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The
rise and fall of the Order of the Knights Templar
This is the fascinating tale of the Templars,
probably the most powerful and mysterious organisation of the
Middle Ages. The Order of the Poor Knights of Christ and the
Temple of Solomon originate from a group of nine aristocrats,
whose sole aim was the protection of the Holy Land from the
Saracens.
So, let us undertake a journey into the past, back
to the origin, rise and fall of the Order of the Templars. A
journey, which will lead us to the legendary world of the Knights
of the Cross.
(Deus lo vult)
The tale commences in 11th Century Europe at the time
of the first crusade. The Pope was the head of the church and
representative of God on Earth. His words were law. In 1095 the
Moslems marched to the East where they founded their new capital
a few miles away from Byzantium. But since Byzantium was the
capital of the Christian Byzantine realm, Alexios - King of
Byzantium - sent a message to Pope Urban II seeking help. Like
his predecessor Urban dreamed of a Christian kingdom which -
united under the Pope's banner - would reach from the coasts of
the Atlantic Ocean in the West to the Holy Land. Thus he had a
unique chance to free both Byzantium and Jerusalem, the Holy City
at the same time whilst demonstrating to the European kings his
might as well as making a name for himself. So he made an urgent
appeal to all Christians in Europe to forget about their quarrels
among themselves and to join the crusade in order to free
Jerusalem. Those who joined the first crusade left a path of
looting, pillage, sack and rape. The first unit to reach
Byzantium was a horde of 15,000 vagabonds lead by Pete the
Hermit. King Alexios was shocked and disappointed as he expected
the support of hundreds of armed knights. Shortly after,
thousands of French and German knights and their followers came.
With the arrival of these crusaders the massacre took place when
the City of Lycea was captured and all citizens, including
children and old people were slaughtered. As has been proved most
citizens were Christians .... The butchering continued all the
way to Jerusalem. Anno 1099 Jerusalem was taken. The Knights of
the Cross mercilessly massacred the defenceless population and
killed the Moslems even in their own places of worship. It is
said that such masses of blood were spilled that it covered the
knights' ankles. In Europe this crusade was celebrated as an
overwhelming victory as they succeeded in seizing the Holy City
from the unbelievers.
(Knights of the Cross)
Because of their success the crusader's
fame and tales of their exploits spread all over Europe.
Jerusalem finally dwelled in the hands of Christians again.
Thousands of pilgrims went on the long journey to the "Land
on the other side of the world" also called
"Outremer". But the pilgrimages were not blessed with
good fortune as the Christian kingdom was still surrounded by
hostile Islamic states. The pilgrims were in need of protection
on their way to and even while staying in the Holy Land and so
the scene for the Monks of War was set. Thus Hugo de Payens, a
French nobleman from the Champagne, offered his services to King
Balduin of Jerusalem. He himself and his eight comrade-in-arms
subscribed themselves to protecting the pilgrims' long path.
Balduin agreed, doubting that they could carry out the task. But
the knights performed so well that Balduin accommodated them in a
wing of his palace. When the Moslems ruled this wing had been the
Mosque of Al-Aqsa. It was built on the ruins of the Holy Temple
of Solomon. Therefore Hugo de Payens gave the new order the name
"The Order of Christ's Poor Knights and Solomon's
Temple" - in short: The Templars. They called themselves
"The Poor Knights of Christ" because they were monks
vowed to chastity, poverty and obedience. According to ancient
records the Templars were often shown riding one horse with two
or more persons. At first the order grew slowly but their ranks
expanded more rapidly as the recruits were trained as warriors
and as highly specialised war machines. Hugo de Payens became the
first Grand Master of the Templars. Under his command the humble
order grew into a disciplined organisation with well qualified
specialists and an effective command. Due to their vow of poverty
the Templars owned just ordinary clothes: they wore a plain white
coat which later on became embroidered with the notorious
eight-pointed red cross. (Monks of War)
Owing to their deeds in Outremer the
Templars were seen as procreators of heroes in Europe. Anno 1129
the order became officially acknowledged by the Pope. After being
blessed by the Pope the Templars started to recruit new members.
They were considered as noble warriors who devoted themselves to
the protection of the Holy Land from the hated Saracens and who
lived with humility. A worship of heroes spread throughout Europe
unlike any admiration before. Fortunes of gold as well as
properties were given to the Templars. In the long run estates in
France, Spain, Portugal, England and Scotland were transferred to
the order. Even the poorest of the poor gave whatever they could
spare. In 1139 Pope Innozenz released the Templars from the duty
to obey all secular rulers. From this moment on they were solely
subordinates to the Pope. At this time the first doubts about the
Templars were rumoured. These rumours became stronger over the
course of time.
(Heroes of this Time)
But in Outremer the tables of war started
to turn. The famous leader of the Saracens - King Saladin -
succeeded in settling the rivalry among the Islamic groups and
united them into one strong force. An open war raged in which
Saladin gradually secured victory. The help from the West did not
come fast enough, thus the population of Outremer was on its own.
To make matters worse the Moslems brought forth their own monks
of war. These assassins were the Islamic counterparts to the
Templars, however they were even more fanatic. They were
specialised in attacking people. Their leader, The Old Man of the
Mountains, was said to put his warriors into a state of euphoria
then influencing them with his visions of paradise prior to
sending them on dark missions. Even Richard Lionheart's nephew
Henri de Champagne witnessed this obedience towards their
leaders: On one occasion, while negotiating in a Moslem castle
the Muslim lord ordered his subordinates to commit suicide by
jumping of off the castle wall. Henri de Champagne was severely
shaken by this event. (Fanatic Assassins)
Richard the Lionheart could not escape from
the Pope's appeal and sailed towards Outremer. Together with King
Philip Augustus of France he headed for Palestine in July 1190 in
order to help the fighting crusaders. On their way to the Holy
Land they stopped in Messina to gather their troops. Their stay
in Sicily was longer than planned due to local political
disturbance. In March 1191 the Kings left Messina. Philip sailed
directly to the Holy Land but Richard headed to Cyprus for
personal matters, Emperor Isaac had taken Richard's fiancée as a
prisoner. Thus Richard was obliged to capture Cyprus and free his
fiancée. After the settlement in Cyprus he sold the island to
the Templars and sailed towards Akkon. As the fleet anchored in
Akkon the battle broke loose. On July 11th
1191 Akkon was back in the hands of the crusaders and Richard
moved on to Jerusalem. The Saracen prisoners were a burden to him
and so he tried to get rid of them looking for a pretext.
Cool-headed Richard declared that Saladin had broken the state of
peace and consequently ordered the slaughter of all 2700
prisoners. In September 1192 Richard and Saladin agreed to a
peace. With this Richard considered his duty in the Holy Land as
fulfilled. On his way back to England he was caught by Duke
Leopold of Austria and put into prison for one year. After paying
a vast amount of ransom he was set free and could continue his
journey to England. Upon his return he had to fight the corrupt
wheelings and dealings of his brother John (the tale of Robin
Hood). After settling his affairs in England he fought
brilliantly for 5 years in France. On March 26th
1199 in Limousin an arrow went astray and set his life at an end.
(Lionheart)
The quest for the Holy Grail has remained
one of the greatest mysteries of our time. What is the meaning of
the Holy Grail? Is it a wooden bowl in which the blood of Jesus
was collected the day he was crucified? Is it a sacred stone
which has been worshipped for ages? And is it true that the
Templars were the keepers of the Holy Grail? The Castle of
Munsalvaesche is said to be the place where the Holy Grail is
kept. It is, just like the Grail itself, the centre of various
tales. According to epic poems such as "Parzival" from
Wolfram von Eschenbach or "Perceval" from Chretien de
Troys the Castle is either located on a mountain or at a lake or
river. Albrecht von Schaffenberg, last significant epic poet of
the Grail, used the term "temple" for the Castle of
Munsalvaesche. It is known that the most important churches of
the Templars were chiefly called temples due to their size. There
is some evidence that the Templars are in connection with the
Holy Grail. However, our descendants will keep on considering the
question about origin and whereabouts of the Holy Grail. (Keeper of the Holy Grail)
It happened Friday, October 13th 1307. A black day for the
Order of the Templars. In the early morning servants of King
Phillip entered the French temples and took the surprised and non
resisting Templars as prisoners. Only some of them escaped. In
Paris 138 members of the Order were sent to the dungeons, one of
them was Jacques de Molay, the Grand Master of the Order. King
Phillip in his role as protector of church and faith accused the
Templars of heresy. A court of priests and monks devoted to the
King ran the investigation. The Templars were charged of
religious and moral transgression. One was the worshipping of the
devil by means of an icon called Baphomet. They were said to have
sold their soul to Lucifer and prayed to him in the form of a
gigantic cat. There are some theories which state that Baphomet
is a distorted alteration of "Mohammed". The Templars
might have mingled their Christian faith with those of the
Moslems since they had been in the Holy Land for many years.
Actually the imprisonment of the Templars was not legal because
they were solely subordinates to the Pope and released from the
duty to obey secular rulers. But as the incumbent Pope Clemens
was elected with the King's support, he did not interfere. The
goodwill of the Pope encouraged further emperors to proceed
against the Order. All over Europe legal action was taken. The
Templars who confessed their guilt were given a small pension and
were bound to dwell in poverty. Those who denied the charges were
either put behind bars for life or were burned at the stake.
After countless tortures, confessions and executions the Order of
the Templars became finally dissolved by the Pope in March 1312.
The enormous fortune of the Order on which the Pope and the King
had an eye played a main role within the inquisition. However,
when it came to the arresting of the Templars their gigantic
treasure as well as their fleet had disappeared. To this day it
is unknown when the fleet left and to where its sails were set.
Only one thing is clear: the fleet left La Rochelle at dead of
night because this is where it had been seen for the last time.
The arrests in France gave a sign. Scotland and Portugal were the
only states which did not show interest in handing out the
Templars to the inquisition. Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland,
himself was just excommunicated from church and did not tend to
take action against the them. Thus there are grounds for the
assumption that the fleet headed towards Scotland or Portugal
where the fugitive Templars hid. The remaining Templars in Spain,
Germany and Cyprus were cleared from the above mentioned
suspicion. (Inquisition, Baphomet and Over
the Sea)
Jacques de Molay was the last Grand Master
of the Order, he confessed while being arrested. On March 14th 1314 he was brought before
the Cathedral of Notre Dame in order to hear his life sentence
pronounced. But the event took an unexpected turn as he addressed
the crowd with the following words: "It is only just that I
may speak in such a moment for the sake of the truth. I am
standing here before Heaven and Earth and all of you my as
witnesses and I plead guilty. I am guilty of the most sinful deed
I could ever have been doing. Because I lied as I said that the
accusations against me and my brothers were true. Herewith I
declare the innocence of the Order in all points of accusation.
Its purity and holiness are beyond suspicion. I confess that I
confirmed the accusations because I wanted to spare myself from
the horrible pain of torture. One has offered me life for the
price of infamy. But life is not worth this price." After
this public confession the sentence for a life in the dungeons
was modified into the sentence of death at the stake. On the
evening of March 18th
1314 Jaques de Molay together with his representative were burned
at a low flame in front of a howling crowd. The crowd shuddered
at the last words of the Grand Master: "We die innocent. But
in Heaven is the Throne of Judgement before which the weak will
always find forgiveness. The Pope will face this Throne within 40
days and I will await you, Phillip, in one year." On April
20th 1314 Pope Clemens
died and on November 29th
1314 the King became the victim of a heart failure. (The Course of Jacques)
Our last album (Tunes of War) was about the
Scottish struggle for freedom against the English. A part of the
history of the Templars is mingled with that of the Scottish.
Robert the Bruce was excommunicated by the Pope as he had
committed the sin of murdering John Comyns in a church. Thus he
was no longer subordered to the church and the fugitive Templars
could seek shelter in the Scottish Kingdom. On June 24th 1314 the Battle of
Bannockburn took place near Stirling Castle. The date is worth
mentioning since June 24th
is the day of Holy John and therefore of high importance to the
Templars. Chroniclers reported that all Scottish units were
involved in the fight and that the outcome of the battle remained
undecided when the English saw a new unit appearing in the
Scottish rows. The rearguard stormed the battle-field with waving
banners. According to some descriptions the rearguard consisted
of children, yeomen as well as other non-fighters. However, the
Scottish must have counted on their support since they did not
seem to be surprised at all. But who could these men have been?
The sudden appearance of this new unit decided the end of the
battle. Panic spread among the English. King Edward fled with
five hundred knights from the battle-field. The demoralised
infantrymen took this as an example - defeated the English troops
left their supplies, baggage trains, money, arms and equipment
behind. As we know the Templars were trained warriors and highly
specialised war machines. Their reputation and their tales were
famous all over Europe and as far as the Holy Land. Is it
possible that the English took flight in such a hurry because
they realised that the rearguard were the Templars? Did they
decide the battle in favour of the Scottish or were they just
children and peasants? Like many other questions about the Order
this one will also remain a mystery left to be revealed. (The Battle of Bannockburn)
The true story of the legendary Templars
will remain what it always has been: One of the greatest
mysteries of life.
I would like to thank everyone who has
helped us drawing up this story: Thanks to Matthias Bölsing for
the inspiration, Markus Neumann for the provision with
literature, Peter Angus Cavanaugh-Hoch for the German summary of
Battle of Bannockburn, Yvonne Thorhauer for the excellent
translation of the booklet and Dave Bown for suggestions for
improvement.
- Chris Boltendahl
March 1998
Click
cover for Knights of the Cross info
