From its disappearance the legend began. The Knights Templar, who were victims of the King of France’s greed, are credited with knowledge of their relationship to the Middle East, which would surpass the knowledge of any other person or organization , as well as fabulous treasures. This is the story, far from the legends. Templars
The temple order was an institution founded in 1118 (after the first crusade) with the aim of protecting and helping Christian pilgrims who went to Jerusalem.
Jerusalem, the holy city for three religions (Judaism, Islam and Christianity), had fallen into Christian hands in 1099, which theoretically opened the city ‘s gates to Christian pilgrims; this in fact was never prohibited thanks to the open attitude of the Muslim leaders, who allowed other cults as long as they paid a special tax .
The problem with the pilgrimages was the numerous dangers that pilgrims were exposed to during the journey, for example, the constant assaults
The new king of Jerusalem, Baldwin, did not have enough troops to carry out a task of protecting travelers on a pilgrimage to the holy land, so some knights began to organize themselves to carry out this task, which would become the Order of the Temple.
Grateful, Baldwin provided these knights with a barracks to live in, located in the ancient Temple of Solomon. And from then on, the name of the order was established.
In fact, the full name of this new order was “Order of the Poor Companions of Christ and the Temple of Solomon”, however, it was known simply as the “Order of the Temple” or “Order of the Templars”.
The influence of both its founder Hugo de Payens and King Baldwin quickly gained support for the new organization from both the European Christian nobility and the church.
The number of knights linked to the order gradually grew in parallel with the importance of the organization and the tasks it performed: which was to protect only the pilgrims and establish a true armed force, that is, an army.
In parallel, the Temple also expanded territorially, for example, in the Crown of Aragon (both in the kingdoms of Aragon and in Catalonia and Valencia). The Temple had numerous possessions. In France there were also large estates and their influence was remarkable.
Inside the Temple, the knights and the rest of the staff were guided by a rule instituted by the church.
We must think that, even the Knights Templar being the best known, they were only part of the total number of personnel in the order, as servants and other civilians coexisted with them, without any military or ecclesiastical relationship.
The Temple rule contemplated the vow of poverty and made knights half monks, half warriors.
But despite this vow of poverty , the Temple commissions (the Temple was divided into cells) were rich. Why?
A first reason is the voluntary donations that many nobles made to the Temple, these donations being in the form of land, property and money. Even those who were not nobles, ordinary citizens or bourgeois also donated what they had to the Temple, hoping to save their souls when they died and were taken to heaven.
The beginning of the end of the Templars can be found in the loss of the holy land by Christianity
Jerusalem was reconquered by the Muslims in 1244. Acre, the last bastion in the holy land, fell in 1291. Within this context, does the existence of the Temple order make sense?
However, the great power that the Templars gained in almost a century and a half of existence prevented their disappearance.
We must think that the organization functioned like a banking institution that made loans to many kingdoms and nobles. Although these practices (considered abuse) were prohibited by the church, the templars had an ingenious system to circumvent the prohibition: they lent interest– free money and when they were returned the nobleman or king made a “voluntary donation” to the templar coffers. The amount of this donation was previously agreed between the parties, generally being a fixed percentage.
The result: although the Templars did not officially charge interest, they actually did so unofficially.
The great accumulated power and the debts incurred, above all, by kings with the order, as well as the accumulated wealth were their undoing
These riches aroused greed and its enormous influence, suspicion. The first to open fire against the Order of the Temple (installed in Cyprus since the fall of the Holy Land) was Philip IV of France, who owed large sums to the Order of the Temple but had no desire to pay.
In 1307, Felipe IV accused the Templars of treason, of performing pagan and demonic ceremonies, of homosexuality and other practices contrary to the Catholic faith. It had the agreement of Pope Clement V.
In France the Templars were quickly arrested. The Pope relented and dissolved the order, ordering the arrest of the Templars who were there. They were imprisoned by the monarchs who would thus take away their wealth and forgive their debts, which was precisely what interested Philip IV of France.
The captured Knights Templar confessed what was asked of them after suffering horrific tortures and were finally burned at the stake.
In some territories, such as the Crown of Aragon, the sovereign (Jaime II) initially hesitated against the Templars, but because of substantial theft, along with the consequences of resisting a papal order, he eventually joined the hunt.
From there, since its disappearance, began the legend of the Order of the Temple, a legend that includes treasures that would still be hidden, the Holy Grail and even the survival of the order in secret. But this already belongs to the fantasy world and is not part of the story.
