Knights Templar

Knights Templar Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon Pauperes commilitones Christi Templique Solomonici
An example of a Seal of the Knights Templar
Active	c. 1118-1312
Allegiance	Papacy
Type	Christian military order
Size	Thousands of active knights
Headquarters	Temple Mount, Jerusalem
Nickname(s)	Order of the Temple
Patron	St. Bernard of Clairvaux
Attire	White robe with a red cross pattée
Engagements	The Crusades, including: Siege of Acre, Battle of Montgisard, Battle of Hattin, Reconquista
Commanders
First Grand Master	Hughes de Payens
Last Grand Master	Jacques de Molay

This article is about the medieval military order. For other uses of the term, please see Templar (disambiguation).

The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon (Latin: Pauperes commilitones Christi Templique Solomonici), popularly known as the Knights Templar or the Order of the Temple, or the Crusaders, were among the most famous of the Christian military orders. The organization existed for about two centuries in the Middle Ages, created in the aftermath of the First Crusade of 1096 to ensure the safety of the large numbers of European pilgrims who flowed toward Jerusalem after its conquest.

The Templars were an unusual order in that they were both monks and soldiers. Members of the Order played a key part in many battles of the Crusades, and the Order's infrastructure innovated many financial techniques that could be considered the foundation of modern banking. The order's Knights were also famous and easily recognized, with a white robe with distinct red cross emblazoned above the heart or on the chest, as seen in many portrayals of crusaders.

After being officially recognized and sanctioned by the church in 1128, the Order became a favored charity across Europe, and grew rapidly in membership and power. At its peak it was comprised of thousands of knights, who made up one of the best equipped, trained, and disciplined fighting units of the Crusades. The Order also used its resources to construct numerous fortifications throughout Europe and the Holy Land. However, the tide eventually turned in the Crusades, and the Templars began suffering crushing defeats. Further conflict arose at home, as royals who were in financial debt to the Order grumbled at the organization's tax-free status. Things came to a head in 1307, when King Philip IV of France (Philip the Fair) caused many of the order's members in France to be arrested, tortured into "confessions" and burned at the stake. A few years later Pope Clement V, under further pressure from King Philip, forcibly disbanded the entire order. The sudden disappearance of a major part of the European infrastructure spawned a plethora of speculation and legends, which continue to keep the name "Templar" alive in modern fiction.

History

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A Knight Templar

Main article: History of the Knights Templar

Rise

After the First Crusade resulted in the capture of Jerusalem in 1099, many European pilgrims headed for the area to visit what they referred to as The Holy Places. While the city was under relative control, the rest of the Outremer was not. Bandits abounded, and pilgrims were routinely attacked and slaughtered, sometimes by the hundreds, as they attempted to make the journey from the coastline into the Holy Land.

The first headquarters of the Knights Templar, Al Aqsa Mosque, on Jerusalem's Temple Mount. The Crusaders called it the Temple of Solomon, as it was built on top of the ruins of the original Temple, and it was from this location that the Knights took their name of Templar.

Around 1118, French knight Hughes de Payens, a veteran of the First Crusade, proposed the creation of a monastic order for the protection of pilgrims on this perilous journey. King Baldwin II of Jerusalem agreed with de Payens and his nine compatriots, and gave them a headquarters in Jerusalem on the Temple Mount, in the captured Al Aqsa Mosque. The Temple Mount had a mystique about it, as it was above what was believed to be the ruins of the Temple of Solomon. The Crusaders therefore referred to the Al Aqsa Mosque as Solomon's Temple, and it was from this location that the Order took its name of Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon. They had little in the way of resources at the time, and their emblem displayed two knights riding on a single horse, emphasizing their impoverished status.

Poverty did not last long though. They had a powerful patron in the form of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, who spoke and wrote persuasively on their behalf. In response to the Order's critics, Bernard wrote a multi-page letter entitled "In Praise of the New Knighthood", championing:

[A Templar Knight] is truly a fearless knight, and secure on every side, for his soul is protected by the armor of faith, just as his body is protected by the armor of steel. He is thus doubly-armed, and need fear neither demons nor men.

In 1128 at the Council of Troyes, the order was officially recognized and sanctioned by the church, and with this formal blessing, donations started pouring in. They received money, land, and noble-born sons from families across Europe, who were eager to help with the fight in the Holy Land. Another major benefit came in 1139, when the Order was declared by Pope Innocent II's Papal bull Omne Datum Optimum to be not subject to local laws, meaning that they could pass freely through all borders, paid no taxes, and were exempt from all authority except that of the Pope.

With its clear mission and ample resources, the Order grew rapidly. Its warrior members were highly trained and well-equipped with the most powerful armament of the day, and highly motivated, with one of the tenets of their religious order being that they were forbidden from retreating in battle. Templars were often the advance force in key battles of the Crusades, as the knights on their heavily-armed warhorses would set out to gallop full tilt at the enemy, in a (frequently successful) attempt to break enemy lines and give the rest of the Crusader forces an advantage in any battle. One of their most famous victories was in 1177 against the Muslim leader Saladin during the Battle of Montgisard, where a relatively small group of only 500 Templar knights was victorious against Saladin's army of over 26,000 soldiers.

Templar seal

The primary mission of the Order was a military one, but only a small percentage of its members were actually at the front lines, and many others acted in support positions, both to support the knights individually, and to develop a financial infrastructure to manage all the donations. The Templars were renowned for their honesty and trustworthiness, as the individual members had all sworn vows of poverty, and any hint of fraud was an offense punishable by death. Around 1150, the Order innovated ways of generating letters of credit for pilgrims journeying to the Holy Land, which involved pilgrims depositing their valuables with a local Templar office before setting off on the journey, receiving a document indicating how much they had deposited, and then being able to use that document once they arrived in the Holy Land to retrieve their money. This may have been the first form of checking put into use, and it both improved the safety of pilgrims by making them less attractive targets for thievery, and further increased the Templar coffers. Some nobles would place all of their wealth and lands under Templar management while the nobles themselves journeyed off to fight in the Crusades.

From this mixture of donations and shrewd business dealing, the Order acquired large tracts of land both in Europe and the Middle East, built churches and castles, bought farms and vineyards, was involved in manufacturing, import and export, had its own fleet of ships, and for a time even owned the entire island of Cyprus. With its extensive financial networks across all of Christendom, the Order was effectively the first international banking organization.

Fall

However, as the Muslim world became more united under such effective leaders as Saladin, and dissension arose between the various Christian factions, the tide turned in the Crusades. The Knights Templar were often at odds with two other great Christian orders, the Knights Hospitaller, and the Teutonic Knights, and decades of bickering weakened the Christian positions. After several disastrous battles including the pivotal Battle of the Horns of Hattin, Jerusalem was lost to Saladin in 1187. The Templars were forced to relocate their headquarters to other cities in the north, and then continued to be steadily pushed back, losing more and more land. Their headquarters in Acre fell in 1291, followed by their last mainland strongholds, Tortosa (in what is now Syria), and Atlit, leaving the Templars with nothing but an offshore headquarters on the island of Cyprus, and a garrison on tiny Ruad Island, just off the coast from Tortosa.

In 1300, the Templars attempted to retake Tortosa. They had assembled a fleet of large ships at Cyprus, to transport both knights and up to 30 horses at a time, to a staging area at Arwad Island. Arwad (also known as Ruad) was in a strategically important location, 100 miles from Cyprus but less than a mile from Tortosa on the Syrian mainland. As such, it was a good resting point for the horses, to allow them to recover from the 100-mile journey from Cyprus before launching a land-based attack. The Templars had assembled a force of 120 knights and 500 archers, which they used to fortify the Ruad garrison. However, in 1302 the Muslims attacked Ruad as well, and the Templars lost the island, their last foothold in the Holy Land.

Templars being burned at the stake

With the Holy Land lost, and the Order's military mission no longer as important, European support for the organization began to falter. The situation was complex though, as over the two hundred years of their existence, the Templars had become a part of daily life in Europe. The organization comprised tens of thousands of members, who managed many businesses, and, with their institutional wealth, were often involved in lending money to cash-strapped royals. But officially they were still subject to no local government, and paid no taxes, and this grated on many of the royals who were indebted to them. They were sometimes called a "church within a church," or "a state within a state." Rumours and gossip also swirled around the Order, much of it focusing on their secret initiation rituals, and speculation about whether or not the rituals included elements of blasphemy. With the original mission of the Order being reexamined, the church suggested that the Templars be merged with the Knights Hospitaller, but neither of the orders agreed.

King Philip IV of France (also known as "Philip the Fair"), who had taken the throne in 1285, seized upon the rumors for his own financial needs. He was already deeply in debt to the Templars as a result of his war with the English, and he began pressuring the church to take action against the Order so as to free himself from his debts. King Philip was already known for struggles with the papacy, including the kidnapping of Pope Boniface VIII and the probable poisoning of Pope Benedict XI, via Philip's agent Guillaume de Nogaret. After the death of Pope Benedict, the church's cardinals had engaged in a year-long conclave, finally deciding in June 1305 on Bertrand de Goth, a childhood friend of Philip's. Bertrand was invested as Pope Clement V.

On Friday, October 13, 1307 (a date incorrectly linked to the origin of the Friday the 13th legend), Philip had many French Templars simultaneously arrested, charged with numerous heresies, and tortured until they "confessed" various types of blasphemy. Typical charges included accusations of spitting and urinating on the cross, and devil worship. Many claims were made about the secret initiation ceremony, such as accusations that new knights were forced to kiss various body parts of older knights or commit sodomy. Under torture, many of the arrested French Templars (most of whom were already old men) confessed to the charges, but then recanted when they were re-questioned in more civilized courts.

Philip also tried to pressure other European monarchs to follow suit, but they tended to act with more restraint, most notably Edward I of England who refused to believe the allegations. Eventually, Philip persuaded the Pope to take more decisive action through the power of the church. This action was the Bull, Pastoralis Praeeminentiae, (issued on November 22) which instructed all Christian monarchs in Europe to arrest all Templars and seize their assets. Some Templars in other countries were arrested and tried, but none were actually found guilty. Meanwhile, with the forced confessions that had been obtained in France, dozens of Templars were burned at the stake.

Then in 1312, under further pressure from King Philip (whose forces were encamped outside the city), Clement officially disbanded the entire Order at the Council of Vienne. His Bull, Vox in excelso, was issued on March 2nd and formally dissolved the Order. Another Bull, Ad proviendan, was issued shortly after, and turned the Templar's assets over to the Hospitallers although some of the income from the assets was set aside to provide pensions to some of the ex-Templars.

In 1314, the last of the Order's leaders, including the elderly Grand Master Jacques de Molay, were burned alive at the stake in Paris. The remaining Templars around Europe were either arrested and tried under the Papal investigation (with virtually none convicted), absorbed into other military orders such as the Order of Christ and the Knights Hospitaller, pensioned and returned to the secular life, or in some cases may have fled to other territories outside of Papal control, such as excommunicated Scotland. Many fled to Portugal and Spain, still fighting the Moors, where they became the Order of Aviz (Portugal) with possessions in Soure and Tomar, and the Order of Calatrava (Spain). But questions still remain as to what happened to the thousands of Templars across Europe, and the extensive archive of the Templars, with detailed records of all of their business holdings and financial transactions, was never found. Some documents were transferred to the Hospitallers, but then those records too were destroyed in the 16th century by Turkish invaders.

In modern times, it is the Roman Catholic Church's position that the persecution was unjust; that there was nothing inherently wrong with the Order or its Rule; and that the Pope at the time was severely pressured into his actions by the magnitude of the public scandal, and the dominating influence of King Philip IV.

Organization

The Templars were organized as a monastic order, following a rule created for them by their patron, Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, a member of the Cistercian Order. Each country had a Master of the Order for the Templars in that region, and all of them were subject to the Grand Master, appointed for life, who oversaw both the Order's military efforts in the East, and their financial holdings in the West.

There were four divisions of brothers in the Templars:

• the knights, equipped as heavy cavalry;
• the sergeants, equipped as light cavalry and drawn from a lower social class than the knights;
• the serving brothers, who administered the property of the Order, or performed menial tasks and trades;
• the chaplains, who were ordained priests and saw to the spiritual needs of the Order.

At any time, each knight had some ten people in support positions. The knights wore a white robe with a red cross, and the other brothers wore black or brown mantles. The cross was most likely added to the knights' white robes at the launch of the Second Crusade in 1147, when Pope Eugenius III, King Louis VII of France and many other notables attended a meeting of the French Templars at their headquarters near Paris.

Initiation into the Order was a profound commitment, and involved a secret ceremony. Few details of the rituals were known at the time, fueling the suspicions of medieval inquisitors, but initiates, at least in the early days of the Order, had to be of noble birth, of legitimate heritage, and had to be willing to sign over all of their wealth and goods to the Order. Further, joining the Order required vows of poverty, chastity, piety, and obedience.

For the warriors of the Order, there was a cardinal rule of never surrendering. This uncompromising principle, along with a reputation for courage, excellent training, and heavy armament, made the Templars one of the most feared combat forces in medieval times.

Grand Masters

Main article: Grand Masters of the Knights Templar

Starting with founder Hughes de Payens in 1118–19, the Order's highest office was that of Grand Master, a position which was held for life, though considering the warrior nature of the Order, this could be a very short period of time. The Grand Master oversaw all of the operations of the Order, including both the military operations in the Holy Land and eastern Europe, and the financial and business dealings in the Order's infrastructure of Western Europe. Grand Masters could also be active military commanders, though this was not always a wise choice, as seen by the fate of the defeated Grand Master Gérard de Ridefort, who ended up beheaded by Saladin in 1189 at the Siege of Acre. The last Grand Master was Jacques de Molay, who by order of King Philip IV was burned at the stake in Paris in 1314.

Templar legacy

With their military mission and extensive financial resources, the Knights Templar funded a large number of building projects around Europe and the Holy Land, many of which structures remain standing today. Many sites also maintain the name "Temple" from early Templar influence. For example, some of the Templars' lands in London were later rented to lawyers, which resulted in the origin of the names of the Temple Bar gateway, the Temple tube station, and many others.

Distinctive architectural elements of Templar buildings included images of the "two knights on a single horse," representing the Knights' poverty, and round buildings which were built to resemble the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

See also: List of places associated with the Knights Templar

Chapel in Rurka (medieval Template:Lang-de), Poland, a former chapter headquarters of local Knights Templar

Convent of Christ in Castle Tomar, Portugal, named as a UNESCO World Heritage Site

Temple Church, London. Built as a fortress, it was used as a treasury. In modern times it is a tourist attraction and base of operations for England's legal Inns of Court

Legends and relics

Main articles: Knights Templar legends and Knights Templar and popular culture

The Knights Templar have become surrounded by legends concerning secrets and mysteries handed down to the select from ancient times. Rumors circulated even during the time of the Templars themselves, Freemasonic writers added their own speculations in the 1800s, and further fictional embellishments have been added in modern movies and bestselling novels, such as Ivanhoe, The Da Vinci Code, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Foucault's Pendulum and Kingdom of Heaven.

The Dome of the Rock, one of the structures at the Temple Mount

The story of the Templars' persecution has also proved a tempting source for many organizations to use to enhance their own dignity, history, and mystery. Many such organizations claim traditions from the original Order. The Freemasons began incorporating Templar symbols and rituals in the 1700s, and have a modern title called "Order of the Knights Templar" to which members can aspire. The Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem appeared around the same time, and has achieved United Nations NGO status as a charitable organization. Though there is no verifiable historical link between the 1300s dismantling of the Templars and the 1700s rise of some of these organizations, there is often public confusion which conveniently disregards the 400 year gap in the chain.

The highest profile of Templar legends are generally connected with the Order's early occupation of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, and speculation about what relics the Templars may have found there, such as the Holy Grail or the Ark of the Covenant.

That the Templars were known to be in possession of some type of relics, is certain. Even today, many churches display relics such as the bones of a particular saint, a scrap of cloth that a holy man once wore, or perhaps even the skull of a martyr. The Templars did the same, and were known to sometimes carry relics with them into battle to provide divine guidance. The subject of relics also came up during the Inquisition of the Templars, as several trial documents refer to the worship of a severed head of some type.

As relics go, the ultimate prize would have been to have something that was connected directly to Jesus Christ, such as the Spear of Destiny or a piece of the True Cross. There was especially keen interest in the Holy Grail, which had its name connected to the Templars almost immediately. The first grail romance, the fantasy story Le Conte du Graal, was written in 1180 by Chretien de Troyes, who came from the same area as the Council of Troyes, where the Templar's Order was officially sanctioned. In Arthurian legend, the hero of the Grail Quest, Sir Galahad (a 13th Century literary invention of Cistercian monks) was depicted bearing a shield with the cross of Saint George, similar to the Templars. And in a chivalric epic of the period, Parzival, Wolfram Von Eschenbach refers to Templars guarding the Grail Kingdom.

With all of this speculation, the legend that grew over the years was that since the Templars had their headquarters at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, they must have excavated in search of relics, found the Grail, and then proceeded to keep it in secret, and guard it with their lives ever after. However, there is no historical record of the Templars ever having the Holy Grail in their possession. In the extensive documents of the Templar inquisition, there was never a single mention of anything like a grail relic, and indeed, most scholars agree that the story of the Grail was just that, a fiction that began circulating in medieval times. One intriguing artifact that does have some basis though, is the Shroud of Turin. Though the last Grand Master of the Templars, Jacques de Molay was burned at the stake in 1314, next to associate Geoffrey de Charney, it is worth noting that in 1357, de Charney's grandson's family were the first to publicly display the shroud. The artifact's origins are still a matter of considerable controversy, but carbon-dating seems to trace the origin of the shroud to 1260-1390, during the last days of the Templars.

Further reading

• Peter Partner, The Knights Templar and their Myth. Destiny Books; Reissue edition (1990). ISBN 0-89281-273-7
• George Smart, The Knights Templar: Chronology, Authorhouse, 2005. ISBN 1-4184-9889-0
• Dr. Karen Ralls, The Templars and the Grail, Quest Books, 2003. ISBN 0-8356-0807-7
• Alan Butler, Stephen Dafoe, The Warriors and the Bankers: A History of the Knights Templar from 1307 to the present, Templar Books, 1998. ISBN 0-9683567-2-9
• Malcolm Barber, "Who Were the Knights Templar?". Slate Magazine, 20 April 2006
• Brighton, Simon (2006-06-15). In Search of the Knights Templar: A Guide to the Sites in Britain (Hardback). London, England: Orion Publishing Group. ISBN 0-297-84433-4.
• J M Upton-Ward, The Rule of the Templars: The French Text of the Rule of the Order of the Knights Templar. The Boydell Press, 1992. ISBN 0-85115-315-1
• The History of the Knights Templar, by Charles Addison, 1842

External links

• History, Timeline and Glossary sections - Historical and Reference material from the Official website of the Grand Priory of Knights Templar in England and Wales