Who Are the knights Templars
We can trace the origin of the Templars back to shortly after the First Crusade. Around 1119, a French nobleman from the Champagne region, Hugues de Payens, collected eight of his knights, and began the Order, their stated mission to protect pilgrims on their journey to The Holy Land. Within two decades of the victory of the First Crusade (1095-1099) a group of knights led by Hugues de Payens offered themselves to the Patriarch of Jerusalem to serve as a military force. This group had the mandate of protecting Christian pilgrims who were en route to the Holy Land to visit the shrines sacred to their faith. on the way They approached King Baldwin II of Jerusalem, who allowed them to set up headquarters on the southeastern side of the Temple Mount, inside the Al Aqsa Mosque. Donations to the Order were considerable. The King of Aragón, in Spain, left large tracts of land to the order upon his death in the 1130s. New members to the Order were also required to swear vows of poverty, and hand over all of their goods to the monastic brotherhood. This could include land, horses and any other items of material wealth, including labor from serfs, and any interest in any businesses.
Over the years the Templars rose from their humble beginnings to become the wealthiest of the Crusading Orders - eventually garnering the favour of the Church and the collective European monarchs. This wealth, generated in the West was put to immediate use in the East to buy arms and raise armies. In 1139, even more power was conferred upon the Order by Pope Innocent II, who issued the papal bull, Omne Datum Optimum. Which Said" that the Knights Templar could pass freely through any border, owed no taxes, and were subject to no one's authority except that of the Pope" The Order grew rapidly throughout Western Europe, with chapters appearing in France, England, and Scotland, and then spreading to Spain and Portugal.
Though initially an Order of poor monks The templars where the first to Utilize what we know today as Banking. so in a since they were the founders of what we relate to today as banking, borrowing and such Since the monks themselves were sworn to poverty, but had the strength of a large and trusted international infrastructure behind them, nobles would occasionally use them as a kind of bank or power of attorney. If a noble wished to join the Crusades, this would entail an absence of years from their home. So nobles would place all of their wealth and businesses under the control of Templars, to safeguard it for them until their return. By 1150, the Order's original mission of guarding pilgrims had changed into a mission of guarding their valuables through an innovative way of issuing letters of credit, an early precursor of modern banking. Pilgrims would visit a Templar house in their home country, depositing their deeds and valuables. The Templars would then give them a letter which would describe their holdings, the idea of lending money in return for interest was forbidden by the church, but the Order sidestepped this with clever loopholes. The Knights' involvement in banking grew over time into a new basis for money, as Templars became increasingly involved in banking activities
The Templars' political connections and awareness of the essentially urban and commercial nature of the Outremer communities naturally led the Order to a position of significant power, both in Europe and the Holy Land. They owned large tracts of land both in Europe and the Middle East, built churches and castles, bought farms and vineyards, were involved in manufacturing and import/export, had their own fleet of ships Their success attracted the concern of two other rivals the Knights Hospitaller and the Teutonic Knights including Various nobles, for financial reasons and worries about an independent army that was so powerful and able to move freely through all borders. a turning point in the Crusades was on On July 4, 1187 when the disastrous Battle of the Horns of Hattin came. under the devastating desert sun. The Templars were overcome by the desert heat within a day, and then surrounded and massacred by Saladin's army. Gerard de Ridefort then made a an error which was destined to demoralize the entire Templar Order: rather than fighting to the death as was the Templar mandate, he was captured, and allowed himself to be ransomed by surrendering Gaza to Saladin.after two centuries of defending the Christian faith, the Order met its demise when Philip IV - known as Philip le Belle sought to destroy the Templars.
The young Philip IV, King of France (also known as "Philip the Fair") had needed cash for his war with the English and asked the Templars for more money. They refused. The King assigned himself the right to tax the French clergy, and he tried to get the Pope to excommunicate the Templars, but Pope Boniface VIII refused, instead issuing a Papal Bull in 1302 to reinforce that the Pope had absolute supremacy over earthly power, even above a king, and excommunicated King Philip instead. The king responded by sending his councillor, Guillaume de Nogaret, in a plot to kidnap the Pope from his castle, charging him with dozens of trumped-up charges such as sodomy and heresy. The people of Anagni rose up and rescued the aged Boniface VIII, but he died only a month later from shock due to the ill treatment
Historians are generally in agreement that Philip was motivated by greed rather than his belief that the Templars were corrupt. Regardless of his motivations, Philip had the Templars arrested on October 13, 1307.whichbegan the tortured and confessions were given. These confessions included: but were not limited tospitting, trampling, or urinating on the cross; while naked, being kissed obscenely by the receptor on the lips, navel, and base of the spine; heresy and worship of idols; institutionalized homosexuality; and also accusations of contempt of the Holy Mass and denial of the sacraments Debate continues as to whether the accusation of religious heresy had merit. Under torture, some Templars admitted to homosexual acts, and to the worship of heads and an idol known as Baphomet. Known today as a Satanic symbol Philip was successful in ridding the Templars of their power and wealth and urged all fellow Christian leaders to do the same thing.
In 1312 the Templars were officially dissolved by Pope Clement V at the Council of Vienne. Although the Templars were not found guilty of the crimes they were charged with, it was felt that the reputation of the Order had fallen to so low a state as to warrant dissolving the Order. At the same time the Council of Vienne, and under extreme pressure from King Philip IV, Pope Clement V issued an edict officially dissolving the Order. Many kings and nobles who had been supporting the Knights up until that time, finally acquiesced and dissolved the orders in their fiefs in accordance with the Papal command. Much of the Templar property outside of France was transferred by the Pope to the Knights Hospitaller, and many surviving Templars were also accepted into the Hospitallers In Spain, where the king of Aragon was against giving the heritage of the Templars to Hospitallers the Order of Montesa took Templar assets. On March 18th, 1314 the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, Jacques de Molay, was burned at the stake, for having recanted his earlier confessions of guilt.
Although the Templars were officially disbanded, meny fled and and joined forces within other orders. In order to preserve their valuables and rituals
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