Freddy Silva is a leading researcher of alternative history, ancient knowledge, sacred sites, and the interaction between temples and consciousness. He has appeared on Discovery Channel, BBC, and Coast to Coast AM radio. He is the author of 5 books and lives in Portland, Maine.

1 1125. An oak table in a large hall in a small county named Portugale . . .
2 1095. November. In the Auvergne, a mountainous region in central France . . .

3 1096. August. Constantinople, capital of the Holy Roman empire . . .

4 1096. August. With the northern army, preparing to depart . . .

5 1098. On the desert road near Antioch . . .

6 140 BC. In a land in western Iberia called Lusitania . . .

7 1099. June. Outside the gates of Jerusalem . . .

8 Thirty years earlier. Orval. A town downriver from Bouillon . . .

9 1114. Braga. A very old city in Portugale . . .

10 1100. Jerusalem. In the palace of the new king . . .

11 1100. Braga. Hearing foreign voices . . .

12 1117. Bethlehem. At a ceremony . . .

13 1117. Guimarães. In the court of Countess Tareja . . .

14 1126. Clairvaux. A very, very, very modest abbey in Champagne . . .

15 Seven Years Earlier. Clairvaux. A special moment on June 24 . . .

16 1125. Late Autumn. Porto. Disembarking after a long sea voyage . . .

17 1127. Autumn. Aboard a galley in the Mediterranean . . .

18 1128. April. Braga. An office where lots of documents are signed . . .

19 1128. January. A major gathering at Troyes, a town in Champagne . . .
20 1128. Back in Clairvaux. Upon the conclusion of the conclave . . .

21 1128. April. A chamber in the royal residence of Guimarães . . .

22 1128. Meanwhile in Champagne . . .

23 1128. June 24 A battlefield outside Guimarães . . .

24 1129. March. Afonso reveals himself . . .

25 1139. Ourique. Preparing to battle the Moors . . .

26 1139. Clairvaux. Early dawn, outside the chapel . . .

INTERMEZZO

27 1867. Jaffa. A mule train heading toward Jerusalem . . .

28 1146. Coimbra. At home with Afonso and his new bride . . .

29 1147. April. Braga. The mysterious Prior Arnaldo in his new abode . . .
30 1119. Temple Mount. A tunnel, eighty feet beneath . . .

31 1147. Braga. Gualdino Paes also moves into his new domicile . . .

32 1121. Saint-Omer. In the home of a cryptographer named Lambert . . .
33 1947. Qumran. Two goatherds, in a cave, by the Dead Sea . . .

34 1159. Ceras. A pile of rubble near a dilapidated town . . .

35 68 AD. Mount Sion. Men in white, hiding scrolls and other important things . . .

36 1159. Coimbra. The king of Portugal’s desk, part I . . .

37 1159. Coimbra. The king of Portugal’s desk, part II . . .

38 1159. Coimbra. The king of Portugal’s desk, part III . . .

39 1160. March 1. A dawn ceremony on the promontory above Thamar . . .
40 Present Era. April. Inside the rotunda of Tomar . . .

41 1865. The Vatican. Pope Pius IX gets all steamed up . . .

42 Present Era. April. By the rotunda, amid the secrets of the beehive . . .

43 Present Era. April. Musing outside the beehive . . .

44 1165. Monsanto. Peculiar behavior on an unusual hill . . .

45 Present Era. Monsanto. And other places for musing . . .

46 1147. Sintra. A funny thing happens on the way to the castle . . .

47 Present Era. Sintra. In the Forest of Angels . . .

48 Present Era. April. In the shadow of a statue in Tomar . . .

49 1153. Gossip in the alleyways of Jerusalem . . .

50 1312. Southern Portugal. The templars enjoy a six-year vacation . . .

51 Present Era. Aksum. A feast day when the Tabotat are seen in daylight . . .

52 Present Era. Tomar. Staring at the rotunda . . .

53 Present Era. A circular hall in a small country named Portugal . . .

EPILOGUE

Lusitania. Where knowledge is stored, guarded by a goddess whose symbol is a triangle . . .

Notes

Bibliography

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Index

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