, cited via Daraul) | Search archive.org |
| Arabic Life of Saladin by Qadi Yusuf ibn Rafi ibn Shaddad (c. 1190s) | Public domain (medieval text, cited via Daraul) | Search archive.org translations |
Notable Quotes
And thus was born the legend that Friday the 13th is an unlucky day. And notice that it was October, Friday the 13th, the very first October surprise.
Cooper, MB12, March 3, 1993
None of the gold, none of their wealth, none of their jewels, none of their treasures, none of the relics that they had recovered from the Holy Land were ever found.
Cooper, MB12, March 3, 1993
Historians’ View
The suppression of the Knights Templar in 1307-1314 is well documented and broadly as Daraul describes. Academic historians regard the charges as a mixture of politically motivated fabrication and possible genuine heterodox practice; the Baphomet confessions are generally treated as products of torture rather than evidence of organized heresy. The claim that the Templars moved their treasure before the arrests is plausible but unverified; no treasure has been found, but no evidence of a pre-arrest transfer has been authenticated either. The connection between the Templar skull-and-crossbones burial practice and the Yale Skull and Bones society is asserted by Cooper without citation; mainstream historians do not trace that specific lineage. The November 22 date Cooper flags is the same as the 1963 Kennedy assassination; this connection is made explicit in later episodes. We document Cooper’s claims here; we do not endorse them.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Mystery Babylon episode 12 about?
Episode 12 covers the suppression of the Knights Templar: the growth of royal and papal resentment of the order’s wealth and independence, the arrest of nearly every Templar in France on October 13, 1307, the torture trials and forced confessions, and the execution of Grand Master Jacques de Molay in 1314. Cooper draws connections to Friday the 13th, the Skull and Bones, and dates he says recur in later history.
When did episode 12 first air?
March 3, 1993, on the Hour of the Time over WWCR shortwave radio, the third episode in as many days on the Assassin-Templar sequence.
What book does Cooper read from in episode 12?
The entire episode is read from Arkon Daraul’s A History of Secret Societies (1961), with Cooper’s commentary throughout. Daraul draws on medieval chroniclers including William of Tyre and the Arabic life of Saladin.
Where can I listen to episode 12?
The series is preserved on archive.org. We never host or distribute the audio ourselves; see our content policy.
Continue the Series
- Previous: MB11: The Assassins and The Templars
- Next: MB13: The Skull and Bones
- Topic hub: Knights Templar and the Assassins
- Related hub: Secret Societies
- Every dated claim from this episode appears on the series timeline
- Full index: Mystery Babylon Complete Episode Guide
- Background: Who was William Cooper?
- Books cited: Sources and bibliography
