Financial Crimes
Knights Templar
The Order of the Knights Templar (Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon) was founded in 1118 to protect Christians on pilgrimage to Jerusalem (Blacktorne, 2011). The Order was sanctioned by King Baldwin II of Jerusalem and he quartered the nine original knights in the old stables at the Temple of Solomon. All members had to give over all of their wealth and goods to the Order and take vows of poverty, chastity, piety, and obedience just like other monks (Langue, 2011). A majority of the members joined for life, although a select few were also allowed to join for specific duration.
The Templars' were considered the first international banking organizations. Although this wasn't there specific title they charge a fee (interest) for issuing letters of deposits (checks). Some also view them as a multinational corporation; however the banking reference seems to hold more credibility. There financial crimes dealt primarily with usury (Middle Ages, N.d.). Usury can be defined as the practice of enriching yourself by lending money and charging either interest or a fixed fee to do so. Though this is common today, at the time it was deeply frowned upon. The Knights Templars eventually amassed such an enormous fortune with their international operations that they were charged with treason by the king, Philip IV of France. Once the French army turned on the Order, the members were either killed or fled.
2- The Fuggers
The Fuggers were a German merchant and banking family. In the 16th century, they were the reigning masters of the universe (Stadler, 2011). The Fuggers bankrolled some of Europe's greatest empires. Some analysts rate their political influence as comparable to the Medici in Italy, but their wealth was matched only by the Rothschilds' over a century later. Originally, they were merchants of fine clothing. But they also diversified into banking in the 15th century. Their closest dealings were with the Habsburg family, which provided mining rights as securities against loans from the merchants. When the Habsburgs repeatedly defaulted on their loans, the Fuggers gained an effective monopoly in mining and the trading of silver, copper, and mercury across...
Not all the Knights perished, however. Some, still in the Holy Land, never returned to Europe. Others escaped, and some even joined other Holy Orders. The Order did mount a powerful defense, and in fear the men might gain public sympathy, the French government executed 54 of them by publicly burning them at the stake. A few were found innocent, and these men received pensions. Some were punished by remaining
A favorite target for conspiracists today as well as in the past, a group of European intellectuals created the Order of the Illuminati in May 1776, in Bavaria, Germany, under the leadership of Adam Weishaupt (Atkins, 2002). In this regard, Stewart (2002) reports that, "The 'great' conspiracy organized in the last half of the eighteenth century through the efforts of a number of secret societies that were striving for
In addition, both governments and churches began to grow suspicious of the group, probably because of the "organization's secrecy and liberal religious beliefs" (Watson, 2009). As a result, Portugal and France banned Freemasonry; in fact, it was a capital offense to be a Freemason in Portugal (Watson, 2009). Moreover, "Pope Clement XII forbade Catholics from becoming Freemasons on penalty of excommunication" (Watson, 2009). Feeling pressure in Europe, many Freemasons
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now