The gliding ghosts of the Templars, proud and fearless Knights of the Temple, surface in the waters of history. Once great and wise, they forever left a whole heap of mysteries about how they lived and why they left the visible horizons of the universe. No one now knows what they really were - sinful or saints. History hides the facts, offering numerous versions of the life of the once powerful order, whose treasures have not yet been found.
Nine knights once vowed to serve Christ with faith and truth and renounced all their titles. It was they who were destined to become the founders of the most mysterious order of the Middle Ages. Performing feats on the territory of Jerusalem, the future Templars came to the attention of the Jerusalem king Baldwin II.
The king and his knights were amazed at the devotion of service these nine possessed. Seeing that the knights had nothing, in 1118 Baldwin II ordered to place the mendicant knights near the Temple of the Lord, in the residence of the former Al-Aqsa mosque, erected, according to legend, on the territory of the Temple of King Solomon, and the Patriarch of Jerusalem made the Templars the Guardians of the Holy Sepulcher.
The new refuge of the knights determined their name - the Order of the Poor Knights of Jesus from the Temple of Solomon - Pauperurum Commilitonum Christi Templique Solamoniaci. In a more abbreviated version, the name sounds like the Order of the Temple, and its inhabitants are known to history as Templars or Templars.
"Not to us, Lord, not to us, but give your name glory …" - a line from Scripture adorned the black and white flag of the Order. From the very beginning, the Templars were really distinguished by a strict disposition and an ascetic attitude towards their own passions and desires.
Entering the order, the knights even renounced their relatives, wore simple clothes, ate bread and water, and had no right to own either gold or silver. The order demanded humility, and therefore every Templar had to renounce worldly life and take a vow of celibacy. A white cloak with a scarlet Maltese cross covered the rags of the Order's monk.
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In the name of God, the knights of the Temple guarded the roads along which pilgrims walked and fought against Islam, participating in the crusades. The Pope, the patriarchs of Constantinople and Jerusalem obliged all monarchs to entrust the Templars with the control of the purity and content of gold and silver in coins.
Over time, the Order of the Temple grew and began to become extremely influential. The Templars were fierce warriors who knew no fear of death. Mercilessly destroying the enemies of Christ, the knights of the Order of the Temple won respect not only in Jerusalem, but also far beyond its borders. From that moment on, a new history of the Order began. The knights began to participate in political divisions. For the crusades they were awarded lands, estates and gold from the French treasury.
The once poor order has turned into the richest secret organization capable of threatening any state in Europe. The fortune of the brothers who entered the order also fell into the treasury of the order, because the Templars did not need anything from worldly graces. There is evidence that even their main activity - the protection of the paths over time began to bring them considerable funds. Incorruptible servants of the order did not take taxes, they simply robbed passing caravans.
By the way, it was they, who knew the price of treasures well, but did not show personal interest in them, who were able to organize the first perfect banking system with bank checks and bills. Any merchant who led the caravan through the paths guarded by the Templars could deposit money in one commanding office and receive it in another by a loan letter. The Templars' income grew continuously, and they were nicknamed "the people of silver." Subsequently, there were versions that the Templars were able to get to America and extract silver from the mines of Peru and Mexico. Of course, such riches could not fail to cause envy and anger among competitors.
In the meantime, the august persons of England and France were generous with mercies. Louis VII, for example, exempted the Templars from taxes and handed over to the Order a building in La Rochelle. And Philip II Augustus trusted the Order of the Temple so much that he entrusted him with the protection of the entire treasury of France. Kings atone for sins with gold, sacrificing it to pious knights. By the middle of the 12th century, the Templars owned hundreds of castles in the Holy Land and many lands in Austria, England, Hungary, Germany, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Flanders, France and Scotland.
The Templars were trusted with everything that was classified. They owned the most terrible secrets of kings, were engaged in the delivery of correspondence throughout the Catholic world. As a result, these secrets turned against the Templars. The moment came when the Templars became too strong and rich, they had to be destroyed. The first to undertake this business was the King of France Philip the Handsome. According to his decree, three dozen Templars were arrested throughout France, including the last master of the Order, Jacques de Molay.
Admission of Jacques de Molay to the Order of the Templars, 1265 / François-Marius Granet
On the morning of March 1314, judges gathered at Notre Dame Cathedral, led by the ruthless Guillaume de Nogaret and the Bishop of Sansky. The sun's rays pierced the golden mitres on the bishop's staffs and cardinal robes. A truly insane play of colors of a pompous court and four accused of betraying Christ. The leaders of the Order of the Temple appeared before the court - Grand Master Jacques de Molay, General Visitor Hugues de Payrando, Prior of Normandy Geoffroy de Charnet and Commander of Aquitaine Geoffroy de Gonville. Four old men, exhausted by seven years of imprisonment, in dirty rags.
Jacques de Molay
The verdict was not long in coming, the knights of the Temple were charged with worshiping Satan, blasphemy, and Sodom's sin. The inquisitors vied with each other to tell fantastic stories, relying on the so-called witnesses. The Templars were accused of denying Christ, spitting on the crucifix during initiation into the brotherhood, desecrating the temple with witchcraft and worshiping the head of the demon Baphomet, as well as other talking heads of long-dead people.
The most incredible accusation was the testimony of eyewitnesses, according to which Satan himself participated in the meetings of the Order of the Temple in the form of a black cat who can express his thoughts in human language. Then there were fried babies, adultery with imaginable and unthinkable flora and fauna of medieval France, brotherly "love". Moreover, in each of the charges, there were witnesses who allegedly accidentally became eyewitnesses of all these acts.
Clement V interrogates the Templars
It is not hard to guess that the Templars were awaiting execution, and nothing could help them. But the Templars, who despised death, did not give up. The first to break the silence was the thunderous voice of the Grand Master Jacques de Molay:
Objection! I protest against the unjust verdict and affirm that all the crimes attributed to us are fictional from beginning to end! I am guilty of only one thing: that I could not resist your promises, threats and torture. I affirm before the face of the Lord God, who hears us, that the Order, whose Grand Master I am, is innocent.
Clement V
The Master was supported by the Prior of Normandy Geoffroy de Charnet: “We are the knights of Christ! Our charter is holy, just and Christian …”. The shouts of the Templars only added to the anger on the faces of the judges and the fury in the heart of King Philip the Fair. For seven years he sought to destroy the Order of the Temple, ruthlessly slaughtering the Templars throughout France, and now the moment has come to put an end to this matter. Philip the Fair, who owed the Order a lot of money, was of little interest in the Templars' dogmas and their faith, the august gaze was fixed on the untold treasures. The king was attracted by the ghostly glitter of gold, but most of all he feared the might of the Order. Philip gladly desecrated the white cloak of the warring monks, turning it inside out.
Philip IV the Handsome
The court announced the verdict: Jacques de Molay and Geoffroy de Charnet were expected to die by burning, the execution was scheduled for March 18. They were burnt alive in Paris, on the Jewish Island - just opposite the royal palace, between the royal garden and the church of the Augustinian monks - the Castle of the Temple (Tour du Temple). Philip the Handsome watched the execution from the windows of the palace gallery. Hugh de Perot and Geoffroy de Gonville had an equally awful fate - they perished forever in the dungeons of the Inquisition. Fate once again drew a historical sign with its hand, now a bridge with burning red lights stands over the place of death of the great Templars. At night, they reflect their light in the Seine, recalling the long-forgotten stories of the Order of the Temple.
Under cover of night, sergeants Philippe the Fair took the master and his loyal comrade Geoffroy de Charnet to the island. Among the witnesses to the execution was the poet and historian Godefroy of Paris. The chronicler testified to the calmness and dignity with which the Templars died. They went to the fire with inspired faces and faith in Christ. Before the execution, Jacques de Molay voluntarily undressed. Before being tied to a post, the master asked permission to kneel down and say a prayer for the last time. After praying, Jacques de Molay turned to the executioners and asked them to tie him to a post so that he could see Notre Dame Cathedral. His desire was immediately granted.
When the flame engulfed the master, Jacques de Molay stretched out his hand towards the royal palace and exclaimed: “Pope Clement! King! Guillaume de Nogaret! In less than a year, I will call you to the judgment of God! I curse you! A curse on your kind up to the thirteenth generation!"
By the will of fate, the curse came true. Clement died a month after the execution of the master. According to legend, the church, where the body of the pope was laid, prepared for burial, was struck by lightning at night during a thunderstorm. A fire broke out and the remains of the Pope were almost completely burned down. Immediately after Clement V, the executioner Guillaume de Nogaret died in terrible agony. After him, this world was left by King Philip, who was distinguished by excellent health. All those responsible for the destruction of the Order of the Temple left for another world under the weight of great sins. But the story of the curse did not end there. After several years, the heirs of Philip the Handsome died - three sons and one grandson.
The curse of the Templars smoothly spread throughout France. After the death of the Grand Master, France entered an era of bloody wars that lasted more than a hundred years. As promised by Jacques de Molay, the entire royal family was completely extinct up to the thirteenth generation. The story of the curse ended in 1789. Fate has played one of the finest jokes ever. Five centuries after the execution of Master Jacques de Molay, an extremely interesting story happened, which became the apogee of an ancient curse.
In 1793, Parisian revolutionaries sentenced King Louis XVI of France to death. The king was arrested and imprisoned in the very castle of the Temple, where the powerful clan of the Templars once ruled. In the morning, Louis XVI was put in a cart. Probably, he managed to take a last look at the Temple Castle and think about something. Further, a guillotine, a wicker basket and hundreds of onlookers hungry for blood awaited him. They say that when the knife of the guillotine fell and the head of Louis XVI fell into the basket, a man came out of the crowd of onlookers, climbed the scaffold and sprinkled the blood of the king on his right hand, exclaimed: "Jacques de Molay, you are avenged!"
The execution of Louis XVI
The secrets of the Order of the Temple still haunt many researchers. On the one hand, the Templars were skilled warrior monks, on the other, they were the owners of secret knowledge and relics. First of all, this concerns the Holy Grail and the Turin Shroud. Dozens of confessions of the Templars received by the Holy Inquisition add fuel to the fire of this story.
Under torture, the Templars talked about a certain head of the demon Baphomet, thanks to which the Templars received secret knowledge. The name of this demon is a distorted designation of the Arabic word bufihimat, which means "the father of wisdom", that is, God. There is evidence that the head of Baphomet meant the image of the head of Christ on the Turin shroud or the severed head of John the Baptist.
The death of the Order of the Temple is surrounded by many riddles and speculations that hardly anyone is able to solve. The death of the Order is as mysterious as its appearance. The story of how nine poor knights received the attention of the king and became the guardians of the Holy Sepulcher is too dubious to be believed unconditionally. There is a version according to which the mendicant knights were spies of an older and more powerful Order. And they came to the Holy Land not at all to fight Islam and protect Christians - they were looking for secret knowledge and relics.
At the end of the life of the Order of the Temple, the Templars possessed the Holy Grail and the Turin Shroud, as well as untold riches, because of which the Order perished. When Philip entered the Temple of Temple to take possession of the treasures, the brothers did not interfere with him, because they could not raise weapons against the Christian, but the treasury of the castle was empty, there were not even sacred vessels. The wealth of the Templars did not go to anyone. They disappeared together with the order in the haze of history, forever leaving hope for seekers of treasures and adventures.
Used materials from the article by Artem Privolov