Knights Templar

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Template:Knights Templar

This article is about the medieval military order. For other uses of the term, please see Templar (disambiguation).

The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon (Latin: pauperes commilitones Christi Templique Solomonici), popularly known as the Knights Templar, was one of the most famous of the Christian military orders. It existed for about two centuries in the Middle Ages, created in the aftermath of the First Crusade of 1096 to ensure the safety of the large numbers of European pilgrims who flowed towards Jerusalem after its conquest.

The Templars were an unusual order in that they were both monks and soldiers, making them in effect some of the earliest "warrior monks" in the Western world. Members of the Order played a key part in many battles of the Crusades, and the Order's infrastructure innovated many financial techniques that could be considered the foundation of modern banking. The Order grew in membership and power throughout Europe, until it was charged with heresy and other crimes by the French Inquisition under the influence of the French King Philip IV (Philip la Bel, Philip the Fair, named for his looks, not his judgments) and was forcibly disbanded in the early 1300s.

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Organization

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The Templars were organized as a monastic order, following a rule created for them by their patron, Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, a member of the Cistercian Order. Each country had a Master of the Order for the Templars in that region, and 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.

There were four divisions of brothers in the Templars:

  • the knights, equipped as heavy cavalry (wore a white habit with red cross);
  • the sergeants (serjens), equipped as light cavalry and drawn from a lower social class than the knights (wore a brown mantle);
  • the serving brothers - the rural brothers (frères casaliers), who administered the property of the Order, and the frères de métiers, who performed menial tasks and trades;
  • the chaplains, who were ordained priests and saw to the spiritual needs of the Order.

With the high demand for knights, there were also knights who signed up to the Order for a set period of time before returning to secular life, as well as the Fratres conjugati, who were married brothers. Both of these wore a black or brown mantle with a red cross to delineate them from the celibate lifetime members, and were not considered to be of the same status as the celibate brothers. It also appears that the serving brothers (frères casaliers and frères de métiers) were not separate from the sergeants, but rather that a sergeant who was a skilled tradesman or was unable to fight due to age or infirmity would perform these other functions. The majority of the Templars, including the knights and the Grand Masters, were both uneducated and illiterate (as were most knights of the day), having come not from the upper nobility but from more obscure families.

At any time, each knight had some ten people in support positions. Some brothers were devoted solely to banking (typically those with an education), as the Order was often trusted with the safekeeping of precious goods by participants in the Crusades; but the primary mission of the Knights Templar was warfare.

The Templars used their wealth to construct numerous fortifications throughout the Holy Land and were probably the best trained and disciplined fighting units of their day. They were also famous and easily recognized, with a white surcoat with distinct red cross emblazoned above the heart or on the chest, as seen in many portrayals of crusading knights.

Initiation into the Order was a profound commitment, and involved a secret ceremony. Few details of the rituals were known at the time, fueling the suspicions of medieval inquisitors, but initiates, at least in the early days of the Order, had to be of noble birth, of legitimate heritage, and had to be willing to sign over all of their wealth and goods to the Order. Further, joining the Order required vows of poverty, chastity, piety, and obedience. For the warriors of the Order, there was a cardinal rule of never surrendering. This fearless uncompromising nature of the Templars, along with excellent training and heavy armament, made them a feared and elite fighting force in medieval times.

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History

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The order was founded around 1119 by French nobleman Hughes de Payens, a veteran of the First Crusade. He gathered eight other knights; their stated mission was to protect pilgrims in the Holy Land. King Baldwin II of Jerusalem gave them a headquarters on the Temple Mount, above what was believed to be the ruins of the Temple of Solomon. It was from this location that the Order took its name of Templar.

Image:Harhab mini.JPGThe Order grew rapidly because of support from key church leaders such as Saint Bernard de Clairvaux, and was exempt from all authority except that of the Pope. Because of this official sanction, the order received massive donations of money, land, and noble-born sons from families across Europe, who were encouraged to donate support as their way of assisting with the fight in the Holy Land. Templar Knights also fought alongside King Louis VII of France, King Richard I of England, and in battles in Spain and Portugal.

Though the primary mission of the Order was a military one, only a small percentage of its members were actually at the front lines, while many others were involved in developing a financial infrastructure to support the warrior branch. The Order also innovated ways of generating letters of credit for pilgrims who were journeying to the Holy Land, which involved pilgrims depositing their valuables with the Order before setting off on the journey. This may have been the first form of checking put into use. From this mixture of donations and shrewd business dealing, during the 12th and 13th centuries the Order acquired large tracts of land both in Europe and the Middle East, built churches and castles, bought farms and vineyards, was involved in manufacturing and import/export, had its own fleet of ships, and for a time even owned the entire island of Cyprus.

Image:Templars on the stake.jpgAfter Jerusualem was lost to Saladin in the late 1100s, the Crusades gradually wound down, and European support for the Order began to falter. In the early 1300s, a financial dispute with King Philip IV of France (also known as "Philip the Fair") contributed to the official disbandment of the Order. On Friday, October 13, 1307 (a date possibly linked with the origin of the Friday the 13th legend), Philip had hundreds of French Templars simultaneously arrested, charged with over 100 crimes, and tortured by Inquisitors until they "confessed". In 1312, under pressure from King Philip, Pope Clement V officially disbanded the Order at the Council of Vienne, and in March of 1314 Grand Master Jacques de Molay and his subordinate Geoffrey de Charney were burned at the stake by French officials as relapsed heretics after proclaiming their innocence and that of their Order.

Remaining Templars around Europe were either arrested and tried, absorbed into other organizations such as the Order of Christ and Knights Hospitaller, or fled to other territories outside of Papal control such as excommunicated Scotland. But questions still remain as to what happened to the thousands of Templars across Europe, or to the entire Templar fleet of ships which vanished on October 13, 1307. Also, the extensive archive of the Templars, with detailed records of all of their business holdings and financial transactions, was never found, though it is unknown whether it was destroyed, or moved to another location.

In modern times, it is the Roman Catholic Church's position that the persecution was unjust; that there was nothing inherently wrong with the Order or its Rule; and that the Pope at the time was only pressured into suppressing them by public scandal, and royal influence.

On April 20, 2006, ABC's Good Morning America ran a profile on the Knights Templar as part a series on secret societies. Robin Griffith-Jones, Master of the Temple Church in London - a noteworthy Knights Templar historian - criticized the Knights' portrayal in films such as Kingdom of Heaven as being bloodthirsty, pointing out that though they were warriors, they primarily wanted to keep peace and that they respected Muslims, even to the point of having warm, friendly relationships with them in some cases.

In fact the Knights Templar often petitioned for peace with the Muslims, unfortunately this led to them being accused of cowardice and such, leading the Knights to have to convince their detractors otherwise with new acts of bravery in battle.

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Grand Masters

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Starting with founder Hughes de Payens in 1118, the Order's highest office was that of Grand Master, a position which was held for life, though considering the warrior nature of the Order, this could be a very short period of time. 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 financial and business dealings in the Order's infrastructure of western Europe. Grand Masters could also be active military commanders, though this was not always a wise choice, as seen by the fate of the defeated Grand Master Gérard de Ridefort, who ended up beheaded by Saladin in 1189 at the Siege of Acre.

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Places associated with the Knights Templar

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Middle East
England
Spain and Portugal
Other

For a list of some of the places that have been associated with the Knights Templar, either in fiction or legend, but which have not yet been proven to have a factual association, see Rumored locations.

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Legends

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The Knights Templar have become surrounded by legends concerning secrets and mysteries handed down to the select from ancient times. Most of these legends are connected with the long occupation by the order of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, and speculation about what relics the Templars may have found there, such as the Holy Grail, the Ark of the Covenant, or fragments of the True Cross from the Crucifixion.

Other legends have grown around the suspected associations of the Templars. Many organizations claim traditions from the original Order especially in relation to anonymous charity and good deeds. Some of these organizations which might be associated with the Templars, are still active within communities across the globe supporting humanistic causes such as hospitals and medical treatment centers for the less fortunate. The works deeds and actions of a "Silent Knight" are typical for Templar behavior from historical tenents. For example, the Freemasons began incorporating Templar symbols and rituals into their own history in the 1700s. And still more stories were started by fictional embellishments upon the Templar history, such as by Hollywood movies or bestselling novels such as The Da Vinci Code.

For more information, see Knights Templar legends and Knights Templar and popular culture.

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Sources

  • Malcolm Barber, The New Knighthood: A History of the Order of the Temple. Cambridge University Press, 1994. ISBN 0521420415
  • Peter Partner, The Knights Templar and their Myth. Destiny Books; Reissue edition (1990). ISBN 0892812737
  • Template:Note label{{cite journal 
| first = Barbara
| last = Frale
| authorlink = 
| coauthors = 
| year = 2004
| month = 
| title = The Chinon chart - Papal absolution to the last Templar, Master Jacques de Molay
| journal = Journal of Medieval History
| volume = 30
| issue = 2
| pages = 109–134
| id = Template:Doi
| url = http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VC1-4CC314K-3&_user=1589142&_handle=V-WA-A-W-Z-MsSAYWW-UUA-U-AAVADBEZEV-AABEBWUVEV-ZBZVECBYZ-Z-U&_fmt=summary&_coverdate=06%2F30%2F2004&_rdoc=2&_orig=browse&_srch=%23toc%235941%232004%23999699997%23504102!&_cdi=5941&view=c&_acct=C000053912&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=1589142&md5=cc8dc869d6bc4326929c25a42c118a60
}}
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See also

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External links

bg:Тамплиери da:Tempelridderne de:Templerorden es:Orden del Temple eo:Templanoj et:Templirüütlid fr:Ordre du Temple he:מסדר אבירי היכל שלמה id:Ksatria Templar it:Cavalieri templari el:Ιππότες του Ναού lb:Templeruerden hu:Templomosok nl:Orde van de Arme Ridders van Christus en de Tempel van Salomo no:Tempelridderordenen ja:テンプル騎士団 pl:Templariusze pt:Ordem dos Templários ru:Тамплиеры fi:Temppeliherrain ritarikunta sr:Темплари sk:Rád templárov sl:Templjarji sv:Tempelherreorden vi:Hiệp sĩ dòng Đền zh:圣殿骑士团

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