I agree that the colours of the habits of Saint-John's
knights could have impress Breton people who gave them the
surname of "red monks" ; but I wrote in a previous message (n° 026144) that
this tradition is maybe as late as the 17th or the 18th century. The reason
why the Templar knights bore the same surname is obviously because people didn't
make any difference in Brittany between the two Orders as St John knights
have inherited all the possessions of the Templars : the surname "Red
Monks" has been given "retrospectivally" [hope this word will be
understandable for my dear mailing-list friends ?] to Templars. An old
Breton complaint told the story of a young girl who has been rap(t)ed by monks :
one of the version of this complaint is linked with Red Monks ; but another one
mentions Franciscans. In any case, the story should be reported to the last 3
centuries before French Revolution.
ANDRE-YVES BOURGES
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