E 326K // Literature of the Middle Ages in Translation: Mysteries of the Grail

Knights Templar

The Knights Templar were a monastic order created by French Knight Hugues de Payens around 1119 after the holy crusades began. The Order was comprised of men who represented both the religious world and that of the military; the Knights Templar were considered both spiritual monks and fierce warriors. After Jerusalem was taken by the Christians, pilgrimages began to the holy land. Pilgrims were being attacked and murdered in large numbers by bandits in the outlying areas, and the Order of the Templars was brought into being as an effort to protect them. They were given a wing of the royal palace at the Temple on the Mount. The wing they operated out of was thought to have been built atop the ruins of King Solomon’s temple. Because of this they took on the name “The Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon”, or the Templar Knights. The organization began with 9 members including Hugues and several members of his own family, and they relied heavily on donations in the beginning. Their chosen emblem represented their poverty, showing two Knights sharing one horse. They didn’t remain in poverty for long. One reason was because of one of their biggest supporters, a French church leader by the name of Bernard of Clairvaux, who gained them endorsement by the church. They soon became a widely supported charity, earning themselves money, businesses, land, and many noble-born sons who joined up in order to defend the Holy Land. Later they were even exempt from following local laws, such as paying taxes for passage through various borders, thanks to Pope Innocent II. They wore their widely recognizable white habits with red crosses over heavy armor, they were highly skilled tacticians in many cases, and they rode warhorses that were also trained for battle. Still, only a small number of them were combatants. The majority Templars were in support roles and helped to maintain the financial infrastructure. One estimation says that at their peak there were 15k-20k Templars and only 10% were actually Knights. Knights had to already have been knighted prior to joining the Order, or else they were placed in other ranks. There were three ranks; the Knights wore white to symbolize their purity and chastity, and each was given a few horses and a squire or two. Squires weren’t typically members of the order. Among the ranks there were Sergeants who were valued for their skills in blacksmithing and construction. They wore black or brown habits and were of non-noble birth. And then there were the priests of the Order, called chaplains, who were meant to tend to the Knights’ spiritual needs. All members of the order wore the red crosses as a symbol of martyrdom regardless of rank. The highest ranking were the Grand Masters who were sworn in for life, many of whom later died in combat due to the martial nature of their position. The last of the Grand Masters to die was Jacques de Molay, who was tragically burned at the stake. The Order members had to follow some rather strict rules, such as eating in silence, limiting meat consumption to only a few days per week and never touching a female, even female members of their own family! The list of rules numbered in the several hundreds in its finality. Dying in battle was seen as a great honor for the knights, and they were not allowed to flee from battle unless ordered to do so, and even then it was frowned upon. They developed one of the first methods of banking in the middle ages, giving pilgrims a line of credit in order to receive treasure equal to the amount of their belongings, which were kept in safe-keeping during their pilgrimages. The idea was for the pilgrims to be less tempting targets for bandits. Increasing troubles with Muslims wishing to win back their lands, as well as unrest within Christendom, led to their eventual decline. All of this unrest forced the Templars to relocate several times, eventually finding a home on the island of Cyprus, and finally losing their footing in the Holy Land in the 1300s. After 200 years their support decreased but they still maintained businesses in farming and banking on the local level. They also remained outside the law for quite some time, able to cross borders at-will. Some historians say that King Phillip IV began to push back on the Templars due to his financial debt to them. On Friday the 13th in October of 1307 he sent out an order to have French Templars arrested. The charges had to do with their reported ceremonial practices being anti-Christian, such as spitting and urinating on the cross, homosexual behavior among the Knights, and the worshipping of false idols. Many speculate one such idol was the mummified head of John the Baptist. Eventually, the Templars were tortured into confession and many were burned at the stake. Several that survived later recanted their confessions. Pope Clement was forced by the threat of military action to have the order disbanded. What remained of the Templars was then scattered into various different locations and ways of life. In 2001 the “Chinon Parchment” was found. Within it was a trial record of Pope Clement absolving the Templars of their crimes of heresy. Today the Roman Catholic Church sees nothing wrong with what the Templars were doing, and feels Clement had no choice under all of the pressures put on him but to dissolve the Order. Many Templar structures still stand today, recognizable by their rounded buildings and the use of the symbol of two men on one horse. The Freemasons are thought by some to be descendants of the Knights Templar, an idea saturated with controversy. There is also quite a bit of mysticism involved in the discussion of the Templars and the relics they may have had in their possession, such as The Holy Grail and The Ark of the Covenant. Also their supposed idol worship has been related to witchcraft in some cases. Perceptions of the group vary GREATLY, straddling the line between a strong support of their widely known history, and conspiracy theories about the Illuminati and global domination.