The title of "most powerful" secret society ever might have to go to the Knights Templar.
During the Crusades, they were an arm of the pope and had lots of wealth.
Living by a code called the Rule, they rose to prominence over the course of
several centuries and became a true force to be reckoned with.
The origins of the Knights Templar are incredibly humble and, frankly,
not even all that mysterious. Basically, they came about because of the Crusades.
The topic of the Crusades, on the other hand, is a long conversation. But the important part
as it relates to the Templars is that Jerusalem was taken from Muslim hands by Christian armies
around the year 1099. On the surface, that seemed great for Christendom. Pilgrims from Europe could
take the journey to go and visit the Holy City. But the reality wasn't quite as straightforward.
The journey from mainland Europe to Jerusalem was a dangerous undertaking, and it wasn't uncommon
for pilgrims to be robbed, or even killed, as they passed through Muslim-controlled areas.
It was a problem that the French nobleman Hugues de Payens wanted to solve. Somewhere around 1118
or 1119, he created a group sworn to protect the Christian pilgrims. He coined his new brotherhood
the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon, later known as the Knights Templar,
or just Templars. Thus, one of history's most intriguing and powerful orders was born.
Part of what allowed the Templars to become as powerful and successful as they were
might have been their code of conduct. In some way, they were like a monastic order. They took
their vows upon entry and then abided by a set of guidelines called the Rule, with a capital "R".
It all started with their clothing: A white cloak adorned with a red cross. White was a symbol of
their purity and chastity, the exact opposite of the flashy armor usually associated with knights.
Even something as simple as a belt was replaced with a wool
cord. It was all function without the fashion. None of what they wore bore
any flourishes, since decorations of that nature signified arrogance.
But that wasn't it for the Rule. They were beholden to the word of their Grand Master.
Permission was required from their superiors to adjust their stirrups, go into town, or
even bathe. Chastity was hugely important, and the topic of women was completely taboo. They couldn't
talk about times they had spent with women or even kiss female members of their families. Mealtimes
were regulated as well. Meals were taken together, two brothers to a bowl, and meat only every other
day, which was done to avoid corruption. Church services were mandatory, of course.
Over time, the Templars started to garner a reputation as one of the most feared
fighting units of the Crusades. They were seen as absolutely fearless. With a code
that didn't permit them from retreating from battle combined with an insane discipline,
they were a force to be reckoned with. They were expertly trained with multiple weapons
and exceedingly well equipped, and that was when their cavalry wasn't decimating the enemy ranks.
Dan Jones' The Templars: The Rise and Spectacular Fall of God's Holy Warriors
paints them as a lynchpin in the Second Crusade, leading entire armies to battle and fighting
on the front lines to conquer Damascus, one of the most prominent cities in the region. Plus,
they didn't just fight, but also helped fund other military campaigns and battles.
People living at the time even went so far as to see them as something close to legendary.
More importantly, though, rulers of different countries also started to see them as a legitimate
military threat, one with too much experience and leeway. It was enough that European royalty
eventually thought it best that the threat posed by the Templars should be removed completely.
What sets the Templars apart from other secret societies is their relationship to the law.
Powerful and secretive organizations like the Freemasons would still have to follow the law
of whatever country they were in at the time. The Templars didn't have to deal with that.
The order had papal backing, and with it came a papal bull in 1139 called Omne Datum Optimum. The
language is flowery, but it heaps praise on the Templars while intimately tying them to the power
of the Pope. And with that power came privilege. "Whoever dies here today,
you will certainly be among them." "You are a lord.
I must give you the road." They alone were entitled to any
of the spoils of war that they earned while fighting against the Muslim armies. None of
that had to go back to any other country, and the Templars could use those riches as they saw fit.
They were completely exempt from paying any sort of taxes, and their papal protection essentially
meant that they answered to almost no one. They weren't held to the rule of any kind of local
authority and only had to listen to the word of the Pope. They were almost above the law.
Even though the Knights Templar started as exactly what their name implies,
holy warriors, one of their biggest impacts wasn't made on the battlefield.
The Templar's financial system functioned a lot like a private bank. Carrying a lot of money
on the journey to Jerusalem was dangerous to pilgrims for all the obvious reasons.
Instead, they could deposit money in a Templar bank in Europe, receive a letter of credit,
and then show that letter in Jerusalem, where they could withdraw the money.
But the Templars also offered other financial services as well,
beyond a simple banking system. Although a lot of those services were exclusive to their
higher-profile clients. King Henry III planned to buy the island of Oléron, and the Templars
acted as brokers to put that deal together. There was also a point in time where they
acted as pawnbrokers by holding onto the crown jewels of Great Britain as security on a loan.
They were also trusted with the financials of other groups. The Pope used the Templars
as tax collectors to help move collected funds to the Crusades. They were also used by English
and French kings to shift money and even put on financial boards to oversee complicated
economic matters. All this because they were well known for their honesty and efficiency.
The guidelines set out by the Knights Templar technically mandated that its members embrace
poverty, but the reality didn't look like that. The Templars as a group were insanely rich.
"He's borrowed money from the Temple. You tell him we're here to collect the debt."
Part of that came from their battles on the frontlines. Rules laid out by the
Pope meant that they could keep the riches they found from the lands they conquered.
But another big part of it came from donations. Patrons would gift them huge sums of money as a
way to confirm their piety. Donating funds to the Templars essentially protected the donor's
eternal soul, which given the time period was a pretty important thing to a lot of people.
It also just happened to benefit the Templars. And on the plus side, it was a way for anyone
to prove their devotion without actually taking part in the fighting of the Crusades.
A much safer alternative, on the whole. Those donations also occasionally included
plots of land, which the Templars could turn into further revenue streams. They would use them as
farmland or vineyards, among other things, which just went to further their wealth.
Aside from growing into one of the most financially wealthy groups in the medieval
world, the Templars also managed to turn themselves into an incredibly
property-rich group. At their height, they ended up owning land
all across Europe. Their estates were scattered through England and Ireland,
as well as across Spain, Germany, Italy, Hungary, and most of mainland Europe.
Aside from their lands on the Continent, they also held onto a handful of locations in the Holy Land.
This includes castles and fortresses scattered in strategic locations, stretching as far
north as Antioch, which is north-east of Cyprus, and nearly as far south as Egypt.
Speaking of the island of Cyprus, the Templars also owned that for a while. The whole island.
The Templars bought the island from the then-king of England, Richard the Lionheart.
That said, their occupation didn't go well. The inhabitants of Cyprus resented the severe
Templar rule and planned a massacre in 1192. The Templars learned about the plot and slaughtered
people in the streets rather than be besieged in their stronghold. They ultimately gave the island
back to Richard but retained their holdings, some of them even returning in the late 1200s.
The power of the Templars is also exemplified by the people they associated with.
Because while most of the individual Templars aren't named in history books,
they counted kings and popes among their allies. That was the case from the beginning. Baldwin II,
the king of Jerusalem at the time, took an immediate liking to the order, giving them the
use of his palace on Temple Mount in 1120. This amazing location is better known as "The Temple
of Solomon," and the place where the Templars first got their name. About a decade later,
they were officially recognized by the Catholic Church and Pope Honorius II. They also had the
backing of Bernard of Clairvaux, a prominent French abbot, who wrote texts in their favor.
Their connections only grew from there. They had close ties to English royalty, and Richard the
Lionheart in particular, who called on them to be his tithe collectors. They were especially close
with French kings as well, going out of their way to help them. Louis IX was short on funds,
so the Templars saw to it that they played a role in getting his armies to Egypt. Then,
when he was captured, the Templars again intervened, this time to pay his ransom.
By the late 12th century, the Crusades were starting to lose steam. Muslim armies finally
took back Jerusalem, and over the next century, crusader refuges fell one by one,
with the Templars themselves also losing their foothold in the Holy Land.
Support for the Crusades dwindled, which let criticism of the Templars rise. People began to
doubt their intentions and fear their influence. King Philip IV of France was the one who acted on
those accusations and vowed to bring them down. In October 1307, he rounded up a bunch of French
Templars, including their Grand Master, Jacques de Molay, arresting and torturing them until they
confessed to a laundry list of sins, including heresy, sodomy, and financial corruption.
It's hard to say whether any of those forced confessions were true, but in the end,
it didn't really matter. In 1310, a trial led to over 50 Templars being burned at the stake.
In 1312, Philip pressured Pope Clement V into officially dissolving the Templars.
The final nail in the coffin came in 1314, when dozens of Templars,
de Molay included, were executed for those earlier confessions.
"So they are dying for what the pope would command them to do." "Yes. But not Christ, I think."
Even though modern perspectives tend to see the Templars as a secret society,
their existence was never doubted at the height of their power. After all, it's hard
to think that a well-oiled military machine that could help facilitate wars would be able to go
completely undetected and under the radar. But they still fit the profile of a secret
society, despite the renown they won in their time. For the most part, what they really sought
was privacy, but they weren’t trying to remain hidden. Among their most private ceremonies were
their initiation rituals, and these came under a lot of fire. Friends and family
weren't invited to them, and that made others believe the practices were suspect. For a while,
people believed that the rituals included spitting on the cross and denying Christ. But many of these
claims came from confessions made under torture. The rituals were nothing near that. They were
mostly a series of questions and vows. Still, questions abound. For instance,
in 2017 the Caynton Caves were discovered, showing the world a labyrinth of carved caverns. Though
extremely unlikely, some believe that the caves were used by the Templars. But to what end?
Some sort of secret religious ritual, probably, but the details are sparse.
Despite having been dissolved in the early 14th century, the Knights Templar still manage to
capture the wonder and imagination of the modern world. Even 700 years after the death of the last
Grand Master, myths and legends still abound. Conspiracy theorists still pose questions
about the relics the Templars may or may not have had in their possession. No,
they didn't have the Shroud of Turin, the Holy Grail, the Ark of the Covenant, or actual pieces
of the cross from the crucifixion. But it's fascinating to speculate about if they did.
Then there are myths of a Templar treasure hoard, taken to some mysterious place just
before the persecution they faced in the 1300s. The Templar fleet did disappear around that time,
but no one knows where or what was contained in the cargo. Some speculate that they made their way
to Scotland, where they might have inspired the Freemasons, but no one knows for sure.
The Templars have lived on in the popular imagination for centuries since their official
dissolution, whether through the creation of contemporary branches, works of fiction
like The Da Vinci Code or the Assassin's Creed franchise, or through the intrigue of
scholars - and anyone who likes a little history. Check out one of our newest videos right here!
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