Remembering the Templars

Introduction
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Roman Catholic Church military orders. Today they still are one of the most fascinating, even mysterious chapters of medieval times. Founded during the High Middle Ages after the First Crusade to help protect Christian pilgrims, the organization lasted for nearly two centuries and had a great impact in the then know world for some of their innovations and the impact they had then on the fringes of the Christian world.

The order was created in France and officially endorsed by Roman Catholic Church around 1129. It rose to become a favored charity throughout Christendom, and grew rapidly in membership and power. A military order of warrior monks, the Templar Knights in their distinctive white mantles with a red cross, were among the most skilled fighting units of the Crusades. Non-combatant members of the Order managed a large economic infrastructure throughout Christendom, innovating financial techniques that were an early form of banking, and building fortifications across Europe and the Holy Land.

The Templars' existence was tied closely to the Crusades; when the Holy Land was lost, support for the Order faded. Rumors about the Templars' secret initiation ceremony created mistrust, and King Philip IV of France (Philippe le Bel), deeply in debt to the Order, took advantage of the situation. In 1307, many of the Order's members in France were charged with heresy, arrested, tortured into giving false confessions, and then burned at the stake. Under pressure from King Philip, Pope Clement V disbanded the Order in 1312. The abrupt disappearance of a major part of the European infrastructure, the forced heretic confessions and intentional rumors aimed to discredit the order gave rise to speculation and legends which have kept the Templar name alive to the modern day. Only recently did we learn that in 1314 the Order had secretly been pardoned by Pope Clement V.

The Crusades and the Reconquista
The Crusades was one of the most important events of the period, consisting in a series of religious Crusades, in which Christians fought to retake Palestine from the Seljuk Turks. The Crusades impacted all levels of society in the High Middle Ages, from the kings and emperors who themselves led the Crusades, to the lowest peasants whose lords were often absent in the east. The height of the Crusades was the 12th century, following the First Crusade and the foundation of the Crusader states; in the 13th century and beyond, Crusades were also directed against fellow Christians, and in eastern and northern Europe, non-Muslim pagans. Expanded contact with the east, especially among the city-states of Italy, would eventually help spark the Italian Renaissance, that then spread throughout the whole of western Christendom. The late German 18th century theater play "Nathan the Wise" that unfolds in the 12th century Jerusalem can be interesting to better contextualize the epoch.

Freemasonry
Since at least the 18th century Freemasonry has incorporated Templar symbols and rituals in a number of Masonic bodies, most notably, the "Order of the Temple" the final order joined in "The United Religious, Military and Masonic Orders of the Temple and of St John of Jerusalem, Palestine, Rhodes and Malta" commonly known as the Knights Templar. One theory of the origins of Freemasonry claims direct descent from the historical Knights Templar through its final fourteenth-century members who took refuge in Scotland, or other countries where the Templar suppression was not enforced. This theory is usually deprecated on grounds of lack of evidence, by both Masonic authorities (See Knights Templar FAQ) and historians (See Freemasonry Today periodical (Issue January 2002) publisher Grand Lodge Publications Ltd).

Literature

 * Foucault's Pendulum (1988) a novel by Umberto Eco, in large part the plot relies in speculation and fiction regarding the Templars.

Cinema and TV
Last Stand of the Templars (4 Apr. 2011) a National Geographic Channel documentary. Featuring a contemporaneous examination of the Battle at Jacob's Fordone, a crucial part of the Templars' past by Dr. Ronnie Ellenblum and his archaeological team.

Ironclad a fictional movie based in the historic facts of 13th-century (1215) England. Portraying Church, Templars and the general English political situation, in particular King John's response to the Magna Carta and the subsequent battle for Rochester Castle.

Forbidden History Season 4 Episode 4, covers the legends and speculations around the Templars with few factual and sourced material in it.