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	Their popular name alludes to their historical headquarters on the ruins of the ] on the ], now, the ] (''Arabic'': Qubbat As-Sakhrah), an Islamic shrine on the summit of ] that they renamed ''Templum Domini'' (Temple of the Lord). The summit is sacred to Jews and Christians as the ] as well as to Muslims as the ]. The Templum Domini became the model for many subsequent Templar churches in Europe, such as the ] in ], and is represented on several ].		Their popular name alludes to their historical headquarters on the ruins of the ] on the ], now, the ] (''Arabic'': Qubbat As-Sakhrah), an Islamic shrine on the summit of ] that they renamed ''Templum Domini'' (Temple of the Lord). The summit is sacred to Jews and Christians as the ] as well as to Muslims as the ]. The Templum Domini became the model for many subsequent Templar churches in Europe, such as the ] in ], and is represented on several ].

	In addition to ], the order fought in the ] and ] '']''. The headquarters of the Templars in ], ], was in the ]. They were given extensive possessions and castles in frontier land. At one point, they were to inherit the kingdom of ], jointly with other military orders. The Templar Knights were identifiable by their white ] with distinct red cross emblazoned above the heart or on the chest, as seen in many portrayals of crusading knights.		In addition to ], the order fought in the ] and ] '']''. The headquarters of the Templars in ], ], was in the ]. They were given extensive possessions and castles in frontier land. At one point, they were to inherit the kingdom of ], jointly with other military orders. The Templar Knights were identifiable by their white ] with distinct red cross emblazoned above the heart or on the chest, as seen in many portrayals of crusading knights.

	===Banking===		===Banking===

Revision as of 21:03, 7 January 2006

For other uses of the term, see Templar (disambiguation).

File:Templars.jpg

Knights Templar

The largest, and most powerful of the Christian military orders, the Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon, originally named The Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple which is in Jerusalem is widely known as the Knights Templar. It was founded in 1118, in the aftermath of the First Crusade of 1096, to help the new Kingdom of Jerusalem maintain itself against its hostile Muslim neighbors, and to ensure the safety of the large numbers of European pilgrims who flowed towards Jerusalem after its conquest.

Organization

File:Templarius.jpg

The Seal of the Knights — the two riders have been interpreted as a sign of poverty or the duality of monk/soldier.

The Templars were organized as a monastic order, following a rule created for them by Bernard of Clairvaux, a member of the Cistercian Order. The Templars were well connected and quickly became embroiled in the politics of the Crusades period. In time, they were endowed with several extraordinary Papal bulls (see Omne Datum Optimum) that permitted them, among other things, to levy taxes and accept tithing in the areas under their direct control, facilitating their quick rise to institutional power.

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;
farmers, who administered the property of the Order;
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. Some brothers were devoted solely to banking, as the Order was often trusted with precious goods by participants in the Crusades. But the majority of the Knights Templar were dedicated to warfare. It was primarily a military order directly responsible only to the Pope. Some consider the Knights Templar to be the forerunner of the modern professional army and elite special forces units. The Templars used their wealth to construct numerous fortifications throughout the Holy Land and were probably the best trained and disciplined fighting units of their day.

History

Their popular name alludes to their historical headquarters on the ruins of the Temple of Jerusalem on the Temple Mount, now, the Dome of the Rock (Arabic: Qubbat As-Sakhrah), an Islamic shrine on the summit of Mount Moriah that they renamed Templum Domini (Temple of the Lord). The summit is sacred to Jews and Christians as the Temple Mount as well as to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary. The Templum Domini became the model for many subsequent Templar churches in Europe, such as the Temple Church in London, and is represented on several Templar seals.

In addition to Palestine, the order fought in the Spanish and Portuguese Reconquista. The headquarters of the Templars in Tomar, Portugal, was in the Convento de Cristo. They were given extensive possessions and castles in frontier land. At one point, they were to inherit the kingdom of Aragon, jointly with other military orders. The Templar Knights were identifiable by their white surcoat with distinct red cross emblazoned above the heart or on the chest, as seen in many portrayals of crusading knights.

Banking

The Templars got into banking almost by accident. When members joined the order, they often donated large amounts of cash or property to the order since all had to take oaths of poverty. Combined with massive grants from the Pope, their financial power was assured from the beginning. Since the Templars kept cash in all their chapter houses and temples, it was natural that in 1135 the Order started lending money to Spanish pilgrims who wanted to travel to the Holy Land. The Knights' involvement in banking grew over time into a new basis for money, as Templars became increasingly involved in banking activities. One indication of their powerful political connections is that the Templars' involvement in usury did not lead to more controversy within the Order and the church at large. The charge was typically sidestepped, by a stipulation that the Templars retained the rights to the production of mortgaged property.

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. Their success attracted the concern of many other orders and eventually that of the nobility and monarchs of Europe as well, who were at this time seeking to monopolize control of money and banking after a long chaotic period in which civil society, especially the Church and its lay orders, had dominated financial activities. The Templars' holdings were extensive both in Europe and the Middle East, including for a time the entire island of Cyprus.

Suppression

The fall of the Templars may have started over the matter of a loan. Philip IV, King of France needed cash for his wars and asked the Templars for money, who refused. The King tried to get the Pope to excommunicate the Templars for this but Pope Boniface VIII refused. Philip sent his councillor, Guillaume de Nogaret, in a plot to kidnap the Pope. Boniface VIII died only a month later from shock due to the attempt and ill treatment. The next Pope, Benedict XI, lifted the excommunication of Philip IV but refused to absolve de Nogaret. It is suspected that the Pope's death was from poisoning through an agent of Nogaret. The next Pope, Clement V, after a failed attempt to unite the Templars and the Hospitallers, agreed to Philip IV's demands for an investigation of the Templars. Pope Clement V later moved the papacy to Avignon.

On October 13 (the unlucky Friday the 13th), 1307, what may have been all the Knights Templar in France were simultaneously arrested by agents of Philip the Fair, later to be tortured into admitting heresy in the Order. The dominant view is that Philip, who seized the treasury and broke up the monastic banking system, was jealous of the Templars' wealth and power, and sought to control it for himself. These events, and the Templars' original banking of assets for suddenly mobile depositors, were two of many shifts towards a system of military fiat to back European money, removing this power from Church orders. Seeing the fate of the Templars, the Hospitallers of St John of Jerusalem and of Rhodes and of Malta were also convinced to give up banking at this time. 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.

Many kings and nobles supported the Knights at that time, and only dissolved the order in their fiefs when so commanded by Pope Clement V. Robert the Bruce, the King of Scots, had already been excommunicated for other reasons, and was therefore not disposed to pay heed to Papal commands. In Portugal the order's name was changed to the Order of Christ, and was believed to have contributed to the first naval discoveries of the Portuguese. Prince Henry the Navigator led the Portuguese order for 20 years until the time of his death. In Spain, where the king of Aragon was also against giving the heritage of the Templars to Hospitallers (as commanded by Clement V), the Order of Montesa took Templar assets.

Charges of heresy

The manuscript illustration (c. 1350) alludes to the accusation of sodomy against the templars.

Debate continues as to whether the accusation of religious heresy had merit by the standards of the time. Under torture, some Templars admitted to homosexual acts, and to the worship of heads and a mystery known as Baphomet. Their leaders later denied these admissions, and for that were executed. Some scholars discount these as forced admissions, typical during the Inquisition.

Others argue that these accusations were in reality due to a misunderstanding of arcane rituals held behind closed doors which had their origins in the Crusaders' bitter struggle against the Saracens. These included denying Christ and spitting on the Cross three times, as well as kissing other men's buttocks. According to some scholars, and recently recovered Vatican documents, these acts were intended to simulate the kind of humiliation and torture that a Crusader might be subjected to if captured by the Saracens. According to this line of reasoning, they were taught how to commit apostasy with the mind only and not with the heart.

As for the accusations of head-worship and Templars trying to syncretize Christianity with Sufism, some scholars argue that the former referred to rituals involving the alleged relics of Saint Euphemia, one of Saint Ursula's eleven maidens, Hughes de Payens, and John the Baptist rather than pagan idols. The latter they ascribe to the chaplains creating the term Baphomet through the Atbash cipher to mystify the term Sophia (Greek for "wisdom") due to Cathar influence. Although gaining currency, this is a controversial interpretation since the more accepted interpretation is that Baphomet was an Old French bastardization of the word Mohammed.

Conspiracy theories related to the suppression of the Knights Templar often go far beyond the suggested motive of seizing property and consolidating theopolitical power. At the same time, it is the Catholic Church's position that the persecution was unjust, that there was nothing wrong with the Templars, and that the Pope at the time was manipulated into suppressing them. The church's response at the time corroborates this position. The papal process started by Pope Clement V, to investigate both the Order as a whole and its members individually found virtually no knights guilty of heresy outside of France. Fifty-four knights were executed in France by French authorities as relapsed heretics after denying their original testimonies before the papal commission; these executions were motivated by Philip's desire to prevent any more Templars from having similar courageous ideas. It failed miserably, as many others testified against the charges of heresy in the ensuing papal investigation.

Jacques de Molay, nineteenth-century color lithograph by Chevauchet

In the end, the only three accused of heresy directly by the papal commission were Jacques de Molay and his two immediate subordinates; they were to renounce their heresy publicly, when de Molay regained his courage and proclaimed the order's and his innocence, along with one of his companions. The two were arrested by French authorities as relapsed heretics and burned at the stake in 1314. The papal commission found that the Order as a whole was not heretical, despite evidence of isolated incidences of heresy; and in fact were in support of the maintenance of the Order. Clement V, however, facing growing public opinion against the order, and the political intrigue taking place under Phillip IV. Clement felt that the only choice was to suppress the order.

An obvious point in favour of indicating Clement V by no means co-operated willingly with Philip was the passing of the majority of the Order's wealth and lands to the Hospitaller order (although some Templar lands were held by Philip and other European nobility for many years) in contradiction to Philip's wishes that their wealth in France be appropriated by him.

A widely-known legend has it that as he burned at the stake Jacques de Molay, Grand Master of the Knights Templar, cursed King Philip and Pope Clement V to meet eternal justice within the year. Pope Clement V died only one month later and Philip IV seven months after that. Commentators were extremely pleased with such a development and often featured this story in their chronicles.

Claims of descent and revival

Some historians and authors have tried to draw a link from Freemasonry and its many branches to the Templars. This alleged link remains a point of debate. Degrees in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite such as the Knight of St Andrew, the Knight of Rose Croix, and the 32nd Degree in Consistory make reference to a Templar connection, but this is usually dimissed as being ceremonial and not historical fact.

John J. Robinson makes a case for the Templar-Masonic connection in his book "Born in Blood: The Lost Secrets of Freemasonry", in which he alleges that some French Templars fled to Scotland after the suppression of the Order, fearing persecution from both Church and state. He claims they sought refuge with a lodge of Scottish stone masons within which they began to teach the virtues of chivalry and obedience, using the builders tools as a metaphor; and eventually they began taking in "speculative masons" (men of other professions) in order to ensure the continuation of the Order. According to Robinson, the Order existed in secret in this form until the formation of the United Grand Lodge of England in 1717. An example of Templar-Masonic transition symbolism can supposedly be found in Rosslyn Chapel, near Edinburgh, Scotland.

The Order of the Solar Temple is one infamous example of a "neo-Templar" group, founded by Luc Jouret in 1984, that claimed descent from the original Knights Templar; there are several other self-styled orders that also claim to be descended from, or revivals of, the Templar Order. One such organization is the Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem (SMOTJ), an ecumenical Christian society based on the traditions of the medieval Knights Templar and principles of chivalry. However, the order is not a genuine order of chivalry, having neither official state recognition nor a head of state as sovereign. SMOTJ was created in 1804 and is dedicated to the preservation of the holy sites in and around Jerusalem, charitable works, and antiquarian research. In 2001, the most prominent faction of the SMOTJ was recognized by the United Nations as a non-governmental organization.

Ultimately, throughout history and to this day, various organizations have tried to claim links to the original Templar order. To date, none of these claims are historically verifiable nor widely accepted in academia.

Legends

The rapid succession of the last direct Capetian kings of France between 1314 and 1328, the three sons of Philip IV the Fair, led many to believe that the dynasty had been cursed – thus the name of "cursed Kings" (rois maudits). It is said that Jacques de Molay, the last master of the order, had cursed King Philip while lying on his execution pyre.

The Knights Templar later became surrounded by legends concerning secrets and mysteries handed down to the select from ancient times. Perhaps most well known are those concerning the Holy Grail, the Ark of the Covenant, and secrets of building. Some sources say the Holy Grail, or Sangreal, was found by the order and taken to Scotland during the scourging of the order in 1307, and that it remains buried beneath Rosslyn Chapel. Some say that the order also found the Ark of the Covenant, the chest which contained sacred objects of ancient Israel, including Aaron's rod and the tablets of stone inscribed by God with the Ten Commandments.

These legends are connected with the long occupation by the order of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Some sources record that they discovered secrets of the Master Masons who had built the original and second temples secreted there, along with knowledge that the Ark had been moved to Ethiopia before the destruction of the first temple. Allusion to this is made in engravings on the Cathedral at Chartres, great influence over the building of which was had by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, who was also influential in the formation of the order. Further links to both the search by the order for the Ark and to its discovery of ancient secrets of building are supposedly suggested by the existence of the monolithic Church of St George in Lalibela in Ethiopia, which stands to this day and whose construction is incorrectly attributed to the Knights Templar. There is also an underground church dated to the same period in Aubeterre in France.

During the 14th century, England under King Edward II was at war with Scotland. In 1314 he engaged the Scots in battle at Bannockburn. A persistent tale would have it that the Scots won the battle largely due to the intervention of the Knights Templar on the side of their King Robert the Bruce. In reality, none of the contemporary or near contemporary accounts of the Battle of Bannockburn mention the Knights Templar at all, and it is certain that if the outlawed Templars had intervened on the side of the Scots, the chroniclers would have mentioned it. The tale is connected to Freemasonry and dates no earlier than the mid-18th century.

Some fringe researchers list Templars among the crew of Henry Sinclair's legendary voyage from Scotland to North America in 1398 despite the dissolution of the Order earlier in the century. Speculation surrounding Templar relics raises the possibility that the Knights Templar possessed the charts of pre-Columbian voyages to America. Christopher Columbus' navigators were members of the extant Portuguese Templar Order, and the Templar cross was featured prominently on the sails of his ships in 1492.

Finally, regardless of facts to the contrary, revisionist historians and conspiracy theorists have and will continue to claim that the Knights Templar stored secret knowledge, linking them to King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, the Rosicrucians, the Priory of Sion, the Hermetics, the Gnostics, the Essenes, the Rex Deus, lost relics or gospels of Jesus (such as a "Judas Testament"), Hiram Abif, King Solomon, Moses, and, ultimately, the mysteries of ancient Egypt. This, in turn, has contributed to the Knights Templar having several influences on popular culture, most of them quite inaccurate (see Knights Templar and popular culture).