The Knights Templar were a Feared and Formidable Fighting Force
These Fanatical Warrior Monks offered Body and Soul to their Religious Order
The Knights Templar Fought in Defense of Christianity
Templar Fortunes and History were closely associated with those of the Crusades

Acknowledging only the Pope as his Superior - the Templar Grand Master was the equal of Kings
The Order Reigned Supreme for nearly two Centuries

Mediterranean Region . . . time of the Crusades

Knights Templar Crusaders

Knights of the Temple of Solomon

Stronghold of the Knights Templar was on Jerusalem's Mount Moriah - called the Temple Mount
The Location of the Original Jewish Temple

The ultimate goal for Christians was to visit sacred places in accordance with their religion. Pilgrims traveled from across Europe to Jerusalem just to fulfill their life long devotion. But the road to the holy city was never without dangers. This didn’t stop the pilgrims from making the journey even after the city fell under Islamic control. As the number of pilgrims increased, bandits took advantage and harassed the devotees on the route to Palestine. The greatest threat was the appearance of a group of Muslim fanatics that massacred “Infidels” as one of their Islamic duties.

Crypt of the Holy Sepulchre

The Holiest Christian Site in the World
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre Encompasses
Golgotha (the 'Place of the Skull') where Jesus was Crucified and the Tomb (Sepulchre) where He was Buried

The Vision of Constantine

Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Knights of the Holy Sepulchre - Instituted by Constantine, at the prayer of his mother Helena, for the avowed purpose of protecting the Holy Sepulchre, by defending it from the enemies of the Christian faith. Only Knights of the Red Cross, by royal decree, were eligible for the Order of the Holy Sepulchre.

In 326 - Constantine instituted the Order of the "Knights of the Grand Cross", which he conferred on several of his generals and ministers, as a special mark of merit and distinction.

In 337 - Death of Constantine the Great. The Popes of Rome claimed now, and exercised, sovereign authority over the Orders of Knighthood throughout Christendom, delegating to the Papal Nuncios and Cardinal Princes, at the various Catholic Courts, the right to nominate candidates to the Orders.

In 614 - the Persians took Jerusalem from the Romans. The Holy City fell into the hands of the worshipers of fire. In 628, the Romans recaptured Jerusalem. When the Muslim Prophet Muhammad died in June of 632, his successor, Abu Bakr, immediately launched a campaign of conquest and colonization. He set in motion the most vigorous military expedition since Roman times. The siege of Jerusalem in 637 by the Muslim forces eventually gave Islam control over Jerusalem for a very long time.

In 1048 - Founding of the the Order of the "Hospitalers of St. John of Jerusalem" also referred as Knights of the Hospital of St. John. Merchants from the ancient Marine Republic of Amalfi obtained from the Caliph of Egypt the authorization to build a church, convent and hospital in Jerusalem, to care for pilgrims of any religious faith or race.                      

The Decadent City of Rome

Then the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry III, used his power to select new Popes. They were carefully chosen, especially from the great Monastery of Cluny, from which pure blood was pulsing through the diseased arteries of the churches.

The Holy Roman Emperors believed they held authority over men and lands by 'Divine Right'. The Pope maintained that the church must be free of the authority of the State. Two ideas were in conflict and two determined men, Pope Gregory VII and Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV, forced the issue to the last bitter extreme in 1076.

Pope Gregory VII excommunicated the Emperor, pronouncing him outcast from the Church and the society of men, releasing his subjects from allegiance to him. Then Gregory tried to bring about the election of a new Emperor.

Whereupon, Emperor Henry IV assembled a church council that denounced Pope Gregory VII and elected an 'Antipope' named Guibert. Henry IV then marched on Rome, with spears flashing behind him. Open war raged and the spears gained mastery. Pope Gregory VII called in dour Normans from the south, and they added flames to slaughter in the city. Borne away by the Normans, Pope Gregory VII died in exile by the sea.

Definition Antipope: Meaning Rival-pope" or "Counter-pope", is a person who makes a controversial, yet substantially accepted, claim to be the lawful Pope, and is elected in opposition to the Pope that is recognized by the Roman Catholic Church.

Antipopes are typically those supported by a fairly significant faction of cardinals, and in several cases it was hard to tell who was, in fact, the lawful Pope, since the claim of each was widely accepted.

There have been several Antipopes throughout the history of the Roman Catholic Church. The period when Antipopes were most numerous was during the struggles between the Popes and the Holy Roman Emperors of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The Emperors frequently imposed their own nominees, in order to further their own cause.

Pope Urban II at Clermont
Extolling the First Crusade

Henry IV
Holy Roman Emperor

Peter the Hermit
Preaching the 1st Crusade

Pope Urban II planned a great enterprise. He devised to summon the fighting men of Christendom to take up arms, not in any earthly quarrel, but to march into Asia to recapture the Sepulchre of Christ. It would be a pilgrimage and it would also be a war. Men of all nations would enlist, and by so doing earn the right to absolution from their sins.

November 1095 - The Council of Clermont in Auvergne. Pope Urban II addressed himself to all the nations represented at the Council, and particularly to the French, who formed the majority, and which was his nation by birth. The Golden Pope went outside to address the masses of people who came to hear him, as he spoke from a high platform.

Excerpted - Pope Urban II Speech at Clermont

Contingents of European Crusader Knights - Enroute to Jerusalem

The Monk, Ordericus Vitalis wrote in his cell by candlelight one night . . .

"An astonishing desire to go to Jerusalem, or to aid those who were going, animated equally the rich and the poor, men and women, monks and peasants. Husbands were ready to leave their loved wives, these in turn longed ardently to leave their children (although with tears) and all their cherished belongings, and to follow their husbands on the expedition."

"Lands of great value until now, were sold at a vile price, and everyone bought arms to go to avenge God against the infidels. Thieves, pirates, various criminals, were touched by grace, and came out of the abyss of their misery, renouncing their crimes and setting out for the far-off land to expiate them. The wise Pope encouraged to go to war all those who were in condition to carry arms against infidels. He accorded them, by virtue of his great power, absolution from their faults after the hour when they took the cross."

The Peasants Crusade

Crusaders First Sight of Jerusalem
From the Hill of Emmaus . . . circa June 10th, 1099

First Crusade
Crusader Army of Nobles, Ecclesiastics and Peasants

Crusaders Outside of Jerusalem

Crusaders Conquer Jerusalem - 1st Crusade

Always the lofty mountains bordering the sea-coast of Outremer were infested by bold and warlike bands of fugitive Moslems, who maintained themselves in various impregnable castles and strongholds, from whence they issued forth upon the high-roads, cut off the communication between Jerusalem and the sea-ports, and revenged themselves for the loss of their habitations and property by the indiscriminate pillage of all travelers. The French Knight Hugues de Payens proposed the creation of a monastic/chivalric order for the protection of these pilgrims.

Mount Moriah in Jerusalem

The Assassins, it might be mentioned, eventually became what is known today as the Ismaili sect of Islam. Their head is the Aga Khan, and their followers today reside largely in Pakistan and India. The Aga Khan, a hereditary leadership descended from Mohammed, maintains residences in both London and Bombay. The father of today’s Aga Khan was married to Hollywood actress Rita Hayworth.

At first the Knights had no Church, no Fortress, and no regular Quarters
They called themselves the "Poor Fellow Soldiers of Christ"

In 1128 - Pope Honorius II granted a 'Papal Sanction' to the military/religious order known as the Knights Templar, declaring it to be an 'Army of God'. Endorsed by the Roman Catholic Church, the Knights Templar grew rapidly in membership and power.

"In Praise of the New Knighthood"

Jerusalem

This famous tretise elevated the 'Order of the Temple' above all others of the day, including the Knights Hospitallers. This manuscript established the image of the Templars as a fierce spiritual militia for Christ. Saint Bernard regarded the Templars as an entirely new species of knighthood, previously unknown in the world, pursing a double conflict against both flesh and blood, and the invisible forces of evil.

The Council of Troyes - The Templar Order was officially endorsed by the Church. With this formal blessing, the Templars became highly regarded throughout Christendom, receiving money, land, businesses, and noble-born sons from families who were eager to help with the fight in the Holy Land.

Council of Troyes . . . circa 1128

Pope Honorius II - Papal Sanction Recognition of Templars

St. Bernard perceived a means of channeling the feudal nobility's surplus energy, which would convert 'criminals and godless, robbers, murderers and adulterers'. St. Bernard urged young men to take up the Templar sword, comparing the Templar's holy way of life, so pleasing to God, to the degenerate ways of the secular knights, whose lives were dedicated to vanity, adultery, looting, and stealing, with many sins to atone for. The dedication to Christ, to a life of chastity and prayer, to a life that might be sacrificed in battle against unbelievers, was enough penance to atone for any sin or any number of sins.

Saint Bernard

Frenchman Hugues de Payens

King Baldwin II of Jerusalem

Attire of the Knights of the Temple of Solomon was white, meant to remind them "to commend themselves to their Creator by a pure life". Soon, a red cross was added, signifying the blood to be shed for the defense of the faith. Unlike other religious/military Orders, the Knights Templar wore long beards.

Knights were required to be of knightly descent. They were equipped as heavy cavalry, with three or four horses, and one or two squires. Squires were generally not members of the Templar Order, but were instead outsiders who were hired for a set period of time. Knights wore white robes with a red cross, and a white mantle.

Beneath the knights in the Templar Order and drawn from lower social strata were the sergeants. They were either equipped as light cavalry with a single horse, or served in other ways such as administering the property of the Templar Order or performing menial tasks and trades. Sergeants wore a black tunic with a red cross on front and back, and a black or brown mantle.

In 1129 - First Templar Grand Master, Hugues de Payens, led a company of 300 knights, recruited from the noblest houses of Europe, to accompany a huge train of pilgrims to Jerusalem. During this time the Templars formed part of a contingent which, allied with the Assassins of Persia, tried to take the important city of Damascus.

In 1135 - "A Templar Knight is truly a fearless knight, and secure on every side, for his soul is protected by the armor of faith, just as his body is protected by the armor of steel. He is thus doubly-armed, and need fear neither demons nor men." - St. Bernard

In 1139 - Pope Innocent II's papal bull, Omne Datum Optimum, exempted the Order from obedience to local laws. This ruling meant that the Templars could pass freely through all borders, were not required to pay any taxes, and were exempt from all authority except that of the Pope

Templar Cross on Flag

The 'Cross Patee' (above)

Knights Templar - Escorting Pilgrims within sight of the Walls of Jerusalem

Huge crowds gathered, drawn by the prospect of hearing St. Bernard preach the crusade. So many had arrived that Bernard had to deliver his sermon from a specially constructed platform on the outskirts of the town. Bernard’s words found a receptive audience. As soon as he had finished speaking, King Louis of France was the first to pledge allegiance. Of all of those who vowed to journey to the East that day, many were the sons and grandsons of the original crusaders, to whom maintaining family honor was at least as important as liberating Edessa in Outremer.

Vast armies were soon on the road toward Jerusalem. In his last years, St. Bernard rose from his sickbed and went into the Rhineland to defend the Jews against savage persecution.

In 1146 - Pope Eugene III decreed that only the Knights Templar could wear a special red cross with blunt wedge-shaped arms called the 'Cross Patee' on the left breasts of their white robes, so that they could be quickly recognized at any time by Christians and by other Templars on the field of battle. The white robes with red crosses became their required dress. The Templar Knights fought bravely in the Middle East, and were highly respected by their Moslem counterparts for their strategy and bravery.

(1147 to 1149) 2nd Crusade - The Knights Templar fought their first full scale battle during the Second Crusade. Their usual duties involved guarding the pilgrims routes and accosting Muslim bandits along the highways into Jerusalem. A totally dedicated fighting force, the Templars were renowned for never leaving the battlefield while their black and white piebald standard, called the Beauseant, was raised. Later in 1241, at the Danube river, the Knights Templars would die to the last man on the battlefield, against the invading forces of the Mongol Empire.

Saint Bernard - Expounding 2nd Crusade

Order of the Knights Templar
The "World's 1st International Bank"

The Order of the Temple owned great tracts of land, donated by the royal European families, and upon which were built fortresses. These connected as outposts, all the way along the pilgrim road to Outremer. The Templar system of paper money among their many connecting castles was ingenious. Pilgrims would simply safeguard their gold in a Templar depository near their home town and be issued a International Letters of Credit, which tabulated the holdings and recorded the history of withdrawals. This international monetary certificate could be presented at Templar castle strongholds anywhere in the world, thus eliminating the need to carry excessive gold and silver. When a nobleman would join their ranks, he would surrender his castle and property to the Knights who would use revenues generated from the property to purchase weapons, war-horses, armor and other military supplies.

Although initially they had started providing banking facilities just for pilgrims, within a short time, they had gained a broad range of interested customers. It was far safer to deposit money with the Templars than to keep it almost anywhere else. The Knights kept scrupulous accounts, enabling them to run an effective, reliable and accountable service. The Templars quickly expanded their financial services to include accounts, safe deposit boxes (documents, gold, jewelry, etc.), loans, credit and pensions. The Templars also acted as tax collectors and receivers. The Templars eventually began lending money to European Rulers.

The Templars have been described as taking crown jewels and indeed entire kingdoms as mortgage for loans, and they maintained major branches in France, Portugal, England, Aragon, Hungary and various Mid-Eastern capitals. The group controlled as many as 9,000 estates, and left behind hundreds of buildings great and small.

Templars had Naval Forces

Ponferrada Templar Castle

Although the primary mission of the Templar Order was military, relatively few members were combatants. The others acted in support positions to assist the knights and to manage the financial infrastructure. The Templar Order, though its members were sworn to individual poverty, was given control of wealth beyond direct donations. A nobleman who was interested in participating in the Crusades might place all his assets under Templar management while he was away.

Templar Donan Castle - Scotland

Church of the Knights Templars - Luz France

Almourol Castle - Portugal

England's Rochester Castle . . . circa 1828

Tomar Castle - Portugal

Battle Weary Knight

Templars in Council

Salah al-Din is known in the West as 'Saladin'
Derived from the Inability of Europeans to Pronounce an Easterners Name

An Old Proverb in Islam - "Only a hand that can wield a sword may hold the scepter"

In 1168 - The Caliph of Cairo was apart from orthodox Islam. A schismatic, his adherents were devotees of Fatima, the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad. He wore white instead of traditional black and his congregation believed passionately in the coming of El Mahdi, the "Guided One", who would become a second Muhammad.

The Fatimid Caliph lived in guarded seclusion. Sudani swordsmen filled the corridors of the 'Great Palace' in Cairo, Egypt. They paced the antechambers and were at the marble fountains where peacocks strutted and parrots screamed. In dark whispers insiders related stories of a Caliph who had poisoned his son and a Wazir who had been cut to pieces by the palace women.

The Caliph ruled Egypt only in name. The real power rested in the hand of his Wazir, or minister. The Caliph had become a figurehead, the Wazir a dictator.

The Knights of Jerusalem and the Mamluks of Damascus had both tasted the honey pots of the Great Palace, and had seen with their own eyes the weakness of the men of Cairo.

Amalric, King of Jerusalem was an aggressive fighter. He felt the capture of Cairo would bring final triumph to the Crusaders. He marched to the conquest of Cairo. But the Moslem army of Nur ad-Din also marched towards Cairo. King Amalric failed to surprise Cairo and was forced to withdraw upon the arrival of the Moslem forces under the command of Shirkuh.

Shirkuh rode triumphantly through the gates of Cairo and boldly claimed the reward of a rescuer. The old dictator was put to death and Shirkuh was duly declared Wazir of Egypt. Shirkuh then died in the moment of the triumph, poisoned like the Caliph's son.

Salah al-Din now discovered himself to be at once the Wazir of a schismatic Caliphate and yet the general of the orthodox army of Damascus.

Salah al-Din planned the Jihad early on. He knew only in the Jihad, the "Holy War", could he unite the factions of the Near East. Turkoman, Kurd and Arab would follow the standards to war against the unbelievers. The Atabegs of the North, the Shaikhs of the desert clans, and the Amirs of Egypt, would ride to such a summons, united against a common foe.

In 1184 - Reginald of Kerak had dared the unthinkable, and was recently returned from a raid on the holy city of Mecca, to destroy the sanctuary of Islam. But he had been turned back by Moslem forces. Now Reginald was secluded in his fortress, called the 'Stone of the Desert', which was positioned at the point of greatest danger from Moslem invasion, on the frontier of the Holy Land. The 'Stone' was the furthest bastion of Christianity.

It came to pass that Reginald was in the process of a wedding feast for a noble couple. Salah al-Din came up unseen during the feasting, bursting on the scene with roaring drums, clashing cymbals, the ringing of steel against steel, and the battle shout, "Yahla 'l Islam!" The Sultan planned to exact retribution for the Mecca raid.

His soldiers stormed the outer wall and drove the Christian Knights headlong through the the wide enclosure, past the magazine and reservoir to the moat of the castle keep. But Reginald, called the 'Wolf', was not to be taken. He and the bulk of his men managed to cross the drawbridge over the chasm, which divides the 'Kerak Citadel' from the outer works. Salah al-Din stormed the remainder of the enciente and set up siege engines across the moat from the keep.

But then Salah al-Din learned that he had interrupted a wedding and that the two lovers were quartered in one of the towers of the Citadel. So it was the Sultan ordered no stones be cast against their tower on the wedding night. Then Reginald of Kerak sent out to Salah al-Din meat and wine from the banquet board, and a message of regret that he had lacked time to prepare more fitly for his distinguished, unbidden guest.

Then it was, Salah al-Din, who was not in strength, withdrew to the north. But not before Raymond had come into his camp to talk with him, and had agreed, as the Sultan also agreed, to a five year truce.

The young prince of Galilee saw in the truce the best safeguard of Jerusalem. Salah al-Din wished it for reasons of his own. There was trouble in the Moslem East and his forces were divided. Salah al-Din departed the frontier.

In 1185 - King Baldwin of Jerusalem dies with no one to succeed him. For a year no one wore the crown of Jerusalem. Noblemen, priors and Grandmasters of orders, including De Riddeford, Grandmaster of the Temple of Solomon, came and went and the talk in hall and Monastery grew hot and fierce.

Finally, Reginald of Kerak rode into Jerusalem, and armed Templars sallied out from their quarters in the ruins of the Temple of Solomon, that once had been a Mosque. A cavalcade of spears from Ascalon entered the gates at night, and in the morning the gates of the city were in the hands of the followers of Sibyl, sister of the dead king. She claimed the feudal right of succession.

In the Holy Sepulchre, at the coronation, the white surcoats of the Temple and the gray coats-of-arms of Kerak surrounded Sibyl and her husband Guy. When the ceremony was at an end, Sibyl lifted the crown from her head, and placed it upon her husbands, bestowing the kingship to him.

Guy de Lusignan - King of Jerusalem

Time passed, and Reginald of Kerak found the truce irksome. Raymond had made the truce, not he, and the Prince of Galilee was now in disfavor. So when the great Moslem caravan from Cairo camped under his castle with its multitude of slaves and tempting bales of exotic goods, the master of Kerak could not hold back his hand.

He led down his followers and seized the caravan and held it, it spite of Salah al-Din's instant message of protest, in which the Sultan claimed the caravan as his own, under the safeguard of the truce. Reginald's answer was to sally out against the long caravan of pilgrims coming back from Mecca. Salah al-Din's patience was at an end.

"If Allah wills," he cried, "I shall slay that man with my own hand."

June 1187 - The black banners of Salah al-Din's army crossed the Jordan at the ford just below the Lake of Galilee. This time there would be no drawing back. Salah al-Din was determined to break the strength of the Crusaders and drive them from the Holy Land.

July 4th, 1187

Salah al Din's greatest triumph over the European Crusaders came at the Battle of Hattin
This paved the way for the Islamic re-conquest of Jerusalem and other Holy Land cities in the Near East

Moslem Chronicles relate that Salah al-Din's Amirs advised him at this time not to risk a battle, but to withdraw and lay waste the lands of the Christian lords. Salah al-Din answered, "And when will such a gathering be gathered together again in one place before us? Nay, be ready to lead your men. God will do what He wills".

At the camp of Saffuriya the great Crusader Lords waited in their pavilions. The days passed and they waited, while scouts brought in word of the Moslems.

Salah al-Din had led his last contingents across the Jordan River, and was camped along the heights by Galilee, facing the Crusaders, but a mere fifteen miles away. Salah al-Din had a great host with him. Their pickets were within sight. But Salah al-Din could not move upon Jerusalem while the Christians watched from Saffuriya. He could not get past them to the coast.

That night the Christian Lords gathered and held council in the pavilion of the King, to determine what they must do. Some spoke of an attack to drive the Moslems from their position at the brow of the rise, down the great descent toward Galilee. Others, more cautious, explained that they would find no water in the advance against Islam.

They then looked to King Guy for his council, "I have no will to press the war," he said. But later, De Riddeford the Templar Grandmaster and Reginald of Kerak went to the King's tent, and persuaded the irresolute Guy to order an advance at dawn.

July 2nd, 1187 - The Crusaders marched at dawn, hoping to reach the Moslem line at noon and break through before darkness.

But the intensity of the sun in the sky was a menace, and the marching columns lagged. The foot soldiers were wearing mail armor and carried water. The rocks beneath their feet radiated the same intolerable heat as the sky above, and they faltered. When the sun set they were still far from the Moslems. They camped and drank thirstily.

They had ventured too far, yet dangerously, not far enough.

They could not turn back. They had left the 'Springs of Saffuriya', and now desperately, on the morrow, they must reach the water of Galilee.

Moslem Arab Cavalryman
African Volunteer (Ghana Empire)

July 4th, 1187 - With the dawn the Christians took up their weapons and came on again. "They advanced," the Moaslem chronicler adds, "as if driven toward certain death."

The battle was fought in the village of Loubiya, under the rocky hillocks known as the "Horns of Hattin". The fever of thirst raged in the Crusaders. They fought for water and life. The way to salvation was through the arrayed host of  Salah al-Din, to the water beyond at Galilee. In this intense struggle the Christian foot soldiers became separated from the cavalry. The Knights, deprived of support, made vain charges into the solid array of the Moslems.

Horses fell under deadly arrows, or sank exhausted, and the Chivalry of Jerusalem was forced to stand in order to defend themselves. Drawing more and more into a dense circle, they were cut off from the men-at-arms who scattered in groups, retreating up rising ground.

Only Raymond of Galilee was able to lead some scores of riders in a desperate charge that broke through the Moslem lines. He rode a spent horse to the coast. Raymond reached his castle in Tripoli and died there two weeks later of exhaustion.

By noon, this final day of fighting, the remaining Christian Lords had gathered about King Guy and Reginald of Kerak, on the knolls of Hattin, where the gold cross still gleamed.

Salah al-Din and King Guy of Jerusalem

At the command of the Sultan Salah al-Din Turkish swordsmen were cutting the heads from some 200 Knights Templar, being those who had survived the warfare. It was the rule of the Templar Order that no member could ransom himself. The Moslems treated the Templars without mercy, except for the Grandmaster of the Order, De Riddeford, whom Salah al-Din spared.

The grim warrior/monks knelt under the sword strokes without protest or prayer for mercy. The law of Islam required that before an unbeliever was put to death, he should be offered the chance of acknowledging the faith of Muhammad, and if he accepted he should be spared. The Templars made no reply and were executed. Many other soldiers wishing death rather than a life of slavery in the service of infidels rushed forth claiming to be Templars. Also, numerous Knights Hospitallers and other Crusader Teutonic Knights were similarly dealt with.

Salah al-Din seated himself in his tent and bade his men bring in the King, his brother Amalric and Reginald of Kerak. Then he offered a sherbet of chilled rose water to the King, who was overcome by thirst. But Guy only drank a part, and offered the goblet to Reginald of Kerak. The Sultan said at once to the interpreter, "Remind the King that it is not I but he who gives drink to this man."

For the Sultan had adopted the praiseworthy and generous custom of the nomads who granted life to a prisoner if he ate or drank of that which belonged to them.

Then Salah al-Din gave order to lead the three to a place prepared for their reception, and when they had eaten, he asked for them to be brought in again. The King he had sit in the vestibule. He required the Prince of Kerak to come in, and reminded him of the words he had once spoken, he said, "I am he who will serve Muhammad against thee!"

Salah al-Din then inquired if the Prince would embrace Islam? Upon Reginald's refusal, the Sultan drew his sword and struck him a blow which severed the arm from the shoulder. At this the servants sprang upon the captive and finished him.

They drew Reginald's body out, and cast it into the tent entrance. The King, seeing in what manner his comrade had been treated, believed that he would be the second victim, and shook in all his limbs. But the Sultan had him brought in and calmed his fears. "Kings," he said, "have not the habit of slaying kings, but that man yonder had passed all limits."

Moslem Victory at Hattin

In the two months that followed Salah al-Din swept through the Holy Land, successively occupying the remaining towns, cities and castles, which had taken the Crusaders so many generations of effort and bloodshed to subdue. Only in the east did several of the giants of the Christian frontier still remain intact in their fortified mountain heights. But the Moslems held all the country around them.

Now Salah al-Din's thoughts were bent on Jerusalem, where was built the Al Aksa, the third most sacred place of Islam, built upon the gray rock from which the Prophet Muhammad had ascended. Jerusalem was to be the culmination of his conquest.

September 20th, 1187 - Salah al-Din's army camped on the western height opposite the Gate of David, at Jerusalem.

"I will take Jerusalem as the Christians took it, sword in hand" - Salah al-Din

The unskilled Jerusalem garrison had no proper engines to break down the barricade, and the counter-mines they excavated collapsed. They manned the summit of the wall and shot their arrows, but the veteran Mamluks and Turks made no attempt at first to storm the stone rampart. Instead, the miners enlarged their tunnels, propping up the foundation of the city wall, and dug beneath it, until the props were burned and a broad section of the wall cracked and fell in.

The Patriarch Heraclius said to the leaders of the men, "It is not well to destroy ourselves thus. Nay, it is better to yield the city and betake ourselves to Christian soil." Next day the emissary Balian went out to parlay with Salah al-Din. The enlightened Sultan had no wish to lay the city in ruins, and he agreed to allow all the inhabitants to depart with arms and possessions. But they must pay a ransom for safe passage. It was ten pieces of gold for every man, five for a woman and one for a child. They were not allowed to take any further gold or silver wealth with them.

The next few days saw a strange sight. All the gates remained closed except the Gate of David. From it a ceaseless cavalcade passed out. Women, in traveling cloaks, laden with bundles, rode forth with their children, while servants dragged cattle and herded sheep beside them. Armenians rode out on donkeys followed by their women. Barefoot, black robed monks came out, heads lowered, marching behind their superiors and contrasted the gray habits of the Augustinians. Behind them all the bells of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre were tolling.

The men of Jerusalem came forth, seneschal and hermit, lord and beggar and peasant. Among her court ladies, Sibyl the Queen of Jerusalem appeared, with her sister and the widows of Hattin. Some went down the road silent in pride, but others sought the Sultan in a throng and fell on their knees to beseech that their husbands, captives of Hattin, be released. They did not beg in vain, for Salah al-Din granted their plea.

All of them paid their ransom coins to the watchful officers, and only the Patriarch Heraclius went out with his private treasure hidden in sacks upon his beasts. He carried out gold, although thousands of the poor remained weeping in the city, unable to pay the ransom tax. But Salah al-Din released the poor from his tax and even forbade his men from confiscating the fortune of the Patriarch. Salah al-Din, when the money was brought to him, gave it out to the Moslem soldiers.

No miracle had saved the Holy City, but a strange thing had happened. For the Moslems had taken possession of Jerusalem without blood being shed. And this was brought about by Salah al-Din's mercy.

Crusader Coins from the Kingdom of Jerusalem (Outremer)

Salah al-Din Victorious - Painting by Gustave Dore

(1189-1192)

A letter came from Friedrich Barbarossa, known as the 'Red Beard', who was by divine mercy the Emperor of the Romans, and lord of all German states and principalities. The Emperor threatened that if Jerusalem were not surrendered, he would come against the Moslems with all his great host. "Take warning by Pharaoh and yield Jerusalem." The Arabs knew who Barbarossa was; the chief sultan of the Franks and the defender of Christiandom.

Spring 1189 - Barbarossa set out upon the 3rd Crusade. The Red Beard led an army of one hundred thousand soldiers. Even as Barbarossa marched the Duke of Austria was preparing to follow him. The French Chivalry were mustering for the road, and their young King Phillip II, had taken the cross. The fleet of Norman Sicily was anchored off the port of Tripoli, while the ships of Pisa were already under way. Even the sails of the Northmen had been seen off the coast of Granada.

Watching the gathering storm, Salah al-Din knew this would be the real war. The Christian forces he had defeated several years ago had been no more than a fragment of these new armies. The kings and queens of the Franks would merge their forces into a mighty host, greater than his own. Perhaps he might face a quarter million fresh foemen, under new leaders. Salah al-Din himself had never had even fifty thousand warriors under his banners at the same time.

On the sea also, Salah al-Din's Egyptian fleet would be confronted by a greater armament, and he was prepared to see the Christians victorious on the water. The Christians could, thereby land at whatever point they wanted along the coast of Outremer, while Barbarossa's massive army marched down through Asia Minor and the mountain passes.

The armed forces of Europe would converge on his coast. It would be a duel between the resources and weaponry of the West, against the horsemen of the East.

Philip II the King of France

Richard the Lionheart

Emperor Frederick Barbarossa

On the third day, the troops of the Sultan Salah al-Din came; Turks, Persians and Bedouins. They occupied the country all around. The Turks assailed them night and day. The King and his men were in great fear and they watched the sea, until shortly, there arrived a great fleet of ships. It was James of Avesnes, from Flanders. He had with him fourteen thousand renowned men-at-arms. Then soon arrived the fleet of Danemark, carrying castellans and their brown horses, strong and swift.

Galleys and ships were run up on the beach near the city, and the newcomers fought their way across the plain to the camp of the King. Conrad of Montserrat arrived from Tyre in his ships to join the gathering host. The Crusaders now numbered more than thirty thousand and their ships blockaded the port of Acre. They extended their lines on either side, so the King's camp became a semicircle, isolating Acre from the hills controlled by Salah al-Din.

Autumn 1189 - Salah al-Din made an effort to break the line the Christians were extending around Acre. Always faithful to Islam, he attacked on a Friday, when Moslems all over the world were at prayer. He launched his cavalry at different points along the Christian line, to break the close ranks of the stolid infantry and to separate the divisions of the Crusaders.

The Templars and the Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem charged, assailed the first ranks, pierced them, threw then into disorder, drove them to flight and pursued them. When the Knights charged, the Moslem general Taki ad-Din decided to draw back his cavalry line to higher ground, and Salah al-Din mistook this maneuver for flight. The Sultan sent his reserve cavalry from the center to the retreating right wing.

The commanders of the Christian center noticed this weakening of the Moslem center and charged point-blank at the Sultan's standard. Some Moslem regiments were broken and driven back, but Salah al-Din's Mameluks held fast without breaking ranks. Salah al-Din made every effort to break the Christian line and failed. While the Crusaders had been cut to pieces on the first day of fighting, they held their ground thereafter.

But the year grew late, the Autumn rains were beginning, with the holy month of Ramadan, and the Amirs were eager to return to their homes for the Winter's planting. The Sultan himself was still ill with Malaria. So they argued and persuaded Salah al-Din to cease the battle till the Spring. No new Christian fleets could approach the coast of the Holy Land during the stormy season, nor could they blockade fully the port of Acre.

Siege Warfare in the Holy Land

Mangonel

Another fleet put in to the shore, carrying the last of the French contingent and the best of the English men-at-arms, along with King Richard's legendary siege engines. They entered into the battle without even a day's rest.

A pattern continued daily. At daybreak Salah al-Din ordered the war drums beaten again. The soldiers began to form their squadrons. Attack and counter-attack followed. Acre was constantly hammered. One day, the English finally set fire the wooden beams of the tunnel they had dug down under the foundation of the wall's square tower. Slowly the tower inclined outward, but it did not fall. Then the sound of battle roused Richard, King of England, and he could endure his sick bed idleness no more. He ordered attendants to carry his pallet out to the battlefield that he might observe the carnage. He offered gold coins as incentive for anyone to pull the stones from the tower base.

Richard the Lionheart - Victory at Acre

Philip Augustus, the King of the French, announced his decision to sail back to France at once, following the fall of Acre. He had seen enough of the Holy Land and its privations, so he used illness as an excuse. The French contingents protested and the nobles urged him to remain till the war's end. He would not stay. He left behind the bulk of his army.

Richard the Lionheart was chosen the unquestioned leader of the Crusader military forces. Richard was pleased. His illness was conquered, no one to hinder him, and all of the Holy Land open to him. Only Conrad of Tyre dared question Richard, and Conrad had retired to his citadel. Nor would he come forth at the Lion Heart's summons.

Acre had surrendered under hard terms. To save their lives the generals in the city had agreed to turn over Acre and all that it held. Also they promised, the payment of a ransom of 200,000 pieces of gold, and to the release of 1,600 Christian captives held by Salah al-Din, including 100 Knights selected by name, and to return the 'Holy Cross' of the Crusaders. The fulfillment of these terms rested entirely with Salah al-Din, who was troubled when he heard of the conditions.

The payments were to be made in three parts, over three months time. Salah al-Din said he was ready to make first payment, if the Christians agreed to give hostages to show good faith. Richard the Lionheart refused, demanding payment be made unconditionally.

Days passed without response and the Lion Heart called a council of princes at Acre. He discussed the situation and came to a decision. Twenty-six hundred Moslems of the city were led out into the plain. Their hands were bound and they were put to death by the sword or hung, within sight of the Moslem patrols watching from the hills. Only the higher officers were spared.

In a frenzy of rage all the Moslem cavalry in the area rode down at the Crusaders, and before the executions ended, swords were clashing all over the plain. Eventually, the Moslems withdrew, to carry word to Salah al-Din. For many a day Salah al-Din showed no mercy to any Crusaders taken captive. He did not, however, retaliate by a slaughter of the Christians already in his hands.

The Crusaders were still afflicted by their losses at Acre, especially considering the terrible effects of the insidious "Greek Fire". The majority of them, arriving on the coast during the tension of the siege, still looked upon their enemies as infidels to be slaughtered wherever met. Despite that, King Richard stained his name, memory and honor by this needless cruelty. Salah al-Din on the other hand, did not retaliate, except in the open war that followed.

August 25th, 1191 - King Richard led the Crusader army down the coast with the fleet following after him, toward Jaffa, the port city of Jerusalem. In this manner he arranged for supplies to be delivered to his troops as they marched along the coast. This march was more than one hundred miles over the trails. The march was launched during the worst of the heat when the streams were dry.

Salah al-Din kept in touch with the Christian's movements by spies and by mounted patrols. He ordered the walls of the three towns between Acre and Jaffa dismantled, and the fortifications of the Jaffa seaport destroyed. Salah al-Din marched his forces south, beside the Crusaders, out of sight and sound within the hills. As the Crusaders marched on the Moslems made harrying attacks upon their columns.

September 7th, 1191 - On the day of the battle the Christians moved forward in their dense column, an armored giant drawing itself along the ground, heedless of the sting of missiles.

The Knights Templar took the advance position in the column, followed by the Bretons and the Knights of Anjou. King Guy led the men of Poitou at their heels, and the Normans and English pressed after with the standard. Bearing the burden of attack, the black robed Knights Hospitaller held the rear guard. At nine o'clock the two sides were engaged. Swarms of Bedouins and the horsemen of Egypt were assailing the Hospitalers at the rear. The battle fell heavily upon them without respite.

Then the Grandmaster of the Knights of the Hospital of St. John rode to King Guy and told him of their ordeal, emphasizing the heavy losses of their horses, though the Knights were well protected by their armor. The King replied, "No one can be everywhere at once." And the Grandmaster of the Knights of St John returned to fight off the attackers.

There was a great shame felt by the royalty, the counts and princes. They conversed among themselves and asked each other, "Why do we not charge them at full gallop?"

Spontaneously, two Knights who were impatient of delay put everything on the battlefield into confusion. They rushed at full gallop upon the Turks and each of them overthrew his man by piercing him with his lance. One of them was the Marshal of the Hospitalers and the other Baldwin de Carreo, a brave companion of King Richard.

Richard the Lionheart at Arsuf

The Crusaders occupied Jaffa, which had been abandoned, and they rested there. October and November passed while Jaffa was rebuilt and fresh forces summoned up from Acre. Skirmishing was the extent of the combat. King Richard relished in it. The opportunity for individual combats delighted him. The Lion Heart often rode out, with a small retinue of Knights, to look for hostile Moslem cavalry patrols and ride them down.

Salah al-Din knew from his spies that the Crusaders had returned to the shore of the sea. It was growing late in the year and rain came on the heels of wind, and chilled the air. So Salah al-Din informed his Saracens they could go away to their country and rest until May. They went willingly, having remained four whole years on the expedition.

1192 New Year - While King Richard labored at rebuilding Jaffa, Conrad of Tyre was secretly negotiating with Salah al-Din, offering to wage open war on the Lion Heart, if the Sultan would pledge him more of the coast cities. But Conrad was the one ruthless man that Salah al-Din was most wary of.

April 28th, 1192 - A strange power from beyond the mountains intervened. Conrad, riding home from a banquet at the house of the Bishop of Beauvais, was attacked by two young men and stabbed. These two Ismailites (Assassins), clad in the habit of monks rushed upon the Marquis who was mounted on his horse. One of them struck him with a knife, and the other fled into a church nearby. The wounded Marquis was carried into this same church by his companions. When the second assassin monk within the church beheld Conrad alive and speaking, he rushed out at him in the middle of the church and struck him again. Shortly, Conrad of Tyre died of these wounds. These two Ismailites were seized, and crucified, and tortured by the Crusaders. They told of how the King of England had sent them.

King Richard's March to Jerusalem

And so, at the very walls of the 'Holy City' itself, the Crusaders were forced by conditions to relinquish their plans for assault and siege, and instead return to the coast, with different contingents taking diverse routes to various destinations. Angered past reconciliation, the French went off to the north; the pilgrims and masterless men trilled down to Jaffa, while the Italian soldiery hastened to their citadels of trade along the coast, and only the Knights Templar and the Hospitalers of St. John, remained to guard the new wall of Ascalon.

Richard the Lionheart went at once to Acre, and joined his queens waiting there (Berengaria of Navarre and a young Princess of Byzantium), as he was impatient to embark for England. And the French sang a song in the taverns about a coward and a king, that stung the pride of the red haired King. So it came to be the Christians were scattered, and divisive.

Salah al-Din seized the opportunity. He roused his Amirs, shook from them the inertia of the year's defensive caution, and launched his horsemen straight down from Jerusalem towards Jaffa. They came like a sword thrust out of the night, twenty thousand mounted men with siege engines on camel and mule back, and a wild, exulting mass of Arabs clinging to the flanks. They drove the surprised Crusaders from the fields and suburbs, and began to pound with rocks and iron javelins at the gate of Jaffa. A ship sped to King Richard at Acre with news of the attack.

The galley bearing word of the Moslem attack reached the harbor of Acre, when King Richard was in his tent making the last preparations for embarking toward Beirut, and then on to Europe. The messengers went before him without ceremony, crying that Jaffa was taken and a remnant of the Christians were besieged in the Citadel of Jaffa. All would be lost they said, unless aid reached Jaffa at once.

"As God lives," Richard answered, "I will go there."

The Lion Heart was in command of the galleys that drifted beyond the swell of the Jaffa beach. The French refused point-blank to march under his standard. The Templars and the Knights of St. John of the Hospital, agreed to rendezvous at Jaffa, but were held up en route by a Moslem ambush. The fleet reached the beach in the night and waited to see what story the dawn held.

Richard the Lionheart looked at his companions and told them, "Damed be he who hangs back." He ordered his vessel to row in. His ship was first to beach itself in the sand. He led the assault, the first ashore, as he jumped over the side, landing waist deep in the water. The Lionheart still wore his ship slippers with no other armor than a mail shirt and a steel cap. On his shoulder he gripped a crossbow and his long sword hung at his side.

Wading through the swell with two Knights, the King began to shoot bolts at the foes. When they came out of the water they drew their swords, lashing about, while the shipmen plied arrows from the prow of their ship. Recognizing "Malic Ric", the Moslems in front of him gave back hastily, for his reputation was already fearsome. Meanwhile the English hastened forward to form a shield ring about him. Other ships were now running up on the beach.

But the Lion Heart, took a shield from a soldier and ran across the beach to a postern gate in the wall and a stair that he remembered led to the Templars House. With his Knights behind him, he leaped up the stairs and the Arab looters of the alleys yelled in amazement. The King cleared the alleys and pounded at a gate of the Citadel until the garrison became aware of him.

By this time, Richard the Lionheart's galleys held the beach and his own men were streaming up the Templars' stairway.

Richard the Lionheart - Wields Battle Axe

October 9th, 1192 - Richard the Lionheart took ship. He sailed on a galley with a small escort. His brother John was by now well settled in England and nearly every reigning prince of Europe his enemy. He tried to pass through German lands in disguise but was recognized by his royal bearing. He was taken by Leopold of Austria, the Emperor, and held for ransom. The entire "Robin Hood" legend is based upon these events. In the tale, it is only when the King Richard returns to England and deposes his brother that all is well again in merry old England.

Salah al-Din
Crosses Swords with the Hashishians (Assassins)

Sultan Salah al-Din, without meaning to do so, nevertheless roused against himself a dangerous and diabolical enemy. During his campaign to clear out the underworld in Cairo, Salah al-Din destroyed the lodge of the Ismailite Sect, the 'Free-thinkers' who acknowledged the authority of no sultan.

Ismailites stirred up the Sudan nomads into revolt. Salah al-Din scattered the rebels and crucified the leaders, nailing them to the city gates. This brought down upon him the anger of the Ismailites (Assassins). Now the secret order set about to slay him in their own unique manner.

The Hashishians first attempt to murder Salah al-Din failed, because of the vigilance of his personal guards. The Sultan went on his way undisturbed.

It was his custom to bar no one from his tent, and Salah al-Din greeted everyone with grave courtesy and asked what gift they would have from him. Sitting alone in his tent he was visited by three Assassins. They gained the tent and flung themselves at him. The rearmost of the three was swept from his feet by the sword of an outer guard. The Sultan warded off the dagger of the first and moved aside. A knife blade struck against the steel of his headpiece, wounding him slightly. Before the fanatical youths could deal a deadlier strike, the bodyguards were upon them from behind. Thrown down and disarmed, they were carried off to be tortured into confession and then hewn apart.

They were sent, his captains informed him, "by the Shaikh al Jebal".

This second attack upon his person was just too much for the patience of Salah al-Din or for that matter the endurance of his officers. The entire army was mustered in ranks. Then the army saddled up and marched up into the mountains of the Hashishians, between the long valley of Hamah and the sea.

Here in the pine darkened uplands the half-wild cattle grazed among the sandstone ledges, and isolated on the summits, the castles of the Shaikh loomed against the clouds. Salah al-Din's horsemen ravished the valleys thoroughly, driving off the cattle. They then made their way to the yellow castle called 'Massiaf'; rising from an outcropping of solid rocks with its sixty-foot walls, it was the impregnable stronghold of the Assassins in Syria. The great stones of the castle, fitted together without cement on the elevation of the rock, defied the Sultan's siege engines for a week.

Then it was that Salah al Din awakened to find a dagger thrust into the earth near him, and a scroll bearing a message.

"That thou possesses shall escape thee in the end, and return to Us."
"Know that We hold thee, and will keep thee until the account be closed."

The Coffin of Salah al-Din

Knights Templar at Constantinople (4th Crusade)

Knights Templar with King Richard (3rd Crusade)

There were even more Crusades. They were less and less effective in regards to liberating Jerusalem, and are beyond the scope of this historical. The Crusades are a subject deserving an entire section of its own. It is a vast subject which we have only glancingly covered here. Many a great warrior on both sides can be drawn forth from these conflicts.

Siege Of Acre - 1291

One Hundred Years after the Third Crusade
Acre is still the Pivotal Point in the Holy Land

It is a curious turn, in the tide of events, at the time: that Princes of Christiandom were no longer in sympathy with the Crusades, but were instead involved in their own personal quarrels and achievements, while a Mongol Warlord prepared to enter the Holy Land and take Jerusalem, in the face of the Moslem power.

Baibars - Fourth Mameluk Sultan of Egypt, heard the rumble of the Mongol Juggernaut from afar and prepared to ward off catastrophe. Baibars had been intensely occupied in routing the Assassins (Hashishians) out of their Citadels on the peaks, north of the Krak. One by one he had mastered the summits of the dark hills in which they had lived isolated for so long.

Autumn 1281 - Mongol Khan Abaqa set his army in motion towards Jerusalem. The Christian Georgians joined the standard of the Horde. The Armenians flocked down and the Knights rode from Marghab to swell the armed forces of the Khan. Thirty thousand Christians marched with the Mongols down the Valley of Hamah.

Upon the wide plain by the small Lake of Homs, the Egyptian host gave battle to the invaders. For the first time the Mameluks were face to face with the full army of the Mongol Khan and his allies. The battle was sudden and devastating.

The cavalry divisions of the Mongols and the cavalry divisions of the Mameluks scattered over the plain in charges that carried the forces leagues in distance. The right wing of the Mongol Horde crushed everything before it, while Qalawun with his 'Halka' held firm in the center.

At the end of the day, Qalawun and his Mameluks still held the field. The Mongol horsemen had been split into two forces. The Mongols rode off on the Moslem horses, which they preferred to their own. The Christians; Armenians and Georgians, being mostly infantry, were left stranded by themselves. The Christian forces were nearly annihilated in the long retreat on foot toward the mountains in the north.

As Baibars had done, Qalawun had beaten off the Mongol attack, and in the following years he avenged himself on the Knights of Marghab, and Tripoli, for their alliance with the Mongol invaders.

Marghab - Massive Crusader Castle

Only Acre Remained under the Christians
(Except for some small seaports)

March 1291 - The remnants of the Crusaders filled the walls of Acre, and thronged the gardens of the suburbs. Most had journeyed from the hill castles, bringing what goods they could carry with them. At Acre was the Prince of Galilee and the Lords of Outremer.

In the streets of Acre rode the Templars and Knights Hospitalers who had all been driven from their castles. Galleons crowded the port, coming and going from Cyprus. But there were not enough of them to evacuate the city if need be. The taverns were thronged. So the Crusaders gambled and feasted to drown the suspense and gnawing fear.

Acre was Conquered on May 18th, 1291
(End of the Crusader Presence in the Holy Land)

After two weeks of intense siege, with the thudding of fore-score siege engines, the cracking of boulders against crumbling walls, the flash and roar of exploding Naphtha, and the ceaseless summons of the drums. The drums carried on Camelback, scores of them, that dinned and thundered continuously through the hours.

Through the gardens of the suburbs, and over the smoking ruins of outlying palaces, surged the host of Islam. Finally, the wall was breached by fully sixty yards, the moat filled in by columns of beasts of burden, driven forward laden with incendiaries, and slaughtered at the ditch. The weary Crusader warriors, holding the breach, blinded by the smoke, awaited the assault.

The Templar Knights had already regained the breach after one deadly onset, but there was no one to relieve them. They waited and listened to the diapason of the drums, and the songs of the Dervishes beyond the smoke.

Through the night the men of Islam made ready, mustering in four waves. The first wave carrying heavy wooden shields, the second cauldrons of oil and torches, the third bows, the fourth short, curved swords. Behind these came the regiments of horsemen. In the half light before dawn, passed the white-robed Dervishes carrying long knives, they would lead the way. The Dervishes sang that Allah had shrouded them with a mantle. For a heavy mist lay along the shore and upon the line of the wall, and the sea had risen, so that it barred flight, tossing the Crusader ships in its grip.

The drums pounded their summons, and the cymbals clanged. The Dervishes began to scream and run through the mist. After them advanced the first wave of the attack. The clatter of steel was drowned out against the monotone of the drums. The defenders were overwhelmed and driven from the breach.

When the Sun broke the mist, the Moslems were within the wall.

Then, with a measured tread, the armored regiments of Mameluks advanced, over the ruined moat, over the piles of bodies and the broken engines, pressing back the wounded Knights, forcing their way into the streets, surging around groups of Christians trying to beat them off. Behind the Mameluks, the Moslem cavalry rode into Acre.

The drums ceased. Essentially Acre had fallen. But for hours the Crusaders fought, individually and in numbers. By nightfall of this day, Malik el Khalil controls the entire city of Acre except for the Templar Temple/Fortress on the shore.

Acre . . . circa 1291

The Last Stand at Acre

Friday the Thirteenth and the Knights Templar

Jerusalem is long since under the control of Moslems and the validity of the original purpose of the Templar Order is in question.
Yet the Templars are a wealthy and powerful money lending institution, even to the nobility, and even to Kings, who must finance their wars.

Friday - October 13th, 1307
An Infamous Day
Why "Friday the 13th" become an Omen for Unlucky Fortunes

King Philip IV of France

Nefarious Scheme of the French King

To put it bluntly, King Philip IV of France, called the "Fair" for his pretty looks, not for his immoral character, refused to pay his king sized bills. Therein lies the story of bad luck Friday the 13th.

The French King Phillip IV hated the Knights Templar because they were so rich and powerful. But mostly because he owed the Templars too much money and needed even more gold to fund his war with England. So Phillip made plans to crush the Templars and take their wealth. He set up a corrupt Pope in Avignon, France, instead of Rome, in order to control the Pontiff as his puppet. 

Friday, October 13, 1307 - King Philip IV seized the Temple in Paris and on the same night, ordered the arrest of every Templar in France. The Templar Grand Master Jacques de Molay and countless other French Templars; knights, sergeants, priests, and serving brethren, were simultaneously arrested, placed in chains, and charged with heresy, blasphemy and various obscenities. The arrest warrants started with the phrase "God is not pleased. We have enemies of the faith in the kingdom." They were accused of every crime the medieval mind could imagine! The charges included apostasy, idolatry, sorcery, obscene rituals and homosexuality, financial corruption and fraud, secrecy, even concealment of the "Holy Grail".

Pope Clement V, was also perpetually short of cash, and he was persuaded by King Philip IV to authorize the trials of the Templars. Pope Clement V primarily owed his position to King Philip's influence. After more bullying from King Philip IV, Pope Clement V then issued the papal bull 'Pastoralis Praeeminentiae' on November 22, 1307, which instructed all Christian monarchs in Europe to arrest all Templars and seize their assets.

Confessions Tortured from the Knights Templar

Pope Clement V called for papal hearings to determine the Templars guilt or innocence, and once freed of the torture, many Templars recanted their confessions. But in 1310 Philip IV blocked this attempt, using the previously forced confessions to have dozens of Templars burned at the stake in Paris.

With Philip IV threatening military action unless the Pope complied with his wishes, Pope Clement V finally agreed to disband the Templar Order, citing the public scandal that had been generated by the confessions, though obtained under torture.

 In 1312 Council of Vienne - Pope Clement V issued a series of 'Papal Bulls', which officially dissolved the Knights Templar Order and turned over most Templar assets to the Knights Hospitalers.

Jacques de Molay

Execution of Jacques de Molay

The Templars had been systematically hunted down and exterminated until the last Grand Master, Jacques de Molay was burned at the stake, taking with him the occult authority of the Templar secret society.

De Molay remained defiant to the end, asking to be tied in such a way that he could face the Notre Dame Cathedral and hold his hands together in prayer.

According to legend - De Moley called out from the flames that both Pope Clement and King Philip would soon meet him before God. His actual words were recorded on the parchment as follows "God knows who is wrong and has sinned. Soon a calamity will occur to those who have condemned us to death".

Pope Clement V died only a month later, and King Philip IV, who ordered the capture, persecution and death of the Knights Templar, died mysteriously in a hunting accident before the end of the year.

The last of the Templar Order's leaders were gone. Many Templar Knights eluded persecution and were absorbed into other military orders such as the Knights Hospitaller and the Knights of Malta, or were pensioned and allowed to live out their days peacefully.

Some may have fled to other territories outside Papal control, such as excommunicated Scotland or to Switzerland. Templar organizations in Portugal simply changed their name, from Knights Templar to Knights of Christ.

At this time the Knights Templar disappeared from history into the shadowy unknown realm of legend and myth.

The Chinon Parchment - Absolves the Templar Order

In 2001 - A researcher found a document in the Secret Vatican Archives called the Chinon Parchment, which proved that Pope Clement V absolved all the members of the Knights Templar of charges of heresy in 1308, and only issued his Papal bull of suppression for the Order because of political pressure from King Philip and the threat of scandal.

These Vatican documents, which have come to light in the Secret Archives, showing that the unprecedented global massacre of the Knights Templar in the Middle Ages for alleged heresy, idolatry and sexual perversion, continued even though the Pope had exonerated them in a secret trial.

Because of this, the official Vatican viewpoint on the Order of the Knights Templar in modern times is that they were wrongly persecuted and innocent of the charges against them.

A Replica of the Minutes of Trials in which Pope Clement V Absolved the Knights Templar of Heresy in 1308

Masonic Knights Templar . . . circa 19th Century

Knights Templar Caves
Under Shropshire Field