Knight Templars: history, organization, and cultural legacy

Knights Templar was a group of knights whose history dates back to the First Crusade at around 1119 AD. When originally convened, the knights chosen were the bravest and most devoted Christians amongst all the men fighting in the Crusades.[footnoteRef:1] Their purpose was to help defend Jerusalem defend itself against the Muslim enemies. Also it was the job of the Knights Templar to provide protection for people who were making pilgrimages to Jerusalem for religious reasons. At first the order only had nine knights who were devoted to providing safe passage to the Holy Land and defending it from the enemy of the Christian Church.[footnoteRef:2] The Knights became extremely powerful groups of men, too powerful from the perspective of many clergymen. Over the course of time, the Knights Templar was given special permissions by both the church and national governments. In 1139, Pope Innocent II issued the Omne Datum Optimum, or papal bull, which exempted the Knights Templar from both the laws and taxation of their local communities.[footnoteRef:3] Among other things, the order had the power to levy taxes and to accept tithes as well. They had both political and religious power over the population of Europe and the Middle East, giving them effectively more power than either the clergy or the governments by themselves. The banks of the order, if they can be called that, held historical and highly valuable treasures which led to many of the current rumors about the Templar knights. By the first years of the fourteenth century, the Holy Land was lost to the Middle Eastern populace and taken out of European hands. From this point, the Templars original purpose was gone and they instead devoted themselves to tasks further related to the church. [1: Karen Ralls. The Templars and the Grail: Knights of the Quest. (Wheaton, IL: Quest Books, 2003). 10. ] [2: Medieval Combat Society. "Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon: Order of the Temple." Last modified 2008. http://www.themcs.org/history/Knights%20Templar/knights%20templar.htm] [3: "Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon: Order of the Temple."]

The fall of the Knights Templar is yet to be fully explored and this will be the thrust of research. What is known is that the downfall came as a direct result of their unchecked powers in the world at the time. Other religious orders became upset that they were not given equal authority to the Templars. At the same time, members of the nobility, those in positions of political authority who were trying to create national identities and thereby secure their power over their citizens resented the usury and banking abilities of the knights. Besides the treasure that the Templars owned, they were also in possession of lands which the monarchs of various nations wanted for themselves. According to Karen Ralls in her book The Templars and the Grail, "Within just ten years or so of their official founding, they held donated lands in nearly every part of western Europe and beyond."[footnoteRef:4] These holdings included the entire island of Cyprus among many other properties. Their economic, philosophic, and military prowess must be further examined by utilizing this text as well as corroboration from other volumes to see if this perspective is correct. [4: Karen Ralls. The Templars and the Grail: Knights of the Quest. 13. ]

The concrete facts as they are known, are that on Friday October 13, 1307 orders were issued to arrest all members of the Knights Templar, decreed by King Philip IV of France, who was reported to be heavily indebted to the Templars.[footnoteRef:5] Pope Clement V, the head of the Catholic Church ordered all kingdoms who claimed to be Christians to follow suit on November 22. While imprisoned, the men were tortured extremely and met with a great deal of violence. They were forced to confess to heresy against the Christian Church.[footnoteRef:6] Some of the allegations of heresy might have been true. At this time, admitting to acts of homosexuality was a damnable sin and one of which many of the Templars were, in fact, guilty. The knights were also forced to admit that they worshipped Baphomet, who was a cat idol and equated with devil worship and witchcraft. This declaration allowed the monarchies to reclaim all the holdings of the Templars. Those who recanted their confessions at trial were burned alive at the stake, as were all of the knights imprisoned in France. In 1312, the order of the Knights Templar was officially disbanded and members were chased throughout Europe. [5: "Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon: Order of the Temple."] [6: Stephen Dafoe. "Brethren Persecuted." Templar History. 2010.]