The Templars were the first soldiers in Christian history to live as monks. Because the founders had only one horse and they vowed to wear only those clothes which were given to them and to own only their weapons, they came to be known as The Poor Knights. When they moved to what was supposed to be the site of the Temple of Solomon, they got a new name: the Knights of the Temple, or Knights Templar.
Under the Grand Master Hughues de Payens, and the backing of Bernard of Clairvaux (who was often called The Second Pope and was the chief spokesman of Christendom), theTemplar Order expanded rapidly: they received a lot of new recruits as well as huge donations of land and money. In only one year, they held property in France, England, Scotland, Spain, and Portugal. Within a decade they had spread to Italy, Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Constantinople.
Richard the Lion-Hearted (who was revered as one of the great warrior kings of England) was on such good terms with the Templars that he was considered by many to be an honorary member. He often traveled with the knights, sailed on their ships, and stayed in their castles. When he had to flee to the Holy Land, he did so disguised as a Templar and in the company of other members of the order. His brother, King John, also respected the Knights Templar and often stayed at their London preceptory (house, or center).
By the mid 1300s the Templars had established themselves as the second most wealthy and powerful institution in Christendom (the Papacy was first).
The Templars, as a religious order, were exempt from taxes. They exported their own wool, granted sanctuary like any other church, held their own courts, and ran their own markets and fairs. Since Templars were also free from tolls on roads, bridges and rivers, they could easily move about. These conditions led the Templars to become bankers, and many say they are at the origin of modern banking. Even though the cannon law forbade christians from collecting interest on loans, the Templars nevertheless lent money and collected interest on a massive scale. One of the most important aspects of Templar banking was the arrangement of payments without the actual transfer of cash. You could deposit money at a Templar preceptory and receive a letter of credit that could be converted to cash at any other Templar building (in other words, they let people write checks). Theft and fraud were prevented by a set of codes that only Templars knew. The Templars, like a bank, also kept safe deposits. They even kept the French royal treasury. In England, the Order collected taxes for the crown. They acted as mediators in disputes involving ransom payments, dowries, pensions, and lots of other stuff.
In 1291, the last crusaders in the Holy Land fell. The Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem was lost, and the Templars were left without a home. Inspired by the Ordenstadt of the Teutonic Knights in Prussia and the Baltic, the Templars wanted to form their own "Ordenstadt". The Templar Knights, however, wanted to built their Ordenstadt in the heart of Europe, unlike the Teutonic Knights who were out on the fringes of Christendom. They wanted a Templar state on the southern border of France, which did not at all please King Philip "the Fair" IV of France.
Philip, you see, had tried to become an honorary Templar, like Richard, but had been insultingly refused. Philipe knew of the Templar's wealth and power and held a bitter grudge against them. He used the Knight's secret meetings and rituals against them. In 1307, all Templars in France were arrested on the charge of heresy, their preceptories placed under sequester, and their goods confiscated. It was expected that Philippe's plan would take the Templars by surprise, but unfortunately for him it didn't work out that way. The Templar's had obviously received warning of this attack as many of the Order's books and rules had been burned, and a message was circulated to all the French precipitories, stating that no information concerning the Order's rites or rituals was to be released. Many members of the Order fled France. Those who were captured submitted peacefully. There is no record of a Templar Knight resisting arrest.
"Confessions" including trampling and spitting on the cross, homosexuality and sodomy (copulation with a member of the same sex or with an animal), and worshipping of The Devil Baphomet (an idol which is said to have taken the form of a head or sometimes a Black Cat) were released under torture. The head was said to be that of a lady, made from silver and gold, that it was that of a bearded man with burning eyes and horns, or that the head had three faces. Baphomet was said to be the source of the knight's wealth, and supposingly came from the Muslim Muhammad. It was believed that the Knights preformed secret rituals during which they transferred the idol's power to themselves.
These 'confessions' are not very reliable. If you were in thumb screws, you would tell them anything they wanted to hear too, but you since noone but the Templars knew what really went on at their gatherings, no one can say for sure. One group of the Knights did escape Philipe, and the Order's treasurer was able to smuggle the Order's entire treasury out of France on a group of eighteen galleys, who sailed off and were never seen again. The ships still haven't been found, though rumours abound as to their destination and the possibility that the Order still exists.
On March 22nd, 1312, The Templars were formally dissolved by Papal decree. The same month a year later, Jaques De Molay (Grand Master of the Order) and 51 other Templars were roasted to death by Philipe's soldiers. After what happened in France, other Templar Knights decided that it was best they move on and joined other Orders. German Templars joined the Order of St. John or the Teutonic order. Spanish Templars joined the Order of Calatreve, or helped found the Order of Montesa, made up almost entirely of Templars. In Portugal, where the Order was cleared by an enquiry, they simply changed their name, becoming the Knights of Christ. This branch of Templars survived well into the sixteenth century, and included Vasco de Gamma (for those of you who didn't pay much attention in grade 8 history class, he's a famous explorer) among its members and Prince Henry The Navigator as Grand Master. Christopher Columbus (now I know you know who he is *g*) was married to the daughter of a former Grand Master of the Order, and it seems logical that though her father-in-law he gained his maps and diaries.
The Knights of the TempleThe Knights Templar Preceptory PortcullisKnights Templar History and MythosThe Knights Templar by Jim Garrison, Llewwllyn's 1998 Magical Almanac
© Copyright Sabrina Wish 1998
