Templar ring

"A ring with a red cross pattée in a white circle. The Order of the Knights Templar!"

―William Robert Woodman.

The Templar ring was an adornment worn by members of the Templar Order since at least the 18th century, that signified the membership in the Order. Typically, the rings bore a simple design: a red cross pattée.

The earliest known records of Templar rings date to 1715. The Grand Master of the Caribbean Templars, Laureano de Torres y Ayala, gave three rings to the new recruits, Julien du Casse, Woodes Rogers, and Edward Kenway – the latter having impersonated the former Assassin Duncan Walpole.

During the French and Indian War, the British General Edward Braddock wore one of these rings to signify his membership in the Order. Braddock was killed by fellow Templar Haytham Kenway for his ruthlessness during the Braddock Expedition in 1754, following which Kenway took the ring from Braddock's body and awarded it to Charles Lee upon his induction into the Order.

During the early 20th century, Templar rings were worn by the Secret Chiefs of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, though the Hermeticists were not aware of the Templar Order's existence or its influence in their organization.

General Erich Albert of the German Army wore a Templar ring during the First World War. During the Christmas Truce of 1914, Albert enlisted the aid of an enemy medic to perform surgery on a German soldier. After the surgery, Albert noticed the medic's interest in his Templar ring, and offered to trade it with him until he noticed the medic's Assassin burn mark around his finger, and was assassinated.

Gallery

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  Haytham Kenway taking Edward Braddock's Templar ring
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  Charles Lee being awarded with a Templar ring
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  A Secret Chief of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn wearing a Templar ring