The Knights Templar are Back

Chapter 1.1

The packages were uploaded onto the shoulders of the laborers from the beach to the top of a ravine where the men of the Scottish clans were waiting to arrange them in bullock carts. As the cars were filled, the alleged monks climbed to them, now brandishing unexpected swords, and undertook the journey to an unknown place in the hinterland. James looked engrossed the organized labor of so many men, unusual show in Scotland at that time even in military events.

Don Antonio Fonseca grasped the rope to overcome the effect of the violent pitching of the ship, which had produced him an almost continuous dizziness since they had left Porto twenty days before, only relieved by their short stay in the CaboVerde Islands. The year was 1535, and two months before he had left the monastery of Thoman near Santarem where he had spent the previous fifteen years. Don Antonio missed the orderly and peaceful life of the convent, in particular he missed Don Miguel, his superior and protector . However the mission that had been entrusted to him gave the monk great expectation and anxiety: to transfer boxes belonging to the Order of Christ from their site in Ribeira Grande to Salvador, off the coast of Brazil, a hamlet recently founded to which it had been attributed the rank of capital of the Portuguese colonies in South America.

Don Antonio, according to the Order´s customs, had not asked any questions about the contents and destination of the cargo, but legends, traditions and experience in the institution had convinced him that it was part of the treasure that the Order of Christ had inherited from the Knights Templar some centuries before when the latter disappeared from Portugal and all of Europe. He had a general idea of how the events had developed a few centuries earlier. Two of the ships that departed from La Rochelle had probably gone to Portugal, carrying only monks-warriors and their weapons to join the recently formed Order of the Knights of Christ. Years later, given the good reception that the Kingdom of Portugal had given the Templars, part of the metal treasure had been transferred to the monastery of Thoman, and another part to a fortress that another fugitive contingent had built up in the Norman Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. In both cases the purpose of the transfer was to finance two groups that shared both a common origin and eternal goals.

He sensed that the purpose was safekeeping those assets - whose existence was never formally recognized-because the Commandry that the Order of Christ had in Ribeiro Grande, Cape Verde islands in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, was no longer safe. Indeed, the archipelago, which for decades had been just one post on the route of the slaves taken to America, was now also used by English, French and Dutch pirates and corsairs due to its strategic location precisely on the road from America to the Iberian peninsula. The fear was that during their stay they would devote to the plundering of the Portuguese establishments including the Commandry.

When Pope Clement V disbanded the Knights Templar in 1314, the various kingdoms were quick to pursue the members residing in their territories and confiscate their property except King Diniz of Portugal, who without disobeying the Papal Bull took the matter with parsimony. Indeed, the Knights Templar had played a leading role in the liberation of Portugal from the Muslims and enjoyed high prestige among the population. Eventually, the king created in 1323 the Militia Christi Frates, or Order of the Knights of Christ, which incorporated immediately en bloc the Portuguese Templars and their property, as well as fugitive Templars from all Europe, especially France. They settled first in Castro Marino and in 1357 in Thoman. The Rules of the new Order were however different from the those of the Temple, as the purpose was to replace the legal and financial autonomy that they had enjoyed -and were seen as a threat by European monarchs- by the strict subordination of the monks to the king´s secular power. Indeed, the Portuguese Prince Henry the Navigator was eventually appointed as Grand Master of the new Order.

With the travel and colonization enterprises conducted by Enrique in Africa, the Order acquired a new role consistent with its fundamental mission: to bring Christianity to the Islamic parts of Africa, through war and evangelization. Many Commandries were opened in the African Atlantic coast, in what would ultimately become Portuguese colonies. Among them was the aforementioned establishment of Ribeira Grande, in the Cape Verde Islands.

Don Antonio approached the Commandry on foot  and was spotted from afar by the monks who guarded the high walls of the establishment. Within minutes a small delegation came to meet him, a sign that they were awaiting his arrival. One of the brothers approached riding a horse and insisted that made the last stretch mounted as a redress for all the hardships suffered in the hazardous journey from Portugal.

Knowing that there was no time to lose Antonio put to work immediately. Using the resources and the authority of the leaders of the local Commandry, he organized a trip of three ships, two of cargo and a small brig but bristling with cannons and escort . The chests were taken on board two days later, in the darkest part of the night in order to avoid the most prying and curious glances. They were located in the most inaccessible part of the cellars and were then covered by general cargo and supplies for the long trip. During the three extra days that took the preparation of the ships a discreet but heavily armed custody by members of the Order led by one of the most experienced men was placed on the ships and on the quayside.

One of the Portuguese merchant ships recently arrived in Cape Verde had reported the sighting of a fleet of Dutch pirate ships heading to the islands. Since the proximity of potentially hostile ships was dangerous, it was decided that the three vessels were put to sea two days earlier than originally planned, starting the adventure of crossing the Atlantic Ocean in a South-south-west direction after the footsteps of explorers, conquerors, military, some clerics and early settlers. The long trip to São Salvador da Bahia de Todos os Santos, then capital of the Portuguese possessions in the New World, known as Brazil, had begun.

Don Antonio opened his eyes with difficulty. The scorching tropical sun had covered the skin of the shipwrecked with sores, which despite being wet with seawater were infected with ease. The seven men aboard the boat were in a permanent state of lethargy, only momentarily relieved as they soaked their heads immersing them in water on the side of the boats. The worst punishment was thirst, and that the limited fresh water available was tightly rationed by the boatswain of the sunken ship.

The English ship pirate captain had treated with them with some consideration that he usually lacked when dealing with Spanish ships. After sinking by gunfire the armed brig that accompanied them the pirates had boarded the Sancti Spiritus in which Don Antonio was, while the other merchant vessel had been able to avert the attack and had taken flight, but on a course further South than the one leading to Salvador. Don Antonio knew of other Portuguese colonies in Brazil located south of Salvador.

The pirate had found with joy the chests hidden among the general cargo, and the good humor produced by the discovery had led him to clemency. The fleet consisting of the captured freighter and three English brigs had sailed to within a few hundred miles off the coast of Brazil, there the Portuguese surviving crewmembers of the merchant ship boarded some shallops, the pirates had given them some scanty provisions and water and they were abandoned. The pirates only kept the captain of the Sancti Spiritus as a hostage, because he was assumed to be member of a lofty family in Portugal and by whom they expected to obtain a big ransom. They never imagined that Don Antonio was in reality a Knight of the Order of Christ and what the reason for his stay on board was, taking him for some kind of monk.

The pirates had then set sail south, where far beyond the Portuguese possessions in Brazil and Spanish in the River Plate area, lay the vast terra incognita, known by the few who knew of its existence as Patagonia, a land of imprecise boundaries, almost totally uninhabited, and where according to the imagination of the time stood bases of pirates and privateers.

“Terra an estibordo!”

The cry of the helmsman of the shallop that was ahead woke all the castaways from their slumber. Having lost hope in the middle of the ocean immensity, its sudden revival produced a wave of enthusiasm. Prayers of praise and thanksgiving in several languages and dialects rose from the boats. Don Antonio looked to starboard and actually saw a faint, dark line that was undoubtedly a coast.

In the long drift on the boat with survivors Don Antonio had already conceived a plan that would consume every puff of his breath. If they could reach the mainland they would seek to reach Sao Salvador, as was the original purpose of the trip. In that village there was a Commandry of the Order of the Knights of Christ led by his old comrade Don Luiz. Antonio was determined to personally find the ship that had escaped from the pirates and had set sail for the coast of southern Brazil, take command of the Order members that were in it, and put in a safe place the part of the treasure that was in the ship. Moreover he would command Don Luiz to assemble an expedition in a couple of ships and follow and give chase to the English pirates, perhaps not at sea where pirates were in advantage, but rather in the dilated coasts of Terra Incognita. On land pirates would not be match for a body of well-armed Knights. Antonio had sufficient seniority to command his old friend such a risky mission but he knew in advance that his old comrade would welcome the proposed adventure.

When he heard the cry of the helmsman, a new breath filled Don Antonio´s lungs. The prospect of saving his life joined his desire to recover the treasure that had been entrusted to him.