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Hertfordshire's Templar mystery |
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The rise of Templar power
Jerusalem was won for Christendom by the men of the first crusade on Friday 15 July 1099, and as the historic recorder Robert the Monk noted at the time, it was a bloody affair: "The Moslems longed for wings to fly away, but nature having denied them wings; they could not escape a terrible death".
The 
The Dome of the Rock on Temple Mount, Jerusalem |
Knights Templar were the first religio-miltary order in the Middle -East, but were initially named "The Poor Knights of Christ". Their inception came in the aftermath of the first crusade which was embarked upon to regain the holy city of Jerusalem from the Moslems, who had held it for over 400 years.
Their name alludes to their historical headquarters in the, now Al Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount, above part of the stables remaining from Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. The Templars, as a monastic order, were committed to a life of spritual devotion set by the ruling of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, the founder of the Cistercian Order of Monks. The Templars very quickly came to wield great influence within international politics of the time.
The Catholic Church in Rome addressed a number of extraordinary Papal Bulls [official decrees from the Pope] to the Templars that granted institutional powers in the areas within which they were resident throughout Europe. 
Papal Bulls emanated from the Vatican |
The French Knights Templar commanded great respect in the royal courts, as did the English and Scottish Knights in their own countries.
The Templars became infamous with a ruthless reputation not only on the field of battle, but also within urban and commercial communities. Armed with the sometimes ill-gotten spoils of war, they established a banking system that was so well organised that it was utilised by other holy orders, and eventually by the nobility and even the monarchies of Europe. But, this strength was to prove a part of their eventual demise.
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