Did anyone catch this on the history channel last night? After watching it myself I felt it took away some of the mysteries regarding this old organization. Not that I felt anything was lacking in the program. On the contrary, the mystery was taken away after the manner in which the information was presented.

After watching the program, I concluded that this sect of the Catholic faith once controlled Europe not by any "mystical" means or fear of extortion of religious secrets. Rather it was by the most basic forms of control, wealth. This surely is why the financially unstable French branded them as heretics and blasphemers. It was just a replay of how those in both political and religious power use their god’s name to gain power. Perhaps, there were some mystical mysteries regarding the Knights Templar, but I would not assume them to be as outrageous as proclaimed by the inquisition. I would assume that perhaps it might have been an incorporation of the Catholic faith and Pagan spirituality.

Just my thoughts on the matter.

Just a note or two on that; they Knights Templar were Pardoned by a later Pope. Most of the Templar's escaped capture....... they simply disappeared, as did their fleet of ships. It is speculated that the Templar's went to Swisserland where they set up the Swiss Banking System, which uses the same accounting system as the Templar's .

LINN wrote:
Just a note or two on that; they Knights Templar were Pardoned by a later Pope. Most of the Templar's escaped capture....... they simply disappeared, as did their fleet of ships. It is speculated that the Templar's went to Swisserland where they set up the Swiss Banking System, which uses the same accounting system as the Templar's .

They didn't cover this in the program yet, since it was Part One of Two. Part Two will begin with the Inquisition. Yet I did read about this possibility along with other versions of the Knights Templar escape to Ireland, Scottland, and various other places.

bbg_1980 wrote:
Yet I did read about this possibility along with other versions of the Knights Templar escape to Ireland, Scottland, and various other places.

That is correct. It's also speculated that the Scottish branch of the Knights Templar "invented" the "Scottish Rite" brand of Free Masonry.
The fate that befell the KT is also why people believe that Friday the 13th is an unlucky day. Thats the day when an issued papal bull ordered everyone to attack and capture or kill the KT.

Maybe som of my terminology is incorrect, but Holy Blood Holy Grail has all of the information you would ever care to ingest. All I gotta say is, if you read it, bring a note pad. There are so many names and dates and this one is related to that one form this great greeat garnd niece of that duke or king or queen... that is not even funny.
But on the up side, i did enjoy the information I got from the book... even if it did make my brain hurt.

Ultimately what did the KT in was one of the oldest cliches in the world, "Absolute power corrupts absolutely.". These guys thought they had the power to name or depose kings. Money was also a key factor. The French were heavily indebted to the KT. What better way to get rid of a debt than to eliminate the organization you owe.

Ahhh the good ol' days.

The fate of the Knights Templar has been the subject of much speculation.

I always found interesting the KT's immense wealth and the subsequent banking system. There was a prohibition in the Muslim and Catholic faiths against the handling of money and specifically against the charging of interest. This prohibition was the direct cause of the early Banks being operated by Jews. The bank's money might actually belong to a Caliph or the Pope but it was managed by a Jew. It was these early money managers who developed the accounting systems and adapted those of the Hindus and Chinese into the systems still in use today.

So given this prohibition against the handling of money, and that the Templars were Anti-Semetic, how did the Templars amass enough wealth to become such a threat? Even though upon joining the Templars a knight would have to sign over all their wordly possesions to the Templar organization, most of the members were "second sons" placed in the Templars so they would not be a threat to the "First Son" and the succession of the family's wealth and title. There simply was not enough wealth turned over to the Templars in this manner for them to be the threat they became.

So my question would be, assuming that wealth alone was NOT the only reason for the destruction of the Templars: "What else did the Templars possess that would make them such a threat to the French throne and to Rome?"

From what I have read on the KT, they had considerable wealth in the form of donations and from nobles joining their order. It became fashionable near the end of their time for nobles to "renounce" their welth and join the order. So they could run off to the Holy Lands and play soldier for awhile then return to their money that they would then donate a portion of.
Donations were in the form of money and land for the only group that provided "protection" for Christians in the Holy Land. Through these donations of land and estates they ended up with a considerable portion of France. Why would the french need more of a reason to destroy them than owing them tons of money and the KT possessing a large section of their country.Personally I think what they did was a racket, organized crime in the name of God. Although it may have started with good intention it eventually became vile and twisted.
And it's not that they had power, it's that they perceived they had power and divine authority.
Kings were supposedly God's personal representatives on earth. But the KT elevated themselves to a higher level even though they wouldn't have been in business without the Royalty of Europe. They played the game of politics and lost, pissed in their cherios so to speak.
I'm no scholar, but to me it seems the KT envied royalty for their status and wealth and God was the only means to bypass that and become "royalty" themselevs.

I tend to agree with you RWB. The Templars main power was not the wealth they controlled, the reason most of that wealth was never found was that the KT loaned it to a bad risk - King Phillip. The true power of the KT was in the controlled lines of succession to the major houses of Europe. Given the Second Sons were quite commonly inducted into religous orders such as the KT, some one like Phillip of France could feel quite threatened, he owed the Templars money, and they controlled his line of succession. Assination being an accepted political tool of the day no wonder Phillip was nervous, as would be the English aristocracy for the same reasons.

The Papacy controlled the royal houses with threats of excommunication and legitimizing the concept of "Divine Right". If you did not play ball with the Pope, he removed your "Divine Right". If the KT replaced a royal house with a successor from their own ranks, the loyalty of the successor would be to the KT not to the Pope.
The concept of the Pope's control of "Divine Right" was already in jeapordy because of a highlander called Robert the Bruce. Even the entire nation of Scotland had been excommunicated and they would not abandon this shameful bandit who threatened the rightful overloard, King Richard of England. Likely with KT help, Robert the Bruce did defeat the English and in the process set up the questioning of the absolute power of Rome leading to the Reformation.

Gotta love these Christians.

well either way,it was a good show..then again I am a History Channel junkie.

LordDuke wrote:
well either way,it was a good show..then again I am a History Channel junkie.

Same here. SHimmy hates it...