Knight Templars Documentary

[Heron Mathis]

AfterJerusalem fell to the crusaders in 1099, most of the crusaders who did not return to their homelands they stayed in the Outremer (the Holy Land) to protect their gains and find all the remaining wealth as payment for their time. The crusaders had also been granted absolution by the Pope for their conquest and capture of Jerusalem. Many of the men that took part in the first crusade were criminals and lowly born pheasants with no noble rank. In addition, they needed to hold their lands so that they did not fall back into Muslim control.

Sir Hugh De Payen was the vassal servant of the Count of Champagne and he was sent to the Holy Land with a contingent of Knights (mostly his family and close friends) to take part in the crusades on behalf of his feudal Lord. Many believe the Count of Champagne, who was a very learned and worldly man, and as such entertained nobles from far away lands. These nobles had told Count Hugh of Champagne many stories of the secret wealth of the Jews being hidden under the old original Temple of Solomon. Thus he sent his best warrior and some men to find the treasure and keep their mission a secret only between himself and Sir Hugh de Payen. He left on the first crusade and fought for over twenty years across the Holy Land until the capture of Jerusalem.

The Knights Templar were formed following the First Crusade, and although they disbanded in the 1300s, they are still the focus of myth and legend. But how much do you know about the history of the mysterious Knights Templar?

Religious leaders initially criticized the need for such a powerful military order within the church itself. However, by 1129 they were given the formal endorsement by the Catholic Church. The Templars took vows of poverty, their order was allowed to accrue land and wealth and they received not only lavish donations from many regions of Europe but also found new recruits from the nobles that wanted to gain prominence. The knights likewise adopted a more Spartan code of conduct called the Rule of Seventy Two, which stated all conduct and rigorous doctrine for their daily lives. The Knights started wearing what would become their signature garment: white habits decorated with a splayed red cross on their chest. At their height the Templars had more men at arms than any single Monarch and they were the very best warriors on the battlefield. They had a strict military command hierarchy that gave them precise battlefield tactics. They constructed vast castles and established over ten thousand estates across Christendom, each producing yet more wealth for the combined use of the order.

They became known as fierce warriors for the major battles they fought during the Crusades. They were not allowed to retreat from battle unless outnumbered four to one. The Templars were not allowed to be held for ransom, so they held no value as captors. This begun their legend of fighting to the death and with such ferocity that it scared their opponents. The money that the Templars brought in allowed them to furnish their knights with the best heavy armor, weapons and horses of their day. The Templar charge was alleged to have made the earth tremble from the power and weight of their Knights on horseback. This shock and awe power was used to rout many of their opponents. With donations continuing to pour in, they set up a banking system so that religious pilgrims could deposit assets while still in their home country, and withdraw funds when they reached Jerusalem. This was the first known use of lines of credits. The Templars gained huge financial wealth from large donations and several business ventures. During the height of their power, they owned several fleet of ships, were the primary lenders to the nobles and monarchs of Europe and even owned the island of Cyprus. It was estimated that they held more wealth than the Church itself and all the Monarchs of Europe combined. This did create some very serious jealousy and contempt for them from those that owed them vast sums of money.

The last grand master of the Knights Templar was Jacques de Molay. He was arrested together with approximately sixty other Knights on October 13, 1307. They were charged with numerous offences, such as financial corruption, fraud, homosexuality, spitting on the cross, devil worship and heresy. Most were tortured brutally and questioned under duress, many of the Templars, including de Molay, confessed initially to end their suffering. It is estimated that during this brutal betrayal approximately six hundred knights had been captured across Christendom. Some of the Templars were burned at the stake in Paris because they recanted the confessions they made earlier when they were tried. De Molay was also burned at the stake on March 18, 1314. The Pope at that time was Clement V. Clement was a childhood friend of King Phillip IV and was the Cardinal that King Phillip supported after the death of the earlier Pope under suspicious terms while he was held captive by Guillame de Nogaret (King Phillips Chief advisor). Clement then moved Vatican operations to Avignon France so that the Rome location did not fall to the Ottomans and Muslims that were invading and raiding the Spanish and Italians at the time. He previously raised concern about the secret initiation rites conducted by the Knights Templar and actually ordered an inquiry of his own. In 1312 King Philip convinced the Pope to dissolve the Knights Templar and allow for his forgiveness of any debts owed to himself and all the other Monarchs at the time.

The Knights Templar were thought to have been disbanded some 700 years ago officially upon the death of their 23rd Grand Master Jacques de Molay. However, there are those who believe that the order still exists and has just gone underground. In the 18th century, the Freemasons and some other organizations resurrected some of the traditions and symbols of the medieval knights to keep their legend known. In recent years, stories surfaced, many of which found their way into books and films. Some say that the Knights Templar, while headquartered at Temple Mount, dug up the Holy Grail. Another story said that they have kept a secret that could destroy the Catholic Church.

The Knights Templar had been one of the largest of the medieval Catholic military orders and had acquired a great deal of political and financial influence in Europe. French King Philip IV, who owed the Templars a significant amount of money, used rumors about the secret rituals of the Templars to bring charges of heresy against them so that his debts could be erased. He wanted to suppress the Templars in Europe and to obtain their wealth for himself, a fortuitous windfall he felt he was worthy of for bringing their Satanic rituals to the attention of the Pope. He brought a good deal of pressure upon the Pope Clement V to support his attacks against them. Many believe since Clement feared if he did not go along he to might meet the same fate as his predecessor. Originally the Pope had hoped to merge the Templars with the Knights Hospitaller Order in order to preserve the military presence that the Vatican could use at their disposal if any Monarchs saw fit to oppose Vatican authority. But the Templars wanted no part in that scenario. The Hospitallers went on to be the muscle that the Vatican and in particular the Jesuit Order utilized to torture, kill and punish those that the Inquisition found guilty during the great inquisition period. This stigma haunted and tainted the Knights Hospitaller Order so much that they changed their name to the Knights of Malta to try to down play the carnage and brutality that their Hospitaller Order came to be known for. The Templars for their part did not trust or regard the Hospitallers very highly and there was a very significant discord between the two orders. The Templar assets that the Vatican did find or control at the time of their disbanding in 1312 were all turned over to the Hospitallers by the Vatican to reward them for their loyalty to the Church.

It is relatively impossible for an order with the size, power and wealth of the Knights Templar to just vanish over night, so the conundrum is where did they go and how did they hide so many with so much so well? That remains the question that most scholars cannot answer with certainty.

AD March 18, 1314- The Last known Grand Master Jacques de Molay is burned at the stake on the lle des Juifs a small island in the Seine river across from Notre Dame Cathedral. Some believe that he secretly conveyed his Grand Master rights by official charter of transmission to the Templar priest that heard his last confession, Father Jean-Marc Larmenious, so that the succession of Grand Masters would not be broken.

AD 1314- Rumors that some elements of the Templars have fled to Scotland and were in armed support of King Robert the Bruce in his defense against the English are raised. Legend has been said to bring forward that a group of heavily armed knights charged out of the woods at the battle of Bannockburn and routed the huge English army by shock and awe of their heavy cavalry and fighting ferocity, thus establishing King Robert the Bruce as rightful King of Scotland.

AD 1315- The Battle of Morgarten at Gothard Pass where a small force of 1500 lightly armed peasants defeated the enormous army of some 5,000 heavily armed mounted knights of Austrian Habsburg Duke Leopold I, who was trying to establish a short invasion route to Italy. Legend says the Templars trained and directed the ambush of the far superior Austrian forces. This led to the formal establishment of Switzerland, which is the oldest democracy still in continued existence. Many of the Swiss ideals are directly related to Templar philosophies and symbols yet today. Switzerland was a mountainous region directly adjacent to France and easily accessible to the fleeing Templars and could be resupplied from Italy from their ports. This was what some believe as the establishment of the Templar Kingdom within Christendom that many of them had wanted rather than to try to reconquer the Holy Land as Jacques de Molay had desired. Switzerland was difficult to invade and had rough terrain and was isolated from Rome and the others Monarchs.

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