In 1306-1307, King Philip IV of France and his cousin and fellow Frenchman Pope
Clement V declared the Knights Templar to be heretics, persecuted them, and,
stole their vast wealth. A number of knights were arrested and tortured,
including their “Grand Master.” The torture included branding, eye gouging,
stretching on the rack, and more. What were the knights' supposed crimes? Satanic blood rituals,
a two-faced skull, kissing each other on the feet, navel and neck, and much much more!
We know now that the Knights had been the target of a conspiracy to seize their immense wealth.
The French king owed the Templars large amounts of money, which he had neither the
ability nor the desire to repay. The pope was jealous and anxious about the power,
wealth and popularity of the Knights. Plus, he wanted some cash too. Who
were the Knights Templar, and how did they get so rich?
The Knights Templar, more formally known as “The Poor Knights of Christ and of the Temple
of Solomon”, organized during the time of the early Crusader period (1095-1149),
when Christians of Western Europe sailed, walked and rode to the Holy Land to expel
“the Infidels,” as they called the Muslim rulers in the area who were now in possession of some of
Christendom's holiest sites. Interestingly, the Muslims called the Christians the same thing.
It was hoped by the Catholic Church and the Catholic kings of Europe that the Crusaders
(the word “crusade” comes from Latin, meaning “military mission or expedition
under the banner of the cross”) would drive the Muslims out of the Holy Land,
which consisted mostly of today's Israel and Palestine, but included parts of Jordan and Syria.
But though the initial crusade did drive Muslim rulers out of many important Christian sites,
it soon became apparent that they weren't gone for good. A long and protracted battle began,
and the men of Western Europe, those who lived or weren't captured and sold into slavery,
wanted to go home – they weren't professional soldiers and they had hoped their victories
would be permanent. Over time, many of those men headed home, and when they did, the did
so as individuals or in small groups, perfect targets for thieves and marauding Muslim soldiers.
Reports of these incidents reached the ears of nobleman Hugh de Payens at his home in France,
and he determined to do something about it. We should tell you that Hugh de Payens may or
may not have been a real person there is scant record of him, and that very incomplete. Whether
it was a Hugh de Payens, someone else, or even a group of people does not matter.
What does is that in 1118 or 1119, the “The Poor Knights of Christ and of the Temple of
Solomon” journeyed to the Holy Land to protect the men, many of whom had come “on crusade” with
their families, from thieves. Like many other orders at the time and later, the knights were
primarily nobleman, at least at first. They also, like the famous “Knights' Hospitallers”,
cared for the sick and wounded. Many of them had some experience at arms, either through
combat experience or the martial training that noblemen were expected to go through at the time.
When they arrived in Jerusalem, King Baldwin II, a Frenchman, gave them a part of the royal palace
for their own. It stood on land rumored to be the location of the biblical Temple
of Solomon. This is how the Knights, each of whom was called a “Templar”, got their name.
The Templars not only escorted people to and from pilgrimage sites once they arrived in the
Holy Land. In addition, they had received the blessing of the Catholic Church to establish
their “prefectories” - their own monastic buildings, which were more like fortresses,
throughout much of Western Europe and the Christian-controlled parts of the Middle East.
They had their own headquarters, but the pope and several other regional and local Church and
governing officials also gave them two crucial rights. The first was that the Templars did
not have to pay taxes to the Church, kings, or nobility for the lands they used. Additionally,
the Church and many members of the ruling classes in Western Europe donated vast tracts of land to
the Templars, from which the knights collected tax and tithes. For the first hundred or
so years, the Templars were the most respected, revered, and rewarded of the military orders.
Among the ordinary people, the Templars were respected for aiding pilgrims and caring for the
wounded and sick. But most importantly, they won victories over the Muslims in the early days of
their existence. But, of course, not every battle the Templars fought was a victory. At times,
their fighting prowess was the only bright spot within a more extensive military defeat.
Still, their reputation as fanatic Christian warriors who would rather die than be captured
and their skill at arms won them renown and more land. With land came taxes, and donations,
for it was believed by many at the time that donating to the Templars, or other orders,
military or not, would result in a blessing from above for the giver. Through taxes, tithes and
donations, the Templars became incredibly wealthy. What’s more, within a relatively short period,
they had established prefectories throughout Catholic Christendom. Given the nature of life
in the 13th and 14th centuries, the prefectories began to serve as a sort of primitive bank, first
at a local level, then throughout much of Western Europe. This benefited people going on Crusade
and also made the first job of the Templars easier. For example, a family in Jerusalem wishing
to return to Italy, for example, could carry all of their wealth back home with them and risk being
robbed, with or without Templar protection, or they could take their wealth to the Templar
prefectory before they left. There, Templars would assess the value of the deposit, work
out an agreement, and write what was essentially a primitive check – a parchment that the departing
pilgrims would take to the prefectory in their homeland for a stated value in coin. The Templars
also got into the money-lending business, and though the Catholic Church frowned on collecting
interest, the Templars got around that rule easily. Many historians count the Templars as
the first actual multinational corporation. Inside the Templars
Most of the medieval people we read and see movies about are knights. Aside from their armor, duels,
romantic tales and brave deeds, the reason that the knights are the people we hear about from
the time is because they were from the upper classes. Generally speaking, the upper class,
which at this time were either members of the nobility or the clergy, were the only ones able
to read and write. Even many nobles couldn't read – but they loved having tales told about them,
and written about them. Besides, the truth is that no one really cared enough about
the mass of the people to write much down about them. So, we hear about the knights.
Of course, that's not the only reason. Knights, whether they were Templars, Knights of
Malta, the Teutonic Knights, and any of the many other orders, were the elite warriors of the time.
So, that begs the question – if there weren't that many knights, meaning men who fought,
how did the Templars run this large early multinational empire they built so quickly?
In this case, the word “knight” is kind of a misnomer – not everyone in the Poor Knights
of Christ and the Temple of Solomon was a warrior, but he was a knight – for Christ.
He worked, in his way, towards one goal, the protection and spread of Christianity. The actual
warriors themselves were a minority within the order. One could not be a mounted knight without
a couple of things. First and foremost, a title, such as “Duke,” “Prince,” “Count”,
etc. No one without noble blood could be a mounted knight. What's more, no one without title could
likely afford the three or four horses needed by a mounted knight. Horses and their care cost money,
and so did the squires, usually young nobles, who took care of them for the knight. While it is the
mounted knights that are most recognizable to us today, with their white mantle and red cross,
the Templar foot-soldiers wore a black mantle with the red cross.
The armed forces of the Templars consisted of far more than armored and mounted knights.
Knights on horseback formed the “shock troops” of the Templars and other orders,
but without foot soldiers, they could not have sustained a battle,
nor permanently taken or defended land. At their height, the Templars had tens
of thousands of dedicated warriors at their command throughout Europe and the Holy Land.
Other “knights” did the more mundane jobs of the order. These jobs included not only the
maintenance and cleaning of the prefectories, but growing, purchasing and preparing food,
clothes and the necessities of life, and as the success of the Templar “banks” began,
more and more brothers became accountants and a type of early banker. Many of them
traveled throughout Europe, lending money, and this is where the trouble eventually began.
“Knightfall”
The most famous Templar victory came in 1177, at the Battle of Montgisard,
in the Holy Land. There, about 500 mounted knights and a few thousand infantry defeated
the brilliant Muslim leader Saladin and his more than 25,000 soldiers.
Unfortunately, ten years later the Templars and others were defeated by Saladin at the
Battle of Hattin, which led to the reconquest of Jerusalem by the Muslims. This was a huge
blow to not only the Templars, but to all of Christendom. The city was recaptured briefly,
about fifty years later, but the Templars had no part in the fighting.
Over the next hundred and some years, the Templars found themselves retreating from
one fortified prefectory to another across the Middle East and the Mediterranean. No matter
how successful they were in business and no matter how dedicated they were,
in the eyes of the pope and the Catholic kings and nobles of Europe, the main purpose of the
Templars and other crusaders was to secure the Holy Land for Christ, and this they did not do.
What's more, the Templars were exceedingly rich.
What's more, papal orders had made the Templars exempt from ALL local laws in Catholic Europe.
They were literally a law unto themselves. The knights were also very secretive. The
rites they practiced inside the prefectories, which in truth were likely little different
than the rites practiced by high officials of the Catholic Church and other military orders,
were the subject of rumor – the unknown always is, especially in a time of ignorance.
Additionally, the leader of the Knights Templar, called “the Grand Master,” was a lifetime
position, and commanded great power, respect and wealth. Many Grand Masters led from the front,
however, and were killed in battle, sometimes after only a short time in office. However,
a lifetime appointment to lead a secret order who had to follow no laws but their own in
whatever kingdom they were in, made the Knights Templar the enemies of many powerful people.
In 1306, the most powerful of these enemies were King Philip IV of France and his relative,
Pope Clement V. Adding to the strength of the duo was the fact that at the time,
the pope lived in Avignon, France.
Many people will not lend money to friends because it tends to ruin friendships.
One of the ways in which this happens is that the person who is loaned the money,
instead of blaming themselves for getting into debt, blames
their friend for asking for the money back. Happens today, and it happened in 1306-7.
Philip IV had borrowed tremendous sums of money from the Templars. Money he had no ability nor
desire to pay back. Over the years, the Templars had been given much land in France – land which
no longer generated income for the king or his nobles. Or, in many cases, the Church.
Both Philip and Clement had an idea of how much wealth the Templars had – and they wanted it.
So they invited Templar Grand Master Jacques De Molay and the Grandmaster of the Knights
Hospitallers for negotiations. These negotiations were supposed to be to settle serious differences
between the orders and perhaps see if they could be merged into one powerful order of knights.
Unfortunately for De Molay, this was a ruse – the Hospitallers' Grand Master was delayed – for
months, and while waiting, the pope began to ask De Molay about criminal accusations brought by a
former knight a couple of years prior. Upon hearing this, Philip pressured his cousin to
investigate rumors that had been circling around the Templars for years – rumors of “unholy rites.”
These unholy rites included the worship of a goat-headed god called “Baphomet”,
the appearance of a skull at Templar initiation rites which was rumored to be that of an unholy
two-headed or two-faced beast, or the dried head of John the Baptist. Among
other accusations were rampant homosexual activity among the Templars, and initiation
rites which included stepping on the Cross, urinating on an image of Christ and much more.
These accusations were made by Templars themselves. Why? Because they had been arrested,
along with Jacques De Molay. By the way, they were arrested on Friday 13th, 1307.
This is mistakenly believed to be the origin of Friday 13th being an unlucky day,
but while the number 13 had been considered unlucky by the Romans and some others in Europe,
the mention of unlucky Friday the 13th, does not appear in history until the 1800s.
Still, the day was unlucky enough for the Templars, for they were tortured for days,
weeks and months while the “trial” of the Templars was conducted. Of course,
the poor men told their torturers anything to make the pain stop, if only for a moment.
This is the source of the wild charges made against De Molay and the Templars.
On March 18, 1314, De Molay and scored of others were burned alive at the stakes as heretics.
Throughout Western Europe, the prefectories were raided and Templars killed or jailed.
Some were allowed to join other orders. The Order of Christ and the Supreme Order
of Christ were formed in Portugal by former Templars who enjoyed the Portuguses kings'
protection and are considered by some to be the heirs of the Knights Templar.
But perhaps Jacques De Molay got his revenge. He is said to have uttered a curse before his death,
telling the crowd around him that both the king and pope would be dead within a year,
and that they king's line would come to an end shortly thereafter. Both Philip IV and
Clement V died within twelve months, and Philip's line died out shortly thereafter.
In 2006, Pope Benedict XVI officially apologized to the Order of the Knights Templar on behalf of
the Catholic Church for the imprisonment, torture, and deaths that followed their persecution 700
years before. Benedict knew that the persecution of the Knights Templar and the accusations against
the Knights Templar were false, and many had suspected that very thing for centuries.