Between the 11th and 12th centuries, the secular Church was undergoing a period of renewal, known as the "11th-century reform"; the desire to lead the people to a life more respectful of the Gospel and the aim of curbing the violence of society led to the so-called "Truce of God."The Catholic Church encouraged the knights of the time to become militiae Christi (knights of Christ), with the aim of fighting the infidels in the Holy Land, rather than committing brutality at home.These knights were no longer asked to abandon the world, like monks, to atone for their sins, but to use their weapons for the cause of Christianity.
On November 27, 1095, Pope Urban II, during the tenth day of the Council of Clermont, delivered a speech in which he appealed to those present to go to the Holy Land to reconquer Jerusalem, at that time in the hands of the Seljuk Turks. The Pope highlighted how Christian pilgrims, traveling to Jerusalem, were regularly victims of atrocities and even murders, and how the Emperor of Constantinople Alexios I Komnenos had asked the Church for help to stop the expansion of the Turks.The Pope's appeal did not go unheeded, and in a short time an expedition of knights set out for the East, for what would go down in history as the "First Crusade."Thanks to the undoubted military capabilities of the crusaders and the moment of difficulty in the Muslim world, torn by internal divisions, the enterprise concluded with the success of the Christians when, on July 15, 1099, the troops of Godfrey of Bouillon captured Jerusalem after more than a month-long siege.In addition to the conquest of the Holy City, the Christians established the first four Crusader states where they settled: the County of Edessa, the Principality of Antioch, the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and the County of Tripoli.After the conquest of Jerusalem, many crusaders, considering their pilgrimage obligation fulfilled, returned to their homeland, while those who decided to remain in the Holy Land were immediately faced with the problem of how to defend the holy sites and how to ensure the protection of the thousands of pilgrims who arrived from all over Europe.To address this, spontaneous groups of knights arose who vowed to be permanent crusaders, to live communally, and to spend their energies defending the conquered holy sites. These first groups organized themselves into different religious orders, with the aim of guaranteeing the safety of the devout: the first was the Order of the Canons Regular of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, founded in 1099 by Godfrey of Bouillon; immediately afterwards, the Order of Saint John of the Hospital and the Order of the Temple were established, which, according to theories not accepted by all, dates back to the years 1119-1120.During this period, Hugh of Payns, who had taken part in the First Crusade, together with his friend Godfrey of Saint-Omer and seven other knights, placed themselves at the service of the King of Jerusalem, asking him to be lodged on the esplanade of the Temple of Jerusalem, between the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Their request actually concealed the true purpose of their mission: to come into possession of the Secret of Secrets, the knowledge of King Solomon, the legendary sovereign who founded the Temple of Jerusalem around the Sacred Rock (on which Abraham, tested by God, was about to sacrifice his sons Ishmael and Isaac) with the help of angels and demons, invoking unknown energies for the perpetual protection of the Holy of Holies.After taking the three vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience before the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Germond De Piquigny of Amiens, the nine knights occupied the site of Solomon's Temple, breaking away from obedience to the Prior of the Canons Regular of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem and becoming the "Order of the Poor Knights of Christ and of the Temple of Jerusalem," later known simply as the Knights Templar. Knowing what and where to look, they penetrated the underground areas of the mosque, finding in the area of the "Stables of Solomon" the network of tunnels of the original Temple, thousands of years old. There, they collected parchments and other documents; among them, according to what is stated in the controversial Dead Sea Scrolls, there would have been an exceptional one, the Copper Scroll, inscribed about thirty years after the death of Christ, containing the indications of sixty-one places where, at the time of the war between the Jews and the Romans, as many treasures would have been hidden. The content of the other parchments concerned elements of sacred geometry, the use of energy nodes of the Earth's grid (the "ley lines"), the history of vanished civilizations, and other secrets that should never have been revealed outside the Order, such as the "Sepher Bereshit," a document dating back to Moses, which contained the esoteric knowledge learned in Egypt, the Ark of the Covenant, and the Tabernacle of King Solomon. The immense wealth acquired in a short time and the construction of Gothic temples and cathedrals in Europe, still sources of wonder today, are proof of the value of those ancient documents.Among the nine knights was André de Montbard, the uncle of Saint Bernard, and in 1125 a new knight joined them, who was Hugh of Blois, Count of Champagne.The actual Order of the Templars was validated and proclaimed in 1128, nine years after its founding, by Bernard of Clairvaux (Saint Bernard), who convened a council in Troyes, near Clairvaux, on the lands of the Count of Champagne, to commit the Church with all its members to give the aforementioned monastic order a universal action.Hugh of Payns had the idea of uniting monk and knight in a single person, creating a "Knighthood of Christ." His invention was certainly revolutionary; for the first time, in fact, the contemplation and spirituality of the monastic life were combined with the rough and bloody action of the military leaders.But the decisive protagonist for the birth and development of the Templars and for the organization of the Second Crusade (1147-1149) was Bernard of Clairvaux, called doctor mellifluus (Teacher whose word flows like honey), for his magnificent oratory and persuasive ability.The order was composed of knights, who wore a white mantle with a red cross and could own castles, and squires, who dressed in brown; they could be indifferently laymen or priests.At the head of all was the Magister militiae templi (Master of the Temple's Militia), assisted by the seneschal, who had administrative, political, and also military duties.The order soon spread, partly embracing the spirit of the Cistercian reform. It also spread in Europe (especially in France, England, Aragon, Portugal) and built many churches, similar to that of Jerusalem, which were always named temple.The Templars distinguished themselves on the battlefields at Tiberias (1187), Gaza (1244), Al-Mansura (1250), and Acre (1291). When the Christians had to abandon the Holy Land, the Templars settled in Cyprus.The Order of the Temple was, therefore, a Catholic monastic-chivalric order; it was later dissolved by Pope Clement V (1260-1314) – after the cruel persecution by the King of France, Philip the Fair (1268-1314) – in 1307.On Friday, October 13, 1307, the last Grand Master of the Order of the Templars, Jacques De Molay, was arrested, along with all the other Templars in France; De Molay, during the trial, was subjected to brutal torture and, after endorsing the prosecution's claims, was sentenced to life imprisonment. Later, Jacques de Molay retracted his statements; this condemned him to the stake along with his fellow prisoner Geoffrey de Charnay.The stake was set up in Paris on the island of the Seine, called the Isle of the Jews, near Notre Dame, on March 11 or 18, 1314. History tells that before the execution, Jacques de Molay cursed the lineage of Philip IV and railed against Pope Clement V; a month later, the Pope died, and in the winter of that same year, the King of France also met the same fate.This only strengthened the common belief that De Molay had fallen victim to injustice and that the curses he had uttered had come true.In more recent times, the legend has spread that the execution of Louis XVI during the French Revolution – which somehow put an end to absolute monarchy in France – was the culmination of the Templars' revenge (some sensationalist historians of the time reported the news that the executioner Charles-Henri Sanson, before lowering the guillotine on the king's head, whispered to him: "I am a Templar, and I am here to carry out the vengeance of Jacques de Molay").The Order of the Templars was suspended by the Catholic Church in 1308, but it was never definitively suppressed, as has been artfully made to believe by those who over the years have speculated on this false news.
