Materials for Interiors Wood

Hardwood Wood is the oldest construction material known to humanity. Before man had made advances enabling him to use brick and mortar, wood presented the viable stating place because of its relative abundance and ease of working.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Materials for Interiors: Wood specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Almost all cultures have a history of working with wood for various applications. In ancient times, the Chinese stand out as experts on wood technology. However, all civilizations claim equal stake in developing wood applications in their localities. Hardwood grows naturally in different parts of the world. It is the main raw material for hardwood flooring. Woodcutters obtain the wood from forests and saw it into planks for use as a flooring material. Natural properties of wood limit the size of each plank because wood naturally expands and contracts when there are variations in tempe rature and humidity. Wood grows naturally in most parts of the world. Different climatic conditions favor different species of wood. Therefore, each continent has certain species unique to it, classified as either hardwood or softwood. In general, hardwood provides a more durable material because of its density and best fits as a material for wooden floors. It take longer to mature thereby making its sustainable management more difficult compared to softwood. Wood is a renewable resource. Hardwood trees take much longer than softwood trees to mature. This makes their sustainability more difficult to establish compared softwood trees. Nevertheless, with good management, hardwood stocks are a sustainable resource that can last for many generations. In the world, America has the best sustainability practices for its hardwood stocks (American Hardwood Export Council). Wood is sustainable because it is possible to grow them afresh after harvesting. â€Å"The U.S. hardwood sawmilling and processing industry, the largest in the world, depends upon the hardwood forests of the United States for the widest range of temperate hardwood species in the world† (American Hardwood Export Council).Advertising Looking for research paper on art and design? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Hardwood forests constitute forty percent of all forest cover in the United States. The forests provide raw materials for different applications including flooring. The species used for making hardwood-flooring boards include, oak, walnut, pine, cherry, teak, and maple. The possible applications for any type of wood depend on its density and its physical appearance. Denser woods provide an ideal material for heavy uses such as flooring on high traffic areas, construction of external doors and durable furniture among others. Softwood trees on the other hand lend themselves for use as materials for lighter uses. While softwood timber i s useable for flooring, it wears out faster making it is less attractive as a flooring material. The installation of a wooden floor is a skilled job. They key pre-installation advice is, â€Å"store flooring where it will be installed† (Peterson Engel 15). This ensures that the wood adapts to the humidity in its surroundings. Otherwise, the floor may buckle if the wood has lesser humidity during installation, or it may develop gaps if it has at a higher humidity. Asphalt felt, put between the flooring base and the wooden flooring, provides appropriate protection from humidity for the wood. The wood may be pre-finished or requires finishing after installation. Comparison of Hardwood and Bamboo Flooring One of the materials very similar to hardwood applicable to flooring is bamboo. Bamboo is actually a grass or reed-type plant and not a wood despite its classification as a type of wooden floor. It has very good sustainability credentials because it regenerates after five years and its cultivation results in very little environmental damage. The comparison of wood and bamboo brings to the fore some of its superior natural qualities. Bamboo â€Å"offers both hardness and resilience and is both dimensionally stable and moisture resistant† (Bonda Sosnowchik 133). Compared to maple, its hardness is thirteen percent higher, while it exceeds the hardness oak by twenty seven percent. Bamboo has much better moisture resistance because of its natural structure.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Materials for Interiors: Wood specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Cost, availability, durability, and ease of maintenance influence the choice between hardwood flooring and bamboo flooring. Depending on the production process, the cost between the two materials may be significant. Bamboo offers better durability especially for heavy use areas while it also requires less maintenance because o f its resilience. However, depending on preference, wood provides more options for design in terms of color, finishes, sizing, and remains more adaptable than bamboo. Hardwood flooring and bamboo have the same maintenance requirements. They require vacuuming after the removal of loose dirt. Good maintenance practice requires the immediate drying of water or liquids that spill on them. New finishing coats and polishing may be necessary from time to time to maintain their natural look and ensure their long-term protection. The main advantages of hardwoods are flexibility of design and variety. Since hardwoods come in large pieces, their shaping may be into any number of shapes and sizes, within design limits. They do not handle humidity changes very well though. Bamboo on the other hand has very attractive natural qualities with good moisture resistance and admirable durability. The main limitation of bamboo is that its natural shape is very limiting to design. Works Cited American Ha rdwood Export Council. U.S. Hardwood Species. 2002. 19 March 2010 https://www.americanhardwood.org/en/american-hardwood/. Bonda, Penny and Katie Sosnowchik. Sustainable Commercial Interiors. New York, NY: John Wiley and Sons, 2007.Advertising Looking for research paper on art and design? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Peterson, Charles and Andy Engel. Wood Flooring: A Complete Guide to Layout, Installation Finishing. Newtown, CT: Taunton Press, 2010. This research paper on Materials for Interiors: Wood was written and submitted by user Nathanael R. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. 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Free sample - The major healthcare problem in the USA. translation missing

The major healthcare problem in the USA. The major healthcare problem in the USAOver the years, there has been an increase in the number of uninsured people in the US. Most of these people are those that are aged. Two to three centuries back, most of the people that were dying were the young people which meant that there were very few aging people to worry about. However, due to medical, surgical and other advances made in the field of medicine and related fields, the numbers of aging people in the carry has increased tremendously. If many people are uninsured and they live longer, the burden of the services that will be required for these aged people will be very great on the government. The government currently spends a lot of funds in providing these services to the old people.   Due to this, there is a need to develop proper ways to insure most people and take care of the welfare of the old and aging people in the society. I believe the following three ways can be very useful in achieving this. 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Aging prevention The government should invest more on projects that are meant to reduce or completely prevent the aging process. This will make it possible for more people to continue working despite their age and hence an increase in the number of people insured. 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Disease prevention and self-care The government should develop proper methods to ensure that the citizens are well informed about how to prevent the normal and avoidable diseases. The government should also sensitize people on the importance of self-care. These two will ensure that most people fall ill less often hence reduction in the cost of health services needed. 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Improve services for aging people The government should also make sure that the healthcare centers have the required facilities and expertise to handle the aging people and the common problems and diseases related to aging. Conclusion If the above solutions are followed and properly implemented, then they will help in the reduction of this big problem in the healthcare sector of the country.

Prevent hospital-acquired Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus Dissertation

Prevent hospital-acquired Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) - Dissertation Example In this study a specific number of variables are studied. The data used in the quantitative research are based on various measurements with the help of structured and validated data collection instruments. Quantitative study aims at identifying the statistical relationship between variables. This type of study is focused on a narrow lens and tailored for testing specific hypotheses. Statistical reporting with correlations, mean comparison and relying on statistical findings is the crux of quantitative research (Qualitative versus quantitative research, n.d.). The process of qualitative research is dedicated towards exploring issues, understanding the phenomenon of the topic of research. Subsequently it aims at answering questions. The process of qualitative approach occurs in an everyday basis and takes place in and around every workplaces and study environment. For executing qualitative research, the approaches that are utilized are mainly analysis of unstructured data which include s open ended survey questions, literature reviews, audio recordings and searching of web pages and databases (What is qualitative research, n.d.). Among them literature review is an indispensable part in research and in nursing research it is of high importance. Importance of literature review in nursing research A literature review can be referred to as a critical summary of research on a topic. It concentrates on the ways in which the researchers address a topic. Literature review is a critical summary addressing various useful approaches of research. Literature review occurs in two preliminary parts . The first part is in devising a search strategy and secondly identification of various kinds of resources that will suit the information required for addressing the research question. Secondary sources are mainly preferred which include books, reference books, journals, conference papers , government publications and so on(Performing a Literature Review, n.d.). In nursing, research carries much significance. In the recent years a majority part of them is reflected towards the changing perception of the nurse’s education. With research initiation the nurses have become more prone to research and have found out ways in the improving the quality care provided to the patients. From the studies of Hungler in 1997, research allows the nurses in questioning their practice finding answers and thus applying them in their respective areas. Literature review acts a way for making the current study into the context of what is known previously. From that the decisions associated with the particular type of tool application for the best outcome of the patients is known (The Importance of Research to Nursing, 2012). So in this paper the importance of literature review lies in the fact that they will be able to help us in exploring the ways of treating HA- MRSA and find out the most effective and optimal ways of reducing the spread of HA-MRSA. Critical Literature Revie w From the studies of Kyale in 1995 for the selection of proper methodology things like the role of validity, reliability and generalizability are questioned. Within the study of naturalistic dimension the the philosophy of reality validating knowledge has been generally eliminated. There has been a generation of confusion regarding the association of rationalistic as well as naturalistic

Explain The raise and the fall of keynesianism Essay

Explain The raise and the fall of keynesianism - Essay Example This stems from the belief that unemployment is a result of insufficient demand for services and goods. This view was neoclassical and is defined as a ‘demand-side’ theory whose focus is short-run, in which aggregate demand strongly influences economic output especially during economic fluctuations such as recessions. Keynesianism was so much attached to the government policies in its advocacy (Keynes and Krugman, 2007). Keynes asserted that investment is a dynamic factor that determines the height of economic activity by responding to future expectations as well as interest rate variations. In this sense, he maintained that full employment could be fostered through deliberate action by the government. Such direct government influence on goods and services demand could be in terms of changing public expenditures and tax policies. The rise of Keynesian economics took place during later periods of World War II, the Great Depression, as well as the economic expansion after the war that is from around 1945 to 1973. Keynesianism was portrayed as a rational, beneficial, scientific advance in economic management providing a basis for triumphing over the crisis of capitalism and creation of just capitalist societies (Keynes and Krugman, 2007). The theories proposed by Keynes in the course of and after World War II gained worldwide influence and their adoption was an integral part of establishing new patterns of relations between labour and capital. This forms the basis on which the term Keynesianism is used often in broad reference to patterns of economic and political relations, which are associated with those policies and theories. The broad concept of employment, curiosity, and money proved to be a unique contribution that was acceptable to economic and political establishments propagating the spread of Keynes’s policies as well as theoretical ideas. Keynes was keen to oppose his theories to and

Two Author Response Letter Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Two Author Response Letter - Research Paper Example Bacevich adds that the draft creates a division between the rich and the poor, and since the last draft allowed higher class citizens to receive letters that exempt them from military service as noted by an anonymous New York Times editorial, this is a legitimate concern for lower class families who have seen what the loss of family members is like in past wars that are not easily forgotten even after decades. Bacevich has argued that the draft is necessary because the relationship between American families and the military is so estranged that the option for voluntary military service will generate shortages in the military from now on. However, there are other ways that the government could enlist the help of American citizens without requiring military service. Other service industries, such as AmeriCorps could be considered for enlisting the help of American Citizens. This would prompt more adults to join, since much of the work would be completed domestically. This would also en able more women to help, and encourage families to volunteer together. This would also satisfy military leaders, because it would leave the military to highly skilled soldiers and training and free up those soldiers for more appropriate military responsibilities. Another argument Bacevich provides in support of the reinstatement of the draft, stating that a reinstatement of the draft would give the power back to the people about where and why the U.S. goes to war. However, the anonymous New York Times editorial argues that it’s too late for the people to hope to gain back power over the military movements of the U.S., even with the reinstatement of the draft. The amount of legislation it would take to revert power back to the people makes it improbable that such a drastic change would be made, especially with the opposition that would exist in Congress and the White House. In conclusion, the reinstatement of the draft would alienate American households from the military and t he government by creating a feeling of mistrust and injustice from the lower class families who are sending their children and fathers into direct danger. Secondly, the shortages in the military can be amended by creating more positive relationships between the military and American families. This can be achieved by giving Americans a sense that their views on where and why war should be engaged are respected by the government. Also, the production of other types of American organizations designed to alleviate the domestic workload of the military could be offered to give citizens the opportunity to serve their country domestically. These steps would generate a higher popularity for the military with the citizens and allow the government to restore faith to the people. The reaction would probably generate a higher amount of volunteers for military service and effectively eliminate the problem that prompted you to send the bill proposal in the first place. I appreciate your time and would like to hear your plans for addressing this matter in the near future. Sincerely, Anonymous. (2006). Rejecting the draft. The New York Times. Retrieved on October 14, 2011 from http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/21/opinion/21tue1.html Bacevich, A. (2007). The failure of an

Critical Analysis On Organizational Change Management Management Essay

Critical Analysis On Organizational Change Management Management Essay In recent years organisations are required to make changes for their survival. It is very important to response quickly to the modern technological advancement and competition to internal and external levels (Edmonds, 2011). So change is the regular experience in private and governmental organisation for its development. The purpose of this study is to analyse the issues of managing organisational change by various approaches. The essay will argue in brief on resistance to change and how it is handled for successful implementation of a change programme by reviewing related literature on the issue. It will more study on the ability of successful management of organisational change. In this paper, there are three main sections. First of all, change is defined on the basis of development. Then influencing factors and resistance to change are briefly discussed in two following sections. Finally, managing resistance is discussed before conclude. What is change and why change? Change is defined as any alteration of the status quo (Bartol and Martin, 1994;199). Organisational change may be defined as new ways of organizing and workingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.. (Dawson, 2003; Cited by Hughes, 2006). Breu and Benwell (1999), Ragsdell (2000) as well as Bamford and Forrester (2003), define organisational change as the process of moving an organisation from some present status to new status whether it is planned or unplanned. Organisational change is a form of difference from its long term old position to introduce a new idea and action for better performance and adjustment of new environment (Schalk et al.,1998). From different perspectives , we can observe different types of changes but in generally organisational changes can be classifieds into two types- incremental and radical (Ragsdell, 2000; McAdam, 2003; Milling Zimmermann, 2010). Literature argues that the incremental change is a small scale change on its present structure and functions which is continuous, on the other hand radical change involves a large-scale basic change (McAdam, 2003; Cunha, et al, 2003; Romanelli Tushman, 1994). Furthermore, Beugelsdijk et al (2002) argue that, organisational change process initially begins with radical change and follow the incremental change that creates a prospect or a threat. In contrast, Del Val and Fuentes (2003) state that change is a general procedure of response to organisational settings because real changes are not only incremental or transformational but also a mixture of both. However Bamford and Forrester (2003) have further classified organisational change as planned and emergents.The planned approach organisational change highlights the different status which an organisation will have to shift from an unacceptable position to recognised desired position (Eldrod II and Tippett, 2002). The emergent approach change suggests that it is an unpredictable and undesirable continuous process of adjustment to changing circumstances (Burnes, 2004). But uncertainty of circumstances create emergent approach more significant than the planned approach (Bamford and Forrester, 2003). So, it is import to any organisation to identify the requirements for its prospects, and how to deal with the required changes and it is the inseparable strategy of an organisation (Burnes, 2004). Managerial proficiency is very much needed for successful change (Senior, 2002). Although for the existence and effective competition successful management of change is highly required (Luecke, 20 03). Influencing Factors : Hughes (2006) argues that, different factors can influence organisational changes, from the effect of internal control, to external rolls in consumer behaviour, or changing the business settings. The most common reasons are: Legislation, incorporation or attainment, competitive market, world economy, Structural change, technological advancement and Strategic re-organisation. Moreover, Haikonen et al (2004) argue that different important internal and external factors which influence change as policy, structure, control system, organisational culture, and power distribution. Moreover, Saka (2003) state that the external factors as national or international rules and regulations influence the organisation to accept new strategies to survive in changed situation. Furthermore, many other factors related to market competition, economic growth, and living standard also oblige organisation to commence change programmes for update and manage the external forces (Beugelsdijk, et al, 2002; Breu Benwell, 1999; Carr Hancock, 2006). Consequently, the technological advancement creates internal and external demands to generate the capabilities of organisations and assess their strategies regularly (Harris Wegg-Prosser, 2007; Ragsdell, 2000; Shaft, et al, 2008). Moreover, Eisenbach et al (1999) also recognized different factors that compel change such as innovation, new technology, workforce, productivity and working quality. Similarly, McAdam (2003) and Mukherji and Mukherji (1998) emphasize that availability of skilled employees, changing customer behavior, free flow of information and cultural change make very impact on organisation for modification on their activities and compel it to readjust or large scale change for transforming from deadlock to effectiveness. Finally, internal change factors like leadership, organisational culture, employee relationship, workload, reward system, internal politics, and communication system compel the organisation to take up change strategy (Bhatnagar, et al, 2010; Potter, 2 001; Van Marrewijk, et al, 2010; Young, 1999).On the whole, Breu and Benwell (1999) as well as Rees and Hassard (2010) emphasized the development of capabilities of managers to evaluate the situation exactly from different factors to effective management of resistance to change programme. For that reason, all managers are necessary to give appropriate concentration on this. Resistance to Change Resistance is a phenomenon which affect the change process by slowing down its starting, obstructing its accomplishment and rising its costs(Ansoff, 1990; Del Val Fuentes, 2003; Young, 1999). In contrast, resistance is a manner that tries to maintain the status quo, so it is comparable to inertia which tries to avoid change (Maurer, 1996; Rumelt, 1995). Similarly, Jansen (1996), Potter (2001) as well as Romanelli and Tushman (1994) argue that organisational change permeates resistance from the persons as their calm sector are influenced by creating stress, insecurity and uncertainty. Moreover, Ford et al (2002) as well as Reissner (2010) support that resistance comes about since a change program threatens existing status, or causes fear of supposed consequences like trouble in personal security and apprehension about new capability and skills to perform in the changed surroundings. On the other hand, resistance by workforce may be seen as a general part of any change process and in this manner a valuable source of knowledge and useful in learning how to manage successful change process (Antonacopoulou Gabriel, 2001; Bhatnagar, et al, 2010; Bovey Hede, 2001). Furthermore, Antonacopoulou and Gabriel (2001) and Lamb and Cox (1999) argue that unusual community will resist any change program for various reasons including misunderstanding, inconvenience, negative rumor, economic proposition, low tolerance for change and fear of the unknown. However, the observation of annoyance in long standing custom associated with change initiatives finally contribute in the appearance of resistance, mainly from middle managers who resist for the reason that of the fear of threat to their current position and supremacy (Marjanovic, 2000; Ragsdell, 2000; Saka, 2000). In addition, Pardo del val et al (2003) suggested that the sources of resistance classified into five factions which affect both formulation and implementation stages of change program. It includes wrong preliminary perception, low motivation for change, lack of creative response, political and cultural stalemate to change and shortage of the essential qualifications to implement change. Moreover, in manipulative business environment, where major focus is on productivity and centralisation, occurrences higher rate of resistance than manipulative business units having a more open culture, giving freedom to explore new capacities and technologies (Mirow, et al, 2008; Valle, 2002).Accordingly, Lamb and Cox (1999) and Trader-Leigh (2002) indicate that dispute of resistance in public sector is much higher than that of private sector.However, Bovey and Hede (2001) as well as Del Val and Fuentes (2003) discover that when change principles and organisational principles are usually different then the workers show resistance to change while individual anxiety, ineffective management, failure precedent, little inspiration, insufficient tactical vision and pessimism are several sources of resistant. So, if the ground of change is not well planned and competently managed then the employees may prevent the change initiatives and they will apply protection policy to resist because of apprehension that they will be oppressed by others (Bovey Hede, 2001; Perren Megginson, 1996). Nevertheless, Jones et al (2008) argue that employees do not generally resist cultural issues to obtain a distinct policy for successful implementation of change.(Diefenbach, 2007; Lamb Cox, 1999). However, Mabin et al. (2001) argued that resistance to change sometimes have positive features and objectives and it may helps to take better decision for the interest of Organisation. So in general, resistance is not a negative idea. Because change is not always useful for organisation. Moreover, resistance might prove change managers convinced characteristic which are not accurately considered in change process (Waddell and Sohal, 1998). Managing Resistance: Resistance to change is an important matter in change management and participatory approach is the best way to manage resistance for successful change(Del-Val et al., 2o12). Potter (2001) and Ragsdell (2000) support that resistance to organisational change have to be observed as a prospect and preparing people for change as well as permitting them to vigorously participate in the change process. Furthermore, Conner (1998) affirms that the negative effects of resistance occurred from major changes can be minimize by open discussion. Moreover Judson (1991) asserts that effective change can be committed and resistance can be reduced by commitment and participation of employees. Del-val et al (2012) suggest that Participation of stake holders show the way to commitment and commitment keeps away from resistance. So involvement of all people to change process may overcome the resistance but they argue that it is also time consuming. If there is enough time to change then participatory meth od will be very effective way to reduce resistance and have successful change to an organization (Lenz and Lyles, 1986). Generally, there is no universal proposal to avoid resistance to change, however, Del- val et al (2003) suggest that managers can pay a vital role to minimize the resistance to change. Firstly, they have to consider organizational culture related to change objectives and take necessary steps to fill the that cultural gap. Another thing is training which can overcome communicational complexity to avoid resistance occurred by communicational difficulties and achieve the required capabilities to attain successful change. In addition, contemporary managers required to examine and categorize all the stakeholders as change worker, impartial, conservatives or resistor as per their function in resistance to change so as to apply obligatory approach upon the definite form of people so that they feel like accommodating the change program willingly (Chrusciel Field, 2006; Lamb Cox, 1999). Moreover, it is essential to engage people in all stages of the procedure for successful completion of ch ange where effective communication of change objectives can play one of the most important roles (Becker, 2010; Beugelsdijk, et al, 2002; Frahm Brown, 2007; Lamb Cox, 1999). Accordingly, Potter (2001) as well as Van Hoek et al (2010) suggests that for managing resistance to change successfully, organisations must build up the capability to predict changes and working approaches to the changes and thereby engage the employees to face the challenges sincerely with complete preparation. Similarly, Caldwell (2003) and Macadam (1996) propose that smooth running of organization managers should be open for involvement of employees at every steps of decision making process and productivity. Moreover, usually resistance happens as a result of misinterpretation among peoples and hence, in each change program it is essential that everyone concerned realizes the reason following the change from upper level to the lower level where training and cooperation may speed up the procedure (Beugelsdijk, et al, 2002; Johnson, 2004; Taylor, 1999). In addition, at the moment of crisis and ambiguity people require results, accomplishments and successful communication which will assist reduce anxiety and eventually produce enthusiasm for change amongst the employees (Hill Collins, 2000a; Potter, 2001). Consequently, the new public management emphasizes new type of policies which presume a flexible, open and more creative structure and therefore proactively illustrative targets, setting superior examples and creating exciting position might be regarded as a number of core leadership capabilities essential for routing change (Beugelsdijk, et al, 2002; Chrusciel Field, 2006; Harris Wegg -Prosser, 2007). Moreover, Aladwani (2001) rationalizes that opening human abilities of the workers by permitting them to use their intelligence being innovative at work takes place to be important where the function of managers have to be renamed from manager to trainer as to donate continuously on self-confidence building all over the business. Furthermore, alongside the background of rapidly growing technological improvement and deregulation since the early 1990s, ritual approach can no longer arrange the modern perception of shocking ambiguity and insistent change relatively dispersed organisations are probable to authorize the employees (Caldwell (2003; Harris Wegg-Prosser, 2007). In addition, Andrews et al (2008) and Caldwell (2003) have the same opinion with Frahm and Brown (2007) that not like the conventional top-down bureaucratic systems; the present managers must receive bottom-up participatory strategy by discussing with stakeholders. Caldwell (2003) more recommends tha t change managers should uphold possession of the change approach along with the stakeholders by connecting them in the process, who distinguish the authenticity of the business and it is usually they who grasp answer key to the problems. Lastly, as contextualization is the main element of any societal and organisational change, in the twenty-first century circumstance, the status quo is not a suitable preference and organisations must get slant and vigorous for the modern world of digital convergence (Carr Hancock, 2006; Harris Wegg-Prosser, 2007; Milling Zimmermann, 2010). Additionally, Bamford and Forrester (2003), Diefenbach (2007) and Eisenbach et al (1999) consent that in the growing approach to managing change, elder managers transform themselves from administrator to facilitator and the major accountability of execution vest on the middle managers. Also, Diefenbach (2007) more highlights that middle managers should cooperate with peers, divisions, consumers, dealers and also with the senior managements as if they are the key player of organisational change programs. Furthermore, Bamford and Forrester (2003) as well as Diefenbach (2007) consider Lewinà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸s (1958) three step model of freezing, unfreezing and refreezing, have supported that prior to effective implementation of any new manners, the old one has to be untrained. Consequently, the notion of applying linear change plan is a conventional observation but complex up-to-date position is that four different kinds of change factors- specifically top managers, and middle managers, ex ternal performers, consultants, and teams- everyone having various experiences and perspectives- must be engaged in any specific change process (Andrews, et al, 2008; Caldwell, 2003; Frahm Brown, 2007). At last, Burnes (2004) concludes that in the gradually changing world, the capability to make internal change of an organization with the help of the external factors is very much essential for its survival. Recommendations for Further Research: Drawing the attention on change agenda in general, there may be basic requirement of an appropriate outline for organisational change management. Due to shortage of experimental study on change management in organisations, it is recommended that more research into the character of change management will be conducted. The primary step in this course may be to complete investigative studies to enhance the understanding of organisational change management. The significant success factors can be identified by these studies for the change management. Moreover, it is very much essential to determine success rate for creating a suitable structure for change management. Therefore, techniques of determinations should be designed (Todnem By, 2005). Conclusion: It is clear from the article that change is a pervasive factor which affects all organisations. Therefore, sskill is very much essential for successful change management (Todnem By, 2005). By reviewing the related literature on organisational change management and considering different views and arguments connected with the issue, this article has found out that resistance to change is an important reason to consider in any change process, since an appropriate management of resistance is the solution for a successful change . (Del-Val et al., 2003). However, resistance to change develops from various sources and as it is a complex area of management discipline, there is no particular solution generally applicable in the approach of directing change (Bamford Forrester, 2003; Trader-Leigh, 2002; Young, 2009). Perhaps, ensuring extensive participation of employees at all levels in the change procedure might be the best way to resolve resistance to organisational change but this is cert ainly very difficult considering various factors having persuaded on the organisation directly or indirectly mutually from internal and external accumulation (Del Val Fuentes, 2012). On the whole, the managers require increasing particular capabilities to facilitate managing change by taking into consideration time and space as well as irrational factors in the change program (Carr Hancock, 2006). Moreover, this essay agrees with the idea that change program completely depends on the managers who involve from the initial stage to final stage of change initiatives (Antonacopoulou Gabriel, 2001; Hoag, et al, 2002). Furthermore, it has determined that individuals resist change mostly from the observation of loss, uncertainty and apprehension about their self benefits, organisations should make clear the objectives of change program to all stakeholders to get the support for performing on change (Andrews, et al, 2008; Potter, 2001). In addition, this study illustrates that a planned change program fail mainly for the lack of organisational willingness and the mangers should have the capability of being more practical, more flexible and more adventuresome in this context (Judge Douglas, 2009; Newman, 1998; Young, 2009). Finally, this essay has critically analysed different views and arguments related to change management searching a number of excellence resources presented on the topic and briefly discussed by isolating it into introduction and definition followed by three sections that is factors influencing change, resistance to change and managing resistance before concluding. To finish, considering all arguments this paper concludes that the organisational capability to achieve any change is always more important strategic demand and essential for survival s(Edmonds, 2011).

A Comparison of Dulce et Decorum est and The Charge of the Light Brigad

A Comparison of Dulce et Decorum est and The Charge of the Light Brigade â€Å"The Charge of the Light Brigade† written by Lord Alfred Tennyson and â€Å"Dulce et Decorum est† written by Wifred Owen have different perspectives of the wars as they are two different wars written at different times. Tennyson was not at the battle and never saw or experienced anything, which occurred. On the other hand Owen was present and experienced everything; he saw a friend dying knowing he was helpless to save him. Tennyson was only able to write the poem as he read a press report and expanded on it; the press report was written as propaganda, glorifying the British soldiers and making out that they were all able to die for their country as their sergeant ordered them to. Tennyson’s use of language is very different to Owen. Owen uses more death scenes and uses imagery to show he was there, however Tennyson was not at the battle, and so he wrote a poem less personal. Tennyson uses repetition frequently to show the power and force of the cavalry, he also uses several powerful images trying to put the British in as the winning people. In comparison Owen uses many different rhythmic lines. â€Å"Bent doubles, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-need, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge, Till on the haunting flares we turned our back And towards our distant rest began to trudge.† The rhythm of the language changes according to what the soldiers are doing, there they are tired and finding it difficult to walk, their steps are slow and laboured like language. Owen is putting across that it is sweet and honourable to die for your country, but it is ironic, it is a very distressing place to stay and the horrific imag... ...nt styles and with different perspectives to two different wars. Owens â€Å"Dulce et Decorum est† and Tennyson â€Å"The Charge of the Light Brigade† are both showing what happened in two different wars where you have a first person perspective and a 3rd persons perspective. Owen is trying to show that all young people may think it is a honour to die for your country, but it is also an horrific sight; Tennyson is trying to show that it is an honour and memorable to fight for your country. No one should be forced to fight in a war against his or her own will; war can cause a great deal of suffering and horrific consequences. Owen wants to show the people what war is really like and would like to help people and stop them from dieing however Tennyson just wants the young lads to go and fight and be honourable for their country never the less wants them to help.

Life circle theory of saving

The life Circle Theory of Saving teaches about the modalities, guidelines, and strategies in which   families, governments, institutions should save, plan and manage their financial assets to span and cut across their entire life time. In the case of a family or household, it posits on how they should manage their financial assets in a transferable manner to cut across different times in their life circle, taking into cognizance the need to save and provide for retirements, as well as their children’s education, buy insurance, among other needs. According to  Ã‚   Zvi, B, Jonathan, T. Wiillen P. (2004), this also relates to a companies assessment as to what to choose as the default asset allocation for a compulsory retirement saving plan. This theory poses various questions to people and deals with such fundamental issues as to how much of their earned income they should save for the future; how to invest what they save; the type of risk they must provide insurance,   incase of any eventuality; are they to buy a house or rent one; is it better to get a fix rate mortgage or bargain for an adjustable one. As Zvi B. (May 2007) observed, the theory not only concerns families, but government policy makers and firms that provide life circle serves, and even educator who help counsel   the public to make informed choices. LIFE CIRCLE THEORY AND AGGREGATE SAVING IN AN ECONOMY This concept of life circle theory is useful in understanding the aggregate saving in an economy. According to Hayashi, F. (2007), aggregate saving is calculated as average saving for all age brackets in the population of a particular nation. This is expected to be the same or equal to the aggregate savings in the national account. In practical terms, saving is the difference between disposable income and consumption. It therefore goes that if households are able to increase their aggregate savings they will be in a better position to save and plan well for their life circle. Floden, M. (Date not available) defines aggregate saving in a general equilibrium model in an economy, as a situation, â€Å"Where infinitely lived households face volatile income paths, holds a risk-free asset, and face a liquidity constraints†. In any economy, when individual income, or organizational income varies, or differs, then the aggregate equilibrium capital will be larger than when it is constant. He posits further that when income is stochastic, the equilibrium capital stock is always larger than when it is constant. National savings largely depends on the rate of growth and development of national income. However, the purpose of life circle theory is not to provide clear cut answers, instead it is to give a framework for individuals, policy makers and financial planners to provide solutions to the questions posed- as indicated above. The huge variation in household income and in the aggregate savings in the economy will determine how planners (as well as families) will fine tune their advise to suit whatever purpose they want to serve. DEFINITION OF INCOME. The Wikipedia gave various definitions of income, but basically, income, defined in general terms, is the money that is received as a result of normal business activities of an individual; or money received from employment by way of employment by way of salary, wages, tips, as well as profits, dividends from financial investments, as interests, capital gains, or other sources as in social security or premiums. Income also is the money received from labor, services rendered, sale of property or goods or from investment made. There are diverse elaborate definitions of income, but we shall make do with the above definition for the purpose of this paper. PERMANENT INCOME AND LIFE CIRCLE MODELS. In the view of Roberts, S. (date not available), this is a situation where people base their consumption on what they believe to be their regular income. So, they try to maintain a fairly constant and stable standard of living, even though their earnings may vary either on monthly or yearly basis. This happens in a way that their spending pattern are fairly constant irrespective of increases or decreases in their earned income. This hypothesis was developed by Milton   Friedman in 1957. If people perceive that a change in income is temporary, their spending may not change, but if they observe it is permanent, it may vary slightly on the average. DEMOCRAPHIC FUNDAMENTALS   AND FLOW OF SAVING The demographic fundamentals as it relates to flow of savings in life circle theory is based on the premise that young people borrow money, they middle aged class save their money, while the old people (elderly) run down or spend their savings.   Consequently, a nation with large population of middle age will have high savings, especially as people prepare to retire. Concerning the relationship between the demographic fundamentals and the bond marker, when the savings supply is high as a result of the high population of the middle age savings, the price of stocks and bonds falls. Also, when the supply is low, yield equally increases. INTEREST RATE EFFECT ON SAVING AND LIFE CIRCLE MODEL. Naturally, interest rate, which is the rate of the fee paid on borrowed asset, would always adjust to level up with investment and savings. Increase in interest rate affects how much income left for consumption. If the interest rate is increased it means less money for consumption and investment, whereas, it is increased there will be likelihood of slight increase or constant level of consumption and investment. It goes therefore to say that a rise in saving would bring about a fall in interest rate, thereby encouraging investment. Inn life circle theory, the lower the interest rate, the more likely consumption will increase, as well as investment. Both in individuals as well as institutions. According to an extensive review by Modigliani, FF Albert, A. (March 2005), in a world congress of the Economic Society in Barcelona in 1990. In trying to assert a comprehensive and standard evidence on saving and growth in a developing economy, he said that, â€Å"Both growth and demographic structures are powerful predictors of national saving, with little or no role for the level of national income†. WEALTH EFFECT ON LIFE CIRCLE MODEL The level of wealth in an economy bears a simple relation to the length of the retirement span, which is the middle age, the very class that saves money the most. It is also true to say that the consumption of a household is also dependent solely on the present value of their lifetime income. For example, if two investors separately have the same total wealth (monetary wealth) working life, and are equally expectant of some sources of income in their remaining working life, their consumption decisions will be similar or same, not minding their income profile. REEFERENCE 1. Albert, A. Modighiani, F, (March 2005). The Life Circle Hypothesis of Saving: Aggregate Implication and Tests. American Economic Review. 53 (1) 55-84. Angus Deaton. â€Å"Research Programme in Development Studies and Center for Health and Wellbeing. Princeton University. www.princeton.edu/ 2. Floden, M.www.ideas.repec.org/p/hhs/hastef/0591.html 3. Hayashi, F. (2007) Understanding Savings: Evidence from the United States and Japan. MA. MIT Press, 55 Haywad Press. Page 305. ISBN-10: 0-262-08255-1 4. Zvi, B. Jonathan T. Willen P. (2004). The Theory of Life- Circle Saving and Investment. Public Policy Discussion Paper. No. 07-3 5. Zvi B. (May 2007) 6. www.wikipedia.com 7.Robert S. Permanent-Income hypothesis,   published in www.wikipedia.org

The Knights Templar vs. the Davinci Code

The Knights Templar have been a topic of speculation since 1119, nearly ten years after they banded together to protect pilgrims visiting the Holy Land. Questions arose about their origins just as soon as they were recognized by King Baldwin II of Jerusalem as a military order.It is not only their mystery that intrigues us but also who and what they were that titillate our curiosity. During their period of influence the Templars became the second most powerful entity in the known world; surpassed only by the Catholic Church and the papacy itself. It is their acquired power in such a short amount of time that is fascinating. The DaVinci Code[1] is the most popular work of fiction in all history (other than the Bible) and so Dan Brown’s use of the Knights Templar in this novel has brought them to the forefront of our awareness once again.Many readers of The DaVinci Code were introduced to the Knights Templar for the first time. Dan Brown portrayed the Templars as powerful guardi ans of a secret treasure that would destroy the image of the Catholic Church. His novel made many assertions regarding the Templars’ power. I will reiterate those claims and then compare them with factual knowledge from various sources. Through research, actual facts regarding the power behind the Templars will be disclosed. This paper will also explore how and why the Knights Templar lost that power.Ultimately, we will see where the real power of the Templars came from versus the claims made in The DaVinci Code and why this enigmatic group holds our attention nearly one thousand years after they became a recognized order of the Catholic Church. I argue against Brown’s claim that the Knights were controlled by a secret society called the Priory of Sion and that their power came from guarding the Holy Grail; defined in the novel as the sarcophagus of Mary Magdalene and the documentation of her descendents with Jesus of Nazareth.THE NON-EXISTENT SECRET SOCIETY AND THE MY STERY DOCUMENTS In the front of The DaVinci Code, before the novel begins, Dan Brown stipulates as â€Å"Fact† that the Priory of Sion was a secret society that was founded over 900 years ago: â€Å"The Priory of Sion – a European secret society founded in 1099 – is a real organization. † (Brown, page 1) Brown generates the following dialogue as back up to his initial claim of â€Å"Fact†: â€Å"The Priory of Sion,† he [Robert Langdon] began, â€Å"was founded in Jerusalem in 1099 by a French king named Godefroi de Bouillon, immediately after he had conquered the city. â€Å"King Godefroi was allegedly the possessor of a powerful secret – a secret that had been in his family since the time of Christ. Fearing his secret might be lost when he died, he founded a secret brotherhood – the Priory of Sion – charged them with protecting his secret by quietly passing it on from generation to generation. During their years in Je rusalem, the Priory learned of a stash of hidden documents buried beneath the ruins of Herod’s temple, which had been built atop the earlier ruins of Solomon’s Temple.These documents, they believed, corroborated Godefroi’s powerful secret and were so explosive in nature that the Church would stop at nothing to get them. † â€Å"The Priory vowed that no matter how long it took, these documents must be recovered from the rubble beneath the temple and protected forever, so the truth would never die. In order to retrieve the documents from within the ruins, the Priory created a military arm – a group of nine knights called the Order of the Poor Knights of Christ and Temple of Solomon. † Langdon paused. â€Å"More commonly known as the Knights Templar. (Brown, page 171) So, according to Brown the Knights Templar acquired their very existence, as well as their power, exclusively from an organization known as the Priory of Sion that was established in 1099; however, research has revealed that there was no such organization from that time in history. There were two entities so named but they were created hundreds of years later: 1. ) â€Å"There was a medieval monastic order known as the Priory of Sion, but it died out and all its assets were absorbed by the Jesuits (Society of Jesus) in 1617. [2] 2. )†On May 7, 1956 Pierre Plantard legally incorporated in Annemasse, a municipality in France that lies on the Swiss border, an esoteric and political order known as the Priory of Sion – C. I. R. C. U. I. T. (Chivalry of Catholic Rule and Institution and of Independent Traditionalist Union). The politics of the Priory of Sion were quite modest and focused on supporting politicians determined to build low-cost houses for the working classes of Annemasse.By 1964, however, Plantard was ready to try again his luck with the Priory of Sion, this time through the version which eventually inspired The DaVinci Code. Plantard h ad come across the curious story of the parish church of a small French village of less than one hundred inhabitants in the Aude region, at the foot of the eastern Pyrenees Mountains, Rennes-le-Chateau, where a hidden treasure had been supposedly discovered in 1897 by the local parish priest, Berenger Sauniere (1852-1917) while renovating his church in Rennes-le-Chateau.There were those who claimed that the treasure consisted not of gold or antiques but of secret documents which enabled the parish priest to come into contact with the esoteric and political milieu of the time and become incredibly wealthy. †[3] It is these false documents that connected the Knights Templar to the Priory of Sion in The DaVinci Code: â€Å"Their [the Knights Templar’s] true goal in the Holy Land was to retrieve the documents from beneath the ruins of the temple. † â€Å"And did they find them? † Langdon grinned. Nobody knows for sure, but the one thing on which all academics agree is this: The Knights discovered something down there in the ruins †¦ something that made them wealthy and powerful beyond anyone’s wildest imagination. † (Brown, page 172) â€Å"The Templars’ potent treasure trove of documents, which had apparently been their source of power, was Clement’s true objective, but it slipped through his fingers. The documents had long since been entrusted to the Templars’ shadowy architects, the Priory of Sion, whose veil of secrecy had kept them safely out of range of the Vatican’s onslaught.As the Vatican closed in, the Priory smuggled their documents from a Paris preceptory by night onto Templar ships in La Rochelle. † (Brown, page 174) These parchments were known as the Les Dossiers Secrets and were actually produced in the twentieth century by Philippe de Cherisey, a friend and coconspirator of Plantard’s. [4] The name of Pierre Plantard’s original 1956 group, The Priory of Sio n, undoubtedly gave Plantard the subsequent idea to claim that his organization had been historically founded in Jerusalem during the Crusades (good thing that hill in Annemasse, France was named Sion).Plantard made up a fake pedigree of the Priory of Sion claiming that his order was the subsidiary of the Order of Sion (aka: Abbey de Notre Dame du Mont Sion) which had been founded in the Kingdom of Jerusalem during the First Crusade. Plantard manipulated Sauniere's activities at Rennes-le-Chateau in order to make the parchments appear valid and, thus, substantiate his claims regarding his Priory of Sion.During the 1960s, Plantard and de Cherisey then deposited the so-called Dossiers Secrets at the Bibliotheque nationale de France in Paris so that people who set out to research the Priory of Sion would come across these fake documents and further corroborate Plantard’s claims. It was the goal of Pierre Plantard that these documents act as independent sources revealing the surv ival of a Merovingian line of Frankish kings and connecting him directly to the French throne. Henry Lincoln, one of the Holy Blood / Holy Grail[5] authors, would oblige.We should note here that Pierre Plantard had some help with his ruse from an original story written by Noel Corbu (1912-1968), the restaurant owner and one-time detective fiction writer who acquired property in 1953 from Sauniere's housekeeper Marie Denarnaud. Mr. Corbu, in an attempt to generate a little extra income, wrote a story about a priest who lived in a little out of the way place known as Rennes-le-Chateau and found a secret treasure while renovating his church; an embellishment of a lie originally told by the priest to cover up ill-gotten gains (he was accused of trafficking in masses or simony in 1915). 6] It is upon this foundation that Plantard wove his connections to the 1956 Priory of Sion and then to the Knights Templar. Thus, the Knights Templar could not have originated from a secret society known as the Priory of Sion since no such entity co-existed at the time of the order. We can deduce further that the power and purpose behind the Templars was in no way connected to this non-existent organization. Having debunked this claim made in The DaVinci Code, let us now research the historical account of the power behind the Knights of the Temple.POWER BEGETS POWER The DaVinci Code informs us that the Knights Templar did not protect pilgrims: Sophie already looked troubled. â€Å"You’re saying the Knights Templar were founded by the Priory of Sion to retrieve a collection of secret documents? I thought the Templars were created to protect the Holy Land. † â€Å"A common misconception. The idea of protection of pilgrims was the guise under which the Templars ran their mission. Their true goal in the Holy Land was to retrieve the documents from beneath the ruins of the temple. (Brown, page 171-172) Jonathan Riley-Smith tells us in his book The Oxford Illustrated Histo ry of the Crusades that the first Crusade ended in 1099 with the Christian acquisition of Jerusalem, Tripoli, Antioch, and Acre; however, there were some other cities nearby that had not been conquered thus the roads between the occupied cities were basically still in the hands of the Muslims. [7] The taking of the Holy Land saw an influx of many Christian pilgrims but their journeys, and excursions to and from Jordan, were treacherous at best.A small group of religious men took up arms and set out to protect these pilgrims. The fact that these men were legitimate protectors of pilgrims and a group of religious men who wished to devote their military skill to defend the Holy Land made a huge difference in the eyes of King Baldwin II. John J. Robinson explains that it was a new paradigm for a knight to take on the same triple vow that was common only to monastic orders; poverty, chastity, and obedience. 8] These three pledges directly contrasted the life goals of secular medieval kni ghts. The service of protecting pilgrims was greatly needed. It had been twenty years since the taking of Jerusalem and the number of pilgrims had grown to the point that they had become a substantial source of revenue. The pilgrims spent their money on travel, tolls, gifts, and tithes to the church; thus, the greatest danger to those growing proceeds was the threat to the pilgrims’ life and property.All the lands between the Christian cities were subject to marauders, Muslim zealots, slave traders, rapists, and murderers; all of which kept those revenues from getting to the Holy Land. King Baldwin II must have been ecstatic when he heard the vows of that small group of knights who would fight to restore and maintain the flow of revenue; power begets power. The DaVinci Code continues with its own history of the Knights’ origins:Langdon quickly gave Sophie the standard academic sketch of the accepted Knights Templar history, explaining how the Knights were in the Holy L and during the Second Crusade and told King Baldwin II that they were there to protect Christian pilgrims on the roadways. Although unpaid and sworn to poverty, the Knights told the king they required basic shelter and requested his permission to take up residence in the stables under the ruins of the temple. King Baldwin granted the soldiers’ request, and Knights took up their meager residence inside the devastated shrine.The odd choice of lodging, Langdon explained, had been anything but random. The Knights believed the documents the Priory sought were buried deep under the ruins – beneath the Holy of Holies, a sacred chamber where God Himself was believed to reside. Literally, the very center of the Jewish faith. For almost a decade, the nine Knights lived in the ruins, excavating in total secrecy through solid rock. (Brown, page 172) Some of this depiction is true. The Knights received their secular military order, circa 1119, and were given shelter at King Baldwin ’s palace; specifically in the al-Aqsa Mosque (not just the stables).During the construction of the al-Aqsa Mosque in the 7th century, â€Å"†¦ contemporary Muslim and Jewish sources record that the site was covered with garbage dumped there by Byzantine Christians, and that the two communities participated in cleaning it up as Umar watched on, until the rock upon which the Temples of Jerusalem [Solomon’s Temple] were said to have been erected was revealed. †[9] So The Knights of the Temple, aka the Knights Templar, were so named. In the year 1128, Bernard of Clairvaux, the Abbot of Clairvaux and cousin to Hugues de Payens, assisted at the Council of Troyes.The purpose of this council was to settle certain disputes of the bishops of Paris, and regulate other matters of the Church of France. It was at this council that Bernard traced the outlines of the Rule of the Knights Templar and where the order was given papal recognition. [10] A letter from Saint Bern ard was written to Hugues de Payens and entitled De Laudibus Novae Militiae translated as In Praise of the New Knighthood. [11] It was this letter that propelled the Templars forward more then any other single event. The powerful association with the papacy and the Catholic Church started here; power begets power again.Once the Knights received official recognition from the papacy, Pope Honorius II, they set out with their Templar Rule to recruit more members and acquire donations to support their cause. The order owed its rapid growth in popularity to the fact that it combined the two great passions of the middle ages, religious fervor and martial prowess, into one entity. [12] This appealed to thousands of people who were willing to take up the cause, live by the Rule, and donate all their wealth. There is power behind wealth and in numbers of people; the Knights Templar attained both in unfathomable quantity.Dan Brown tells us in The DaVinci Code that it was the Catholic Church t hat was being blackmailed by the Knights of the Temple: â€Å"For almost a decade, the nine Knights lived in the ruins, excavating in total secrecy through solid rock. † Sophie looked over. â€Å"And you said they discovered something? † â€Å"They certainly did,† Langdon said, explaining how it had taken nine years, â€Å"but the Knights had finally found what they had been searching for. They took the treasure from the temple and traveled to Europe, where their influence seemed to solidify overnight.Nobody was certain whether the Knights had blackmailed the Vatican or whether the Church simply tried to buy the Knights’ silence, but Pope Innocent II immediately issued an unprecedented papal bull that afforded the Knights Templar limitless power and declared them ‘a law unto themselves’ – an autonomous army independent of all interference from kings and prelates, both religious and political. With their new carte blanche from the Vati can, the Knights Templar expanded at a staggering rate, both in numbers and political force, amassing vast estates in over a dozen countries.They began extending credit to bankrupt royals and charging interest in return, †¦. † (Brown, pages 172 – 173) Within ten years of their recognition by the Catholic Church that Pope Innocent II issued the bull Omne datum optimum (Every Great Gift) on the Templar order. This bull did exempt the Templars from all authority on earth, secular or temporal, except that of the pope. This enabled the Knights Templar to collect tithes but they didn’t have to pay any. No one could ask a Templar to swear an oath or demand any change in their Rule.No monarch could impose his own civil law; one result was that they didn’t have to pay taxes. No bishop, archbishop, or cardinal could give them an order or interfere with their activities. Templars even had the power to abolish priests that didn’t suit them. [13] This was a level of power unheard of before their time so the blackmailing scenario is feasible but not very probable. The Knights Templar were exempt from paying tithes and taxes because all their funds were used to fight for Christ. Building and maintaining fortifications required a stream of money and the Templars were ingenious in keeping it flowing.Regular income was generated from the much needed service of money-changing in the Holy Land. However, an order of the Catholic Church was not allowed to loan money and collect interest, so the Templars invented, or at least popularized, the concept of interest deducted in advance; give a man ten dollars but create a document that says he is to pay back eleven dollars. [14] Voila, they charged no interest and generated lots of wealth. The DaVinci Code says: â€Å"The Templars invented the concept of modern banking. For European nobility, traveling with gold was perilous, so the Templars allowed nobles o deposit gold in their nearest Temple Ch urch and then draw it from any other Temple Church across Europe. All they needed was proper documentation. † (Brown, page 375) The Knights Templar’s military strength, acuity, and perseverance really did make it possible to collect, store, and transport gold and other valuables to and from Europe and the Holy Land successfully. Kings, noblemen, and pilgrims used the Knights Templar as a kind of bank or armored truck; the concept of safe deposit boxes and travelers checks originated in these activities. 15] They did not, however, invent modern style banking; we have to give that credit to the Jews. The most obvious source of the Templars power was their fierce might and tenacity. â€Å"Knighthood, as known in Europe, was characterized by two elements, feudalism and service as a mounted combatant. Both arose under the reign of the Frankish emperor Charlemagne, from which the knighthood of the Middle Ages can be seen to have had its genesis. †[16] These men were wa rrior monks who fought courageously during the crusades.Malcolm Barber, a recognized Templar scholar, illustrates that the Knights Templar were extremely zealous and had a creed to never flee a battlefield[17] – this depiction leads many people to believe they were quite possibly insane. Fear is a powerful weapon to wield and in the Middle Ages, fear was key to control and domination in every aspect of life. To tell a ranking official that you were not afraid of them was considered in insult. [18] The DaVinci Code tells us that the Knights Templar were powerful due to their connection with the Holy Grail (as defined by Brown) which the following citations reveal: The Templars’ potent treasure trove of documents, which had apparently been their source of power, was Clement’s true objective, but it slipped through his fingers. The documents had long since been entrusted to the Templars’ shadowy architects, the Priory of Sion, whose veil of secrecy had kept them safely out of range of the Vatican’s onslaught. As the Vatican closed in, the Priory smuggled their documents from a Paris preceptory by night onto Templar ships in La Rochelle. † [Emphasis added] â€Å"Where did the documents go? † â€Å"The entire collection of documents, its power, and the secret it eveals have become known by a single name – Sangreal. † â€Å"The legend is complicated, but the important thing to remember is that the Priory guards the proof, and is purportedly awaiting the right moment in history to review the truth. † â€Å"What truth? What secret could possibly be that powerful? † â€Å"Sophie, the word Sangreal is an ancient word. It has evolved over the years into another term †¦ a more modern name. † â€Å"†¦ ‘Holy Grail’. † â€Å"†¦ but the Sangreal documents are only half of the Holy Grail treasure. They are buried with the Grail itself †¦ and reveal its tr ue meaning.The documents gave the Knights Templar so much power because the pages revealed the true nature of the Grail. † (Brown, pages 174 – 175) Sophie quickly outlined what Langdon had explained earlier – the Priory of Sion, the Knights Templar, the Sangreal documents, and the Holy Grail, which many claimed was not a cup †¦ but rather something far more powerful. (Brown, page 248) â€Å"The Holy Grail is not a thing. It is, in fact †¦ a person. † (Brown, page 256) â€Å"Legends of chivalric quests for the lost Grail were in fact stories of forbidden quests for the lost sacred feminine.Knights who claimed to be ‘searching for the chalice’ were speaking in code as a way to protect themselves from a Church that had subjugated women, banished the Goddess, burned nonbelievers, and forbidden the pagan reverence for the sacred feminine. † (Brown, page 259) The Holy Grail is Mary Magdalene †¦ the mother of the royal bloodline of Jesus Christ. Sophie tilted her head and scanned the list of titles: THE TEMPLAR REVELATION: Secret Guardians of the True Identity of Christ (Brown, page 273) Sophie was silent for a long moment. And these four chests of documents were the treasure that the Knights Templar found under Solomon’s Temple? † â€Å"Exactly. The documents that made the Knights so powerful. The documents that have been the object of countless Grail quests throughout history. † â€Å"But you said the Holy Grail was Mary Magdalene. If people are searching for documents, why would you call it a search for the Holy Grail? † Teabing eyed her, his expression softening. â€Å"Because the hiding place of the Holy Grail includes a sarcophagus. â€Å"The quest for the Holy Grail is literally the quest to kneel before the bones of Mary Magdalene. A journey to pray at the feet of the outcast one, the lost sacred feminine. † (Brown, page 277) Sophie felt an unexpected wonder. â₠¬Å"The hiding place of the Holy Grail is actually †¦ a tomb? † Teabing’s hazel eyes got misty. â€Å"It is. A tomb containing the body of Mary Magdalene and the documents that tell the true story of her life. At its heart, the quest for the Holy Grail has always been a quest for Magdalene – the wronged Queen, entombed with the proof of her family’s rightful claim to power. (Brown, page 278) †¦ [Godefroi de Bouillon, descendant in the Merovingian bloodline and founder of the Priory of Sion] â€Å"ordered the Knights Templar to recover the Sangreal documents from beneath Solomon’s Temple and thus provide the Merovingians proof of their hereditary ties to Jesus Christ† [through Christ’s marriage to and subsequent children with Mary Magdalene]. (Brown, page 279) This personification of the Knights Templar by Dan Brown is simply not true; he created it to further his plot and keep the readers enthralled. Mission accomplished.As p reviously illustrated, the Knights Templar were powerful in their own right and not because they were created to protect the holy grail for a secret society known as the Priory of Sion. The things that actually made the Knights Templar powerful were as follows: 1. ) the papacy and their association with the Catholic Church; 2. ) the view the masses had of them as good, righteous, and true; 3. ) the trust that the nobles and lay peoples put in them; 4. ) their wealth and ingenuity in creating and sustaining that wealth; 5. ) their own righteous attitude, tenacity, and fervor; 6. the fear they invoked – including fear on the battlefield; and 7. ) the secrecy that they were determined to sustain. CONCLUSION / HYPOTHESIS The enigmatic Knights Templar would have probably faded into history if it had not been for the mention of knights (secular or devout) in the popular literary works of the Templar’s time. The unfinished poem of Chretien de Troyes, regarded by many as the o ldest known Grail romance, tells of the adventures of a knight named Perceval, also the name of his poem. Another name for the same poem is Conte del Graal translated as The Story of the Grail (c. 190). [19] Chretien died before he revealed exactly what the grail was; however, the knights did not cease to exist in the written word. Wolfram von Eschenbach (1170-1220) continued the thread with his grail romance poem known as Parzival. Wolfram’s character, Parzival, is the representation of the slow and stumbling progress of an honorable man reaching toward the highest earthly responsibilities. In parallel incidents, it tells of a knight’s adventures that have already been recognized by his peers as unmatched by any other knight. 20] Even though the Knights Templar were not named specifically they are assumed to be the basis for the character since the Templars coexisted with the authors. Here is where the connection between the Holy Grail and the Knights Templar begins; in poems and other fictional writings that made people feel good. In many of these grail romances it was discerned that the grail was a plate or a vessel that Christ was believed to have ate off of or drank out of at the last supper. This item was then used to catch droplets of his blood while he hung from the cross, dying.So, from a vessel holding the blood of Christ we don’t have to jump very far to get to a pregnant woman carrying Jesus’ baby (still a vessel holding the blood of Christ). Mary Magdalene was merely a logical choice as the notorious vessel. Referencing the Templars as the guardian of the Holy Grail was also a logical choice; they had been depicted in literature doing just that for hundreds of years. I must say that Dan Brown’s idea of having Mary Magdalene’s physical remains as the actual object was a bit gruesome. Writers still find it easy to use the Templars in their tales because the Knights were a secretive order.The Knights Templar Encyclopedia tells us that the Templars’ central archives were shipped to Cyprus while the Saracens were taking Acre in August of 1291. After the Templars were suppressed in 1312 all of their records were passed on to their rivals, the Knights Hospitallars who were also residing on Cyprus. It is believed that when the Turks took Cyprus in 1571 most of these archives were destroyed;[21] however, it is through the Hospitallars’, and a few other sources such as the chronicles of William of Tyre, that we still have some records today, a few of which still await translation.These facts are not only enlightening but assist our understanding of why there is so much myth and mystery surrounding the order. The fact that the Knights Templar have remained in the forefront of our thoughts all these years is simply amazing. The Templars continue to be used by everyday writers in all kinds of genre and forums which touch the varying aspects of individual interests and personalities. Yes, all of their efforts keep us coming back for more. Dan Brown’s novel The DaVinci Code entertained readers everywhere.Sony Pictures’ movie of his story spread the tale to an even wider audience. New video games rose up everywhere and in all different languages. The Knights Templar were introduced to new generations for the first time and this is why we remain fascinated with them. Whether they are depicted as bad guys or good guys they were once a real order of warrior monks and that fact gives at least a little credence to all new manifestations. It is from this research that I hypothesize the true power behind the Knights Templar comes from the universal psychology of the masses.We, as human beings, have basic needs that must be met (food, shelter, and security) and when we find a safe source to fulfill any of those needs, we latch on to it. Initially the Templars came to us in a manner that provided protection of our physical well being, enabling us to seek spi ritual fulfillment. As our protectors of faith they took on an even stronger idealistic role that helped them to become ‘established’ within the universal psyche. Once fully accepted by the people of the day to be their protectors, the people supported them without question. This is where the true power lies, in the minds and actions of the masses.Any entity with the ability to control the perception of the majority is a powerful entity indeed. BIBLIOGRAPHY Baigent, Michael, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln. Holy Blood Holy Grail. New York: Dell Publishing, 1982. I actually bought this book for my research. It was used to establish an understanding of where Dan Brown came up with his crazy facts. de Troyes, Chretien. Perceval, Or, The Story of The Grail. New York: Pergamon Press, 1983. This is the version I referenced for the noted source. The actual unfinished work was circa 1190 and is not listed in the Library of Congress. Barber, Malcolm. â€Å"The Knights Templar. Slate, April 20, 2006, http://www. slate. com/id/2140307/? nav=tap3 (accessed October 26, 2008). This was a good place to start. It established a basic scholarly overview of my topic by a renowned and trusted source. Barber, Malcolm. The New Knighthood. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994. Malcolm Barber is Professor of Medieval History at the University of Reading. This was my bible. I was able to use this book as noted in this paper and to verify or throw out information from other sources. Barber, Malcolm, and Keith Bate. The Templars: Selected Sources. Manchester: Manchester University Press.Reprint, New York: Palgrave, 2002. Malcolm Barber is Professor of Medieval History at the University of Reading. This book was translated and Annotated by Malcolm Barber and Keith Bate and it comprises a substantial collection of translated material illustrative of its history. I used it only for the noted referenced. Bernard of Clairvaux; translated by M. Conrad Greenia. In Praise o f The New Knighthood: A Treatise On The Knights Templar and The Holy Places of Jerusalem. Kalamazoo, Mich. : Cistercian Publications, 2000. Very important document; without it, there may never have been a Catholic order called the Knights of the Temple.Bold, Kevin. â€Å"Baphomet: A â€Å"Mystery† Solved At Last? ,† 1995. Stephen Dafoe. http://www. templarhistory. com/solved. html. Interesting article, I did not use it in this paper. Boudicca, Laura. â€Å"Knights Templar Page,† April 10, 2008. Church of Y Dynion Mwyn. http://www. tylwythteg. com/templar. html. Interesting article, I did not use it in this paper. Brown, Dan. The Davinci Code. New York: Anchor Books, 2003. I liked this book and the creativity of those who were responsible for its basis; Baigent, Michael, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln (especially Lincoln). Not to forget Noel Corbu and Pierre Plantard.If you take out the FACT page it is an entertaining work of fiction without as much controversy . Fodor's Guide to The Davinci Code: On The Trail to The Best-Selling Novel. Edited by Jennifer Paull, and Christopher Culwell. First ed. New York: Fodor's Travel / Random House, 2006. This book was okay; however, I did not find it very useful in my research. I am glad I bought it though; it is fun to see the pictures of the actual places. Charbonnel, Josaephe Chartrou. (From Old Catalog). Paris: Les Presses universitaires de France, 1928. This source was translated by Malcolm Barber. I used it only for the noted reference.Correll, Larry, and Susan Correll. â€Å"Priory of Sion,† Timothy Ministries. http://timothyministries. org/theologicaldictionary/default. aspx? theword=priory%20of%20sion This is merely one definition of the Priory of Sion; short and to the point. The Vatican Publishing House. â€Å"THE PARCHMENT OF CHINON – Chinon, Diocese of Tours, 1308 August 17th – 20th,† Unknown. The Vatican Publishing House. http://asv. vatican. va/en/doc/1308. h tm#top. I used this source only for the noted reference. This website appears to be the official website of the Vatican – it says it is the Holy See. Dafoe, Stephen. Baphomet: The Pentagram Connection,† Stephen Dafoe. http://www. templarhistory. com/pentagram. html. TemplarHistory. com is an online resource of information on the history, mystery, myth and legacy of the Knights Templar that was started by Templar author Stephen Dafoe in the fall of 1997. Interesting article, I did not use it in this paper. Dafoe, Stephen. â€Å"The Templar Hierarchy,† Stephen Dafoe. http://www. templarhistory. com/hierarchy. html. TemplarHistory. com is an online resource of information on the history, mystery, myth and legacy of the Knights Templar that was started by Templar author Stephen Dafoe in the fall of 1997.Interesting article, it was my first resource regarding the structure of the order. I received the same information in several other sources; however, the Templar hie rarchy was not used in this paper. Dafoe, Stephen. â€Å"Who Were The Knights Templar? ,† Stephen Dafoe. http://www. templarhistory. com/who. html. TemplarHistory. com is an online resource of information on the history, mystery, myth and legacy of the Knights Templar that was started by Templar author Stephen Dafoe in the fall of 1997. An overview. de Sede, Gerard;. The Accursed Treasure of Rennes-le-chateau. Translated by Bill Kersey. Worcester Park: DEK, 2001.Gerard de Sede was a surrealist writer. This book reveals a plausible explanation of the source of Sauniere's wealth and untangles the astounding hoax which includes false genealogies and international conspiracies. Gerard de Sede wrote a magazine article about Gisors, which in turn was responsible for his acquainting himself with Pierre Plantard and soon a collaboration developed between them that inspired Gerard de Sede's 1962 book, Les Templiers sont parmi nous, ou, L'Enigme de Gisors (â€Å"The Templars are Among st Us, or The Enigma of Gisors†), which also paved the way for the introduction of the mythical Priory of Sion.Pretty interesting stuff these collaborations. Editee pour la premiere fois et traduite en fran? cais par J. -B. Chabot. Chronique De Michel Le Syrien, Patriarche Jacobite D'antioche (1166-1199). 4 vols. Bruxelles: Culture et Civilisation, 1963. This source was translated by Malcolm Barber. I used it only for the noted reference. Gonen, Rivka. Contested Holiness: Jewish, Muslim, and Christian Perspectives On The Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Jersey City, NJ: KTAV Pub. House, 2003. Rivka Gonen is the former Senior Curator of the Department of Jewish Ethnography at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, and a participant in the Temple Mount Excavations.The book is a straightforward survey and history enhanced with modern-day perspectives on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. I used it only for the noted reference. Griffith-Jones, Robin. The Da Vinci Code and The Secrets of The Temple. Grand Rapids, Mich. : William B. Eerdmans Pub. , 2006. Robin Griffith-Jones works at the Temple Church in England and this book is the accumulation of what her presents to visitors. Parchments known as the Les Dossiers Secrets which were actually produced by Philippe de Cherisey is hat I pulled from an excerpt of this source, although it is common knowledge and found in many sources. GNU Free Documentation License. â€Å"Origins of medieval knighthood,† Last updated 10-18-2008: 22:50. The Wikimedia Foundation. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Knight. This provided me with the definition of secular knight. I could then compare it with the definition of a Knights Templar. Haag, Michael, Veronica Haag, and James McConnachie. The Rough Guide to The Davinci Code. Edited by Mark Ellingham. rev. ed. N. p. : Rough Guides Ltd. , 2006. This was a somewhat useful source.Some of the websites no longer work but we needed it for class and it was handy to look up other peoples topics. Hindley , Geoffrey. The Crusades: A History of Armed Pilgrimage and Holy War. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2003. This work chronicles the numerous expeditions to recover Jerusalem for Christendom. It was useful in my research. Geoffrey Hindley is a lecturer/writer educated at University College, Oxford. This was a useful and reliable source. Housley, Norman. The Avignon Papacy and The Crusades, 1305-1378. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Reprint, New York: Oxford University Press, 1986.While focusing on the relationship between the papacy and the 14th-century crusades, this study illuminates other fields of activity in Avignon, such as papal taxation and interaction with Byzantium. Housley analyzes the Curia's approach to related issues such as peacemaking between warring Christian powers, the work of Military Orders, and western attempts to maintain a trade embargo on Mamluk, Egypt. I used it only for the noted reference. Housley, Norman, ed. Knighthoods of Christ: Essays On The History of The Crusades and The Knights Templar, Presented to Malcolm Barber. Aldershot, England. Reprint, Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2007.Technically the essay I pulled this from was called â€Å"The Military Orders and the East, 1149-1291 written by Jonathan Riley-Smith which begins on page 137 of the collection edited by Norman Housley. It provide the information I needed and was a good source. Introvigne, Massimo. â€Å"Beyond The Da Vinci Code: History and Myth of the Priory of Sion,† June, 2005. CESNUR Center for Studies On New Religions. http://www. cesnur. org/2005/pa_introvigne. htm. Massimo Introvigne is the founder and managing director of the Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR), an international network of scholars who study new religious movements.Introvigne is the author of numerous books and hundreds of articles in the field of sociology of religion. Finding a scholarly source on this topic was not easy. I was grateful to find this work by him and gave it to Emil y to use in their research. Very important to my research on this topic. Jones, Greg. Beyond Da Vinci. New York: Seabury Books, 2004. This book is short, concise, and understandable. Greg Jones presents the facts openly and shows the flaws when they are there in a way that is simply debatable. I used it only for the noted reference. Moore, Malcolm. â€Å"Vatican paper set to clear Knights Templar,† October 7, 2007.Telegraph Media Group Limited 2008. http://www. telegraph. co. uk/news/worldnews/1565252/Vatican-paper-set-to-clear-Knights-Templar. html. Article was printed verbatim under the CHINON PARCHMENT. Very useful. Riley-Smith, Jonathan, ed. The Oxford Illustrated History of The Crusades, Oxford ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995. Jonathan Riley-Smith is Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History in the University of Cambridge. This was a great source that I referenced it often. Malcolm Barber also references his work. Ruth Mazo Karras, Joel Kaye, William Kenan, a nd E. Ann Matter, eds.Law and The Illicit in Medieval Europe. Middle Ages series. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008. Ruth Mazo Karras is Professor of History at the University of Minnesota. Joel Kaye is Professor of History at Barnard College. William R. Kenan is Jr. Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. E. Ann Matter is Associate Dean for Arts and Letters in the School of Arts and Sciences. Various scholars make the case that the development of law is deeply implicated in the growth of medieval theology and Christian doctrine. I used it only for the noted reference.Schein, Sylvia. Fideles Crucis: The Papacy, The West, and The Recovery of The Holy Land, 1274-1314. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Reprint, New York: Oxford University Press, 1991. Schein is a PhD who challenges the view that the fall of Acre in 1291 was a watershed dividing the â€Å"classical age† of the crusade from the late Middle Ages, when the ideal had become ste rile, the obsessive dream of a handful of individuals. She shows instead that the desire to recover the Holy Land remained powerful and pervasive, and was an important consideration in the policy-making of European rulers.She uses an enormous range of sources consulted and collated: papal bulls, chronicles, prophecies, apocalyptic treatises and letters. Very useful source. Strayer, Joseph R. The Reign of Philip The Fair. Princeton, N. J. : Princeton University Press, 1980. Strayer (1904-1987) taught at Princeton University and was chair of their History Department from 1941-1961. I wasn’t able to get my hands on this book, only the noted reference. Newman, Sharan. The Real History Behind The Templars, 10th ed. New York: Penguin Group, 2007. Sharan Newman was a PhD candidate at UC Santa Barbara, CA at the time this book was published.She is also a longtime member of the Medieval Academy and has served on the advisory board for the Medieval Association of the Pacific. I bought this book for my research and found it very useful in collaborating less scholarly sources as well as the noted reference. Nicholson, Helen, and David Nicolle. God's Warriors: Knights Templar, Saracens and The Battle for Jerusalem, Pbk ed. New York, NY, USA: Osprey Pub. , 2006. This is a good source for information about the battle of Hattin in 1187 and â€Å"rival military elites†. Helen Nicholson actually wrote about the Knights Templar.I used it only for the noted reference. Phillips, Jonathan. Defenders of The Holy Land: Relations Between The Latin East and The West, 1119-1187. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Reprint, New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. I used this source only for the noted reference; however, I also viewed various clips on you-tube with this author in them. I took notes because he was very good. The author has his doctorate. Ralls, Karen. Knights Templar Encyclopedia. Edited by Gina Talucci. New Jersey: The Career Press, Inc. , 2007. The author is a Ph. D. medieval historian and religious studies scholar.I bought this one for my research and used to confirm or debunk various other sources. Robinson, John J. Dungeon, Fire, and Sword: The Knights Templar in The Crusades. New York: M. Evans & Co. , 1991. The author is a member of the Medieval Academy of America, the Organization of American Historians, and Royal Overseas League of London. This was the most enjoyable research book of them all. I lost many hours just because I couldn’t stop reading it. The context is not dry but flows more like novel. Valletta, Malta. â€Å"The â€Å"Priory of Sion† Hoax / Part 1: A Barkeeper's Myth,† MalGo Media Services Ltd. http://www. avinci-the-movie. com/priory-of-sion-1. html. Part one: This was a good site for getting the explanation in chronological order with a lot more detail. I also verified information found in Massimo Introvigne’s site. There is no author listed on site so it was very suspect until verified. Valle tta, Malta. â€Å"The â€Å"Priory of Sion† Hoax / Part 2: The rich, poor Priest,† MalGo Media Services Ltd. http://www. davinci-the-movie. com/priory-of-sion-2. html. Part two: This was a good site for getting the explanation in chronological order with a lot more detail. I also verified information found in Massimo Introvigne’s site.There is no author listed on site so it was very suspect until verified. Valletta, Malta. â€Å"The â€Å"Priory of Sion† Hoax / Part 3: BCC is taken by,† MalGo Media Services Ltd. http://www. davinci-the-movie. com/priory-of-sion-3. html. Part three: This was a good site for getting the explanation in chronological order with a lot more detail. I also verified information found in Massimo Introvigne’s site. There is no author listed on site so it was very suspect until verified. von Eschenbach, Wolfram. Parzival. Harmondsworth, Eng. Reprint, New York, N. Y. : Penguin Books, 1980. This is the version I referenc ed for the noted source.The actual works were written between 1200 and 1210 and are not listed in the Library of Congress. William Chester Jordan. The French Monarchy and The Jews: From Philip Augustus to The Last Capetians. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1989. I used this source only for the noted reference. APPENDIX – THE KNIGHTS TEMPLAR CITATIONS IN THE DAVINCI CODE Pages 171 – 173 {prelude citation in this instance will be important to my research. } â€Å"The Priory of Sion,† he began, â€Å"was founded in Jerusalem in 1099 by a French king named Godefori de Bouillon, immediately after he had conquered the city. â€Å"King Godefroi was allegedly the possessor of a powerful secret – a secret that had been in his family since the time of Christ. Fearing his secret might be lost when he died, he founded a secret brotherhood – the Priory of Sion – charged them with protecting his secret by quietly passing it on from gener ation to generation. During their years in Jerusalem, the Priory learned of stash of hidden documents buried beneath the ruins of Herod’s temple, which had been built atop the earlier ruins of Solomon’s Temple.These documents, they believed, corroborated Godefroi’s powerful secret and were so explosive in nature that the Church would stop at nothing to get them. † â€Å"The Priory vowed that no matter how long it took, these documents must be recovered from the rubble beneath the temple and protected forever, so the truth would never die. In order to retrieve the documents from within the ruins, the Priory created a military arm – a group of nine knights called the Order of the Poor Knights of Christ and Temple of Solomon. † Langdon paused. â€Å"More commonly known as the Knights Templar. †Langdon had lectured often enough on the Knights Templar to know that almost everyone on earth had heard of them, at least abstractedly. For academ ics, the Templars’ history was a precarious world where fact, lore, and misinformation had become so intertwined that extracting a pristine truth was almost impossible. Nowadays, Langdon hesitated even to mention the Knights Templar while lecturing because it invariably led to a barrage of convoluted inquiries into assorted conspiracy theories. Sophie already looked troubled. â€Å"You’re saying the Knights Templar were founded by the Priory of Sion to retrieve a collection of secret documents?I thought the Templars were created to protect the Holy Land. † â€Å"A common misconception. The idea of protection of pilgrims was the guise under which the Templars ran their mission. Their true goal in the Holy Land was to retrieve the documents from beneath the ruins of the temple. † â€Å"And did they find them? † Langdon grinned. â€Å"Nobody knows for sure, but the one thing on which all academics agree is this: The Knights discovered something down there in the ruins †¦ something that made them wealthy and powerful beyond anyone’s wildest imagination. † {Emphasis added}Langdon quickly gave Sophie the standard academic sketch of the accepted Knights Templar history, explaining how the Knights were in the Holy Land during the Second Crusade and told King Baldwin II that they were there to protect Christian pilgrims on the roadways. Although unpaid and sworn to poverty, the Knights told the king they required basic shelter and requested his permission to take up residence in the stables under the ruins of the temple. King Baldwin granted the soldiers’ request, and Knights took up their meager residence inside the devastated shrine.The odd choice of lodging, Langdon explained, had been anything but random. The Knights believed the documents the Priory sought were buried deep under the ruins – beneath the Holy of Holies, a sacred chamber where God Himself was believed to reside. Literally, the very c enter of the Jewish faith. For almost a decade, the nine Knights lived in the ruins, excavating in total secrecy through solid rock. Sophie looked over. â€Å"And you said they discovered something? † â€Å"They certainly did,† Langdon said, explaining how it had taken nine years, but the Knights had finally found what they had been searching for.They took the treasure from the temple and traveled to Europe, where their influence seemed to solidify overnight. Nobody was certain whether the Knights had blackmailed the Vatican or whether the Church simply tried to buy the Knights’ silence, but Pope Innocent II immediately issued an unprecedented papal bull that afforded the Knights Templar limitless power and declared them ‘a law unto themselves’ – an autonomous army independent of all interference from kings and prelates, both religious and political. {Emphasis added}With their new carte blanche from the Vatican, the Knights Templar expanded a t a staggering rate, both in numbers and political force, amassing vast estates in over a dozen countries. The began extending credit to bankrupt royals and charging interest in return, thereby establish modern banking and broadening their wealth and influence still further. {After the citation above Brown begins to talk about the fall of the Knights, where they went, and states that they still exist under other names and â€Å"fraternities†. } Pages 174 – 175 The Templars’ potent treasure trove of documents, which had apparently been their source of power, was Clement’s true objective, but it slipped through his fingers. The documents had long since been entrusted to the Templars’ shadowy architects, the Priory of Sion, whose veil of secrecy had kept them safely out of range of the Vatican’s onslaught. As the Vatican closed in, the Priory smuggled their documents from a Paris preceptory by night onto Templar ships in La Rochelle. † {E mphasis added} â€Å"Where did the documents go? â€Å"The entire collection of documents, its power, and the secret it reveals have become known by a single name – Sangreal. † {Emphasis added} â€Å"The legend is complicated, but the important thing to remember is that the Priory guards the proof, and is purportedly awaiting the right moment in history to review the truth. † â€Å"What truth? What secret could possibly be that powerful? † â€Å"Sophie, the word Sangreal is an ancient word. It has evolved over the years into another term †¦ a more modern name. † â€Å"†¦ ‘Holy Grail’. † †¦ but the Sangreal documents are only half of the Holy Grail treasure. They are buried with the Grail itself †¦ and reveal its true meaning. The documents gave the Knights Templar so much power because the pages revealed the true nature of the Grail. † {Emphasis added} Pages 182 – 183 {Langdon and Sophie are in the taxi on the way to 24 Rue Haxo – also known as the Depository Bank of Zurich. My point, the Knights initiation of international banking as a source of power. } â€Å"Langdon pulled the heavy key from his pocket †¦ Earlier, while tellingSophie about the Knights Templar, Langdon had realized that this key, in addition to having the Priory seal embossed on it, possessed a more subtle tie to the Priory of Sion. The equal-armed cruciform was symbolic of the balance and harmony but also of the Knights Templar. Everyone had seen the paintings of Knights Templar wearing white tunics emblazoned with the red equal-armed crosses. Granted, the arms of the Templar cross were slightly flared at the ends, but they were still of equal length. A square cross. Just like the one on this key.The Grail was believed to be somewhere in England, buried in a hidden chamber beneath one of the many Templar churches, where it had been hidden since at least 1500. Page 185 â€Å"Is it possible, † Sophie asked, â€Å"that the key you’re holding unlocks the hiding place of the Holy Grail? † â€Å"We have an extremely secure key, stamped with the Priory of Sion seal, delivered to us by a member of the Priory of Sion – a brotherhood which, you just told me, are guardians of the Holy Grail. † Pages 186 – 187 †¦ Langdon had entirely forgotten that the peaceful, equal-armed cross had been adopted as the perfect symbol for the flag of neutral Switzerland.At least the mystery was solved. Sophie and Langdon were holding the key to a Swiss bank deposit box. Page 248 Sophie quickly outlined what Langdon had explained earlier – the Priory of Sion, the Knights Templar, the Sangreal documents, and the Holy Grail, which many claimed was not a cup †¦ but rather something far more powerful. {Emphasis added} {These next citations identify the novel’s description of the ‘thing’ that gave the documents that the Knigh ts Templar guarded, their power. } Page 253 â€Å"It was all about power,† Teabing continued. Christ as Messiah was critical to the functioning of Church and state. Many scholars claim that the early Church literally stole Jesus from His original followers, hijacking His human message, shrouding it in an impenetrable cloak of divinity, and using it to expand their own power. † {Emphasis added} Page 256 â€Å"The Holy Grail is not a thing. It is, in fact †¦ a person. † Page 258 â€Å"The Grail is literally the ancient symbol for womanhood, and the Holy Grail represents the sacred feminine and the goddess, which of course has now been lost, virtually eliminated by the Church.The power of the female and her ability to produce life was once very sacred, but it posed a threat to the rise of the predominantly male Church †¦Ã¢â‚¬  Page 259 â€Å"Legends of chivalric quests for the lost Grail were in fact stories of forbidden quests for the lost sacred femin ine. Knights who claimed to be ‘searching for the chalice’ were speaking in code as a way to protect themselves from a Church that had subjugated women, banished the Goddess, burned nonbelievers, and forbidden the pagan reverence for the sacred feminine. Page 273 The Holy Grail is Mary Magdalene †¦ the mother of the royal bloodline of Jesus Christ. Sophie tilted her head and scanned the list of titles: THE TEMPLAR REVELATION: Secret Guardians of the True Identity of Christ Page 277 â€Å"The Sangreal documents simply tell the other side of the Christ story. In the end, which side of the story you believe becomes a matter of faith and personal exploration, but at least the information has survived. The Sangreal documents include tens of thousands of pages of information.Eyewitness accounts of the Sangreal treasure describe it as being carried in four enormous trunks. In those trunks are reputed to be the Purist Documents – thousands of pages of unaltered, pr e-Constantine documents, written by the early followers of Jesus, revering Him as a wholly human teacher and prophet. Also rumored to be part of the treasure is the legendary â€Å"Q† Documents – a manuscript that even the Vatican admits they believe exists. Allegedly, it is a book of Jesus’ teachings, possibly written in His own hand. † Sophie was silent for a long moment. And these four chests of documents were the treasure that the Knights Templar found under Solomon’s Temple? † â€Å"Exactly. The documents that made the Knights so powerful. The documents that have been the object of countless Grail quests throughout history. † {Emphasis added} â€Å"But you said the Holy Grail was Mary Magdalene. If people are searching for documents, why would you call it a search for the Holy Grail? † Teabing eyed her, his expression softening. â€Å"Because the hiding place of the Holy Grail includes a sarcophagus. † The quest for t he Holy Grail is literally the quest to kneel before the bones of Mary Magdalene. A journey to pray at the feet of the outcast one, the lost sacred feminine. † Page 278 Sophie felt an unexpected wonder.â€Å"The hiding place of the Holy Grail is actually †¦ a tomb? † Teabing’s hazel eyes got misty. â€Å"It is. A tomb containing the body of Mary Magdalene and the documents that tell the true story of her life. At its heart, the quest for the Holy Grail has always been a quest for Magdalene – the wronged Queen, entombed with the proof of her family’s rightful claim to power. {Emphasis added} Page 279 â€Å"†¦ {Godefroi de Bouillon, descendant in the Merovingian bloodline and founder of the Priory of Sion} ordered the Knights Templar to recover the Sangreal documents from beneath Solomon’s Temple and thus provide the Merovingians proof of their hereditary ties to Jesus Christ [through Christ’s marriage to and subsequent child ren with Mary Magdalene]. Pages 328 – 329 An ancient word of wisdom frees this scroll †¦ and helps us keep her scatter’d family whole †¦ a headstone praised by templars is the key †¦ and atbash will reveal the truth to thee. This poem,† Teabing gushed, â€Å"references not only the Grail, but the Knights Templar and scattered family of Mary Magdalene! What more could we ask for? † Page 366 â€Å"Robert, for heaven’s sake! The church built in London by the Priory’s military arm – the Knights Templar themselves! † â€Å"The Temple Church? † Once the epicenter of all Templar/Priory activities in the United Kingdom, the Temple Church had been so named in honor of Solomon’s Temple, from which the Knights Templar had extracted theirs own title, as well as the Sangreal documents that gave them all their influence in Rome.Tales abounded of knights performing strange, secretive rituals within the Temple Churc h’s unusual sanctuary. Page 375 â€Å"The Knights Templar were warriors,† Teabing reminded †¦ â€Å"A religio-military society. Their churches were their strongholds and their banks. † â€Å"Banks? † Sophie asked, glancing at Leigh. â€Å"Heavens, yes. The Templars invented the concept of modern banking. For European nobility, traveling with gold was perilous, so the Templars allowed nobles to deposit gold in their nearest Temple Church and the draw it from any other Temple Church across Europe. All they needed was proper documentation. † Alanus Marcel†, Teabing said, â€Å"The master of the Temple in the early twelve hundreds. He and his successors actually held the Parliamentary chair of Primus Baro Angiae. † Langdon was surprised. â€Å"First Baron of the Realm? † Teabing nodded.â€Å"The Master of the Temple, some claim, held more influence than the king himself. † {Emphasis added} â€Å"You know,† Teabing whispered to Sophie, â€Å"the Holy Grail is said to once have been stored in this church overnight while the Templars moved it from one hiding place to another. Can you imagine the four chests of Sangreal documents sitting right here with Mary Magdalene’s sarcophagus? Pages 466 – 467 The Knights Templar had designed Rosslyn Chapel as an exact architectural blueprint of Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem – compete with a west wall, a narrow rectangular sanctuary, and a subterranean vault like the Holy of Holies, in which the original nine knights had first unearthed their priceless treasure. Langdon had to admit, there existed an intriguing symmetry in the idea of the Templars building a modern Grail repository that echoed of the Grail’s original hiding place.