The Knights Templar

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Learn more Hide Knights Templar in popular culture From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Part of a series on the Knights Templar Templar Cross Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon Overview History Latin Rule Seal Grand Masters Members Trials and dissolution Papal bulls Omne Datum Optimum (1139) Milites Templi (1144) Militia Dei (1145) Pastoralis Praeeminentiae (1307) Faciens misericordiam (1308) Ad providam (1312) Vox in excelso (1312) Locations France England Scotland Spain Portugal Successors Sovereign Military Order of Malta Sovereign Military Order of Malta Portugal Order of Christ Holy SeeSupreme Order of Christ Spain Order of Montesa Cultural references Non nobis Baphomet In popular culture See also Military order (monastic society) Category:Catholic chivalric orders 046CupolaSPietro.jpg Catholicism portal v t e The original historic Knights Templar were a Christian military order, the Order of the Poor Fellow Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, that existed from the 12th to 14th centuries to provide warriors in the Crusades. These men were famous in the high and late Middle Ages, but the Order was disbanded very suddenly by King Philip IV of France, who took action against the Templars in order to avoid repaying his own financial debts. He accused them of heresy, ordered the arrest of all Templars within his realm, and had many of them burned at the stake. The dramatic and rapid end of the organization led to many stories and legends developing about them over the following centuries. The Order and its members increasingly appear in modern fiction, though most of these references portray the medieval organization inaccurately.

In modern works, the Templars generally are portrayed as villains, misguided zealots, representatives of an evil secret society,[1] or as the keepers of a long-lost treasure. Several modern organizations also claim heritage from the medieval Templars, as a way of enhancing their own image or mystique.[citation needed]

Contents 1	Modern organizations 2	Scholarly reception 3	Popular themes 3.1	Relics and treasure 3.1.1	Holy Grail 3.1.2	Ark of the Covenant 3.1.3	Shroud of Turin 3.2	De Molay's curse 3.3	Claims of hidden survival 3.3.1	Supposed continuity in Freemasonry 3.3.2	Knights Templar in Scotland 3.3.3	Discoverers of the New World 3.4	Friday the 13th 4	Notable examples 4.1	Novels and comics 4.2	Film & TV 4.3	Music 4.4	Games 5	References Modern organizations "Knights Templar International" redirects here. For further information, see Knights Templar (Freemasonry) and Self-styled order. Freemasonry has contained references to the Knights Templar since at least the 18th century; Templar symbols and rituals are incorporated in a number of Masonic bodies.[1]

The best-known reference to the Knights Templar in Freemasonry is the Degree of Knight of the Temple, or "Order of the Temple", the final order joined in "The United Religious, Military and Masonic Orders of the Temple and of St John of Jerusalem, Palestine, Rhodes and Malta" commonly known as the Knights Templar. Freemasonry is traditionally open to men of all faiths, asking only that they have a belief in a supreme being, but membership in this Masonic body (and others) is open only to Freemasons who profess a belief in the Christian religion. These Knights Templar often take part in public parades and exhibitions, wearing distinctive uniforms and have had a number of high-profile members such as Henry Ford, and Harry S. Truman.

In the later 20th century, masonic Knights Templar became the subject of pseudohistorical theories connecting them to the medieval order, even though such a connection is rejected by Masonic authorities themselves[2] and the source known to historians.[3]

The Order of the Solar Temple is one infamous example of a "neo-Templar" group, founded 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. Another Templar-related order, the Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem, is a charitable organization founded in 1804 which has achieved United Nations NGO special status.[4] They are a part of the larger Ordo Supremus Militaris Templi Hierosolymitani (OSMTH), commonly called Knights Templar International.[5] Some members of the OSMTH claim to be the direct descendants of the original Knights Templar, citing the Larmenius Charter as proof; however, this document is suspected to be a forgery.[6]

In May 2018 BBC News reported that since 2015 far-right activist Jim Dowson has been fronting a UK-based Knights Templar International organization[7] with Dowson's sister-in-law Marion Thomas named as one of its directors.[8][9]

Scholarly reception The popularity of the Knights Templar in modern fiction and their presence in pseudohistorical or fringe literature has received scholarly attention.

At the 2004 Annual Conference of the American Culture Association, their call for papers was specifically about such conspiracy theories relating to the Templars and their association with other legends and mysterious organizations.[1] Literary theorists puzzle over Umberto Eco's use in his novel Foucault's Pendulum of the Templars as a symbol of postmodernist rewriting of history. Historian Malcolm Barber writes that "Mystic Templars are omnipresent in all good conspiracy theories."[10] On Day to Day, a program on American NPR, host Alex Chadwick discussed "the literary fascination with the Knights Templar."[11] In Poland, the Toruń Museum had an exhibition entitled "The Knights Templar – History and Myth" which offered a description, "Apart from pieces of "high art", the exhibit will grant equal importance to "popular culture" items (literature, film, Internet content) exploring the subject of the Knights Templar."[12] In 2007, a National Post editorial noted that "the Templars remain a living presence in popular culture. This has happened precisely because the historical record concerning their sudden annihilation in the early-14th century at the hands of Philip IV ("the Fair") of France has been so sparse and ambiguous. Time and revolution have damaged and dispersed the sources, and made the Templars a magnet for speculation and imagination."[13]

Popular themes Popular themes are their supposed association with the Holy Grail and the Ark of the Covenant, and the supposed historical connection to the Freemasons.

The historical Templars had their first headquarters on the Temple Mount, which had been assigned to them by King Baldwin II of Jerusalem.[14][15] They were in operation there for 75 years. Pseudo-historical books such as The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail theorise that the Templars could have discovered documents hidden in the ruins of the Temple, possibly "proving" that Jesus survived the Crucifixion or possibly "proving" Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and had children by her. Indeed, the supposition that the Templars must have found something under the Temple Mount lies at the heart of most Templar legends and pseudo-historical theories, also popularised by French author Louis Charpentier (1966).[16] There is no physical or documentary evidence, however, to support such a supposition. It is true that they are documented as having carried a piece of the True Cross into some battles,[17] but this was probably a portion of a timber that was discovered during the 4th century by Saint Helena, the mother of the Emperor Constantine.[18]

Relics and treasure There are various legends concerning a treasure that some Templars managed to hide from King Philip and that was later lost.[19] One particular story concerns Rennes-le-Château, where a treasure was supposedly found in the 19th century; one speculative source for that treasure was the long-lost treasure of the Templars.[20]

In 1910 publication by one Joaquín Miret y Sans, the case is made that the Knights Templar hid and buried the great treasure in Vrana, Zadar County, because Ramón from Serò near Granja del Pairs in Noguera (comarca) in Catalonia gave a generous gift to the Knights Templar into the hands of their Grand Master Arnold of Torroja. This Ramón was the son of Romana the daughter of Benesmiro de Siponto who was the justitiarius of Monte Sant'Angelo and who was sent by Pope Alexander III as a notifier to Šibenik.[21]

Hugh J. Schonfield (1984)[22] argued that the Knights Templar may have found the Copper Scroll treasure of the Qumran Essenes in the tunnels beneath the Temple Mount. He suggested that this might explain one of the charges of heresy which were later brought against the knights by the Medieval Inquisition.

Holy Grail The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail (1982) seems to be the source of the story that the Holy Grail was found by the Order and taken to Scotland during the suppression of the order in 1307, where it remains buried beneath Rosslyn Chapel.

A book published in 2006 claims that the Grail was instead taken to northern Spain, and protected by the Knights Templar there.[23]

Ark of the Covenant Graham Hancock in his The Sign and the Seal (1992) claimed that the Templars discovered secrets of the Masons, builders of Solomon's Temple, Zerubbabel's Temple, and Herod's Temple at the Temple Mount, along with knowledge that the Ark of the Covenant had been moved to Ethiopia before the destruction of the first temple.[24] Hancock claims that allusion to this is made in engravings on the Cathedral at Chartres, the construction of which was greatly influenced by Bernard of Clairvaux, the Order's patron. 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 Saint George in Lalibela, Ethiopia, which stands to this day but whose construction is incorrectly attributed to the Knights Templar.

Shroud of Turin Another legendary object that is claimed to have some connection with the Templars is the Shroud of Turin. The shroud was first publicly displayed in 1357 by the widow of a nobleman known as Geoffrey of Charney,[25] described by some sources as being a member of the family of the grandson of Geoffroi de Charney, who was burned at the stake with De Molay.[26]

In 2009, Barbara Frale, a paleographer in the Vatican Secret Archives, claimed that the Shroud of Turin had been kept by the Templars after 1204. Frale also claimed that "the burial certificate of Jesus the Nazarene", imprinted in fragments of Greek, Hebrew and Latin writing, is visible on the shroud.[27]

The so-called Templecombe painting, a painting discovered in 1945 by Mrs Molly Drew in the roof of an outhouse of a cottage in Templecombe, England,[28] has been alleged to be a copy of the image on the Turin Shroud, and therefore evidence of the Turin Shroud being in the possession of the Knights Templar during its "hidden years".[29] The painting has been on display in St Mary's Church in the village since 1956 (the only Templar-related site to have survived there), and has been carbon-dated to c. 1280.[30] Some people believe that it is a Templar-commissioned image of either Jesus Christ or the severed head of John the Baptist,[31] although it is without a Halo.[32]

De Molay's curse Malcolm Barber (2006) discusses a supposed curse uttered by the last Grand Master of the Templar Order, Jacques de Molay, as he was burned at the stake in 1314. Jacques de Molay supposedly cursed Philip IV of France and Pope Clement V, saying that he would meet them before God before the year was out. Pope Clement died only a month later, King Phillip died later that year in a hunting accident. Further, within a short span of years thereafter each of Phillip's sons died at relatively young ages, resulting in the end of the House of Capet, leading to disputes over succession and The Hundred Years' War as different factions battled for the throne.

Barber traces this story to a verse chronicle attributed to Geoffrey of Paris (La Chronique métrique attribuée à Geffroi de Paris, ed. A. Divèrres, Strasbourg, 1956, pp. 5711–5742). Geoffrey of Paris was "apparently an eye-witness, who describes Molay as showing no sign of fear and, significantly, as telling those present that God would avenge their deaths".[33]

Albert Pike claimed the Knight Kadosh, the 30th degree within the Ancient Accepted and Scottish Rite, commonly known as a 'Vengeance degree', involved the trampling on the Papal tiara and the royal crown, destined to wreak a just vengeance on the high criminals for the murder of de Molay:[34] the figure of Hiram Abiff representing Jacques de Molay, with the three assassins representing Philip IV of France, Pope Clement V and Squin de Florian.[35] Malcolm Barber has cited a Masonic legend, resembling Pike's claims, in Louis Claude Cadet de Gassicourt Le Tombeau de Jacques Molai (Paris, 1796, first edition).[36]

A series of mid-20th-century novels, Les Rois maudits (The Accursed Kings) by Maurice Druon, which were first published in 1955, expanded on the story of the curse of Jacques de Molay and the French monarchy in the fourteenth century:

"Cursed, you’ll be all cursed, until the thirteenth generation of your races will have disappeared!"

— Maurice Druon A popular version of the legend attributes to the curse the death of Louis XVI, saying he belonged to the thirteenth generation after Philip IV.[37][38] The thirteenth generation is in fact that of Louis XIV's children.[39] A frequent recurring legend relates how when Louis XVI was guillotined, an anonymous French Freemason rushed from the crowd, dipped his hand in the king's blood (or grabbed the head and held it) and yelled, "Jacques de Molay, thou art avenged!" This story first appeared in The Illuminatus! Trilogy, a work of science fiction, in 1975.[40]

Claims of hidden survival Supposed continuity in Freemasonry Some historians and authors have tried to draw a link from Freemasonry and its many branches to the Templars. Degrees in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite such as the Knight of Saint Andrew, the Knight of Rose-Croix, and the 32nd Degree in Consistory make reference to a "Masonic Knights Templar" connection, but this is usually dismissed as being ceremonial and not historical fact.

John J. Robinson argues 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 stonemasons 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 transitory symbolism can supposedly be found in Rosslyn Chapel, owned by the first Earls of Rosslyn, a family with well-documented ties to Scottish Freemasonry; however, Rosslyn Chapel itself dates from at least 100 years after the suppression of the Templars.

The case is also made in Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh's book The Temple and the Lodge.

However, historians Mark Oxbrow, Ian Robertson,[41] Karen Ralls and Louise Yeoman[42] have each made it clear that the Sinclair family had no connection with the Medieval Knights Templar. The Sinclairs' testimony against the Knights at their 1309 trial is not consistent with any alleged support or membership. In "The Templars and the Grail"[43] Karen Ralls states that among some 50 who testified against the Templars were Henry and William Sinclair.

Knights Templar in Scotland Main article: Knights Templar in Scotland Since the 1980s, there has been a growing body of publications in both popular fiction and pseudohistory which construct a continuity between the historical presence of the Knights Templar in Scotland with the emergence of Masonic Scottish Knights Templar in the early modern period.

The idea of an association with Rosslyn Chapel originates in the 1982 The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail[44] and entered mainstream pop culture with Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code (2003), reinforced by the subsequent film of the same name (2006).[45] Numerous books were published after 2003 to cater to the popular interest in supposed connections between Rosslyn Chapel, Freemasonry, the Templars and the Holy Grail generated by Brown's novel.

The tale of a missing Templar fleet is supposedly based on the protocol of the interrogation of Jean de Châlons by the Inquisition. He claimed that he had heard that preceptor of the French Templars, Gérard de Villiers, had been warned of his imminent arrest. De Villiers had escaped with 50 horses and eighteen galleys. De Châlons' son, Hugues de Châlons, escaped with him carrying the wealth of his uncle, Hugues de Pairaud.[46] In Baigent and Leigh's The Temple and the Lodge, the fleet carried the treasure of the Paris preceptory of the Templars.[47]

Scotland became the destination of the fleet over four centuries later, in the claims of George Frederick Johnson, an exiled Jacobite living in Austria. Johnson, however, turned out to be a fraudster who was probably called Johann Samuel Leuchte. After a chequered career based on alchemy and forgery, "Johnson" convinced a masonic lodge in Jena that he possessed the highest secrets of masonry, and having declared the rest of German masonry irregular, brought a surprising amount of lodges under his control. Exposed as a fraud by Karl Gotthelf von Hund in 1764, he was later apprehended by a previous victim, and spent the rest of his life in prison.[48]

Hund's initial attraction to Johnson was spurred by a need to find his own superiors. He had been received into the Order of the Temple by high ranking Jacobites in Paris during 1743, being introduced to Charles Edward Stuart himself. After the failure of the 1745 rebellion, his masters were either in hiding or dead, and had lost interest in maintaining their Templar offshoots, leaving Hund with a depleted ritual book which he had to reconstruct from memory. As Johnson's collection of lodges now looked to him for leadership, the Rite of Strict Observance was born. Again, the foundation myth alleged that Freemasonry was started by Templar refugees under the protection of Robert the Bruce. This time, they had travelled from France through England disguised as stonemasons, and their use of masonic symbols in their allegories paid tribute to this deception.[48][49]

Under Hund's leadership, the Rite of Strict Observance became the most popular branch of Freemasonry in the German states, with lodges all over Continental Europe. However, Hund's continuing inability to produce, or even contact his "Unknown Superiors" led to increasing dissatisfaction. Six years after his death, a convent meeting in Wilhelmsbad from 1782 to 1783 finally agreed that Freemasonry had no connection to the Templars, and Strict Observance ceased to exist, most lodges being absorbed into the Rectified Scottish Rite. For most of the previous two decades, the most common foundation myth among German masons stated that Freemasonry came from the Knights Templar, protected and allowed to flourish in Scotland.[50]

Illustration from Sketch of the history of the Knights templars (1840) by James Burnes In 1815, Claude Thory, a respected French scientist and Freemason, claimed that Robert the Bruce had created the Order of St. Andrew for masons who had supported him at Bannockburn, which was later joined to the Order of Heredom, which he founded at Kilwinning.[51] In 1837, a Scottish Freemason, James Burnes, in attempting to revive a Scottish order of "Knights Templar", expanded the masonic link to Bannockburn. He introduced the Knights Templar as the bearers on Freemasonry to Scotland, and had the Templars play a crucial part in the battle. This appears to be the basis of subsequent tales of Templar involvement at Bannockburn. The contemporary Royal Order of Scotland makes use of a similar foundation myth, which is no more intended to be taken as historical fact than any other piece of masonic allegory.[52]

Discoverers of the New World Further information: Westford Knight and Newport Tower (Rhode Island) § Medieval Templars Holy Blood, Holy Grail (1982) further embellished the "lost fleet" topos discussed above, alleging that the Templars in these ships "fled to the New World by following old Viking routes", i.e. making one of the pre-Columbian voyages to America.[53] Since the popularisation of Holy Blood, Holy Grail with the commercial success of Dan Brown's 2003 novel, there have been numerous allusions to this idea in American pop culture.

A supposed Templar treasure in Oak Island, Nova Scotia, Canada is featured in the 2004 movie National Treasure starring Nicolas Cage.[54]

As early as 2001, historian Helen Nicholson in a popular history of the Templars dispels the idea that the Templars could "spare ships to indulge in world exploration".[55] The Templar Code for Dummies (2007) also points out the historical implausibility of this scenario.[56]

Friday the 13th There is a modern urban legend to the effect that the tradition of Friday the 13th being unlucky originates with the date of the simultaneous arrest of many templars at the behest of Philip IV on Friday, 13 October 1307.[57][58]

Notable examples Novels and comics A brief list of some works which have featured the Knights Templar:

Ivanhoe, an 1820 novel by Sir Walter Scott, has as its villain Sir Brian de Bois-Gilbert, a "Templar Knight". The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids, an 1855 short story by Herman Melville treats the Templars with great irony. Mumbo-Jumbo (1972) has a Templar Knight Hinkle Von Vampton, who serves as the main villain in Ishmael Reed's postmodernist satire. Les Rois maudits or The Accursed Kings (1973 et seq) by Maurice Druon depicts the death of the last Grand Master of the Order, and plays with the legend of the curse he laid on the pope, Philip the Fair, and Guillaume de Nogaret. Foucault's Pendulum, a 1988 novel by Umberto Eco, which features the mythos of the Knights Templar as keepers and defenders of the Holy Grail. Swedish author Jan Guillou has written a trilogy about Arn Magnusson (1998 et seq.), a fictional Swedish character from the Middle Ages who was forced to become a Knight Templar, went to Jerusalem and after returning to Sweden, was a leading military figure shortly before the time of Birger Jarl. Katherine Kurtz has written many books with Templar characters and themes, and edited the Crusade of Fire (2002) anthology. The Da Vinci Code, bestselling 2003 novel by Dan Brown. This was also adapted into a film version in 2006. The Last Templar (2005), by Raymond Khoury is a Da Vinci Code-style thriller. The Revenge of the Shadow King (2006), by Derek Benz and J.S. Lewis, relates an alternate history of the Knights Templar, aligning them with an age-old order whose primary role is to defend the world from the powers of darkness. In this book, the Templars still exist and operate today from the shadows of an underground organization. The Templar Legacy (2006) by Steve Berry is a story which revolves around the possibility that the Templar Treasure is close to being discovered, and that it may fall into the wrong hands. In this book, the treasure is closely connected to the question of Christ as the Savior, and Christ's Resurrection. The book also brings into question the contents and significance of the treasure. Robert Jordan's fantasy series The Wheel of Time contains the fictional Children of the Light: a militant religious order who consider themselves above the laws of nations and are recognizable by the "snowy" white cloaks from which the nickname Whitecloak is derived. Their primary military units are heavy cavalry, possibly supplemented by the more "regular" army of the nation Amadicia, the seat of their power. Film & TV A series of horror films (Tombs of the Blind Dead, Return of the Blind Dead, The Ghost Galleon, Night of the Seagulls) by Spanish director Amando de Ossorio depict the Knights Templar as resurrected mummies in search of human blood. The mythos of the Knights Templar (presented as the fictional "Knights of the Cruciform Sword") as keepers and defenders of the Holy Grail is also a central plot point in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). Dolph Lundgren plays the role of a modern-day member of the Knights Templar in the 1998 movie The Minion. The film Revelation (2001), in which the order tries to clone Jesus Christ for evil purposes. The Templar Knights are featured in the 2001 French film Le Pacte des loups, in which the symbol of the Templar Knights is seen upon the walls of an old Templar stronghold and upon the Beast's armor. The cult seen in the movie is also supposedly a rogue Templar organization, originally sent by the Pope to teach the King of France a lesson. Carnivàle (2003–2005). National Treasure (2004). Kingdom of Heaven (2005) shows the last King of Jerusalem, Guy de Lusignan, and his henchman Reynald de Châtillon (both of whom were not members of the Templar order), as Templars.[59] Arn – The Knight Templar (2007). Arn – The Kingdom at Road's End (2008). The Last Templar (2009), an adaptation of Raymond Khoury's novel about a New York archaeologist researching the lost secrets of the medieval Knights Templar. Ironclad (film) (2011). Knightfall, a medieval drama scheduled to premiere on History Channel on December 6, 2017. Music Knights of the Cross is a concept album about the Templars by German metal band Grave Digger. The Templars (band), a New York City Oi! band, is inspired by the Knights Templar. Similarly, their record label, Templecombe Records, is named after a Knights Templar site in Somerset, England. HammerFall, a Swedish power metal band, refer to themselves as "The Templars of Heavy Metal", making frequent reference to the Templars on many of their albums. Games Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars (1996) was one of the first video games to reference the Knights Templar. Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon (2003) and Broken Sword: The Angel of Death (2006) involve the Templars as well. Time Gate: Knight's Chase (1996) Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned (1999) posits both an alternative history of Christ and the suggestion that a Templar treasure, buried in Languedoc, France, is Christ's remains. Templars feature in Deus Ex (2000) and Deus Ex: Invisible War (2003). Stronghold: Crusader is set in the Middle East during the crusades. In Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader (2003), a fictionalised version of the Knights Templar appears as a playable faction and plays a major role in the game. Knights of the Temple: Infernal Crusade (2004) and 'Knights of the Temple II (2005). In Medieval II: Total War (2006), most Catholic factions can train Templar units into their armies or hire them as mercenaries while on a crusade. Hellgate: London (2007) features a Templar class, and makes numerous references to connections between the Freemasons and Knights Templar. Aion: The Tower of Eternity (2008) features a Templar class. The Dragon Age series features a mage and demon-hunting organisation called the Templar Order. They serve the Chantry, the Dragon Age counterpart of the Christian church. The Black Templars Chapter of the Space Marines from the Warhammer 40,000 tabletop wargame are based directly on the historical Knights Templar. The First Templar (2011), the plot revolves around templars and the Holy Grail. In The Secret World (2012), Templars is one of the three playable factions. In the Protoss faction of "Starcraft" are two units labeled as Templars: the High Templar is a caster unit, while the Dark Templar is a stealthy assassin unit. The games Infinity Blade and Infinity Blade 2 for iOS on Apple's iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad features an enemy referred to as "Knight Templar." The Assassin's Creed series features the Assassins as the protagonists and Templars as the main antagonists. The series borrows heavily from Templar history and legends, and incorporates elements of Illuminati conspiracy theories into its canon. References Masons, Templars and the Holy Grail: Historical Conspiracies and Popular Culture "Knights Templar FAQ". knightstemplar.org. The Grand Encampment of Knights Templar. Archived from the original on 26 June 2012. Retrieved 10 January 2007. Cooper, Robert L. D. (2007). The Rosslyn hoax? Viewing Rosslyn Chapel from a new perspective. Addlestone: Lewis. pp. 68–70. ISBN 9780853182818. "List of non-governmental organizations in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council as at 31 August 2006" (PDF). United Nations Economic and Social Council. 31 August 2006. Retrieved April 1, 2007. "Home page". Jamesjcarey.us. Rear Admiral Ret. James J. Carey. Retrieved 13 June 2011. Hodapp, Christopher; Von Kannon, Alice (2007). "Part III: After the Fall of the Templars". The Templar code for dummies. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley. p. 176; 384. ISBN 9780470127650. Cox, Simon; Meisel, Anna (1 May 2018). "Is this Britain's most influential far-right activist?". BBC News. Retrieved 2 May 2018. Andrews, Kieran (3 December 2017). "Revealed: Far-right Scot pioneered hate group's propaganda peddled by Donald Trump". The Sunday Post. Dundee, Scotland. Retrieved 2 May 2018. "Knights Templar International Novus Ordo Militiae Ltd". companycheck.co.uk. Company Check. Retrieved 2 May 2018. Barber's The New Knighthood (Cambridge U Press, 1995) paraphrased by Elaine Graham-Leigh Knights Templar Inspires Trio of Best-Selling Books "THE KNIGHTS TEMPLAR - HISTORY AND MYTH" at Toruń, District Museum, October 23 – November 28, 2004 Marni Soupcoff, "The Post editorial board: The truth about the Templars", National Post (October 22, 2007). Dent, JD. Baldwin II. Archived 2011-09-27 at the Wayback Machine. History Bookshop. Retrieved on 2007-07-17. Adrian J. Boas, Archaeology of The Military Orders: A Survey of The Urban Centres, Rural Settlements and Castles of The Military Orders in The Latin East (c.1120–1291) (Routledge, 2006). ISBN 0-415-29980-2 Louis Charpentier, Les Mystères de la Cathédrale de Chartres (Paris: Robert Laffont, 1966), translated The Mysteries of Chartres Cathedral (London: Research Into Lost Knowledge Organisation, 1972). Piers Paul Read, The Templars, p. 159 Read, p. 27 Robinson, John J. (1994). Dungeon, Fire and Sword. Michael O'Mara Books. ISBN 1-85479-956-8. See p. 472. Burl, Aubrey. (2002). God's Heretics. Sutton. ISBN 0-7509-2572-8. See p. 240. Les cases de Templers y Hospitalers en Catalunya; aplech de noves y documents històrichs (1910), Miret y Sans, Joaquín, Subject: Templars in Catalonia; Knights of Malta in Catalonia, Publisher: Barcelona Impr. de la Casa Provincial de Caritat. Denkschriften, der kaiserl. Akademie der Wissenschaften, philosophisch-historische Klasse, 49. Band, Wien 1904.[clarification needed] Biblioteca Provinciale di Foggia, Monumenta edita ac illustrata 703.-1130. Archivio di Stato di Napoli. Hugh J. Schonfield, The Essene Odyssey: The Mystery of The True Teacher and The Essene impact on The Shaping of Human Destiny (Element Books, 1984). ISBN 0-906540-49-6 Juan García Atienza, The Knights Templar in the Golden Age of Spain: Their Hidden History on the Iberian Peninsula (Destiny Books, 2006). ISBN 978-1-59477-098-2 Hancock, G: The Sign and the Seal: The Quest for the Lost Ark of the Covenant, Toronto: Doubleday, ISBN 0-671-86541-2 Barber, The New Knighthood, p. 332 Newman, p. 383 Owen, Richard (26 April 2009). "Knights Templar hid the Shroud of Turin, says Vatican". The Times. Retrieved 24 October 2010. her study of the trial of the Knights Templar had brought to light a document in which Arnaut Sabbatier (...) was shown "a long linen cloth on which was impressed the figure of a man" and instructed to venerate the image by kissing its feet three times. Templecombe in relation to the history of the Knights Templar was mentioned by Charles G. Addison, The History of The Knights Templars, the Temple Church, and The Temple, page 224 (Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans; 1842). Ian Wilson, The Turin Shroud, (Victor Gollancz Ltd; 1978 ISBN 0-575-02483-6) [1] Abbas and Templecombe – a history The History Channel, Lost Worlds: Knights Templar, July 10, 2006 video documentary. Directed and written by Stuart Elliott Karen Ralls, Knights Templar Encyclopedia: The Essential Guide to The People, Places, Events and Symbols of the Order of the Temple, page 202 (Career Press, 2007).ISBN 978-156414-926-8 Malcolm Barber, The Trial of The Templars, page 357, footnote 110, Second edition (Cambridge University Press, 2006). ISBN 0-521-67236-8. In The New Knighthood Barber referred to a variant of this legend, about how an unspecified Templar had appeared before and denounced Clement V and, when he was about to be executed sometime later, warned that both Pope and King would "within a year and a day be obliged to explain their crimes in the presence of God", found in the work by Ferretto of Vicenza, Historia rerum in Italia gestarum ab anno 1250 ad annum usque 1318 (Malcolm Barber, The New Knighthood, pages 314-315 (Cambridge University Press, 1994). ISBN 0-521-55872-7 Arthur Edward Waite, Secret Tradition In Freemasonry, page 497 (Plymouth: The Mayflower Press, 1937). Reprinted by Kessinger Publishing, LLC; 2002. ISBN 0-7661-2664-1 Arthur Edward Waite, Emblematic Freemasonry and the Evolution of its Deeper Issues, page 98 (London: W. Rider & Son, 1925). Malcolm Barber, The New Knighthood: A History of the Order of the Temple, page 393, footnote 11 (Cambridge University Press, 2000). ISBN 0-521-55872-7 Séguin, Xavier (26 December 2011). "The End of the Temple". eden saga. Retrieved 16 March 2017. Good account: thirteen generations later, for the Bourbons, it is Louis XVI. Bern, Stéphane (2011). Secrets d'histoire (in French). 2. Paris: Albin Michel. p. 271. Louis XVI, dead exactly thirteen generations after that of Philip IV. After Philip IV: 1. Louis X, 2. Joan II of Navarre, 3. Charles II of Navarre, 4. Joan of Navarre, 5. Marie of Brittany, 6. Jean II of Alençon, 7. René of Alençon, 8. Françoise of Alençon, 9. Antoine of Navarre, 10. Henri IV, 11. Louis XIII, 12. Louis XIV, 13. Louis, Grand Dauphin: 4 generations before Louis XVI. (Robert Shea, Robert Anton Wilson, Illuminatus! Part I: The Eye in the Pyramid (USA: Dell, 1975). ISBN 0-440-04688-2 "The Da Vinci Connection", Sunday Herald, 14 November 2004 Archived 6 April 2006 at the Wayback Machine. "Historian attacks Rosslyn Chapel for 'cashing in on Da Vinci Code'", Scotsman.com, 03-May-06 Ralls, Karen, The Templars and the Grail. Quest Books; 1st Quest edition (May 25, 2003), ISBN 0-8356-0807-7 (see p.110 – quoting "The Knights Templar in England" p.200-1) with numerous repetitions during the 1980s to 2000s, see also e.g. Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, The Temple and the Lodge, Arrow, 1998. Tim Wallace-murphy and Marilyn Hopkins, Rosslyn, Guardian of the Secrets of the Holy Grail, Element, 2000, pp120-122 "Hollywood legend Tom Hanks makes donation to Rosslyn Chapel restoration". The Scotsman. 6 February 2010. Retrieved 5 November 2011. Malcolm Barber, The Trial of the Templars, Cambridge University Press, 1993, p101 Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, The Temple and the Lodge, Arrow, 1998, pp100-101 Ladislas de Malczovich, A Sketch of the Earlier History of Masonry in Austria and Hungary, Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, v6, 1893, pp85-91 R. F. Gould, A Concise History of Freemasonry. Gale & Poulden, London 1904, pp 411-414 Trevor W. McKeown, The Rite of Strict Observance, Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon A.F. & A. M, 2007, accessed 14 April 2014. Claude Antoine Thory Acta Latomorum, Paris, 1815, p6 Robert L.D. Cooper, Cracking the Freemason's Code, Rider 2006, pp. 158-160. The History Channel. The Templar Code. May 17, 2006. S. Brent Morris (2006). The complete idiot's guide to freemasonry. Google Books. p. 194. ISBN 9781592574902. Retrieved 15 April 2010. "The Templers did have ships to carry personnel, pilgrims and supplies across the Mediterranean between the West and East and back, but if the Hospital after 1312 is any guide they did not have more than four galleys (warships) and few other ships, and if they needed more they hired them. They certainly could not spare ships to indulge in world exploration ... [T]he records of the port of La Rochelle show that the Templars were exporting wine by ship. This was not a fleet in any modern sense: again, those would have been transport vessels rather than warships, and the Templars probably hired them as they needed them, rather than buying their own. ... The ships would have been very small by modern standards, too shallow in draught and sailing too low in the water to be able to withstand the heavy waves and winds of the open Atlantic, and suited for use only in the relatively shallow waters of the continental shelf. What was more, they could not carry enough water to be at sea for long periods." Nicholson, Helen (2001). The Knights Templar: A new history. Phoenix Mill Thrupp, Stroud, Gloucestershire UK: Sutton Publishing Limited. pp. 12,191–92. ISBN 0-7509-2517-5. Quote: "As for having 18 galleys that may have left from La Rochelle, history doesn't back that up...In shipping records from La Rochelle of the period, there is no record that the Templars had 18 galleys, much less that 18 galleys were at La Rochelle. Reports in the years leading up to the arrest seem to imply that the Templars (and the Hospitallers, for that matter) actually had very few large ships – some suggest no more than four – and hired more from merchant shippers when needed" – Christopher Hodapp, Alice Von Kannon, The Templar Code for Dummies, page 157 (Wiley Publishing Inc., 2007). ISBN 978-0-470-12765-0 on the existence of the urban legend: "Friday the 13th". snopes.com. Retrieved 2007-03-26. "Why Friday the 13th is unlucky". urbanlegends.about.com. Retrieved 2007-03-26. "The claim that the Friday the 13th superstition began with the arrest of the final Grand Master of the Knights Templar, Jacques Demolay, on Friday, October 13, 1307, is a modern-day invention." On the historical date of the arrest, see: A Knight Templar Abroad: Or, Reminiscences of Travel Beyond the Sea, 1885, By W. Harlan Cord, Page 202. 1885. Retrieved 2013-11-01.; Burnes, James (1840). Sketch of the history of the Knights templars, 1840, Edinburgh By James Burnes, Page 31. Dr. Cathy Schultz, "Making the Crusades Relevant in KINGDOM OF HEAVEN", History in the Movies and Providence Journal (5/6/05). 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Learn more Hide Knights Templar in Scotland From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Part of a series on the Knights Templar Templar Cross Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon Overview History Latin Rule Seal Grand Masters Members Trials and dissolution Papal bulls Omne Datum Optimum (1139) Milites Templi (1144) Militia Dei (1145) Pastoralis Praeeminentiae (1307) Faciens misericordiam (1308) Ad providam (1312) Vox in excelso (1312) Locations France England Scotland Spain Portugal Successors Sovereign Military Order of Malta Sovereign Military Order of Malta Portugal Order of Christ Holy SeeSupreme Order of Christ Spain Order of Montesa Cultural references Non nobis Baphomet In popular culture See also Military order (monastic society) Category:Catholic chivalric orders 046CupolaSPietro.jpg Catholicism portal v t e

This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (March 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) In 1128 the cousin of St Bernard of Clairvaux, Hugues de Payens, met King David I in Scotland.[1] The Order established a seat at Balantrodoch, now Temple, Midlothian on the South Esk (River Esk, Lothian). In 1189 Alan FitzWalter, the 2nd Lord High Steward of Scotland was a benefactor of the Order.

In about the year 1187, William the Lion granted part of the Culter lands on the south bank of the River Dee, Aberdeenshire, to the Knights Templar and between 1221 and 1236 Walter Bisset of Aboyne founded a Preceptory for the Knights Templar. In 1287 and 1288 they built a Chapel dedicated to Mary the Mother of Christ, known as St Mary's Chapel and in November 1309, the name of a William Middleton of the "Tempill House of Culter" was recorded.with still signs of Templars.[2][3][4]

It has been claimed that in 1309 during the trial of the Templars in Scotland[5] Bishop Lamberton of St Andrews, Guardian of Scotland 1299–1301 gave the Templars his protection, although there is no evidence to support this claim.[6][7][8][9] It should also be recorded that John of Fordun's Chronicle of the Scottish Nation,[10] a major Scottish mediaeval source makes no mention at all of the Templars.

The Knights Templar had considerable possessions in the County of Nairn, or Moray, in 1296. The following extract is taken from The History of Nairn:

"...There is a writ extant granted in their [the Knights Templar] favour at Berwick, addressed to the Sheriff of Invernairn to put them in possession of their lands, they having made submission to Edward I. This was no doubt done. From the deed of conveyance of the Temple lands in the North from Lord Torphichen, the last Master of the Order, it appears that the following were the lands held here. Those two roods of arable land lying within the territory of the Burgh of Nairn, in that part thereof called [blank] possessed by John Rose, burgess of Nairn, and his sub-tenants; those two roods of arable temple land and house lying within the said territory of Nairn, possessed by Hew Rose of Kilravock and his sub-tenants; all and haill those our temple lands called the lands of Pitfundie lying in the said Sheriffdom of Nairn, betwixt the strype that conies from the lands of Brodie on the east, the fludder or myre upon the south side of the common muir called the Hardmuir Map on the south side, the lands of Penick Map and wood of Lochloy Map on the west, and the Euchcarse of Culbyn on the north, for the most part possessed by the lairds of Brodie, and their sub-tenants."

They also had land designated in old charters as Temple Land, Temple Cruik, Temple Bank, and Bogschand. which lay partly in the vicinity of the town of Ardersier, between Connage, Flemington and the sea. A charter granted at Nairn refers to the locus trialis at Ardersier, doubtless an ancient place of trial by "wager of battle". The Temple lands of Ardersier were held by Davidsons and Mackays as portioners. They were acquired by Cawdor in 1626. The Temple lands at Brodie and elsewhere appear to have been disposed of about the same time, as in a Brodie, charter of date 1626 the lands of Pitfundie are included in the Brodie estate. The Templars were a religious and military order of Knights who escorted pilgrims to Jerusalem at a time when such pilgrimages were attended by dangers from robbers. They wore a white robe with a red Maltese cross on the breast, and at first were all of noble birth, The Knights of St. John of Jerusalem had lands in Nairnshire. It is impossible now to identify them. When the Knights Templar were suppressed by Edward II their property was given to the Knights of St. John.[11][12]

In 1312, by order of a Papal Bull, Vox in Excelso, all assets of the Order of the Temple were given to Knights Hospitaller or Order of St. John except for Spain where they were succeeded by the Order of Montesa the Order of Calatrava, from which its first recruits were drawn, and Portugal where they became the Order of Christ and it has been claimed that in Scotland the Order combined with the Hospitallers and continued as The Order of St John and the Temple until the Reformation, although there is no evidence to that effect. When Sir James Sandilands, Preceptor of the Order converted to Protestantism in 1553, the Order is thought to have ceased.[13]

See also Scottish Knights Templar Rosslyn Chapel References The Stone Puzzle of Rosslyn Chapel, eyeofthepsychic.com; accessed 9 May 2018. The History of Maryculter House Hotel, maryculterhousehotel; accessed 23 March 2014. Chapter VII. Religious Houses; accessed 23 March 2014. Scottish Knights Templar, skt.org.uk; accessed 23 March 2014. The Trial of the Templars by Malcolm Barber p 227 ISBN 0-521-85639-6 Homepage, scalan.co.uk; accessed 23 March 2014. [1], heritage.scotsman.com; accessed 23 March 2014. The Shadow of Solomon by Laurence Gardner p.116 Harper Element ISBN 0-00-720760-3 Bruce's Secret Weapon by Archie McKerracher The Scots Magazine June 1991 John of Fordun's Chronicle of the Scottish Nation, edited by W F Skene; ISBN 978-1-897853-05-4 History of Nairnshire (1893) pp. 134-135, by Bain, George, FSA Scotland; accessed 23 March 2014. Profile of Knights Templar, openlibrary.org; accessed 23 March 2014. Knights Templar: Their Rise and Fall] by G.A. Campbell, p. 335; ISBN 0-7661-5658-3 External links Knights Templar Catholic Encyclopedia entry Templar History Magazine Popular history of the Templars [2] Sinclair Quarterman

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Learn more Hide This is a featured article. Click here for more information. Knights Templar From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia "Templar" redirects here. For other uses, see Templar (disambiguation). Knights Templar Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon Pauperes commilitones Christi Templique Salomonici Hierosolymitanis Seal of Templars.jpg A Seal of the Knights Templar[1] Active	c. 1119 – c. 1312 Allegiance	The Pope Type	Catholic military order Role	Protection of Christian Pilgrims Size	15,000–20,000 members at peak, 10% of whom were knights[2][3] Headquarters	Temple Mount, Jerusalem, Kingdom of Jerusalem Nickname(s) Order of Solomon's Temple Order Of Christ Patron	Saint Bernard of Clairvaux Motto(s) Non nobis, Domine, non nobis, sed Nomini tuo da gloriam (English: Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy Name give glory) Attire	White mantle with a red cross Mascot(s)	Two knights riding a single horse Engagements	The Crusades, including: Siege of Ascalon (1153) Battle of Montgisard (1177) Battle of Marj Ayyun (1179) Battle of Hattin (1187) Siege of Acre (1190–1191) Battle of Arsuf (1191) Siege of Al-Dāmūs (1210) Battle of Legnica (1241) Siege of Acre (1291) Reconquista Commanders First Grand Master	Hugues de Payens Last Grand Master	Jacques de Molay Part of a series on the Knights Templar Templar Cross Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon Overview History Latin Rule Seal Grand Masters Members Trials and dissolution Papal bulls Omne Datum Optimum (1139) Milites Templi (1144) Militia Dei (1145) Pastoralis Praeeminentiae (1307) Faciens misericordiam (1308) Ad providam (1312) Vox in excelso (1312) Locations France England Scotland Spain Portugal Successors Sovereign Military Order of Malta Sovereign Military Order of Malta Portugal Order of Christ Holy SeeSupreme Order of Christ Spain Order of Montesa Cultural references Non nobis Baphomet In popular culture See also Military order (monastic society) Category:Catholic chivalric orders 046CupolaSPietro.jpg Catholicism portal v t e The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon (Latin: Pauperes commilitones Christi Templique Salomonici), also known as the Order of Solomon's Temple, the Knights Templar or simply as Templars, were a Catholic military order recognised in 1139 by papal bull Omne Datum Optimum of the Holy See.[4] The order was founded in 1119 and active from about 1129 to 1312.[5]

The order, which was among the wealthiest and most powerful, became a favoured charity throughout Christendom and grew rapidly in membership and power. They were prominent in Christian finance. Templar knights, in their distinctive white mantles with a red cross, were among the most skilled fighting units of the Crusades.[6] Non-combatant members of the order, who formed as much as 90% of the order's members,[2][3] managed a large economic infrastructure throughout Christendom,[7] developing innovative financial techniques that were an early form of banking,[8][9] building its own network of nearly 1,000 commanderies and fortifications across Europe and the Holy Land, and arguably forming the world's first multinational corporation.[10][11]

The Templars were closely tied to the Crusades; when the Holy Land was lost, support for the order faded.[12] Rumours about the Templars' secret initiation ceremony created distrust, and King Philip IV of France – deeply in debt to the order – took advantage of the situation to gain control over them. In 1307, he had many of the order's members in France arrested, tortured into giving false confessions, and burned at the stake.[13] Pope Clement V disbanded the order in 1312 under pressure from King Philip.

The abrupt reduction in power of a significant group in European society gave rise to speculation, legend, and legacy through the ages.

Contents 1	History 1.1	Rise 1.2	Decline 1.3	Arrests, charges and dissolution 1.4	Chinon Parchment 2	Organization 2.1	Ranks within the order 2.1.1	Three main ranks 2.1.2	Grand Masters 2.2	Behaviour, clothing and beards 3	Legacy 3.1	Modern organizations 3.1.1	Temperance movement 3.1.2	Freemasonry 3.2	Modern popular culture 4	See also 5	References 6	Further reading 7	External links History Main article: History of the Knights Templar Rise After Europeans in the First Crusade recovered Jerusalem in 1099, many Christians made pilgrimages to various sacred sites in the Holy Land. Although the city of Jerusalem was relatively secure under Christian control, the rest of Outremer was not. Bandits and marauding highwaymen preyed upon pilgrims, who were routinely slaughtered, sometimes by the hundreds, as they attempted to make the journey from the coastline at Jaffa through to the interior of the Holy Land.[14]

Flag used by the Templars in battle. In 1119, the French knight Hugues de Payens approached King Baldwin II of Jerusalem and Warmund, Patriarch of Jerusalem, and proposed creating a monastic order for the protection of these pilgrims. King Baldwin and Patriarch Warmund agreed to the request, probably at the Council of Nablus in January 1120, and the king granted the Templars a headquarters in a wing of the royal palace on the Temple Mount in the captured Al-Aqsa Mosque.[15] The Temple Mount had a mystique because it was above what was believed to be the ruins of the Temple of Solomon.[6][16] The Crusaders therefore referred to the Al-Aqsa Mosque as Solomon's Temple, and from this location the new order took the name of Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon, or "Templar" knights. The order, with about nine knights including Godfrey de Saint-Omer and André de Montbard, had few financial resources and relied on donations to survive. Their emblem was of two knights riding on a single horse, emphasising the order's poverty.[17]

The first headquarters of the Knights Templar, on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The Crusaders called it "the Temple of Solomon" and from this location derived their name of Templar. The impoverished status of the Templars did not last long. They had a powerful advocate in Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, a leading Church figure, the French abbot primarily responsible for the founding of the Cistercian Order of monks and a nephew of André de Montbard, one of the founding knights. Bernard put his weight behind them and wrote persuasively on their behalf in the letter 'In Praise of the New Knighthood',[18][19] and in 1129, at the Council of Troyes, he led a group of leading churchmen to officially approve and endorse the order on behalf of the church. With this formal blessing, the Templars became a favoured charity throughout Christendom, receiving money, land, businesses, and noble-born sons from families who were eager to help with the fight in the Holy Land. Another major benefit came in 1139, when Pope Innocent II's papal bull Omne Datum Optimum exempted the order from obedience to local laws. This ruling meant that the Templars could pass freely through all borders, were not required to pay any taxes, and were exempt from all authority except that of the pope.[20]

With its clear mission and ample resources, the order grew rapidly. Templars were often the advance shock troops in key battles of the Crusades, as the heavily armoured knights on their warhorses would set out to charge at the enemy, ahead of the main army bodies, in an attempt to break opposition lines. One of their most famous victories was in 1177 during the Battle of Montgisard, where some 500 Templar knights helped several thousand infantry to defeat Saladin's army of more than 26,000 soldiers.[10]

"A Templar Knight is truly a fearless knight, and secure on every side, for his soul is protected by the armour of faith, just as his body is protected by the armour of steel. He is thus doubly armed, and need fear neither demons nor men." ―Bernard de Clairvaux, c. 1135, De Laude Novae Militae—In Praise of the New Knighthood[21] Although the primary mission of the order was militaristic, relatively few members were combatants. The others acted in support positions to assist the knights and to manage the financial infrastructure. The Templar Order, though its members were sworn to individual poverty, was given control of wealth beyond direct donations. A nobleman who was interested in participating in the Crusades might place all his assets under Templar management while he was away. Accumulating wealth in this manner throughout Christendom and the Outremer, the order in 1150 began generating letters of credit for pilgrims journeying to the Holy Land: pilgrims deposited their valuables with a local Templar preceptory before embarking, received a document indicating the value of their deposit, then used that document upon arrival in the Holy Land to retrieve their funds in an amount of treasure of equal value. This innovative arrangement was an early form of banking and may have been the first formal system to support the use of cheques; it improved the safety of pilgrims by making them less attractive targets for thieves, and also contributed to the Templar coffers.[6][22]

Based on this mix of donations and business dealing, the Templars established financial networks across the whole of Christendom. They acquired large tracts of land, both in Europe and the Middle East; they bought and managed farms and vineyards; they built massive stone cathedrals and castles; they were involved in manufacturing, import and export; they had their own fleet of ships; and at one point they even owned the entire island of Cyprus. The Order of the Knights Templar arguably qualifies as the world's first multinational corporation.[10][11][23]

Decline

Battle of Hattin in 1187, the turning point in the Crusades In the mid-12th century, the tide began to turn in the Crusades. The Muslim world had become more united under effective leaders such as Saladin, and dissension arose amongst Christian factions in, and concerning, the Holy Land. The Knights Templar were occasionally at odds with the two other Christian military orders, the Knights Hospitaller and the Teutonic Knights, and decades of internecine feuds weakened Christian positions, both politically and militarily. After the Templars were involved in several unsuccessful campaigns, including the pivotal Battle of Hattin, Jerusalem was recaptured by Muslim forces under Saladin in 1187. The Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II reclaimed the city for Christians in the Sixth Crusade of 1229, without Templar aid, but only held it briefly for a little more than a decade. In 1244, the Ayyubid dynasty together with Khwarezmi mercenaries recaptured Jerusalem, and the city did not return to Western control until 1917 when the British captured it from the Ottoman Empire in World War I.[24]

The Templars were forced to relocate their headquarters to other cities in the north, such as the seaport of Acre, which they held for the next century. It was lost in 1291, followed by their last mainland strongholds, Tortosa (Tartus in what is now Syria) and Atlit in present-day Israel. Their headquarters then moved to Limassol on the island of Cyprus,[25] and they also attempted to maintain a garrison on tiny Arwad Island, just off the coast from Tortosa. In 1300, there was some attempt to engage in coordinated military efforts with the Mongols[26] via a new invasion force at Arwad. In 1302 or 1303, however, the Templars lost the island to the Egyptian Mamluk Sultanate in the Siege of Arwad. With the island gone, the Crusaders lost their last foothold in the Holy Land.[10][27]

With the order's military mission now less important, support for the organization began to dwindle. The situation was complex, however, since during the two hundred years of their existence, the Templars had become a part of daily life throughout Christendom.[28] The organisation's Templar Houses, hundreds of which were dotted throughout Europe and the Near East, gave them a widespread presence at the local level.[3] The Templars still managed many businesses, and many Europeans had daily contact with the Templar network, such as by working at a Templar farm or vineyard, or using the order as a bank in which to store personal valuables. The order was still not subject to local government, making it everywhere a "state within a state"—its standing army, though it no longer had a well-defined mission, could pass freely through all borders. This situation heightened tensions with some European nobility, especially as the Templars were indicating an interest in founding their own monastic state, just as the Teutonic Knights had done in Prussia[22] and the Knights Hospitaller were doing in Rhodes.[29]

Arrests, charges and dissolution In 1305, the new Pope Clement V, based in Avignon, France, sent letters to both the Templar Grand Master Jacques de Molay and the Hospitaller Grand Master Fulk de Villaret to discuss the possibility of merging the two orders. Neither was amenable to the idea, but Pope Clement persisted, and in 1306 he invited both Grand Masters to France to discuss the matter. De Molay arrived first in early 1307, but de Villaret was delayed for several months. While waiting, De Molay and Clement discussed criminal charges that had been made two years earlier by an ousted Templar and were being discussed by King Philip IV of France and his ministers. It was generally agreed that the charges were false, but Clement sent the king a written request for assistance in the investigation. According to some historians, King Philip, who was already deeply in debt to the Templars from his war with the English, decided to seize upon the rumours for his own purposes. He began pressuring the church to take action against the order, as a way of freeing himself from his debts.[30]

Convent of Christ Castle in Tomar, Portugal. Built in 1160 as a stronghold for the Knights Templar, it became the headquarters of the renamed Order of Christ. In 1983, it was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.[31] At dawn on Friday, 13 October 1307 (a date sometimes linked with the origin of the Friday the 13th superstition)[32][33] King Philip IV ordered de Molay and scores of other French Templars to be simultaneously arrested. The arrest warrant started with the phrase: "Dieu n'est pas content, nous avons des ennemis de la foi dans le Royaume" ["God is not pleased. We have enemies of the faith in the kingdom"].[34] Claims were made that during Templar admissions ceremonies, recruits were forced to spit on the Cross, deny Christ, and engage in indecent kissing; brethren were also accused of worshipping idols, and the order was said to have encouraged homosexual practices.[35] The Templars were charged with numerous other offences such as financial corruption, fraud, and secrecy.[36] Many of the accused confessed to these charges under torture, and their confessions, even though obtained under duress, caused a scandal in Paris. The prisoners were coerced to confess that they had spat on the Cross: "Moi, Raymond de La Fère, 21 ans, reconnais que [j'ai] craché trois fois sur la Croix, mais de bouche et pas de cœur" (free translation: "I, Raymond de La Fère, 21 years old, admit that I have spat three times on the Cross, but only from my mouth and not from my heart"). The Templars were accused of idolatry and were suspected of worshipping either a figure known as Baphomet or a mummified severed head they recovered, amongst other artefacts, at their original headquarters on the Temple Mount that many scholars theorise might have been that of John the Baptist, among other things.[37]

Relenting to Phillip's demands, Pope Clement then issued the papal bull Pastoralis Praeeminentiae on 22 November 1307, which instructed all Christian monarchs in Europe to arrest all Templars and seize their assets.[38] Pope Clement called for papal hearings to determine the Templars' guilt or innocence, and once freed of the Inquisitors' torture, many Templars recanted their confessions. Some had sufficient legal experience to defend themselves in the trials, but in 1310, having appointed the archbishop of Sens, Philippe de Marigny, to lead the investigation, Philip blocked this attempt, using the previously forced confessions to have dozens of Templars burned at the stake in Paris.[39][40][41]

With Philip threatening military action unless the pope complied with his wishes, Pope Clement finally agreed to disband the order, citing the public scandal that had been generated by the confessions. At the Council of Vienne in 1312, he issued a series of papal bulls, including Vox in excelso, which officially dissolved the order, and Ad providam, which turned over most Templar assets to the Hospitallers.[42]

Templars being burned at the stake. As for the leaders of the order, the elderly Grand Master Jacques de Molay, who had confessed under torture, retracted his confession. Geoffroi de Charney, Preceptor of Normandy, also retracted his confession and insisted on his innocence. Both men were declared guilty of being relapsed heretics, and they were sentenced to burn alive at the stake in Paris on 18 March 1314. De Molay reportedly remained defiant to the end, asking to be tied in such a way that he could face the Notre Dame Cathedral and hold his hands together in prayer.[43] According to legend, he called out from the flames that both Pope Clement and King Philip would soon meet him before God. His actual words were recorded on the parchment as follows : "Dieu sait qui a tort et a péché. Il va bientot arriver malheur à ceux qui nous ont condamnés à mort" (free translation : "God knows who is wrong and has sinned. Soon a calamity will occur to those who have condemned us to death").[34] Pope Clement died only a month later, and King Philip died in a hunting accident before the end of the year.[44][45][46]

With the last of the order's leaders gone, the remaining Templars around Europe were either arrested and tried under the Papal investigation (with virtually none convicted), absorbed into other military orders such as the Knights Hospitaller, or pensioned off and allowed to live out their days peacefully. By papal decree, the property of the Templars was transferred to the Knights Hospitaller, which also absorbed many of the Templars' members. In effect, the dissolution of the Templars could be seen as the merger of the two rival orders.[47] Templar organizations simply changed their name, from Knights Templar to Order of Christ and also a parallel Supreme Order of Christ of the Holy See in which both are considered the successors.[48][49][50][51][52][48][53][54][55][56]

Chinon Parchment Main article: Chinon Parchment In September 2001, a document known as the "Chinon Parchment" dated 17–20 August 1308 was discovered in the Vatican Secret Archives by Barbara Frale, apparently after having been filed in the wrong place in 1628. It is a record of the trial of the Templars and shows that Clement absolved the Templars of all heresies in 1308 before formally disbanding the order in 1312,[57] as did another Chinon Parchment dated 20 August 1308 addressed to Philip IV of France, also mentioning that all Templars that had confessed to heresy were "restored to the Sacraments and to the unity of the Church". This other Chinon Parchment has been well-known to historians,[58][59][60] having been published by Étienne Baluze in 1693[61] and by Pierre Dupuy in 1751.[62]

The current position of the Roman Catholic Church is that the medieval persecution of the Knights Templar was unjust, that nothing was inherently wrong with the order or its rule, and that Pope Clement was pressed into his actions by the magnitude of the public scandal and by the dominating influence of King Philip IV, who was Clement's relative.[63][64]

Organization Main article: List of Knights Templar

Templar chapel from the 12th century in Metz, France. Once part of the Templar commandery of Metz, the oldest Templar institution of the Holy Roman Empire. The Templars were organized as a monastic order similar to Bernard's Cistercian Order, which was considered the first effective international organization in Europe.[65] The organizational structure had a strong chain of authority. Each country with a major Templar presence (France, Poitou, Anjou, Jerusalem, England, Aragon, Portugal, Italy, Tripoli, Antioch, Hungary, and Croatia)[66] had a Master of the Order for the Templars in that region.

All of them were subject to the Grand Master, appointed for life, who oversaw both the order's military efforts in the East and their financial holdings in the West. The Grand Master exercised his authority via the visitors-general of the order, who were knights specially appointed by the Grand Master and convent of Jerusalem to visit the different provinces, correct malpractices, introduce new regulations, and resolve important disputes. The visitors-general had the power to remove knights from office and to suspend the Master of the province concerned.[67]

No precise numbers exist, but it is estimated that at the order's peak there were between 15,000 and 20,000 Templars, of whom about a tenth were actual knights.[2][3]

Ranks within the order Three main ranks There was a threefold division of the ranks of the Templars: the noble knights, the non-noble sergeants, and the chaplains. The Templars did not perform knighting ceremonies, so any knight wishing to become a Knight Templar had to be a knight already.[68] They were the most visible branch of the order, and wore the famous white mantles to symbolise their purity and chastity.[69] They were equipped as heavy cavalry, with three or four horses and one or two squires. Squires were generally not members of the order but were instead outsiders who were hired for a set period of time. Beneath the knights in the order and drawn from non-noble families were the sergeants.[70] They brought vital skills and trades such as blacksmithing and building, and administered many of the order's European properties. In the Crusader States, they fought alongside the knights as light cavalry with a single horse.[71] Several of the order's most senior positions were reserved for sergeants, including the post of Commander of the Vault of Acre, who was the de facto Admiral of the Templar fleet. The sergeants wore black or brown. From 1139, chaplains constituted a third Templar class. They were ordained priests who cared for the Templars' spiritual needs.[47] All three classes of brother wore the order's red cross.[72]

Grand Masters Main article: Grand Masters of the Knights Templar

Templar building at Saint Martin des Champs, France Starting with founder Hugues de Payens in 1118–1119, the order's highest office was that of Grand Master, a position which was held for life, though considering the martial nature of the order, this could mean a very short tenure. All but two of the Grand Masters died in office, and several died during military campaigns. For example, during the Siege of Ascalon in 1153, Grand Master Bernard de Tremelay led a group of 40 Templars through a breach in the city walls. When the rest of the Crusader army did not follow, the Templars, including their Grand Master, were surrounded and beheaded.[73] Grand Master Gérard de Ridefort was beheaded by Saladin in 1189 at the Siege of Acre.

The Grand Master oversaw all of the operations of the order, including both the military operations in the Holy Land and Eastern Europe and the Templars' financial and business dealings in Western Europe. Some Grand Masters also served as battlefield commanders, though this was not always wise: several blunders in de Ridefort's combat leadership contributed to the devastating defeat at the Battle of Hattin. The last Grand Master was Jacques de Molay, burned at the stake in Paris in 1314 by order of King Philip IV.[41]

Behaviour, clothing and beards

Representation of a Knight Templar (Ten Duinen Abbey museum, 2010 photograph)

Depiction of two Templars seated on a horse (emphasising poverty), with Beauséant, the "sacred banner" (or gonfanon) of the Templars, argent a chief sable (Matthew Paris, c. 1250).[74] Bernard de Clairvaux and founder Hugues de Payens devised the specific code of behaviour for the Templar Order, known to modern historians as the Latin Rule. Its 72 clauses defined the ideal behaviour for the Knights, such as the types of garments they were to wear and how many horses they could have. Knights were to take their meals in silence, eat meat no more than three times per week, and not have physical contact of any kind with women, even members of their own family. A Master of the Order was assigned "4 horses, and one chaplain-brother and one clerk with three horses, and one sergeant brother with two horses, and one gentleman valet to carry his shield and lance, with one horse."[75] As the order grew, more guidelines were added, and the original list of 72 clauses was expanded to several hundred in its final form.[76][77]

The knights wore a white surcoat with a red cross and a white mantle also with a red cross; the sergeants wore a black tunic with a red cross on the front and a black or brown mantle.[78][79] The white mantle was assigned to the Templars at the Council of Troyes in 1129, and the cross was most probably added to their robes at the launch of the Second Crusade in 1147, when Pope Eugenius III, King Louis VII of France, and many other notables attended a meeting of the French Templars at their headquarters near Paris.[80][81][82] According to their Rule, the knights were to wear the white mantle at all times, even being forbidden to eat or drink unless they were wearing it.[83]

The red cross that the Templars wore on their robes was a symbol of martyrdom, and to die in combat was considered a great honour that assured a place in heaven.[84] There was a cardinal rule that the warriors of the order should never surrender unless the Templar flag had fallen, and even then they were first to try to regroup with another of the Christian orders, such as that of the Hospitallers. Only after all flags had fallen were they allowed to leave the battlefield.[85]

Although not prescribed by the Templar Rule, it later became customary for members of the order to wear long and prominent beards. In about 1240, Alberic of Trois-Fontaines described the Templars as an "order of bearded brethren"; while during the interrogations by the papal commissioners in Paris in 1310–11, out of nearly 230 knights and brothers questioned, 76 are described as wearing a beard, in some cases specified as being "in the style of the Templars", and 133 are said to have shaved off their beards, either in renunciation of the order or because they had hoped to escape detection.[86][87]

Initiation,[88] known as Reception (receptio) into the order, was a profound commitment and involved a solemn ceremony. Outsiders were discouraged from attending the ceremony, which aroused the suspicions of medieval inquisitors during the later trials. New members had to willingly sign over all of their wealth and goods to the order and take vows of poverty, chastity, piety, and obedience.[89] Most brothers joined for life, although some were allowed to join for a set period. Sometimes a married man was allowed to join if he had his wife's permission,[79] but he was not allowed to wear the white mantle.[90]

Legacy See also: List of places associated with the Knights Templar

Temple Church, London. As the chapel of the New Temple in London, it was the location for Templar initiation ceremonies. In modern times it is the parish church of the Middle and Inner Temples, two of the Inns of Court, and a popular tourist attraction. With their military mission and extensive financial resources, the Knights Templar funded a large number of building projects around Europe and the Holy Land. Many of these structures are still standing. Many sites also maintain the name "Temple" because of centuries-old association with the Templars.[91] For example, some of the Templars' lands in London were later rented to lawyers, which led to the names of the Temple Bar gateway and the Temple Underground station. Two of the four Inns of Court which may call members to act as barristers are the Inner Temple and Middle Temple – the entire area known as Temple, London.[92]

Distinctive architectural elements of Templar buildings include the use of the image of "two knights on a single horse", representing the Knights' poverty, and round buildings designed to resemble the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.[93]

Modern organizations The story of the persecution and sudden dissolution of the secretive yet powerful medieval Templars has drawn many other groups to use alleged connections with them as a way of enhancing their own image and mystery.[94] The Knights Templar were dismantled in the Rolls of the Catholic Church in 1309 with the martyrdom of Jacques de Molay; there is no clear historical connection between them and any modern organization, the earliest of which emerged publicly in the 18th century.[95][96][97][98]

Temperance movement Main article: IOGT Many temperance organizations named themselves after the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, citing the belief that the original Knights Templar "drank sour milk, and also because they were fighting 'a great crusade' against 'this terrible vice' of alcohol."[99] The largest of these, the International Order of Good Templars (IOGT), grew throughout the world after being started in the 19th century and continues to advocate for the abstinence of alcohol and other drugs.[99]

Freemasonry Main article: Knights Templar (Freemasonry) Freemasonry has incorporated the symbols and rituals of several medieval military orders in a number of Masonic bodies since the 18th century at least.[6] This can be seen in the "Red Cross of Constantine," inspired by the Military Constantinian Order; the "Order of Malta," inspired by the Knights Hospitaller; and the "Order of the Temple", inspired by the Knights Templar. The Orders of Malta and the Temple feature prominently in the York Rite. One theory on the origin of Freemasonry claims direct descent from the historical Knights Templar through its final fourteenth-century members who allegedly took refuge in Scotland and aided Robert the Bruce in his victory at Bannockburn. This theory is usually rejected by both Masonic authorities[100] and historians due to lack of evidence.[101][102]

Modern popular culture Main article: Knights Templar in popular culture The Knights Templar have become associated with legends concerning secrets and mysteries handed down to the select from ancient times. Rumours circulated even during the time of the Templars themselves. Masonic writers added their own speculations in the 18th century, and further fictional embellishments have been added in popular novels such as Ivanhoe, Foucault's Pendulum, and The Da Vinci Code,[6] modern movies such as National Treasure, The Last Templar, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, as well as video games such as Broken Sword and Assassin's Creed.[103]

Beginning in the 1960s, there have been speculative popular publications surrounding the order's early occupation of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and speculation about what relics the Templars may have found there, such as the Holy Grail or the Ark of the Covenant,[104] or the historical accusation of idol worship (Baphomet) transformed into a context of "witchcraft".[105]

The association of the Holy Grail with the Templars has precedents even in 12th century fiction; Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival calls the knights guarding the Grail Kingdom templeisen, apparently a conscious fictionalisation of the templarii.[106]

See also List of Knights Templar sites References Notes

Archer, Thomas Andrew; Kingsford, Charles Lethbridge (1894). The Crusades: The Story of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. T. Fisher Unwin. p. 176.; Burgtorf, Jochen (2008). The central convent of Hospitallers and Templars : history, organization, and personnel (1099/1120-1310). Leiden: Brill. p. 545–546. ISBN 978-90-04-16660-8. Burman 1990, p. 45. Barber 1992, p. 314–326 By Molay's time the Grand Master was presiding over at least 970 houses, including commanderies and castles in the east and west, serviced by a membership which is unlikely to have been less than 7,000, excluding employees and dependents, who must have been seven or eight times that number.

Barber 1994. Barber, Malcolm (1995). The new knighthood : a history of the Order of the Temple (Canto ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p. xxi–xxii. ISBN 0-521-55872-7. The History Channel, Decoding the Past: The Templar Code, 7 November 2005, video documentary written by Marcy Marzuni. Selwood, Dominic (2002). Knights of the Cloister. Templars and Hospitallers in Central-Southern Occitania 1100–1300. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press. ISBN 0851158285. Martin 2005, p. 47. Nicholson 2001, p. 4. The History Channel, Lost Worlds: Knights Templar, 10 July 2006, video documentary written and directed by Stuart Elliott. Ralls, Karen (2007). Knights Templar Encyclopedia. Career Press. p. 28. ISBN 978-1-56414-926-8. Miller, Duane (2017). 'Knights Templar' in War and Religion, Vol. 2. Santa Barbara, California: ABC–CLIO. pp. 462–464. Retrieved 28 May 2017. Barber 1993. Burman 1990, p. 13, 19. Selwood, Dominic. "Birth of the Order". Retrieved 20 April 2013. Barber 1994, p. 7. Read 2001, p. 91. Selwood, Dominic. "The Knights Templar 4: St Bernard of Clairvaux". Retrieved 29 May 2013. Selwood, Dominic (1996). 'Quidam autem dubitaverunt: the Saint, the Sinner and a Possible Chronology', in Autour de la Première Croisade. Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne. pp. 221–230. ISBN 2859443088. Burman 1990, p. 40. Stephen A. Dafoe. "In Praise of the New Knighthood". TemplarHistory.com. Retrieved 20 March 2007. Martin 2005. Benson, Michael (2005). Inside Secret Societies. Kensington Publishing Corp. p. 90. Martin 2005, p. 99. Martin 2005, p. 113. Demurger, p.139 "During four years, Jacques de Molay and his order were totally committed, with other Christian forces of Cyprus and Armenia, to an enterprise of reconquest of the Holy Land, in liaison with the offensives of Ghazan, the Mongol Khan of Persia. Nicholson 2001, p. 201 The Templars retained a base on Arwad island (also known as Ruad island, formerly Arados) off Tortosa (Tartus) until October 1302 or 1303, when the island was recaptured by the Mamluks.

Nicholson 2001, p. 5. Nicholson 2001, p. 237. Barber 2006. "Convent of Christ in Tomar". World Heritage Site. Archived from the original on 31 December 2006. Retrieved 20 March 2007. "Friday the 13th". snopes.com. Retrieved 26 March 2007. David Emery. "Why Friday the 13th is unlucky". urbanlegends.about.com. Retrieved 26 March 2007. "Les derniers jours des Templiers". Science et Avenir: 52–61. July 2010. Riley-Smith, Johnathan (1995). The Oxford Illustrated History of the Crusades. Oxford: Oxford Press. p. 213. Barber 1993, p. 178. Edgeller, Johnathan (2010). Taking the Templar Habit: Rule, Initiation Ritual, and the Accusations against the Order (PDF). Texas Tech University. pp. 62–66. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 April 2011. Martin 2005, p. 118. Martin 2005, p. 122. Sobecki 2006, p. 963. Barber 1993, p. 3. Martin 2005, p. 123–124. Martin 2005, p. 125. Martin 2005, p. 140. Malcolm Barber has researched this legend and concluded that it originates from La Chronique métrique attribuée à Geffroi de Paris, ed. A. Divèrres, Strasbourg, 1956, pages 5711–5742. Geoffrey of Paris was "apparently an eye-witness, who describes de Molay as showing no sign of fear and, significantly, as telling those present that God would avenge their deaths". Barber 2006, p. 357, footnote 110 In The New Knighthood Barber referred to a variant of this legend, about how an unspecified Templar had appeared before and denounced Clement V and, when he was about to be executed sometime later, warned that both Pope and King would "within a year and a day be obliged to explain their crimes in the presence of God", found in the work by Ferretto of Vicenza, Historia rerum in Italia gestarum ab anno 1250 ad annum usque 1318 (Berber 1994, p. 314–315) Moeller 1912. José Vicente de Bragança, The Military Order of Christ and the Papal Croce di Cristo Martin 2005, p. 140–142.. Wikisource-logo.svg Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Order of the Knights of Christ". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Matthew Anthony Fitzsimons; Jean Bécarud (1969). The Catholic Church today: Western Europe. University of Notre Dame Press. p. 159. Helen J. Nicholson (1 January 2004). The Crusades. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 98. ISBN 978-0-313-32685-1. "Note of Clarification from the Secretariat of State". news.va. Pontifical Council for Social Communication. 16 October 2012. Retrieved 27 November 2012. Vatican City,(VIS)- Noonan, Jr., James-Charles (1996). The Church Visible: The Ceremonial Life and Protocol of the Roman Catholic Church. Viking. p. 196. ISBN 0-670-86745-4. Robert Ferguson (26 August 2011). The Knights Templar and Scotland. History Press Limited. p. 39. ISBN 978-0-7524-6977-5. Jochen Burgtorf; Paul F. Crawford; Helen J. Nicholson (28 June 2013). The Debate on the Trial of the Templars (1307–1314). Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 298. ISBN 978-1-4094-8102-7. "Long-lost text lifts cloud from Knights Templar". msn.com. 12 October 2007. Retrieved 12 October 2007. Charles d' Aigrefeuille, Histoire de la ville de Montpellier, Volume 2, page 193 (Montpellier: J. Martel, 1737–1739). Sophia Menache, Clement V, page 218, 2002 paperback edition ISBN 0-521-59219-4 (Cambridge University Press, originally published in 1998). Germain-François Poullain de Saint-Foix, Oeuvres complettes de M. de Saint-Foix, Historiographe des Ordres du Roi, page 287, Volume 3 (Maestricht: Jean-Edme Dupour & Philippe Roux, Imprimeurs-Libraires, associés, 1778). Étienne Baluze, Vitae Paparum Avenionensis, 3 Volumes (Paris, 1693). Pierre Dupuy, Histoire de l'Ordre Militaire des Templiers (Foppens, Brusselles, 1751). "Knights Templar secrets revealed". CNN. 12 October 2007. Archived from the original on 13 October 2007. Retrieved 12 October 2007. Frale, Barbara (2004). "The Chinon chart—Papal absolution to the last Templar, Master Jacques de Molay". Journal of Medieval History. 30 (2): 109–134. doi:10.1016/j.jmedhist.2004.03.004. Retrieved 1 April 2007. Burman 1990, p. 28. Barber 1993, p. 10. International, American. "The Knights Templar and Knights Hospitaller". www.medievalwarfare.info. Retrieved 2017-12-11. Selwood, Dominic. "The Knights Templar 1: The Knights". Retrieved 12 April 2013. The Rule of the Templars. p. article 17. Barber 1994, p. 190. Martin 2005, p. 54. Selwood, Dominic. "The Knights Templars 2: Sergeants, Women, Chaplains, Affiliates". Retrieved 12 April 2013. Read 2001, p. 137. Hourihane, Colum (2012). "Flags and standards". The Grove Encyclopedia of Medieval Art and Architecture. OUP USA. p. 514. ISBN 9780195395365. the Knights Templar [...] carried white shields with red crosses but [their] sacred banner, Beauséant, was white with a black chief Burman 1990, p. 43. Burman 1990, p. 30–33. Martin 2005, p. 32. Barber 1994, p. 191. Burman 1990, p. 44. Berber 1994, p. 66 According to William of Tyre it was under Eugenius III that the Templars received the right to wear the characteristic red cross upon their tunics, symbolising their willingness to suffer martyrdom in the defence of the Holy Land.

(WT, 12.7, p. 554. James of Vitry, 'Historia Hierosolimatana', ed. J. ars, Gesta Dei per Francos, vol I(ii), Hanover, 1611, p. 1083, interprets this as a sign of martyrdom.) Martin 2005, p. 43 The Pope conferred on the Templars the right to wear a red cross on their white mantles, which symbolised their willingness to suffer martyrdom in defending the Holy Land against the infidel.

Read 2001, p. 121 Pope Eugenius gave them the right to wear a scarlet cross over their hearts, so that the sign would serve triumphantly as a shield and they would never turn away in the face of the infidels': the red blood of the martyr was superimposed on the white of the chaste." (Melville, La Vie des Templiers, p. 92.)

Burman 1990, p. 46. Nicholson 2001, p. 141. Barber 1994, p. 193. Harris, Oliver D. (2013). "Beards: true and false". Church Monuments. 28: 124–32 (124–5). Nicholson 2001, p. 48, 124–27. Martin 2005, p. 52. Newman, Sharan (2007). The Real History Behind the Templars. Berkeley Publishing. pp. 304–312. Barber 1993, p. 4. Martin 2005, p. 58. Ruggeri, Amanda. "The hidden world of the Knights Templar". Retrieved 2017-12-11. Barber 1994, p. 194–195. Finlo Rohrer (19 October 2007). "What are the Knights Templar up to now?". BBC News Magazine. Retrieved 2008-04-13. The Mythology Of The Secret Societies (London: Secker and Warburg, 1972). ISBN 0-436-42030-9 Peter Partner, The Murdered Magicians: The Templars And Their Myth (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982). ISBN 0-19-215847-3 John Walliss, Apocalyptic Trajectories: Millenarianism and Violence In The Contemporary World, page 130 (Bern: Peter Lang AG, European Academic Publishers, 2004). ISBN 3-03910-290-7 Michael Haag, Templars: History and Myth: From Solomon's Temple To The Freemasons (Profile Books Ltd, 2009). ISBN 978-1-84668-153-0 Nicholson, Helen (2014). A Brief History of the Knights Templar. Little, Brown. p. 151. ISBN 9781472117878. Knights Templar FAQ, accessed 10 January 2007. "Freemasonry Today periodical (Issue January 2002)". Grand Lodge Publications Ltd. Archived from the original on 3 March 2011. Retrieved 2011-05-28. Miller, Duane (2017). 'Knights Templar' in War and Religion, Vol 2. Santa Barbara, California: ABC–CLIO. p. 464. Retrieved 28 May 2017. Magy Seif El-Nasr; Maha Al-Saati; Simon Niedenthal; David Milam. "Assassin's Creed: A Multi-Cultural Read" (PDF). pp. 6–7. Retrieved 2009-10-01. we interviewed Jade Raymond ... Jade says ... Templar Treasure was ripe for exploring. What did the Templars find Louis Charpentier, Les Mystères de la Cathédrale de Chartres (Paris: Robert Laffont, 1966), translated The Mysteries of Chartres Cathedral (London: Research Into Lost Knowledge Organization, 1972). Sanello, Frank (2003). The Knights Templars: God's Warriors, the Devil's Bankers. Taylor Trade Publishing. pp. 207–208. ISBN 0-87833-302-9. Martin 2005, p. 133. Helmut Brackert, Stephan Fuchs (eds.), Titurel, Walter de Gruyter, 2002, p. 189. There is no evidence of any actual connection of the historical Templars with the Grail, nor any claim on the part of any Templar to have discovered such a relig. See Karen Ralls, Knights Templar Encyclopedia: The Essential Guide to the People, Places, Events and Symbols of the Order of the Temple, page 156 (The Career Press, Inc., 2007). ISBN 978-1-56414-926-8 Bibliography

Isle of Avalon, Lundy. "The Rule of the Knights Templar A Powerful Champion" The Knights Templar. Mystic Realms, 2010. Web. 30 May 2010. Barber, Malcolm (1994). The New Knighthood: A History of the Order of the Temple. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-42041-5. Barber, Malcolm (1993). The Trial of the Templars (1 ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-45727-0. Barber, Malcolm (2006). The Trial of the Templars (2 ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-67236-8. Barber, Malcolm (1992). "Supplying the Crusader States: The Role of the Templars". In Benjamin Z. Kedar. The Horns of Hattin. Jerusalem and London. pp. 314–326. Barrett, Jim (1996). "Science and the Shroud: Microbiology meets archaeology in a renewed quest for answers". The Mission. University of Texas Health Science Center (Spring). Retrieved 2008-12-25. Burman, Edward (1990). The Templars: Knights of God. Rochester: Destiny Books. ISBN 0-89281-221-4. Mario Dal Bello, Gli Ultimi Giorni dei Templari, Città Nuova, 2013, ean 9788831164511 Frale, Barbara (2004). "The Chinon chart – Papal absolution to the last Templar, Master Jacques de Molay". Journal of Medieval History. 30 (2): 109. doi:10.1016/j.jmedhist.2004.03.004. Hietala, Heikki (1996). "The Knights Templar: Serving God with the Sword". Renaissance Magazine. Archived from the original on 2 October 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-26. Marcy Marzuni (2005). Decoding the Past: The Templar Code (Video documentary). The History Channel. Stuart Elliott (2006). Lost Worlds: Knights Templar (Video documentary). The History Channel. Martin, Sean (2005). The Knights Templar: The History & Myths of the Legendary Military Order. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press. ISBN 1-56025-645-1. Wikisource-logo.svg Moeller, Charles (1912). "Knights Templars". In Herbermann, Charles. Catholic Encyclopedia. 14. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Newman, Sharan (2007). The Real History behind the Templars. New York: Berkley Trade. ISBN 978-0-425-21533-3. Nicholson, Helen (2001). The Knights Templar: A New History. Stroud: Sutton. ISBN 0-7509-2517-5. Picknett, Lynn; Clive Prince (1998). The Templar Revelation. New York: Touchstone. ISBN 0-684-84891-0. Read, Piers (2001). The Templars. New York: Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-81071-9. Selwood, Dominic (2002). Knights of the Cloister. Templars and Hospitallers in Central-Southern Occitania 1100–1300. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press. ISBN 0851158285. Selwood, Dominic (1996). 'Quidam autem dubitaverunt: the Saint, the Sinner. and a Possible Chronology' in Autour de la Première Croisade,. Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne. ISBN 2859443088. Selwood, Dominic. "The Knights Templar 1: The Knights (2013) Selwood, Dominic. "The Knights Templar 2: Sergeants, Women, Chaplains, Affiliates (2013) Selwood, Dominic. "The Knights Templar 3: Birth of the Order (2013) Selwood, Dominic. "The Knights Templar 4: Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (2013) Sobecki, Sebastian (2006). "MARIGNY, Philippe de". Biographisch-bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (26 ed.). Bautz: Nordhausen. p. 963-64. Julien Théry, "Philip the Fair, the Trial of the 'Perfidious Templars' and the Pontificalization of the French Monarchy", in Journal of Medieval Religious Culture, 39/2 (2013), pp. 117–148, online Further reading Malcolm Barber, Keith Bate. The Templars: Selected sources translated and annotated by Malcolm Barber and Keith Bate (Manchester University Press, 2002) ISBN 0-7190-5110-X Addison, Charles. The History of the Knights Templar (1842) d'Albon, André. Cartulaire général de l'ordre du Temple: 1119?–1150 (1913–1922) (at Gallica) Barber, Malcolm (2006-04-20). "The Knights Templar – Who were they? And why do we care?". Slate Magazine. ; Brighton, Simon (2006-06-15). In Search of the Knights Templar: A Guide to the Sites in Britain. London, England: Orion Publishing Group. ISBN 0-297-84433-4. Butler, Alan; Stephen Dafoe (1998). The Warriors and the Bankers: A History of the Knights Templar from 1307 to the present. Belleville: Templar Books. ISBN 0-9683567-2-9. Wikisource Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Templars". Encyclopædia Britannica. 26 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. Frale, Barbara (2009). The Templars: The secret history revealed. Dunboyne: Maverick House Publishers. ISBN 978-1-905379-60-6. Gordon, Franck (2012). The Templar Code: French title: Le Code Templier. Paris, France: Yvelinedition. ISBN 978-2-84668-253-4. Haag, Michael (2012). The Tragedy of the Templars. London: Profile Books Ltd. ISBN 978-1-84668-450-0. Haag, Michael (2008). The Templars: History and Myth. London: Profile Books Ltd. ISBN 978-1-84668-148-6. Hodapp, Christopher; Alice Von Kannon (2007). The Templar Code For Dummies. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. ISBN 0-470-12765-1. Levaye, Patrick. Géopolitique du Catholicisme (Éditions Ellipses, 2007) ISBN 2-7298-3523-7 Partner, Peter (1990). The Knights Templar & Their Myth. Rochester: Destiny Books. ISBN 0-89281-273-7. Ralls, Karen (2003). The Templars and the Grail. Wheaton: Quest Books. ISBN 0-8356-0807-7. Smart, George (2005). The Knights Templar Chronology. Bloomington: Authorhouse. ISBN 1-4184-9889-0. Upton-Ward, Judith Mary (1992). The Rule of the Templars: The French Text of the Rule of the Order of the Knights Templar. Ipswich: Boydell Press. ISBN 0-85115-315-1.