Influential ecclesiastics, affluent bankers, warriors and diplomats: the Templars seemed untouchable, but their wealth attracted dangerous envy and hostility. In 1307, Philippe IV of France gave out sealed orders to his local representatives. At dawn on Friday 13th October, 1307, all Templar property was raided and the knights were arrested.
Whatever his ulterior motives, Philippe IV actually believed the trumped-up charges against the knights. But if he was after their money, he was sorely disappointed. Pope Clement granted the order´s estates and property to the Knights Hospitalers (also known as the Knights of the Order of St. John, or, now, the Knights of Malta).
Moreover, the Templar´s treasury, which was housed in the Temple in Paris, was found largely empty, fuelling the theories that some knights had been forewarned and had hidden the treasure. This is believed by many to have consisted not only of gold, but of various sacred objects including the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail.
Yet even though the persecution of the Knights Templar has become the stuff of legend, in actual fact only 150 Templars died under torture or at the stake. The vast majority - about 14,000, which included 1,000 knights - survived. It was only the ones who insisted that they were innocent that were condemned and killed. The ones who confessed were absolved of their sins and set free.
Persecution of the Templars did not extend beyond the borders of France. Many of them were allowed to join other chivalric or monastic orders, and in Spain and Portugal they merely changed their name and continued as before.
Yet the mystery that had always enshrouded them, the power that they had wielded for more than 200 years, their persecution in France and the disappearance of their legendary treasure all contributed to the mystery and the esoteric theories that surround them to this very day.
Some maintain that the order was kept going clandestinely. Others link them to the rise of Freemasonry. And no French secret society will be taken seriously unless it claims to have some sort of link with the Templars.
But what was this famed treasure? Was it really the Ark of the Covenant? Gold and precious stones? Or was it the Holy Grail, that object that has been throughout history both mysterious and elusive?
