The Knights Templar: 150 Subscriber Special
The Crusades just happen to be one of my favorite subjects in the world. A time where legends and heroes took to the battlefield and fought for what was right and just. One can hardly talk about the Crusades without talking about the linchpin, the cornerstone, and the most powerful Knights Templar. With out the Knights Templar fighting and innovating the way forward the Crusades could of been a much different time in history. So we begin without further delay with the History of the Knights Templar.
The First Crusade achieved a lot and recovered Jerusalem allowing pilgrims to visit. The road was long and hard; many didn't make it due to continuing attacks by Saracens. From about 1099 to 1119 they went mostly unchallenged. To defend the pilgrims a Frankish Knight named Hugues De Payens approached King Baldwin II of Jerusalem to suggest an monastic order dedicated to defending the pilgrims. King Baldwin II along with Warmund the patriarch of Jerusalem agreed to the request and the captured Al Aqsa (Which is supposed to of been built on the site of Solomon's Temple, also referred to as Temple Mount) built on a was given as the new headquarters. They were called "The Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon" or simply "The Knights Templar".
The order originally was made up of 9 Knights who were so poor that they often had to have two of them share a horse (A good War Horse back then was often only held by nobles and kings due to their enormous cost, a different smaller breed of horse was often used for more pedestrian matters). Their status as poor knights didn't last long as by 1129 one of the founding members (André de Montbard) nephew was a powerful monk by the name of (Saint) Bernard of Clairvaux. Bernard pushed the order far and wide and soon had many benefactors of power and wealth on their side. The Templars now fully recognized were getting lands and many first born nobles added to their ranks but the greatest boon to the order was yet to come. In 1139 the then Pope Innocent II released the Omne Datum Optimum a decree that allowed the Templars free reign over many lands and made them answerable to no one but the Pope himself.
The order continued to blossom and grow, they were the elite troops often turning losing battles to overwhelming victories. Just several hundred Templars added to a small army was able to overcome tens of thousands of Saracens often handing many humiliating defeats to Saracen General Saladin among many others. During this time frame the Knights Templar developed a then revolutionary idea. A pilgrim could give the Templar's their wealth and upon arriving in the Holy Land they would be able to reclaim it by their lending notes. In doing so the Knights Templar basically invented the modern banking system that we use to this day.
The Templar's wealth and power that they managed saw them acquire massive amounts of assets such as fleets of ships, massive structures such as churches and even the entire island of Cyprus. Though the Templar's power was vast they often were involved with disagreements with other knight orders and various other kinds of issues. This ended up weakening positions around the known world costing everyone dearly. Nearly 200 years of the order has passed and a change was coming and fast.
The Knight Templar's had become so wealthy by this time that they could bankroll entire nations on their own. It is said that King Philip IV was massively in debt to the Templar order that he couldn't hope to repay them. That is when the King betrayed the order in 1307 on a Friday the 13th. Some people to this day believe this is where the superstition started and the order went down hill from here. Leaders were captured and accused of heinous crimes as were other members of the order. King Philip IV put out the order to arrest them all and take their assets (for himself of course). They would eventually be exonerated by the current Pope (Clement) in 1308, the damage was done though and the order officially disbanded in 1312.
What follows is a bit more murky but evidence seems to pop up almost every day. The Templar's during their persecution managed to take a fleet of ships to Scotland and Norway. Along with descendants of the Vikings and others made their way to Greenland and Iceland. Eventually landing in Nova Scotia and exploring what would eventually be known as North America. Templar artifacts have been discovered mostly in North Eastern America long before Columbus. In the end it is said they eventually turned into "The Free Masons".
With that I will continue this next time at 200 subscribers and either do a different Knight order or just jump right into the first Crusade!
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