One: the establishment of the Knights Order
After the First Crusade (1096- 1099), a religious feudal military organization was established in Jerusalem about118 to defend the Crusader countries in the Eastern Mediterranean. Hugh de Hjarns, an aristocrat in French champagne region, and eight other knights founded the organization in119. Its declared goal is to protect pilgrims who have come to Palestine since the First Crusade. This organization was founded by two knights, Hugh des Pe? ez and Godfrey of Saint Omar. The founding members also included Andre de Montbad, uncle Bernard of Ming Dynasty. It is believed that in the first decade, the organization had only nine members, although records show that there were other members.
The strict name of this organization is the Christian Knights Club for the Poor, but its popular name is the Knights Templar of Solomon or the Knights Templar, because its headquarters in Jerusalem is close to the Temple of Solomon. At the same time, the other two major religious organizations are the Order of St. John (also known as the Order of Medicine) and the Order of Teutonic, both of which were charitable organizations at the beginning. Unlike them, the Knights Templar is a unique military organization. It was approved by the Pope and was awarded the Canon of Godsworn at the Trojan Conference in 1 128. In this way, they have the norms of written law and combine military and religious significance. In fact, the organization of the Knights Templar was designed according to a pattern very similar to that of the Cistercian monastery.
Two: knight glory.
The Knights Templar was a great success from the beginning. After the Trojan Conference, it quickly gained a large number of new members and property donations. By the end of the first year, this long-established organization had owned property in France, England, Scotland and Iberia. Eventually they will also own land in Italy, Austria, Germany, Hungary and Constantinople. As Mitchell Bergent and Richard Leigh said in the book Temples and Chapters, the Knights Templar has built itself into "the richest and most powerful organization in the kingdom of Christ" in a short time, "with the exception of papal rule".
Badge of the Templar In England, the Templar was taken care of by the monarchy and established a close relationship with it. Henry I tried to win the membership of the Order. His successor, Stephen, who usurped power, actively carried out the Crusade War, and he further developed his relationship with the Templars, because the latter had close ties with the Holy Land (Palestine). In fact, he encouraged the rapid growth of the number of branches of the Templar throughout England.
Henry II ascended the throne in 1 154, and he maintained a close relationship with the Templar. But Henry's son, Lionheart Richard (1157-1199) is most closely related to it. In fact, several writers think Richard is a member of the secret order, at least he is regarded as an honorary member, so they respect him very much. He died in 1 199, and his main enemy and younger brother John succeeded him. He continued to maintain a close relationship with the Knights Templar.
This organization is tax-free in Britain. It has its own court and, like the church, has great asylum rights. It has its own market and regular fairs, and has its own representatives in the parliament. The Templar has great financial and political power, which enables it to effectively establish a modern banking system. The Templars regularly send money and materials from Britain to Palestine. It developed an effective banking system, which was used by almost all European monarchs and nobles. Finally, members of the Knights Templar became bankers in most European countries and inevitably owned more property. For a long time, the British monarchy owed a lot of money to this organization. Even once, Henry III actually mortgaged the jewel in the king's crown to the knights.
The first "password" of the Knights was formed in their banking system. Members of the Order have designed a system of IOUs or letters to express their credit in a special way, so that people don't have to carry money that may be stolen with them. Money can be put in one place, and IOUs can be transferred to another part of the world and cashed on the spot. In order to prevent the iou from being stolen, they were given a series of complicated passwords that only members of the Order could know.
Three: extinction
It is suspected that in its 200-year history, due to great wealth and power, knights allied with the enemy. The wealth accumulation of the Templars is the result of their cruelty, abuse, burning and looting. During the Crusades, many Templars slaughtered civilians on the east coast of the Mediterranean, dressed babies with spears and paraded through the streets, and cut open the stomachs of the dead with swords in search of wealth. Many European counterparts, including the Knights of St. John (also known as the Knights of the Hospital), expressed disdain for the atrocities of the Knights Templar. Therefore, the huge wealth plundered by the Templars is enviable, and the tyrannical behavior of the Templars also makes people feel heinous.
But among all its enemies, Philip IV (1268- 13 14) is the most difficult to deal with. His ambition can only match his cruelty, and his nearly 70-year rule of splitting the Pope and the Catholic Church may be the best example.
Philip sought direct control of papal rule. In order to achieve this goal, he planned to kidnap Pope Benifas VIII and almost certainly assassinated his successor Pope Benedict XI. The conflict broke out when Philip taxed the church to support his army. Bunifas responded by issuing a papal decree prohibiting taxation of priests without the pope's consent. In retaliation, Philip banned the delivery of gold or currency to Rome, and Buniface gave in. Later, when the king condemned a French bishop for treason and detained him, Buniface issued a further decree accusing Philip of excessive use of kingship. Philip announced his intention to depose Boniface, and the Pope responded by threatening to expel Philip. Finally, the Pope was kidnapped and imprisoned in Agneni prison. He was ill-treated in prison and died three weeks after he was released from prison. In A.D. 1305, after the assassination of Benedict Xi, Philip pushed the former Archbishop of Bordeaux to the throne of Pope Clement V. He established papal rule in avignon until A.D. 1377.
Philip began to oppose the Knights Templar after dealing with the Pope. He is afraid of their military strength and jealous of their great wealth. He resented that they did not allow him to join the organization, and he was not even an honorary member. In addition, he believes that they are going to establish a de facto independent country in France, which will deprive him of some countries and theoretically make the religious order at his doorstep stronger than "his" papal rule.
He made a list of crimes by relying on the materials collected by spies who infiltrated the organization in advance, and then issued arrest warrants to secretly arrest members of the order scattered all over the country. At the appointed time, the secret order sent to the whole country was opened at the same time and immediately put into action. In the dawn raid on Friday1June 307+10/October 13, King China tried to arrest every member of the French Templar Knights and seized and confiscated their property. In a sense, the raid was successful, and it effectively disintegrated the Templars.
A group of knights managed to transfer their treasures, and the head of the French branch (the head of the organization) went to sea with a fleet of 18, probably taking away a lot of wealth of the knights. At that time, the position of the fleet was not found, in fact, it was never found, and the huge wealth of those knights disappeared.
Because the Templars have left us for seven centuries, it is difficult for us to comment on the influence of Philip's destruction on them at that time. Considering that they had been established for more than two centuries at that time, and as a powerful, wealthy and enviable organization, they spread all over most countries in the known world at that time, the following analogy made by Bergent and Leigh in the book "Temples and Branches" is reasonable: this is similar to what we see today, that is, the process of papal rule and Catholic church from incomparably powerful to penniless is only a blink of an eye.
Under extreme torture, the arrested members of the monastery confessed many strange behaviors, many of which must be fabricated, at best, just to satisfy the accuser. Because the knights have no intention to disclose the details and secrets of their ceremonies, and Philip has every reason to spread the confession he obtained under high pressure, our view of the Templars may be very distorted after several generations, because most of the records about their so-called behavior are from confessions obtained under torture.
From these confessions, we know that the Templars worship the magical "Pavmet God". They reject Christ and often despise the cross. It seems that the Templars have really infiltrated the philosophy and religion in the Middle East. People think that they are trying to reconcile Islam, Judaism and Christianity, but obviously they respect Christianity and are hostile to paganism, otherwise they will be regarded as pagans according to tradition. It is an exaggeration to describe the members of the Knights Templar as antichrist pagans.
However, the knights knew the meaning of "image", and they preached some strange beliefs, which led to their destruction. They tried to spread the idea that they had mysterious secrets, and even called them "superman". They preach that they are the embodiment of the army that knocked down the wall of Jericho centuries ago, and encourage a popular idea that they are the guardians of the Holy Grail to some extent. They call themselves astrologers, alchemists and magicians. They created ways to protect their majesty and create fear among their enemies. They understand the value of myths and spread these ideas, knowing that they will gain people's fear and respect for them, both of which are useful to them.
In the following seven years, under the command and authority of Philip's "tame Pope" authorities, the persecution and destruction of the Templars spread from France and was further strengthened by the Inquisition.
Surviving knights all over the world survive through adaptation. In Germany, many people joined the Knights of Medicine or Teutonic Order. In Spain, they joined an organization specially designed for them-Montissa. In Portugal, they were renamed Christian Knights, which existed until16th century and played an important role in history. For example, the navigator vasco da gama was a member of the Christian Knights Order, and Columbus sailed to the New World under the banner of the Temple. It is asserted that a large number of knights arrived in Scotland, which may be the last stop for the fleet to escape from France. Some critics believe that they helped Robert I in the Battle of Bannockburn in 13 14 and successfully made Scotland independent for nearly 300 years.
The Templars later created a blueprint for similar organizations. For example, in 1445, French King Charles VII founded the Scottish Guards Infantry. Obviously, he is based on the templar and is similar in many ways.
1540, Ignatius Loyola, a Spanish military missionary, planned to form his "religious warrior" according to the templar model, which became a Jesuit, and people generally called him a Jesuit.
These organizations do not claim that they are directly related to the Templars. However, there is a strong belief that a mysterious organization in modern times has a direct origin, that is, the Brotherhood.
The image of the Knights Templar The symbols of the Knights Templar are white uniforms and white robes. After the Second Crusade in 1 147, they began to embroider a red cross on the left shoulder of the white robe, starting with an equilateral cross and later developing into an octagonal cross. Badge is two knights riding on a horse with shields and spears. The shield is painted with a red cross. This badge symbolizes that the members of the Order were poor knights at first, and later it was interpreted as the armed friendship of the members of the Order. However, when King Philip IV of France attacked the Knights Templar, it was considered as a symbol of homosexuality among the members of the Knights Templar. The slogan of the order is "God's will". There is also a slogan: Nonnobis, Domine, Nonnobis, Sednominituo da Gloria. Give glory, God, give glory, not for us, God, but for your name. Give glory, God, give glory, not for us, God, but for your name.
The leader of the Knights Order is called the Grand Master. He is elected and holds office for life. The master is directly responsible to the Pope, so many Templar organizations in the Holy Land and Europe are not controlled by kings and local bishops. Its members are divided into four categories:
Knight knight is the subject of knight. Only knights of the highest rank have the right to wear white robes with red crosses painted on their backs.
Sergeant (Sergeants) sergeants are infantry, ranking lower than knights. They are the military forces of the Knights Templar.
Farmers Farmers are responsible for managing the property of the Knights, and the main members are professional monks.
The priest is responsible for religious activities such as prayer.
Unofficial history's notes include The Legacy of the Templar. Author: Steve? outer city wall
13 14 March 18, Jacques de Mali, the last leader of the Templar, died at the stake, which marked the disintegration of the Templar founded in118 ... But Jacques. Unfortunately, this poison oath was fulfilled. The Pope died a month later, and Philip IV died seven months later, becoming a legend in history. More than 700 years later, people are still curious about these Templars. They claimed to be faithful followers of Christ, but they never really surrendered to the Pope. They look like monks in appearance, but they are soldiers in essence. Their minds are not filled with bibles or prayers, but with wars and conquest. They wear friars' coats, but below are knights' armor ... There are countless mysteries that future generations hope to solve.