KNIGHTS TEMPLAR HISTORYTHE ORDER OF THE KNIGHTS TEMPLAR DECLINEKNIGHTS TEMPLAR HISTORY:FROM RECOGNITION TO DECLINEThe Papal Bull, Omne Datum Optimum was a major benefit for the Knights Templar, exempting the Order from obedience to all local laws. This meant they were answerable to no authority other than the Pope himself. Neither were they required to pay any taxes and had complete freedom to pass across any borders they wished. Although they had started as an order of poor monks, official Church sanction had turned them into a charity, answerable only to the Church and no one else. Huge tracts of land were donated to them all over Europe, and unlimited sources of income were theirs through business dealings. New members joining the order had to take an oath of poverty and would more often than not donate large amounts, if not all of their property and cash to the order. The Templars had begun to amass a very large property empire in Europe, these were built into an intercontinental labyrinth of support, providing all the necessities for the Templars in the Crusades, men, money, horses supplies and whatever else would be needed. Of course with the monks sworn to poverty and their order widespread throughout Europe, it would not take much of a step for them to be used as a form of banker.
ABOVE: THE BATTLE OF MONTGISARD IN 1177 SPECTACULARLY WON BY THE KNIGHTS TEMPLAR: KNIGHTS TEMPLAR HISTORY A Nobleman, or for that matter, any man with wealth wishing to undertake a long journey, maybe even to go on the Crusades, could deposit funds with the local Templars at home, who would in turn issue a letter of credit, which the traveller could present to other Templars at their destination, or even anywhere along the way, to withdraw whatever funds they required. The Orders mission therefore was changing over time from guarding pilgrims, to one of guarding the pilgrims valuables. This then was how they became everyones' banker. Popes, Kings, Nobles, Pilgrims, they all used the services provided by the Order of the Knights Templar. Although their primary purpose was as a Military Order, only a few actually fought in battle. Most of them took up supportive roles to the Knights, managing all the financial systems. By the middle of the twelfth century, the Muslims were becoming stronger under good leadership from the likes of Saladin, whereas the Christian Crusaders were becoming weaker with dissentions arising among various factions in and concerning the Holy Land.Many years of rivalry between the Orders, especially the Templars, Teutonic and Hospitallers, saw decades of bloody internecine fueds which seriously weakened them, thus undermining their effectiveness and leading to eventual defeat for the crusaders. The turning point in the Crusades came with the Crusaders defeat at the Battle of the Horns of Hattin in 1187, where Saladin completely outwitted the Franks, fooling them into doing exactly what he wanted them to do.
ABOVE:THE BATTLE OF THE HORNS OF HATTIN 1187 IN WHICH SALADIN WAS VICTORIOUS AGAINST THE CRUSADERS:KNIGHTS TEMPLAR HISTORY After that defeat, Saladin captured Jerusalem shortly after. It was retaken by the Crusaders in 1229, who held it until 1244 when the Turks recaptured it for the Muslims. It would not be under Western control again until the British captured it from the Ottoman Turks in 1917. The long famed military prowess of the Knights Templar began to falter after the disastrous battle of the Horns of Hattin. Gerard de Ridefort, who was the Grand Master of the Order of the Knights Templar, had been involved in that battle. He had made some deadly strategic errors in his tenure as Grand Master, demoralizing the entire Order of the Templars on one occasion. While venturing out with eighty Knights, without adequate supplies of drinking water, the Templars were overcome by the heat of the desert sun within one day. Found by Saladin's army, his Knights were surrounded and massacred. Ridefort, rather than fight to the death, was captured, then allowed himself to be ransomed. Throughout the Knights Templar History it had been an unwriiten Rule that they were to fight to the death. His disastrous period as Grand Master of the Knights Templar, had a lasting demoralizing effect, not only on the Knights Templar themselves but on the rest of the Crusaders. He was beheaded a few months later, when attacking Saladin's forces at the siege of Acre, the attack again ended in failure and capture. The defeat at the Horns of Hattin and the subsequent capture of Jerusalem, shook the whole of Christendom to its very foundations, none more so than the Templars, whose very reason for existence had been to defend the Holy Land and its Holy Places. After the ineptitude and the mistakes by their Grand Master, Gerard de Ridefort, any attempt by the Templars to drum up support among the European Nobility to return to war failed. The Templars were to suffer several losses and more and more land, until after the siege of Acre in 1291, they were forced to relocate to Cyprus, where they set up their new headquarters. In 1292, the last Grand Master of the Order of the Knights Templar, Jacques de Molay, took office. He immediately set about trying to raise support, both for the Order and for another Crusade by touring Europe. He met with the newly elected Pope Boniface VIII, who agreed to grant the Templars the same privileges on Cyprus as they had held in the Holy Land. Next:Knights Templar History:Their Final Days. Return To Templar History Their Beginning Return To Templar History-Official Recognition and Recruitment Return from Knights Templar History Their Decline To A-London-Tourist-Guide Home Page.
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