Knights Templars and Freemasons.
—Can any of your readers inform me what connexion has ever existed between the Knights Templars and the Freemasons, as there is a degree in Freemasonry called the Knight Templar's degree? It is supposed that the persecuted Templars betook themselves to the Freemasons' lodges, and secured their protection. The two orders became closely connected, the succession of Grand Masters kept up, and the ritual of the Templars preserved. There is a French order of Knights Templars, which claims direct succession from Jacques de Molay, the last Grand Master of the original order; but the Freemasons say that this is a spurious body, and that the only legitimate claimants to representation of this once powerful order are the Freemasons.
I shall be glad if any of your readers can give such information as may aid my inquiries into this subject; or if they can furnish me with the titles of such works as are most likely to aid my researches. My object is to trace the history of the order of Knights Templars subsequent to the persecution and death of Jacques de Molay, and to ascertain the correctness of the statements of those who profess to be the proper representatives of the order.
E. A. H. L.
St. Christopher.
—Can any of the readers of "N. & Q." supply any information which will assist my researches into the real meaning of the representations of St. Christopher, which are so frequently found on the north walls of churches? I have read Mr. Duke's essay on the subject in the Prolusiones Historicæ, but do not quite agree in his view of the meaning which these singular paintings were intended to convey. Why should this saint, of whom so little is correctly known and of whom Alban Butler gives a very scanty account, occupy such a very important position in the iconography of the mediæval church, and which it appears has not been maintained by the Roman Catholics of the present day? I am quite aware of the doggrel lines occasionally found underneath these representations, ascribing extraordinary powers of cure to the picture when looked upon by the faithful; but I cannot think that this reason alone would have led to the adoption of this extraordinary representation in almost all our parish churches. Are there any known representations of St. Christopher in painted glass; if so, where?
E. A. H. L.
Arnold Bilson's Wife.
—Can any of your readers inform me who was "the daughter of the house of Bavaria" married to Arnold Bilson, great-grandfather of Thomas Bilson, Bishop of Winchester (who died 1616); and under what circumstances the marriage took place?
It seems there was some romance in the case, as, according to memorandum (Lib. Coll. Arm., c. 19. p. 48., and Harl. MS. 1101. p. 29. [1582]), the arms granted by the duke to his son-in-law were—"azure, per pole, a rose and thistle, pper;" crest, "a horn, or." This union of what I apprehend to be the royal and plebeian flowers, would seem to indicate that the husband was merely a "roturier;" and, indeed, the "horn" itself may point to his occupation, as it is the simple hunting instrument of the time.