On a day in March in 1314, after seven years of questioning, imprisonment and brutal torture, two old men were dragged from their cells through the crowded streets of Paris and on an island in the Seine were tied to stakes over piles of hot coals and literally roasted to death. Brutal even by the excesses of the day, who were theses two men that they could warrant such treatment. Geoffrey de Charney and Jacques de Molay's death marked the end of a once revered organisation, at least in the eyes of conventional history books, they were, respectively, the Preceptor of Normandy and the Grand Master of the Order of the Knights Templar. Their fall from grace had political motivations guised in accusations of Blasphemy, sodomy, devil worship and occultism. Rather than submit to these false accusations and spend the rest of their life in prison, as many of their colleagues had chosen to do, they decided that they would rather die with their honour intact and so chose an unimaginable route to martyrdom. With them, for all practical purposes, died the Order of Knights Templar which for 200 years had shaped the face of Western Europe.
The origins of the Templars is straightforward enough. They were initially a group of nine Frankish crusaders who had fought in the First Crusade, who had accompanied the victorious Western armies into Jerusalem. In 1118 under the leadership of Hugh de Payens and Geoffrey of St Omer they banded together an took an oath to protect the roads to the holy places and the travellers using them. They were devout Christians, committed to poverty, chastity and obedience. Right from the beginning they stood apart from other religious orders. Though monks they were military in their nature and unlike the finery of other warrior knights they chose the shabby robes over finery and humility over the usual haughty arrogance of their rivals.
They were first found accommodation in Jerusalem, on the Dome of The Rock. Their stables and quarters were found on the site of the biblical Templar of Solomon, and hence the reason for their name Knights Templar. With the capture of Jerusalem, most of the Crusading armies returned home. The Crusades were seen by many as a pilgrimage rather than a conquest and with the holy places back in Christian hands, their duty was done. With in this power vacuum, the Templars did well. They offered their services to the Christian settlements and set about raising money to build themselves into a legitimate military source. In the name of building defences, setting garrisons and running a standing army they raised an immense amount of money, far more than they required. Although as individuals they were never a wealthy organisation, as a business they became one of the richest, and hence powerful groups in Europe. But their position was justified, at least initially, for whilst they were holding the Muslim armies at bay from the Holy Land, who could deny that they were doing gods work, doing it very successfully.
A change in the balance came with a new leader emerging from the Muslim ranks. Saladin was such an able commander that in 1187 he managed to recapture Jerusalem and although Jews and Christians were permitted to stay in the city, the Templars were forced to decamp from their original base. Although they remained in the holy land until 1303, they were never again to set foot in the city they had sworn to defend with their lives.
By then the Order had change dramatically in character. What had begun as a simple body of fighting men was now a far more complex and, in many peoples eyes, sinister organisation. After many years of handling the finances needed to fund the Crusades, which took place not only in the Middle East but in Spain, France and even north eastern Europe, they had evolved into Europe's bankers. They were so powerful that they were bankrolling kings and countries and had developed a sophisticated system using promissory notes, that is to say, the fore runner of the modern cheque. They had become major players on the European political stage, owning 9000 manors and numerous castles, farms, churches and cathedrals. They even enjoyed special immunities granted by the pope that put them above the control of lords and kings. But they had now become victims of their own success. They were a law unto themselves, a mysterious secret society with allegiance only to themselves, a society that had no real reason for existence now that the holy lands had been lost. And people were viewing them with jealousy.
It was the money that undid the Templars in the end. By the 14th century, the group had become fabulously rich: so rich in England that they were able to almost single handed fund Edward I's wars against France. This did not sit well with Philip, king of France. He was an ambitious man, devious, scheming and constantly short of cash. He did have one useful card to play though, he did have a hold over Pope Clement, the only man that could give orders to the Templars. In 1307 Philip was in desperate need of cash and so hatched the plot top shut the Order down on reason of blasphemy and confiscate their vast fortune. On the morning of Friday 13th October almost every Templar in France was arrested, 500 in all. Their immunity granted by the puppet Pope who owed his position to Philip counted for nothing. The common people could not believe that these holy warriors were being treated like common criminals and Philip found little support amongst neighbouring monarchs and lords. With the issue of a papal decree supporting Philips actions, other kings had to fall, into line. Such was the amount of propaganda that Philip spread undermining them, as well as confession either falsified or taken under the strain of hideous torture, that the Order was finally abolished, the final act being the death of its two last leaders in 1314.
But the order was never totally forgotten and became a rallying cry for anti-monarchist or anti-Catholic revolutionaries through out history. The remains of the order scattered, many turning up in Scotland, at the time excommunicated and therefore outside the Popes control. It is even suggested that the Scots won the battle of Bannockburn with the arrival on the field of a Templar force. Other stories range from the Templar fleet escaping the arrests and sailing west to America with their vast wealth, ironically most of which King Philip never found. The most famous mysteries surround the fact that they may have found the Holy Grail and other artefacts during their stay on The Dome of the Rock.
The Templars are probably discussed less for the things that they actually did, but more for the conspiracies and mysterious that remain intangible and unproven and thus their legacy remains alive and popular today.