The Knights Templar
Background Information
The Beginning of the Order
The Code of the Templars
The Treasure of the Knights Templar
The Fall of the Order
Muggle Side of the Story
Wizarding Explanation
Background Information
The Beginning of the Order
In the aftermath of the First Crusade and the conquest of Jerusalem on July 15 1099, the safety of the pilgrims who had reached the Holy Land was the reason that Hughes de Payns and nine of his companions created what was then known as the Order of the Poor Knights of the Christ and the Temple of Solomon - nowadays they are known as the Templar Order.
The Order quickly won credibility and became celebrities. Among the ten founders, Hughes de Payns was elected as chief and 10 years after the creation of the Order (which was in 1119), there were about 300 knights of the Temple who commanded an army of three thousand men. The knights were known by their obvious
clothing - a white coat with a large red cross on the front. By the end of the 12th century, hundreds of convents and houses provided food, funds, horses and all that was necessary for defense to the Templars.
The Code of the Templars
Nowadays there are three specimens of the rules of the Templars in which the hierarchical organization is described in detail.
The brotherhood was not open to just anyone. Only people who could prove their noble birth could enter the order.
All members of the Order were to obey the Grand Master who lived in Jerusalem. The Grand Master did not have full power though; important decisions were made by the entire Order.
Under the Grand Master was the seneschal, the assistant of the Grand Master, the marshal, the chief of war, the commander and the treasurer of the community.
The Knights Templar also had many privileges. They didn't have to pay taxes; they had their own justice system on their land and had legal immunity in other areas; they had their own clergy, and the bishops did not have any authority over the Order; and only the pope had an authority higher than the Grand Master.
The Treasure of the Knights Templar
The Order had profited from different donations since its creation - by entering the Order, the nobles agreed to give their fortune to the Order. Princes and kings also offered sums of money in return for the Knights Templar's services. Rewards varied from small treasures to vast castles and land. An average annual income of the Knights in the thirteenth century would be equivalent to about 15 billion Euros today.
The Fall of the Order
The loss of Jerusalem started the slow decline of the Christian supremacy in the East and following the defeat of Saint Jean in Acre in 1291, so the Knights left for Cyprus The Grand Master chose to live in the Temple of Paris, which became the chief town of the Order. In 1293, Jacques de Molay was elected as the Grand Master, who
refused a meeting with another Order despite the Templars being on decline.
On October 13th 1307, almost all of the Knights of the Order were arrested, as Philip the Fair attempted to strengthen his power in France. Their trials lasted several years from 1308 to 1312, but in 1310 fifty-four Knights were burnt and thirty-six others died under torture. The pope yielded to Philip and pronounced the dissolution of the Order on April 3 1312. On March 18 1314, the Grand Master Jacques de Molay was burnt alive - he was the last official member of the Order.
It was said that as he died, de Molay cursed the pope and King Philip. "Clement and you, Philip, traitors with the faith given,
I assign you both with the court of God! You Clement, in forty days, and you Philip, in the year." The pope died of disease one month later, and King Philip died of a hunting accident the same year. All three of Philip's sons died within the next two decades and were called the "Cursed Kings."
Muggle Side of the Story
For years the treasure of the Order has been a source of excitement. The peak of the treasure hunt was reached in the years 1950-1960 when it was said it had been found in the castle of Gisors, High Normandy France. Roger Lhomoy, former guard of the castle, confirmed to have carried out clandestine excavations between 1942 and 1946, digging 16m deep wells and underground galleries. According to his statements he even dug a "long secret crypt of 30 metres" (98 feet).
"In the vault, I saw the statues of Jesus and the twelve apostles, natural sized, placed at chest height; then nine sarcophagi made in stone; and finally arranged by groups of ten, thirty bronze trunks, unfortunately I could not raise the lids." No one from the village believed Lhomoy though and he became a simple farmhand. In 1962
he was interviewed by a journalist and the book Templar Knights are Among Us was written. Following the release of the book, official excavations were carried out in 1962 and 1964, but none of them led to the discovery of a treasure.
Wizarding Explanation
A document from the secret files of the Vatican under he name of "Register Aven N°48 Benedict XII, volume I, folios 448-45" explains how most of the treasure of the Knights escaped from Philip the Fair.
The Templar Knight Jean de Chalon, of the temple of Nemours, declared that the day before the arrest of the knights, October 12th 1307, three carriages were charged before the night to leave the Temple of Paris under the care of Gerard de Villers and Huges de Chalon. These carriages dissimulated trunks which contained all the treasure of the Large Visitor of France Hughes de Pairau. The carriages took the direction of the coast to embark on 18 ships of the Order.
In 1516, Jane Berry, an English witch working for the Ministry of Magic, discovered a book written in an unknown language. Monks with white clothes and red crosses, typical of the Templar Order, were drawn all along this book. Berry deciphered the writings of the book a few days later, remembering the Latin courses she'd taken at Hogwarts. The book reads:
Between the exit of the carriages of the Temple of Paris and the execution of Jacques de Molay, 7 years passed, 7 years of negotiations with the English Ministry of Magic to know what the treasure would become...
We still don't know how the Ministry got this book reporting the life of the Templar Knights and the escape of their treasure. However, it is said the magical world that one of the founders of the Order, Hughes de Payns, had some links with a French wizard named Jean Saurselle. Despite the cooperation of the French Ministry of Magic, no further information is known about this wizard, and everything has remained a secret.
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