I'm somewhat surprised that no one has mentioned the possibility that the
Larmenius Charter is a copy of an earlier document, quite possibly with
copying errors/changes, these quite possibly amplified by several
generations of copying. This is quite apart from the fact that a) the
supposed date of the charter is after the death of Jacques de Molay, the
last "regular" Grand Master--i.e., the last one to be elected according to
the procedures set out in the Rule; and b) naming anyone, including John
Mark Larmenius, as successor to this office was quite outside normal
practice, in that the GM had to be duly elected. Of course, it could be
argued that a proper election was not possible, with the GM in prison; but
that also makes it highly unlikely that de Molay could have signed/issued
such a document while in prison.
Just a thought from
Katherine in Ireland