Editing Pre-Columbian transoceanic contact theories (section)

=== Claims of pre-Columbian contact with Christian voyagers ===
During the period of [[Spanish colonization of the Americas]], several indigenous myths and works of art led a number of Spanish chroniclers and authors to suggest that Christian preachers may have visited [[Mesoamerica]] well before the [[Age of Discovery]]. [[Bernal Díaz del Castillo]], for example, was intrigued by the presence of cross symbols in Maya hieroglyphs, which according to him suggested that other Christians may have arrived in ancient Mexico before the Spanish [[conquistadors]]. [[Fray Diego Durán]], for his part, linked the legend of the Pre-Columbian god [[Quetzalcoatl]] (whom he describes as being chaste, penitent, and a miracle-worker) to the Biblical accounts of Christian apostles. [[Bartolomé de las Casas]] describes Quetzalcoatl as being fair-skinned, tall, and bearded (therefore suggesting an Old World origin), while [[Fray Juan de Torquemada]] credits him with bringing agriculture to the Americas. Modern scholarship has cast serious doubts on several of these claims, since agriculture was practiced in the Americas well before the emergence of Christianity in the Old World, and Maya crosses have been found to have a very different symbolism from that present in Christian religious traditions.<ref name=autogenerated2>{{Cite web | url=https://arqueologiamexicana.mx/mexico-antiguo/quetzalcoatl-blanco-y-de-ojos-azules |title = Quetzalcóatl ¿blanco y de ojos azules?|date = June 28, 2016}}</ref>

According to Pre-Columbian myth, Quetzalcoatl departed Mexico in ancient times by travelling east across the ocean, promising he would return. Some scholars have argued that [[Aztec]] emperor [[Moctezuma Xocoyotzin]] believed Spanish [[conquistador]] [[Hernán Cortés]] (who arrived in what today is Mexico from the east) to be Quetzalcoatl, and his arrival to be a fulfilling of the myth's prophecy, though others have disputed this claim.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gaceta.unam.mx/hernan-cortes-y-el-regreso-de-quetzalcoatl/|title=Hernán Cortés y el regreso de Quetzalcóatl|date=April 9, 2019|website=Gaceta UNAM}}</ref> Fringe theories suggest that Quetzalcoatl may have been a Christian preacher from the Old World who lived among indigenous peoples of ancient Mexico, and eventually attempted to return home by sailing eastwards. [[Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora]], for example, speculated that the Quetzalcoatl myth might have originated from a visit to the Americas by [[Thomas the Apostle]] in the 1st century CE. Later on, [[Servando Teresa de Mier|Fray Servando Teresa de Mier]] argued that the cloak with the image of the [[Virgin of Guadalupe]], which the [[Catholic Church]] claims was worn by [[Juan Diego]], was instead brought to the Americas much earlier by Thomas, who used it as an instrument for [[evangelization]].<ref name=autogenerated2 />

Mexican historian [[Manuel Orozco y Berra]] conjectured that both the cross hieroglyphs and the Quetzalcoatl myth might have originated on a visit to Mesoamerica by a Catholic [[Norsemen|Norse]] missionary in medieval times. However, there is no archaeological or historical evidence to suggest that the [[Norse colonization of North America|Norse explorations]] ever made it as far as ancient Mexico or Central America.<ref name=autogenerated2 /> Other proposed identities for Quetzalcoatl (attributed to their proponents pursuing religious agendas) include [[St. Brendan]] or even [[Jesus Christ]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wirth |first1=Diane E. |date=2002 |title=Quetzalcoatl, the Maya Maize God, and Jesus Christ |url=https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jbms/vol11/iss1/3/ |journal=Journal of Book of Mormon Studies |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages= 4–15|jstor=10.5406/jbookmormstud.11.1.0004 |s2cid=193717645 |access-date=4 December 2023}}</ref>

A popular thread of [[conspiracy theory]] originating with ''[[The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail|Holy Blood, Holy Grail]]'' has it that the Templars used a fleet of 18 ships at [[La Rochelle]] to escape arrest in France. The fleet allegedly left laden with knights and treasures just before the issue of the warrant for the arrest of the Order in October 1307.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Karen Rall |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GpLSrOvPhJUC&pg=PA26 |title=The Templars and the Grail |publisher=Quest Books |year=2003 |isbn=978-0835608077 |page=26}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Tim Wallace-Murphy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xf_uvy6h1OoC&pg=PA17 |title=Templars in America |publisher=Weiser Books |year=2004 |isbn=978-1578633173 |page=17}}</ref> This, in turn, was based on a single item of testimony from serving brother Jean de Châlon, who says he had "heard people talking that [Gerard de Villiers had] put to sea with 18 galleys, and the brother Hugues de Chalon fled with the whole treasury of the brother Hugues de Pairaud."<ref name="Finke, 1907">{{Cite book |last=Finke |first=Heinrich |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kITUAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA339 |title=Papsttum und untergang des Templerordens |publisher=verlag der Aschendorffschen buchh. |year=1907 |location=Münster |pages=338–39 |isbn=9780837069005 |quote=Item dixit, quod potentes ordinis prescientes istam confusionem fugiunt et ipse obviavit fratri Girardo de Villariis ducenti quinquaginta equos, et audivit dici, quod intravit mare cum XVIII galeis, et frater Hugo de Cabilone fugiit cum tot thesauro fratris Hugonis de Peraudo.}}</ref> However, aside from being the sole source for this statement, the transcript indicates that it is hearsay, and this serving brother seems to be prone to making some of the wildest and most damning of claims about the Order, which have led some to doubt his credibility.<ref name="Dafoe">{{Cite web |url=http://blog.templarhistory.com/2010/08/brethren-persecuted-part-2/ |title=Brethren Persecuted Part Two: Revenge Destroys Everything |last=Dafoe |first=Stephen |website=Knight Templar Magazine, the official publication of the York Rite Masonry Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of the United States of America |access-date=29 October 2012 |archive-date=October 24, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024010355/http://blog.templarhistory.com/2010/08/brethren-persecuted-part-2/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> What destination, if any, was reached by this fleet is uncertain. A fringe theory suggests the fleet may have made its way to the Americas, where the Knights Templar interacted with the aboriginal population. Helen Nicholson of [[Cardiff University]] has cast doubt on the existence of this voyage, arguing that the Knights Templar did not have ships capable of navigating the Atlantic Ocean.<ref>Nicholson, Helen (2001). ''The Knights Templar: A New History''. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Sutton. pp. 12, 191–92. {{ISBN|0-7509-2517-5}}.</ref>