View source for Knights Templar

{{Short description|Catholic military order, 1118 to 1312}}
{{Citation style|date=November 2024}}
{{See also|Knights Templar (disambiguation)|Templar (disambiguation)}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2024}}
{{Infobox military unit
| unit_name                     = {{unbulleted list|Knights Templar|1118 – 1312|<small>Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon</small>|<small>{{lang|la|Pauperes commilitones Christi Templique Salomonici Hierosolymitanis}}</small>}}
| image                         = [[File:Bandeira Templária.svg|250px]]
| caption                       = Flag used by the Templars in battle
| dates                         = {{circa|1118<!--16 January 1120-->|22 March 1312|lk=on}}
| allegiance                    = [[File:Coat of arms of Vatican City State - 2023 version.svg|17px]] [[The Pope]]
| type                          = [[Latin Catholic]] [[military order (religious society)|military order]]
| role                          = Protection of the Christian pilgrims in [[Jerusalem]] (region)<br/>[[Shock troops]]
| size                          = 15,000–20,000 members at peak, 10% of whom were knights{{sfn|Burman|1990|p=45}}<ref name="quantity">{{harvnb|Barber|1992|pp=314–26}} {{quote|By Molay's time the grand master was presiding over at least 970 houses, including commanderies and castles in the east and west, serviced by a membership which is unlikely to have been less than 7,000, excluding employees and dependents, who must have been seven or eight times that number.}}</ref>
| command_structure             = 
| garrison                      = [[Temple Mount]], Jerusalem, {{nowrap|[[Kingdom of Jerusalem]]}}
| garrison_label                = Headquarters
| nickname                      = {{unbulleted list|''Order of Solomon's Temple''|''Order of Christ''}}
| patron                        = Saint [[Bernard of Clairvaux]]
| motto                         = {{unbulleted list|{{lang|la|Non nobis, Domine, non nobis, sed Nomini tuo da gloriam}}|({{langx|en|Not to us, Lord, not to us, but to Thy name give the glory}})}}
| colors                        = White mantle with a red [[cross pattée]]
| colors_label                  = Attire
| march                         = 
| mascot                        = Two knights riding a single horse
| equipment                     = 
| equipment_label               = 
| battles                       = {{collapsible list
| titlestyle = background:transparent;text-align:left;font-weight:normal;
| title = The [[Crusades]]
|[[Siege of Shaizar|Siege of Shaizar (1138)]]<br />[[Siege of Damascus (1148)]]<br />[[Siege of Ascalon|Siege of Ascalon (1153)]]<br />[[Battle of Lake Huleh (1157)]]<br />[[Battle of Montgisard|Battle of Montgisard (1177)]]<br />[[Battle of Marj Ayyun|Battle of Marj Ayyun (1179)]]<br />[[Battle of Cresson|Battle of Cresson (1187)]]<br />[[Battle of Hattin|Battle of Hattin (1187)]]<br />[[Siege of Jerusalem (1187)]]<br />[[Siege of Safed (1188)]]<br />[[Siege of Acre (1191)]]<br />[[Battle of Arsuf|Battle of Arsuf (1191)]]<br />[[Siege of Mount Tabor|Siege of Mount Tabor (1217)]]<br />[[Battle of Fariskur (1219)]]<br />[[Battle of Mansurah (1221)]]<br />[[Battle of Legnica|Battle of Legnica (1241)]]<br />[[Battle of La Forbie|Battle of La Forbie (1244)]]<br />[[Battle of Mansurah (1250)]]<br />[[Battle of Fariskur (1250)]]<br />[[Siege of Safed (1266)]]<br />[[Fall of Tripoli (1289)]]<br />[[Siege of Acre (1291)]]<br />[[Fall of Ruad|Fall of Ruad (1302)]]<br />[[Capture of Soure (1144)]]<br />[[Siege of Tomar]] (1190)<br />[[Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa]] (1212)<br />[[Siege of Alcácer do Sal]] (1217)<br />[[Conquest of Majorca]] (1228)
}}
| anniversaries                 = 
| decorations                   = 
| battle_honours                = <!-- Commanders -->
| commander1                    = [[Hugues de Payens]]
| commander1_label              = First [[List of grand masters of the Knights Templar|Grand master]]
| commander2                    = [[Jacques de Molay]]
| commander2_label              = Last grand master
| commander3                    = 
| commander3_label              = 
| notable_commanders            = 
}}

{{Knights Templar}}

The '''Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon''', mainly known as the '''Knights Templar''', was a [[France|French]] [[Military order (religious society)|military order]] of the [[Latin Catholic]] faith, and one of the wealthiest and most popular military orders in [[Western Christianity]]. They were founded in 1118 to defend pilgrims on their way to [[Jerusalem]], with their headquarters located there on the [[Temple Mount]], and existed for nearly two centuries during the [[Middle Ages]].

Officially endorsed by the Roman Catholic Church by such decrees as the [[papal bull]] ''[[Omne datum optimum]]'' of [[Pope Innocent II]], the Templars became a favoured charity throughout [[Christendom]] and grew rapidly in membership and power. The Templar knights, in their distinctive white [[mantle (monastic vesture)|mantles]] with a red [[Christian cross|cross]], were among the most skilled fighting units of the [[Crusades]]. They were prominent in [[Christian finance]]; non-combatant members of the order, who made up as much as 90% of their members,{{sfn|Burman|1990|p=45}}<ref name="quantity" /> managed a large economic infrastructure throughout Christendom.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Selwood |first=Dominic |title=Knights of the Cloister. Templars and Hospitallers in Central-Southern Occitania 1100–1300 |publisher=The Boydell Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-85115-828-0 |location=Woodbridge}}</ref> They developed innovative financial techniques that were an early form of [[banking]],{{sfn|Martin|2005|p=47}}{{sfn|Nicholson|2001|p=4}} building a network of nearly 1,000 [[Commandry|commanderies]] and [[fortification]]s across [[Europe]] and the [[Holy Land]].{{sfn|Barber|1994|p=}} 

The Templars were closely tied to the Crusades. As they became unable to secure their holdings in the Holy Land, support for the order faded.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Miller |first=Duane |url=https://www.academia.edu/32284509 |title='Knights Templar' in War and Religion, Vol. 2 |date=2017 |publisher=ABC–CLIO |location=Santa Barbara, California |pages=462–64 |access-date=28 May 2017}}</ref> Rumours about the Templars' secret [[initiation ceremony]] created distrust, and [[Philip IV of France|King Philip IV of France]], deeply in debt to the order, turned this distrust to his own advantage. In 1307, he pressured [[Pope Clement V]] to have many of the order's members in France arrested, tortured into giving false confessions, and then burned at the stake.{{sfn|Barber|1993|p=}} Under further pressure, Pope Clement V disbanded the order in 1312.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Barber |first=Malcolm |title=The new knighthood : a history of the Order of the Temple |date=1995 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-55872-3 |edition=Canto |location=Cambridge, UK |pages=xxi–xxii}}</ref> In spite of its dissolution, however, between 1317-1319, a number of Templar knights, properties and other assets were absorbed within the Portuguese [[Military Order of Christ|Order of Christ]],<ref>''Enciclopédia dos Lugares Mágicos de Portugal'', vol. 11, pp. 79</ref><ref>Pinho Leal, Augusto Soares d’Azevedo Barbosa de (1875). ''Portugal Antigo e Moderno - Diccionario - "Mogadouro"''. [S.l.]: Livraria Editora de Mattos Moreira & Companhia. pp. 355</ref><ref name=":0" /><ref name="Ralls2007" /> and the Spanish [[Order of Montesa]];<ref name=":1">{{CathEncy|wstitle= Military Order of Montesa |volume= 10 |page= |last= Moeller |first= Charles |author-link= Charles Moeller (historian) |year=1913a|short= 1}}</ref> and the abrupt disappearance of this major medieval European institution in its original incarnation gave rise to speculation and legends, which have currently kept the "Templar" name alive in [[Self-styled order|self-styled orders]] and [[Knights Templar in popular culture|popular culture]].

== Names ==
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon ({{langx|la|Pauperes commilitones Christi Templique Salomonici}} and {{langx|fr|Pauvres Chevaliers du Christ et du Temple de Salomon}}) are also known as the Order of Solomon's Temple, and mainly the Knights Templar ({{langx|fr|Les Chevaliers Templiers}}), or simply the Templars ({{langx|fr|Les Templiers}}). 

The Temple Mount where they had their headquarters had a mystique because it was above what was believed to be the ruins of the [[Solomon's Temple|Temple of Solomon]].{{sfn|Barber|1994|p=7}}

== History ==
{{Main|History of the Knights Templar}}

=== Rise ===
After the [[Franks]] in the [[First Crusade]] captured [[Siege of Jerusalem (1099)|Jerusalem]] from the [[Fatimid Caliphate]] in 1099, many [[Christians]] made [[pilgrimage]]s to various sacred sites in the [[Holy Land]]. Although the city of [[Jerusalem]] was relatively secure under Christian control, the rest of [[Outremer]] was not. [[Banditry|Bandits]] and marauding [[highwaymen]] preyed upon these Christian pilgrims, who were routinely slaughtered, sometimes by the hundreds, as they attempted to make the journey from the coastline at [[Jaffa]] through to the interior of the Holy Land.{{sfn|Burman|1990|pp=13, 19}}
[[File:Seal of Templars.jpg|thumb|A [[Seal of the grand master of the Knights Templar|Seal of the Knights Templar]]<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Archer |first1=Thomas Andrew |url=https://archive.org/details/crusadesstoryla01kinggoog |title=The Crusades: The Story of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem |last2=Kingsford |first2=Charles Lethbridge |date=1894 |publisher=T. Fisher Unwin |page=[https://archive.org/details/crusadesstoryla01kinggoog/page/n218 176]}}</ref>{{sfn|Burgtorf|2008|pages=545–546}}]]

In 1119, the French [[knight]] [[Hugues de Payens]] approached King [[Baldwin II of Jerusalem]] and [[Warmund, Patriarch of Jerusalem]], and proposed creating a [[Monasticism|monastic]] Catholic [[Religious order (Catholic)|religious order]] for the protection of these pilgrims. King Baldwin and Patriarch Warmund agreed to the request, probably at the [[Council of Nablus]] in January 1120, and the king granted the Templars a headquarters in a wing of the royal palace on the [[Temple Mount]] in the captured [[Al-Aqsa Mosque (building)|Al-Aqsa Mosque]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Selwood |first=Dominic |date=20 April 2013 |title=Birth of the Order |url=http://www.dominicselwood.com/birth-of-the-order/ |access-date=20 April 2013}}</ref>

The order, with about nine [[knight]]s including [[Godfrey de Saint-Omer]] and [[André de Montbard]], had few financial resources and relied on donations to survive. Their emblem was of two knights riding on a single horse, emphasizing the order's poverty.{{sfn|Read|2001|p=91}}

[[File:Temple mount.JPG|thumb|left|The first headquarters of the Knights Templar, on the [[Temple Mount]] in Jerusalem. The Crusaders called it "the [[Solomon's Temple|Temple of Solomon]]" and from this location derived their name of Templar.]]
The impoverished status of the Templars did not last long. They had a powerful advocate in Saint [[Bernard of Clairvaux]], a leading Church figure, the French [[abbot]] primarily responsible for the founding of the [[Cistercian Order]] of monks and a nephew of [[André de Montbard]], one of the founding knights. Bernard put his weight behind them and wrote persuasively on their behalf in the letter [[Liber ad milites templi de laude novae militiae|''In Praise of the New Knighthood'']],<ref>{{Cite web |last=Selwood |first=Dominic |date=28 May 2013 |title=The Knights Templar 4: St Bernard of Clairvaux |url=http://www.dominicselwood.com/the-knights-templar-4-st-bernard-of-clairvaux/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170630150549/http://www.dominicselwood.com/the-knights-templar-4-st-bernard-of-clairvaux/ |archive-date=30 June 2017 |access-date=29 May 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Selwood |first=Dominic |chapter='Quidam autem dubitaverunt': the Saint, the Sinner and a Possible Chronology |title=Autour de la Première Croisade |publisher=Publications de la Sorbonne |year=1996 |isbn=978-2-85944-308-5 |location=Paris |pages=221–230}}</ref> and in 1129, at the [[Council of Troyes 1129|Council of Troyes]], he led a group of leading churchmen to officially approve and endorse the order on behalf of the church. With this formal blessing, the Templars became a favoured charity throughout [[Christendom]], receiving money, land, businesses, and noble-born sons from families who were eager to help with the fight in the [[Holy Land]]. At the [[Council of Pisa (1135)|Council of Pisa]] in 1135, [[Pope Innocent II]] initiated the first papal monetary donation to the Order.{{sfn|Barber|1994|p=56}} Another major benefit came in 1139, when Innocent II's [[papal bull]] {{lang|la|[[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 [[Tax|taxes]] and were exempt from all authority except that of the pope.{{sfn|Burman|1990|p=40}} However, in practice, they often had to respect the wishes of the European rulers in whose kingdoms they resided, especially in their handling of funds for the local noblility in their [[Bank|banks]].<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=Cartwright |first=Mark |date=2018-08-28 |title=Knights Templar |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Knights_Templar/ |access-date=2024-04-19 |website=[[World History Encyclopedia]] |language=en}}</ref>

With its clear mission and ample resources, the order grew rapidly. Templars were often the advance [[shock troops]] in key battles of the Crusades, as the heavily armoured knights on their [[horses in warfare|warhorses]] would [[Cavalry tactics#Tactics of heavy cavalry using lances|charge]] into the enemy lines ahead of the main army. One of their most famous victories was in 1177 during the [[Battle of Montgisard]], where some 500 Templar knights helped several thousand infantry to defeat [[Saladin]]'s army of more than 26,000 soldiers.{{efn|The Latin estimates of Saladin's army are no doubt greatly exaggerated (26,000 in Tyre xxi. 23; 12,000 Turks and 9,000 Arabs in Anon.Rhen. v. 517).{{sfn|Stevenson|1907|p=218}}}}

{{quote box
|quote = A Templar Knight is truly a fearless knight, and secure on every side, for his soul is protected by the armour of faith, just as his body is protected by the armour of steel. He is thus doubly armed, and need fear neither demons nor men.
| source = ― [[Bernard of Clairvaux]], {{circa|1135|lk=on}}<br>''De Laude Novae Militae – In Praise of the New Knighthood''<ref>{{Cite web |last=Stephen A. Dafoe |title=In Praise of the New Knighthood |url=http://www.templarhistory.com/praise.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170326012543/http://www.templarhistory.com/praise.html |archive-date=26 March 2017 |access-date=20 March 2007 |publisher=TemplarHistory.com}}</ref>
| align = right
| width = 20%
| bgcolor = #F9F9F9
}}

Although the primary mission of the order was military, relatively few members were combatants. The majority acted in support positions to assist the knights and manage their financial infrastructure. Although individual members were sworn to poverty, the Templar Order controlled vast wealth even beyond direct donations. A nobleman participating in the Crusades might place all his assets under Templar management during his absence. Accumulating wealth in this manner throughout Christendom and the Outremer, in 1150 the order began to issue [[letter of credit|letters of credit]] for pilgrims journeying to the Holy Land: pilgrims deposited their valuables with a local Templar preceptory before embarking, received a document indicating the value of their deposit, then showed that document upon arrival in the Holy Land to claim treasure of equal value to their funds. This innovative arrangement was an early form of [[banking]] and may have been the first use of bank [[cheque]]s; it protected pilgrims from robbery, while augmenting Templar finances.{{sfn|Martin|2005|p=}}

Based on this mix of donations and business dealings, the Templars established financial networks across the whole of Christendom. They acquired large tracts of land, both in Europe and the Middle East; they bought and managed farms and vineyards; they built massive stone cathedrals and castles; they were involved in manufacturing, import, and export; they owned fleets of ships; and at one point they even owned the entire island of [[Cyprus]]. The order arguably qualifies as the world's first [[multinational corporation]].<ref name="KTPedia">{{Cite book |last=Ralls |first=Karen |title=Knights Templar Encyclopedia |publisher=Career Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-56414-926-8 |page=28}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Benson |first=Michael |title=Inside Secret Societies |publisher=Kensington |year=2005 |page=90}}</ref> By the late 12th century the Templars were also politically powerful in the Holy Land. Secular nobles in the Kingdom of Jerusalem began granting them castles and surrounding lands as a defense against the growing threat of the [[Zengid dynasty|Zengids]] in [[Syria (region)|Syria]]. The Templars were even allowed to negotiate with Muslim rulers independently of the feudal lords. The Templar castles became ''de facto'' independent lordships with their own markets, further growing their political authority. During the regency after the death of King [[Baldwin IV of Jerusalem|Baldwin IV]] in 1185, the royal castles were placed in the custody of the Templars and [[Knights Hospitaller|Hospitallers]]: the grand masters of the two orders, along with the [[Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem|patriarch of Jerusalem]], each had a key to the crown jewels.{{sfn|Burman|1990|pages=63–64}}

From the mid-12th century, the Templars were recruited (jointly with the [[Knights Hospitaller|Hospitallers]]) to fight the Muslim kingdoms in the Iberian Peninsula, in addition to their campaigns in the Latin East.{{Sfn|Barquero Goñi|2011|pp=174−175}} In the kingdoms of Castile and León, they obtained some major strongholds (such as [[Calatrava la Vieja]] or [[Coria, Cáceres|Coria]]), but their vulnerability along the border was exposed during the [[Almohad]] offensive.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://rua.ua.es/dspace/bitstream/10045/25670/1/Historia_Medieval_17_07.pdf|first=Carlos|last=Barquero Goñi|journal=Anales de la Universidad de Alicante. Historia Medieval|publisher=[[University of Alicante|Universidad de Alicante]]|title=Templarios y Hospitalarios en la Reconquista peninsular|issue=17|year=2011|pages=175−176}}</ref> In Aragon, the Templars subsumed the [[Order of Mountjoy]] in the late 12th century, becoming an important vanguard force on the border, while in Portugal they commanded some castles along the Tagus line.{{Sfn|Barquero Goñi|2011|pp=176−177}} One of these was Tomar, which was [[Siege of Tomar|unsuccessfully besieged]] by the Almohad Caliphate in 1190.

Due to the expense of sending a third of their revenues to the East, Templar and Hospitaller activities in the Iberian Peninsula were at a disadvantage to the Hispanic military orders which expended all their resources in the region.{{Sfn|Barquero Goñi|2011|p=176}}

=== War ===
[[File:King Baldwin II and the Templars.jpg|thumb|King [[Baldwin II of Jerusalem|Baldwin II]] presiding over a council with the Templars]]
Accounts of the Order's early military activities in the Levant are vague, though it appears their first battles were defeats, because the Seljuk Turks and other Muslim powers used different tactics than those in Europe at that time. The Templars later adapted to this and became strategic advisors to the leaders of the Crusader states.{{sfn|Burman|1990|pages=53–54}} The first recorded battle involving the Knights Templar was in the town of [[Teqoa]], south of Jerusalem, in 1138. A force of Templars led by their grand master, [[Robert de Craon]] (who succeeded Hugues de Payens about a year earlier), was sent to retake the town after it was captured by Muslims. They were initially successful, but the Muslims regrouped outside the town and were able to take it back from the Templars.{{sfn|Howarth|1982|page=97}} 

The Order's mission developed from protecting pilgrims to taking part in regular military campaigns early on,{{sfn|Burman|1990|pages=53–54}} and this is shown by the fact that the first castle received by the Knights Templar was located four hundred miles north of the pilgrim road from [[Jaffa]] to Jerusalem, on the northern frontier of the [[Principality of Antioch]]: the castle of [[Bagras]] in the [[Nur Mountains|Amanus Mountains]].{{sfn|Burman|1990|pages=53–54}}{{sfn|Forey|1995|p=191}} It may have been as early as 1131, and by 1137 at the latest, that the Templars were given the mountainous region that formed the border of Antioch and [[Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia|Cilician Armenia]], which included the castles of Bagras, [[Trapessac|Darbsak]], and [[Roche de Roissel]]. The Templars were there when [[List of Byzantine emperors|Byzantine emperor]] [[John II Komnenos]] tried to make the [[Crusader state]]s of Antioch, [[County of Tripoli|Tripoli]], and [[County of Edessa|Edessa]] his vassals between 1137 and 1142. Templar knights accompanied Emperor John II with troops from those states during his campaign against Muslim powers in [[Syria (region)|Syria]] from 1137 to 1138, including at the [[Siege of Aleppo (1138)|sieges of Aleppo]] and [[Siege of Shaizar|Shaizar]].{{sfn|Burman|1990|pages=51–53}} In 1143, the Templars also began taking part in the [[Reconquista]] in [[Iberia]] at the request of the [[County of Barcelona|count of Barcelona]].{{sfn|Forey|1995|page=187}} 

In 1147 a force of French, Spanish, and English Templars{{sfn|Philips|Hoch|2001|p=145}} left [[Kingdom of France|France]] to join the [[Second Crusade]], led by King [[Louis VII of France|Louis VII]]. At a meeting held in Paris on 27 April 1147 they were given permission by [[Pope Eugenius III]] to wear the red cross on their uniforms. They were led by the Templar provincial master in France, [[Everard des Barres]], who was one of the ambassadors King Louis sent to negotiate the passage of the Crusader army through the [[Byzantine Empire]] on its way to the Holy Land. During the dangerous journey of the Second Crusade through [[Anatolia]], the Templars provided security to the rest of the army from Turkish raids.{{sfn|Barber|1994|pages=66–67}} After the Crusaders arrived in 1148, the kings Louis VII, [[Conrad III of Germany]], and [[Baldwin III of Jerusalem]] made the decision to [[Siege of Damascus (1148)|capture Damascus]], but their siege in the summer of that year failed and ended with the defeat of the Christian army.{{sfn|Barber|1994|pages=68–70}}{{sfn|Howarth|1982|pages=106–107}} In the fall of 1148 some returning Templars took part in the successful [[Siege of Tortosa (1148)|siege of Tortosa]] in [[Spain in the Middle Ages|Spain]], after which one-fifth of that city was given to the Order.{{sfn|Philips|Hoch|2001|p=145}}

Robert de Craon died in January 1149 and was succeeded as grand master by Everard des Barres, one of the few leaders at the siege of Damascus whose reputation was not damaged by the event.{{sfn|Barber|1994|pages=68–70}} After the Second Crusade, Zengid forces under [[Nur ad-Din Zengi]] of [[Aleppo]] attacked the [[Principality of Antioch]], and in June 1149 his army defeated the Crusaders at the [[Battle of Inab]], where Prince [[Raymond of Poitiers|Raymond of Antioch]] was killed. King Baldwin III led reinforcements to the principality, which led Nur ad-Din to accept a truce with Antioch and not advance any further.{{sfn|Runciman|1951|pages=325–328}} The force with King Baldwin included 120 Templar knights and 1,000 sergeants and squires.{{sfn|Barber|1994|p=70}}

In the winter of 1149 and 1150, King Baldwin III oversaw the reconstruction of the fortress at [[Gaza City]], which had been left in ruins.{{sfn|Smail|1956|pages=211–212}}{{sfn|Barber|1994|p=73}} It was part of the ring of castles that were built along the southern border of the Kingdom of Jerusalem to protect it from raids by the Egyptian [[Fatimid Caliphate]], and specifically from the Fatimid troops at the fortress of [[Ascalon]], which by then was the last coastal city in the Levant still under Muslim control.{{sfn|Barber|1994|p=73}}{{sfn|Fulton|2022|p=25}} Gaza was given to the Knights Templar, becoming the first major Templar castle.{{sfn|Barber|1994|p=73}} In 1152 Everard stepped down as grand master for unknown reasons, and his successor was [[Bernard de Tremelay]].{{sfn|Barber|1994|page=71}} In January of the following year, Bernard led the Templars when King Baldwin III led a Crusader army to [[Siege of Ascalon|besiege Ascalon]]. Several months of fighting went by until the wall of the city was breached in August 1153, at which point Bernard led forty knights into Ascalon. But the rest of the army did not join them and all of the Templars were killed by the Muslim defenders. Ascalon was captured by the rest of the army several days later,{{sfn|Barber|1994|pages=73–75}}{{sfn|Nicholson|2001|pages=74–75}} and Bernard was eventually succeeded by [[André de Montbard]].{{sfn|Barber|1994|page=75}}

After the fall of Ascalon, the Templars continued operating in that region from their castle at Gaza. In June 1154 they attacked [[Abbas ibn Abi al-Futuh]], the vizier of Egypt, when he tried to flee from Cairo to Damascus after losing a power struggle. Abbas was killed and the Templars captured his son, who they later sent back to the Fatimids.{{sfn|Barber|1994|page=75}} In the late 1150s the Egyptians launched raids against the Crusaders in the areas of Gaza and Ascalon.{{sfn|Fulton|2022|p=26}}

=== Decline ===
[[File:Battle of Cresson.jpg|thumb|[[Battle of Hattin]] in 1187, the turning point leading to the Third Crusade. From a copy of the {{lang|fr|[[Passages d’outremer]]}}, c. 1490]]
In the mid-12th century, the tide began to turn in the Crusades. The [[Islamic]] world had become more united under effective leaders such as [[Saladin]], and the [[Fatimid Caliphate|reborn Sunni regime in Egypt]]. Dissension arose among Christian factions in and concerning the Holy Land. The Knights Templar were occasionally at odds with the two other Christian [[Military order (society)|military order]]s, the [[Knights Hospitaller]] and the [[Teutonic Order|Teutonic Knights]], and decades of internecine feuds weakened Christian positions, both politically and militarily. After the Templars were involved in several unsuccessful campaigns, including the pivotal [[Battle of Hattin]], Jerusalem was [[Siege of Jerusalem (1187)|recaptured]] by Muslim forces under Saladin in 1187. The Holy Roman Emperor [[Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick II]] reclaimed the city for Christians in the [[Sixth Crusade]] of 1229, without Templar aid, but only held it for a little more than a decade. In 1244, the [[Ayyubid dynasty]] together with [[Khwarazmian dynasty|Khwarezmi]] mercenaries recaptured Jerusalem, and the city did not return to Western control until 1917 when, during [[World War I]], the [[British Empire|British]] captured it from the [[Ottoman Empire]].{{sfn|Martin|2005|p=99}}

The Templars were forced to relocate their headquarters to other cities in the north, such as the seaport of [[Acre, Israel|Acre]], which they held for the next century. It was lost in 1291, followed by their last mainland strongholds, Tortosa ([[Tartus]] in present-day [[Syria]]) and [[Château Pèlerin|Atlit]] (in present-day [[Israel]]). Their headquarters then moved to [[Limassol]] on the island of Cyprus,{{sfn|Martin|2005|p=113}} and they also attempted to maintain a garrison on tiny [[Arwad Island]], just off the coast from Tortosa. In 1300, there was some attempt to engage in [[Franco-Mongol alliance|coordinated military efforts with the Mongols]]<ref>Demurger, p. 139. "During four years, [[Jacques de Molay]] and his order were totally committed, with other Christian forces of Cyprus and Armenia, to an enterprise of reconquest of the Holy Land, in liaison with the offensives of Ghazan, the Mongol Khan of Persia."</ref> via a new invasion force at [[Arwad]]. In 1302 or 1303, however, the Templars lost the island to the Egyptian [[Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo)|Mamluk Sultanate]] in the [[Siege of Ruad|siege of Arwad]]. With the island gone, the Crusaders lost their last foothold in the Holy Land.<ref>{{harvnb|Nicholson|2001|p=201}}

{{quote|The Templars retained a base on Arwad island (also known as Ruad island, formerly Arados) off Tortosa (Tartus) until October 1302 or 1303, when the island was recaptured by the Mamluks.}}</ref>

With the order's military mission now less important, support for the organization began to dwindle. The situation was complex, however, since during the two hundred years of their existence, the Templars had become a part of daily life throughout Christendom.{{sfn|Nicholson|2001|p=5}} The organization's Templar Houses, hundreds of which were dotted throughout Europe and the [[Near East]], gave them a widespread presence at the local level.<ref name="quantity" /> The Templars still managed many businesses, and many Europeans had daily contact with the Templar network, such as by working at a Templar farm or [[vineyard]], or using the order as a bank in which to store personal valuables. The order was still not subject to local government, making it everywhere a "state within a state" – its [[standing army]], although it no longer had a well-defined mission, could pass freely through all borders. This situation heightened tensions with some European nobility, especially as the Templars were indicating an interest in founding their own monastic state, just as the [[Teutonic Order|Teutonic Knights]] had done in [[State of the Teutonic Order|Prussia and the Baltic]] and the [[Knights Hospitaller]] were doing in [[Rhodes, Greece|Rhodes]].{{sfn|Nicholson|2001|p=237}}

The Templars were accused of enabling [[corruption]] in their ranks which often allowed them to influence the legal systems of Europe to act in their favor and gain influence over local rulers' lands at the expense of the rulers.<ref name=":5" />

=== Arrests, charges and dissolution ===
{{main|Trials of the Knights Templar}}
In 1305, the new [[Pope Clement V]], based in [[Avignon]], France, sent letters to both the Templar Grand Master [[Jacques de Molay]] and the Hospitaller Grand Master [[Foulques de Villaret|Fulk de Villaret]] to discuss the possibility of merging the two orders. Neither was amenable to the idea, but Pope Clement persisted, and in 1306 he invited both grand masters to France to discuss the matter. De Molay arrived first in early 1307, but de Villaret was delayed for several months. While waiting, de Molay and Clement discussed criminal charges that had been made two years earlier by an ousted Templar and were being discussed by King [[Philip IV of France]] and his ministers. It was generally agreed that the charges were false, but Clement sent King Philip a written request for assistance in the investigation. According to some historians,  Philip, who was already deeply in debt to the Templars from his [[Philip IV of France#War against England|war against England]], decided to seize upon the rumours for his own purposes. He began pressuring the church to take action against the order, as a way of freeing himself from his debts.{{sfn|Barber|2006|p=}} <!-- The French king's motivations went beyond merely financial though. By charging the Templars with heresy, the monarchy was also claiming for itself a charism proper to the papacy. The Templar case was another step in the process of appropriating these foundations, which had begun with the Franco-papal rift at the time of Boniface VIII. -->

[[File:Tomar-Convento_de_Cristo-Rotunda_dos_Templários-20140914.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.4|[[Convent of the Order of Christ|Convent of Christ Castle, Tomar, Portugal]]. Built in 1160 as a stronghold for the Knights Templar and [[Siege of Tomar|besieged in 1190 by the Almohads]], it became the headquarters of the renamed [[Order of Christ (Portugal)|Order of Christ]]. In 1983, it was named a [[UNESCO World Heritage Site]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Convent of Christ in Tomar |url=http://www.worldheritagesite.org/sites/tomar.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061231034026/http://www.worldheritagesite.org/sites/tomar.html |archive-date=31 December 2006 |access-date=20 March 2007 |publisher=World Heritage Site}}</ref>]]

At dawn on Friday, 13 October 1307 – a date that helped influence the superstition, but not necessarily the origin, of the popular stories about [[Friday the 13th]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Friday the 13th |url=http://www.snopes.com/luck/friday13.asp |access-date=26 March 2007 |website=snopes.com|date=13 May 2005 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=David Emery |title=Why Friday the 13th is unlucky |url=http://urbanlegends.about.com/cs/historical/a/friday_the_13th_4.htm |access-date=26 March 2007 |website=urbanlegends.about.com |archive-date=18 December 2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031218025919/http://urbanlegends.about.com/cs/historical/a/friday_the_13th_4.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> – King Philip IV ordered de Molay and scores of other French Templars to be simultaneously arrested. The arrest warrant started with the words: {{lang|fr|"Dieu n'est pas content, nous avons des ennemis de la foi dans le Royaume"}} ("God is not pleased. We have enemies of the faith in the kingdom").<ref name="Science">{{Cite journal |date=July 2010 |title=Les derniers jours des Templiers |journal=Science et Avenir |pages=52–61}}</ref> 

Claims were made that during Templar admissions ceremonies, recruits were forced to spit on the Cross, deny Christ, and engage in indecent kissing; brethren were also accused of [[idolatry|worshipping idols]], and the order was said to have encouraged homosexual practices.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Riley-Smith |first=Johnathan |title=The Oxford Illustrated History of the Crusades |date=1995 |publisher=Oxford Press |location=Oxford |page=213}}</ref> Many of these allegations contain tropes that bear similarities to accusations made against other persecuted groups such as Jews, heretics, and accused witches.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rice|first=Joshua|date=1 June 2022|title=Burn in Hell|journal=History Today|volume=72|issue=6|pages=16–18 |url=https://www.historytoday.com/archive/history-matters/burn-hell}}</ref> These allegations, though, were highly politicised without any real evidence.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Dodd |first1=Gwilym |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AmM07AhPrZQC |title=The Reign of Edward II: New Perspectives |last2=Musson |first2=Anthony |date=2006 |publisher=Boydell & Brewer |isbn=978-1-903153-19-2 |page=51 |language=en}}</ref> Still, the Templars were charged with numerous other offences such as financial corruption, fraud, and secrecy.{{sfn|Barber|1993|p=178}} Many of the accused confessed to these charges under torture (even though the Templars denied being tortured in their written confessions), and their confessions, even though obtained [[coercion|under duress]], caused a scandal in Paris. The prisoners were coerced to confess that they had spat on the Cross. One said: {{lang|fr|"Moi, Raymond de La Fère, 21 ans, reconnais que [j'ai] craché trois fois sur la Croix, mais de bouche et pas de cœur"}} ("I, Raymond de La Fère, 21 years old, admit that I have spat three times on the Cross, but only from my mouth and not from my heart"). The Templars were accused of [[idolatry]] and were charged with worshipping either a figure known as [[Baphomet]] or a mummified severed head they recovered, amongst other artefacts, at their original headquarters on the Temple Mount. Some have theorised that this head might have been believed to be that of [[John the Baptist]], among other things.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Edgeller |first=Johnathan |url=https://dspace.lib.ttu.edu/etd/bitstream/handle/2346/ETD-TTU-2010-08-791/EDGELLER-THESIS.pdf?sequence=4 |title=Taking the Templar Habit: Rule, Initiation Ritual, and the Accusations against the Order |publisher=Texas Tech University |year=2010 |pages=62–66 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720060659/https://dspace.lib.ttu.edu/etd/bitstream/handle/2346/ETD-TTU-2010-08-791/EDGELLER-THESIS.pdf?sequence=4 |archive-date=20 July 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Relenting to King Phillip's demands, Pope Clement then issued the papal bull {{lang|la|[[Pastoralis praeeminentiae]]}} on 22 November 1307, which instructed all Christian monarchs in Europe to arrest all Templars and seize their assets.{{sfn|Martin|2005|p=118}}  Clement called for papal hearings to determine the Templars' guilt or innocence, and once freed of the [[Inquisition|Inquisitors]]' torture, many Templars recanted their confessions. 

Several Templars are listed as having come from [[Gisors]] to defend the Order on 26 February 1310: Henri Zappellans or Chapelain, Anceau de Rocheria, Enard de Valdencia, Guillaume de Roy, Geoffroy de Cera or de La Fere-en-Champagne, Robert Harle or de Hermenonville, and Dreux de Chevru.<ref>{{cite book |author=Alain Demurger |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SAx-DwAAQBAJ&q=Guillaume+De+Roy&pg=RA1-PA52 |title=The Persecution of the Knights Templar: Scandal, Torture, Trial |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=2019 |isbn=978-1-64313-089-7 |chapter=Templars |quote=Seven of these nine Templars are also on the list of brothers who came from Gisors on 26 February 1310: Henri Zappellans or Chapelain, Anceau de Rocheria, Enard de Valdencia, Guillaume de Roy, Geoffroy de Cera or de La Fere-en-Champagne, Robert Harle or de Hermenonville, and Dreux de Chevru; the two others, Robert de Mortefontaine and Robert de Monts-de-Soissons, perhaps appear under different names. We don't know the reasons why those nine Templars were not taken back to Gisors. They are catalogued as 'non-reconciled': that is, they had not been absolved and reconciled with the Church by a diocesan commission. They attended neither the Council of Sens nor that of Reims in May 1310. They were from different dioceses: Toul, Sens, Chalons-en-Champagne, Treves but also Soissons (Guillaume de Roy), Laon (Geoffroy de La Fere) and Senlis (Robert Harle). |access-date=12 July 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Les Templiers |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DIzj9W9eebcC&q=Roy |work=Mémoires historiques sur les Templiers, ou Éclaircissemens nouveaux sur leur histoire, leur procès, les accusations intentées contr'eux, et les causes secrètes de leur ruine |author=De Philippe Antoine Grouvelle| year=1805| access-date=12 July 2023 |quote=Noms des Frères rassemblés le 28 mars 1310, devant les Commissaires charges par le Pape de l'Enquête sur les griefs imputés à l'Ordre du Temple en général... 184. Guillaume De Roy}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title= Bulletin de la Société académique de Laon |author= Société académique de Laon |website= Bibliothèque nationale de France |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k441211c/f150.item# |access-date=12 July 2023 |quote=Procès des Templiers" "Nicolas de Celles; Gauthier de Villesavoye; Etienne de Compiègne; Robert de Montreuil-aux-Lions, pètre; Guillaume de Roy; Geoffroy de Cère; Eloi de Pavant; Raoul et Pierre de Compiègne, Pierre d'Anizy défendront tous l'Ordre.   | year=1864 }}</ref> Some had sufficient legal experience to defend themselves in [[Trials of the Knights Templar|the trials]], but in 1310, having appointed the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Sens|archbishop of Sens]], Philippe de Marigny, to lead the investigation, Philip blocked this attempt, using the previously forced confessions to have dozens of Templars burned at the stake in Paris.{{sfn|Martin|2005|p=122}}{{sfn|Sobecki|2006|p=963}}{{sfn|Barber|1993|p=3}}

With Philip threatening military action unless the pope complied with his wishes, Clement finally agreed to disband the order, citing the public scandal that had been generated by the confessions. At the [[Council of Vienne]] in 1312, he issued a series of papal bulls, including {{lang|la|[[Vox in excelso]]}}, which officially dissolved the order, and {{lang|la|[[Ad providam]]}}, which turned over most Templar assets to the Hospitallers.{{sfn|Martin|2005|pp=123–124}}

[[File:Templars on Stake.jpg|thumb|Templars being [[death by burning|burned]]]]
As for the leaders of the order, the elderly Grand Master Jacques de Molay, who had confessed under torture, retracted his confession. [[Geoffroi de Charney]], Preceptor of [[Normandy]], also retracted his confession and insisted on his innocence. Both men, under pressure from the king, were declared guilty of being relapsed heretics and sentenced to burn alive at the stake in Paris on 18 March 1314. De Molay reportedly remained defiant to the end, asking to be tied in such a way that he could face the [[Notre Dame de Paris|Notre Dame Cathedral]] and hold his hands together in prayer.{{sfn|Martin|2005|p=125}} According to legend, he 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: {{lang|fr|"Dieu sait qui a tort et a péché. Il va bientôt arriver malheur à ceux qui nous ont condamnés à mort"}} ("God knows who is wrong and has sinned. Soon a calamity will occur to those who have condemned us to death").<ref name="Science" /> Clement died only a month later, and Philip died while hunting within the same year.{{sfn|Martin|2005|p=140}}<ref>

[[Malcolm Barber]] has researched this legend and concluded that it originates from {{lang|la|La Chronique métrique attribuée à [[Geoffrey of Paris|Geffroi de Paris]]}}, ed. A. Divèrres, Strasbourg, 1956, pp. 5711–5742. Geoffrey of Paris was "apparently an eye-witness, who describes de Molay as showing no sign of fear and, significantly, as telling those present that God would avenge their deaths". {{harvnb|Barber|2006|p=357|loc=footnote 110}}</ref><ref>In ''The New Knighthood'', Barber referred to a variant of this legend, about how an unspecified Templar had appeared before and denounced Clement V and, when he was about to be executed sometime later, warned that both Pope and King would "within a year and a day be obliged to explain their crimes in the presence of God", found in the work by [[Ferreto de' Ferreti|Ferreto of Vicenza]], {{lang|la|Historia rerum in Italia gestarum ab anno 1250 ad annum usque 1318}} {{harv|Barber|1994|pp=314–315}}.</ref>

The remaining Templars around Europe were either arrested and tried under the Papal investigation (with virtually none convicted), absorbed into other Catholic military orders, or pensioned off and allowed to live out their days peacefully. By papal decree, the property of the Templars was transferred to the Knights Hospitaller except in the Kingdoms of Castile, Aragon, and Portugal. Portugal was the first country in Europe where they had settled, occurring only two or three years after the order's foundation in Jerusalem and even having a presence during Portugal's conception.<ref>[http://ler.letras.up.pt/uploads/ficheiros/11799.pdf ''Templários no condado portucalense antes do reconhecimento formal da ordem: O caso de Braga no início do séc. XII – Revista da Faculdade de Letras''] [Templars in the County of Portucale before the formal recognition of the order: The case of Braga in early 12th century], Ciências e Técnicas do Património, Porto 2013, Volume XII, pp. 231–243. Author: Paula Pinto Costa, FLUP/CEPESE (University of Porto)</ref>

The Portuguese king, [[Denis of Portugal|Denis I]], refused to pursue and persecute the former knights, as had occurred in some other states under the influence of Philip & the crown. Under his protection, Templar organizations simply changed their name, from "Knights Templar" to the reconstituted [[Order of Christ (Portugal)|Order of Christ]] and also a parallel [[Supreme Order of Christ]] of the [[Holy See]]; both are considered successors to the Knights Templar.<ref name="web.archive.org">{{Cite web|url=http://jvarnoso.com/orders/christ2.html|title=The Order of Christ and the Papacy|date=6 May 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080506100231/http://jvarnoso.com/orders/christ2.html|archive-date=6 May 2008}}</ref><ref name="Nicholson2004">{{Cite book |last=Helen J. Nicholson |url=https://archive.org/details/crusades00nich |title=The Crusades |year=2004 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-32685-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/crusades00nich/page/98 98] |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref name="BurgtorfCrawford2013">{{cite book |last1=Jochen |first1=Burgtorf |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9NSybdmlStsC&pg=PA298|title=The Debate on the Trial of the Templars (1307–1314) |last2=Paul F. |first2=Crawford |last3=Helen J. |first3=Nicholson |year=2013 |publisher=Ashgate |isbn=978-1-4094-8102-7 |page=298}}</ref>

=== Chinon Parchment ===
{{main|Chinon Parchment}}

In September 2001, a document known as the [[Chinon Parchment]] dated 17–20 August 1308 was discovered in the [[Vatican Archives]] by [[Barbara Frale]], apparently after having been filed in the wrong place in 1628. It is a record of the trial of the Templars and shows that Clement absolved the Templars of all heresies in 1308 before formally disbanding the order in 1312, as did another Chinon Parchment dated 20 August 1308 addressed to [[Philip IV of France]], also mentioning that all Templars that had confessed to [[heresy]] were "restored to the Sacraments and to the unity of the Church". This other Chinon Parchment has been well known to historians,<ref>Charles d'Aigrefeuille, ''Histoire de la ville de Montpellier'', Volume 2, p. 193 (Montpellier:  J. Martel, 1737–1739).</ref><ref>Sophia Menache, ''Clement V'', p. 218, 2002 paperback edition {{ISBN|0-521-59219-4}} (Cambridge University Press, originally published in 1998).</ref><ref>[[Germain-François Poullain de Saint-Foix]], ''Oeuvres complettes de M. de Saint-Foix, Historiographe des Ordres du Roi'', p. 287, Volume 3 (Maestricht: Jean-Edme Dupour & Philippe Roux, Imprimeurs-Libraires, associés, 1778).</ref> having been published by [[Étienne Baluze]] in 1693<ref>Étienne Baluze, ''Vitae Paparum Avenionensis'', 3 Volumes (Paris, 1693).</ref> and by [[Pierre Dupuy (scholar)|Pierre Dupuy]] in 1751.<ref>Pierre Dupuy, ''Histoire de l'Ordre Militaire des Templiers'' (Foppens, Brusselles, 1751).</ref>

The current position of the [[Roman Catholic Church]] is that the medieval persecution of the Knights Templar was unjust, that nothing was inherently wrong with the order or its rule, and that [[Pope Clement V|Pope Clement]] was pressed into his actions by the magnitude of the public [[Scandal (theology)|scandal]] and by the dominating influence of King Philip IV, who was Clement's relative.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Frale |first=Barbara |year=2004 |title=The Chinon chart – Papal absolution to the last Templar, Master Jacques de Molay |journal=[[Journal of Medieval History]] |volume=30 |issue=2 |pages=109–134 |doi=10.1016/j.jmedhist.2004.03.004 |s2cid=153985534}}</ref>

== Organization ==
{{main|List of Knights Templar}}

[[File:Chapelletemplier.jpg|right|thumb|160px|Templar chapel from the 12th century in [[Metz]], France. Once part of the Templar commandery of [[Metz]], the oldest Templar institution of the [[Holy Roman Empire]].]]
The Templars were organised as a [[monasticism|monastic order]] similar to Bernard's [[Cistercians|Cistercian]] Order, which was considered the first effective international organization in Europe.{{sfn|Burman|1990|p=28}} The organizational structure had a strong chain of authority. Each country with a major Templar presence (France, [[Poitou]], [[County of Anjou|Anjou]], Jerusalem, [[Knights Templar in England|England]], [[Spain]], [[Order of Christ (Portugal)|Portugal]], [[Italy]], [[County of Tripoli|Tripoli]], [[Antioch]], [[Hungary]], and [[Croatia]]){{sfn|Barber|1993|p=10}} had a master of the Order for the Templars in that region.

All of them were subject to the grand master, appointed for life, who oversaw both the order's military efforts in the East and their financial holdings in the West. The grand master exercised his authority via the visitors-general of the order, who were knights specially appointed by the grand master and convent of Jerusalem to visit the different provinces, correct malpractices, introduce new regulations, and resolve important disputes. The visitors-general had the power to remove knights from office and to suspend the master of the province concerned.<ref>{{Cite web |last=International |first=American |title=The Knights Templar and Knights Hospitaller |url=http://www.medievalwarfare.info/templars.htm#masters |access-date=11 December 2017 |website=www.medievalwarfare.info}}</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=November 2024}}

The central headquarters of the Templars had several offices that answered to the grand master. These were held as temporary appointments rather than for life. The second-in-command of the Order was the [[seneschal]]. The highest ranking military official was the [[marshal]], while the [[preceptor]] (who was also sometimes called the commander) was responsible for the administration and provisions. The [[draper]] was responsible for their uniforms, the [[treasurer]] was in charge of finance, the [[turcopole|turcopolier]] commanded auxiliary forces, and the [[prior (ecclesiastical)|prior]] was the head of the church at the headquarters.{{sfn|Burgtorf|2008|pages=3–4}} The headquarters and its most senior officials were known as the [[convent]]{{sfn|Burgtorf|2008|page=1}}{{sfn|Burgtorf|2008|page=14}} and its role was to assist and advise the grand master with running the administration of the Order.{{sfn|Burgtorf|2008|pages=15–16}}

No precise numbers exist, but it is estimated that at the order's peak, there were between 15,000 and 20,000 Templars, of whom about a tenth were actual knights.{{sfn|Burman|1990|p=45}}<ref name="quantity" />

=== Ranks within the order ===

==== Three main ranks ====
There was a threefold division of the ranks of the Templars: the noble knights, the non-noble sergeants, and the chaplains. The knights wear white mantles to symbolise their purity and chastity.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Rule of the Templars |page=article 17}}</ref> The sergeants wore black or brown. All three classes of brothers wore the order's red cross.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Selwood |first=Dominic |date=7 April 2013 |title=The Knights Templars 2: Sergeants, Women, Chaplains, Affiliates |url=http://www.dominicselwood.com/the-knights-templars-2-sergeants-chaplains-women-affiliates/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170630160328/http://www.dominicselwood.com/the-knights-templars-2-sergeants-chaplains-women-affiliates/ |archive-date=30 June 2017 |access-date=12 April 2013}}</ref> Before they received their monastic rule in 1129 at the Council of Troyes, the Templars were referred to only as knights (''milites'' in Latin), and after 1129 they were also called brothers of their monastic order. Therefore the three main ranks were eventually known as knight brothers, sergeant brothers, and chaplain brothers. Knights and chaplains were referred to as brothers by 1140, but sergeants were not full members of the Order at first, and this did not change until the 1160s.{{sfn|Burgtorf|2008|pages=36–37}}

The knights were the most visible division of the order. They were equipped as [[heavy cavalry]], with three or four horses and one or two [[squire]]s. Squires were generally not members of the order but were instead outsiders who were hired for a set period of time. The Templars did not perform knighting ceremonies, so anyone wishing to become a knight in the Templar had to be a knight already.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Selwood |first=Dominic |date=20 March 2013 |title=The Knights Templar 1: The Knights |url=http://www.dominicselwood.com/the-knights-templar-1-the-knights/ |access-date=12 April 2013}}</ref>

Beneath the knights in the order and drawn from non-noble families were the sergeants.{{sfn|Barber|1994|p=190}} They brought vital skills and trades from [[blacksmith]]s and builders, including administration of many of the order's European properties. In the [[Crusader states|Crusader States]], they fought alongside the knights as [[light cavalry]] with a single horse.{{sfn|Martin|2005|p=54}} Several of the order's most senior positions were reserved for sergeants, including the post of Commander of the Vault of Acre, who was also the ''de facto'' admiral of the Templar fleet. But he was subordinated to the Order's preceptor instead of the marshal, indicating that the Templars considered their ships to be mainly for commerce rather than military purposes.{{sfn|Burgtorf|2008|page=92}}{{sfn|Burgtorf|2008|page=296}}

From 1139, [[chaplain]]s constituted a third Templar rank. They were [[ordination|ordained]] priests who cared for the Templars' spiritual needs.{{sfn|Moeller|1913|p=}} These Templar clerics were also referred to as priest brothers or chaplain brothers.{{sfn|Burgtorf|2008|p=97}}

The Templars also employed lightly armed mercenaries as cavalry in the 12th century that were known as [[turcopole]]s (the Greek term for descendants of Turks). Its meaning has been interpreted as either referring to people of a mixed Muslim-Christian heritage who became Christians, or members of the local population in [[Syria (region)|Syria]]. Sometime in the 13th century, turcopole became a formal rank held by Templar brothers, including Latin Christians.{{sfn|Burgtorf|2008|pages=37–38}}

==== Grand masters ====
{{Main|Grand Masters of the Knights Templar}}
[[File:Saint-Martin-des-Champs Chapelle.JPG|right|thumb|Templar building at Saint Martin des Champs, France]]
Starting with founder Hugues de Payens, the order's highest office was that of grand master, a position which was held for life, though considering the martial nature of the order, this could mean a very short tenure. All but two of the grand masters died in office, and several died during military campaigns. For example, during the [[Siege of Ascalon]] in 1153, Grand Master [[Bernard de Tremelay]] led a group of 40 Templars through a breach in the city walls. When the rest of the Crusader army did not follow, the Templars, including their grand master, were surrounded and beheaded.{{sfn|Read|2001|p=137}} Grand master [[Gérard de Ridefort]] was beheaded by Saladin in 1189 at the [[Siege of Acre (1189)|Siege of Acre]].

The grand master oversaw all of the operations of the order, including both the military operations in the Holy Land and [[Eastern Europe]] and the Templars' financial and business dealings in [[Western Europe]]. Some grand masters also served as battlefield commanders, though this was not always wise: several blunders in de Ridefort's combat leadership contributed to the devastating defeat at the Battle of Hattin. The last grand master was [[Jacques de Molay]], burned at the stake in Paris in 1314 by order of King Philip IV.{{sfn|Barber|1993|p=3}}

=== Conduct, uniform and beards ===
[[File:HPIM3597.JPG|thumb|Representation of a Knight Templar ([[Ten Duinen Abbey]] museum, 2010 photograph)]]
[[File:Templari Paris.jpg|thumb|Depiction of two Templars seated on a horse (emphasising poverty), with ''[[Beauséant]]'', the "sacred banner" (or [[gonfanon]]) of the Templars, ''argent a chief sable'' ([[Matthew Paris]], {{circa|1250|lk=on}})<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hourihane |first=Colum |title=The Grove Encyclopedia of Medieval Art and Architecture |date=2012 |publisher=OUP USA |isbn=978-0-19-539536-5 |page=514 |language=en |chapter=Flags and standards |quote=the Knights Templar ... carried white shields with red crosses but [their] sacred banner, ''Beauséant'', was white with a black chief |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FtlMAgAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PA514 }}</ref>]]
Bernard de Clairvaux and founder Hugues de Payens devised a specific code of conduct for the Templar Order, known to modern historians as the [[Latin Rule]]. Its 72 clauses laid down the details of the knights' way of life, including the types of garments they were to wear and how many horses they could have. Knights were to take their meals in silence, eat meat no more than three times per week, and not have physical contact of any kind with women, even members of their own family. A master of the Order was assigned "four horses, and one chaplain-brother, and one clerk with three horses, and one sergeant brother with two horses, and one gentleman valet to carry his shield and lance, with one horse".{{sfn|Burman|1990|p=43}} As the order grew, more guidelines were added, and the original list of 72 clauses was expanded to several hundred in its final form.{{sfn|Burman|1990|pp=30–33}}{{sfn|Martin|2005|p=32}}

The daily schedule of the order adhered to the canonical hours in the ''[[Rule of Saint Benedict]]'', with communal prayers designated at specific hours throughout the day. Members unable to participate must recite the ''[[Lord's Prayer]]'' at the same hours.

The knights wore a white [[surcoat]] with a red cross, and a white mantle also with a red cross; the sergeants wore a black tunic with a red cross on the front and a black or brown mantle.{{sfn|Barber|1994|p=191}}{{sfn|Burman|1990|p=44}} The white mantle was assigned to the Templars at the Council of Troyes in 1129, and the cross was most probably added to their [[Religious habit|robes]] at the launch of the [[Second Crusade]] in 1147, when [[Pope Eugene III|Pope Eugenius&nbsp;III]], King [[Louis VII of France]], and many other notables attended a meeting of the French Templars at their headquarters near Paris.<ref>{{harvnb|Barber|1994|p=66}} {{quote|According to [[William of Tyre]] it was under Eugenius&nbsp;III that the Templars received the right to wear the characteristic red cross upon their tunics, symbolising their willingness to suffer [[martyr]]dom in the defence of the Holy Land.}} (WT, 12.7, p. 554. James of Vitry, 'Historia Hierosolimatana', ed. J. ars, [[Dei gesta per Francos|Gesta Dei per Francos]], vol I(ii), Hanover, 1611, p. 1083, interprets this as a sign of martyrdom.)</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2005|p=43}} {{quote|The Pope conferred on the Templars the right to wear a red cross on their white mantles, which symbolised their willingness to suffer martyrdom in defending the Holy Land against the infidel.}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Read|2001|p=121}} {{quote|Pope Eugenius gave them the right to wear a scarlet cross over their hearts, so that the sign would serve triumphantly as a shield and they would never turn away in the face of the infidels': the red blood of the martyr was superimposed on the white of the chaste." (Melville, ''La Vie des Templiers'', p.&nbsp;92.)}}</ref> Under the Rule, the knights were to wear the white mantle at all times: They were even forbidden to eat or drink unless wearing it.{{sfn|Burman|1990|p=46}}

The red cross that the Templars wore on their robes was a symbol of martyrdom, and to die in combat was considered a great honour that assured a place in heaven.{{sfn|Nicholson|2001|p=141}} There was a cardinal rule that the warriors of the order should never surrender unless the Templar flag had fallen, and even then they were first to try to regroup with another of the Christian orders, such as that of the [[Knights Hospitaller|Hospitallers]]. Only after all flags had fallen were they allowed to leave the battlefield.{{sfn|Barber|1994|p=193}} This uncompromising principle, along with their reputation for courage, excellent training, and heavy armament, made the Templars one of the most feared combat forces in medieval times.

Although not prescribed by the Templar Rule, it later became customary for members of the order to wear long and prominent beards. In about 1240, [[Alberic of Trois-Fontaines]] described the Templars as an "order of bearded brethren"; while during the interrogations by the papal commissioners in Paris in 1310–1311, out of nearly 230 knights and brothers questioned, 76 are described as wearing a beard, in some cases specified as being "in the style of the Templars", and 133 are said to have shaved off their beards, either in renunciation of the order or because they had hoped to escape detection.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Harris |first=Oliver D. |year=2013 |title=Beards: true and false |journal=Church Monuments |volume=28 |pages=124–132, esp.&nbsp;124–125 }}</ref>{{sfn|Nicholson|2001|pp=48, 124–127}}

Initiation,{{sfn|Martin|2005|p=52}} known as "reception" (''receptio'') into the order, was a profound commitment and involved a solemn ceremony. Outsiders were discouraged from attending the ceremony, which aroused the suspicions of [[Medieval Inquisition|medieval inquisitors]] during the [[Knights Templar Trial|later trials]]. New members had to willingly sign over all of their wealth and goods to the order and [[Religious vows|vow]] to "God and Our Lady" ([[Mary, mother of Jesus|mother of Jesus]])  poverty, chastity, piety, obedience to the master of the order, and to conquer the Holy Land of Jerusalem.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Nicholson |editor-first=Helen J. |year=2021 |section=Beliefs |title=The Knights Templar |publisher=Amsterdam University Press |doi=10.1017/9781641891691.004 |isbn=978-1-64189-169-1 |pages=33–42 |section-url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/knights-templar/beliefs/15B7CC66655704583F6B706253AAE50E |access-date=2024-04-04 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> They were then promised "the bread and water and poor clothing of the house and much pain and suffering".<ref>{{cite book |last=Newman |first=S. |author-link=Sharan Newman |year=2007 |title=The Real History Behind the Templars |publisher=Berkeley Publishing |pages=304–312 }}</ref>

Most brothers joined for life, although some were allowed to join for a set period. Sometimes a married man was allowed to join if he had his wife's permission,{{sfn|Burman|1990|p=44}} but a married brother was not allowed to wear the white mantle.{{sfn|Barber|1993|p=4}}

== Legacy ==
{{See also|List of Knights Templar sites}}

[[File:TempleChurch-Exterior.jpg|thumb|right|[[Temple Church]], London. As the chapel of the New Temple in London, it was the location for Templar initiation ceremonies. In modern times it is the parish church of the [[Middle Temple|Middle]] and [[Inner Temple]]s, two of the [[Inns of Court]], and a popular tourist attraction.]]

With their military mission and extensive financial resources, the Knights Templar funded a large number of building projects around Europe and the Holy Land. Many of these structures are still standing.  Many sites also maintain the name "Temple" because of centuries-old association with the Templars.{{sfn|Martin|2005|p=58}} For example, some of the Templars' lands in London were later rented to [[lawyer]]s, which led to the names of the [[Temple Bar, London|Temple Bar]] gateway and the [[Temple tube station|Temple Underground station]]. Two of the four [[Inns of Court]] which may call members to act as [[barrister]]s are the [[Inner Temple]] and [[Middle Temple]] – the entire area known as [[Temple, London]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ruggeri |first=Amanda |title=The hidden world of the Knights Templar |url=http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20160510-the-hidden-world-of-the-knights-templar |access-date=11 December 2017}}</ref>

Distinctive [[architecture|architectural]] elements of Templar buildings include the use of the image of "two knights on a single horse", representing the Knights' poverty, and round buildings designed to resemble the [[Church of the Holy Sepulchre]] in Jerusalem.{{sfn|Barber|1994|pp=194–195}}

=== Modern organizations ===
The Knights Templar were dismantled in the Rolls of the Catholic Church in 1309. Following the suppression of the Order, a number of Knights Templar joined the newly established [[Military Order of Christ|Order of Christ]], which effectively reabsorbed the Knights Templar and its properties in AD 1319, especially in Portugal.<ref name="Ralls2007">{{Cite book |last=Ralls |first=Karen |title=Knights Templar Encyclopedia: The Essential Guide to the People, Places, Events, and Symbols of the Order of the Temple |date=2007 |publisher=[[Red Wheel Weiser Conari]] |isbn=978-1-56414-926-8 |page=53 |language=en |quote=Founded in Portugal and approved by papal bull in 1319, after the suppression of their Order in 1312, a number of Templars joined the newly established Order of Christ. The knights of this Order became known as the Knights of Christ. They wore a white mantle with a red cross that had a white twist in the middle, which also has been translated as a double cross of red and silver in some medieval documents. Initially, the Order of Christ was located at Castro Marim; later, its headquarters was relocated to Tomar, the location of the castle of the Knights Templar.}}</ref><ref name="Gourdin1855">{{Cite book |last=Gourdin |first=Theodore S. |title=Historical Sketch of the Order of Knights Templar |date=1855 |publisher=Walker & Evans |page=22 |language=en |quote=Upon the suppression of the Order of Templars in Portugal, their estates were given to this equestrian militia. The name of the Order was changed to that of the Order of Christ. The Templars in Portugal suffered little persecution, and the Order of Christ, since its foundation in 1317, has always been protected by the sovereigns of that country, and also by the Popes of Rome.}}</ref> The story of the persecution and sudden dissolution of the secretive yet powerful medieval Templars has drawn many other groups to use alleged connections with them as a way of enhancing their own image and mystery.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Finlo Rohrer |date=19 October 2007 |title=What are the Knights Templar up to now? |work=BBC News Magazine |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7050713.stm |access-date=13 April 2008}}</ref> Apart from the Order of Christ and [[Order of Montesa]] in Spain,<ref name="Ralls2007" /><ref name="Gourdin1855" /><ref name=":1" /> there are no clear historical connections between the Knights Templar and any other modern organization, the earliest of which emerged publicly in the 18th century.<ref>''The Mythology Of The Secret Societies'' (London: Secker and Warburg, 1972). {{ISBN|0-436-42030-9}}</ref><ref>Peter Partner, ''The Murdered Magicians: The Templars And Their Myth'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982). {{ISBN|0-19-215847-3}}</ref><ref>John Walliss, ''Apocalyptic Trajectories: Millenarianism and Violence In The Contemporary World'', p. 130 (Bern: Peter Lang AG, European Academic Publishers, 2004). {{ISBN|3-03910-290-7}}</ref><ref>Michael Haag, ''Templars: History and Myth: From Solomon's Temple To The Freemasons'' (Profile Books Ltd, 2009). {{ISBN|978-1-84668-153-0}}</ref> 

==== Order of Christ ====
{{Main|Order of Christ (Portugal)}}
{{Further|History of the Order of Christ}}
Following the dissolution of the Knights Templar, the Order of Christ was erected in 1319 and absorbed many of the Knights Templar into its ranks, along with Knights Templar properties in Portugal.<ref name="Ralls2007" /><ref name="Gourdin1855" /> Its headquarters became a castle in Tomar, a former Knights Templar castle.<ref name="Ralls2007" /> 

The [[Order of Christ (Portugal)|Military Order of Christ]] consider themselves the successors of the former Knights Templar. After the Templars were abolished on 22 March 1312,<ref name="Ferguson2011">{{cite book |author=Robert Ferguson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bDI7AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA39 |title=The Knights Templar and Scotland |date= 2011 |publisher=History Press Limited |isbn=978-0-7524-6977-5 |page=39}}</ref><ref name="BurgtorfCrawford2013" /> the Order of Christ was founded in 1319<ref name="FitzsimonsBécarud1969">{{Cite book |last1=Matthew Anthony Fitzsimons |url=https://archive.org/details/catholicchurchto00fitz |title=The Catholic Church today: Western Europe |last2=Jean Bécarud |publisher=University of Notre Dame Press |year=1969 |page=[https://archive.org/details/catholicchurchto00fitz/page/159 159] |author1-link=Matthew Anthony Fitzsimons |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref name="Nicholson2004" /> under the protection of the Portuguese king [[Denis of Portugal|Denis]], who refused to persecute the former knights. Denis revived the Templars of [[Tomar]] as the Order of Christ, grateful for their aid during the ''[[Reconquista]]'' and in the reconstruction of Portugal after the wars. Denis negotiated with Clement's successor [[Pope John XXII|John XXII]] for recognition of the new order and its right to inherit Templar assets and property. This was granted in the papal bull ''Ad ea ex quibus'' of 14 March 1319.<ref name=":0">F. A. Dutra, "Dinis, King of Portugal", in ''Medieval Iberia: An Encyclopedia'' (Routledge, 2003), p. 285.</ref> The Portuguese brought the Order of Christ with them to Kongo and Brazil, where the Order of Christ continues to be awarded; the Vatican additionally has awarded the [[Supreme Order of Christ]].<ref name="Gates2012">{{cite book |last1=Akyeampong |first1=Emmanuel Kwaku |last2=Gates |first2=Henry Louis Gates |title=Dictionary of African Biography |date=2012 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-538207-5 |page=187 |language=English}}</ref><ref name="BostoenBrinkman2018">{{cite book |last1=Bostoen |first1=Koen |last2=Brinkman |first2=Inge |title=The Kongo Kingdom: The Origins, Dynamics and Cosmopolitan Culture of an African Polity |date= 2018 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-1-108-47418-4 |pages=237–238 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Ragnau1913">{{cite book |last1=Ragnau |first1=Edmond Hugues de |title=The Vatican: The Center of Government of the Catholic World |date=1913 |publisher=[[D. Appleton & Company]] |page=38 |language=en}}</ref>

==== Temperance movement ====
{{Main|IOGT|Tempel Riddare Orden}}
Many [[List of Temperance organizations|temperance organizations]] named themselves after the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, citing the belief that the original Knights Templar "drank sour milk, and also because they were fighting 'a great crusade' against 'this terrible vice' of alcohol".<ref name="Nicholson2014">{{Cite book |last=Nicholson |first=Helen |title=A Brief History of the Knights Templar |date=2014 |publisher=Little, Brown |isbn=978-1-4721-1787-8 |page=151}}</ref> The largest of these, the [[International Order of Good Templars]] (IOGT), grew throughout the world after being started in the 19th century and continues to advocate for the [[Temperance movement|abstinence from alcohol and other drugs]]; other Orders in this tradition include those of the [[Templars of Honor and Temperance]] (Tempel Riddare Orden), which has a large presence in Scandinavia.<ref name="Nicholson2014" /><ref name="AmmermanOttTarter1999">{{Cite book |last1=Ammerman |first1=Robert T. |title=Prevention and Societal Impact of Drug and Alcohol Abuse |last2=Ott |first2=Peggy J. |last3=Tarter |first3=Ralph E. |date=1999 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-1-135-67215-7 |language=en}}</ref>

==== Freemasonry ====
{{main|Knights Templar (Freemasonry)}}

[[Freemasonry]] has incorporated the symbols and rituals of several medieval military orders in a number of [[Masonic bodies]] since at least the 18th century. This can be seen in the "[[Red Cross of Constantine]]," inspired by the [[Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George|Military Constantinian Order]]; the "[[Order of Malta (Freemasonry)|Order of Malta]]," inspired by the Knights Hospitaller; and the "[[Knights Templar (Freemasonry)#The Degree of Knight of the Temple (Order of the Temple)|Order of the Temple]]", inspired by the Knights Templar. The Orders of Malta and the Temple feature prominently in the [[York Rite]]. Though some have claimed a link between the historical Knights Templar of the 14th century through members who allegedly took refuge in [[Scotland]] and aided [[Robert the Bruce]], this theory has been rejected by both Freemasons and historians.<ref name="fmt">{{Cite web |title=Freemasonry Today periodical (Issue January 2002) |url=http://www.freemasonrytoday.com/19/p07.php |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110303192548/http://www.freemasonrytoday.com/19/p07.php |archive-date=3 March 2011 |access-date=28 May 2011 |publisher=Grand Lodge Publications Ltd}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Miller |first=Duane |url=https://www.academia.edu/32284509 |title='Knights Templar' in War and Religion, Vol 2 |date=2017 |publisher=ABC–CLIO |location=Santa Barbara, California |page=464 |access-date=28 May 2017}}</ref>
==== Neo-Templarism ====
{{Main articles|Neo-Templarism}}

[[Neo-Templarism]] is a term used to describe movements that claim to be direct continuations of the original Templars. The Templar degree system in Freemasonry built off an idea that Templars had embedded themselves within Freemasonry; however, some Freemasons believed the Templar degrees were not subordinate to masonry and were their own system. This culminated in 1805, when [[Bernard-Raymond Fabré-Palaprat]], a physician who refused to acknowledge the authority of the Catholic Church, created a revivalist Templar movement, claiming he had discovered a document that revealed an unbroken history of Templar grand masters to the present day. Fabré-Palaprat declared himself the grand master of his revivalist order. This began a long series of revival orders involving various schisms, which Fabré-Palaprat is usually regarded as the originator of; Fabré-Palaprat's organization eventually evolved into the [[Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem]]. The idea that these orders have legitimate descent from the Templars has been criticized by scholars of Templar history as dubious and tied to false claims.<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Introvigne |first=Massimo |author-link=Massimo Introvigne |title=The Order of the Solar Temple: The Temple of Death |title-link=The Order of the Solar Temple: The Temple of Death |publisher=[[Ashgate Publishing]] |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-7546-5285-4 |editor-last=Lewis |editor-first=James R. |editor-link=James R. Lewis (scholar) |series=Controversial New Religions |location=Aldershot |pages=19–23 |language=en |chapter=Ordeal by Fire: The Tragedy of the Solar Temple}}</ref><ref name="Napier2011">{{Cite book |last=Napier |first=Gordon |title=A to Z of the Knights Templar: A Guide to Their History and Legacy |publisher=History Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-7524-7362-8 |page=424}}</ref>

=== Modern popular culture ===
{{Main|Knights Templar in popular culture}}

The Knights Templar have been associated with legends circulated even during their time. Many orders, such as the freemasons, claimed to have received esoteric wisdom from the Templars, or were direct descendants of the order. Masonic writers added their own speculations in the 18th century, and further fictional embellishments have been added in popular novels such as ''[[Ivanhoe]]'', ''[[Foucault's Pendulum]]'', and ''[[The Da Vinci Code]]'';<ref name="HC">[[History (U.S. TV channel)|The History Channel]], ''Decoding the Past: The Templar Code'', 7 November 2005, video documentary written by Marcy Marzuni.</ref> modern movies such as ''[[National Treasure (film)|National Treasure]]'', ''[[The Last Templar (miniseries)|The Last Templar]]'', ''[[Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade]]''; the television series ''[[Knightfall (TV series)|Knightfall]]''; as well as video games such as ''[[Broken Sword]]'', ''[[Deus_Ex (video game)|Deus Ex]]'', ''[[Assassin's Creed]]'' and ''[[Dante's Inferno (video game)|Dante's Inferno]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |author1=Magy Seif El-Nasr|author2=Maha Al-Saati|author3=Simon Niedenthal|author4=David Milam |title=Assassin's Creed: A Multi-Cultural Read |url=http://journals.sfu.ca/loading/index.php/loading/article/viewPDFInterstitial/51/46 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091106113413/http://journals.sfu.ca/loading/index.php/loading/article/viewPDFInterstitial/51/46 |archive-date=6 November 2009 |access-date=1 October 2009 |pages=6–7 |format=PDF |quote=we interviewed Jade Raymond ... Jade says ... Templar Treasure was ripe for exploring. What did the Templars find }}</ref>

The Templars were the subject of many conspiracy theories and legends. A legend is that when [[Louis XVI]] was executed, a freemason dipped a cloth in the king's blood and said, "Jacques de Molay, you are avenged.", the idea being that the king of France was responsible for destroying the Knights Templar back then. A theory states that they are still existent and running a secret conspiracy to preserve the bloodline of Jesus.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-03-26 |title=Templar {{!}} History, Battles, Symbols, & Legacy {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Templars |access-date=2024-04-04 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

There have been speculative popular publications surrounding the order's early occupation of the [[Temple Mount]] in Jerusalem as well as speculation about what [[relic]]s the Templars may have found there. The association of the [[Holy Grail]] with the Templars has precedents even in 12th-century fiction; [[Wolfram von Eschenbach]]'s ''[[Parzival]]'' calls the knights guarding the Grail Kingdom ''templeisen'', apparently a conscious fictionalization of the ''templarii''.<ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2005|p=133}}. Helmut Brackert, Stephan Fuchs (eds.), ''Titurel'', Walter de Gruyter, 2002, [https://books.google.com/books?id=6v224EoQ8Q4C&pg=PA189 p. 189] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170701003539/https://books.google.ch/books?id=6v224EoQ8Q4C&pg=PA189 |date=1 July 2017 }}. There is no evidence of any actual connection of the historical Templars with the Grail, nor any claim on the part of any Templar to have discovered such a relic. See Karen Ralls, ''Knights Templar Encyclopedia: The Essential Guide to the People, Places, Events and Symbols of the Order of the Temple'', p. 156 (The Career Press, Inc., 2007). {{ISBN|978-1-56414-926-8}}</ref><ref>Louis Charpentier, ''Les Mystères de la Cathédrale de Chartres'' (Paris: Robert Laffont, 1966), translated ''The Mysteries of Chartres Cathedral'' (London: Research Into Lost Knowledge Organization, 1972).</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Sanello, Frank |url=https://archive.org/details/knightstemplarsg00sane/page/207 |title=The Knights Templars: God's Warriors, the Devil's Bankers |publisher=Taylor Trade Publishing |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-87833-302-8 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/knightstemplarsg00sane/page/207 207–208]}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Sovereign Military Order of Malta]] – Descended from the [[Knights Hospitaller]], another Catholic religious order involved in the Crusades
* [[Teutonic Order]] – Another Catholic religious order involved in the Crusades
* [[Templari Cattolici d'Italia]] – A private Catholic lay association of the faithful living and promoting the spirituality of the Knights Templar of old

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{reflist}}

=== Sources ===
{{refbegin|40em}}
* {{Cite book |last=Barber |first=Malcolm |title=The New Knighthood: A History of the Order of the Temple |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-521-42041-9 |location=Cambridge, England |author-link=Malcolm Barber |url=https://archive.org/details/newknighthoodhis0000barb }}
* {{Cite book |last=Barber |first=Malcolm |title=The Trial of the Templars |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-521-45727-9 |edition=1st |location=Cambridge, England}}
* {{Cite book |last=Barber |first=Malcolm |title=The Trial of the Templars |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-521-67236-8 |edition=2nd |location=Cambridge}}
* {{Cite book |last=Barber |first=Malcolm |title=The Horns of Hattin |publisher=Jerusalem and London |year=1992 |editor-last=Benjamin Z. Kedar |pages=314–326 |chapter=Supplying the Crusader States: The Role of the Templars}}
* {{Cite book |last=Burgtorf |first=Jochen |title=The Central Convent of Hospitallers and Templars: History, Organization, and Personnel (1099/1120–1310) |year=2008 |location=Leiden |publisher=Brill Publishers |isbn=978-90-04-16660-8 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Burman |first=Edward |url=https://archive.org/details/templarsknightso0000burm |title=The Templars: Knights of God |publisher=Destiny Books |year=1990 |isbn=978-0-89281-221-9 |location=Rochester }}
* Mario Dal Bello (2013). ''Gli Ultimi Giorni dei Templari,'' Città Nuova, {{ISBN|978-88-311-6451-1}}
*{{Cite book |last=Forey |first=Alan |author-link=Alan Forey |chapter=The Military Orders, 1120–1312 |editor-last=Riley-Smith |editor-first=Jonathan |editor-link=Jonathan Riley-Smith |title=The Oxford Illustrated History of the Crusades |year=1995 |location=Oxford |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-285428-5 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Fulton |first=Michael S. |title=Contest for Egypt: The Collapse of the Fatimid Caliphate, the Ebb of Crusader Influence, and the Rise of Saladin |year=2022 |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |location=Leiden |isbn= 978-90-04-51227-6 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Howarth |first=Stephen |title=The Knights Templar |location=New York |publisher=[[Barnes and Noble]] |year=1982 |isbn=0-88029-663-1 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Martin |first=Sean |url=https://archive.org/details/knightstemplarhi00mart |title=The Knights Templar: The History & Myths of the Legendary Military Order |publisher=Thunder's Mouth Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-56025-645-8 |location=New York |author-link=Sean Martin (writer and director) }}
* {{Cite CE1913 |wstitle=Knights Templars|volume=10|first=Charles |last=Moeller|author-link= Charles Moeller (historian) |year=1913}}
* {{Cite book |last=Nicholson |first=Helen |title=The Knights Templar: A New History |publisher=Sutton |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-7509-2517-4 |location=Stroud}}
* {{Cite book |editor-last1=Philips |editor-first1=Jonathan |editor-last2=Hoch |editor-first2=Martin |title=The Second Crusade: Scope and Consequences |location=Manchester |publisher=[[Manchester University Press]] |year=2001 |isbn=0-7190-5710-8 }}
<!--Fringe theory book  * {{Cite book |last1=Picknett |first1=Lynn |url=https://archive.org/details/templarrevelatio00lynn |title=The Templar Revelation |last2=Prince |first2=Clive |publisher=Touchstone |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-684-84891-4 |location=New York |author-link=Lynn Picknett}} -->
* {{Cite book |last=Read |first=Piers |url=https://archive.org/details/templars00read |title=The Templars |publisher=Da Capo Press |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-306-81071-8 |location=New York |author-link=Piers Paul Read |via=archive.org |url-access=limited }}
* {{Cite book |last=Stevenson |first=W. B. |title=The Crusaders in the East: a brief history of the wars of Islam with the Latins in Syria during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.22159 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=1907 |quote=The Latin estimates of Saladin's army are no doubt greatly exaggerated (26,000 in Tyre xxi. 23, 12,000 Turks and 9,000 Arabs in Anon.Rhen. v. 517 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Sobecki |first=Sebastian |title=Biographisch-bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon |publisher=Nordhausen |year=2006 |edition=26th |location=Bautz |pages=963–64 |chapter=Marigny, Philippe de |chapter-url=https://www.bbkl.de/public/index.php/frontend/lexicon?letter=M&child=Ma&article=marigny_p.art }}
* {{Cite book |last=Runciman |first=Steven |author-link=Steven Runciman |title=A History of the Crusades, Volume II: The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Frankish East, 1100–1187 |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1951 |isbn=0-521-06162-8 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Smail |first=R. C. |title=Crusading Warfare 1097–1193 |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1956 |isbn=1-56619-769-4}}
{{refend}}

== Further reading ==
* [[Malcolm Barber]], Keith Bate (2002). ''The Templars: Selected Sources Translated and Annotated by Malcolm Barber and Keith Bate''. Manchester University Press {{ISBN|0-7190-5110-X}}
* {{Cite book |last=Brighton |first=Simon |title=In Search of the Knights Templar: A Guide to the Sites in Britain |year=2006 |publisher=Orion Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-297-84433-4 |location=London}}
* Jochen Burgtorf, Shlomo Lotan, Enric Mallorquí-Ruscalleda (eds.) (2021). ''The Templars: The Rise, Fall, and Legacy of a Military Religious Order'', Routledge {{ISBN|978-1-138-65062-6}}
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Templars|volume=26}}
* {{Cite book |last=Upton-Ward |first=Judith Mary |title=The Rule of the Templars: The French Text of the Rule of the Order of the Knights Templar |publisher=Boydell Press |year=1992 |isbn=978-0-85115-315-5 |location=Ipswich}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
* [https://www.britannica.com/topic/Templars Templars – Encyclopedia Britannica]
* [https://member.worldhistory.org/Knights_Templar/ Knights Templar – World History Encyclopedia]

{{Crusader sites}}
{{History of the Catholic Church}}

{{Authority control}}

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[[Category:1119 establishments in Asia]]
[[Category:1312 disestablishments in Asia]]
[[Category:1119 establishments in Europe]]
[[Category:1312 disestablishments in Europe]]
[[Category:Religious organizations established in the 1110s]]
[[Category:Organizations disestablished in the 14th century]]
[[Category:Philip IV of France]]
[[Category:12th-century Catholicism]]