The Order of the Knights templar has been shrouded in secrecy for many centuries, the truth still unknown and cause for much conspiracy!
The question that begs to be answered is if the Templars were heretics as claimed or if they were the unfortunate targets of a ploy by King Phillip IV of France to get his hands on their wealth and possesions?
For two hundred years the Knights Templar had been the most dominant force in Christendom, and during this time acquired a large amount of wealth and possesions through their international banking system that allowed nobles to deposit funds and valuables for safekeeping and lending funds to nobles where needed.
One such Noble was Philip IV of France whom borrowed large sums of money to fund a war against england which he lost and subsequently not able to to repay his debt.
He is then rumoured to have devised a plan to eliminate his debt and acquire the riches of the Knights Templars legally. On Friday the 13th 1307, he ordered that 625 templars be arrested and their property seized on charges of heresy.
The arrested templars were immediately placed in isolation and subjected to gruesome intereogatiin tactics which involved torture by binding the victim’s wrists behind his back, passing the rope over a high beam, pulling him off of the ground, and suddenly dropping him, snapping his arms and dislocating his shoulders or by covering the victims feet in lars and then roasting them over the flame. Not suprisingly, the knights confesses to every charge against them while being subjected to excruciating agony.
In an outburst of courage some of the templars retracted their confessions claiming to church officials that they falsely confessed under torture. To intimidate the Knights even further, King Phillip ordered that 54 of the templars be burned at the stake for retracting their confessions, the knights that did not retract their confession were set free.
what were the charges against the templars?
The accusations against the Templars consisted of 127 charges. Most of them centred around the initiation ceremony.
- First the initiate will have to spit on the cross and renounce the name of jeaus 3 times.
*He was then stripped naked and the initiator kissed the initiate three times; on the mouth, on the navel, and on his lower back.
*The initiate was then made aware that sodomy was practised in the Order and he should engage in it if a fellow brother asked him.
*The next accusation was that the cord which the Templars wore around their waists had been consecrated by an idol which was deep "in a cave excavated in the ground, very dark...an image in the form of a man over which is a human skin and shining carbuncles for its eyes". This idol (whom the rumour-mongers called Baphomet, a corruption of Mohamed) contained a secret book, which only the Grand Master of the Templars and the elders knew about.
The question remains wether or not this is true? My personal opinion is that the Knights templars were involved in western esoteric practices and that they had what was then considered secret knowledge but not so secret in modern times ie the ancient practice of the Kaballah. This is evident in carvings on the walls of the cells where they were kept as prisoners. some carvings depict ' the kabbalistic tree of life' as well as other unortodox symbology.
Could this be the aource of their secret knowledge?
Sources:
http://www.historyextra.com/period/medieval/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-knights-templar/