ry, including the Charter of Larmenius, were genuine;
that the Order had never ceased to exist since the days of the Crusades;
that the Templar heresy was Johannism, but that this was not held by the
Templars who escaped to Scotland; that the Rose-Croix degree in its
purely Christian form was introduced by the Scottish Templars to
Scotland and four hundred years later brought by Ramsay to France; that
the Master of the Temple at this date was the Regent, Philippe Duc
d'Orleans, as stated in the Charter of Larmenius. Finally, that after
this, fresh Templar degrees were introduced from Germany by von Hundt,
acting on behalf of Frederick the Great.

2. That the documents produced by the _Ordre du Temple_ in the
nineteenth century were, as M. Matter declares, early eighteenth-century
fabrications; that although, in view of the tradition preserved in the
Royal Order of Scotland, there appears to be good reason to believe the
story of the Scottish Templars and the origin of the Rose-Croix degree,
the rest of the history of the Templars, including the Charter of
Larmenius, was an invention of the "Concealed Superiors" of the _Stricte
Observance_ in Germany, and that the most important of these "Concealed
Superiors" were Frederick the Great and Voltaire.

I shall not attempt to decide which of these two theories is correct;
all that I do maintain is that in either case the preponderating role in
Templarism at this crisis was played by Frederick the Great, probably
with the co-operation of Voltaire, who in his _Essai sur les Maeurs_
championed the cause of the Templars. Let us follow the reasons for
arriving at this conclusion.

Ramsay's oration in 1737 connecting Freemasonry with the Templars may
well have come to the ears of Frederick and suggested to him the idea of
using Masonry as a cover for his intrigues--hence his hasty initiation
at Brunswick. But in order to acquire influence in a secret society it
is always necessary to establish a claim to superior knowledge, and
Templarism seemed to provide a fruitful source of inspiration. For this
purpose new light must be thrown on the Order. Now, there was probably
no one better qualified than Voltaire, with his knowledge of the ancient
and medieval world and hatred of the Catholic Church, to undertake the
construction of a historical romance subversive of the Catholic
faith--hence the urgent summons to the philosopher to visit Frederick.
We can imagine Voltaire delving amongs