Templars - Story One

“I would rather die than be dishonoured” motto of Hughes de Payens. 

There was no higher calling that to be - not a knight - but a ”poor fellow soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon” the name of the Order, for whom these brave knights fought and died. 

This military Order was of a highly trained, mounted cavalry. The 'poor' part of their title involved  commitment not to be tempted by the great riches they handled on behalf of the Church as the earliest of international bankers. They answered and honoured the Pope, whom they were totally beholden to as their spiritual and practical leader, and they would no more steal from the Church than steal from one another.       

Most monks were pledged never to take life, even that of a Saracen, but this was a special force of warriors who fought for places within Edessa, Antioch, Tripoli, Tortorsa, Tyre and especially Jerusalem, Bethlehem and the route through the desert to the river Jordan. They were hardy fighting men who provided safe passage for pilgrims through dangerous lands on perilous journeys to the sacred sites of Christendom, and they also pledged to get these pilgrims safely back home again! In 1118 three hundred pilgrims were murdered. As religious tourism was a lucrative source of revenue, pilgrims needed to be protected and looked after along the hazardous routes. If they contracted leprosy, which was endemic, they would transfer to the Order of the Knights of St Lazarus and continue to fight until they were incapacitated. King Baldwin IV was a leprosy victim. 

Moslems had given land for a Benedictine hospice whose patron was a seventh century saint, John the Almsgiver.  One property was bought by their new master, Raymond le Puy. A new Order was created for this, under a white cross on black, associated with hospice care and the caring for pilgrims medical needs. These were the Knights Hospitaller, the template for the Templars. 

The Templars were founded by Hugh de Payens from Troyes in Champagne and by his blood relatives or by marriage to provide escort for pilgrims, taking permanent vows of poverty, chastity and obedience to their superior, Abbot Bernard of Clairvaux. They offered their lives to fight for territory - especially the ruined site of the Temple of Solomon - where their Order was founded, originally in 1119. The order grew over almost 200 years to have great armies with many thousands of fighting knights and their supporters.  

To join the Order, they agreed to be commanded to carry out highly responsible and dangerous tasks, they sacrificed their comfortable lifestyles, supporting the Order by leaving their estates in their Wills. Joining the Order was a great expense as they needed horses, armour and retainers. They took the most rigorous of vows and led an extremely arduous daily life. They recited the Lord’s Prayer 60 times each morning, would eat meals from the floor. They were not allowed to gamble, swear, or take an intoxicant. They were beaten for minor offences by their peers. They also dedicated themselves to the strongest and extensive of rules that governed every aspect of their lives. They were the most prestigious of all the religious Orders and were loyal and proud, yet deeply humbled to be accepted as monks within such a committed and elite fraternity. They were not allowed any association with women, not even their mother or sisters, and we can only imagine what saying 'goodbye' to travel to extremely far distant places - and to perform such extremely dangerous tasks - was like for these men who were highly courageous and capable of outstanding integrity. They were allowed no personal money and many were bankrupted. 

The great journey across land and sea, with people, horses (battle trained Shires), other animals, goods, and their supporters, and whilst carrying money to deposit at various stages of the journey, was an extremely difficult one. They faced shipwreck, illness, accidents, robbery and other losses and major dangers. Though the Knights Hospitaller were the nurses and doctors, the Templars cared for the urgent needs of their own health, including travel and battle injuries, and attended to the pilgrims who travelled with them, and they were experienced veterinarians, as many animals that travelled with them were also in need of medical attention. They learnt how to calm the horses on sea voyages, how to knit broken bones, heal saddle sores, and bandage suppurating feet. They attended to exhaustion and other disabilities involved in a journey of that length at that time, through heat, cold, rain and other extremes of weather, across mountains and rivers, and through villages and towns where they did not speak the language. Many pilgrims were hardly prepared for the journey and lacked the necessary health, and were soon incapable of walking; sometimes the big war horses could carry three. During the many harrowing battles that the Templars were involved in, they wore heavy and disabling metal armour, such as the conical Great Helm that restricted their sight and restricted breathing; the weight and heat must have been yet more enormous burdens to add to all the others, before they faced their martyrdom. 

In an account of King Richard II (the Lionheart), the Templars had the infantry giving protection to the cavalry, as the infantry used heavy double handed swords. The horsemen used lighter swords to use with one hand whilst controlling the horse with the other. The horse was also a weapon, skilled in the art of war. The horses were ‘harried beyond bearing’ and thrown into a gallop at the last moment, sometimes enduring four charges after regrouping, They were a tightly packed force, so much so that “an apple thrown into the air would not hit the ground”! 

Were they Christians? Of course they were! Christ is in the title of their Order! Jesus would have been at the core of their oaths and beliefs, their religious services, their 8 daily prayer times, and in their thoughts, words and deeds as they laboured each day. They were 'Poor Soldiers of - and for - Christ'. Did they have allegiance to John the Baptist like their rivals, the Hospitallers? It is likely, they did, but as secondary to Jesus, as they knew well that John baptised seekers in the Jordan River to forgive sins, which they keenly desired for themselves, as killing was perceived as a mortal sin by other regular orders of monks. John the Baptist was an ascetic, like themselves; he cried out 'Prepare ye the way of the Lord, ie prepare for Jesus'. Both John and Jesus sacrificed their lives in the Holy Land, as the Templar Knights were pledged to do also. John was beheaded which prevented his resurrection after death. Resurrection was believed to take place bodily when the last trumpet blows and Jesus will descend from heaven in triumph at the end of the world. These were not free thinkers but strong minded fighters, church builders and relic hunters. 

Why were many Cathedrals they founded dedicated to Mary? Because women and motherhood were idealised in the time of Chivilry, and the female recalled the love they had for the sensitive, caring and retiring females in their family, the female was a powerful image and a valued contrast for their harsh lives of tireless travel, great responsibilities and ruthless soldiering. Women and the Church were the equivalent of a safe home, a place of beauty, wonder and majesty and, to this day, the Church is referred to as a female. It is likely their female relatives were abbesses of abbeys along the pilgrim routes. 

Did the Knights Templar have special secrets? The thought of Jesus being married to Mary Magdalene would be heretical, and this belief, if their was any doubt, would be brought up as a serious charge against any knight and would have been documented during their trials. As the marriage of Jesus was not mentioned, it can be assumed, it was not an issue. Mary Magdalene was thought to have been a prostitute at the time. Did they have vast wealth secreted away? Personally, I think they were down on their luck and had little left after numerous heavy defeats in battles. Recruitment was down, donations were down! 

They did not worship cups, chalices or grails. They worshipped God only. They believed in keeping their vows to Jesus, to make their family proud, to honour the Templar founders and current leaders, and the men they fought and died alongside, to the Church, and the Pope. For those who wish to ‘sex up’ the Knights Templar Order to make them into drug taking heretics in order to make money from the current fashion in paganism, it is a slight against the vast integrity of these great Christian martyrs. Christians don't make libations or have vessels for this purpose. They have communion cups for the host at communion, and water jugs and a font for baptism. Templars recited publicly the Nicene Creed at every mass, where they made their confessions, and they received the host and drank from the communion chalice. These were the words they recited at mass every day of their lives in public: 

“We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen. We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation, he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit. He became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man. For our sake, he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.“

Just before a battle, they would recite the well known prayers of their faith. What would their initiation rites involve? Templars were monks - not priests. Monks are not initiated, unlike priests who are. Prior to being accepted into the Order, the knights would hold a vigil to honour the crucifixion of Jesus, and would pray to Mary, his mother to intercede for their soul should they die. She was thought to be an intermediary for protection and safety. They would receive their robe, not in a highly official rite but it would involve commitment to perform their vows and duties, and to obey their extensive rules and be advised at all costs to avoid the terrifying accusation of heresy. They would swear upon a relic, maybe the Shroud of Edessa, folded to show the image of the face of a bearded man. The knights would remember the Order's founding fathers, such as St Bernard, Hughes of Payens, and the names of the many great knights who had fought and died in battle. It would involve Christian prayers for their Pope Clement V and King Philip and, of course, include prayer for the current Grand Master and high ranking members of the Order. They would remember their family who would be left behind and who would expect their demise on the battle field. It would involve receiving the bread and the wine as the body and blood of Jesus - the saviour of mankind who was foretold by the Old Testament prophets numerous times. They knew the land of the Old and New Testaments, and the places where Jesus had preached and where he had died. 

Would they have involved themselves in using drugs for gratuitous purposes, ie to get 'high'. Very unlikely! Could they have used alcohol and herbs for wound cleansing, to relieve pain, and to give greater courage to face their death in battle? Generally, the clearer the head, the more likely they were to survive and defend their brother knights as they claimed the territories for Christianity. Many hallucinogens were known as poisons. These men had a vocation that was not irresponsible or self serving, but for entirely selfless work that they carried out, as Jesus would have expected of his most faithful servants who were prepared to leave their wealthy lives, be wounded, disabled or die a terribly painful death. Their 'highs' were when the priest consecrated the bread and wine, and they partook of the body and blood of their Lord Jesus (they were not priests themselves so could not consecrate). With fasting, illness, exhaustion, bereavement, fear, the closeness of death, and other emotional and physiological factors, this moment would have been profoundly moving, maybe ecstatic at times, and would have re-ignited fervor for their faith and dedication to their cause. Anyone who suggests they were heretics does each of them a great personal injustice. 

Their Order had the highest reputation for integrity for almost 200 years, but their early successes led over time to losses in protecting the Holy Land. As God had supported them initially, when they lost the battles, they were under suspicion of alienation from the Godhead. Why else did God fail to enable them to win? Without Jerusalem, precious relics were not available for the famed cathedrals. Relics were being forged, and Templars knew of these forgeries! Rumours about heretical practices began to be spread as the Templars' funds decreased and few knights joined the Order. The French King Philip VI owed them a great deal of borrowed money and he elicited help from his childhood friend, the corrupt Pope Clement V, to imprison, torture and kill many Templars including the reformer, James Molay, the last Grand Master, and his closest associate, Geoffrey de Charnay. An edict went out to arrest all Templars on Friday 13th October 1307, a chosen date to reflect the day of the pagan goddess and the number associated with the female mensturation cycle, 13. Both these and hundreds of other Templar Knights were arrested on charges of the most heinous heretical depravities - heresy being the most shocking and despicable accusation for a Christian monk. The sickening heresies were trumped up not only to persecute individual Templars, but to put the entire Order into the lowest of religious calling when it had always been truly the highest. Since the Order’s founding, they had sacrificed their wealth - and often their lives - to escort pilgrims, giving their wealth to building cathedrals, and finding valuable relics to make the Church vastly wealthy, and taking nothing ever for themselves. A betrayal by the Church of this kind was devastating. So many stepped forward to defend them. The highest nobility in Europe, some knights who had signed up for many years, had seen nothing of the blasphemy and heresy they were accused of. 

A hundred Templars were burnt at the stake. The torture was not just physical, with rack, weights, screws, fire and burning, but also spiritual. Good Christian, as these men were, could tell no lie. In order to meet Jesus after death, they could make no slur against him. It would be greater than they could bear after a life of immense ordeals and the severest of hardships. So they would not have confessed to the heresy charges easily. Imprisoned for 7 years, James Molay, the last Grand Master, thought to be in his 70s, (Templars were exempt from military service when they reached 60) confessed under the most horrendous tortures. His confession was an act of betrayal against Jesus and the torture to extract this would have been of the severest kind, but the Pope gave forgiveness, and they would have been set free. However, the confession was retracted  in March 1313. They knew they must be in a state of grace and have a clear conscience, and have no stain of lies or betrayal upon their soul. To retract a confession of heresy after admitting it was automatic immolation by fire - burning at the stake. This took place on the Ile aux Juifs, the place where Jews were executed. He knew this painful death faced him as he withdrew his confession for heresy. He went to his death in 1314 a courageous and true poor fellow soldier of Christ, betrayed by those in seats of power within the Christian Church that the Order had suffered, fought for and made wealthy since its creation. James’s conscience was clear before God at the end of his life and he suffered immensely to ensure this. Though little is recorded about him, his name is thought to have been Jacobus (James Bernard) and that he came from an estate in the hill country of Molay, approx 100 miles from Troyes, home of the first Grand Master and one of the oldest religious sites in France, active since the fourth century. In Germany the Templars were acquitted of the accusations, and in Spain and Portugal they were put on trial, but honourably found innocent of all charges! 

Questions to ask:

Do you believe the Roman Catholic perspective? Of 120,000 Templars, only 3 Templars ever made accusations and they were rejected from the Order. One Italian and one French, they reported to Philip the Fair that they had witnessed Templars in the denial of Christ, spitting on a crucifix at initiation, sorcery, idolatry, foul and unnatural lusts, and that parts of the canon were omitted from mass. Templars attended public mass every morning and prior to travel and battles. The accusations for heretical practices and confession under torture would not stand up in a court room today. 

Article Wendy Stokes https://wendystokes.co.uk