Importance of the Templars and the Order of the Temple

In the time of the crusades Various military orders with a strong religious spirit were created, such as the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, the Hospitallers or the Templars. All of them were founded with the intention of recovering the holy places for Christianity.

It was not just a conventional army, for its soldiers had two unique weapons: their sword and their faith.

The Knights of the Order of the Temple went from papal recognition to becoming a collective of outlaws

These soldiers were backed by the popes and for two hundred years they fought the Muslims and protected the pilgrims so they could reach the holy places. The emergence of the Templars was a novelty in the Middle Ages, since the knights had to combine two types of apparently antagonistic qualities: the moral virtues of the Christian monk and the skill of the warrior in the field of battle.

Like religious orders, members of the Temple had to abide by strict rules: only they ate meat three times a week, dressed in very humble clothes and could not maintain relationships sexual.

In the territories they occupied they had the authorization of the Pope to collect taxes and for this reason the Order became a powerful economic organization. Some monarchs in medieval Europe owed debts to the Knights Templar. Because of this, King Philip IV of France began a campaign to discredit the power of the soldier monks.

In this way, they were accused of heretics and practicing sodomy and the inquisitors arrested the main leaders of the Order in France. In this way, the brothers of the Temple fell into disgrace and finally the French king pressured Pope Clement V so that the Order was suppressed.

One of the historical enigmas that arouse the interest of medievalists

The Middle Ages is a period of history without which the history of Europe could not be understood. Castles, Romanesque churches and pilgrimage routes are preserved from the Middle Ages. Even in the world of video games there is a category dedicated to this period.

Regarding the disappearance of the Templars, there are all kinds of theories and conjectures. For some researchers, the main reason was its growing economic and religious power, which caused misgivings in two powerful enemies: the European monarchs who had contracted large debts with the Order and the religious orders that saw their influence diminishing in the whole of the society.

Although the Templars acted under the orders of the Pope, they had their own rules and customs that did not fit with Catholic doctrine. About them it is stated that they idolized Baphomet, a demonic entity (it is believed that this cult could be a false accusation to discredit the Order). Likewise, the Templar cross was not related to the Christian cross and its members practiced esoteric rituals. These peculiarities made them a group that aroused hatred and fear.

For some historians, the rituals of Freemasonry are inspired by the rites of this culture.

Image: Fotolia. Sergey Skryl, Andrea Lolli