Eighteen years before the King of France attacked and destroyed the Templar Order, King Denis of Portugal signed the Concordat of Fourty Articles with Pope Clement V swearing to protect the Roman Catholic Church's interests in Portugal. So while the French King was trying to destroy the Church's power in France, the Portuguese King was committing its loyalty to the Church. Importantly, in 1317, ten years after the Templars were arrested in France, King Denis started the formation of the Portuguese Navy. Two years later he created the "Order of Christ", which was formed from surviving Templars. In 1319, Denis successfully lobbied Pope John XXII to formally recognize the new order, and most importantly its right to inherit the Templar assets and property - which would of course include the treasures on Oak Island.
King Denis of Portugal "Father of Portugal"
Over a hundred years earlier, the Teutonic Knights were founded as a "hospitaller" order in the Holy Land by a prominent German businessmen, at which time they were named "The Order of Brothers of the German House of St. Mary in Jerusalem". (a long name indeed) In 1190, while still in the Holy Land, Acre to be exact, the order was rebranded as a Roman Catholic military order named the Teutonic Knights. The order controlled such important things as tolls charged in the harbour of Acre, and was recognized officially by the Pope in Rome. The order also became a naval power in the Black Sea, and purchased Montfort Castle, which was north east of Acre. With this strategic position, the Teutonic Knights controlled the route from Jerusalem to the Mediterranean Sea. They held onto the castle until 1271, at which time they were forced to retreat to port city of Acre during the collapse of the Catholic Church's control of the Holy Land.
The port fort of Acre
After the war in the Holy Land, the Teutonic Knights focused their energies on eastern Europe - the modern areas of Poland, Ukraine, and the Baltic States. In 1309, two years after the Templar mass arrest, the Teutonic Knights purchased the castles of Gdansk, Swiecie and TcKew, and the surrounding areas. Eventually the Order went to war with Poland, which was ended by the Treaty of Kalisz in 1343. In 1346, the Duchy of Estonia was sold by the King of Denmark to the Knights for 19,000 Cologne Marks. Clearly the Knights Templar were a Roman Catholic military order with a lot of wealth after their withdrawal from the Holy Land.
Suffice it to say that by the time the Catholic military orders had fled the Holy Land they were a force that controlled vast military power in Europe, and had combined navies greater than that of an single nation. The Templar gold that was stored at Acre before its fall, in the hands of left the hands of these two orders. Whether the gold went first to the Templar controlled island of Cyprus, or the Church controlled island of Malta, or any other place, is still unknown. However, one thing is certain: a massive naval operation would have been necessary to evacuate not just the gold, but also all the troops that were stationed there. Such a massive naval exercise would have required the fleets of both the Templars and the Teutonic Knights.
In 1420, after nearly a hundred years after its creation, "Henry the Navigator" became the Grand Master of the Knights of Christ. Henry was known for bringing map makers from around Europe to modernize the maps known to the world at that time. Also, and importantly, Henry directed a new class of ship, the Caravel, be developed, which was fast, maneuverable and could sail into winds. The new ships were sent into the Atlantic, and on their sails they carried the Knights of Christ's cross. Henry's primary objective with these ships was to master the trade winds of the Atlantic, which would mean direct travel across the ocean, rather than the need to follow shorelines. In a sense, he was copying King Solomon's efforts to cross directly to Ophir rather than take the much longer trip around the continent of Africa.
By 1347 we know, by Zena's Map, that only very initial work had started on the Oak Island project. It appears by that time the Templars had taken over responsibility for guarding of the holy treasures for the Catholic Church. It also appears likely that they removed the Holy Treasures from its initial resting place on lot 5, and created a new resting place in the "vault under the ground" for it. It also appears that the Templars were starting a new excavation on the south east of the swamp. All this being noted thirty years after the Templars had been arrested. Zena's Map also makes it clear that the swamp at that time was dry land and was not used for naval purposes. The "death triangle", used for offloading boats, etc. was on the other side of the island - which was safely protected from the waves and winds of Mahone Bay. At this point we don't know how much of the Acre/India gold was able to be stored on Oak Island. Given the excavations noted on Zena's Map, it would appear that only a limited amount of gold could be stored there at that time - unless it was superficially buried before its permanent residence was ready.
When the Knights of Christ took over from the Templars in the early 1300's the operation on Oak Island simply continued as before. The Knights of Christ, likely with the help of the Teutonic Knights navy, continued to extract gold from southern India. It should be noted that Zena's Map refers to the southern Indians, and that was thirty years after the fall of the Templars. Therefore, it is logical to conclude that the relationships between southern India and the Knights of Christ survived the collapse of the Templars.
It was the Knights of Christ that stopped using the sheltered northern side of Oak Island for the exposed south side. From a construction point of view, the southern side of the island offered an easier place to dock large ships. The knights of Christ started a massive excavation in what we now know as the swamp. Specifically, they excavated the eastern side of the swamp to create a harbour deep enough to accommodate the larger ships of the time, which the smaller Roman and Templar boats did not need. Take note of the Lidar image below and the steep cuts to the eastern bank of the swamp:
There would be no need to excavate the eastern side of the swamp to make it deeper other than for the purpose of creating a harbour, and it has clearly been excavated. Further evidence for a port is the so-called "stone road". It is established that this "road" was built by the Portuguese some 500 years ago at least - likely older than that. The "road" is in fact a sea wall to shelter the ships in the harbour from wind driven seas - which has been a common practice for centuries. What is most interesting is how the peninsula protruding into the middle of the swamp from the eastern side is almost at the same angle as the stone sea wall, which further proves it was a sea wall. Next to the peninsula is the flattened stone area at the north of the swamp. The logical deduction is that the peninsula was used as the docking area, and the goods were off loaded onto the flattened stone wharf next to it. From there the goods were moved onto the land via the ramp found right next to the stone area.
The Oak Island harbour site. Take note of the stone roads built and where they lead to...
The Portuguese stone sea wall.
Colombo Fort/Harbour built by the Portuguese in the 1500's
The Colombo Fort harbour was built as a permanent place, although the Portuguese disassembled the port, only to rebuild it 50 years later. The Oak Island harbour was never built to be a permanent port requiring security from other navies. It was built in a location unknown to most of the world, with the sole purpose of functioning as a depository. When it had served its purpose the Portuguese would also "disassemble" it, but in this case they used the sea wall as an anchor for filling in the harbour to hide its existence. It should also be noted that a settlement of sorts appears in Lidar images on the western hill next to the swamp, which would look out over the harbour area, not unlike the the image of the Colombo Fort above.
The blue area is the general outline of the settlement area, and the yellow area is the location on Zena's Map of the vault buried under the earth. Take note of the path leading from the yellow/blue area to the corner of the swamp. These paths (not the road) appear to be oxen paths for dumping mining debris in the swamp area.
The Knights of Christ and the Teutonic Knights continued to excavate and ship gold to Oak Island for centuries after the Oak Island excavation. Unlike the Roman days, they sailed directly across the ocean to Oak Island, which kept their activities even more of a secret. Their navy's movements could not be tracked by their visiting of ports along a coastal route. In 1501 Pope Julius II introduced a tax on the Knights of Christ's income of three quarters of their income, and abolished the need for them to swear an oath of poverty. Thus, the Catholic Church essentially privatized the order, but taxed it heavily. That was the trade off. Therefore, Oak Island served as a convenient "tax haven" for the order. What the Church didn't know about could not be taxed, giving the planet its first off shore tax haven.
The Portuguese Crown eventually decided that the gold of southern India, along with its spices and other natural resources, would become the property of the Portuguese Crown. In 1498, Portuguese explorer Vasco De Gama, a member of the Knights of Christ, was officially the first Portuguese to land in India. He landed in southern India, in Goa. In 1505 the Portuguese began their official occupation of southern India, which lasted until 1961. In a real sense, the De Gama visit to India marked the end of the Roman Catholic Church's monopoly of southern India's gold. The occupation merely seven years later by the Portuguese was their statement of taking over the Roman/Catholic/Templar/Teutonic/Knights of Christ role as keepers of the Oak Island secret and treasure - namely the body of Christ, the Ark of the Covenant, and the Temple treasures. That doesn't include the largest gold treasure in history.
In 1551 Pope Julius III granted the order "perpetual administration" to the King of Portugal, which further distanced the order from the Roman Catholic Church. In 1522, by Papal order, the order of Knights of Christ was divided in two: a religious order under the control of the Pope; and a civil order under the King. In 1523, Jerome Friars were ordered by the Pope to reform the order of the Knights of Christ. By 1529 new statutes applying to the order were approved, and all documents of the order were ordered destroyed. The remaining Knights were ordered to return to convent life. In 1567, Pope Pius V gave control of the convents of the order to its Grand Master.
The Portuguese continued to hold onto their possession of Oak Island, and its treasure, until 1580, when the Roman Catholic Spanish monarchy defeated Portuguese, French and British forces. This marked the end of the rogue Catholic orders control and development of Oak Island. After the Spanish victory in the War of Portuguese Succession, Phillip II of Spain assumed the Portuguese Crown in 1581, and Portugal and its oversees territories became his possessions - including Oak Island. Spain now held the treasure of Oak Island, and therefore control of its secrets. Please remember that the holder of the Oak Island secrets necessarily held a position of power over other countries and the Catholic Church by the virtue of its contents. The power was now in a very Catholic friendly country. In a sense it represented the return of the treasure to the Roman Catholic Church's influence. Until this time, the Templars in Britain, France and their descendants in Portugal had been in charge. Now it was Spain who became the new defender of the faith, and holder of the secret.
Phillip II of Spain
The Spanish contribution to the Oak Island treasure, if any, is not known at this time. Findings on Oak Island suggest the Spanish were present on the Island in the 1600's. Several Spanish coins point to this fact. Importantly, Spanish coins were found in the swamp. Given the history of the Oak Island project, it would seem reasonable to conclude that the Spanish had a hand in "filling in the swamp". Beyond that possible contribution, there is little other evidence of their presence on Oak Island. There is also plenty of evidence that suggests the Portuguese were very active on Oak Island until they were defeated by the Spanish.
A QUICK NOTE: As I am writing this series the show has been running last seasons results. I was interested to note that in episode 17 the team found a lead stick which their analyst found the item came from the Scandinavian region. While it is very unlikely, as the show suggested, that Vikings were hanging out with Templars on Oak Island, it does lend credence to the theory that the Teutonic Knights were present on Oak Island.
CONCLUSIONS:
1. The Knights of Christ and the Teutonic Knights played a significant role in the Oak Island operation. Clearly, the Templars would have not been able to move all the Indian gold they held at Acre without the naval assistance of the Teutonic Knights. It is also evident that excavations at Oak Island were still rudimentary by 1347, which necessarily means the Knights of Christ did most of the work after that.
2. The Knights of Christ were the primary developer of the underground complex on Oak Island, they finished the excavations in the bed rock where the treasures are stored, using Southern Indian labour and know how, and left Nolan's Cross and the other surveying markers in place when they left. The purpose of leaving these markers, especially Nolan's Cross, was to provide a treasure map for the future. In other words, this treasure was meant to be found and not lost to history. The Knights of Christ built Nolan's Cross, and the proof of that is coming in the next part to this series. Suffice it to say for now that Nolan's Cross, in conjunction with other geometric symbols, pin point the exact spot of the treasure, and therefore only those that had completed the under ground complexes would know where that spot would be. That could not have been the Templars. The Knights of Christ also built a sheltered harbour at Oak Island, which also could not have been built by the Templars - given Zena's Map.
3. The Crown of Portugal, and the country as a whole benefitted significantly from their collaboration with the remnants of the Templars, which became the Knights of Christ. King Denis, who provided the Templars a new base and name, was formally known in history as the "Father of Portugal", and the Knights of Christ had everything to do with this. The Portuguese Crown took over the gold trade from Southern India from the Knights of Christ, and Portugal became a major player in the world (and rich) - especially in the maritime and colonization world.
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