Unveiling their Secrets: The Mysteries of the Knights Templar | Extra Long Documentary

NARRATOR: The Knights Templar. A secret brotherhood born in the Middle Ages, to disappear after two centuries of existence. (Ominous music plays) Of these men who left

their

mark on history, the legends that made them famous remain. Their white coats bear the iconic red cross. The wealth they accumulated. His discipline and ferocity in battle. They were the elite troops, the special forces of the 12th century. NARRATOR: After 1,000 years,

mysteries

still surround the myth of these soldiers of Christ. FEMALE VOICE: Are they priests? Are they monks? Are they gentlemen? What are they? An English chronicler called them "a certain new monster." (Heroic music plays) NARRATOR: Who was behind the creation of the Knights Templar?

What was your mission? And how did the Templars become so powerful in such a short time? By the end of the 12th century, the Templars had become an international organization. NARRATOR: Thanks to experts from the Order of the Temple, together with an investigation where the only written evidence of this period is preserved, we discovered the birth of a legendary brotherhood, a unique paradox of men who were both monks and soldiers. (Speaks French) It is really unprecedented that a military code exists within a religious rule. (Speaks French) There were Christian thinkers who felt it was an abomination to try to unite prayer and battle. (Epic music plays) NARRATOR: From the arid lands of the East to the royal courts of France and England, discover the rise of the first Templars.

See how they united the Pope, kings and people of all Europe to

their

cause. People began to offer huge sums of money, huge amounts of donations to the Templar Order. (Speaks French) The county of Champagne, Burgundy, Ile-de-France, saw the birth of networks of Templar houses and commanderies of between 30 and 40 kilometers. It was unprecedented to become so powerful and so fast. NARRATOR: This is the story of the birth of the Knights Templar, a handful of men who transformed a simple brotherhood of soldiers into a religious order prepared to reign over Europe. (Flames crackling) NARRATOR: Jerusalem. It was here, in the Middle Ages, where the first Knights Templar emerged.

At that time, only a handful of

knights

. Almost destitute. But they are all of great piety and have been trained in combat. They swore to dedicate their lives to a new cause: the protection of the Holy Land and the Christian pilgrims who come there to worship. (Solemn music plays) To understand the origins of its existence we must go back to the end of the 11th century. At that time, the religious world was divided. In the West, the vast majority of Europe was under the authority of the Christian Church and the Pope. Islam dominates North Africa, southern Spain and the Middle East while the Turks threaten the Byzantine Empire and its capital Constantinople, territory of the Orthodox Church.

With Pope Urban II's call to action, the First Crusade saw thousands of Christians march across Europe to reconquer the Holy Land. After three years of violent fighting, these crusaders recovered many possessions, particularly the city of Jerusalem, where Jesus Christ was crucified and where his tomb is located. They arrived in Jerusalem in the summer of 1099 and camped outside the city walls for about a month, besieging Jerusalem, and once they breached the city walls in July, there was a bloodbath. It was said that the blood reached his knees. This could be a medieval exaggeration. Medieval chronicles tend to exaggerate the magnitude of the slaughter, but it was pretty bad.

The Muslims were massacred. NARRATOR: The First Crusade gave rise to the Crusader States: the county of Edessa, the principality of Antioch, the county of Tripoli, and the kingdom of Jerusalem. SEAN MARTIN: The irony was that after this epic three-year journey, with tens of thousands of people rampaging through various cities, many of them just returned to Europe after that. (Sound of marching feet) NARRATOR: At the dawn of the 12th century, the security of these crusader states, threatened from all sides, rested only on a few

knights

of very diverse origins, who chose to settle there. (Chattling Voices) The challenge facing those who remain in the east after the First Crusade is trying to convert their rather small territorial gains into permanent territories that can last in the

long

term.

From a military perspective, they have enemies in Damascus who can muster armies of several thousand soldiers. And in Aleppo, a slightly larger army, and also Fatimid, in Egypt, which can muster about 15,000 soldiers. Given that the Crusader States, in the early years, cannot muster more than a few hundred knights with a slightly larger infantry contingent, that is a very serious challenge. (Dramatic music plays) NARRATOR: In Jerusalem, the Christian pilgrimage is on the rise and is organized by the authorities of the Holy City: the King of Jerusalem, the Latin Patriarch at the head of the church, and the Canons of the Holy Sepulcher who govern the religious life in the city.

FRENCH SPEAKING MAN: The Holy Sepulcher is the church that is located at the site of both the crucifixion and burial of Christ. It is a church that attracted Christian veneration from the beginning and therefore the Holy Sepulcher is the main church in Jerusalem. And therefore, it is around the Holy Sepulcher, the Patriarch and the Canons, that the Church of the East is really structured. NARRATOR: At his side are the members of the Order of the Hospitallers of Saint John of Jerusalem, to help welcome the pilgrims and care for the sick. But ensuring their safety is becoming increasingly difficult.

FRENCH SPEAKING MAN: Pilgrims arriving in Jerusalem were under constant threat of guerrilla attacks through ambushes, so all pilgrims arriving in Jerusalem could be attacked in or near the Holy City. The outskirts of this holy land were by no means safe. (Dramatic music plays) NARRATOR: At that time, the Knights Templar did not yet exist. The soldiers in charge of the safety of the pilgrims were called Milites Sancti Sepulcri. The Knights of the Holy Sepulcher. (Speaks French) It is a brotherhood of armed civilians who organize to protect the Holy Sepulcher. To protect men and protect property throughout the kingdom of Jerusalem.

The milites sancti sepulcri are not part of the Canonical Order of the Holy Sepulcher or the Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem. It could be said that the milites sancti sepulcri, who undertake to protect pilgrims, to protect the canons, to defend, if necessary, those areas that may be unsafe, are in a kind of double dependency. They depend on the Canons who direct their spiritual life, and on the Hospitallers of Saint John of Jerusalem who maintain and nourish them. NARRATOR: Among these Milites Sancti Sepulcri, a knight will claim independence from him. His goal is to form a more powerful group.

A hybrid order, which no one had ever dared to imagine before. Soldiers of a new type, both religious and warriors. This knight is the founder of what would much later be known as the Order of the Temple. His identity and history are mentioned for the first time in a 12th century chronicle written by Michael the Syrian, patriarch of the Jacobite church of Antioch. MALE VOICE: At the beginning of the reign of Baldwin II, a Frenchman came from Rome to Jerusalem to pray. He had vowed not to return to his own country, but to become a monk after having helped the king in the war for three years.

A

long

with the 30 knights who accompanied him, he would spend the rest of his life in Jerusalem. When the king and his barons saw that the Frenchman and his knights had achieved notable things in the battle, they advised him to serve in the militia with his 30 knights and defend the place against bandits instead of becoming a monk in the hope of saving only his own soul. Now this man, whose name was Hugues de Payns, accepted this advice, and the 30 knights who accompanied him joined in and joined him. NARRATOR: Hugues de Payns. He was born in the Champagne region around 1070, in a small town named after him, located 12 kilometers from the city of Troyes.

He is a knight in the service of Count Hugh of Champagne. With his sovereign over him, Hugues de Payns would spend three years in the Holy Land at the beginning of the 12th century before returning to Europe. (Speaks French) Hugues de Payns led a family life. He had a wife and children. And then, in 1114, touched by a deep piety that must have inhabited him for a long time, he returned to the Holy Land, and this time he left with the idea that he would never return. (Inaudible) GHISLAIN BRUNEL: Hugues de Payns is a military strategist, a defender of the Holy Land.

He really experienced what Jerusalem was like, and it must have been a revelation. In Jerusalem he could not be a gentleman like any other. He could only be a knight turned towards God, towards the service of Christ, so this idea must have germinated when he arrived in Jerusalem. NARRATOR: Over several years, Hugues de Payns perfected his project. And in 1119, an event will change his destiny. (Epic music plays) On June 28, 1119, the Muslims of the city of Aleppo attack the Principality of Antioch. The intensity of the fighting will be of such violence that the event will be baptized in Latin as Ager Sanguinis: the battle of the Field of Blood. (Swords clatter) It is Baldwin II, the new king of Jerusalem, who will come in person to repel the invaders.

This battle reinforced the sovereign's belief that the threat to the Crusader States was becoming too great. (Speaking French) The new king, Baldwin II, realized that he needed more military presence than he had on the ground. He needed border guards, escorts on the roads to protect the pilgrims. He needed additional strength. NARRATOR: It was on January 16, 1120 in the small city of Nablus, north of Jerusalem, that a council would be held that would change the course of history. Gathered around the king of Jerusalem, Baldwin II, and Patriarch Gormond of Picquigny, the council brought together the leading clerics and nobles of the kingdom.

That day, the two men approved the project conceived by Hugues de Payns: the formation of a new order of knights, both religious and military, dedicated entirely to the defense of the Holy Land. (Speaking French) The King and the Patriarch took the opportunity together to bet that these knights could be operatives, and the Patriarch played this game, which was not a foregone conclusion, because these knights who had gathered in the shadow of the Holy Sepulcher They were empowered. They separated themselves from the Patriarch, they tried to lead their own religious life, no longer obeying the directives of the Holy Sepulcher, but rather a teacher chosen among them without ceasing to be what they were, that is, knights. and warriors. (Dramatic music plays) NARRATOR: It is King Baudouin II himself who will offer the members of this new order of chivalry a place to settle.

This place is mentioned in another manuscript written by William of Tyre, known for being the first historian of the Crusades. MALE VOICE: Throughout the same year, some noble knights dedicated themselves to the service of Christ and professed to live forever in chastity, obedience and poverty. Since they had no church or fixed residence, the king granted them accommodation in his palace which was located near the Temple of the Lord. PHILIPPE JOSSERAND: King Baldwin II made a very strong gesture by offering them his palace in Jerusalem. In reality, Baldwin's palace extended south of the Esplanade of the Mosques, south of the Temple Mount.

It extended to the area of ​​the al-Aqsa mosque, the former palace of King Solomon. And so, Hugues de Payns and his associates somehow took the name by association, calling themselves "The poor fellow soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon." NARRATOR: The poor companions of Christ and the temple of Solomon. Later, this name will be shortened and the group will become one of the most significant orders in all of history: The Order of the Temple. (Dramatic music plays) Faced with the ongoing conflicts in the Holy Land, the members of this new brotherhood must now find a way to grow.

The Templars in the 1120s, if they wanted to expand, what they really needed were troops, high quality recruits, money and land in Western Europe that would provide them with the resources to carry out their calling. NARRATOR: Hugues de Payns decides to return to Europe to embark on a vast recruiting and fundraising operation. GHISLAIN BRUNEL: He traveled from country to country: France, Champagne, Flanders, England, to try to recruit and promote his project. NICHOLAS MORTON: In search of crusaders for the king of Jerusalem, he visited all the major courts of Western Europe. People became curious to know who he was, what the order was intended to achieve from him, and when they found out, they were immensely impressed and started offering huge sums of money.

Large amount of donations to the Templar order. So much so that he became very, very rich, very quickly. (Epic music plays) NARRATOR: But Hugues de Payns and the founders of the Knights Templar know that to bring more men and money to the Holy Land, they need to be recognized by the highest authorities of the time. At first people asked questions like: "Are they priests? Are they monks? Are they knights? What are they?" Because a priest, amonk, you should not kill, but they are fighters, they are knights. GHISLAIN: There were Christian thinkers who considered it an abomination to want to unite prayer and combat under the same religious order.

In his desire to consolidate the community, to transform it into an order, Hugues de Payns had to obtain permission from the Roman Church and, therefore, from the Pope. NARRATOR: To gain the Pope's approval, Hugues de Payns will use his connections in a region close to his birthplace: Burgundy. His first wife, Emeline de Touillon, is a relative of the De Montbard family, in which we also find another man with ancestry within the Christian church and recognized throughout Europe: Bernard de Fontaine, who later becomes Bernard of Clairvaux, and after his canonization, Saint Bernard. GHISLAIN BRUNEL: Saint Bernard entered the order of Cîteaux and in 1115 founded a new abbey, Clairvaux Abbey.

He also came from the cavalry, from the border of Burgundy and Champagne. He had, therefore, all the characteristics of a man of combat, with a great force of conviction, a great orator eager to lead an ascetic life, a rigorous life in the order of Cîteaux, which was the decorative figure of the church in the century XII. Saint Bernard was already in 1129 an important figure in the Church, a kind of moral figure of the kingdom of France, both for the clergy and for the common people. He saw in the Knights Templar not only an opportunity to support the continued defense of Jerusalem, but he also wanted to reform the Knights of Western Europe.

For more than 100 years, before the First Crusade, one of the biggest problems facing the Catholic Church was reforming the Western Chivalry. The gentlemen were troublemakers. They fought revenge against each other, caused trouble, were arrogant and proud. And so Bernard of Clairvaux saw in the Knights Templar the idea of ​​using the Templars as a role model for Western Knights: "This is how you should be." He sought to lead them away from their internal disputes and toward what he perceived as a more godly form of vocation. Convinced that this new Order of the Temple represented an opportunity for the Christian church, Bernard of Clairvaux wrote a manifesto that would go down in history, titled "In Praise of the New Chivalry." MALE VOICE: This is a new type of militia, which fights a double battle against flesh and blood and against evil spirits.

They live without wives or children, they live under the same roof, they have no property of their own. They are not afraid to sin by killing an enemy, because it is through Jesus Christ that they give or receive the blow of death. They are gentler than lambs and fiercer than lions, to such an extent that we don't know whether to call them monks or soldiers. (The bell tower rings) MARINA: What he says in his De laude novae militiae was of course a justification for killing the enemy, but it was not only that. The most important thing is the opposition he makes between two types of cavalry.

Profane chivalry, where the knights are rich or seek riches and fight for them, and love their beautiful dresses, their beautiful horses and other kinds of new chivalry. This new chivalry was personified by the Knights Templar, who really don't care about wealth, individual wealth, of course... And they put their lives and everything they have in support of Jerusalem, the Holy Land and, in the end, the Christianity. . NARRATOR: On January 13, 1129, the authorities of the Christian church, under the leadership of Bernard De Clairvaux, organized the Council of Troyes, bringing together a representative of the Pope, members of the clergy, nobles and representatives of the Order of the Temple .

During this council, the first rule of the Temple was promulgated and written down. Today there are only ten original copies left in the world. Among them is this work, written in Old French and preserved in the National Library of France. (In French) The manuscript first contains the Temple Rules, which continues on pages 13 and 14. Then there is a list of celebrations that the Templars received from the Pope, and then the bulk of the manuscript is made up of the Temple rules. So, for all the Temple legislation. This allows us to say that the manuscript belonged to the Templars.

It probably even belonged to an important house of the Order, because it is a beautiful manuscript, with a beautiful layout, with filigree letters in red and blue. So this is something important. (Drum roll) NARRATOR: At the beginning of the book we find the names of those who participated in the council. The first is perhaps the most important: Cardinal Mateo de Albano, representative of the Pope. The following is a list of the people gathered in the cathedral of the city of Troyes, among them important religious leaders: The archbishops of Reims and Sens, the bishops of Soissons, Paris, Troyes, Auxerre and Beauvais, eight abbots, including course, Bernard of Clairvaux, nobles such as Count Thibaut of Champagne and William, Count of Nevers.

In the end, the six Templars present at the council of Troyes are named, among them Brother Hugues de Payns, master of cavalry. (Orchestral music) On the 12 pages of the manuscript, written on goatskin parchment, are all the recommendations of the Council of Troyes for members of the Knights Templar. The rhythm of prayers when they are in battle, the care they must give to their horses or the foods they are advised to eat. MALE VOICE: You should eat meat three times a week. NARRATOR: Everything is accounted for down to the last detail. Because unlike monks, knights cannot fast or lack sleep.

They must maintain their strength to be ready for battle. MALE VOICE: Brothers who are exhausted by the great services rendered to the order may avoid getting up for night prayers, with the permission and release of the master. It is something truly incredible and innovative the fact that within a religious code there is a military part... There is even a military code that is perfectly integrated within a religious order. A little later, we read... that the participants in the Council of Troyes will lead the Christian church into a new era. MALE VOICE: We believe that this new type of religious life was born in holy land thanks to divine Providence.

This means that this armed cavalry can, without committing sin, kill the enemies of the cross. For this reason we consider that you have the right to be called "Knights of the Temple." For the first time, the church formalizes the idea that one can kill in the name of Christ, and that his armed arm in the holy land has a name: The Temple Order. It was the Council of Troyes that marked the birth of the Knights Templar and transformed the community gathered around Hugues de Payns in Jerusalem into a structure of the Latin church. For some people, the idea of ​​the Knights Templar was almost heretical.

One of the English chroniclers named Henry of Huntington called them "a certain new monster." Therefore, the Council of Troyes marks a new era for the Templar Order. And the fame of these new knights of God immediately spread throughout Europe. After the Council of Troyes everything changed quickly, because this new order seemed interesting to the Western world. Especially of course to the aristocracy of the Western world who had found a way to invest their donations in something other than traditional monastic orders. The donations started to grow, they started to increase. They grew constantly and rapidly in a very few years and by the 1930s they were already powerful in the East.

They are also beginning to gain power in the West. They became Europe's first standing army since the days of the Roman Empire. Rome had collapsed in the 5th century, making it the first standing army in about six to 700 years. This was a really radical change. There was a standing military force in the East defending Christianity, defending Christian interests. Once donations of land and money came, they were able to train men to fight. A medieval knight was the equivalent of a modern tank or something. A fully armed knight on a warhorse was an impressive figure to behold.

You needed to run. These were the elite troops. The crack troops. The Special Forces of the 12th century. It was at this time that the first symbols of recognition of the Templars were born, upon which their legend of outstanding fighters would little by little be built. The initial knights were not visually impressive at first, the Poor Fellow Soldiers of Christ and Solomon's Temple. They were literally poor. They had nothing. Just the clothes they were wearing, their swords and some horses. So after the Council of Troyes, they receive massive donations of land and money and suddenly become filthy rich.

So the white surcoat is part of this new look. Maybe we would call it a rebrand, but to a medieval person white would symbolize purity. This long white cloak with the Red Cross is precisely the mark of the commitment assumed, since this Red Cross remembers the blood shed by Christ for the redemption of humanity, therefore the commitment of a brother of the Temple in turn to give his life and shed their blood to defend the land of Christ and the kingdom of Jerusalem. The mission of the Knights Templar is to defend the Holy Land. They must not only know how to fight, but also how to make new weapons, organize their movements and build fortresses to defend the pilgrims.

Thanks to donations, the Order of the Temple recruits. The Templar Order essentially has three degrees. The most famous are the Knight brothers. To be recruited as a brother Knight in Western Europe, someone would normally have an aristocratic background...they would have been trained as a Knight, so they would already have the skills to perform the functions of a Knight Templar. If you were not from an elite family, but from a free family, perhaps from an artisan family or a merchant family, you would usually enter the Templar Order as a Templar Sergeant. Templar sergeants could fight, but it is from within their ranks that the Templars recruit their shipbuilders, their carpenters, their property managers, people with specific trade skills.

The third type are brother priests who have been ordained priests and act as chaplains of the order. When the applicant enters the Temple he commits to a series of things and the obligations are carried out within the framework of a ceremony. The absolutely decisive moment is when the Templar mantle is placed around the candidate's neck. Here he truly enters the brotherhood of the Temple. And then, immediately, he swears to respect the vows of chastity, poverty, obedience and also swears to fight with all the means at his disposal, for the holy land. We sometimes refer to this as the fourth vow, it is quite essential because a Templar of any type, knight, sergeant or chaplain, whether in the West or the East, ideally competes in the defense of the Holy Land.

It is an entrance to the brotherhood, an entrance to an Order, hence the importance of the mantle, the importance of the sword and the importance of the oath. Little by little, Templar houses called "commandencies" were created in Western Europe. The brothers live there scrupulously respecting the guidelines of the Temple and pursuing a single mission: to prepare to fight in the East and grow the wealth of the Order to finance the Holy War. An encomienda is a large building with a residence, with common rooms, a granary to store crops and, above all, a chapel. The encomienda is where the chaplain officiates, and performs canonical services for all the brothers.

The counties of Champagne, Burgundy, Provence, Auvergne and Ile-de-France saw the birth of networks of Templar houses and commanderies every 30 to 40 km. The network formed quite quickly during the 12th century. Templar encomiendas and houses are also used to recruit locally. Its implementation, its impact, its daily relationship with the populations also served to fuel this recruitment. In 1136, Hugues De Payns, the first Templar Grand Master, died after returning to fight in the East. He replaces him at the head of the Robert de Craon Order, which brilliantly organizes the operation and management of the parcels, which continue to develop thanks to donations.

Ten years after the Council of Troyes, events are accelerating. On March 29, 1139, Pope Innocent II wrote a papal bull that will go down in history. A document that bears his seal and that bears the name "Omne Datum Optimum", the 3 Latin words with which it begins. MALE VOICE: Every grace and every perfect gift comes down from above, from the Father of Light, in whom there is no change nor shadow of variation. We exhort you to fight ardently against the enemies of the Cross, and as a reward we allow you to keep for yourselves all the spoils that you have seized, without anyone having the right to claim part of them.

And we declare that the order of the Temple, with all its assets acquired through the generosity of the popes, the kings and the princes, remains under the protection and tutelage of the Holy See. According to this text, the Templars can not only preserve the wealth accumulated during the battles against the Muslims in the Holy Land but also place themselves under the authority of a single person: the Pope himself. MALE VOICE: No one can force you to pay tithes, but we confirm your possession and enjoyment of the tithes that we give you with the consent of the bishops.

So that you may have the fullness of salvation and the care of your souls, so thatthe practice of the Divine Offices and the administration of ecclesiastical sacraments, you may admit clerics and priests. We grant you the power to build chapels in all the places attached to the temple, so that you and your relatives can attend the services and be buried there, because it is bad for your morals if the brothers of the temple, on the way to the church, have to mix with the multitude of sinners and with those who frequent women. The Temple order will no longer pay taxes to the church, it will have the right to collect taxes without going through the bishops, it will train its own priests, it will build its own churches and anyone who questions this protection of the Pope will be excommunicated.

The Templars were not subject to the authority of other ecclesiastics, neither archbishops nor bishops, except the Pope himself. This gave the order great freedom of movement, at least within the ecclesiastical hierarchy. It also caused resentment among the archbishops and other members of the church, who felt that the order had too much independence and was not responsive to their leadership. In the following years, successive Popes would further reinforce the privileges granted to the Templars. In 1144, the faithful were expressly asked to contribute to the mission of the Knights Templar. It was stipulated that the Pope would grant the pardon of his benefactors of the Templar Order.

MALE VOICE: He who has provided them with the goods that God has entrusted to them and who has established a bond with such a holy brotherhood and has allowed them to obtain profits each year, will receive a reduction of one seventh in the penances he has incurred. . Kings across Europe gave them huge tracts of land. But even small land grants like farms, farms, water mills, things like that. If someone wanted to donate to the order, he would accept anything. No donation was too large or too small, for it was all for the greater good of maintaining the Christian kingdom in the East.

It was very good for a Christian to donate to an order like the Templars, it was good for your soul and your afterlife, it minimized your time in purgatory and ensured you went to the right place when the time came. In 1145, a new papal bull gave the Knights Templar the right to bury their brothers in their own cemeteries and travel freely throughout Europe. So, from 1129 to 1146 we could compare them with a corporation or a company that goes from a small startup to a multinational in 17 years. Even today this is quite impressive. It was unprecedented for a small group of people to become so powerful so quickly.

It had never happened before. But while the Templar enterprise is developing rapidly in the West, in the East the situation in the Crusader States has deteriorated. Defeated at Damascus in 1129, at Ba'rin in 1137, at Tecua in 1139, and especially at Edessa in 1144 where it is said that 30,000 Christians were massacred. The failures of the crusaders accumulate one after another. These were not setbacks for the Templars but rather for the army of the kingdom of Jerusalem, which was beginning to integrate perhaps a few dozen Templars into its ranks, but these setbacks were bitter. The Templars still lacked influence within the army and the qualities of Order and discipline that we know of them were not really imposed.

Faced with these defeats and threats to the Christians of the East, Pope Eugene III decided to act. With the papal bull "Quantum Praedecessores" he called for a new crusade. Bernard de Clairvaux himself is in charge of mobilizing the population. On March 31, 1146, at Vézelay, Burgundy, he preached the journey to the Holy Land promising those who would take up the cross absolution from all sins. Among the many rulers from across Europe who joined the Second Crusade was Louis VII, King of France, and his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine. To help in their enterprise, they turned to those who had sufficient means: The Knights Templar!

In 1147, Louis VII requested funding from the Templar order and entrusted them with his treasure for the first time. They already have resources to help the king with his crusade, arm ships, etc. These are the Templars who served as explorers, protectors, guides along the way, and the crusade route is a challenge for Louis VII. They suffered harsh Turkish attacks and it was the Templars, led by Marshal Evrard des Bars, who would become grand master, who saved the royal army. Louis VII is not the only one who embarks on the Second Crusade. Conrad III, king of Germany, also headed to the Holy Land with nearly 20,000 men at his side.

But from the first months of combat, the armies of the two kings suffered great setbacks against the Muslims. Mount Cadmus... Dorileo... Inab. The defeats follow one after another. And the deaths accumulate. The financing of these lost battles begins to cost the two kings dearly. So, to find the necessary money, Louis VII needs help. He will turn once again to his new allies, the Knights Templar. When the Crusade runs into difficulties in 1148, Louis turns to the temple master and says, "Can you help us?" Then the Grand Master leaves in his ship and gets the money from a Templar fortress.

This is the first time we see the Templars acting effectively as bankers supporting European kings. They not only support the interests of the Church, they fight for Christ and defend souls. Now, at the time of the Second Crusade, they are also financially very powerful. And literally finance the Crusade. Despite financial aid from the Knights Templar, the troops of the King of France and the King of Germany were unable to recover any territory from their enemies. After three years of fighting, the two sovereigns give up. A crusade for nothing. Which, however, will benefit the Order of the Temple.

The second crusade was a total failure. He ended up with nothing at all. Especially since the presence of Conrad III and the king of France proved to be a problem. They didn't agree on almost everything. They made all the wrong decisions possible, such as taking the siege of Damascus, which ended badly for the king of France with a lot of money spent. He had to ask the Templars for money to return to France. The defeat of the Second Crusade probably helped the Templars. They had lent money to the king. They were the forces that surely ended well in the local situation.

The Knights Templar had shown, by lending money to the King of France and also reorganizing his army at one point, how effective they could be. This would not be forgotten by the future kings of France. The Second Crusade will be a complete military failure. And Louis VII returned to France in 1149, very weakened financially and diplomatically. However, his ordeal contributes to the growth of the legend of the Knights Templar. He returned from the Holy Land with a high idea of ​​what the Knights of the Temple were like. For him, this order shines over the entire earth and has no equivalent in his mind.

He gives them income in money from his taxes, he gives them the villa Savigny which becomes the great command of Savigny le temple. This is a king who shows the same fascination of sovereigns for the beginnings of the Temple, since less than 30 years have passed since its creation, and the King of France is truly an unconditional ally of the Knights of the Temple. During the Second Crusade, the Templars were able to provide their own contingents to go on crusade, while continuing their work on crusading estates, they were also able to grant massive loans to the King of France to support the King of France's Crusade to the Holy Land.

By the end of the 12th century, the Templars had become a huge international organization. We don't know exactly how many members they had, but there were probably around 600 brother Knight fighters in the Crusader states. But with a much larger contingent of infantry and other employees and followers. In Western Europe they would possibly have had an even larger number of brother Knights, brother Sergeants and other personnel there to facilitate the supply of resources to the Holy Land. The Templars developed that reputation for greed, but I think they were very good businessmen. At the beginning of the second half of the 12th century, the Temple order will become even more powerful.

Supported by Popes and Kings, the Order accumulated considerable wealth, building commanderies in the West and castles in the East. Their ranks will not stop growing. The reign of these new knights of Christ was just beginning. Jerusalem, mid-12th century. Since the capture of the city in 1099 by the Crusaders, Christian armies have tried to preserve their possessions in the Holy Land. At that time, the eastern Latin states, located along the Mediterranean Sea, consisted of the principality of Antioch, the county of Tripoli, and the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Surrounded on all sides and facing increasingly powerful enemies, fighting in the region is permanent.

Among the knights present on the battlefield, certain warriors stood out who wore white robes adorned with a red cross: the Knights Templar. Both monk and soldier, they are members of a brotherhood created at the beginning of the 12th century under the high authority of the Pope himself: the Order of the Temple. - (Horses neighing) - (Men screaming) Their mission: to defend Christians on pilgrimage to the Holy Land. In just 30 years, this new generation of knights had become increasingly popular among the kings and people of Western Europe. NICHOLAS: In Western Europe at that time, knights were extremely competent on the battlefield, but they were also perceived as arrogant.

They could embark on things like attacking the enemy line alone, or they could refuse to follow orders. The Knights Templar were not like that. The fact that they were also religious by vocation meant that they were much more sober in their conduct of the war. They were just as competent, training all the time, but they formed a much more disciplined troop formation. They did not break ranks. They were expected to work in very close formation, to fight in a sober but very intense manner. They weren't there to show off, they were there to play that role.

The Templars were generally considered by the various Muslim commanders to be the most dangerous troops of the Crusader states. An indicator of how feared they were as soldiers is that often, after a battle, all the Templars were executed. The Muslim commander could not keep them alive, they were too dangerous. VO: At the head is a knight known as the Grand Master. The first of them, Hugues De Payns, founder of the Knights Templar, died in 1136. He was succeeded by Robert de Craon and then Evrard des Barres. In 1152, a fourth Grand Master was elected: Bernard de Tremeley. It was he who, in 1153, distinguished himself in a battle that became famous: the taking of Ashkelon.

At that time, the city was a Muslim enclave within the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Therefore, attacks against Christian states could easily be launched from Ashkelon. For five months, the army of the Kingdom of Jerusalem attempted to retake the city. The troops were made up of a heterogeneous mix of Latin soldiers occupying the Holy Land and members of military orders of the time. Among them, several hundred Templar knights had come to aid the army of the king of Jerusalem. (Dramatic music) (Distant screams) PHILIPPE (in French): Ashkelon was a Fatimid shield that protected Egypt, in a way. And the Christians really wanted to consolidate the southern border of Jerusalem and had long had the idea of ​​taking it over.

NICHOLAS: In 1153, the Kingdom of Jerusalem laid siege to the city. The siege, at first, went very badly. It was when the commander was beginning to discuss whether he could succeed. They decided to make a final assault. The Knights Templar entered first. (Distant commotion) PHILIPPE (in French): The Templars entered through a gap, but they entered alone. The Muslims, once the Templars entered the city, surrounded them. About 40 Templars are believed to have died at Ascalon following their master Bernard of Tremelay. (Tense instrumental) (Screams) (Final growl) (Eerie music) PHILIPPE: So, the Templars paid a high price to take Ascalon.

But Ascalon was obviously an important moment and as so much has been said about this battle, no doubt much has also been said about the driving and leading role that the Templars played there. VO: The Second Crusade and the taking of Ascalon would further advance the fame of these Knights of Christ, willing to die to protect the Holy Land. PHILIPPE (in French): In the second half of the 12th century, the Templars began to occupy an increasingly important place in the armies of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and other eastern Latin states. The Knights Templar gained considerable popularity in the West beginning in the mid-12th century.

For the faithful, praying in a Temple church, being buried in a Temple cemetery, associating with a brotherhood linked to the Temple are pious acts, they are meritorious acts. In this way one hopes to achieve one's own salvation, all the more so if the Order of the Temple is committed to the defense of the inheritance of Christ, to the defense of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. We see more and more donations coming in, an estate being built and network commanderies being created in many parts of the West, demonstrating the popularity of an Order that more and more writers and thinkers in the West are initiating. to talk. (Mysterious music) VO: In Paris, in the vaults of the National Archives, there are millions of documents,classified by date and telling the history of France.

Recently, perfectly preserved documents have been found in reserves dating back to the 12th century. They have provided new evidence of the frenzy of donations to the Templars that gripped Europe very soon after the Order's creation. (Fast-tempo string music) The first document dates back to 1144. It is an appeal for donations from Pope Celestine II. GHISLAIN (in French): Here is an edict from the Pope indicating that the Templars are the defenders of the faith in the East but that they do not have enough income. And that in order to carry out their expeditions they need the faithful to contribute to providing them with what they need.

It allows all those who give of their own goods, of their own property, of their own money to the Order of the Temple, to have a forgiveness of one seventh of the penances they would have to do for their sins. This is the objective of this appeal to the people, a generalized and somewhat incentivized contribution. VO: The Order of the Temple thus receives donations from all sectors of the population. The Templars themselves contribute to the development of their institution by renouncing their possessions in favor of the Order. This document shows a knight who has just entered the Temple of the Holy Land and who decides to renounce his lands in Picardy. (Reads) "In the name of the holy and inseparable Trinity.

Amen. I, Raoul de Ressons, for the salvation of my soul and my family, have promised to God and to the House of Knighthood of the Temple, 80 hectares of land. I have granted that you freely possess it forever, in peace, from here I receive the vestments of this same house and I give myself as your servant GHISLAIN (in French): This document is very rare, it is at the same time the contribution of a little gentleman. of Picardy and also the entry into the Temple of this knight. ThisThe act indicates that he entered the Order of the Temple.

We have someone who was on a crusade, he went out with the king's entire army, with his Count Raoul, Count of Soissons and then. He entered the Order of the Temple. He gave what he had, a land very far from Jerusalem. So, it is actually a document that came from the Holy Land. It is super spectacular, extremely rare. (Arabic style music) VO: The French nobles. They also participate in fundraising. The proof is this document dating from 1159 and signed by Henry II, Count of Champagne. He decides to make his contribution in cash. (The man reads) "I, Henry, Count Palatine of Troyes, communicate to the present and the future that my father, Count Thibaud, had given seven marks of silver to the brothers of the Temple.

I, for the salvation of his soul and of mine, I have given them 24 livres of the tax of Troyes, 12 of the fair of Saint-Remi and 12 of the fair of Saint-Jean, I granted them to possess them in perpetuity and in order for this to be established, I have ordered them to . let it be written and confirmed by the imprint of my seal." GHISLAIN (in French): The 'tonlieu' is the tax on sales and purchases. In fact, it is a business tax. Champagne fairs are booming, they are very rich and provide them with a very precise annual income, allowing them to accumulate money every year.

VO: The people, the knights, the nobles but also the kings. Richard I, known as Richard the Lionheart, king of England at the end of the 12th century, will also be a fervent defender of the Templar cause. GHISLAIN (in French): It is one of the rare documents of Richard the Lionheart, King of England, Duke of Normandy. which validates all the assets of the Order in Normandy since he is Duke of Normandy. (The man reads) "Richard, by the grace of God, King of the English, Duke of Normandy and Count of Anjou. We confirm the donations made to the brothers of the Knights Templar of the Temple of Solomon in Normandy: lands, towns or men .

They will not pay taxes or tolls of passage. This law is addressed to the archbishops, bishops, seneschals, my agents and my faithful throughout Normandy GHISLAIN (in French): This law was implemented in this form or in authentic copies to all. the financial and administrative institutions of the Duchy of Normandy. (Dramatic music) This set of documents clearly shows the convergence of protections In each kingdom the sovereigns provide protection and donations and within each principality, each county, there are particular donations that are made in. function of the income that can be mobilized for the Templars. A whole system that is both political and economic and that emanates from authorities at very different levels.

VO: Thanks to these donations, the network of Templar encomiendas, where they live, is rapidly expanding. the members of the Order responsible for the growth of the Temple's assets. Over time, the leaders of the Knights Templar learn to function as stewards of these properties and land holdings. (Dramatic music) GHISLAIN: There were many donors with different types of property: a piece of land here, a large farm there, sometimes with geographic variations. And so they had to manage this in an organized way, so over time we see that there are regroupings of properties, land exchanges. There is a package that suits us better here, so we give up another one there.

It was something very common. Commanderies were also established near lands that could be easily developed. They used road networks, river networks, not only for hydraulic equipment, but also for navigation, possibly on rivers. The roads allowed them to more easily move their goods to the Holy Land through the ports of Marseille, Aigues-Mortes, Montpellier, the equipment, the horses and all the men. They still had to be close to transportation networks because the ultimate goal was to attract all of these products to Mediterranean ports. NICHOLAS: We don't know how many commanderies the Templars had, but around 900 seems reasonable. These would have spread throughout Europe from Scotland in the north to southern Italy or the Christian Kingdoms of Spain.

GHISLAIN: In each of these commands there are 30, 40, 50 people, so we are literally talking about thousands. SEAN: We might think of the Knights Templar as having some eastern and western flanks. The Order in the East was a military operation designed to defend the Christian Holy Land. In the West, however, Templar holdings were not military bases at all. They were financial centers where they would generate wealth to support operations in the East. There was a kind of combination of army in the East and business in the West, indeed. They were sheep farmers. They were heavily involved in agriculture and the cloth trade.

They ran orchards, tile factories and water mills. You name it, the Templars were involved. If there was a way to make money in the West, the Templars would be involved. It seems like they are very greedy financially, but they weren't. They were astute businessmen and did everything they could to support their crusade in the East. VO: Today, in England there are still vestiges of the numerous Templar commanderies, such as the Temple of Cressing. One of its barns is known to be the oldest wooden barn in the world. PHILIP: Cressing Temple was the first domain given in England to the Templars.

It was donated in 1137 by Queen Matilda. It quickly became one of the largest and perhaps the most important dominions in England. It consisted of 700 acres of land. It is located in a strategic point, it is in Essex. so it is halfway between London and the port of Harwich. It was one of the most important ports of that period. (Dramatic music) VO: After the Cressing Temple, donations from English aristocrats to the Knights Templar continued to arrive. Then encomiendas appear in the counties of Essex, Lincolnshire, Norfolk and then, gradually, throughout the English territory. PHILIP: It was the 13th century that saw the height of the donation period.

Henry III of England, in particular, was an enthusiastic supporter of the Templars and more and more nobles imitated royal behavior. We can say that the Order owned the largest number of land properties in England. They had 141 domains throughout England and Wales. We're talking about something that comprises at least 60,000 acres, of which 30,000 acres were under direct cultivation. The Templars were one of the richest institutions in England. In reality they were trying to maximize the benefits of productivity at local levels. They exhibited a mentality and behavior similar to what we see today in the 21st century. These were very rational corporations that were required to invest and maximize profits through very rational types of behavior.

In each mansion, there was a special officer called a bailiff or steward who was in charge of agricultural activities and the planting of local crops, supervising the livestock. He was also responsible for the marketing of products, both agricultural and livestock. (Mysterious music) VO: In the National Archives of England, located in Kew, near London, are the only records from this period that give a precise idea of ​​the possessions of the Templar commanders and the money they generated each year. This information, written in Latin, was kept on rolls of sheepskin parchment that have been preserved over the centuries.

Like accounting books, these scrolls contain all the details: the quantities produced and the sums of money spent and collected by the command. PHILIP: Each domain has its own employee who records what happens there. The sheriff would tell you how much was earned this year, how much was spent this year, how much was harvested this year, how many new animals were born, how many animals died, how many animals were purchased, how many were sold, and how many were moved to other locations. The employee would simply record it very meticulously. Those employees were very well trained writers. Normally they would use a goose quill.

They dipped it in an ink, usually brown, and executed it in a very fine calligraphic script. Once the entire membrane was covered, they would be given another membrane. Once the entire bead was ready, they would simply join several membranes together and create this huge scroll. VO: Here are the accounts of the Temple Bruer commandery in Lincolnshire, in the east of England. PHILIP: Temple Bruer's estate in Lincolnshire is located on a small patch of infertile land that is much better suited to livestock farming than crop production. (The man reads) "We harvested 73 quarters of wheat, three quarters of rye, 40 quarters of barley, 46 quarters of dredge, and 162 quarters of oats." PHILIP: Even there we see that they were able to diversify crop production.

There were a few bags of wheat, barley, rye, and especially oats, because in this type of terrain it is best to concentrate on oats as much as possible. But it was the livestock sector that played an enormously important role in that particular mansion. Temple Bruer was the richest manor in terms of number of sheep. He had 4,500 sheep, a truly remarkable number. Sheep were very, very profitable because English wool was one of the most sought after products. It was relatively inexpensive and of good quality. It attracted many merchants, especially from Italy. VO: Another account from an area also located in Lincolnshire shows that the English Templars were not content to sell their wares only in local markets.

They were also present in the international trade market. (Man reads) "We produced 3,002 fleeces of wool that together weighed 5,000 pounds." In this parchment, for example, the buyer of the wool is specified: the Ballardi company, "one of the most important Italian families of wool merchants of the time." With the sales of these products, each Templar commandery generated considerable income. (Man reads) "In that year we earned £315, eight shillings, eight pence and a quarter." PHILIP: If we take all the Templar properties in a given year, in an average year the Templars would be expected to generate an income of approximately £4,500 a year.

This is something that today can be translated into a six-digit figure in contemporary money. We're talking about something that, in a few years, could surpass what the king would have earned. NICHOLAS: The Knights' possessions in Western Europe and in the Crusader holdings were truly substantial. They had enormous land holdings, making them one of the largest landowners in all of Western Christendom. His income was truly substantial, much greater than that of most kings. VO: The income of each English commandery was transferred to the London headquarters at Temple Church, where the Order's possessions were consolidated and accounted for.

Over the years, members of the Knights Templar improved their knowledge of economic development and money management. So much so that they became bankers to the kings. (Instrumental tense) SEAN: They kept their accounts with scrupulous care. They were very cautious with their investments, etc. And they also worked very hard. The Templars have been described as the single medieval institution that contributed most to the rise of modern capitalism. That sounds a bit materialistic, but if you think about it, the Templars swore an oath to defend the Holy Land and everything they did had that goal in mind. That was its official reason for being: to defend the Holy Land.

NICHOLAS: The Order not only brought together people who wanted to fight, it brought together people from different backgrounds,including people who had various trades or craft skills and were indeed skilled with money. With this they were able to develop their estates, carry out enormous building programmes, but also become very skilled financiers, so capable that they were employed by the kings of France and England to manage their treasuries. PHILIP: The Temple Church, in the eyes of the Templars and also in the eyes of the royal family and the nobility, would be considered a safe deposit box. You could deposit your own valuables here, your money, your jewelry, and you can be sure that they are in good hands, but also all the money profits that flow from different properties would end up here.

GHISLAIN (in French): Evidently, there were escorted convoys with safes, sheds, as they were called, made of wood with the cash inside, that were transported from one financial center to another. VO: In France, as in England, money circulated from the commanderies to the regional financial centers and then to Paris. The headquarters of the Order was located here, in the Temple tower. GHISLAIN (in French): There was a central treasury at the headquarters of the Order where they had both cash and precious materials, relics. The great tower of the Paris temple served as a kind of safe for various depositors, the king first of all.

Everything that was not spent in situ in the provinces and returned from the bailiffs and guards of the kingdom, returned to Paris and was kept in the tower of the Temple. The policy of the French sovereigns towards the Templars did not change one bit throughout the 12th and 13th centuries. That is, for Philip II, who entrusted them with his treasure definitively, and for all other sovereigns like Saint Louis, the king's treasure was kept in the Temple tower. That's where the money was taken and where they took it. And furthermore, in the only accounting that remains from the end of the 13th century, we see that apart from the king, there were about 60 depositors.

Thus, private depositors deposited their money in the Temple tower for convenience, since the management was also carried out by the Temple brothers on site. VO: This document dating from the 13th century is one of the few that survived. (The man reads) "I, Brother Jean de Tour, treasurer of the house of the Paris Temple, certify that we have received and held in trust with the executors of the will of Monsieur Jean, Cardinal de Sainte-Cécile, the sum of 9,000 livres sterling, a sum which the cardinal himself bequeathed in his will on condition that £3,000 be allocated to support operations in the Holy Land." VO: This is a receipt, signed by the treasurer of the Temple Tower, which certifies the deposit of 9,000 pounds sterling, a sum equivalent today to 250,000 euros.

These few lines are enough to imagine the amount of money that the Templars managed. GHISLAIN (in French): We never knew how many people, but some receipts show that there were probably several accountants on site, in addition to the king's accountants who were still there managing the king's money. He had several agents in place who were daily responsible for collecting and disbursing the necessary sums to his so-called clients (fast-paced instrumental drum) VO: The purpose of this financial organization is to finance the needs of the war in the Holy Land. GHISLAIN (in French): These funds are sent to the East from Paris.

Then, they pass through Mediterranean ports, are shipped to Marseille or Montpellier and from there they are shipped by ship. VO: The establishment of secure financial transportation networks and safe deposit boxes within the depository banks allowed the Templars to establish an innovative system, specifically intended for pilgrims for their journey to the Holy Land. SEAN: They developed credit notes in which the Templars could be treated like a bank. You could deposit money in a Templar preceptory in Paris and when you went on pilgrimage you could go to Jerusalem. You go to the Templar house in Jerusalem and say: "I have deposited a certain amount of pounds in Paris.

I need to withdraw money to finance the rest of my pilgrimage." VO: Thanks to this deposit system, the pilgrim could travel without running the risk of being robbed on his way. (Arabic-style music) And in this way, the Templars make the pilgrimage to the Holy Land easier and, above all, safer. With a network of fortresses spread throughout the region, the Templars can fight off enemy attacks. SEAN: They were able to hire the best architects and bricklayers and ended up building what are masterpieces of medieval military architecture. Castles like Atlit, for example, possibly the most famous castle of the Templars, were actually a fortified peninsula.

It was completely impregnable and even withstood attacks while it was still under construction. That's how strong he was physically. The walls were about 15 feet thick. This was a way of announcing that the Templars were the most powerful power in Christendom that was not a king. They were a real force to be reckoned with. These castles were incredibly strong. NICHOLAS: Templar castles take many forms. (Heroic Music) You have the really big border castles, which were there to protect against attacks or to act as staging points for an invasion. You also have many castles far from the border.

These could often act as real estate hubs, in the middle of large agricultural lands and as a consolidation point for those areas. OV: Trapessac, Chastel Blanc, Chastel Hernault, Château Pèlerin, Safed. There are dozens of Templar fortresses throughout the region. Today, remains of the Knights Templar can be found in Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Cyprus, Jordan, Syria and Turkey. These traces attest to the power of the Templar Order in the Holy Land at that time. PHILIPPE (in French): The most exposed border crossing in the 12th century, where the Knights Templar had many strongholds, was located in the north of the principality of Antioch, in a region called Amanus Mountain, on the borders of what is today Turkey and Syria, where the Knights Templar had established at least half a dozen castles.

On the pilgrimage route connecting the port of Jaffa with Jerusalem, the Templars are known to have separated their fortresses on a regular basis, approximately a day's walk between each of them. VO: But despite the large sums of money accumulated in the West, the need for financing the war in the East continues to grow. Latin states are under constant threat of attack. And with more threats comes the need for more knights, more food, more weapons and more castles to build, fortify and protect. NICHOLAS: The cost of maintaining the number of Knights, the properties of the Crusade and their commitments elsewhere was absolutely enormous.

The cost of building a single Templar castle was 1.1 million bezants. Today, the money would run into billions, but we are looking at sums substantially larger than the average king's income to build that castle. The Templars owned dozens of castles on Crusader property. That's before we start talking about the ports they have to maintain, pilgrimage routes, troops, their property, and other things that affect their finances. (Singing in Arabic style) VO: At the end of the 12th century, the military situation is increasingly tense. Especially because in the midst of all the Muslim forces tearing each other apart in the region, a new leader is emerging: Saladin.

Born in modern-day Iraq, Saladin is the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty that managed to unify Egypt and Syria and conquer Yemen. He quickly establishes himself as the main threat to the eastern Latin states and, in particular, to the Kingdom of Jerusalem. MARINA: Probably the Kingdom of Jerusalem was not his main objective. But when he conquered Egypt, of course, this strip of land that included the Kingdom of Jerusalem was already surrounded by Muslims. So, it seemed really difficult to defend him. VO: At that time, the king of Jerusalem was called Guy de Lusignan. The kingdom is made up of several fiefdoms, each controlled by the lord of it.

Among them, the Lordship of Oultrejordain. At his head, Renaud de Châtillon, known for his acts of violence. In 1187 he attacked a Muslim caravan of civilians passing through his territory on its way from Cairo to Damascus and looted all of his property. This event triggers the anger of Saladin himself. To take revenge, he orders an attack on the fortress of Kerak, capital of Ultrajordain. The King of Jerusalem senses that the situation could worsen. He turns to his closest advisor. Gérard de Ridefort, tenth Grand Master of the Knights Templar. PHILIPPE (in French): Gérard de Ridefort was a very important man in the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Faced with the threat posed by Saladin, Guy de Lusignan sent Gérard de Ridefort as ambassador to the count of Tripoli. VO: The king of Jerusalem intends to form an alliance with the count of Tripoli to confront Saladin. But in his way, Gérard de Ridefort will prove to be reckless. (The horses neigh) Confident, he attacks a Muslim contingent, mobilizing only 140 knights. Severely underestimating the situation, he faces a force of 7,000 men. The battle, named after the Cresson springs where it takes place, is a true massacre. PHILIPPE (in French): The defeat was total, most of the committed Templars - about 80 brothers - died and very few escaped, including the Master.

VO: Gérard de Ridefort, far from the teachings of his illustrious predecessors at the head of the Knights Templar, decided to listen only to his pride. Offended at being defeated in battle, he pushes Guy de Lusignan, king of Jerusalem, to counterattack. As Saladin's troops besiege Tiberias, Christians head to the city to challenge them. PHILIPPE: Guy de Lusignan then went on the offensive and decided to pursue Saladin with the entire army of Jerusalem, perhaps up to 20,000 men. They dedicated themselves to very steep and very dry regions in the middle of summer between Sepphoris and Tiberias. And there they were surrounded by Muslims.

VO: It is in Hattin, near Lake Tiberias, where one of the bloodiest battles of the 12th century will take place. Exhausted and thirsty, the Christian troops are too weak to defend themselves against Saladin's men. PHILIPPE (in French): On July 4, 1187, the battle at Hattin began in the worst conditions for the Christians. (Distant neighing) (Distant screams) The Templars showed some heroism but their defeat was total. There were many dead and even more prisoners. MARINA: We know that many of Saladin's courtesans were ordered to behead the Templars who had fallen into their hands. (Solemn music) This is probably because they were perceived as fanatics of their religion, of Christianity.

PHILIPPE: The Templars were executed by Saladin, but the master was taken captive in Damascus so that Saladin could use him as a bargaining chip for the brotherhood to surrender the fortresses of Gaza and Daron. Thus, in 1187, the Kingdom of Jerusalem collapsed in a few months, and the then master of the Temple, Gérard de Ridefort, bears an important part of the responsibility for this debacle. NICHOLAS: The Kingdom of Jerusalem only had one army. He did not have enough military personnel to be able to raise new forces. At Hattin, the Christian army was not simply defeated, but annihilated.

Nothing stopped Saladin from conquering the rest of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and Jerusalem fell a few months later. VO: Less than a century after Christians took Jerusalem in the First Crusade in 1099... the Holy City once again fell into Muslim hands. NICHOLAS: When news of the loss of Jerusalem in the Battle of Hattin reached Western Europe, it caused a tremendous outcry. The Pope is said to have died from shock. (Solemn music) VO: In Jerusalem, Christians are forced to leave the Holy City and the Temple residence takes the name: Al-Aqsa Mosque. MARINA: After the Battle of Hattin and the fall of Jerusalem, all Christian forces, especially the Templars, were at their lowest point.

They needed more people from the West to help restore power locally. This was, then, the first task of the Order. Hold the few that were still there and enforce them. They needed help to survive. (Tense instrumental drum) VO: This help will come thanks to the Third Crusade. Financed by a tax called "Saladin's tithe" and collected by the Templars themselves, this crusade mobilized thousands of men. Philip II, king of France, arrived in the Holy Land in April 1191 with six ships. Richard the Lionheart, king of England, arrives in June with 200 ships and a cargo of gold. As soon as he arrives, he gets one of his closest advisors, Robert de Sablé, to be elected Grand Master of the Order of the Temple. (Dramatic music) VO: For several months, the crusaders fought against Saladin's troops to recover the lands lost after the Battle of Hattin.

During this third crusade, the island of Cyprus fell into the hands of the Christians who also managed to retake several cities on the coast: Ashkelon, Jaffa, Arsuf, Caesarea, Tortosa, Maraclea and, above all, Acre. But Richard the Lionheart and his army fail to retake Jerusalem. NICHOLAS: The Third Crusade was not a success for either Saladin or Richard. On the one hand, yes, Saladin had preserved Jerusalem and, therefore, that was his great objective. But, on the other hand, the cost of maintaining his control over Jerusalem had been extreme. Seen from the perspective ofRichard, it wasn't a success either.

He had not won Jerusalem, that was the great objective. VO: On September 2, 1192, Richard the Lionheart and Saladin signed the Treaty of Ramla. The Kingdom of Jerusalem is reestablished but without Jerusalem. Acre becomes its capital. (Mysterious music) Saladin dies the following year. Throughout the 13th century, the Eastern Templars tried at all costs to defend this strip of Christian land along the Mediterranean coast between Antioch and Ashkelon. NICHOLAS: While the Templars try to defend what remains of the Crusader states, the West continues to flourish, at least in the early 13th century. Therefore, the Templars can send more money and more troops to the East.

However, in the second half of the 13th century, particularly with the rise of a new force called the Mamluks in Egypt, increasing pressure is placed on the Crusader states and they slowly begin to fall into decline. SEAN: They had been slowly losing land throughout the 13th century since Saladin took Jerusalem in 1187. In fact, the Christian kingdom had been shrinking. VO: Despite their prestige in the West and their devotion to the defense of the Holy Land, despite the money and troops that continue to arrive in the East, the Templars lose more than they gain. In the West the first rumors of criticism arise.

Matthew Paris, English Benedictine monk and renowned historian of the 13th century, recounts some events during which the courage of the Templars was indeed called into question. In this text, Mathew Paris attempts to retranscribe the words of the Count of Artois, who participated in the attack on the city of Mansourah. According to him, the Templars refused to lead the attack alongside him, preferring to wait for the rest of the troops to join them, which unleashed his fury. (The man reads) "Oh, ancient treachery of the Templars! Oh long-hidden fraud, how openly it explodes now! All this land of the East would have been conquered a long time ago, if the deception of the Temple and of others who proclaim themselves religious , would have "It does not prevent us, the laymen, the Knights Templar and their accomplices fear that their rule, fattened with rich income, will eventually expire." VO: In the West, the wealth of the Templars is beginning to bother Various archives.

They bear witness to the tensions between the aristocrats and the Templars. Here, Louis IX, king of France, recounts a conflict between the Knights Templar and Thibaud IV, king of Navarre and count of Champagne, over their acquisitions in the county of Champagne and Brie. . (The man reads) "I, Louis IX, King of France, declare that peace has been restored between our dear cousin, Thibaut IV, King of Navarre, and the Templars. And that the Templars will never again make acquisitions in their county of Champagne and Brie, nor in their fiefs without their consent." VO: In this additional document, Amaury de la Roche, commander of the Temple in France in 1268, undertakes to pay a tax that until now was exempt. (The man reads) "I, Brother Amaury de la Roche, Commander of the Temple in France, declare that Thibaut IV, king of Navarre, count of Champagne and Brie, has granted us an exemption from taxes on the transport of 40 barrels of wine to Provins.

We accept that if these 40 barrels are exceeded, we will pay the tax according to the custom of Provins." NICHOLAS: During the 13th century, donations continue to arrive, but criticism also begins to arise. Some landowners become very antagonistic towards the Templars. Come to the Templars as aggressive landowners infringing on their rights, causing problems in the West (Screaming men) The Templars are also being defeated a lot in the crusades and that doesn't go unnoticed either. Money for them when they keep losing their vacations, conquest or retention? of Jerusalem, eludes them. So the Templars' task is to prove that they still have a reason to exist.

The Knights Templar, who still have considerable resources in the West, want to believe that a Christian presence in the East is still possible. To protect the Holy Land, the Knights Templar must continue their mission at any cost. Order could simply disappear... forever. Acre. City in the eastern Mediterranean, located north of Jerusalem. In April 1291, the Mamluk sultan, Al Ashraf Khalil, besieged the city with his army of 220,000 men. 30,000 inhabitants live inside, including 14,000 soldiers and a few hundred Knights Templar. These fighters are members of the Order of the Temple, a brotherhood born at the beginning of the 12th century.

Their mission: defend Christians in the Holy Land. But almost 200 years after its creation, and despite eight crusades, Christian possessions in the east have largely disappeared. Surrounded by Mongols and Muslims from the Mamluk dynasty, they are under constant attack. Acre is one of the last major Christian cities in the east. And it is here that the headquarters of the Templars has been located for a century. (horse neighing) (swords clashing) On May 18, 1291, the sultan's soldiers launch the assault. Guillaume de Beaujeu, Grand Master of the Order, dies in battle. Ten days later, Acre falls into Muslim hands. The Holy Land was lost.

The last Christian bastion. It probably reached its greatest extent in the early 1140s. Since then it had become increasingly less Christian as they lost lands and cities. The loss of Acre was a disaster. They were all massacred. The fall of Acre in 1291 marks the end of the crusader states. The few cities left in Crusader hands on the coast are evacuated almost immediately afterwards. At the end of the summer of 1291, the Muslims retook all Christian possessions in the Holy Land. The surviving Templars retreat to the island of Cyprus, which becomes their new headquarters. The Templars' retreat to Cyprus was not the end of their fight for the Holy Land.

They soon began to make plans looking for options to return. By the time they left Acre, the Knights had already planned their departure and the Order's treasury had been evacuated. The Order's archives were also evacuated. And in Cyprus, in the early spring of 1292, a new Grand Master, Jacques de Molay, was elected. Jacques de Molay. 23rd Grand Master of the Order of the Temple. He is now 40 years old and has spent 20 years fighting in the Holy Land. Jacques de Molay is a warrior, this is not a man of diplomacy, he is not good at politics, he is a soldier.

He believes that the Temple Order can only have one mission: war to defend Jerusalem and the faith. While the Knights Templar suffered a total defeat, Jacques de Molay now has an immense task ahead of him. The Templars were founded as a crusading order to defend the Holy Land, so the loss of the Holy Land meant that the Order had no reason to effectively exist. (music reaches a crescendo) Already in 1293, Jacques de Molay traveled throughout Europe to convince the Pope and kings that it was possible to reconquer the Holy Land. For 15 years, he worked tirelessly to maintain an armed presence on the island of Cyprus, ready to return to battle.

In 1306, an event will alter the status quo. The new Pope, Clement V, commissioned Jacques de Molay to write a report on the necessary conditions for the possible launch of a new crusade. When Clement V wrote to him in 1306 to ask his opinion on a new crusade, we can assume that he was very happy with the circumstances, that this policy which he had supported for some 15 years was going to have a successful outcome. This report is preserved in the National Archives in Paris. The words of the Grand Master of the Temple are clear: De Molay believes that Christians can return to the Holy Land. "...We must organize a great crusade to destroy the enemies of the Christian faith.

If we could have twelve to fifteen thousand knights and five thousand foot soldiers, with the help of God, we can recover the entire Holy Land. I also recommend assemble ten ships as soon as possible. I will get money to pay the fees..." With his field experience, he knows that small expeditions will not defeat the enemy and an army of ships will be needed. to regain enough positions. He sends a report to the Pope and leaves Cyprus in late 1306 and arrives in France in early 1307. Jacques de Molay arrives in France, ready to do whatever is necessary to promote his new crusade.

Although he doesn't know it yet, he will never return to the east again. He is the 23rd Grand Master of the Knights Templar and will be the last. Behind Molay's back, two men have been secretly plotting for several months to carry out one of the most Machiavellian plans in history: to overthrow the Knights Templar. (dramatic trumpet music) These two men are Philip IV, King of France, also known as "Philip the Fair" and Guillaume de Nogaret, his closest advisor. (the music reaches a crescendo) At this point, Philip the Fair has been king for more than 20 years. He is known as the "Iron King." The personality of Philip the Fair was a mystery perhaps even more impenetrable than the mystery of the Templars.

A man of terrifying intransigence and a fearful temperament. Felipe is both authoritarian and propagandist. He manipulates public opinion. A modern king. Next to Philip the Fair is Guillaume de Nogaret. Guillaume de Nogaret is a very versatile royal official. He manages economic, financial, political affairs, conflicts with local churches, with bishops. He is a kind of well-rounded Prime Minister who has a global vision of the kingdom. The reasons that drove these two men to destroy the Order of the Temple were multiple. The first, and most obvious, was money. Philip the Fair had a very aggressive territorial policy, both towards the south and Lyon and towards the north and Flanders, so at the beginning of the 13th century he was at permanent war with Flanders and the Flemish nobility, and this cost him a lot of money.

In 1307, France was on the brink of bankruptcy. The king was up to his neck in debt to foreign bankers. The finances of the French Crown were weak and the Templars were a source of wealth. If he can take down the Order, he will have access to their money. Or that's what he thought. For Philip the Fair, given the disastrous finances of his kingdom, the money from the Knights Templar represents a windfall. However, the main reason that prompted him to attack the Knights Templar is more political. What the king seeks at the beginning of the 14th century is to assert his authority at any price, over his country, and to the detriment of one man: the Pope.

The Order of the Temple is a means for Philip the Fair to obtain, above all, what he has sought since the beginning of his reign: absolute power. Philip the Fair is trying to create a new type of state in which the king is above everyone. Which means that a king is the main power in his land and that he receives the power directly from God. Not from the Pope. There was no need for an intermediary, the Pope as intermediary between God and the King. Of course, the Templars could not fit into this new vision of the new modern world.

They were part of the past. If Philip is looking for a way to erode the powers of the Church, perhaps the Templars, with a substantial presence in the kingdom of France, will become a viable target, especially given the collapse of their position in the Crusader states. just a few years before. The Temple affair was devised by the French monarchy to weaken the papacy. It was directed against an Order that depends solely on the Pope, who is the best hope for the Holy Land and one of its privileged creatures. To finish off the Templars, Philip the Fair and Guillaume de Nogaret carefully formulated their plan.

Several months before Jacques de Molay's return to Europe, the new Pope, Clement V, was secretly warned that scandalous rumors were circulating about the Order. According to these rumors, the Templars were actually heretics. Heresy is one of the most terrible crimes that has ever existed, it is a crime against faith. The Templars were accused of denying Christ, of holding initiation ceremonies in which brothers were encouraged to practice sodomy on each other. The Templars, instead of fighting for the faith, offended it daily. Rumors had been circulating for most of the time the Order was away. Whether there was any truth in them or not.

They were also fanatically reserved. They were in their own bubble of privilege. So once these accusations started leaking, I think the secrecy worked against them again because people didn't know what they did in their initiation rituals. Guillaume de Nogaret collects testimonies, accumulates false evidence and builds arguments: a list of possible accusations against the Knights Templar. It is in 1306 that all these accusations, these rumors that are circulating will grow and grow. Upon arriving in France, Jacques de Molay learns of these rumors, but is unaware that they come from the king himself. He feels that his knightly order is threatened.

He decides to fight back. Jacques de Molay asked the Pope for an investigation, directed by the Pope himself, into the honor of the Order. De Molay was warned that something was up, but as he had been a lifelong Templar, he thought they were untouchable, and for 200 years they had been. They only responded to the Pope. I think Jacques De Molay underestimated Philip the Fair. He thought, "Well, we're Templars. No one can touch me except the Pope." But what Jacques de Molay doesn't know is that Philip the Fair and de Nogaret have no intention of waiting for Pope Clement to investigate.

In the greatest secret, they have alreadyissued an arrest warrant. Several original copies of this order are preserved in the National Archives in Paris. Written in Latin, the words were chosen with the greatest care. And the charges are extremely serious. Five main justifications are put forward in the arrest warrant. First, something implausible that happens during the initiation of a new Templar. "...A received brother is led behind the altar. Then the teacher shows him the cross, the figure of our Lord Jesus Christ, and makes him spit on it three times..." Secondly, there were other worrying practices. so that the candidate is a new Templar.

The officiant who turns him into a Templar kisses him on the back, just above the buttocks, a very strange and obscene kiss. Third, Templars at their initiation would be encouraged to engage in homosexual practices so as not to carnally unite with women. "...The Master tells him that, according to his statutes, if a brother wants to sleep with him carnally, he is obliged to accept..." They were advised to commit a classic heretical crime: sodomy. They are also accused of worshiping an idol, something that belongs to the realm of witchcraft and magic. And the final justification: the chaplain brothers of the Order would not consecrate the host in the communions of the members, that is, it is not an orthodox practice during a mass.

A set of heterodox practices is eliminated to justify an accusation of heresy. "Considering that the truth cannot be fully discovered in any other way, and since a vehement suspicion has spread to all, we have decided that all the members of the said Order in our kingdom be arrested, without exception, held prisoner and reserved for the judgment of the Church, and that all its property, movable and immovable, be seized, placed under our hand and faithfully preserved." The arrest warrant indicates that the operation must remain completely secret. On September 14, 1307, the Royal Order was sent to all regions of France and personally delivered to the bailiffs and seneschals.

The king's representatives had to prepare one of the largest police operations of the Middle Ages. A month later, throughout the kingdom of France, and precisely at the same time, the king's police arrive at each commandery of the Knights Templar. The Templars were suddenly arrested by order of Philip the Fair on Friday, October 13, 1307. This is believed to be the origin of Friday the 13th being unlucky. It certainly was for the Templars in France. They were all arrested at dawn throughout France. It speaks of considerable preparation and considerable logistics, because the Templars did not see it coming. Jacques de Molay, the 23rd Grand Master, is also arrested.

Soldiers appeared at dawn on October 13, at the gates of the temple, a fortified district on the outskirts of the French capital, and arrested the 138 Templars who were present. From that moment on, Felipe El Hermoso and Guillaume De Nogaret knew that what they were doing was outside the law. Technically, Philip was acting outside of his jurisdiction. The Templars were a church order; therefore, he had no right to arrest them. But he claimed to be acting in the interests of the church by arresting the Order. He justified it that way. In anticipation of any reaction from the Pope, the King's men must obtain quick and incontestable confessions.

To achieve this, Felipe el Hermoso and De Nogaret have an unmatched method: torture. (fire crackling) (gasps) The interrogations begin on October 15, 1307. Officially they were not supposed to shed blood. (ropes creaking) (groans) Then they would use the rack. People would be stretched or their arms would be dislocated. (rope creaks) (groans) Squeeze fingers with pliers, etc. (cries) (screams) Even though they couldn't open anyone up, they could do pretty much everything else. It was unpleasant. The record of the interrogation of the Templars detained in Paris is preserved in the National Archives of France in a roll of 44 goat skins, sewn together, and in which the confessions of the prisoners are transcribed.

The actual notaries in charge of writing the report are identified on the rolls. We have a very brief summary of an interrogation with three questions that arise: Did they spit on the cross of Christ? (screams) During your initiation ceremony, did you kiss the candidate on the top of his buttocks? (screams) Were you ordered to join carnally with other knights? (screams) So, to be clear, they are fabricating mass confessions so they can take legal action later. In the center of the parchment is the report of the interrogation of the most important prisoner of the investigation: Jacques de Molay. "In the name of Christ, amen, let it be known to all that in the year of the Lord 1307, the 24th of this month of October, Brother Jacques de Molay, grand master of the Knights of the temple, appeared before us, present in person, who swore by the holy gospels of God to speak the truth pure, simple and in its entirety.” Even today, no one knows to what extent Jacques De Molay was tortured to make him say the following words, transcribed in the report of the interrogation of the notaries of the king: "I, Jacques de Molay, was admitted to the temple of Beaune 42 years ago.

And he who admitted me brought a cross and ordered me to deny Christ whose image was there. And I, reluctantly, did so. I was ordered to spit on the cross, but only once was I told. join carnally with brothers and I never did." Jacques de Molay agrees to say, or rather said under torture, that yes, he was asked to deny Christ, and that he did so and spit on the cross. This was enough for Guillaume de Nogaret said: "The Grand Master of the Templar Order has confessed." Depending on the level of resistance of the Templars to torture, almost all of them confessed.

In Paris, of the 138 Templars interrogated, only 4 refused to confess to the crimes of the Templars. that they were accused. 121 confessed to having denied Christ, 111 for having spit on the cross. 109 for having performed the obscene kiss on the buttocks. In other parts of France, some Templars also confessed to having worshiped an idol called Baphomet. What is a Baphomet? We don't even know! The descriptions given tell us everything. It could have feet, or not, have two feet, have four feet, have a beard, be oozing, have two faces... We are in perfect condition. confusion, which demonstrates the imagination of the inquisitors.

In all regions of France without exception, all Templars will confess one or more crimes of heresy. One could say: "the large number of confessions shows that some must have been guilty." Or saying: "Of course they are being tortured, they will confess." The link between torture and a guilty verdict is strong. The Templars said what Felipe wanted to hear. Thanks to all these confessions

extra

cted under torture, Philip the Fair and De Nogaret achieved their first victory. They announce to all of Europe the result of their investigation: the Templars are heretics and must be eradicated. Pope Clement V is cornered.

Although the King of France has acted outside the law, these confessions are too serious for the Pope to remain impassive and do nothing. On November 22, 1307 he published the bull "Pastoralis Preeminentie" addressed to all the Christian kings of Europe. "I, Pope Clement the Fifth, demand and exhort that your nobility prepare to give the order to seize all the Templars in your territory, as well as their movable and immovable property, on the same day." Clement V faced an almost impossible situation. The Templars had already been arrested, many of them had confessed under torture, and he was probably trying to save at least part of the Templars as well, because the Templars of France were already doomed, and there was no way they could escape. avoid trial and, for many of them, death.

The rest of Europe's sovereigns are skeptical of the Templars' guilt. Although members of the Order are arrested and tried in different countries, the conclusion is almost the same everywhere: no one finds anything to reproach the Knights Templar. When the papacy begins the trial throughout Western Christendom, the Templars are tried in multiple countries, in England and the kingdom of Aragon, parts of Germany, Italy and elsewhere, the main finding of all this is that no Templar confessed. In Spain, the king and the population defended what was theirs. There was a trial but no defamation. In Venice, the judgment was in the hands of the Doge, who said: "Our people are very honorable." We are absolutely sure that they are not heretics.

And there wasn't even an arrest. The king of Cyprus defended his people. The most obvious example is England. The police were unable to interrogate and obtain a confession. The interrogators had not tortured or worked. But Philip the Fair and De Nogaret had no intention of allowing investigations from other countries to disrupt their Machiavellian plan. The machine had started and there was no way to stop it. It didn't really matter if the English Templars didn't admit their heresy, the guys in France did and that was enough. During the first six months of 1308, the king of France and his lawyers pressured the Pope.

They insist on the seriousness of the confessions obtained and affirm again and again that the Templars are guilty and that the king has acted in the interest of the church. The Pope is not fooled, he suspended the interrogators of the kingdom of France. Therefore, we had a kind of balance of power that was established in the spring of 1308 between the Pope and the king of France. This is the period of tension where everything is at stake. In the summer of 1308, Clement V decided to regain control of the legal situation. He appoints interrogators to interview the Knights Templar and asks Felipe El Hermoso to allow them to see the prisoners.

The king of France's men selected 72 prisoners to send to Poitiers for interrogation. The highest dignitaries, including Jacques De Molay, are interrogated in the royal fortress of Chinon. (dramatic music) In the apostolic archives of the Vatican, which keep all the documents of the history of the Holy See, you can still find the reports of the cardinals in charge of the investigation of the Templars. The exchanges between the researchers and the prisoners are recorded in these pages. "When they asked him, seeing that he regretted his actions, why he had agreed to do things that went against his faith, he said that joining the order was an obligation." In the margins there are still some notes indicating "Sodomy", "Rite of initiation", "Idolation".

The Pope's men try to determine if the crimes reported by the French king are true. However, Philip the Fair authorized the cardinals to interrogate the Templars only in the presence of his men. Threatened, the prisoners are unable to deny the heresy. Everyone confesses. The Templars who speak know that the Royal Police are watching them and that they will return to the Royal Prison, so considering the torture and torment they have endured, it is likely that they would not try to recant their confessions, and in the end, they took the line established: confess the minimum, but only to be left alone.

When the Templars were interrogated in the spring of 1308 at Poitiers, the Pope realized that all the inappropriate gestures that formed the basis of the accusations belonged to a practice. The document says: "usus ordinis nostri" or "modus ordini nostri", therefore a practice, a rite like in the army, but which had no connection with theology or heretical doctrines. Thus, the Pope was convinced that yes, the Templars may have been guilty of various faults because they tolerated these inappropriate ceremonies, but that those faults were not heretical in nature. At the end of these interrogations, Pope Clement V decides to write his decision on the dignitaries of the Knights Templar seen by their cardinals in the Chinon prison.

The original of this document, titled "The Chinon Parchment", remained lost until the early 21st century. The statement leaves no room for doubt. Pope Clement V gives absolution to the highest members of the Knights Templar. The errors they had supposedly committed are thus forgiven and erased by the Pope himself. "To Jacques De Molay, Grand Master of the Order, we have decided to grant him absolution according to the canonical form of the Church, we return him to the unity of the Church, we return him to the communion of the faithful, and we allow him once again to have the ecclesiastical sacraments".

The pontifical commission in charge of instructing the process of the Order of the Temple was created in 1309. Its members listened to hundreds of prisoners who testified again, but this time not before the police of the king of France, but before the men of the Holy See. . Because they can testify freely without being previously tortured or detained by the royal police, most Templars retract their confessions, tell how their initiations unfold, and everything seems normal. Dozens of Templars testify before the Commission, describing to the cardinals the torture they suffered and the deprivations to which they were subjected. Locked in a well without food or water, they lost their flesh, they bled, they recount all their tortures.

This is totally contradictory to the first interrogations and the Templars do not admit anything of what they are accused of, because they say that they are false accusations. (the music reaches a crescendo) Little by little, the defense of the Templars is organized. Faced with the growing number of retracted confessions, Philip the Fair and Guillaume De Nogaret decide to fight back. Hard. Philip theHermoso and his jurists took advantage of this saying that these Templars who had confessed had been reconciled, and now that they denied, they have relapsed. They returned to their heresy. And for returning to their heresy, they deserve to be burned at the stake. (crowd applause) In May 1310, 54 Templars who recanted their confessions were burned at the stake at Porte Saint-Antoine in Paris. (crowd applauds) (music reaches a dramatic crescendo) The movement to defend the Templar Order initiated by the Templars, individually, stopped overnight.

The threat of burning Templars who recanted their testimonies had worked. Nobody wants to defend the Order anymore, nobody wants to tell the truth. King Philip the Fair had already won. (fire crackles) (crowd applauds) The first executions of Philip IV had as their main objective pressure on the papacy. He was telling the Pope that he was not going to back down and accept the fact that the Templars would be found guilty. The Templar affair proves too embarrassing for Clement V. Despite his conviction that the Order is not guilty, the French king's insistence directly threatens the legitimacy of the Pope.

Pope Clement realized that the damage had already been done. The accusations were very scandalous and had spread throughout Europe quite quickly. Everyone was shocked to hear that the Knights Templar, the great Christian knights, the pinnacle of Crusader zeal, were doing all these strange and very un-Christian things in their initiation ceremonies and spiritual practices. On October 16, 1311, the Council of Vienna met. Its 170 members decide on the guilt of the Knights. A commission reviews all records of trials against members of the Order throughout Europe. But Philip the Fair intends to prevent the Templars from being recognized as innocent. He is going to personally pressure the Pope.

Six months after the start of the Council, Clement V capitulated and stopped the process. He is the superior of the Order and therefore, only he decides to suppress it. The Pope could not save the Order. I think he reluctantly said, "we have to liquidate the Order." Clement really had no choice but to dissolve the Order. Felipe el Hermoso was stepping on his neck the entire time. I think the Pope tried to calm the whole thing down. To do this he had to sacrifice the Templars who were already condemned. It was more convenient for the church to dissolve them in some way.

On March 22, 1312, the Pope signed the papal bull "Vox In Excelso" officially dissolving the Order of the Temple. "Considering the serious scandal that this has brought to light and the evil actions perpetrated by many brothers, I have decided to abolish, not without bitterness and pain, the Order of the Knights Templar, its state, its uniform and its name, and subject it to perpetual ban, expressly prohibiting from now on anyone from entering this Order, wearing its uniform and posing as a Knight Templar. Anyone who contravenes this prohibition will incur the penalty of excommunication." Less than two months later, the bull "Ad Providam" stipulates the decision made by Pope Clement V, regarding the assets of the Order. "All your belongings, abroad or on the continent, anywhere in the world, your villages, lands, granaries, places, rights of justice, income and all other movable and immovable possessions dependent on the Templar Houses must become the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem." Therefore, it is not the King of France who recovers the possessions of the Templars but another religious military order called the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem. (music reaches a crescendo) 192 years after its creation in 1120 in the Holy Land, and less than 5 years after the spectacular arrest of all the Templars of France by the men of Philip the Fair, the Knights Templar disappears.

Two years later, the fate of the Order's dignitaries must be decided. Among them: Hugues de Pairaud, leader of the Order in France, Geoffroy de Gonneville, Master of the Order in Aquitaine and Poitou, Geoffroy de Charnay, Master of the Order in Normandy and the 23rd and last Grand Master, Jacques De Molay. Jacques de Molay has been waiting since his arrest to see the Pope in person, but remains silent, saying: "I am waiting to speak with the Pope and explain to him why I acted." But the Pope will not come. Instead, he sends his cardinals to communicate his sentence to de Molay and the last dignitaries of the Order still in prison.

On March 11, 1314, de Molay and the other three dignitaries were summoned by the Pope's men. The Templar Grand Master had been in prison for seven years. I think he was clearly an old and confused man. And he was finally again given the option of confessing or being burned at the stake. (applause from the crowd) (noises of horses and carts) When the 4 dignitaries have renewed their confessions, they are taken to the square in front of Notre Dame de Paris to hear their sentence. Before the population, and in the most absolute silence, they are officially sentenced to life imprisonment. (crowd boos) Faced with injustice and general surprise, Jacques De Molay decides to change his version of events.

He denies the accusations leveled against him. Both de Molay and Geoffroy de Charnay recant their confessions before the Commission, before the king's men and the crowd, and sign their death warrant. Philip the Fair, king of France, is immediately informed of the situation. Without waiting for the approval of the cardinals, he has a pyre erected at the end of the Île de la Cité. That same night, Jacques De Molay and Geoffroy De Charnay are burned at the stake. De Molay refusing to confess again and being burned is a tragic ending, but it is also enormously symbolic, enormously powerful in the sense that his willingness to be burned at the stake is almost the only thing he can do to defeat the French king. .

The only powerful card left for him to play is to go to the bonfire. (dramatic crescendo) That day, the course of events is told in a poem by Geoffroy de Paris, chronicler of the Royal Chancellery. "The master undressed without any fear. They took him to tie him to the tree. But he told them the following: 'Gentlemen, at least allow me to join my hands a little and pray to God. I see here my judgment where death freely suits me, God knows who is wrong and who has sinned, Disgrace will come to those who have unjustly condemned us, God will avenge our death, Know that all those who are contrary to us will suffer!'... "It says that God will recognize the those who have done good and those who have done evil, speak before God.

In other words, he also speaks for posterity. For his own and, above all, that of his Order to which he had dedicated himself so much. Much later, legend has it that these words spoken by Jacques De Molay were the origin of the curse that would hit those who caused his fall and that of the Knights Templar. Jacques de Molay was said to have cursed the French king Philip the Fair and Pope Clement. And, in fact, the Pope died the following month and Philip died in a hunting accident in November of that year. The kingdom seemed to have a bright future, everything planned.

But what happened? The king died very quickly and his three sons who succeeded him also died. And then the kingdom of France entered into crisis. France, which was a military power, was defeated by England. And to make matters worse, the Black Death broke out. For many observers of the mid-14th century, the Capetian kings became cursed kings. Since all of Philip the Fair's children die very quickly, it is almost like an erasure of his family, like revenge on the part of the massacred Templars. (crescendo orchestral music) (militaristic classical music) The heroic end of Jacques de Molay, the sudden deaths of Philip the Fair and Pope Clement V, the

mysteries

surrounding the birth, reign and fall of the Knights Templar are elements that for centuries They fueled wild conspiracies about the Knights Templar.

Here we have an Order at the center of the relationship between Christianity and Islam for a substantial period during the crusades. Here is an order fighting for Christ, which to many people would seem like a contradiction in terms. An order that was mysterious in some of its practices. And here is an order that was finally dissolved due to accusations of heresy. There's a lot of things in there that people will find intriguing. That's why it never surprises me when people write fabulous stories about Templar myths or Templar treasures or whatever. That said, there is very little evidence to support them.

While some still hope to find, somewhere, a possible hidden treasure of the Templars, and historians continue their investigations into the

secrets

related to the history of these monk-soldiers, one thing is clear: The Poor Companions-Soldiers of the Christ of the Temple. of Solomon, which later became the Order of the Temple, created by a few devout knights in 1120 in the heart of the Holy Land, will forever be a legend. (crescendo orchestral music) Subtitled TITRAFILM