Speculative Swiss-mania (Pt. I): Red Cross, Templar Diaspora, Knights Hospitaller, Grand Orient de France, Masonic Alpine Lodges, & the Perpetuation of Warfare (TASTER)

Welcome back to ParaPower Mapping. Subscribe to the PPM Patreon to access the full, unabridged version of this unhinged, topsy turvy time-jumping investigation into a possible Knights Templar - Hospitaller - Rosicrucian - Masonic - Red Cross society continuum: patreon.com/ParaPowerMapping "Speculative Swiss-mania (Pt. I)" includes discussions of the following: A secret history of the Red Cross; the possibility that Catholic military orders like the Knights Templar & Hospitaller served as the blueprint for the RC's Swiss founders; John D. Rockefeller's involvement in the ARC's founding in Dansville, NY; conspiracy theories that the Old Swiss Confederacy is rooted in a diaspora of Templar knights; a disclaimer about the apparent "Holy Blood Holy Grail", Priory of Sion, & Dan Brown influence on this idea; early unification of Swiss cantons occurring around the Templar inquisition & persecution; geographical proximity; Templars purportedly aiding Swiss countryfolk in combat the 1300s; the preemptive removal of the Templar treasure horde from Paris; the banking connection; overland Templar trade routes thru the Alps; Templar "letters of credit"; Templar symbols appearing in Swiss cantons & heraldry; the whole square flag thing (Swiss & Vatican); the Red Cross being the insignia of both the Templars & Hospitallers & an inversion of the Swiss flag; the Geneva Convention stipulation enforcing nurses to wear Red Cross armlets on the battlefield; the Conventions ratifying international neutrality for medical workers, field hospitals, & the wounded—essentially deciding the etiquette of modern warfare; Red Cross founder Henri Dunant & his Calvinist upbringing in Geneva; the Austro-Sardinian War & battle of Solferino; the Committee of Five; Red Cross founder & Swiss General Guillaume Henri-Dufour, who served under Napoleon & taught his nephew at a military academy; the "neutrality" angle, another indicator of potential Templar & Hospitaller influence on both Swiss history & the Red Cross; RC General Dufour presiding over the first Geneva Convention; Knights Hospitaller's express purpose of providing care to pilgrims & the wounded during Crusades; King Philip le Bel's betrayal of the Knights Templar in 1309; his effective assassination of Pope Boniface; the geopolitical games that informed the obliteration of the Templars, namely King Philip's attempts to weaken the Papacy & consolidate his power; his struggle for territory in Gascony w/ English King Edward, foreshadowing historical trends in British-French relations that we'll explore via the lens of French-Scottish Masonic ties & infighting b/w the aforementioned & British Masonry; King Philip's secret Scottish pact; Jacques de Molay's curse; Hellfire Club founder the Duke of Wharton's seminal role in founding the Grand Orient de France (Masonic); his Jacobitism & support of the "Old Pretender"; Wharton's rakish travels w/ a Calvinist tutor in Switzerland; the Masonic "Great Schism" in the late 1800s & the Lausanne Conference of 1875, where Swiss Masons were employed in mediating international Masonic deliberations focused on reframing the Scottish Rite & revising its charter; Switzerland's admittedly curious role as mediator on the world stage; Scottish & French Masons aiding the nascent US during the War of Independence; King Philip the Fair marrying his sister Margaret off to King Edward = the germ of the Hundred Years War; the first Estates-General being summoned during Philip's power struggle w/ Pope Boniface; Pope Boniface's abduction & the installation of Pope Clement leading to the abolition of the Knights Templar & the Templar Inquisition; etc. Songs: | Iron Maiden - "Montsegur" | | Pungent Stench - "Hidden Empire" |