The Knights Templar

It was difficult for the order to increase in number because of these losses. So they were forced to use new recruits immediately in spite of a rule which required a probationary period. They even recruited excommunicated men, though this was normal for the crusades as they wished to make up for their sins. A new member had to give blind obedience, vital in a monk and a soldier. They had to declare themselves forever “serf et esclave de la maison” and to prove their sincerity were subject to a secret test, which has never been discovered. The order was accused of moral laxity, due to their great wealth, and was charged with insupportable pride and love of power. At the height of their prosperity they were said to possess 9000 estates.

The order had as much power as leading temporal sovereigns so they assumed the right to direct the weak government of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Order of Hospitallers had now become military soon opposed the Templars. This interference in the government of Jerusalem was ill-timed as the power of Saladin threatened the existence of the Latin Kingdom. The Templars, though they sacrificed themselves with their usual bravery in the final struggle were at least partly responsible for the fall of Jerusalem.

The only way to end the rivalry between the military orders was to join them together. This was first proposed by St Louis at the Council of Lyons in 1274 and again by Pope Nicholas IV in 1293.

Finally after two hundred years of defending the Christian faith, the order met its end when Philip IV, grandson of St Louis and known as Philip the Fair had the Templars arrested on October 13, 1307. It is generally agreed by historians that Philip was motivated by greed rather than the conviction that the Templars were corrupt.

The Templars were tortured and among the confessions they made, they admitted to trampling and spitting on the cross; homosexuality and sodomy; and worshiping an idol.

In 1312, Pope Clement V officially dissolved the Templars at the Council of Vienne. Although the Templars had not been found guilty of the crimes they were accused of, it was felt that the Order’s reputation had fallen into such disrepute that the only solution was to dissolve the Order.

On March 18th, 1314, Jacques de Molay, the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar was burnt at the stake for having retracted his earlier confessions. De Molay is supposed to have cursed both King Philip and Pope Clement as he burned, asking both men to join him in death within a year. Although it is not certain that he actually said this, both Pope Clement V and Phillip IV were in their graves within the year.

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