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Hertfordshire's Templar mystery |
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Their demise
Outremer (the Holy Land) collapsed in 1291 with the loss of Acre. It meant the demise of the four states of Antioch, Tripoli, Jerusalem and Edessa, which had already fallen in the mid 1100s - and with it, the Templars lost both influence and pride – they eventually withdrew. 
The Knights Templar were the protection force for the Holy Land Pilgrims |
There is no doubt that the fortune and power amassed from their incursions in the Holy Land since their humble beginnings two centuries earlier had made many monarchs and citizens jealous.
A series of verbal attacks was levelled at the various religious orders and in particular the Knights Templar, by a renegade member knight, Esquiu de Floyrian to Philip the Fair. He implied that the holy order of knights had engaged in blasphemy, idolatry and sodomy. Initially, instructions were given by Philip the Fair to prosecute the Knights as individuals, but it became clear that the downfall of the Order was the eventual aim.
Over a period of months, the French Templars were subjected to severe torture in prisons, and all but three confessed under duress. Although the faults and excesses of the knights were grounds for complaint, if they were legitimate, the Knights were still revered for their great services to the pilgrims in the Holy Land.
According to Grand Prior, Simon Le Fevre, the last medieval Grand Master, Jacques 
The Knights Templar eight poited cross was one that was feared
© Courtesy Denys Le Fevre |
de Molay - an Englishman despite his Norman French name - was burnt at the stake in Paris while protesting the innocence of the Order. (A contemporary document recently released to academic researchers by the Vatican Department of the Secret Archives suggests that Pope Clement V agreed that the Order was innocent of the charges.)
Philip the Fair was not content to prosecute only the French Knights. He wanted every member of the order in Christendom arrested. He succeded in persuading other European royal courts to take the same hard line as he had. In England, while at first refusing to believe the accusations, Edward II reluctantly followed papal instruction and issued orders for the arrests of members of the Templars on 8 January 1308 – similar instructions were delivered to the King's officers in Scotland Ireland and Wales. Scores of the Templars managed to evade arrest and went into hiding and in doing so, they had to hide most of their wealth which had been ammassed from their forays in the Holy Land.
Your comments
1 Peter Rhodes from Hitchin, Hertfordshire - 16 January 2004
"One legacy of the Knights Templars is the Royston Cave in Hertfordshire. It was discovered over a century ago and can be visited in the summer months. It contains many carvings of saints, apostles etc.
"
2 Carl Sprake from Oxford - 16 January 2004
"Interesting article. However, some of the pictures are misleading. For example the one shown on the second page and captioned "The Knights Templars were the protection force for the Holy Land Pilgrims", shows two men in full 15th Century armour. Since the Templars were disbanded in the 14th century this photo is wrong.
"
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