Dear group;
The Kinghts of the Temple of Solomon are credited with many forward thinking accomplishments, namely the worlds' first travelers cheques and the worlds' first international banking system.
Pilgrims on their way to the Holy Land could deposit their valuables in a Templar stronghold in Europe, then recieve a receipt for the value of their goods, written in code. Then, if they needed funds during their travels, they could recieve credit in form of local currency from any Templar stronghold en route to the Holy Land, or in the Holy Land itself. The Templars then recieved a small compensation for this service.
As time went on, Templars began loaning money to nobility, and in return they recieved a *comission* for these services which they rendered, as charging interest on loans was a practice strictly prohibited by the Roman Catholic Church during the Middle Ages. It was these two acts which got the Templars in hot water with the Vatican.
As time progressed, the Templars amassed more wealth in form of hard currency, lands and fortresses and power inside of the various royal houses of Europe and the Middle East. It can be surmised that much of the lands deeded to the Templars was done so in lieu of the *comissions* they were charging on the loans they underwrote. As the individual Templar was sworn to poverty, collectively the Order was becoming more wealthy and powerful with each successive year.
When originally formed, the Knights of Temple swore vows of poverty, and to defend the Holy Lands against foreign invaders (even though they themselves were foreigners, oddly enough), protect pilgrims during their visit to the Holy Land and to defend the churches and local authorities against Muslims and other enemies. Once the Holy Land fell to the infidels for the last time, the Knights of Temple soon found themselves without a job or a landbase from which to operate.
They therefore returned to their strongholds in Europe and continued to operate from them exactly as they had along the route to the Middle East and the Holy Land. It was during this time span that the Templars' physical wealth began to dwindle as their power increased. This happened because the Templars soon began loaning money to all the nobility of Europe, and this very same nobility in turn used the funds to promote war on their neighbors.
As one may very well guess, this did not sit well with the Pope nor did it with the European nobility. Granting a loan to a royal house was one thing, even for the purpose of conducting war, but granting loans to all of the combatants in a campaign was something else entirely. The Templars soon discovered that they needed to remain in a complete state of neutrality so that their now very lucrative business not be disturbed.
It may also be surmised that King Phillip IV of France, who was heavily in debt to the Templars at this time, wished to see the Order disbanded, in part because of Phillips' lavish expendures and also, it is surmised because Phillip was angered at the Order when they refused to support him during his was with the English as the Knights Templar had also loaned money to the English nobility in. On 13 October 1307, Phillips had hundreds of Knights Templars arrested in France and on 22 November of the same year, under almost continual pressure from King Philip IV of France, Pope Clement V issued a bull, which contained instructions for all Christian monarchs to arrest the Templars residing in their lands and to sieze all of their assests and lands.
Finally, in 1312, with Phillip threatening military action against the Vatican, Pope Clement issued a number of Papal bulls, including theVox in Excelso which effectively disbanded the Order of the Knights of the Temple of Solomon and gave most of their assests to the Hospitallers. In all reality, very few Templars were actually executed and there were less than 50 Templars executed in France under the direction of King Phillip, most notably the Grand Master of the Temple in France, Jacques de Molay and the Preceptor of Normandy, Geoffrey de Charney, were burned alive at the stake for the crime of relapsed heresy on 18 March 1314.
Most of the rest of the Templars were rounded up, arrested and tried under Papal Investigation, however virtually none of them were found guilty of any wrongdoing and they were and were allowed to go free. Many of the now freed Templars joined other Orders, such as the Hospitallers or fled to the safety of recently excommunicated Scotland, or fled to Portugal, where they simply changed their name from the Knights Templars to the Knights of Christ and continued in the same manner as before.
The Roman Catholic Church recently announced that in retrospect and after exhaustive research into the documents leading up to the disbandment of the Order admitted that the Medieval proscution of the Order was unfounded and unjust and that there was nothing with the Order as whole and that the Orders' activities and Rule were in accordance to the Papal laws set forth at the time. it was further proclaimed that Pope Clement V, under extreme pressure from Phillip the Fair of France, was forced into a scandal that unjustly presecuted and disbanded this Christian order.
Your friend;
LAMAR
