Templar ring

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

―William Robert Woodman^[src]^-[m]

A Templar ring

The Templar ring was an adornment worn by members of the Templar Order since at least the 16th century that signified the membership in the Order. Typically, the rings bore a simple design of a red cross pattée, the Templar insignia.

History

In the early 16th century, the Chinese Templar Qiu Ju, a member of the Eight Tigers, wore a Templar ring.^[1]

In 1712, the British Templar Wilson wore a ring that left a cross-shaped scar on Edward Kenway's face after Wilson punched Edward while escaping the burning Kenway farmstead. Edward later encountered another Templar ring, this time worn by Benjamin Pritchard, when the latter was captured by the crew of the pirate ship, the Emperor. Edward's rival and fellow pirate Blaney stole the ring from Pritchard soon after.^[2]

In 1715, Grand Master Laureano de Torres y Ayala of the Caribbean Rite 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 their induction ceremony into the Order.^[3] After Edward was revealed as an imposter, his ring was taken back by Torres.^[2]

In the early 18th century, certain members of the Templar-affiliated Shimazu clan in Japan wore Templar rings.^[4] In 1725, a Templar who met with the Macau-based businesswoman Lee Huiyin to demand a sea log in her possession in exchange for ceasing all hostilities against her company wore a ring, which allowed Lee to recognize him as a member of the Order.^[5]

Templar rings had their greatest usage in the United States before and during the American Revolution. During the Seven Years' War, the British General Edward Braddock wore one of these rings to signify his membership in the Order. Braddock was assassinated by fellow Templar Haytham Kenway during the Braddock Expedition in 1755 for his ruthlessness, following which Kenway took the ring from Braddock and awarded it to Charles Lee upon his induction into the Order.^[6] Before his death in 1757, George Monro gave his Templar ring to Shay Cormac, and Shay was later inducted into the Colonial Rite.^[7] Finally, a British Templar naval captain in the Royal Navy possessed a Templar ring until he was killed by the Colonial Assassin Ratonhnhaké:ton in 1776.^[8]

Towards the end of the 18th century, the wearing of Templar rings was discontinued by the French Rite. In their place, silver pins crafted by the Templar and Sage François-Thomas Germain became the main symbol of recognition for the Order.^[9]

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 unaware of the Templar Order's existence or its influence in their organization.^[10]

General Erich Albert of the German Army wore a Templar ring in World War I. 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.^[11]

In 1927, Thaddeus Gift, the Grand Master of the British Rite, wore a Templar ring. After he was killed by the Black Cross Albert Bolden for betraying the Order's principles, his ring finger was cut off and placed in a box, along with the ring, which was to be delivered to Chiang Kai-shek, whom the Chinese Templars hoped to recruit into their ranks. Gift's son Darius was tasked to deliver the box to Shanghai, but it was stolen shortly after his arrival in the city, while Chiang Kai-shek ultimately declined joining the Order.^[12]

John Roberts wore a Templar ring during the 21st century.^[13]

In 2014, after uploading Shay Cormac's file to the Assassin network, Melanie Lemay presented a Templar ring to the Helix research analyst "Numbskull", offering them a place in the Order.^[7]

In 2019, the Japanese Templar Kaori Kagami wore a Templar ring while she worked as a doctor at the Abstergo Industries facility in Yokohama.^[1]

Behind the scenes

The Templar rings in the Assassin's Creed franchise can be seen as a counterpart to the marks Assassins used, beginning in the Ptolemaic Kingdom with finger amputations up until the Middle Ages, then burn marks during the Renaissance, and eventually Assassin rings in the Victorian era. However, in contrast to the left ring finger favored by the Assassins, Templar rings are typically worn on the right ring finger, further solidifying the differences between the two orders.