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The Knights Templar Cipher, a geometric code using Maltese Cross fragments, promises hidden medieval secrets. Yet no evidence shows the original Templars used it. A Pigpen variant, it likely emerged in Masonic circles centuries later, fuelling myths of encrypted treasures and unbreakable vows.
Written by Simon Williams
In the shadowed vaults of medieval legend, the Knights Templar stand as masters of mystery. Founded in 1119 to protect pilgrims on the perilous roads to Jerusalem, these warrior-monks amassed wealth, power, and an aura of secrecy that has never faded. Their white mantles bore the red cross pattée; their preceptories dotted Europe and the Holy Land. Yet one question lingers: did they truly employ secret codes to guard their communications and treasures?
Modern fascination centres on what is often called the "Templar Cipher"—a geometric substitution system that replaces letters with fragments of the eight-pointed Maltese Cross.
This cipher appears in online charts and history blogs, promising to unlock encrypted messages from the Crusades.
The so-called Templar Cipher is, in reality, a variant of the Pigpen Cipher (also known as the Freemason's Cipher or Masonic Cipher). The classic Pigpen uses a tic-tac-toe grid and crossed lines, with dots to mark positions: letters fill quadrants, and symbols represent edges or corners.
The Templar version adapts this to the Maltese Cross, four arrowhead shapes forming an eight-pointed star. Letters fill the arms and intersections, often clockwise or in specific orders, with dots differentiating duplicates.
Historical sources trace Pigpen-like systems to at least the 16th–18th centuries. Freemasons adopted it widely; some Masonic Knights Templar bodies (a later chivalric order within Freemasonry) used the Maltese Cross variant.
No primary documents from the medieval Knights Templar (1119–1312) prove they used this cipher. Trial records from 1307–1312, papal bulls, and surviving charters mention no secret codes tied to the Maltese Cross. The eight-pointed cross itself became strongly associated with the Knights Hospitaller (later Knights of Malta) from the 16th century onward, not the Templars, whose emblem was the simpler red cross pattée.
Claims of Templar use often stem from 18th–19th-century Masonic lore or romantic retellings. The cipher's geometric elegance fits the era's fascination with occult symbols, but evidence points to post-medieval invention, likely by Freemasons reviving "Templar" traditions.
The Templars did practise secrecy: they used basic codes in correspondence, guarded banking ledgers fiercely, and employed seals and passwords. Their financial system—deposits in one preceptory redeemed elsewhere, relied on institutional trust, not complex cryptography. Frequency analysis (known in the Arab world centuries earlier) could crack simple substitutions anyway.
The idea captivates because it bridges the Templars' real innovations, proto-banking, international networks, with modern cryptography. Today's Bitcoin wallets and secure ledgers echo the principle: prove value without moving assets.
Masonic orders kept the legend alive, blending medieval chivalry with Enlightenment symbolism. Blogs, books, and puzzle sites perpetuate the diagrams, turning speculation into "fact."
The Maltese Cross endures: firefighters, ambulances, and military honours wear it as a badge of bravery and service. Its eight points, loyalty, piety, honesty, bravery, glory and honour, contempt of death, helpfulness to the poor and sick, respect for the church, embody the chivalric ideal the Templars pursued.
Secret codes? Perhaps not in the 12th century. But the Templars' true cipher was their unbreakable code of conduct, vows that turned nine knights into a legend.
In the end, the real mystery isn't a hidden alphabet. It's how a small order of warrior-monks forged trust across continents, guarded by nothing more than shared honour and the shadow of the cross.
Published: 25 April 2026 | Last Updated: 25 April 2026
This episode explores the origins and impact of the Knights Templar. Part of the Histories and Castles Deep Dive series.
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