Who are the Templars? History of the order, interesting facts Origin of the Templars

The Templars are members of the Order of the Poor Knights of Solomon's Temple - originally nine poor knights who chose as their goal the protection of pilgrims on their way to the Holy Land. The name “Templars” itself comes from the French word for “temple” (“temple”), also known as the Knights Templar.

The birth and rise of the Templar Order

The founding date of the order is considered to be 1119, when a French nobleman named Hugo de Payns and eight of his relatives decided to establish their own Order. The nobles chose as their goal the protection of pilgrims who, after the end of the First Crusade and the capture of Jerusalem, poured into the Holy Land.

In those days, a huge number of people wandered through the land of Palestine in search of Christian shrines. The places through which the pilgrims passed were teeming with a variety of dashing people: from gangs of bandits to revenge-seeking Muslims.

Needless to say, the path was not safe. The number of pilgrims increased, but the number of knights capable of establishing at least some order in the troubled lands of Palestine gradually decreased. No promises of rewards and land plots could keep the knights, tired from the campaign, in a foreign land. The knights were eager to go home: to their families and ancestral castles. The pilgrims, who were already subjected to robberies and murders every day, were left completely without protection.

The nine first members of the Templar Order were so poor that they had only one horse for every two knights. Subsequently, in memory of this, the Order made a seal on which two riders were depicted riding on one horse.

For ten years the Order eked out a miserable and unknown existence. Until King Baldwin II of Jerusalem decided that the time had come for the Second Crusade, attributing it to the insolence on the part of the Muslims, who had increased attacks on the kingdom.

Together with his comrades, de Payns traveled almost all of Europe, convincing the kings to join the Campaign. And he was so successful in this that, at the personal request of the Pope, together with his Knights Templar, he was present at the Great Church Council in the city of Troyes in France. The result of his fiery speech was the full support of the Order by the Church and the writing of the Charter. Also, the Fathers of the Church ordered the knights of the Order to wear white and black clothes with a red cross. This image became the first prototype of the battle banner of the Templar Order.

Gradually the number of knights of the Order increased due to the admission of new supporters. Thanks to their glory as warriors of Christ and defenders of the weak, the Templars received many donations not only from feudal lords and European kings, but also from ordinary people.

With all its growing wealth, influence and military power, the Order continued to pursue its original mission. The Knights Templar built and maintained special fortifications along the entire pilgrim route. The careful placement of fortifications helped to protect vast territories with relatively small forces.

Huge sums were required to maintain troops and castles in the Holy Land. And even donations from European monarchs were still not enough. Trying to increase the flow of money, the Order began to provide financial services and property storage services to pilgrims and merchants. Over time, this led to the formation of a semblance of a modern banking system, which the King of France did not hesitate to use. For twenty-five years, the treasurers of the Order held the position of Minister of Finance, which was virtually tantamount to governing the country.

Thus, nine poor knights turned into the most influential and rich knightly order in Europe.

Fall of the Order

After the fall of the Holy Kingdom, the Order's position was shaken. Despite the fact that the knights still had the same power and means, the purpose they served disappeared. Many accused members of the Order of apostasy and blamed them for the fall of Jerusalem. Although it was thanks to the Knights Templar that the Kingdom of Jerusalem was able to hold out for so long, surrounded by enemies on all sides.

The increased influence of the Templars and the French king Philip, who saw the Order as a threat to his crown, were not happy with it. Using the testimony of an exiled member of the Order about crimes against the Faith as a pretext, Philip began an investigation against the Knights Templar.

On October 13, 1307, almost all members of the Order were captured and arrested. All property was confiscated in favor of the treasury and the Church.

Here are some of the charges brought by the Holy Inquisition:

• idol worship;
• members of the Order worshiped a cat who came to meetings;
• distortion of the formula of the Mass;
• all the wealth of the Order comes from the worship of idols;
• veneration of idols as God and Savior.

In 1310, after trials that spread throughout Europe, 54 Knights Templar were burned at the stake, who did not admit the charges even under torture. In 1312, the Order of the Temple was abolished by papal decree.

This is how the Order of the Poor Knights of the Temple of Solomon ended its history, leaving behind legends of honor, glory, wealth and betrayal.

Although the main purpose of its establishment was the military defense of the states created by the crusaders in the East. However, in 1291, Christian settlers were expelled from Palestine by Muslims, and the Templars, in order to preserve the order, switched almost entirely to usury and trade, accumulating significant material wealth, and thereby causing the envy of kings and the pope. In 1307-1314. members of the order were subjected to arrests and cruel persecution by the Roman Catholic Church, major feudal lords and kings, as a result of which the order was abolished and dissolved.

History of the order

Origin of the Order

Ala-Aksa Mosque, south-eastern part of the temple mount. This place was the headquarters of the Templars.

In the years following the capture of Jerusalem in 1099, many of the participants in the First Crusade returned to the West or died, and the new Crusader states they created in the East did not have enough troops and skilled commanders capable of properly defending the borders of the new states. As a result, pilgrims who came to pay homage to the Palestinian shrines every year were often attacked by robbers or Muslims, and the crusaders were unable to provide them with proper protection. Around 1119, the French nobleman Hugh de Payns gathered eight of his knightly relatives, including Godefroy de Saint-Omer, and established an order with the goal of protecting pilgrims on their pilgrimages to holy places in the Middle East. They called their order "Beggar Knights". Few people knew about the activities of the order, as well as about the order in general, until the Council of Troyes in 1128, at which the order was officially recognized, and Archbishop Bernard of Clairvaux was instructed to develop its Charter, which would summarize the basic laws of the order. The medieval historian William, Archbishop of Tire, Chancellor of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, one of the greatest historians in the Middle Ages, documents the process of creating the order in his work:

“In the same year several noble knights, men of true believers and God-fearing, expressed a desire to live in severity and obedience, to forever renounce their possessions and, surrendering themselves into the hands of the supreme ruler of the church, to become members of the monastic order. Among them, the first and most famous were Hugh de Payns and God Frou de Saint-Omer. Since the brotherhood did not yet have their own temple or home, the king provided them with temporary refuge in his palace, built on the southern slope of the Temple Mount. The canons of the temple that stood there, under certain conditions, ceded part of the walled courtyard for the needs of the new order. Moreover, King Baldwin II of Jerusalem, his entourage and the patriarch with his prelates immediately provided support for the order by allocating to it some of their land holdings - some for life, others for temporary use - thanks to which members of the order could receive a livelihood. First of all, they were ordered, in atonement for their sins and under the leadership of the patriarch, to “protect and protect pilgrims going to Jerusalem from attacks by thieves and bandits and take every possible care for their safety.”

Map of Jerusalem showing the location of the order's headquarters

At the very beginning of its activity, the order was ordered only to protect pilgrims, and the first knights of the order formed something like a brotherhood of the laity. The order constituted a group of knights in the service of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Baldwin II, allocated a place for headquarters on the southeastern wing of the Jerusalem temple, in the Ala Aqsa mosque. And Bernard of Clairvaux, who developed the Decree of the Order of the Knights of the Temple, became the patron of the order.

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, patron of the order

The Templars who were present at the Council of Troyes launched an active and successful recruitment campaign in France and England for the order, for which most of them, following the example of Godefroy de Saint-Omer, went home. Hugh de Payns visited Champagne, Anjou, Normandy and Flanders, as well as England and Scotland. In addition to many neophytes, the order received generous donations in the form of land holdings, which provided it with a strong economic position in the West, especially in France, and confirmed its original “national” affiliation - the order was considered French. However, very soon the idea of ​​joining this spiritual-knightly order also captured Languedoc and the Iberian Peninsula, where the proximity of hostile Muslims forced the local population to pin their hopes for protection on the crusaders. Each nobleman who joined the order took a vow of poverty, and his property was considered the property of the entire order. On March 29, 1139, Pope Innocent II issued a bull, which he called Omne Datum Optimum, which stated that any Templar could freely cross any border, was exempt from taxes, and did not obey anyone except the Pope himself.

Further development of the order

Decline of the order and its dissolution

Jacques de Molay

In the early morning of October 13, 1307, members of the order living in France were arrested by officials of King Philip IV. The arrests were made in the name of the Holy Inquisition, and the possessions of the Templars became the property of the king. Members of the order were accused of the gravest heresy - of renouncing Jesus Christ, spitting on the crucifix, kissing each other indecently and having a penchant for homosexuality, and also worshiping idols in their secret meetings, etc. In October and November, the arrested Templars, including including Jacques de Molay, Grand Master of the Order, and Hugo de Peyraud, Examiner General, almost simultaneously admitted their guilt. Many prisoners were subjected to torture. De Molay then publicly repeated his confession before a meeting of theologians at the University of Paris. For his part, King Philip IV wrote to other monarchs of Christendom with an urgent request to follow his example and make arrests of the Templars in their dominions. Pope Clement V initially perceived these arrests as a direct attack on his authority. However, he was forced to come to terms with the current state of affairs and, instead of resisting, tried to take responsibility for what happened. On November 22, 1307, he issued the bull "Pastoralis praeeminentiae", in which he ordered all monarchs of the Christian world to arrest the Templars and confiscate their lands and property. This bull marked the beginning of trials in England, Spain, Germany, Italy and Cyprus. Two cardinals were sent to Paris to personally interrogate the leaders of the order. However, in the presence of the Pope's representatives, de Molay and de Peyraud retracted their confessions and urgently asked the rest of the Templars to do the same. At the beginning of 1308, the pope suspended the inquisition processes. Philip IV and his people tried in vain for six months to influence the pope, encouraging him to start the investigation again. The culmination of the negotiations was a meeting between the king and the pope in Poitiers in May-June 1308, during which, after much debate, the pope finally agreed to open two judicial investigations: one was to be carried out by a papal commission within the order itself, the second - to be a series of trials at the level bishoprics, where local courts had to determine the guilt or innocence of a particular member of the order. For October 1310 The Council of Vienna was scheduled, which was to make a final decision on the Templar case. Episcopal investigations, which were carried out under the control and pressure of the bishops themselves, closely connected with the French throne, began as early as 1309. , and, as it turned out, in most cases the Templars repeated their original confessions after severe and prolonged torture. The papal commission, which investigated the activities of the order as a whole, began hearing the case only in November 1309. The Templar brothers, in the face of the papal commission, inspired by two talented priests - Pierre de Bologna and Renaud de Provins - began to consistently defend their order and their dignity.

By the beginning of May 1310. almost six hundred Templars came to the decision to defend the order, completely denying the truth of the confessions extracted from them at the beginning of the investigation, made either before the inquisitors in 1307 or before the bishops in 1309. Pope Clement V postponed the Council for a year, until 1311. Archbishop of Sansa , the king's protege, having again begun an investigation into the case of individual members of the order within his diocese, found that forty-four people were guilty of having relapsed into heresy, and transferred them to the secular court (which carried out the sentences of ecclesiastical courts). April 12, 1310 Fifty-four Templars were sentenced to be burned at the stake and executed on the outskirts of Paris. One of the two main inspirers of the order's defense in court, Pierre de Bologna disappeared somewhere, and Renaud de Provins was sentenced to life imprisonment by the provincial council of Sané. Thanks to these executions, the Templars returned to their original testimony. The hearings of the papal commission also ended only in June 1311.

In the summer of 1311, the pope combined the testimony he received from France with investigative materials coming from other countries. But it was only in France and in those areas that were under its domination or influence that the Templars actually obtained a confession of guilt. In October, the Council of Vienna finally took place, and the pope urgently demanded the dissolution of the order on the grounds that the Templars had so dishonored themselves that the order could no longer exist in its previous form. The resistance of the holy fathers during the Council was, however, very significant, and the pope, under pressure from the king of France, insisted on his own, forcing the audience to remain silent under pain of excommunication. The bull "Vox in excelso" of May 22, 1312 marked the dissolution of the order, and according to the bull "Ad providam" of May 2, all the property of the order was transferred free of charge to another large order - the Hospitallers. Soon after, Philip IV seized a large sum of money from the Hospitallers as legal compensation.

Two Templars are burned at the stake.

Various Templars were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment, including life, in those cases where the brothers never admitted their guilt, they were imprisoned in monasteries, where they eked out a miserable existence for the rest of their lives. Their leaders apparently appeared before the papal court on March 18, 1314, and were sentenced to life imprisonment. Hugh de Peyraud, Examiner General of the Order, and Geoffroy de Gonneville, Prior of Aquitaine, heard their verdict in silence, but Grand Master Jacques de Molay and Prior of Normandy Geoffroy de Charnay loudly protested, denying all charges, and asserted that their holy order was still pure before God and people. The king immediately demanded their condemnation as having fallen into heresy a second time, and that same evening they were burned on one of the alluvial islands of the Seine, the so-called Jewish Island.

Connection with Solomon's Temple

One of the variants of the cross used by the Templar Order

Since they had neither a church nor a permanent refuge, the king gave them temporary residence in the southern wing of the palace, near the Temple of the Lord.""Temple of the Lord" - refers to the Second Temple of Jerusalem, built by Herod the Great and destroyed by the Romans in the 70s AD. During the existence of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the Temple of the Lord was called the so-called "Dome of the Rock", aka - The Golden Dome or, in Arabic, Qubbat al-Sakhra. The Al-Aqsa Mosque ("The Ultimate") was called Templum Solomonis - Temple of Solomon... They - and also, later, the palace of the King of Jerusalem, were built on the territory of the Temple Mount - there where the Temple of Jerusalem, destroyed by the Romans, stood. The main residence of the Templars was located in the southern wing of the palace. On medieval plans and maps depicting Jerusalem, until the 16th century, the Temple Mount bears the name Solomon's Temple. For example, on the plan of Jerusalem from 1200, one can clearly read " Temple Solomonis". Hence the name of the order itself. In documents of 1124-25, the Templars are called simply - " Knights of Solomon's Temple" or " Knights of the Jerusalem Temple».

“The real Temple is the Temple in which they live together, not as majestic, it is true, as the ancient and famous Temple of Solomon, but no less famous. For all the greatness of Solomon's Temple lay in mortal things, in gold and silver, in carved stone and in many varieties of wood; but the beauty of the present Temple lies in the devotion of its members to the Lord and their exemplary life. This one was admired for his external beauties, this one is revered because of his virtues and holy deeds, and thus the holiness of the house of the Lord is established, for the smoothness of marble is not as pleasing to Him as righteous behavior, and He cares more about the purity of minds, and not about the gilding of the walls ."

“Their premises are located in the Temple of Jerusalem itself, not as huge as Solomon’s ancient masterpiece, but no less glorious. Truly, all the splendor of the First Temple consisted in mortal gold and silver, in polished stones and costly woods, while the charm and sweet, lovely adornment of the present is the religious zeal of those who occupy it and their disciplined behavior. In the former one could contemplate all kinds of beautiful colors, while in the latter one could revere all kinds of virtues and good deeds. Truly, holiness is a fitting adornment for the house of God. There you can enjoy magnificent virtues, and not shiny marble, and be captivated by pure hearts, and not gilded panels.
Of course, the facade of this temple is decorated, but not with stones, but with weapons, and instead of ancient golden crowns, its walls are hung with shields. Instead of candlesticks, censers and jugs, this house is furnished with saddles, harnesses and spears.”

“In 1118, in the East, the Crusader knights - among them were Geoffrey de Saint-Omer and Hugo de Payens - devoted themselves to religion, making a vow to the Patriarch of Constantinople, whose see had always been secretly or openly hostile to the Vatican since the time of Photius. The openly avowed purpose of the Templars was to protect Christian pilgrims in holy places; the secret intention is to rebuild Solomon's Temple according to the model indicated by Ezekiel. Such a restoration, predicted by the Jewish mystics of the first centuries of Christianity, was the secret dream of the Eastern Patriarchs. Restored and dedicated to the Ecumenical Cult, Solomon's Temple was to become the capital of the world. The East was to prevail over the West and the Patriarchate of Constantinople was to prevail over the Papacy. To explain the name Templars (Templars), historians say that Baldwin II, King of Jerusalem, gave them a house in the vicinity of Solomon's Temple. But here they fall into a serious anachronism, because during this period not only was not a single stone left even from the Second Temple of Zerubbabel, but it was also difficult to determine the place where these temples stood. It should be considered that the house given to the Templars by Baldwin was not located in the vicinity of Solomon's Temple, but on the spot where these secret armed missionaries of the Eastern Patriarch intended to restore it.
The Templars considered their biblical model the masons of Zerubbabel, who worked with a sword in one hand and a mason's shovel in the other. Since the sword and trowel were their signs in the subsequent period, they declared themselves the Masonic Brotherhood, that is, the Brotherhood of Masons."

Activities during the era of the Crusades

Seal of the Knights Templar. The two horsemen symbolize the vow of poverty or the duality of monk and soldier

According to one version, over the next nine years, nine knights do not accept a single new member into their society. But it should be noted that there are facts that allow us to either doubt the creation of the Order in 1119, or its nine-year isolation. It is known that in 1120 Fulk of Anjou, father of Geoffrey Plantagenet, was admitted to the Order, and in 1124 the Count of Champagne. By 1126, two more people had been accepted.

Financial activities

One of the main activities of the Order was finance. But what were they like at that time? According to Marc Block, "there was little circulation of money." They were not real coins, but transferable, counting coins. “Only at the very end of the 13th century did French legalists begin to distinguish with difficulty between its (coin’s) actual value (weight in gold) and its natural value, that is, its transformation into a monetary sign, an instrument of exchange,” wrote Jacques Le Goff. The value of the livre changed from 489.5 g of gold (Carolingian time) to 89.85 g in 1266 and to 72.76 g in 1318. The minting of gold coins resumed from the middle of the 13th century: florin 1252 g (3.537 g); ecu of Louis IX; Venetian ducat. In reality, according to J. Le Goff, silver was minted: the penny of Venice (1203), Florence (c. 1235), France (c. 1235). Monetary relations, therefore, are of a weighty nature - which makes them somewhat difficult. Attempts to assess any degree of wealth can lead to inadequate results. You can, for example, evaluate by the level of 1100 - when the livre fluctuated between 367-498 g, or by the level - livre 72.76 g. Thus, the author of any work can, using the data, get the result he needs - about the enormous amount of wealth of the Templars, for example.

It should be noted that due to the high risk, only certain individuals and congregations made money from financial transactions. Usury was usually practiced by Italians and Jews. Their competition came from abbeys, which usually gave money on the security of “land and fruits from it.” The purpose of the loan was usually a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and the term was to return from there. The loan amount was equal to 2/3 of the collateral amount.

The Order of the Templars looked much more respectable in this field of financial activity. It had a special status - not only as a secular organization, but also as a spiritual one; consequently, attacks on the Order's premises were considered sacrilege. In addition, the Templars later received from the pope the right to engage in financial transactions, thanks to which they conducted their activities openly. Other congregations had to resort to all sorts of tricks (for example, giving money on interest to Jews).

It was the Templars who were the inventors of checks, and if the deposit amount was exhausted, it could be increased and subsequently replenished by relatives. Twice a year checks were sent to the release office for final calculations. Each check was accompanied by the depositor's fingerprint. The Order charged a small tax for transactions with checks. The presence of checks freed people from the need to transport precious metals (which played the role of money); now it was possible to go on a pilgrimage with a small piece of leather and receive a full coin from any Templar commuria. Thus, the monetary property of the owner of the check became inaccessible to robbers, whose number was quite large in the Middle Ages.

It was possible to get a loan from the Order at 10% - for comparison: credit and loan offices and Jews gave loans at 40%. But since the time of the Crusades, the popes freed the crusaders from “Jewish debts”, but they gave them to the Templars in any case.

According to Steward, “The Templars' longest occupation, and their contribution to breaking the Church's monopoly on usury, was economics. No medieval institution did more to advance capitalism.”

The Order possessed huge land holdings: in the middle of the 13th century, about 9,000 manuaries; by 1307 there were about 10,500 manuari. In the Middle Ages, a manuarium was a plot of land measuring 100-200 hectares, the income from which made it possible to arm a knight. However, it should be noted that the land holdings of the Order of St. John were more than twice as large in territory as those of the Order of the Temple.

Gradually, the Templars became the largest creditors in Europe. Their debtors include everyone from peasants to kings and popes. Their banking business is so developed that Philip II Augustus entrusted the treasurer of the Order with the functions of minister of finance. “For 25 years the royal treasury was managed by the treasurer of the Order, Gaimar, then by Jean de Milly.” Under Louis IX the Saint, the royal treasury was located in the Temple. Under Louis's successor, it continued to remain there and almost merged with the Order's treasury. “The chief treasurer of the Order became the chief treasurer of France and concentrated the financial management of the country,” writes Lozinsky. Not only the French kings trusted the state treasury to the Templars; 100 years earlier, one of the keys to the Jerusalem treasury was kept by them.

The Order carried out active construction work. In the East, they mostly consisted of building castles and paving roads. In the West - roads, churches, cathedrals, castles. In Palestine, the Templars owned 18 important castles, for example, Tortosa, Feb, Toron, Castel Pelegrinum, Safet, Gastin and others.

In less than a hundred years, the Order built “80 cathedrals and 70 smaller temples” in Europe, says J. Maillet.

Separately, one should highlight such type of activity of the Templars as road construction. At that time, the lack of roads, the multiplicity of “customs barriers” - fees and duties levied by every small feudal lord at every bridge and compulsory passage point, not counting robbers and pirates, made it difficult to travel. In addition, the quality of these roads was, according to S.G. Lozinsky, extremely low. The Templars guarded their roads and built commuria at their intersections, where they could stop for the night. People were protected on the roads of the Order. An important detail: no customs duty was charged for travel on these roads - a phenomenon exclusive to the Middle Ages.

The Templars' charitable activities were significant. The charter ordered them to feed the poor in their homes three times a week. Besides the beggars in the courtyard, four people ate at the table. G. Lee writes that when, during the famine in Mostera, the price of a measure of wheat rose from 3 to 33 sous, the Templars fed 1000 people daily.

Akka fell and the orders moved their residences to Cyprus. Long before this event, the Templars, using their savings and extensive connections, became the largest bankers in Europe, so the military side of their activities faded into the background.

The influence of the Templars was especially great in Spain, France and England. The Order developed into a rigid hierarchical structure with a Grand Master at its head. They were distributed into four categories - knights, chaplains, squires and servants. It is estimated that at the time of its greatest power the order had about 20,000 members - knights and servants.

Thanks to a strong network of commanderies - in the 13th century there were five thousand of them, along with dependent castles and monasteries - covering almost the entirety of Europe and the Middle East, the Templars could provide, at low loan interest rates, not only the protection of the valuables entrusted to them, but also their transportation from one place to another. another, from the lender to the borrower or from the deceased pilgrim to his heirs.

The financial activities and exorbitant wealth of the order aroused the envy and enmity of the powers that be, especially the French king Philip IV the Fair, who feared the strengthening of the Templars and, experiencing a constant lack of money (he himself was a major debtor of the order), longed to take over their property. The special privileges of the order (jurisdiction only of the papal curia, exclusion from the jurisdiction of local feudal lords, exemption from paying church taxes, etc.) aroused hostility towards it from the church clergy.

Destruction of the Order

Secret negotiations between the King of France and the Pope

Using some random denunciation as a pretext, Philip ordered several Templars to be quietly interrogated and then began secret negotiations with Pope Clement V, insisting on an investigation into the state of affairs in the order. Fearing to aggravate relations with the king, the pope, after some hesitation, agreed to this, especially since the alarmed order did not dare to object to the investigation.

Then Philip IV decided that the time had come to strike. On September 22, 1307, the Royal Council decided to arrest all Templars located in France. For three weeks, preparations were made in the strictest secrecy for this operation, which was not at all easy for the then authorities. Royal officials, commanders of military detachments (as well as local inquisitors) did not know until the very last moment what they had to do: the orders were received in sealed packages, which could only be opened on Friday, October 13. The Templars were taken by surprise. There was no point in thinking about resistance.

The king pretended to act with the full consent of the pope. The same one learned about the masterful “police” action carried out by Philip only after it had happened. Those arrested were immediately charged with numerous crimes against religion and morality: blasphemy and renunciation of Christ, cult of the devil, dissolute life, various perversions.

The interrogation was conducted jointly by inquisitors and royal servants, and the most cruel tortures were used, and as a result, of course, the necessary testimony was obtained. Philip IV even assembled the Estates General in May 1308 to gain their support and thereby neutralize any objections from the pope. Formally, the dispute with Rome was about who should judge the Templars, but in essence - about who would inherit their wealth.

Accusations

1. Denial of Jesus Christ and spitting on the cross. Charles Heckerthorn sees here the theatricality of church rites characteristic of the Middle Ages, a parallel with the abdication of St. Peter. The Order thus accepted a person who rejected Christ and desecrated the Holy Crucifix - that is, who committed sacrilege. And from this apostate the Order made a qualitatively new Christian - a Knight of Christ and the Temple - thereby forever tying him to himself. Another option is offered by G. Lee. He says that renunciation was a test of the vow of obedience to elders, which was elevated to a cult in the Order. For example, when Jean d'Aumont, upon initiation into the Order, was ordered to spit on the cross, he spat, then went to confession to a Franciscan, who reassured him and, as atonement, ordered him to fast for three Fridays. Knight Pierre de Sherru, upon initiation, by order, uttered the phrase: “I renounce God,” to which the prior smiled disdainfully. Not everyone, however, easily agreed to renounce God and spit on the cross - many brothers later had to be reassured (like Ed de Bur), saying that it was a joke.
2. Kissing various parts of the body. Henry Lee suggests that this could either be a test of obedience, or the knight's mockery of his serving brother. Kisses were usually only required from employees.
3. Sodomy.
4. Blessing of a rope worn across the body around the idol. According to the testimony of one priest, the Templars obtained rope by any means, and if it broke, they even used woven reeds.
5. The priests of the Order did not consecrate the Holy Gifts during communion and distorted the formula of the Mass.

Here is a list of charges brought by the Inquisition against the Templars:

1. the knights worshiped a certain cat, who sometimes appeared to them at their meetings;
2. in every province they had idols, namely heads (some of them had three faces, and some only one) and human skulls;
3. they worshiped these idols, especially in their meetings;
4. they revered these idols as representatives of God and the Savior;
5. the Templars claimed that the head could save them and make them rich;
6. the idols gave all the wealth to the order;
7. idols made the earth bear fruit and the trees bloom;
8. they tied the heads of each of these idols or simply touched them with short ropes, which they then wore on their bodies under their shirts;
9. when a new member was accepted into the ranks of the order, he was given the above-mentioned short ropes (or one long one that could be cut);
10. everything they did was done out of reverence for these idols.

The trial: general and specific aspects of the conduct of the trial of the Templars in different countries

It should immediately be noted that the most brutal was the persecution of the Templars in France. It is through her example that historians usually consider the process. One gets the impression that it had a similar form - torture, prisons and fires - in other countries. This is not entirely true. The facts cited by G. Lee show that if torture was used almost everywhere except Cyprus, Castile, Portugal, Trier and Mainz, then they were usually imprisoned:

1. not suddenly, as in France;
2. they could take a word of honor and leave it in their castles - as in England and Cyprus;
3. They could not have been arrested at all, but summoned to trial. This was done in Trier, Mainz, Lombard and even in the Papal States. However, the Templars sometimes appeared themselves.

And, of course, the Templars were not burned at the stake everywhere. The following were burned:

• 54 Templars in the diocese of Sansk on April 12, 1310; 4 more Templars were later burned there;
• in April 1310, 9 Templars in Senlis;
• 3 Templars at Pont de L'Arc;
• Jacques de Molay (the last of the masters of the order) and Guillaume de Charnay, commander of Normandy - in 1314.

Other countries:

• in Lorraine many were burned, but note that Duke Thibault of Lorraine was a vassal of Philip IV the Fair;
• Templars from 4 monasteries in Marburg were burned;
• perhaps 48 Templars were burned in Italy, although Bishop Denis claimed that not a single Templar was burned in Italy.

Therefore, the statement about hundreds of bonfires throughout Europe is incorrect. In England and Spain, special royal orders were required for the use of torture against the Templars. Under English law, for example, torture was prohibited. The Church received permission from Edward of England to torture the Templars. This permission was called “church law.” In Aragon, the situation was better: the law also did not recognize torture, and the Cortes did not give permission to use it.

Poorly educated brothers of the Order, that is, serving brothers, were often used as witnesses in trials. G. Lee notes that in many places it was they who gave the most difficult and valuable testimony from the point of view of the Inquisition. The testimony of renegades of the Order was also used: the Florentine Roffi Dei and the Prior of Montfaucon; the latter, having been condemned by the Grand Master to life imprisonment for numerous crimes, fled and became the accuser of his former brothers.

In Germany, the measures applied to the Templars depended entirely on the attitude of local secular authorities towards them. Burchard III of Marburg did not like the Templars and burned knights from four monasteries - for which their relatives later caused him great trouble. The archbishops of Trier and Cologne in 1310 ceded their powers in relation to the Templars to Burchard III of Marburg for their lands. Archbishop Peter of Mainz incurred the displeasure of Clement V for acquitting the Templars. The Templars, in the eyes of the archbishop and local accusers, had undeniable evidence of their rightness: at the council convened on May 11, 1310, Commander Hugo Salm himself appeared and brought all twenty Templars; their cloaks were thrown into the fire and the crosses on them did not burn. This miracle greatly influenced public opinion, and they were acquitted. In the same Germany, St. John spoke in favor of the Templars, citing a case when, during a famine, when the price of bread increased from 3 sou to 33, the Templars from the monastery in Mostera fed 1000 people daily. The Templars were acquitted. Having learned about this outcome of the matter, Clement V ordered Burchard III of Marburg to take matters into his own hands - the result is known.

The persecution of the Templars in Aragon began in January 1308. Most of the Templars locked themselves in seven castles, some shaved their beards and disappeared. The commander of Aragon was then Ramon Sa Guardia. He fortified himself in Miravet. The Templars also fortified themselves in the castles of Ascon, Montzo, Cantavieja, Vilelle, Castellot and Chalamera. The local population provided assistance to the Templars; many came to the castles and defended them with weapons in their hands. In November 1308, the fortress of Castellot surrendered, in January - the fortress of Miraveta, Monceau and Chalamera - in July 1309. By November 1309, the Templars from the remaining fortresses were allowed to leave in groups of 2-3 with weapons in their hands. Ramon Sa Guardia on October 17 appealed to Pope Vice-Chancellor Arnold, pointing out that the Templars, who have been in captivity for 20-30 years, do not renounce God, while renunciation gives them freedom and wealth, and even now 70 Templars are languishing in captivity. Representatives of many noble families came out in defense of the Templars. King James released the prisoners, but kept the lands and castles for himself. Ramon Sa Guardia has retired to Mallorca.

The Templars of Cyprus, of whom there were 118 brothers of all degrees on the island (75 were knights), first defended themselves for several weeks, then were arrested on their word of honor. The sheer number of knights on the island (the usual ratio of knights to servants was 1:10) clearly indicates that it was Cyprus, and not the Temple in Paris, that was the main seat of the Templars at that time. G. Lee writes: “In Cyprus, where the Templars were known better than anywhere else, not only friends, but also enemies, and especially all those who had been in close relations with them for a long time, felt sympathy for them; no one accused the order of any crime until its guilt was so unreasonably confirmed by the bulls of the pope.” Torture was not used against the Templars; they all unanimously denied the guilt of the Order of the Temple. Other 56 witnesses from among clergy of all degrees, nobles and townspeople, among whom were political opponents of the Templars, unequivocally stated that they only knew facts that did honor to the Order - their generosity, mercy and zeal for the fulfillment of religious duties were emphasized in every possible way.

In Mallorca, all 25 Templars closed in the mentorship of Matte from November 22, 1307. Later, in November 1310, Ramon Sa Guardia joined them. At the trial of 1313, the Templars were found innocent.

In France, the Templars were arrested and imprisoned from 6 am on October 13th. They were immediately subjected to torture and ill-treatment. It was in France that knights of the Order of the Temple began to be burned at the stake for the first time. Unfortunately for the inquisitors, among the Templars there was not a single person under investigation who would defend the heresy of the Order. The presence of such a witness would have been a godsend for Philip IV. Knights confessed to all their sins under torture. The torture was so terrible that Aimery de Villiers later stated: “I would admit everything; I think I would admit that I killed God if it were demanded.” But then, at the very next interrogation, the knights refused to confess to heresy. These refusals were so widespread that Jean de Marigny, Archbishop of the Sansk diocese (which then included Paris) was forced, under pressure from Philip IV, to hand over the Templars who refused their testimony to the hands of secular authorities to be burned at the stake. All the Inquisition rules were turned upside down: the witch who renounced heresy was confident of her salvation and the end of the torture; a Templar who renounced heresy ended up at the stake.

The process ended with the dissolution of the order. On April 3, Clement V issued the bull “Vox in excelso”, in which he said: it is impossible to condemn the Order for heresy, but the Templars voluntarily confessed to errors - this will alienate believers who will no longer join the Order; thus, it will not bring any benefit and should be disbanded.

The property of the Templars passed to the Order of St. John, but S.G. Lozinsky notes that the Dominicans, Carthusians, Augustines and Celestines also managed to profit.

The Templars were released from prison even in France, except for the leadership. Some of them joined the Order of St. John. In Mallorca, the Templars lived in the Mas Deo fortress, each of them received from 30 to 100 livres of pension. Ramon Sa Guardia was given a pension of 350 livres and income from the garden and vineyard. The last of the Templars of Mallorca died in 1350 - his name was Berangel de Col.

In Castile, the Templars were acquitted; many of them became hermits, and their bodies did not decay after death. In Portugal, the fate of the Templars was more than favorable: in gratitude for the services they provided in the fight against the Saracens, King Denis founded the Order of Jesus Christ, which was approved in 1318 by Pope John XXII. The new order was a simple continuation of the old one.

The responsibility to maintain the former Templars was assigned to those to whom their property was transferred. These sums were sometimes so large that in 1318 John XXII forbade the provision of such a pension to the Templars of Germany, which allowed them to save money and live luxuriously. In France, the king and his family accounted for:

• 200,000 livres from Temple plus 60,000 livres for the conduct of the trial;
• money received from the sale of the Order's property;
• Templar jewelry;

income from Templar property received during the process;

• 200,000 livres that St. John kept in the Temple;
• 500,000 francs taken by Philip IV for Blanche's wedding;
• 200,000 florins of Philip IV's debt to the Templars;
• 2,500 livres issued by the Templars in 1297 to organize a crusade that was not carried out;
• payments on Templar bills;
• debts of the royal family.

A quick glance at this list is enough to understand that the trial of the Order was very beneficial for Philip IV. Of course, this process could not be explained by any “struggle for the purity of faith” - its reasons were clearly of an economic and political nature. Godefroy of Paris expressed public opinion regarding the trial and behavior of Philip IV and Clement V, saying: “It is easy to deceive the church, but in no case can you deceive God.”

By this process, without any struggle, the congregation which was considered the proudest, the happiest and the strongest in Europe was destroyed. No one would have dared to attack her if the inquisitorial proceedings had not put in the hands of dexterous and less shy people the necessary means to put simple robbery into legal form.

Burning of the Templars

Legend of the Curse

According to Godfrey of Paris, Jacques de Molay, having mounted the fire, summoned Philip IV, Nogaret and Clement V to God's Court. Seemingly broken morally and physically, the Grand Master, in an unexpectedly loud, thunderous voice, so that the people could hear, says:

Justice demands that on this terrible day, in the last minutes of my life, I expose the baseness of lies and allow the truth to triumph. So, I declare before the face of Earth and Heaven, I affirm, although to my eternal shame: I have indeed committed the greatest crime, but it lies in the fact that I have pleaded guilty to the atrocities that are so treacherously attributed to our order. I say, and the truth forces me to say this: the order is innocent; if I argued otherwise, it was only to stop the excessive suffering caused by torture and to appease those who forced me to endure all this. I know what torment the knights who had the courage to recant their confessions were subjected to, but the terrible sight we now see cannot make me confirm an old lie with a new lie. The life offered to me on these terms is so pitiful that I voluntarily refuse the deal...

Obviously, the practice of summoning to God's Court is associated with a belief in higher justice, in the face of which the guilty answer with their lives. They were summoned to God's Court in a dying state - this was the last wish of the dying man. According to medieval ideas, the last will, the last desire of a dying person is fulfilled. This point of view is not characteristic only of the Middle Ages. We can meet this look at different periods of human history in completely different regions. Echoes of this kind of ideas have practically reached modern times - the last wish before the guillotine, for example, or the modern practice of wills - the whole point of which is the exact execution of the will of the deceased.

Thus, God's Judgment from tests with hot iron, boiling water and legal battles in the 14th century turned into a consideration of the case in the face of God, where the plaintiff is dead and the defendants are alive. The practice of such courts was quite common and G. Lee gives several examples of summons to God's Court. There is nothing unusual, therefore, in the Grand Master summoning his culprits to God's Judgment. Gradually, the practice of such courts was forgotten, and the consciousness of unscrupulous historians created the legend of the curse of the Templars. This legend was widely inflated and served as one of the grounds for attributing various magical practices to the Order.

Choking in the flames, Jacques de Molay anathematized the pope, the king, Nogaret and all their offspring for eternity, predicting that they would be carried away by a great tornado and scattered to the wind.

This is where the most mysterious thing begins. Two weeks later, Pope Clement V died from bloody diarrhea in terrible convulsions. Almost immediately after him, the king’s faithful comrade-in-arms, de Nogaret, died. In November of the same year, the absolutely healthy Philip the Handsome allegedly died of a stroke.

Philip’s fate was shared by his three sons, who were popularly dubbed “damned kings.” Over the course of 14 years (1314-1328), they died one after another under mysterious circumstances, leaving no offspring. With the death of Charles IV, the last of them, the Capetian dynasty was interrupted.

Oddly enough, but this is not all. Already the first representatives of the new Valois dynasty, related to the Capetians, suffered unheard-of disasters. The well-known Hundred Years' War (1337-1453) began. During this war, one of the Valois, John the Good, died in captivity of the British, another, Charles VI, went mad.

The Valois, like the Capetians, ended in complete degeneration, while all the last representatives of the dynasty died a violent death: Henry II (1547-1559) was killed at a tournament, Francis II (1559-1560) died from diligent treatment, Charles IX (1560-1574) poisoned, Henry III (1574-1589) stabbed to death by a fanatic.

And the Bourbons, who replaced the Valois at the end of the 16th century, continued to experience the curse of Jacques de Molay: the founder of the dynasty, Henry IV, fell from the knife of an assassin, its last representative under the “old order,” Louis XVI, died on the scaffold during the revolution. An interesting detail: before his execution, this king was imprisoned in the Temple Tower, which was once a stronghold of the Templars. According to contemporaries, after the king was beheaded on the scaffold, a man jumped onto the platform, dipped his hand in the blood of the dead monarch and showed it to the crowd, shouting loudly:

Jacques de Molay, you are avenged!

No less calamities befell the “damned” popes. As soon as the “Avignon captivity” ended, the “schism” began: two, or even three popes, elected simultaneously, anathematized each other for almost the entire 15th century. Before the “schism” ended, the Reformation began: first Jan Hus, then Luther, Zwingli and Calvin nullified the influence of the “apostolic governors” in central Europe, and the Great Revolution of 1789-1799 wrested France from the power of the popes.

It should be noted that even at the dawn of its activity, the order was seen in the eyes of contemporaries as a kind of mystical institution. The Knights of the Temple were suspected of magic, witchcraft and alchemy. The Templars were believed to be associated with dark forces. In 1208, Pope Innocent III called the Templars to order because of their “unchristian actions” and “exorcism of spirits.” In addition, legends claim that the Templars were very skilled in the manufacture of potent poisons.

The Templars were exterminated only in France. The English king Edward II sent the Knights of the Temple to monasteries to atone for their sins. Scotland even provided refuge to Templars from England and possibly France. After the dissolution of the order, the German templars became part of the Teutonic Order. In Portugal, the Knights of the Temple were acquitted by the court and in 1318 they only changed their name, becoming the Knights of Christ. Under this name the order survived until the 16th century. The order's ships sailed under eight-pointed Templar crosses. Christopher Columbus's caravels crossed the Atlantic Ocean under the same flags.

Various hypotheses about the Templars

Over the years, various hypotheses have been put forward about the life of the Templars.

The first hypothesis was put forward by researchers Jacques de Maillet and Inge Ott. According to them, the Templars either inspired the idea of ​​Gothic cathedrals, built Gothic cathedrals, or lent money to build them. Jacques de Maillet claims that in less than a hundred years the Templars built 80 cathedrals and 70 smaller temples. Inge Ott talks about the development of ideas for the Gothic cathedral by the architects of the Order and describes the participation of the architects of the Order in the construction of cathedrals. The main question is usually posed like this: where did the Templars get the huge sums necessary for the construction of the Gothic cathedral? Usually about 150 people took part in the construction of the cathedral, each of them received 3-5 sous a day. The architect received a special fee. The cathedral had on average about two to three thousand stained glass windows. One stained glass window cost an average of 15 to 23 livres. For comparison: a butcher's house in 1235 on the rue Sablon in Paris cost 15 livres; a rich man's house on the Little Bridge in 1254 - 900 livres; the construction of the castle of the Comte de Dreux in 1224 cost him 1,175 Parisian livres and two pairs of dresses.

Some researchers have put forward another hypothesis, that the wealth of the Templars owes its origin to the silver mines of South America. Regular flights of the Templars to America are mentioned by Baigent, Ott and especially Jacques de Maillet, who defends this point of view, without having any basis for such versions. For example, de Maillet writes about the sculptural images of Indians on the 12th-century pediment of the Templar temple in the city of Verelai in Bourgogne: supposedly the Templars saw these Indians with large ears in America and depicted them in sculpture. The fact is, of course, good, but de Maillet also provides a photograph of this pediment. I found this pediment: the photograph shows a fragment of the relief of the tympanum “The Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles” in the Church of Sainte-Madeleine in Vézelay (History of art in foreign countries: the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. - M., 1982. - Ill. 69). This church was built in 1125-1135. The Order of the Templars was just gaining strength at that time and had not yet carried out construction, and even if it had, the Templars still did not have a fleet at that time, and even with all their desire they could not get to America then. On the seal with the inscription "Secretum Templi" there is indeed an image that at first glance resembles an Indian. But anyone who is at least superficially familiar with mystical teachings will immediately recognize Abraxas in this image. De Maillet's remaining arguments are even weaker. However, it is worth noting that the silver and silver coins that poured into Europe during the Conquest had Templar signs on the reverse side, which was kept secret, but shocked researchers when this fact was discovered in the 20th century.

3. The connection of the Templars with Gnosticism, Catharism, Islam and heretical teachings. This is the most extensive field for researchers. Here the Templars are credited with: from Catharism in the Order to the idea of ​​​​establishing the creative unity of all bloods, races and religions - that is, the creation of a new type of state with a religion that absorbed the best of Christianity, Islam and Judaism. Henry Lee is categorical: “there was no Catharism in the Order.” The Charter of the Order - compiled by St. Bernard - imbued with the most sublime spirit of the Catholic faith. However, Heckerthorn writes about the presence of Gnostic symbolism in the burials of the Templars (he does not provide evidence); the seal with Abraxas may indicate the presence of some traditions of Gnosticism. But it is impossible to say categorically about this. Baphomet, attributed to the Templars, has no traditions and parallels in the religious traditions of the world. Most likely he is the product of a monstrous process over them. The most likely version is that historians invented the imaginary heresy of the Templars.

4. Templars and the Holy Grail. The Holy Grail is the supposed treasure of the Cathars, preserved by the Knights of the Order of the Temple, glorified by the famous novels born at the court of the Counts of Champagne, closely associated with the founding of the Order of the Temple... The Holy Grail, invested with mysterious power; reputed to be the source of all wealth and fertility on earth. The Holy Grail is legendary, but at the same time the cycle of legends about it bears the imprint of reality: Godfroi of Bouillon became the son of Lohengrin, the knight with a swan, and Lohengrin’s father was Parzival. What he is is unclear, but Wolfram von Eschenbach eight centuries ago in his novel Parzival (1195-1216) showed the Templars as the guardians of the Holy Grail, and they did not refute this. According to legend, the coat of arms of one of the three knights of the Holy Grail - Galahad - contained a red eight-pointed cross on a white background. This is the distinctive sign of the Templars. It is obvious that the image of the guardians of the Grail already in the Middle Ages was correlated with the image of the knights of the Order of the Temple.

Bottom line

The Order of the Temple is a natural child of its time, with all its advantages and disadvantages. His knights were (and are) professional military men, and his financiers were the best of the best.

The ease of arresting the Templars in France is somewhat surprising. It is impossible to break into castles and calmly arrest more than five hundred (no more than one hundred) knights - professional military men. The fact is that throughout 1307 there was a question between the Pope and the King and the Grand Master about the removal of various charges against the Order. The Master himself demanded a trial to justify the Order. No one could have imagined that everything would turn out this way: they would betray him. The opportunity to improve his financial affairs pushed Philip IV to the process of expelling the Order.

One of the first and most famous among them was the Order of the Templars (literally - “ knights of the temple"), founded in 1119 by the French knight Hugh de Payens and taking its name from the original home of its first members in Jerusalem - a castle built on the ruins Solomon's Temple(le temple). The beginning of this order was modest and poor; it consisted of only 9 knights. Their vows and duties were the same as those of the knights - Johannites: poverty, chastity, obedience to papal authority, protection of pilgrims and the fight against infidels. Distinctive clothing was a white caftan and a cloak with large red crosses. Soon the glory of their courage and virtue spread very widely and attracted many nobles and brave warriors to the order.

Subsequently, the Templar Order had three classes of members: serving brothers took care of sick and wounded pilgrims, priests performed divine services, encouraged soldiers in battles with infidels; knights, wearing armor over their order clothes, fought with infidels and saw off pilgrims. The head of the Templars bore (like the Johannites) the title of grandmaster (grand master); he ruled the affairs of his order and was its commander-in-chief. Initially, the Templars were poor, so the founders of their community, Hugh Payen and Godefroy Saint-Omer, had only one war horse, and in memory of this, the seal of the order had an image of two knights sitting on one horse. (Another explanation for this image says that it was a symbol of the Templars' fraternal loyalty to each other). But soon their order received many donations and became the owner of huge estates. Count Fulk of Anjou, on his first trip to Palestine, fought with the Templars, gave them thirty pounds of silver every year. He subsequently married the daughter of Baldwin II, Melisende, and became king of jerusalem. The Order continued to enjoy his favor. Saint Bernard of Clairvaux was the patron saint of the Templars in Europe and wrote eloquent praise of their virtues, holding up their simplicity of life, pure morality and strict military discipline as an example to be emulated by the pampered and luxury-loving knights of Europe. According to Bernard, the Templars despised dress and all earthly vanity, combined monastic meekness with knightly courage, competed with each other in the exact fulfillment of their vows and all knightly virtues; God chose them from among the bravest knights to faithfully guard the Holy Sepulcher.

At the Council of Troyes, where Bernard was also present, Pope Honorius approved the Templar charter. The Council supplemented it with rules taken from Benedictine charter and on January 31, 1128 approved Hugues Payen to the rank of grandmaster. The battle cry of the Templars was Beauséant!(“Perfectly seated” rider on a horse. Perhaps this had to do with the image of the horse on the seal of the order). The Templars perfectly corresponded to the ideal of chivalry of that time. Their order enjoyed the great favor of sovereigns and nobles, received extensive possessions and rich incomes in all Christian countries of the West; Order houses with churches were built everywhere. The number of Templars increased rapidly; often the grandmaster led three hundred knights to war. They had armed ministers; they had many different artisans: masons, gunsmiths, grain makers, tailors. The power, wealth and possessions of the Templars increased continuously; they were considered the surest stronghold of the rule of Western Christians in the East and the most terrible enemies of Muslims. In battles with them, the temple knights always formed the front line. Their brave courage and the death of almost all the knights on the field of honor acquired the order general respect and special favor of the popes, who generously bestowed the order with privileges and honors.

Seal of the Templar Order

The role of the Templars in the Crusades

The first successors of Payen (he died in 1138) in the rank of grandmaster followed his example, did not go into too ambitious plans, but tried with all their might to preserve unity, morality and that exemplary military severity in the order, which distinguished the Templars until the end of their existence. In the Second Crusade, launched in 1147, the Knights of the Temple were the staunchest allies Emperor ConradII, especially during an unfortunate expedition to Damascus. In 1151, they liberated Jerusalem, overturning the troops of Nureddin who had already broken into the city, and then distinguished themselves in almost all the battles with the Saracens. But the increase in treasures and power does not quench, but increases the thirst for gold and conquests. This happened with the knights of the temple, and their greed subsequently began to harm the cause of Christians in Palestine as much as their courage and organization brought benefits. When in 1154 the crusaders besieged Ascalon, the grand master of the Templars Bernard de Tremele, wanting to appropriate to the order the wealth stored in the city, which, according to the then custom, belonged to the one who first entered the city in an attack, burst into Ascalon with the knights, but after miracles of courage , was killed with all his comrades. Under Grandmaster Bernard de Blancfort, the Templars, having captured the Sultan's son Nasreddin, who had fled from Egypt, treacherously took away his harem and treasures, and then handed him over to the Egyptians for 60 thousand guilders of gold. Under Grand Master Aude de Saint-Amand (1178), the order disgraced itself with treacherous murder assassins ambassadors by the knight Walter Dumesnil and the failure to hand over the criminal to the Old Man of the Mountain. These and other similar actions gave rise to the crusaders' disgust for the Templars, but did not discredit them in the eyes of the popes, who did not cease to shower them with favors. Dad Alexander III by a bull promulgated in 1162, he even freed the order from subordination to all secular authorities and the Patriarch of Jerusalem and granted only the Roman high priests the right of judgment over them. This bull completely changed the position of the Templars. Their grandmasters began to consider themselves equal to the ruling princes, acted autocratically and unaccountably, and the knights more and more indulged in selfishness and vices; They resembled the virtuous brothers of the founder of the order, Payen, only in their courage and military discipline.

In 1156 and 1164, the crusaders suffered severe defeats from the Mohammedans at Paneas and Goren, in which many knights of the temple fell; but this and other losses were easily replenished by numerous newcomers and experienced warriors who gathered in commanders and other estates belonging to the order in all parts of Europe. What caused him more harm was mutual envy with the Knights of St. John, which repeatedly brought both parties to an obvious break and was stopped with difficulty by the pope in 1187. In 1187 Saladin invaded Palestine with a large army and defeated the Christians in a bloody battle at Belfort, near Sidon. The brave grandmaster Aude de Saint-Amand, defending himself with his knights to the last extremity, was captured and died in prison in Damascus; His knights, who, according to the laws of the order, did not dare to offer more than a knife and a belt to the winners for their ransom, were executed. This event greatly shook the power of the Templars. Their new grandmaster Gerard de Ridefort, who prompted the weak King of Jerusalem Guido Lusignan to war with Saladin, was defeated with him and captured at hittin(1187). They received freedom for the cession of Ascalon and, with the help of Western pilgrims, besieged Acre. Saladin hastened to help the city, was at first overthrown, but the sally of the Acre garrison decided the matter in his favor, and Grandmaster Ridefort fell on the spot of the battle.

Armament and emblem of the spiritual knightly order of the Templars

In 1189, the three strongest monarchs in Europe: Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, King of France Philip August and the English Richard the Lionheart, set off on the Third Crusade to save Jerusalem taken by Saladin. But Barbarossa died on the road, and disputes between the other two kings prevented the crusaders from achieving important successes: they limited themselves to capture of Acre. At the end of the campaign, the Grand Master of the Templars, Robert Sabloil, bought from Richard the island of Cyprus, which he had conquered on his return journey, but ceded it to the former King of Jerusalem Guido Lusignan and moved to Acre, and from there to a strongly fortified castle on the seashore, near Caesarea, which received the name Pilgrim's Castle. Here the knights remained inactive for a long time, but they increased their influence and possessions on the island of Cyprus and in Western Europe, where from 1209 to 1212 they fought with exemplary courage against the Arabs in Spain. In 1218, Grandmaster William de Chartres took an active part in the glorious but useless siege of Damietta, which, soon after its conquest, was again abandoned by the crusaders. Meanwhile, the Saracens conquered almost all of defenseless Palestine. The knights of the temple, foreseeing the imminent and complete fall of the local Christian rule, tried to reward themselves by acquiring lands and wealth in Europe, and succeeded in this to such an extent that in the middle of the 13th century they already owned 9,000 commanders, castles and other estates there.

In 1228, fortune seemed to smile on the crusaders again: Emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen marched into Palestine and took possession of Jerusalem. But the envious policy of the popes and the machinations of the spiritual knightly orders armed with it, and especially the Templars, stopped the victorious march of Frederick. He was forced to return to Europe to defend his own possessions, punished the Templars by taking away their estates in Southern Italy, but could not retain Palestine. In 1237, the Templars suffered a significant defeat there at the castle of Gvascume. Then new quarrels and fights began with the Johannite knights and ended only in 1244 with a thunderstorm that arose against the Eastern Christians from the Turkish Karaismin tribe. Jerusalem was again conquered by the Saracens, and the army of the united crusaders was defeated in the disastrous battle of Gaza, in which the Grand Master of the Templars, Herman de Périgord, fell with 300 knights. The Order soon recovered from this defeat, and when the French king Saint Louis opened a new Crusade in 1249 with the siege of Damietta, Grandmaster William de Sonnac reinforced it with a large army. This campaign, after brief successes, ended with the complete defeat of the crusaders at Mansur, the death of the grandmaster and the capture of King Louis with the remnants of his army. He received freedom only for handing over his treasures and conquests.

The possessions of Western Christians in Palestine were now limited to Acre and several fortified points on the seashore. It was impossible to even think about offensive actions against the Saracens. Even the Templars stopped them and entered into negotiations with their opponents. Strange, still insufficiently explained, their actions against other co-religionists, relations with assassins and Saracen emirs and secret intrigues aroused many rumors unfavorable for them, which were suppressed only by the strong patronage of the popes. Once again the Templars showed unparalleled courage in the defense of Acre , or Ptolemais, which cost the life of their grandmaster, William de Beaujeu, and almost all the knights in the city (1291). After the city was captured by the Turks, the few surviving Templars moved their residence to Cyprus, where in 1297 the last grand master of the order, Jacques Molay, was elected. In 1300, he once again, but in vain, tried to take possession of the coast of Syria by arming a strong fleet, but then was forced to turn all his attention to protecting the order from persecution by the Christian powers.

Western European rulers had long been jealous of the power and wealth of the knights of the temple. When, with the loss of Palestine, the real purpose of their founding collapsed, and the order began to appear only as a dangerous militia in the hands of ambitious popes, then obvious persecution of secular princes began against it. At their head was Philip IV the Fair, king of France, implacable enemy of the Templars. Rumors harmful to the order spread from all sides about mysterious rituals introduced when accepting new members into the order, and supposedly tending to contempt and desecration of the Christian faith, about the vicious life of the Templars, their pride and self-will. The people murmured and demanded punishment for the heretics; even the popes, seeing the inevitable death of the order, abandoned its protection. Dad Clement V- a blind game in the hands of Philip IV - ordered the betrayal of the order inquisitorial court, presided over by the royal confessor, the Archbishop of Sens. On October 13, 1307, all the knights of the temple living in France were thrown into prison.

Record of the interrogation of 30 Templars conducted by William of Paris (Inquisitor of France) and two royal commissioners

It is difficult to judge the degree of guilt or innocence of the Templars, the justice of accusing them of worship Baphomet(satanic head), in secret Mohammedanism, hidden orgies, etc., for the most careful researchers of the history of the order contradict each other on this. What is certain is that the true reason for the extermination of the Templars was not their anti-Christian beliefs and vicious life, but their treasures and vast possessions, and that the proceedings against them were carried out with disgusting partiality and inhumanity. Knights and elders were subjected to cruel torture according to the testimony of scoundrels expelled from the order; consciousnesses torn out by torment or long-term imprisonment were taken as clear evidence of guilt, and after the solemn destruction of the order by the pope at the Council of Vienne, all its members who did not recognize themselves as criminals were condemned to death. On March 19, 1314, the virtuous and glorious grand master of the Templars, Jacques Molay, who throughout his reign tried in vain to restore morality and order in the order, together with his most important assistants, ended his life at the stake, calling before his death his persecutors, Philip IV and Clement V, to the judgment of God. who actually died that year. The estates and treasures of the knights were seized into the French treasury, and some were transferred to other orders.

In a similar, but less cruel and violent manner, the Order of the Templars was destroyed in other European states. They say that he continued to exist in secret for a long time, but there is no reliable information about this.

The name of the Templars is shrouded in an aura of rumors and secrets. Six hundred years after its death, the order has turned into a kind of brand, the income from which feeds an entire industry. Occultists prove that the knights found the Holy Grail in the basements of Solomon's Temple and became the owners of secret knowledge. Treasure hunters are arguing where the countless treasures of the Templars have gone. And some “informed sources” hint that the powerful organization did not die, but became conspiratorial and formed a “shadow government” that still rules the world.

What was it really like? In 1119 in Jerusalem, reports the medieval historian William of Tire, “nobles from a knightly family, Christians who dedicated their lives to God, committed themselves to serving him. According to their rules, it was necessary to live without property, to observe a vow of chastity and obedience. The first of the mentors were Hugh de Payns and Godefroy de Saint-Omer. None of them had a permanent place of residence; the king gave them shelter in the southern wing of his palace, not far from the Temple of the Lord.”

Twenty years before this event, in 1099, the Kingdom of Jerusalem was founded as a result of the First Crusade. The city was relatively calm, but crowds of thugs roamed its surroundings, killing hundreds of Christian pilgrims. King Baldwin II did not have a powerful army, and a handful of knights volunteered to provide security for pilgrims arriving in the Holy Land. Initially there were only nine of these daredevils, all French. They called their order “The Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon,” but unofficially they were called the Templars, or Templars (“temple” in French “temple”).

Unlike members of monastic orders, the Templars were military, could carry weapons and shed blood. Otherwise, they took the usual monastic vows: non-acquisitiveness, chastity and obedience. The seal of the order depicts two riders sitting on one horse. They say that at first the knights were so poor that they had only one horse between them. When the period of poverty passed, the image began to be interpreted as a symbol of the unity of spirituality and military duty, as well as the lack of pride among knights (for a proud man would never mount a horse like that).

Soon, Hugh de Payns and Godefroy de Saint-Omer went to France, where they began promoting the ideas of the order and recruiting supporters, primarily among the young men of the aristocracy and nobility. They began to donate land, income, and sums of money. Dozens of people joined the order. Ideologically, the initiative was supported by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, a major spiritual leader of that era. He was a relative of one of the first Templars - Andre de Montbard. First, Saint Bernard wrote a laudatory treatise, “Glory to the New Knighthood,” and then composed the Latin charter of the order, numbering 72 articles. At Bernard's suggestion, white was chosen as the color of the Templars' clothing; later they began to sew red crosses on their clothes, like all participants in the Crusades.

In January 1128, on the initiative of St. Bernard, a council was convened in Troyes, at which Pope Honorius II approved the order, its charter and appointed Hugh de Payns as the first Grand Master. Initially, the order was divided into two classes: brothers-chevaliers (knights from noble families) and brothers-sergeants (squires, Lazhi, soldiers, etc.). The knights were forbidden to retreat in battle while at least one Christian flag was flying over the field, or to participate in civil strife, shedding the blood of fellow believers. Each warrior could have no more than three horses. Excessive clothing, idle talk, dice and chess were also not allowed.

The brothers had their hair cut short, did not shave their beards, and slept in a common room (dormitory), where a fire burned all night. Meat was allowed to be eaten twice a week to maintain strength. It was allowed to hunt only lions, which were found in abundance in Palestine and posed a real threat. Women could not be members of the order. Married men were allowed into temporary service, but without the right to wear white clothes. Gradually, another class was identified within the order - priests who could not shed blood. The Grand Master had virtually unlimited power. The entire organization of the order was ideal for wartime. Unlike purely monastic orders, the Templars had a specific earthly mission - to protect the Holy Land from infidels. This required considerable funds, the acquisition of which became the main task of the Western European commanderies of the order.

Throughout the 12th and 13th centuries, they conducted active economic activities: collected duties, entered into transactions, and received rents. Some donated a barn or a meadow to them for mowing, and others donated a castle or an entire county. Three documents became the basis for the well-being and power of the Templars. The papal bull Omne datum optimum of March 29, 1139 granted them autonomy from local secular and ecclesiastical authorities. In fact, the Templars reported directly only to the Pope. The bull Milites Templi of January 9, 1144 gave indulgence (atonement for sins) to all who donated to the order. The Bull Milicia Dei of April 7, 1145 allowed the Templars to build special order churches, into which crowds of believers immediately flocked.

The Templars are known for their banking activities. This was initially driven by the need to reduce the risks of pilgrims to the Holy Land. In order not to travel with cash valuables, a person could hand over the money to the Templar cashier in Paris or London, and receive it in Jerusalem by presenting a check. Moreover, he received the amount converted into local currency! Then the order began to lend money at a fairly low interest rate - 10%). The rate of the most popular Lombard bankers was 24%, and the Jewish bankers - 40%.

The Templars did not compete with Lombards and Jews, because, fearing accusations of usury, they issued loans primarily for pilgrimages and the ransom of captured Christians. They were good economists. In 1204, the brother of the order, Eimard, became treasurer of the French king Philip II Augustus; in 1263, brother Amaury de La Roche took the same position at the court of Louis IX. In the public consciousness, the word “Templars” was strongly associated with honest and brave warriors going to death for their faith. Thus, the eighth Grand Master Odo de Saint-Amant was captured by Sultan Saladin at the Battle of Chatelet and died in captivity. He refused to be ransomed, saying: "A Templar can only offer his belt and battle dagger as ransom."

The situation changed after the first serious failures of the Crusaders in the Holy Land. In 1187, about 17 thousand Christian soldiers died in the Battle of Hattin, including the core of the Templar Order. 230 Templars were captured, tortured and executed. After the Battle of Hattin, Saladin's army entered Jerusalem, its inhabitants became hostages to the Muslims. A rumor was spread in Europe that the Templars refused to ransom the captives and 16 thousand Christians became slaves through their fault.

Having lost Jerusalem, the Crusader state continued to resist for another hundred years. Acre became the new headquarters of the order. In 1291, Acre fell to the Arabs. There were about 900 Templars in the city, who heroically defended themselves. Their last stronghold was the tower, under which the enraged Sultan ordered a mine to be placed. Almost all of the defenders of Acre were killed in the explosion under the rubble, including the Grand Master Guillaume de Beaujeu.

After 200 years of hard struggle, Europe lost the Holy Land, and the Order of the Temple lost its fighting core; hundreds of professional warriors, subject to strict discipline. The surviving Templars evacuated to the friendly island of Cyprus. In 1293, the last, 23rd Grand Master was Jacques de Molay, an elderly man and not a very flexible politician. He still saw his mission in recapturing the Holy Sepulcher from the infidels and several times proposed expensive projects for new expeditions to Palestine to the pope.

Jacques de Molay did not feel that the political situation had changed, Europe had lost interest in the Crusades, and the enemies and envious people of the order had become stronger and were looking for a way to get their hands on its wealth. The catastrophe broke out on Friday, October 13, 1307. King Philip IV the Fair of France, the most powerful monarch of Europe, did not tolerate the existence on his territory of a paramilitary structure beyond his control. In a punitive operation unprecedented even by today's standards, all the Templars in France and many in other countries were captured in one day. Under pressure from Philip IV, the operation was supported by Pope Clement V). A long trial began against members of the orders using the most monstrous torture.

Royal propaganda did not spare any black paint, proving that it was the sins of the Templars that led to the loss of the Holy Land. Under torture, the brothers, who in France were mostly veteran recruits or “business executives,” admitted that upon joining the order they renounced Christ, spat on the cross, indulged in sodomy and worshiped a certain idol Baphomet in the form of a human head with a white beard. As soon as the torture stopped, the prisoners renounced their ridiculous testimony. Over the seven years of the process, several public burnings of particularly intractable templars were arranged as a warning to others.

So, on May 12, 1310, fifty-four Templars were executed on the outskirts of Paris. Despite this, many brothers and the leadership of the order decided to defend their honor to the end. Then on May 22, 1312, Pope Clement V issued the bull Vox in excelso dissolving the Order of the Temple. His property was confiscated and transferred to the Order of the Hospitallers. On March 18, 1314, two old men, Jacques de Molay and the Prior of Normandy Geoffroy de Charnay, were raised to the stake, exhausted by seven years of imprisonment. They accepted death with dignity and courage.

The Grand Master, engulfed in flames, shouted at the last moment: “Pope Clement! King Philip! Not even a year will pass before I call you to the Judgment of God. A curse on your family up to the thirteenth generation!” The curse came true, and this served as an additional argument in favor of the legend of Templar magic. Dad died 33 days after his execution. he began to experience abdominal cramps, presumably dysentery, for which the doctors prescribed him to drink crushed emeralds. As a result, on April 20, stones finally tore his intestines apart.

King Philip died on November 29: he suffered a stroke while hunting and fell from his horse. The paralyzed king was brought to the castle, where he soon died. Over the next 14 years, all of his sons died, receiving the nickname "damned kings." The Capetian dynasty, which had ruled France since 987, came to an end.

Much to the disappointment of the initiators of the defeat of the Templars, the treasures of the order were never found. They are still searched for in the dungeons of knightly castles throughout Europe, right up to Ukraine and Latvia. There are a variety of versions: from the one that the wealth was spent on the construction of the famous Gothic cathedrals, to the one that it was found and taken to Argentina by the Nazis during the Second World War. From novel to novel, the plot wanders about 15 mysterious galleys that left the port of La Rochelle on Friday the 13th and disappeared into the Atlantic.

Some researchers argue that the Templars tried to combine the incompatible - knightly honor and financial activity, and therefore, naturally, went bankrupt. After all, a truly rich corporation would always have influential defenders.

Order of the Knights Templar. The Secret of the Knights of the Temple

At the beginning of the 12th century, during the brief occupation of the Holy Land by the Crusaders, two orders appeared, both monastic and knightly. The first founded the Order of the Knights Hospitaller of St. John (later called the Order of Malta), which reported directly to the Pope. After some time, the Order of the Knights Templar was created in Jerusalem, independent of both the leaders of the Crusades and the next Pope.

Both congregations of knight-monks would have remained just another page in the annals of that troubled and tense era, if not for the enormous wealth and power that the Templars were able to achieve. The Templar Order became a kind of virtual state behind the backs of various European kingdoms, an invisible force behind the throne. The subsequent fate of the Order of the Temple, persecution by the Pope and the Inquisition, only increases the aura of legend and mystery that arose around it due to the sometimes assumed, and sometimes undoubted participation of the Templars in all the most important events of world history.

In addition to disputes about the fate of the “lost fleet” of the Templars, about its participation in the expeditions of Christopher Columbus or in the American War of Independence, which are still being conducted in relation to specific historical facts, there are also a number of researchers talking about the mystical origin of the Templars (starting from the brotherhood of the Phoenician seafarers before the antediluvian or even extraterrestrial origin) and attributing to them a mysterious chiliastic project, which could equally turn out to be both the victory of the devilish empire of evil and the establishment of the wisest and fairest world order. In both cases, in order to implement it, it is necessary to overthrow the power of the Vatican and destroy the Roman Church.

In order to correctly assess the creation and first actions of the Templar Order, it is necessary to outline the historical situation in which these events unfolded, that is, the European invasions of the Middle East in the 12th century, known as.

At the Council of Clermont-Ferrand in 1095, Pope Urban II gave a fiery speech calling on European monarchs and nobles to engage in a kind of holy war, the purpose of which was to free the Christian captives who had been enslaved by the Muslims and return the Holy Sepulcher to the Christians. In reality, these noble goals concealed the expansionist and economic interests of the Vatican, as well as European kings and lords.

The first crusade, which was led by an alliance of feudal lords, was the only successful one. 1099 - the head of the crusaders, Godfrey of Bouillon, entered Jerusalem, conquering vast territories that were divided into 4 parts, called the “Latin States”: the Kingdom of Jerusalem, with its center in Jerusalem, the Principality of Antioch and the counties of Tripoli (Lebanon) and Edessa (modern Turkey) .

There, on enemy territory, they created a military-religious order, the most powerful and most mysterious of all. The fact is that the weak and surrounded by enemies Christian kingdoms could not protect the thousands of pilgrims who walked to the Holy Land along roads infested with robbers and bandits. This was the reason, or at least a pretext, for the creation of an order that could provide military protection and spiritual support to travelers.

Templars: historical facts

Let us leave aside for a moment the hermetic and esoteric connotations surrounding the Templars, and consider concrete facts, duly documented and verified by credible scholars and researchers.

Who are the Templars? The official history reports that in 1118, nine poor French knights under the command of Hugh de Payns appeared before Baldwin II, sovereign of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, and offered him their services. Their goal was to found a military-religious order to guard the Holy Land and protect endangered pilgrims.

The king, apparently touched by the noble intentions of the veteran crusaders, invited them to locate the barracks in an ancient building adjacent to the al-Aqsa mosque, erected on the site of the destroyed Temple of Solomon. The local population, due to the harsh lifestyle and poverty of a group of ragamuffins who called themselves an order of chivalry, dubbed them the “mendicant knights of the Temple” (pronounced “Temple” in French, hence the name “Templars”).

The motives that led the nine knights to create the order remain a mystery, and little more is known about the founders themselves. The names of 5 of them are preserved in the chronicles, but they do not say anything about their origin or life before joining the order. What is known is that all, or almost all, were French and veterans of the First Crusade, and probably one of them was a Norman named Saint Clair.

In his younger years, this knight fought bravely alongside Godfrey of Bouillon, and, as we will see below, his descendants played a major role in the subsequent history of the Order of the Temple. After the capture of Jerusalem, most of the nobles who participated in the campaign returned to Europe to enjoy the well-deserved glory and check the state of their affairs. Only the most fanatical crusaders and those who did not have enough money for the return journey remained in the Latin kingdoms. Perhaps Hugh de Payns and his comrades met both conditions, because they were not short of fanaticism, and their way of life bordered on poverty.

Two knights on one horse

The first Templars - who founded the order - were less than 10 people, but they had even fewer horses. On the streets of Jerusalem it was often possible to meet two stern knights riding on the same war horse. At first, they went on the road, ate and fought as a pair. This funny custom gave rise to a lot of gossip in Jerusalem and served as an object of ridicule from soldiers and other crusaders, especially those belonging to the Order of the Hospitallers of St. John, rivals of the Templars. Almost two centuries later, at the trials of the Inquisition, among other crimes, the Templar Order was accused of the sin of sodom.

Soon after its founding, the 10th knight, Count Hugo of Champagne, a noble and powerful French nobleman who was accepted at court and in high church circles, joined the detachment. It was probably through the mediation of this influential aristocrat that the founders of the order came into contact with the monk and scientist Bernard of Clairvaux, one of the most controversial and mysterious characters in Christian hagiography.

Six years earlier, the future Saint Bernard wrote the rules of the new monastic brotherhood of the Cistercians, hoping to revive the rigor and spirituality lost by the Cluny order, which succumbed to worldly temptations. Shortly before the creation of the Templar Order, Bernard had a secret meeting with the Templar leaders Count of Champagne and de Payns, who asked for his advice on the organization and activities of the order.

Abbot Clairvaux showed great interest in the undertaking of the monastic soldiers, determined the main provisions of the order’s charter and promised them to obtain from the Pope the necessary permission to create the order. It was Bernard who suggested using the characteristic white vestments, which contrasted sharply with the black clothes of the Hospitallers, and the emblem in the form of a scarlet eight-pointed cross, which the Templars wore on their cloak next to their heart.

The Templar Rule, written with the participation of Saint Bernard, included the usual vows of obedience, poverty and chastity, which the knights had to strictly fulfill. Also added were the duties of giving alms to the poor, attending mass, and eating meat at least three times a week in order to maintain the purity of spirit and physical strength necessary to fulfill their mission.

In addition, the knightly oath required to provide assistance to brothers in the order in trouble, even at the risk of their lives, to fight three opponents at the same time and not to respond to any provocations from another Christian knight, unless he insulted the templar three times. Failure to fulfill these commandments was punishable by triple scourging. Needless to say, the number three had enormous symbolic meaning for the templars.

Bernard of Clairvaux eventually fulfilled his promise by ensuring that the new order was consecrated by the Pope. At a council held in Troyes in 1128, in the presence of Bernard himself, Pope Honorius II approved and solemnly announced the formation of the Order of the Knights of Christ and the Temple of Jerusalem, the first Grand Master of which was Hugh de Paynes. Both Bernard and the Count of Champagne remained in the shadows for reasons known only to themselves.

The era of the highest power of the Templars

Subsequently, the order began to develop at an amazing pace. Both the number of knights and the movable and immovable property of the Templars grew rapidly. To join the order and take a vow of poverty, the applicant had to donate to the order a castle and income from his lands, which were spent on the purchase of weapons, shields, war horses, armor and other equipment. In addition to the contributions of the new knights, the fortune of the order increased due to the generous donations of kings, princes, nobles, wealthy merchants and traders associated with the Priory of Sion.

1146 - Muslims conquered the Latin state of Edessa, which is why the Second Crusade was convened, which, thanks to the inept leadership of the young and stupid French king Louis VII, failed miserably. The Muslims struck back: in 1187, under the command of the outstanding commander, Sultan Saladin, they defeated the defenders of Jerusalem and drove the crusaders outside the Holy Land.

Skeptical about the Third Crusade, which was also being prepared by Philip Augustus of France, the Templars remained aloof from this campaign, which received the blessing of Pope Clement III, which further complicated their relationship with the Vatican.

Openly disobeying orders, they traveled around the Middle East, coming into conflict along the way both with participants in the internal internecine war between Muslim leaders and with Christian detachments. Some chronicles contain references to regular bloody battles with a monstrous Islamic sect of murderous assassins, as well as a brutal battle with the Pope-supporting Order of the Hospitallers of St. John, in which the Templars won.

After a short stay on the island of Cyprus, the Templars moved to Europe and established their main headquarters in Paris, creating large centers of operations in Catalonia, Aragon and the south of France - the cradle of the Cathars, Troubadours and the Merovingian dynasty.

When the Templars already had the weapons and other resources necessary to carry out their mission, there was a need to somehow use the money and real estate that did not stop flowing into the order. Then they organized a kind of “medieval bank”, which had two directions of activity: First, they lent significant sums to kings and nobles so that they could survive difficult times or afford an expensive military operation.

Second, taking advantage of the fact that their castles and lands were scattered throughout almost the entire world known to Europeans, the Templars developed a system of lending to travelers and merchants, who could thus go on long trips without carrying cash with them. To carry out their numerous commercial and trading operations, the Templars acquired a huge fleet of ships, equipped with the latest technology of the time, which were based in the French port of La Rochelle.

Religious order or secret society?

Some authors believe that the knowledge of the Abbot of Clairvaux was not limited to the theological and philosophical sciences of those times, but that he was also quite versed in the mysteries of Hermetic Christology. Moreover, many claim that Bernard was a prominent member of the Priory of Sion and one of the "Keepers of the Great Secret", who, according to certain esoteric teachings, keep ancient secrets and a plan for achieving world domination.

This secret information is passed down from generation to generation through a few initiates, among whom we can name the Egyptian, Jesus, King David, Julian the Apostate, and other historical figures who swam against the tide of their era.

The same authors claim that Bernard conveyed secret information to the Templar elite, which they believe he kept, and chose the order to carry out a plan that had come down from the depths of centuries. In this case, the Templar Order was a medieval version of a sect dating back thousands of years, and not an ordinary military monastic brotherhood whose mission was to protect the pilgrims, which the Hospitallers of St. John did remarkably well without them.

One of the amazing facts that abound in the history of the Templars is their outstanding knowledge of architecture, which influenced the emergence of the Gothic style in the 12th century. It is generally accepted that the Templars organized and financed the construction of many cathedrals, the most famous of which is Chartres Cathedral. This temple was erected in 1194 on the site where previously there were pagan sanctuaries and a Druid school.

Today it has been proven that some underground currents and tectonic cracks converge here, which is why strange fluctuations occur from time to time. There is a rational explanation for this fact, which consists in the fact that in the ranks of the order there were scientists and specialists in a variety of sciences who could discover this exceptional phenomenon. According to more esoteric interpretations, the druids and pagan priests were also “keepers of the great secret” and passed on to their heirs the coordinates of the magical zone where altars stood in contact with the highest forces of the universe.

The Templar origin of Chartres Cathedral is beyond doubt, because on the floor of the main nave it is still possible to see a labyrinth marked with the symbols of the Templars, which are also present on some details of the interior decoration. Its design used innovative ideas and techniques, such as the polyhedral base, the improved form of the pointed arch or the use of the golden ratio, the appearance of which is dated by official history to the period of the evolution of the early Romanesque style, while authors inclined to an alternative description of history trace them back to the technique used Egyptian architects of the Great Pyramid.

This technique, according to some researchers, was preserved and passed on to descendants by the Phoenician masons of Tire, who worked on this monumental and mysterious work of art.

Harassment and collapse of the Templar Order

Thanks to the huge loans granted to European monarchs, the templars acquired serious influence and received the right to give strategic advice, and in certain circumstances, impose their decisions on pressing political, military or trade issues of a particular kingdom.

Some of the kings respected the Templars and listened to their advice, such as Stephen of England, who allowed them free entry into England and Scotland (which allowed the order to survive in difficult times), or Alphonse, the childless king of Aragon, who bequeathed his entire kingdom to the Templars .

When this king died in 1133, the Templars refused a generous inheritance in exchange for monetary compensation offered by Aragonese nobles, perhaps so as not to provoke the Muslims, against whom the late monarch had fought almost 300 battles.

Other kings, more submissive to the papal will, although also borrowed large sums from the Templars, or, perhaps precisely because of this, conspired against them, in which the church authorities were also involved, trying to undermine the enormous power that the Templars possessed.

The king of France, Philip the Fair, who owed a lot to the templars, was distinguished by the greatest zeal in this regard. In addition, the Templars pointedly demonstrated their power by abolishing French laws in part of the territory of his kingdom, where the fortress stood and the order’s headquarters were located. Philip understood that he could not defeat the order on his own, without influential support. Then he turned for help to Pope Clement V, who was also fed up with the Templars, and they agreed to act simultaneously and suddenly.

On a January night in 1307, the mercenaries of Philip the Fair arrested all members of the Templar Order, whom they were able to take by surprise. The next day, the Vatican ordered all bishops, abbots, kings and princes under his command to sequester the property of the Templars and without hesitation to arrest all the knights in their possessions.

Pope Clement officially dissolved the Knights Templar and excommunicated all masters and ordinary knights, giving their privileges to the Hospitallers of St. John, who at that time represented a kind of personal army of the pontiff. Carrying out this decree, the Supreme Court of the Inquisition prosecuted, imprisoned and sentenced many Templars, accusing them of “heresy, perjury, sodomy and Satanism.”

Many of them confessed to the most absurd crimes under torture or died during the torture. Others spent the rest of their lives in dungeons or were sold into slavery, while the Vatican, France and other kingdoms and dioceses appropriated castles, fiefs and other property of the order. But no matter how much the papists scoured all corners of Europe, they could not find the fabulous fortune that the Templars were rumored to possess.

The last Grand Master, Jacques de Molay, hid for 4 years, but was then captured by the Inquisition, brutally tortured and eventually burned at the stake. From the point of view of his cruel opponents and the common people, his death marked the final destruction of the Templar Order.

However, not all templars were captured by enemies and fell into the clutches of the Inquisition. In France, many of them found protection in the masons' union, with which they strengthened ties during the construction of cathedrals, in Spain they joined other military or religious orders, and in Germany they joined the Hanseatic Teutonic Knights. But most surprising of all was the disappearance of the huge Templar fleet from La Rochelle, which evaporated from the port on the very night when Philip the Fair began a dishonorable roundup of the Knights Templar.

The Lost Fleet of La Rochelle

The number and type of ships that made up the Templar fleet are not known for certain, but all sources call it “large” and “powerful.” There is also no information that would explain how these ships could disappear so suddenly at the most opportune moment.

A more acceptable version is that the leaders of the order were warned of the danger by spies at the French court or in the Vatican, and had a few hours or perhaps a couple of days to avoid the danger. This would explain why the ships were fully prepared for departure and the Templars, ready to flee, boarded them. According to some sources, de Molay himself also boarded the ship that night and was arrested 4 years later when returning to carry out a secret mission.

Various authors state that the large fleet was divided into no less than two flotillas, which, leaving the port, sailed in different directions in order to confuse their pursuers. Some of the ships headed to Portugal, another part to Scotland, and, probably, the third squadron entered the Mediterranean Sea to take refuge in Sicily.

Portugal was an ideal place where the ships of the Templars could quickly leave the open sea and hide from the observation of the papal ships, because it was relatively close to La Rochelle. In addition, the royal dynasty of Portugal, unlike France and Spain, traditionally maintained good relations with the order. Under the patronage of King Alfonso IV, the Templars founded an alternative brotherhood called the Order of the Knights of Christ, of which the monarch himself was the first Grand Master. Subsequently, the Grand Master of the Order of the Temple, which went underground, will be Prince Enrique the Navigator.

It is known that Prince Enrique took an active part in the first voyages to the shores and western islands of the African continent and in the geographical discoveries of such Portuguese sailors as Vasco da Gama and Pedro Alvares Cabral. The official purpose of these expeditions was to find a sea route to India, because land caravans were subject to constant attacks from Muslims.

However, it is very likely that Enrique, as Grand Master of the underground templars, saw ancient Phoenician and Arab maps, which indicated a huge unexplored continent located west of the Azores. Perhaps he wanted to test his ships in action and provide their captains with the opportunity to gain experience in long journeys along the coast of Africa before sending an interoceanic expedition in search of the lost continent. The idea of ​​such a voyage came to Columbus after contact with the Templars in Portugal and the Azores.

Other ships from the Templar fleet set sail for the shores of Great Britain, seeking to reach safe ports in Ireland. There they came into contact with the leader of the Scottish independence movement, Robert the Bruce, who was waging war against the British and their supporters. Bruce already controlled a significant part of the territory of Scotland, and neither papal bulls nor the authority of the Vatican were in effect in it, since Bruce himself was excommunicated from the Church for rebellion. He generously received the Templars, who in turn supported him in his campaign against England and its local allies.