What were the Knights Templar?

Answer 1

The Knights Templar was one of the most famous of the Christian military orders. It existed for about two centuries in the Middle Ages, created in the aftermath of the First Crusade of 1096 to ensure the safety of the large numbers of European pilgrims who flowed towards Jerusalem after its conquest.

The Templars were an unusual order in that they were both monks and soldiers, making them in effect some of the earliest "warrior monks" in the Western world. Members of the Order played a key part in many battles of the Crusades, and the Order's infrastructure innovated many financial techniques that could be considered the foundation of modern banking. The Order grew in membership and power throughout Europe, until it ran afoul of King Philip IV of France (Philip the Fair), who caused many of the order's members in France to be tortured into confessions and burned at the stake. Under influence from King Philip, Pope Clement V then forcibly disbanded the order in 1314.

Answer 2

jerdan95 is correct as far as he goes, but the story goes on. The Templars were also the world's first bankers. Crusaders could deposit money with one group of Templars, get a promissory note for it, and redeem it with any other group of Templars. That way they ran less risk of being robbed, sort of like the first American Express travelor's checks. Usury, or charging interest, was forbidden, but the pope declared that this was different--the money they received for doing this was a fee, so it was allowed.

In time, the Templars got so rich from this that the King of France got greedy and wanted their money. He had a lot of influence over the pope at the time, so he had messages delivered across Europe to have the Templars all killed at the same time. A few escaped, and the money was never found--they may have gone to Switzerland, which might explain why the Swiss banking system is so efficient--they already had plenty of experience.

Also, the Masons claim to be descended from the Knights Templar. It is also claimed that the Templars were the guardians of the Holy Grail, and many sites associated with grail legends, such as Roslyn Chapel, are also associated with the Templars (the man who built Roslyn Chapel was a Templar).

Answer 3

Here´s my answer:

The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon (Latin: pauperes commilitones Christi Templique Solomonici), popularly known as the Knights Templar, was one of the most famous of the Christian military orders. It existed for about two centuries in the Middle Ages, created in the aftermath of the First Crusade of 1096 to ensure the safety of the large numbers of European pilgrims who flowed towards Jerusalem after its conquest.

The Templars were an unusual order in that they were both monks and soldiers, making them in effect some of the earliest "warrior monks" in the Western world. Members of the Order played a key part in many battles of the Crusades, and the Order's infrastructure innovated many financial techniques that could be considered the foundation of modern banking. The Order grew in membership and power throughout Europe, until it ran afoul of King Philip IV of France (Philip the Fair), who caused many of the order's members in France to be tortured into confessions and burned at the stake. Under influence from King Philip, Pope Clement V then forcibly disbanded the order in 1314.

Answer 4

The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon (Latin: pauperes commilitones Christi Templique Solomonici), popularly known as the Knights Templar, was one of the most famous of the Christian military orders. It existed for about two centuries in the Middle Ages, created in the aftermath of the First Crusade of 1096 to ensure the safety of the large numbers of European pilgrims who flowed towards Jerusalem after its conquest.

The Templars were an unusual order in that they were both monks and soldiers, making them in effect some of the earliest "warrior monks" in the Western world. Members of the Order played a key part in many battles of the Crusades, and the Order's infrastructure innovated many financial techniques that could be considered the foundation of modern banking. The Order grew in membership and power throughout Europe, until it ran afoul of King Philip IV of France (Philip the Fair), who caused many of the order's members in France to be tortured into confessions and burned at the stake. Under influence from King Philip, Pope Clement V then forcibly disbanded the order in 1314.

Answer 5

By Stephen Dafoe
The answer to the question, who were the Knights Templar is likely to generate a variety of opinions, depending upon who answers the question.


Christian crusaders, anti-Christian demon worshipers and the first and greatest of the monastic warriors who fought during the Crusades are but a few of the many theories related to the Templars.


The purpose of this brief article is to give a more traditional account of the order for the layperson unfamiliar with the order.


Traditional Account
Following the victory of the First Crusade a group of knights, led by Hugues de Payens, offered themselves to the Patriarch of Jerusalem as a military force.


This proposed military force had the mandate of protecting Christian pilgrims who were en route to the Holy Land In the year 1118 AD King Baldwin II granted the Templars quarters on the Temple Mount.


For the first nine years of their existence, the order consisted of nine knights. Speculations of treasure hunting aside, one of the reasons for the limited number of members may have been the reluctance to take Templar vows. Chastity, poverty and obedience were hardly a lifestyle greatly sought after.


In the year 1127 the Cistercian abbot, Bernard of Clairvaux, wrote a rule of order for the Templars that was based on his own Cistercian order's rule of conduct. Additionally, Bernard did a great deal to promote the Templars.


Perhaps Bernard's greatest contribution to the order was a letter that he wrote to Hugues de Payens, entitled De laude novae militae (In praise of the new knighthood.)


This letter swept throughout Christendom with the result being that many men, of noble birth, joined the ranks of the Templar Order. Those who were unable to join often gifted the Templars with land and other valuables.


While it is true that the Templars were not permitted, by their rule, to own much of anything personally, there was no such restriction on the order as a whole. As such the gifts of land were accepted and put to immediate use by the order.


From humble beginnings of poverty in 118, when the order relied on alms from traveling pilgrims, the Order quickly grew to have the backing of the Holy See and the collective European monarchies.


In the process, the order became wealthy. Aside form the gifts showered upon them, they were experts in commerce and free from the taxation and tithes imposed on other orders.


However, in less than two centuries, the Templars would meet their demise perhaps because of their wealth or fear of their seemingly limitless powers. It is generally agreed that Philip IV was envious of the Templar's wealth and sought to secure it for himself.


Regardless of the motivation, the order was taken down at the hands of the Pope and the King of France in 1307.


On October 13, 1307 Philip had the Templars arrested on grounds of heresy; since this was the only charge that would allow the seizing of their money and assets.


The Templars were tortured and confessions were given. These confessions included:


Trampling and spitting on the cross
Homosexuality and Sodomy
Worshipping of an idol named Baphomet
Philip was successful in ridding the Templars of their power and wealth and urged all fellow Christian leaders to do the same thing.


On March 19th, 1314 the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, Jacques de Molay, was burned at the stake.


De Molay is said to have cursed King Philip and Pope Clement as he burned, asking both men to join him in death within a year.


Whether the story is an apocryphal legend or a matter of historical fact depends largely on one's point of view.


However, Pope Clement V died only one month later and Philip IV seven months after that.

Answer 6

watch national treasure the disney movie with nicholas cage in it. the movie explains in more detail that the knights templar was a secret society that protected this treasure. They didi because they felt if someone knew about a dictator would steal it but they felt the treasure was too great for just any one man/woman so they hid it for thousands of years and made a vow to protect the treasure

Answer 7

It was an order of monks during the crusades who were also knights. Like all monks, they took a vow of celebacy. They were very strict as that they couldn't even look at women. If they had to talk to a woman, they had to keep their head and eyes down. Unfortunately some of them were corrupt and were not true to their vows. Go to templarhistory.com. It gives lots of info.

Answer 8

Formerly knights in the crusades, later ordered disbanded by Louis XIV who resented their power. They then became a secret society. Some people contend they're secretly manipulating world affairs today.

Answer 9

they were a secret society- they actually may still exist. the knights templar are often associated with the bavarian illuminati.

Answer 10

.The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon (Latin: pauperes commilitones Christi Templique Solomonici), popularly known as the Knights Templar, was one of the most famous of the Christian military orders. It existed for about two centuries in the Middle Ages, created in the aftermath of the First Crusade of 1096 to ensure the safety of the large numbers of European pilgrims who flowed towards Jerusalem after its conquest.

The Templars were an unusual order in that they were both monks and soldiers, making them in effect some of the earliest "warrior monks" in the Western world. Members of the Order played a key part in many battles of the Crusades, and the Order's infrastructure innovated many financial techniques that could be considered the foundation of modern banking. The Order grew in membership and power throughout Europe, until it ran afoul of King Philip IV of France (Philip the Fair), who caused many of the order's members in France to be tortured into confessions and burned at the stake. Under influence from King Philip, Pope Clement V then forcibly disbanded the order in 1314.

The high Templars were organized as a monastic order, following a rule created for them by their patron, Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, a member of the Cistercian Order. Each country had a Master of the Order for the Templars in that region, and all of them were subject to the Grand Master, appointed for life, who oversaw both the Order's military efforts in the East, and their financial holdings in the West.

There were four divisions of brothers in the Templars:

the knights, equipped as heavy cavalry (wore a white habit with red cross);
the sergeants (serjens), equipped as light cavalry and drawn from a lower social class than the knights (wore a brown mantle);
the serving brothers - the rural brothers (frères casaliers), who administered the property of the Order, and the frères de métiers, who performed menial tasks and trades;
the chaplains, who were ordained priests and saw to the spiritual needs of the Order.
With the high demand for knights, there were also knights who signed up to the Order for a set period of time before returning to secular life, as well as the Fratres conjugati, who were married brothers. Both of these wore a black or brown mantle with a red cross to delineate them from the celibate lifetime members, and were not considered to be of the same status as the celibate brothers. It also appears that the serving brothers (frères casaliers and frères de métiers) were not separate from the sergeants, but rather that a sergeant who was a skilled tradesman or was unable to fight due to age or infirmity would perform these other functions. The majority of the Templars, including the knights and the Grand Masters, were both uneducated and illiterate (as were most knights of the day), having come not from the upper nobility but from more obscure families.

At any time, each knight had some ten people in support positions. Some brothers were devoted solely to banking (typically those with an education), as the Order was often trusted with the safekeeping of precious goods by participants in the Crusades; but the primary mission of the Knights Templar was warfare.

The Templars used their wealth to construct numerous fortifications throughout the Holy Land and were probably one of the best trained and disciplined fighting units of their day. They were also famous and easily recognized, with a white surcoat with distinct red cross emblazoned above the heart or on the chest, as seen in many portrayals of crusading knights.

Initiation into the Order was a profound commitment, and involved a secret ceremony. Few details of the rituals were known at the time, fueling the suspicions of medieval inquisitors, but initiates, at least in the early days of the Order, had to be of noble birth, of legitimate heritage, and had to be willing to sign over all of their wealth and goods to the Order. Further, joining the Order required vows of poverty, chastity, piety, and obedience. For the warriors of the Order, there was a cardinal rule of never surrendering. This fearless uncompromising nature of the Templars, along with excellent training and heavy armament, made them a feared and elite fighting force in medieval times