Bonekickers

The history behind ‘Army of God’: Knights Templar

By Dr. Mark Horton

The ‘poor fellow soldiers of Christ and of the temple of Solomon’ as the Knights Templar were formally known were one of the military orders of the Middle Ages, created in the aftermath of the First Crusade in 1096, probably around 1119. Their role was to defend the Holy Places and to ensure that pilgrims could safely reach Jerusalem. Their headquarters was located in the Al Aqsa Mosque, believed to be on the site of the original Temple of Solomon.

During the twelfth century their power and wealth increased through many pious donations and they acquired land, although like monks, the individual knights were pledged to poverty. Their power increased as they were exempted from local laws, able to move freely across borders, paid no taxes, and only accepted the authority of the Pope. They were well known as a highly effective fighting force, the builders of elaborate castles especially in the Holy Land, with a well-organised network of property across the whole of Europe.

However, with the loss of Jerusalem in 1244, public support for the order declined, while the knights transferred their headquarters to Acre, which was itself lost to the Muslims in 1291. More widely they were seen as a threat to the established medieval order, a state within a state. Moves to suppress them began in 1307 by Pope Clement V, under pressure of Philip IV of France, with mass arrests and torture to elicit false confessions and many of the knights, including the leaders were burned at the stake as heretics. The order was finally disbanded in 1312 everywhere except in Portugal where it was renamed the Order of Christ. Most of the assets were transferred to other military orders, such as the less radical Knights Hospitallers.

The Knights Templar had a deep interest in collecting relics, partly derived from their occupation of the Temple Mount, and the opportunities that this offered for excavation of the site. They certainly had a piece of what they believed was the True Cross, as they took it into the Battle of Hattin in 1187. The Turin Shroud may also have passed through their hands - indeed may even have been faked by them. Their association with the Grail however is largely based on later medieval romances.

The order had extensive lands in England, and many of the knights fled there between October 1307 and January 1308 during the initial persecutions in France. Their properties were known as preceptories, and there are a number of places owned by them in the West of England, including Templecombe (Dorset), Temple Cloud (Somerset) Temple Church (Bristol) as well as Garway (Herefordshire). The Knights Templar enjoyed close relations with the several monastic orders, including the Cistercians.