The history of the Knights Templar, founded in the 12th century to protect pilgrims, is closely linked to European socio-economic policy. Creditors of kings, all-powerful bankers, warriors and heretics who have lost their conscience - who were these knightly monks really? And is it true that it was money-grubbing that killed them?
On the dark night of October 13, 1307, a cavalcade of knights hastily set out from the small Flemish town of Saint-Léger. Their path lay to the north, where the power of Philip IV of France did not stretch, and nothing threatened them. Anticipating this maneuver, the royal provost decided to "cut off" Saint-Léger just from the north and moved to intercept the cavalcade with an armed detachment. The official was afraid to be late, but - amazing! - the footprints on the road showed: no one left the town in the last hours. On the contrary, it turned out that several horsemen from the north rode his own course about half an hour ago. Are the arrogant templars so distraught that they called for help, deciding to defend themselves from the legitimate authorities? It was only when he discovered the empty commandery of Saint-Léger in the morning and learned that the Templars had reforged horses the night before, did the provost realize how cleverly he was played …
“The further fate of the Templars from Saint-Léger is unknown to us,” - so often researchers have to say when it comes to the knights of this Order, who left history in the same way as from Saint-Léger - into the unknown. However, we can tell who these elusive knights were and why the French king pursued them.
Where did the monks get the money?
Several decades have passed since the formation of the Order, and the white cloaks of the Templars with a red cross began to inspire terror in the East and envy in the West. After the Order was officially recognized at the Council of Troyes in 1128, the Templars did not immediately go home to Jerusalem. At first, they traveled to Europe, opening branches of the Order, and most importantly, accepting donations for the noble service in the Holy Land. The gifts were different: from a copper penny to huge estates, which were endowed with the Order by the Queen of Portugal, the French king, the Count of Barcelona … "Competition of generosity" was won by Alfonso of Aragon, who bequeathed his kingdom equally to three Orders (Templars, Hospitallers and Knights of the Holy Sepulcher).
The symbol of the Order, adopted in 1168, emphasized the poverty of the templars.
Catholic hierarchs did not stand aside: European prelates transferred lands, churches, and the rights to collect tithes to the templars! Merchants and artisans did not lag behind, giving houses, shops, parts of land to the Order, among donations there is also the right to use hay from some meadow, part of a swamp, barn, cattle, horses … In return, donors received joy from doing a godly deed and the prospect of lying after death at the order cemetery. The Templars made dozens of their economic units - the commanderships - from donations. The money came in very handy: the maintenance of combat-ready troops and castles in Palestine was fabulously expensive, trophies and indemnities alone will not do. To financially support actions in the East, the Templars created an international financial corporation in Europe - according to all the rules of medieval banking,which is discussed below. Chronicler Matthew Paris in the XIII century estimated the number of commanderships at 9 thousand, and this number is clearly overestimated, but there is no doubt about the figure of 800-900. The commanderships were unevenly distributed, the Order had not yet acquired "internationality", the lion's share of the economic cells fell on the territory of modern France. In the beginning, these were typical agricultural estates run by a few brothers or leased out. Later, the templars were able to choose places for the commandership where it was necessary to protect the pilgrims.the lion's share of economic cells fell on the territory of modern France. In the beginning, these were typical agricultural estates run by a few brothers or leased out. Later, the templars were able to choose places for the commandership where it was necessary to protect the pilgrims.the lion's share of economic cells fell on the territory of modern France. In the beginning, these were typical agricultural estates run by a few brothers or leased out. Later, the templars were able to choose places for the commandership where it was necessary to protect the pilgrims.
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After the founding of the crusader states in the East, thousands and thousands of people embarked on long and costly travels, and not always voluntarily: the church could also impose obedience on a repentant heretic, for example. These travels, however, were not safe, and an organization like the Templar turned out to be very appropriate. In the then Christian world, there were two main pilgrimage routes: to Jerusalem from Western Europe through the ports of Marseille, Pisa, Genoa, Bari or Brindisi and to Santiago de Compostella - to the place of the supposed burial of the Apostle James - through Languedoc, Vizcaya and Asturias. The routes coincided with the main trade communications of the era, so the commanders were located at a distance of a day's transition from each other. Having created a network of such strong points,The Templars helped the pilgrims not only in matters of personal protection and comfort, but also in the safety of property during the trip, as well as travel loans. Soon such loans and the transfer of land to the Templars in "trust management" became popular ways of obtaining money on credit. Unsurprisingly, the Order has become one of the wealthiest owners in Europe.
Drang Nach Osten from the 11th century
In 1095, in the provincial French city of Clermont, Pope Urban II, from the square in front of the Cathedral, called on bishops, barons and knights to march against the Muslims who occupied Palestine and return the Holy Sepulcher.
The reason was the blatant facts of oppression of Christians, about which the Byzantine emperor Alexei Komnenos wrote, and Urban's call made a huge impression. Europe responded passionately: tens of thousands of townspeople and peasants left their homes in families, artisans and merchants sold shops, monks abandoned monasteries and rushed to Jerusalem. A more serious force followed them: in 1097, knightly detachments, led by the most noble barons, invaded the territory of the Middle Eastern emirates and a year later took the Holy City. The Kingdom of Jerusalem and three Christian principalities arose: Edessa, Antioch and Tripoli. Their territories were divided into senior feuds (fiefs), and some of the soldiers, of course, got "the best pieces", others - worse, and some - nothing at all.
It was the knights-"losers" who formed the knightly communities - brotherhoods, one of which eventually turned into the order of the Knights Templar.
The Temple, built in Paris in 1240, was destroyed in the 19th century. Now, on the site of the fortress, there is a metro station of the same name, and only the heavy doors stored in Vincennes remain from the castle.
Financiers "from God"
The order was supposed to unite respectable knights who did not seek profit by deception: monks, by definition, are deprived of their personal property. But the author of the Templars 'charter took into account the "human factor", and the articles regulating the brothers' relationship with money looked more than harsh. An ordinary knight or sergeant was forbidden to use any state sums without special permission, and if, after the death of the templar, hidden coins or other evidence of his financial untidiness were found, over such it was ordered not to read prayers for the dead and not to bury him in consecrated ground. The charter made no exceptions even for the master. There were also special conditions that impeded the commercial activities of this first "World Bank": the Order could not give money for growth - the church condemned usury. But the Templars found a way out!They hid the net profit from the transaction and did not formally receive interest on loans. The first documents on such financial affairs date back to 1135 and tell of a loan to an elderly couple who went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. There is no agreed percentage in the agreement - upon the return of the spouses to France, the Templars were going to get back the same amount that they had given out. And while the pilgrims traveled, the Order received all the benefits from their possessions. And while the pilgrims traveled, the Order received all the benefits from their possessions. And while the pilgrims traveled, the Order received all the benefits from their possessions.
And how was the issue of landless people resolved? Their documents initially indicated a larger loan amount than the one that went to the recipient. In this case, a pledge was required, for example, in the form of jewelry. The rates of such hidden lending were not advertised, but some historians (for example, Pierce Paul Reid in The Templars) believe that they were initially moderate - about 12% per annum - despite the fact that the most reliable and famous bankers of the era, the Lombards, demanded 24 ! How did the latter not go broke when faced with such dumping competition? Everything is simple: fearing accusations of usury, the templars issued loans only for godly deeds. And this was enough for them with interest.
The loss of Jerusalem by the crusaders in 1187 forced the master to think about alternative sources of income, and the commanders began full-fledged banking activities: they issue loans, guarantee other people's financial transactions, carry out what we call money transfers. A current account was opened for each client: everyone, having made a certain amount, say, in Normandy, could easily receive it somewhere in Acre, and already converted: into marks, livres, maravedis. There is no need to tremble in front of robbers on their travels, it is enough to have with you only a loan letter, encrypted for fidelity. Apparently, the treasurers of the commanderships were able to recognize the authenticity of such letters, but how exactly, we do not yet know. The knights financiers also carried out non-cash payments, making the appropriate entries in the books. Contracts were even signed for the provision of audit services and supervision of the receipt of funds to the client. In general, contemporaries said: "there are more accounting books in the commanders than spiritual books." This is not to say that the Templars invented banking: they borrowed a lot from Lombard bankers and Italian merchants, but one thing is indisputable: thanks to a network of commanders that covered almost all of Europe, the Templars created a transnational financial system for the first time.the templars first created a transnational financial system.the templars first created a transnational financial system.
They managed to solve the main trade problem - the safe movement of funds. The Order had competitors, and not only Lombards: other monastic orders also provided financial services to clients, but only the Templars managed to create a single financial corporation. By the way, one of the main creators of the Templar financial empire, brother Eustache, who in 1165 became the treasury adviser to the French king Louis VII, was a Lombard.
The chain of commanders, densely "planted" on the most important trade routes, allowed the Order to provide non-financial services, for example, for the delivery of urgent mail. The Templars even set a record - a letter from Acre arrived in London 13 weeks after it was sent - an unheard-of speed for the Middle Ages. There were also other strongholds: in La Rochelle, Genoa, and the main one - in the famous Temple Castle in the center of Paris. It was the residence of the French master - the largest commandery with an area of more than six hectares, with a huge donjon tower, where funds were kept, surrounded by a powerful wall with special windows. Through these "cash windows" numerous "operators", modest clerks of the great Order, received and handed over coins, bills of exchange, letters of guarantee - day after day, year after year.
Bernard of Clairvaux (1091 - 1153) - one of the founders of the Knights Templar.
In 1118, nine knights, led by Hugh de Payne and Geoffrey de Saint-Omer, approached King Baudouin II of Jerusalem with a proposal to create a special guard, a kind of "bodyguard" agency to protect pilgrims to the Holy Places. The monarch allocated plots of land to the new organization, including a part of the royal residence, which was adjacent to the so-called Temple of Solomon. The temple had nothing to do with the biblical king - it was an Arab building, but the knights were convinced of the opposite, and the name "templars" (templiers from temple, "temple") was soon assigned to them.
Another decade passed, and in 1128 six Templars appeared at a church council in Troyes, France, where they were received with extraordinary honor: the fame of the Palestinian "militia" reached Europe. The patronage of influential persons, like the Counts of Champagne and Anjou, also played a role, and the nephew of one of the founders, Bernard of Clairvaux, the head of the powerful Cistercian order, also developed a charter based on the Cistercian model. At first, the charter included 72 articles that regulated not only the monastic aspects of the life of the Order, but also the military. The brothers were divided into knights and sergeants, depending on their origin ("pure" priests were added later). Both of them took vows of chastity, poverty and obedience. The main figure was declared to be the Grand Master with headquarters in Jerusalem,and elected him by a special meeting - the convention. Below in the hierarchy were the Grand Seneschal, the Grand Marshal and the commanders of the largest fortresses in the East, and in Europe (divided into order provinces) - the regional masters and the great visitor ("overseer"), something like the "permanent representative" of the Grand Master in Europe. Soon, the Order found its distinctive sign - a red cross on a white field, a symbol of purity and faith.
Seniors in bondage to vassals
One common misconception is that the Templars formed a kind of "shadow government" for all of Europe, holding ministers and kings in their hands. This is not so: the monarchs of England, Germany, France most often treated the Order without reverence. History has preserved examples of how these monarchs simply appointed masters from among their entourage, and the convention put up with this. (So, Richard the Lionheart put his admiral Robert de Sable in this position, and the proteges of the French court were Renaud de Vichier and Guillaume de God). High persons robbed the Order, and even publicly humiliated their masters, although they were equated in position with cardinals and were subject only to the Pope. It is known that the disgraced and repeatedly excommunicated German emperor Frederick II completely expelled the Templars from their possessions,transferring a significant part of their property to the Teutonic knights, after the templars did not support him in the Crusade, and according to some reports, even tried to organize his assassination.
French King Philip IV the Handsome (1268 - 1314).
But even having surrendered some positions, the Knights of the Temple remained the largest players in the financial market of Europe in the XII-XIII centuries. They were creditors of many European rulers, which in the medieval political situation, however, did not allow them to dictate terms to high-ranking debtors. The solution was to become the treasurers of these debtors. In 1204, brother Aymar was appointed “finance minister” of Philippe-Augustus of France, and in 1263 the same position at the court of Louis IX was held by brother Amaury de La Roche. The Templars helped to collect direct and extraordinary taxes, escorted caravans with the collected money to Paris, and were responsible for collecting a special bribe for the new crusades. The knights did their best to ensure that none of the brothers abused the trust of the kings: if the Templars were accused of embezzlement,this would be an excellent excuse to confiscate their enviable wealth. Faced with malicious non-payments, they used heavy artillery: the bull of Pope Lucius III is known, where he demands from the bishops of the South of France to return the debts to the Temple within a month.
With all the outstanding successes of the Order by the end of the XII century, its overall reputation deteriorated. First of all, because of the events in the Holy Land, where the templars, who had two dozen powerful castles and an army of 300 knights and several thousand sergeants, could not defend Jerusalem. The interests of the Templars were often at odds with the interests of the crusading states and other orders. As a result, they thwarted diplomatic agreements, fought in internecine wars, took part in the wars of the Italian republics, and even raised their sword at the Hospitaller brothers! Everyone remembered how, after the fall of Jerusalem, the conqueror Saladin offered favorable conditions for the ransom of pilgrims and residents who remained in the city, but the fabulously rich Order, created to protect these people, did not give a penny. Sixteen thousand Christians then went into slavery!
And treachery? Here the templars provide refuge to the influential Arab Sheikh Nasruddin, a contender for the throne in Cairo, who even wished to accept Christianity, but then he … they sell him to his enemies in his homeland for 60 thousand dinars. The unfortunate man was immediately executed. When in 1199 the Templars refused to return the deposited funds of the Bishop of Sidon, he in a rage anathematized the entire Order, and the scandal caused a lot of noise. Rumors of shameful deeds spread throughout Europe. Pope Innocent III even wrote to the Grand Master in 1207: "The crimes of your brothers make us extremely sad … their [monastic] clothes are pure hypocrisy."
Water for the same mill lila and the strategic mediocrity of the command. Everyone knew about the sad role of Master Gerard de Ridfort in the decisive battle with the Muslims at Hattin, where all the Templars who took part in it died: Ridfor persuaded the last king of Jerusalem, Guy de Lusignan, to make a suicidal march. Later, when all the templars captured by Saladin were executed, this would-be adviser remained alive and, being in captivity, ordered the surrender of the Gaza fortress to the enemy.
Friday the thirteenth
… But still, no one expected such a cruel denouement: early in the morning, on Friday October 13, 1307, all the Templars of France were arrested. Royal agents also broke into the Temple, where they arrested the greatest master, Jacques de Molay, the great visitor Hugo de Peyrot, the treasurer and four other high dignitaries of the Order. The action had been prepared for a long time: two months before the fateful day, all the royal bailies and provosts received secret letters with detailed instructions, and the notaries carried out an inventory of the doomed property in advance. Official accusations against the templars sounded terrible: heresy and idolatry, mass sodomy and desecration of shrines. They announced that they were spitting on the cross, eating the bodies of deceased comrades and babies, serving Mass to the devil, whose name is Baphomet. The complete list was 117 charges. According to the inquisitorial procedure, the templars were tortured. Later, one of them testified before the papal commission about dozens of brothers who died in dungeons, and as evidence even showed his heel bones, exposed after roasting in a brazier. Another "defendant" admitted that if the torture he had already experienced was repeated to him, he would confess that he had killed Christ himself.
Pope Clement V (1264 - 1314) formally blessed the defeat of the Knights Templar.
Under torture, the arrested admitted only some of the charges from the list presented, but almost everyone confessed to blasphemous desecration of the cross. However, when the pope created his own commission of inquiry, most of the templars said that their confessions were made under torture, and they recanted their previous testimony. When, on the orders of King Philip the Fair, 54 Templars were burnt near Paris, who had renounced violent confessions as “having fallen into heresy for the second time,” the Order lost its desire to fight. By decision of the Viennese cathedral in 1312, it was dissolved.
Under French pressure, Pontiff Clement V unconditionally renounced the Order: “we … prohibit the Templar Order, its charter, clothing and name … we completely prohibit it; anyone who from this time calls himself by his name, or wears his clothes, or behaves like a Templar, will be excommunicated. In addition, we will confiscate all the property and lands of the Order …”All the possessions of the Templars went primarily to the Hospitallers, as well as to other knightly orders, or returned to the donors of valuables. The trials of the templars took place in almost all European countries, but outside France, most of them simply disappeared or switched to other orders, and in Portugal the local "branch" was completely preserved, giving it a new name - the Order of Christ.
Chronology
- 1118 - the first mention of the brotherhood of knights, which would later become the Order of the Templars
- 1120 - the brotherhood receives as a residence part of the al-Aqsa mosque, which was considered the Temple of Solomon
- 1128 - the church council in Troyes adopts the official charter of the Order, the Order receives various possessions in France
- 1129 - the brotherhood receives its first possessions in Europe - from Queen Teresa of Portugal
- 1134 - death of Alfonso, king of Aragon, who bequeathed his kingdom to three orders: the Templars, the Hospitallers and the Order of the Holy Sepulcher
- 1135 - the first evidence of the financial activities of the Order
- 1137 - The Order receives its first possessions in England from Queen Matilda
- 1139 - the first papal bull to grant privileges to the templars
- 1165 - Templars become financial advisors to the French court
- 1170 - the Templars receive their first possessions in Germany
- 1187 - Battle of Hattin, the army of the Order is completely destroyed. Saladin captures Jerusalem
- 1191 - Templars settle in new headquarters in Acre
- 1204 - Templars become treasurers of the French kingdom
- 1204 - the capture of Constantinople by the crusaders. The order receives various possessions in Greece
- 1248-1254 - crusade of the French King Louis IX Saint to Tunisia. Almost all the Templars who took part in it died.
- 1291 - Fall of Acre. The Templars lose their last stronghold in the Holy Land
- 1307 - a big "Templar pogrom" in France and the beginning of the trial of the Order
- 1312 - the Pope dissolves the Order
- 1314 - trial of the highest dignitaries of the Order
The stingy and pauper knight
And now, having an external outline of events before our eyes and given the almost complete absence of sources, we will try to understand the true reasons for the fall of the Templars. The most widely circulated version says: the greedy King Philip IV inspired the beating of the templars in order to seize their treasures and lands. Why not? A little earlier, in about the same way, the French king dealt with the main financiers of the era - Jews and Lombards. However, upon closer examination, the scheme "greedy Philip versus rich templars" is not supported by anything. Therefore, let us ask ourselves the question: was the Order so rich in 1307? The powerful financial organization considered above, it would seem, automatically assumes a positive answer, but the development of a system that tried to combine incompatible principles - economic genius and religious charter,- led to its collapse.
Tomar Castle in Portugal after the destruction of the Templar Order became the headquarters of its successor - Order of Jesus.
By the time of the bloody denouement, two of the three main sources of income of the Order had been in crisis for a century: the service of pilgrims, whose number had steadily decreased with the loss of the Holy Places, was dwindling, which means that donations to the Order were also reduced. The fact is confirmed by the analysis of the surviving cartularies (vaults of letters) of several French provinces: since the beginning of the 13th century, donations to the Templars have decreased significantly, and since the second half they have been reduced to a minimum (as a result of the bad reputation we wrote about above).
Did the Order possess colossal treasures at that time? In the materials of the investigation process, there is no mention of the return of lands, money and valuables that were pledged. Obviously, the financial activities of the Order at that time were in crisis, they had nothing to give. The royal agents who followed the activities of the commanders, who broke into the abodes of the Templars on Friday the 13th, found of all the treasures they were looking for, only the usual church utensils indicated in the inventory mentioned above. Now about politics. Where have influential defenders of the rich templars gone (for example, the aristocracy of states remote from France)? Why did they not raise their voices in defense of the "great bank"After all, the support of such rich people could turn out to be a considerable benefit for them? Could the hypothetical wealth of the Order be the direct cause of its death?
Let us assume that mythical “treasures” existed, and let us determine what we are talking about: in the charter of the Order, the concept of “treasure” was naturally absent. There was a treasury of the Order, a treasury of the provinces and individual central commanders. In the year of the dissolution of the Templars, in the same 1312, their main treasury was in Cyprus, which is recorded in the documents of the process of the Cypriot Templars, and its further fate is unknown. The treasury of the "English wing" was largely transported to the East in the second half of the XIII century and, most likely, was spent there for the natural needs of the Order. Funds of the Portuguese Templars went to the newly minted Order of Christ. As for Spain, then, given that garrisons and castles were located there, which required high maintenance costs, then, according to indirect evidence,the funds were spent on the payment of life pensions to the Spanish Templars. This means that we should be concerned about the fate of the largest treasury - the French templars from the Parisian Temple.
Knights and demon
The historical tradition and after it the mass culture rush into demonization, then into the romanticization of the Templars. In addition to the confusing speculations that the Templars brought to Europe and hid the Holy Grail somewhere (as the infamous Dan Brown claims in his novel The Da Vinci Code, the main ideas of which he learned from the authors of the book The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, Michael Baigent and Richard Lee), there are a lot of versions circulating about the accusations of the Templars of heresy. One of the reasons for this was the worship of Baphomet, an "idol" of still unknown origin: after all, some of the arrested templars confirmed that they had worshiped a certain mysterious head. Later, a reliquary in the form of this head appeared in the trial as material evidence, but the forced descriptions of it were so different from each other and from this head,that it was impossible to identify her. As for the strange name, various characters appeared under it, for example, the Masons describe him as a demon of wisdom, crowned with the head of a goat or a rooster, bearded or beardless, with or without wings. The scientific version of the origin of Baphomet is as follows: the tested Templars confessed under torture - the traitors who betrayed their faith, they say, worship Mohammed, that is, they convert to Islam. For medieval scribes who knew little about this religion, the name sounded quite "demonic", and they wrote it down as they heard it. Philologists call the linguistic adventures of Mohammed "the old French bastardization of the name", confirming this with the surviving poem of the middle of the 13th century, where Mohammed is called Baphomet. Freemasons describe him as a demon of wisdom, crowned with the head of a goat or rooster, bearded or beardless, with or without wings. The scientific version of the origin of Baphomet is as follows: the tested Templars confessed under torture - the traitors who betrayed their faith, they say, worship Mohammed, that is, they convert to Islam. For medieval scribes who knew little about this religion, the name sounded quite "demonic", and they wrote it down as they heard it. Philologists call the linguistic adventures of Mohammed "the old French bastardization of the name", confirming this with the surviving poem of the middle of the 13th century, where Mohammed is called Baphomet. Freemasons describe him as a demon of wisdom, crowned with the head of a goat or rooster, bearded or beardless, with or without wings. The scientific version of the origin of Baphomet is as follows: the tested Templars confessed under torture - the traitors who betrayed their faith, they say, worship Mohammed, that is, they convert to Islam. For medieval scribes who knew little about this religion, the name sounded quite "demonic", and they wrote it down as they heard it. Philologists call the linguistic adventures of Mohammed "the old French bastardization of the name", confirming this with the surviving poem of the middle of the 13th century, where Mohammed is called Baphomet.worship Mohammed, that is, they accept Islam. For medieval scribes who knew little about this religion, the name sounded quite "demonic", and they wrote it down as they heard it. Philologists call the linguistic adventures of Mohammed "the old French bastardization of the name", confirming this with the surviving poem of the middle of the 13th century, where Mohammed is called Baphomet.worship Mohammed, that is, they accept Islam. For medieval scribes who knew little about this religion, the name sounded quite "demonic", and they wrote it down as they heard it. Philologists call the linguistic adventures of Mahomet "the old French bastardization of the name", confirming this with the surviving poem of the mid-13th century, where Mahomet is called Baphomet.
Where is the treasure?
Hypnotized by the "secret of the Templars' treasures," the authors are divided into two groups: some write that Philip IV, having seized the treasury of the Order, significantly enriched himself, while others - that his emissaries did not find a penny in the Temple. In fact, historians do not have a single document telling about what was in the Temple on the ill-fated Friday. Improvement of the financial situation in France in subsequent years was not noticed. This means that if something was requisitioned from the Temple, then either very insignificant amounts, or all the riches of the Order were hidden, which is unlikely - the state at that time was in dire need of funds. In theory, the Order could possess treasures, priceless relics, and important documents, and probably had the ability to hide them. The trouble is that the stories about 15 galleys who sailed from La Rochelle, wandering from article to article, from novel to novel,the mysterious hay wagons that left the Temple on the night before the raid are not only completely invented, but also do not agree with one consideration. There was no one to hide the Templars' money: the entire top of the Order was at that time under arrest and actively collaborated with the royal prosecutors.
Jacques de Molay - the last, twenty-second, Grand Master of the Order.
Here, however, we will delight the lovers of riddles - the name of the Master of France Gerard de Villiers, one of the most influential dignitaries of the Order, for some unknown reason does not appear in the materials of the trial. What happened to him? Did he die suddenly? Was he killed? Or did he … manage to escape - along with wealth and relics? But where and how? A huge number of articles and publications of varying severity are devoted to this riddle. Sometimes they write about the flight to Scotland and even call the cherished Rosslyn chapel, but in Scotland there were only a few commanderships and a dozen Templars, and the chapel has nothing to do with the Order. Canadian Alan Butler writes about the "Swiss vector": supposedly it was the treasures of the Order that laid the financial foundation of this future bankers' state 500 years later, but even a century after the trial, the Swiss were considered savages in Europe,and the Order did not have possessions there.
The place where the Templars could evacuate the Templar treasury was to be out of the reach of the French king and have a powerful paramilitary structure of the Order. Portugal and Spain come to mind: after all, the Portuguese Order of Christ became the heir to the local branch of the Templars. The Templar Red Cross was depicted on the white sails of Columbus's ships, and Tomar Castle - the headquarters of the Templars in Portugal - still boggles the mind with its size and grandeur. These conclusions, however, are hindered by the fact that the Portuguese Templars obeyed not the Grand Master, but the Portuguese king. And yet, who knows - maybe some castle in the Pyrenees still keeps the wealth of the knights-bankers in the dungeons?
What killed the order?
So, if not the hypothetical treasures of the Order played a cruel joke on its fate, then what? The soul of banking is not keeping money in safes, but financial transactions. And they, during the time of Philip IV, who was strengthening the monarchy, gradually came to a standstill. And although we do not have the opportunity to step by step trace the movement of cash flows at the specified time, one thing is clear: the Templars' money "worked", and not least for the French king. For example, the last master, Jacques de Molay, who arrived on the eve of the massacre of the Order from Cyprus, discovered: the treasurer of the French Temple gave Philip IV a huge loan … without asking the master's permission. Such a violation of the chain of command was a crime for de Molay, the treasurer was expelled in disgrace, the intercession of neither the king nor the pope helped him. If de Molay insisted on repayment of the loan,did the royal treasury have the opportunity to settle accounts with the templars? Wasn't it easier for the king to disperse the Order in order to eliminate the inconvenient creditor? Philip, irreconcilable to opposition, acted according to the laws of the time: he was not satisfied with the existence of such an independent corporation, he even read one of his sons as a master, but received a daring refusal. So the king had not only financial, but also political reasons for wanting his defeat.
After the burning of 54 templars near Paris, Viennese Cathedral dissolved the Order in 1312.
The complexity of the situation with the templars was aggravated by the fact that they were ministers of the church. God-fearing Philip began to hate monks who had missed the Holy Sepulcher, who were odiously famous for their money-grubbing and were accused of heresy. Two words about the former patron of the templars - Pope Clement V, relations with whom were no better than with Philip. De Molay rejected the pontiff's idea of uniting the Knights Templar with the Hospitallers, which was useful for the crusading movement, and in general, he seemed to go too far. The chronicler writes: having received a papal letter with a request to pardon the treasurer of the Parisian Temple, de Molay threw it into the fire without reading it. The order set out to play the same player in Europe as in the East, where it did not reckon with either the local church or the aristocracy. The Templars overestimated their strength. Their bad reputation and unpopularityarrogance and unwillingness to obey secular and spiritual authorities, financial influence, no longer backed up by real military force, coupled with exaggerated rumor of wealth, led the Order to an inglorious end.
In 1314, four of the highest dignitaries of the Order were sentenced to life imprisonment. According to legend, upon hearing the verdict, the Grand Master and Prior of Normandy declared loudly: the Order is holy and innocent, and they themselves are guilty only of betraying and slandering it. On the same day, the sentence was changed and they were burned at the stake. Tradition says that the old man de Molay, engulfed in flames, cried out: "The king and the pope have power over our bodies, but not over souls!" Cursing his destroyers, de Molay promised to call them to the judgment of God within a year. And no matter how we relate to this legend, but Pope Clement V and King Philip IV really died on the appointed date, and the latter under unclear circumstances. A century and a half of disasters awaited France - the extinction of the royal dynasty, the plague, the Hundred Years War.
Author: Eduard Zaborovsky