Unveiling their Secrets: The Mysteries of the Knights Templar | Extra Long Documentary

NARRATOR: The Knights Templar. A secret brotherhood born in the throes of the Middle Ages, only to vanish after two centuries in existence. (Ominous music playing) Of these men who left their mark on history remains the legends that made them famous. Their white overcoats bearing the iconic red cross. The riches they amassed. Their discipline and ferocity in battle. These were the elite troops, the special forces of the 12th century. NARRATOR: After 1,000 years, mysteries still surround the myth of these soldiers of Christ. FEMALE VOICE: Are they priests? Are they monks? Are they knights? What are they?

An English chronicler called them "a certain new monster." (Heroic music playing) NARRATOR: Who was behind the creation of the Order of the Temple? What was its mission? And how did the Templars become so powerful so quickly? By the end of the 12th century the Templars had become an international organization. NARRATOR: Thanks to experts on the Order of the Temple, along with an investigation where the only written evidence of this period is kept, we discover the birth of a legendary brotherhood, a unique paradox of men simultaneously monk and soldier. (Speaking French) It's truly unheard-of, that there's

a military code within a religious rule. (Speaking French) There were Christian thinkers who felt it was an abomination to try to bring together prayer and battle. (Epic music playing) NARRATOR: From the arid lands of the East to the royal courts of France and England, discover the rise of the first Templars. See how they rallied the Pope, kings and people all across Europe to their cause. People began to offer huge sums of money, large numbers of donations to the Templar Order. (Speaking French) The county of Champagne, Burgundy, Ile de France, saw the birth of networks of

Templar houses and commanderies ever 30 to 40 kilometers. It was completely unprecedented to become that powerful, that quickly. NARRATOR: This is the story of the birth of the Knights Templar, a handful of men who transformed a simple brotherhood of soldiers into a religious order prepared to reign over Europe. (Flames crackling) NARRATOR: Jerusalem. It was here, in the heart of the Middle Ages that the first Knights Templar emerged. At the time, only a handful of knights. Nearly destitute. But all are of great piety and have been trained in combat. Sworn to dedicate their lives to a

new cause: protection of the Holy Land, and of the Christian pilgrims who come there to worship. (Solemn music playing) To understand the origins of their existence, we must go back to the end of the 11th century. At the time, the religious world was divided. In the west, the vast majority of Europe was under the authority of the Christian church and the Pope. Islam dominates North Africa, southern Spain and the Near East while the Turks threaten the Byzantine Empire and its capital Constantinople, territory of the Orthodox Church. With Pope Urban II's call to action the First

Crusade witnessed thousands of Christians marching across Europe to reconquer the Holy Land. After three years of violent fighting these crusaders reclaimed many possessions, in particular the city of Jerusalem, where Jesus Christ was crucified and where his tomb lies. They got to Jerusalem in the summer of 1099 and camped outside the city walls for about a month, laying siege to Jerusalem, and once they breached the city walls in July, there was a bloodbath. It was said that blood was running knee-deep. This could be a medieval exaggeration. Medieval chronicles are prone to exaggerate the scale of carnage,

but it was pretty bad. Muslims were slaughtered. NARRATOR: The First Crusade gave birth to the Crusader States: the county of Edessa, the principality of Antioch, the county of Tripoli and the kingdom of Jerusalem. SEAN MARTIN: The irony was that after this three-year epic journey, with tens of thousands of people laying waste to various cities, a lot of them just went back to Europe after that. (Rumble of marching feet) NARRATOR: At the dawn of the 12th century, the security of these Crusader states, threatened from all sides, rested on only a few knights of very diverse backgrounds,

who chose to settle there. (Chattering voices) The challenge facing those who remain in the east after the First Crusade is to try and turn their fairly small territorial gains into permanent territories that can last in the long term. From a military perspective, they have enemies in Damascus who can raise armies of several thousand troops. And in Aleppo, a slightly larger army, and also Fatimid, Egypt which can raise about 15,000 troops. Given that the Crusader States, in the early years, can't put together more than a few hundred knights with a slightly larger contingent of infantry, that's

a very serious challenge. (Dramatic music playing) NARRATOR: In Jerusalem, Christian pilgrimage is on the rise and is organized by the authorities of the Holy City: The King of Jerusalem, the Latin Patriarch at the head of the church, and the Canons of the Holy Sepulcher which govern religious life in the city. MAN SPEAKING FRENCH: The Holy Sepulcher is the church that is located at the site of both the crucifixion and the burial of Christ. It's a church that attracted Christian veneration early on, and therefore it's the Holy Sepulcher which happens to be the main church of

Jerusalem. And therefore it's around the Holy Sepulcher, the Patriarch and the Canons, that the church of the East is really structured. NARRATOR: At their side are the members of the Order of the Hospitallers of Saint John of Jerusalem, to help welcome pilgrims and care for the sick. But guaranteeing their safety is becoming increasingly difficult. MAN SPEAKING FRENCH: Pilgrims arriving in Jerusalem were under constant threat of guerrilla raids from ambushes, so all pilgrims arriving in Jerusalem could be attacked in the vicinity or near the Holy City. The outskirts of this holy land were by no means

safe. (Dramatic music playing) NARRATOR: At the time, the Knights Templar didn't yet exist. The soldiers charged with the safety of the pilgrims were called the Milites Sancti Sepulcri. The Knights of the Holy Sepulcher. (Speaking French) It's a brotherhood of armed civilians who organize themselves to protect the Holy Sepulcher. To protect men, and to protect property throughout the kingdom of Jerusalem. The milites sancti sepulcri are neither part of the Canonical Order of the Holy Sepulcher nor of the Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem. It could be said that the milites sancti sepulcri, who are committed

to protecting pilgrims, to protecting canons, to defending, if need be, those areas which may be insecure, are in a kind of dual dependence. They are dependent on the Canons who direct their spiritual life, and dependent on the Hospitallers of Saint John of Jerusalem who maintain and nourish them. NARRATOR: Among these Milites Sancti Sepulcri, one knight will claim his independence. His goal is to form a more powerful group. A hybrid order, which no one had ever dared to imagine before. Soldiers of a new kind, both religious and warrior. This knight is the founder of what will

much later be known as the Order of the Temple. His identity and history are mentioned for the first time in a 12th century chronicle written by Michael The Syrian, patriarch of the Jacobite church of Antioch. MALE VOICE: At the beginning of the reign of Baldwin II, a Frenchman came from Rome to Jerusalem to pray. He had made a vow not to return to his own country, but to become a monk after having helped the King in the war for three years. Along with the 30 knights who accompanied him, he would spend the rest of his

life in Jerusalem. When the king and his barons saw that the Frenchman and his knights had achieved remarkable things in battle, they advised the man to serve in the militia with his 30 knights and defend the place against bandits rather than become a monk in the hope of saving only his own soul. Now this man, whose name was Hugues de Payns, accepted this counsel, and the 30 knights who accompanied him joined and united with him. NARRATOR: Hugues de Payns. Born in the Champagne region around 1070, in a small village that he is named after, located

12 kilometers from the city of Troyes. He is a knight in the service of Count Hugues of Champagne. With his suzerain, Hugues de Payns will spend three years in the Holy Land at the beginning of the 12th century before returning to Europe. (Speaking French) Hugues de Payns led a family life. He had a wife and children. And then in 1114, touched by a deep piety that must have inhabited him for a long time, he went back to the Holy Land, and this time he left with the idea that he would never come back. (Inaudible) GHISLAIN

BRUNEL: Hugues de Payns is a military strategist, a defender of the Holy Land. He truly experienced what Jerusalem was, and it must have been a revelation. In Jerusalem, one could not be a knight like any other. One could only be a knight turned towards God, towards the service of Christ, so this idea must have germinated when he arrived in Jerusalem. NARRATOR: Over several years, Hugues de Payns refined his project. And in 1119, one event will change his destiny. (Epic music playing) On June 28th, 1119, Muslims of the city of Aleppo attack the Principality of Antioch.

The intensity of the fighting will be of such violence that the event will be baptized in Latin as the Ager Sanguinis: the battle of the Field of Blood. (Clatter of swords) It is Baldwin II, the new king of Jerusalem, who will come in person to repel the invaders. This battle reinforced the sovereign's belief that the threat to the Crusader States was becoming too great. (Speaking French) The new king, Baldwin II, realized that he needed more military presence than he had on the ground. He needed border guards, escorts on the roads to protect the pilgrims. He

needed additional forces. NARRATOR: It was on January the 16th, 1120 in the small city of Nablus north of Jerusalem, that a council was to take place that would change the course of history. Assembled around the King of Jerusalem, Baldwin II, and the Patriarch Gormond de Picquigny, the council brought together the main clergymen and nobles of the kingdom. On that day, the two men approved the project conceived by Hugues de Payns: The formation of a new order of knights, both religious and military, dedicated entirely to the defense of the Holy Land. (Speaking French) The opportunity was

seized by the King and the Patriarch together, to gamble that these knights could be operative, and the Patriarch played this game, which was not a foregone conclusion, because these knights who had gathered in the shadow of the Holy Sepulcher were empowered. They detached themselves from the Patriarch, they claimed to lead a religious life of their own, to no longer obey the directive of the Holy Sepulcher, but a master chosen from among themselves without ceasing to be what they were, that is to say, knights and warriors. (Dramatic music playing) NARRATOR: It is King Baldwin II himself

who will offer the members of this new order of chivalry a place to settle. This place is mentioned in another manuscript written by William of Tyre, known for being the first historian of the Crusades. MALE VOICE: Over the course of the same year, some noble knights devoted themselves to the service of Christ, and professed to live forever in chastity, obedience and poverty. As they had neither church nor fixed residence, the king granted them accommodations in his palace which was located near the Temple of the Lord. PHILIPPE JOSSERAND: King Baldwin II made a very strong gesture

by offering his palace to them in Jerusalem. Baldwin's palace actually extended south of the Esplanade of the Mosques, south of the Temple Mount. It extended into the area of al-Aqsa Mosque, the former palace of King Solomon. And so Hugues de Payns and his associates somehow took on the name by association, by calling themselves "The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon." NARRATOR: The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon. Later, this name will be shortened and the group will become one of the most significant orders in all history: The

Order of the Temple. (Dramatic music playing) Faced with the ongoing conflicts in the Holy Land, the members of this new brotherhood must now find a way to grow. The Templars in the 1120s, if they were going to expand what they really needed was troops, high quality recruits, money, and land in Western Europe that would supply the resources to carry on their vocation. NARRATOR: Hugues de Payns decides to return to Europe to embark on a vast recruitment and fund-raising operation. GHISLAIN BRUNEL: He went from country to country: France, Champagne, Flanders, England, to try to recruit and

promote his project. NICHOLAS MORTON: Seeking crusaders for the King of Jerusalem, he went into all the major courts of Western Europe. People began to get curious about who he was, what his order was trying to achieve, and when they found out, they were immensely impressed and began to offer huge sums of money. Large numbers of donations to the Templar order. So much so that it became very, very wealthy, very quickly. (Epic music playing) NARRATOR: But Hugues de Payns and the founders of the Order of the Temple know that to bring more men and money to

the Holy Land, they need to be recognized by the highest authorities of the time. In the beginning people were asking questions like, "Are they priests? Are they monks? Are they knights? What are they?" Because a priest, a monk, is not supposed to kill, but they are fighters, they are knights. GHISLAIN: There were Christian thinkers who considered it an abomination to want to unite prayer and combat under the same religious order. In his desire to consolidate the community, to transform it into an order, Hugues de Payns had to obtain the permission of the Roman Church and

therefore of the Pope. NARRATOR: To obtain the Pope's approval, Hugues de Payns will use his connections in a region close to his birthplace: Burgundy. His first wife, Emeline de Touillon, is a relative of the De Montbard family, in which we also find another man in ascendancy within the Christian church and recognized throughout Europe: Bernard de Fontaine, who later becomes Bernard de Clairvaux, and after he is canonized, Saint Bernard. GHISLAIN BRUNEL: Saint Bernard entered the order of Cîteaux and in 1115 he founded a new abbey, the abbey of Clairvaux. He also came from chivalry, from the

border of Burgundy and Champagne. So he had all the characteristics of a man of combat, with a great strength of conviction, a very great orator eager to lead an ascetic life, a rigorous life in the order of Cîteaux which was the figurehead of the church in the 12th century. Saint Bernard was already in 1129 a considerable figure in the church, a sort of moral figure of the kingdom of France, both for the clergy and for the common people. He saw in the Knights Templar not only a chance to support the continued defense of Jerusalem, but

he also wanted to reform Western European Knights. For over 100 years, before the First Crusade, one of the biggest problems facing the Catholic Church was to reform Western Knighthood. Knights were troublemakers. They fought vendettas against each other, they caused trouble, they were arrogant and proud. And so Bernard of Clairvaux saw in the Knights Templar the idea of using the Templars as a role model for Western Knights: "This is how you should be." Tried to steer them away from their internal feuds and into what he perceived to be a more Godly form of vocation. Convinced that

this new Order of the Temple represented an opportunity for the Christian church, Bernard de Clairvaux wrote a manifesto which would go down in history, entitled, "In Praise of the New Chivalry." MALE VOICE: This is a new kind of militia, which fights a dual battle against flesh and blood, and against evil spirits. They live without wives or children, dwell under one roof, have no property of their own. They have no fear of sin by killing an enemy, because it is for the sake of Jesus Christ that they give or receive the blow of death. They are

more gentle than lambs, and fiercer than lions, so much so, that we do not know whether to call them monks or soldiers. (Bell tower ringing) MARINA: What is stated in his De laude novae militiae was of course justification of the killing of the enemy, but it wasn't just that. What is most important is the opposition that he makes between two types of chivalry. The profane chivalry, where the knights are rich or seek after richness and fight for it, and love their beautiful dresses, their beautiful horses, and another kind of new chivalry. This new chivalry was

impersonated by the Templar Knights, that really don't care about richness, individual richness, of course... And they put their lives and all they have in support of Jerusalem, the Holy Land, and Christianity in the end. NARRATOR: On January 13th, 1129, the authorities of the Christian church, under the direction of Bernard De Clairvaux, organized the Council of Troyes, bringing together a representative of the Pope, members of the clergy, nobles and representatives of the Order of the Temple. During this council, the very first rule of the Temple was enacted and put down in writing. Today, only ten original

copies remain in the world. Among them is this work, written in old French and kept in the National Library of France. (In French) The manuscript first contains the Rules of the Temple, which continues through page 13 and 14. Then there's a list of celebrations that the Templars received from the Pope, and then the bulk of the manuscript is formed by the rules of the Temple. So, for all of the Temple's legislation. This allows us to say that the manuscript belonged to the Templars. It most probably even belonged to an important house of the Order, because

it is a beautiful manuscript, with a beautiful layout, with the watermarked letters in red and blue. So this is something important. (Pounding drum beat) NARRATOR: In the beginning of the book we find the names of those who participated in the council. The first is perhaps the most important: Cardinal Matthew of Albano, a representative of the Pope. The following is a list of people gathered in the cathedral of the city of Troyes, among them, important religious leaders: The archbishops of Reims and Sens, the bishops of Soissons, Paris, Troyes, Auxerre and Beauvais, eight abbots, including of course,

Bernard de Clairvaux, noblemen such as Count Thibaut of Champagne, and William, the Count of Nevers. At the end are named the six Templars present at the council of Troyes, among them, Brother Hugues de Payns, master of chivalry. (Orchestral music playing) On the 12 pages of manuscript, written on goatskin parchment, are all the recommendations of the Council of Troyes for members of the Order of the Temple. The rhythm of prayers when they're in battle, the care required to give their horses, or the food they are advised to eat. MALE VOICE: You are to eat meat three

times a week. NARRATOR: Everything is accounted for down to the last detail. Because unlike monks, the knights cannot fast or be lacking in sleep. They must maintain their strength to be ready for battle. MALE VOICE: The brothers who are exhausted from the great services rendered to the order can avoid getting up for the night prayers, with the permission and discharge of the master. It's a really incredible and innovative thing, the fact that inside a religious code, there is a military part... There's even a military code which is integrated perfectly inside of a religious order. A

little further, reads... that the participants in the Council of Troyes, will bring the Christian church into a new era. MALE VOICE: We believe that this new kind of religious life was born in the holy land thanks to divine Providence. This means that this armed knighthood can, without committing a sin, kill the enemies of the cross. For this reason, we deem that you have the right to be called "Knights of the Temple." For the first time, the church formalizes the idea that one can kill in the name of Christ, and that its armed branch in the

holy land has a name: The order of the temple. It was the Council of Troyes which marked the birth of the Order of the Temple, and transformed the community gathered around Hugues de Payns in Jerusalem, into a structure of the Latin church. To some people the idea of the Knights Templar was actually almost heretical. One of the English chroniclers by the name of Henry of Huntington called them, "A certain new monster." The Council of Troyes therefore marks a new era for the Order of the Temple. And the fame of these new knights of God immediately

spreads throughout Europe. After the council of Troyes everything changed, rapidly, because this new order looked interesting to the western world. Especially of course to the aristocracy of the western world that had found a way to invest their donations in something that was different from the traditional monastic orders. Donations began to grow, began to increase. They grew constantly and quickly in very few years and in the 30's already they are powerful in the East. They are starting to build power in the West, too. They became Europe's first standing army since the days of the Roman Empire.

Rome had collapsed in the fifth century so it's the first standing army in about six or 700 years. This was a really radical shift. You had a permanent military force in the East defending Christendom, defending Christian interests. Once the donations of land and money came in, they were able to train men up to fight. A medieval knight was the equivalent of a modern-day tank or something. A fully armed knight on a warhorse was an awesome figure to behold. You needed to run. These were the elite troops. The crack troops. The Special Forces of the 12th

century. It was at this time, the first symbols of recognition of the Templars were born on which their legend of outstanding fighters would gradually be built. The initial knights weren't visually impressive at first, the Poor Fellow Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon. They were literally poor. They had nothing. Just the clothes they wore, their swords and a few horses. So after the Council of Troyes, you get massive donations of land and money and all of a sudden they become vastly wealthy. So the white surcoat is part of this new look. We would call

it maybe a rebranding but to a medieval person white would symbolize purity. This long white mantle with the Red Cross on it is precisely the mark of the commitment that was made, since this Red Cross recalls the blood shed by Christ for the redemption of humanity, therefore the commitment of a brother of the Temple in his turn to lay down his life and shed his blood to defend the land of Christ and the kingdom of Jerusalem. The mission of the Knights Templar is to defend the Holy Land. They must not only know how to fight,

but also how to make new weapons organize their movements, and build strongholds to defend pilgrims. Thanks to the donations, the Order of the Temple recruits. The Templar Order essentially has three grades. The most famous are the brother Knights. To be recruited as a brother Knight in Western Europe someone would normally be of Aristocratic background... they'd have been trained as a Knight, so they'd already have the skills to perform the functions of a Templar Knight. If you were not from an elite background, but from a free background, perhaps from an artisan family or from a family

of merchants you would generally enter the Templar Order as a Templar Sergeant. Templar Sergeants could fight, but it's from their ranks that Templars recruit their ship builders, their carpenters, their estate managers, people with specific trade skills. The third type is brother priests who have been ordained as a priest, and act as chaplains to the order. When the applicant enters the Temple he commits himself to a number of things and the obligations take place in the framework of a ceremony. The absolutely decisive moment is when the Templar's mantle is put around the neck of the candidate.

Here, he truly enters the brotherhood of the Temple. And then, immediately, he swears to respect the vows of chastity, poverty, obedience and he also swears to fight by all means in his power, for the holy land. We sometimes refer to this as the fourth vow, it's something quite essential because a Templar of any kind, knight, sergeant, or chaplain, whether in the West or in the East, ideally competes in the defense of the Holy Land. It's an entry into brotherhood, an entry into an Order, hence the importance of the mantle, the importance of the sword and

the importance of the oath. Gradually, Templar houses called "commanderies" were created in Western Europe. The brothers live there by scrupulously respecting the guidelines of the Temple by pursuing only one mission: To prepare to fight in the East and to grow the wealth of the Order to finance the Holy War. A commandery is a large building with a residence, with common buildings, a granary to store crops, and above all, a chapel. The commandery is where the chaplain officiates, and performs the canonical services for all the brothers. The county of Champagne, Burgundy, Provence, Auvergne, Ile de France

saw the birth of networks of Templar houses and commanderies every 30 to 40 km. The network formed quite quickly during the 12th century. The commanderies and Templar houses are also used to recruit locally. Their establishment, their impact, their daily relationship with the populations also served to feed this recruitment. In 1136, Hugues De Payns, the first grand master Templar dies after returning to fight in the East. He is replaced at the head of the Order by Robert de Craon who brilliantly organizes the operation and management of the commanderies which continue to develop thanks to donations. 10

years after the Council of Troyes, events are accelerating. On March the 29th, 1139, Pope Innocent II writes a papal bull which will go down in history. A document which bears his seal and is baptized "Omne Datum Optimum," the 3 Latin words with which it begins. MALE VOICE: Every good grace and every perfect gift descends from above, from the Father of Light, with whom there is no change or shade of variation. We exhort you to fight the enemies of the Cross with ardor, and as reward, we allow you to keep for yourselves all the spoils that

you have seized, without anyone having the right to claim a share of them. And we declare that the order of the Temple, with all its assets acquired by the bounty of the popes, the kings and the princes, remains under the protection and guardianship of the Holy See. According to this text, not only can the Templars preserve the wealth accumulated during battles against Muslims in the Holy Land but they place themselves under the authority of one person: The Pope himself. MALE VOICE: No one can force you to pay tithes, but we confirm to you the possession

and enjoyment of the tithes given to you with the consent of the bishops. So that you may have the fullness of salvation and care for your souls, for the practice of the Divine Offices and giving of the ecclesiastical sacraments, you may admit clerics and priests. We grant you the power to build chapels in all the places attached to the temple, so you and your relatives may attend services and be buried there, for it is bad for your morals if the brothers of the temple, on their way to church, should mingle with crowds of sinners and

those who keep company with women. The order of the Temple will no longer pay tax to the church, will have the right to collect tax without going through the bishops, train its own priests, build its own churches, and anyone who questions this protection of the pope will be excommunicated. The Templars were not subject to the authority of other churchmen, no Archbishops, no Bishops, except for the Pope himself. This gave the order a great deal of freedom of movement, at least within the church hierarchy. It also stirred up resentment among the Archbishops, and other members of

the church, who felt the order had too much independence, and wasn't responsive to their leadership. Over the following years, successive popes will further strengthen the privileges given to the Templars. In 1144, the faithful were expressly asked to contribute to the mission of the Knights Templar. It was stipulated that the Pope would grant his forgiveness to the benefactors of the Order of the Temple. MALE VOICE: He who has provided them with the goods God has entrusted to them and who has established a bond with such a holy brotherhood and allowed them to make a profit each

year, will receive a reduction of one seventh on the penances he has incurred. Huge tracks of land were given them by kings all over Europe. But even small grants of land like estates, farms, water mills, things like that. If somebody wanted to donate to the order, they would accept everything. No donation was too large or too small, because it was all with the greater good of keeping the Christian kingdom in the East going. It was very good for a Christian to donate to an order like the Templars, it was good for your soul and your

afterlife, it minimized your time in purgatory and ensured you went to the right place when the time came. In 1145, a new papal bull gave the Knights Templar the right to bury their brothers in their own cemeteries and to travel freely throughout Europe. So from 1129 to 1146 we could compare them to a corporation or a business going from a small startup to a multinational in 17 years. Even today that is quite impressive. It was completely unprecedented for a small group of people to become that powerful so fast. It had never happened before. But while

the Templar enterprise develops quickly in the West, in the East, the situation in the crusader states has deteriorated. Defeated in Damascus in 1129, in Ba'rin in 1137, in Tecua in 1139, and especially in Edessa in 1144 where it is said that 30,000 Christians were massacred. The failures of the Crusaders mount one after another. These weren't the setbacks of the Templars but of the army of the kingdom of Jerusalem which were starting to integrate within it perhaps a few dozen Templars, but these setbacks were bitter. The Templars still lacked influence within the army and the qualities

of Order and discipline that we know of them were not really imposed. In the face of these defeats and the threats to Christians in the East, Pope Eugene the Third decided to act. With the papal bull "Quantum Praedecessores", he called for a new crusade. Bernard de Clairvaux himself is in charge of mobilizing the population. On March the 31st, 1146, at Vézelay in Burgundy, he preached the journey to the Holy Land by promising to those who would take up the cross, the absolution of all sins. Among the many sovereigns from all over Europe who joined the

2nd crusade, was Louis the Seventh, King of France, and his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine. To help in their endeavor, they turned to those with sufficient means: The Knights Templar! In 1147, Louis the Seventh requested funding from the order of the Temple and he entrusted them for the first time with his treasure. They already have resources to help the king with his crusade, arming ships, etc. These are the Templars who served as scouts, protectors, guides, along the road, and the crusade route is challenging for Louis VII. They suffered very harsh Turkish attacks and it was the

Templars led by marshal Evrard des Bars who will become grand master, who saved the royal army. Louis VII is not the only one to embark on the Second Crusade. Conrad the Third, King of Germany, also made his way to the Holy Land with nearly 20,000 men at his side. But from the first months of combat, the armies of the two kings suffered great setbacks against the Muslims. Mount Cadmus... Dorylaeum... Inab. Defeats follow, one after another. And the deaths pile up. Financing these losing battles is beginning to cost the two kings dearly. So, to find the

necessary money, Louis VII needs help. He will turn once again to his new allies, the Knights Templar. When the Crusade gets into difficulty in 1148, Louis turns to the master of the temple and says, "Can you help us?" So the Grand Master goes off in his ship and gets the money from a Templar stronghold. This is the first time we see the Templars acting effectively as bankers supporting European kings. They're not just supporting the interests of the Church and fighting for Christ and defending souls. They are now, by the time of the Second Crusade, also

financially very powerful. And literally funding the Crusade. Despite financial assistance from the Knights Templar, the troops of the King of France and the King of Germany were unable to recover any territory from their enemies. After three years of fighting, the two sovereigns give up. A crusade for nothing. Which will nevertheless benefit the Order of the Temple. The second crusade was a total failure. It ended with nothing at all. Mostly because the presence of Conrad III and the King of France revealed to be a problem. They disagreed on almost everything. They made all the possible wrong

choices like taking the siege of Damascus which ended up badly for the King of France with a lot of money spent. He had to ask the Templars for money in order to go back to France. The defeat of the second crusade probably helped the Templars. They had lent money to the King. They were the forces that surely ended well in the local situation. The Knights Templar had shown by loaning money to the King of France, and also reorganizing his army at one stage, they had shown how effective they could be. This would not be forgotten

by future Kings of France. The Second Crusade will be a resounding military failure. And Louis the Seventh returns to France in 1149 greatly weakened financially, and diplomatically. However, his ordeal contributes to the growth of the legend of the Knights Templar. He returned from the Holy Land with a lofty idea of what the knights of the Temple were like. For him, this order shines over the whole of the earth, and it has no equivalent in his mind. He gives them income in money from his tax revenues, he cedes to them the villa Savigny that becomes the

great commandery of Savigny le temple. This is a king who shows the same fascination of the sovereigns for the beginnings of the Temple, since it is less than 30 years after its creation, and the King of France is truly an unconditional ally of the Knights of the Temple. During the Second Crusade, the Templars were able to supply their own contingents to go on crusade, whilst continuing their work in the crusade estates they were also able to afford massive loans to the King of France to support the King of France's Crusade to the Holy Land. By

the end of the 12th century the Templars had become a huge international organization. We don't know precisely how many members they had but there were probably about 600 fighting brother Knights in the crusader states. But with a much larger contingent of infantry and other employees and followers. In Western Europe they'd have had possibly an even larger number of brother Knights, brother Sergeants, and other personnel all there to facilitate the supply of resources to the Holy Land. The Templars developed this reputation for avarice, but I think they were just very good businessmen. At the beginning of

the 2nd half of the 12th century, the order of the Temple will grow even more powerful. Supported by Popes and Kings, the Order accumulates considerable wealth, building commanderies in the West, and castles in the East. Its ranks will not cease to grow. The reign of these new knights of Christ was only beginning. Jerusalem, mid-12th century. Since the taking of the city in 1099 by the Crusaders, the Christian armies attempt to preserve their possessions in the Holy Land. At the time, the eastern Latin states, located along the Mediterranean Sea, consisted of the principality of Antioch, the

county of Tripoli and the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Surrounded on all sides and facing increasingly powerful enemies, fighting in the region is permanent. Among the knights present on the battlefield, certain warriors donning white coats emblazoned with a red cross stood out: the Knights Templar. Both monk and soldier, they are members of a brotherhood created at the beginning of the 12th century under the high authority of the Pope himself: the Order of the Temple. - (Horses neighing) - (Men shouting) Their mission: to defend Christians on pilgrimage to the Holy Land. In just 30 years, this new breed

of knights had become increasingly popular among the kings and peoples of western Europe. NICHOLAS: In western Europe at this time, knights were extremely competent on the battlefield, but they were also perceived to be arrogant. They might embark on things like single-handedly attacking an enemy's line, they might refuse to adhere to orders. The Knights Templar weren't like that. The fact that they were also religious by their vocation meant they were a lot more sober in their conduct of war. They were just as competent, they trained the whole time, but they were a much more disciplined formation

of troops. They didn't break ranks. They were expected to work in very close formation, to fight in a sober but very intense manner. They weren't there to show off, they were there to conduct that role. The various Muslims commanders generally viewed the Templars as the most dangerous troops in the crusader states. An indicator of just how feared they were as soldiers is that often, after a battle, all the Templars were executed. The Muslim commander couldn't keep them alive, they were too dangerous. VO: At their head, is a knight referred to as the Grand Master. The

first of them, Hugues De Payns, founder of the Order of the Temple, died in 1136. Robert de Craon and then Evrard des Barres succeeded him. In 1152, a fourth Grand Master was elected at his turn: Bernard de Tremeley. It was he, who in 1153, was to distinguish himself in a battle that became famous: the capture of Ascalon. At the time, the city was a Muslim enclave within the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Attacks could therefore be easily launched from Ascalon against the Christian states. For five months, the army of the Kingdom of Jerusalem tried to retake the

city. The troops were composed of a motley mix of Latin soldiers who occupied the Holy Land, and members of military orders of the time. Among them, several hundred Knights Templar had come to lend a hand to the army of the King of Jerusalem. (Dramatic music) (Distant shouting) PHILIPPE (in French): Ascalon was a Fatimid shield that protected Egypt, in a way. And the Christians really wanted to consolidate the southern border of Jerusalem and had long held the idea to take it over. NICHOLAS: In 1153, the Kingdom of Jerusalem besieged the city. The siege, at the start

of this, went very badly. It was when the commander was beginning to discuss whether it could succeed at all. They decided to stage a final assault. The Knights Templar went in first. (Distant commotion) PHILIPPE (in French): The Templars entered through a breach, but they entered alone. The Muslims, once the Templars entered the city, closed in around them. It is believed that about 40 Templars died in Ascalon following their master Bernard de Tremelay. (Tense instrumental) (Shouting) (Final grunt) (Eerie music) PHILIPPE: So, the Templars paid a very heavy price to take Ascalon. But Ascalon was obviously an

important moment and since so much has been said about this battle, no doubt much has also been said about the driving and leading role the Templars played there. VO: The Second Crusade and the taking of Ascalon would further advance the fame of these Knights of Christ, ready to die to protect the Holy Land. PHILIPPE (in French): In the second half of the 12th century, the Templar began to take an increasingly important place in the armies of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and other eastern Latin states. The Knights Templar from the middle of the 12th century onwards

gained considerable popularity in the West. For the faithful, praying in a Temple church, being buried in a Temple cemetery, associating with a brotherhood linked to the Temple are all pious deeds, they are meritorious acts. One hopes in this way to achieve one's salvation, all the more so if the Order of the Temple is committed to the defense of Christ's heritage, to the defense of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. We see more and more donations coming in, a heritage is being built up and networked commanderies are being set up in many parts of the West, which is

proof of the popularity of an Order that more and more writers and thinkers in the West are beginning to talk about. (Mysterious music) VO: In Paris, in the vaults of the National Archives, there are millions of documents, classified by date and relating the history of France. Perfectly preserved documents have recently been found from reserves dating back to the 12th century. They have provided new evidence of the frenzy of donations to the Templars that took hold in Europe very soon after the creation of the Order. (Fast-paced stringed music) The first document dates from 1144. It is

an appeal for donations from Pope Celestine II. GHISLAIN (in French): Here was an edict from the Pope indicating that the Templars are the defenders of the faith in the East but that they don't have enough income. And that in order to carry out their expeditions, they need the faithful to contribute to providing them with what they need. It allows all those who give of their own possessions, their own goods, their own money to the Order of the Temple to have a pardon of one seventh of the penances they would have to make for their sins.

This is the purpose of this appeal to the people, a generalized contribution incentivized a little bit. VO: The Order of the Temple thus receives donations from all parts of the population. The Templars themselves contribute to the development of their institution by renouncing their possessions in favor of the Order. This document shows a knight who has just entered the Temple in the Holy Land and who decides to give up his lands in Picardy. (Reads) "In the name of the holy and inseparable Trinity. Amen. I, Raoul de Ressons, for the salvation of my soul and my family,

have pledged to God and to the house of the knighthood of the Temple, 80 hectares of land. I have conceded that they freely possess it forever, in peace. From here, I receive the garments of this same house and give myself as its servant." GHISLAIN (in French): This document is very rare, it's both the contribution of a small knight from Picardy and also the entrance to the Temple of this knight. This act indicates that he entered into the Order of the Temple. We have someone who was on a crusade, he left with all the king's army,

with his Count Raoul, Count of Soissons and then he entered into the Order of the Temple. He gave what he had, a land very far from Jerusalem. So, it's really a document that came back from the Holy Land. It's super spectacular, extremely rare. (Arabic style music) VO: French nobles also participate in the fundraising. The proof is this document dating from 1159 and signed by Henri II, Count of Champagne. He decides to make his contribution in cash. (Man reads) "I, Henry, Count Palatine of Troyes, notify the present and future, that my father Count Thibaud had given

seven silver marcs to the brothers of the Temple. I, for the salvation of his soul and mine, have given to them £24 from the tax of Troyes, 12 from the Saint-Remi fair and 12 from the Saint-Jean fair. I granted them that they shall possess these in perpetuity. And in order that this may be established, I have commanded that it be written down and that it be confirmed by the imprint of my seal." GHISLAIN (in French): The ' tonlieu' is the tax that weighs on sales and purchases. It's a trade tax, in fact. Champagne fairs are

booming, they are very rich and it gives them a very precise annual income, which allows them to accumulate cash each year. VO: The people, the knights, the nobles but also the kings. Richard I, known as Richard the Lionheart, King of England at the end of the 12th century, will also be a fervent defender of the Templar cause. GHISLAIN (in French): It is one of the rare documents of Richard the Lionheart, King of England, Duke of Normandy. who validates of all the goods of the Order in Normandy since he's the Duke of Normandy. (Man reads) "Richard,

by the grace of God, King of the English, Duke of Normandy and Count of Anjou. We confirm the donations made to the brothers of the Knights Templar of Solomon's Temple in Normandy: land, villages, or men. They will pay neither tax duty nor tolls on passage. This act is addressed to the archbishops, bishops, seneschals, my agents and my faithful throughout Normandy." GHISLAIN (in French): This act was implemented in this form or in the form of authentic copies to all the financial and administrative institutions of the Duchy of Normandy. (Dramatic music) This set of documents clearly shows

the convergence of protections. In each kingdom the sovereigns provide protection and donations and within each principality, each county, there are particular donations that are made according to the income that can be mobilized for the Templars. A whole system that is both political and economic set up and emanating from authorities at very different levels. VO: Thanks to these donations, the network of Templar commanderies, where the members of the Order responsible for growing the assets of the Temple live, is being rapidly expanded. Over time, the leaders of the Order of the Temple learn to function as administrators

of these properties and land holdings. (Dramatic music) GHISLAIN: There were many donors with varied types of properties: a plot of land here, a large farm there, sometimes with geographical variations. And so they had to manage this in an organized way, so over time, we see there are regroupings of properties, exchanges of land. There's a parcel that suits us better here, so we give up another one there. It was something very common. The commanderies were also established near land that could be easily developed. They used the road networks, the river networks, not only for hydraulic equipment,

but also for navigation, possibly on rivers. The roads allowed them to move their goods more easily to the Holy Land through the ports of Marseille, Aigues-Mortes, Montpellier, the equipment, the horses and all the men. They still had to be close to transportation networks because the ultimate goal was to draw all these products to the ports of the Mediterranean. NICHOLAS: We don't know how many commanderies the Templars had but somewhere in the region of 900 seems reasonable. These would have been spread across Europe from Scotland in the North right the way down to southern Italy or

the Christian Kingdoms of Spain. GHISLAIN: In each of these commanderies, you have 30, 40, 50 people so we're talking about literally thousands. SEAN: We could think of the Knights Templars as having some eastern and western flanks to it. The Order in the East was a military operation designed to defend the Christian Holy Land. In the West, however, the Templar properties weren't military bases at all. They were financial centers where they'd generate the wealth to support the operations in the East. There was kind of a combination of military in the East and business in the West,

effectively. They were sheep farmers. They were very heavily involved in agriculture and the cloth trade. They ran orchards, tile factories, water mills. You name it, the Templars were involved. If there was a way of making money in the West, the Templars would be involved. It sounds like they're very financially greedy but they weren't. They were astute businessmen and did everything to support their crusading in the East. VO: In England today, there are still today traces of the many Templar commanderies such as the Cressing Temple. One of its barns is known to be the oldest wooden

barn in the world. PHILIP: Cressing Temple was the first domain that was given in England to the Templars. It was donated in 1137 by Queen Matilda. It quickly became one of the biggest and perhaps the most important domain in England. It comprised of 700 acres of land. It's situated in a strategically important point, it's in Essex. so it's halfway between London and the port of Harwich. It was one of the most important ports in that period. (Dramatic music) VO: After the Cressing Temple, donations from English aristocrats to the Temple Order continued to flow in. Commanderies

then appear in the counties of Essex, Lincolnshire, Norfolk and then gradually throughout the English territory. PHILIP: It was the 13th century that saw the peak of the donation period. Henry III of England, in particular, was a keen supporter of the Templars and more and more nobles were mimicking the royal behavior. We can say that the Order possessed the single largest number of landed estates in England. They had 141 domains all over England and Wales. We're talking about something that comprises at least 60,000 acres, out of which 30,000 acres were under direct cultivation. The Templars were

one of the richest institutions in England. They were really trying to maximize profits of productivity on local domains. They were exhibiting a similar mentality and behavior to what we see today in the 21st century. These were very rational corporations that were bound to invest and maximize the profits through very rational types of behavior. On each manor, you would have a special officer called a bailiff or a steward that was in charge of agricultural activities and sowing local crops, overseeing livestock. He was also responsible for marketing the produce, both the arable produce and the livestock produce.

(Mysterious music) VO: In the National Archives of England, located in Kew near London, are the only archives from this period that give a precise idea of the holdings of the Templar commanders and the money they generated each year. This information, written in Latin, was kept on scrolls of sheepskin parchment that have been preserved over the centuries. Much like accounting ledgers, these scrolls contain all the details: the quantities produced and the sums of money spent and collected by the commandery. PHILIP: Every domain has its own clerk recording what was going on there. The bailiff would tell

him how much was made this year, how much was spent this year, how much was harvested this year, how many new animals were born, how many animals died, how many animals were purchased, how many were sold, and how many were transferred to other places. The clerk would just record it in a very meticulous manner. Those clerks were very well-trained writers. They would be usually using a goose feather. They would dip it into an ink, usually a brown color, and they would execute it in very fine calligraphic script. Once the entire membrane would be covered, they

would be given another membrane. Once the whole account would be ready, they would just stitch several membranes together and would create this huge roll. VO: Here the accounts of the commandery of Temple Bruer in Lincolnshire in the east of England. PHILIP: The domain of Temple Bruer in Lincolnshire is located on a little bit of infertile land which is much better suited for livestock rearing rather than crop production. (Man reads) "We harvested 73 quarters of wheat, three quarters of rye, 40 quarters of barley, 46 quarters of dredge, and 162 quarters of oats." PHILIP: Even there, we

see that they were able to diversify the crop production. There were some pockets of wheat, barley, rye, and especially oats, because on this type of land you really want to concentrate on oats as much as possible. But it was the livestock sector that played an enormously important role on that particular manor. Temple Bruer was the single richest manor in terms of the number of sheep. It stocked 4,500 sheep which was a really remarkable number. Sheep were very, very profitable because English wool was one of the most sought-after commodities. It was both relatively inexpensive and of

fine quality. It attracted lots of merchants, especially from Italy. VO: Another account roll from an area also located in Lincolnshire shows that the English Templars were not content to sell their products only in local markets. They were also present on the international trade market. (Man reads) "We produced 3,002 fleeces of wool which together weighed 5,000 pounds." On this scroll, for example, the buyer of the wool is specified: the company, Ballardi, "one of the most important Italian wool merchant families of the time." With the sales of these products, each Templar commandery generated considerable revenues. (Man reads)

"In that year, we made £315, eight shillings, eight pence and a quarter." PHILIP: If we take all the landed estates of the Templars in a given year, in an average year, you would expect the Templars to generate the income of approximately £4,500 a year. This is something that can be translated into a six-digit figure today in contemporary money. We're talking about something that could, in some years, actually exceed how much the king would've made. NICHOLAS: The Knights' possessions in western Europe and in the Crusade estates were truly substantial. They had enormous land holdings making them

one of the largest landowners anywhere in Western Christendom. Their incomes were truly substantial, far greater than that of most kings. VO: The income of each English commandery was transferred to the headquarters in London at Temple Church, where the Order's possessions were consolidated and accounted for. Over the years, the members of the Order of the Temple improved their expertise in economic development and the management of their money. So much so, that they became bankers to the kings. (Tense instrumental) SEAN: They kept their accounts with scrupulous care. They were very cautious with their investments etc. And they

also worked really hard as well. The Templars have been described as being the one medieval institution that did the most for the rise of modern capitalism. That sounds a bit materialistic, but if you think about it, the Templars were sworn to defend the Holy Land and everything they did had that aim in mind. That was their official raison d'être, defending the Holy Land. NICHOLAS: The Order didn't just bring together people who wanted to fight, it brought together people from a range of different backgrounds including people who had various trades or artisan skills, and indeed skilled

with money. With this, they were able to develop their estates, conduct huge building programs, but also to become very able financiers, so able, in fact, that they were employed by the kings of France and England to run their treasuries. PHILIP: The Temple Church, in the eyes of the Templars and also in the eyes of the royal family and nobility, would be considered as a safe deposit box. You could either deposit your own valuables, your money, your jewels here, and you can be quite sure that they're in good hands, but also all the profits in money

flowing from different estates would end up here. GHISLAIN (in French): Obviously, there were escorted convoys with safes, hutches, as they were called, made of wood with the cash inside which were transported from financial center to financial center. VO: In France, as in England, money circulated from the commanderies to the regional financial centers and then to Paris. This is where the headquarters of the Order was located, in the Temple tower. GHISLAIN (in French): There was a central treasury at the headquarters of the Order where they had both cash and precious materials, relics. The great tower of

the temple in Paris served as a sort of safe for several depositors, the king first of all. Everything that was not spent on site in the provinces and that came back from the bailiffs and the guards of the kingdom, went back to Paris and was stored in the Temple tower. The policy of the French sovereigns towards the Templars didn't change one iota throughout the 12th and 13th centuries. That is to say, for Philip II, who entrusted them with his treasure definitively, and all the other sovereigns like Saint Louis, the king's treasure was kept in the

Temple tower. That's where the money was taken and where it was brought to. And also, in the only accounting that remains for the end of the 13th century, we see that apart from the king, there were about 60 depositors. So, private depositors put their money in the Temple tower out of convenience, as the management was also carried out by the Temple brothers on site. VO: This document dating from the 13th century is one of the rare few that survived. (Man reads) "I, Brother Jean de Tour, treasurer of the house of the Temple of Paris, certify

that we have received and kept in deposit from the executors of the will of Mr. Jean, Cardinal of Sainte-Cécile, the sum of £9,000, a sum which the same cardinal bequeathed in his will on condition that £3,000 be allocated to support operations in the Holy Land." VO: This is a receipt, signed by the treasurer of the Tower of the Temple, which certifies the deposit of £9000, a sum equivalent to 250,000 euros today. These few lines are enough to imagine the amount of money that the Templars managed. GHISLAIN (in French): We never knew how many people, but

some receipts show that there were probably several accountants on site, apart from the king's accountants who were still there managing the king's money. But the brothers of the Temple had several agents on site who daily take care of collecting and disbursing the necessary sums to their so-called clients. (Fast-paced drum instrumental) VO: The purpose of this financial organization is to fund the needs of the war in the Holy Land. GHISLAIN (in French): These funds are sent to the East from Paris. So, they go through the Mediterranean ports, they're sent to Marseille or Montpellier and from there,

they're shipped by boat. VO: The establishment of secure financial transport networks and safes within depository banks enabled the Templars to set up an innovative system, specifically intended for pilgrims to use on their journey to the Holy Land. SEAN: They developed credit notes where you could treat the Templar's as a bank. You could deposit money in a Templar preceptory in Paris and when you went on pilgrimage, you could go to Jerusalem. You go to the Templar house in Jerusalem and say: "I've deposited certain numbers of livres in Paris. I need to get money out to fund

the rest of my pilgrimage." VO: Thanks to this deposit system, the pilgrim could travel without risking being robbed on his journey. (Arabic style music) And in this way, the Templars make pilgrimage to the Holy Land simpler and, above all, safer. With a network of strongholds scattered throughout the region, the Templars are able to fight against enemy attacks. SEAN: They were able to hire the best architects and masons and they ended up building what are masterpieces of medieval military architecture. Castles like Atlit, for instance, possibly the Templar's most celebrated castle, was actually a fortified peninsula. It

was completely impregnable and it even withstood attack while it was still being built. That was how strong it was physically. The walls were something like 15 feet thick. This was a way of announcing that the Templars were the mightiest power in Christendom that wasn't a king. They were a real force to be reckoned with. These castles were incredibly strong. NICHOLAS: Templar castles take many forms. (Heroic music) You've got the really big frontier castles, which were there to protect against attack or to act as staging points for invasion. You've also got many castles away from the

frontier too. Often these could act as estate centers, the middle of large agricultural lands, and a consolidation point for those areas. VO: Trapessac, Chastel Blanc, Chastel Hernault, Château Pèlerin, Safed. There are dozens of Templar fortresses throughout the region. Today, remains of the Templar Knights can be found in Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Cyprus, Jordan, Syria and Turkey. These traces testify to the power of the Order of the Temple in the Holy Land at that time. PHILIPPE (in French): The most exposed border crossing in the 12th century, where the Knights Templar had many fortresses, was located in the

north of the principality of Antioch, in a region called the Amanus Mountain, on the borders of what is now Turkey and Syria, where the Knights Templar had established at least half a dozen castles. On the pilgrimage route that connects the port of Jaffa to Jerusalem, the Templars are known to have separated their fortresses in a regular fashion - about a day's walk between each of them. VO: But despite the large sums of money accumulated in the West, the need for funding for the war in the East continues to grow. The Latin states are under constant

threat of attack. And with more threats comes the need for more knights, more food, more weapons, and more castles to build, fortify and protect. NICHOLAS: The cost of maintaining the numbers of Knights, the Crusade estates as well as their engagements elsewhere was absolutely enormous. The build cost of a single Templar castle was 1.1 million bezants. In modern day money that would run to billions, but we're looking at sums substantially larger than the incomes of an average king to build that one castle. The Templars owned tens of castles in the Crusade estates. That's before we start

talking about the ports they have to maintain, the pilgrimage routes, the troops, their estates and the other things that have a call on their finances. (Arabic style singing) VO: At the end of the 12th century, the military situation is increasingly tense. Especially because in the midst of all the Muslim forces tearing each other apart in the region, a new leader is on the rise: Saladin. Born in present-day Iraq, Saladin is the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty that succeeded in unifying Egypt and Syria and in conquering Yemen. He quickly establishes himself as the main threat to

the eastern Latin states, and in particular, to the Kingdom of Jerusalem. MARINA: Probably the Kingdom of Jerusalem was not his main goal. But when he conquered Egypt, of course, this strip of land that included the Kingdom of Jerusalem was already surrounded by the Muslims. So, it seemed really difficult to provide defense for it. VO: At the time, the King of Jerusalem was called Guy de Lusignan. The kingdom is composed of several fiefdoms, each controlled by its own lord. Among them, the Lordship of Oultrejordain. At its head, Renaud de Châtillon, known for his acts of violence.

In 1187, he attacked a Muslim caravan of civilians who passed through his territory on their way from Cairo to Damascus and plundered all their property. This event triggers the anger of Saladin himself. To take revenge, he orders an attack on the fortress of Kerak, capital of Oultrejordain. The King of Jerusalem senses that the situation could escalate. He turns to his closest advisor. Gérard de Ridefort, 10th Grand Master of the Order of the Temple. PHILIPPE (in French): Gérard de Ridefort was a very important man in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Faced with the threat posed by Saladin,

Guy de Lusignan sent Gérard de Ridefort as his ambassador to the Count of Tripoli. VO: The king of Jerusalem aims to form an alliance with the Count of Tripoli to confront Saladin. But on his way, Gérard de Ridefort will prove to be reckless. (Horses neighing) Over-confident, he attacks a Muslim contingent by mobilizing only 140 knights. Badly underestimating the situation, he finds himself up against a force of 7,000 men. The battle, named after the Springs of Cresson where it takes place, is a true massacre. PHILIPPE (in French): The defeat was total, most of the Templars engaged

- about 80 brothers - died, and very few escaped, including the Master. VO: Gérard de Ridefort, far from the teachings of his distinguished predecessors at the head of the Order of the Temple, decided to listen only to his pride. Offended to have been defeated in battle, he pushes Guy de Lusignan, King of Jerusalem, to counterattack. As Saladin's troops besiege Tiberias, the Christians make their way to the city to challenge them. PHILIPPE: Guy de Lusignan therefore went on the offensive, deciding to go after Saladin with the entire Jerusalem army, up to 20,000 men maybe. They engaged

in very steep, very dry regions in the middle of summer between Sepphoris and Tiberias. And there, they were surrounded by Muslims. VO: It is in Hattin, near Lake Tiberias, that one of the bloodiest battles of the 12th century will take place. Exhausted and parched, the Christian troops are far too weak to hold their own against Saladin's men. PHILIPPE (in French): On July 4, 1187, the battle opened at Hattin in the worst conditions for the Christians. (Distant neighing) (Distant shouting) The Templars showed a certain heroism but their defeat was total. There were many dead, and even

more prisoners. MARINA: We know that a lot of the courtesans around Saladin took an order to behead Templars that had fallen into their hands. (Solemn music) This is probably because they were perceived as fanatics for their religion, for Christianity. PHILIPPE: The Templars were executed by Saladin, but the master was taken into captivity in Damascus for Saladin to use him as a bargaining chip so that the brotherhood would hand over the fortresses of Gaza and Daron. That's how, in 1187, the Kingdom of Jerusalem collapsed within a few months, and the master of the Temple at the

time, Gérard de Ridefort, carries in this debacle, a significant share of responsibility. NICHOLAS: The Kingdom of Jerusalem only had one army. It didn't have the depth of military manpower to be able to raise new forces. At Hattin, the Christian army wasn't simply defeated, it was annihilated. There was nothing stopping Saladin from conquering the remainder of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and Jerusalem fell a few months later. VO: Less than a century after Christians took Jerusalem in the First Crusade in 1099... the Holy City again fell to the Muslims. NICHOLAS: When news of the loss of Jerusalem

at the battle of Hattin got to western Europe, it caused a tremendous outcry. The Pope is said to have died from the shock. (Solemn music) VO: In Jerusalem, Christians are forced to leave the Holy City and the residence of the Temple takes on the name: Al-Aqsa Mosque. MARINA: After the battle of Hattin and the fall of Jerusalem, all the Christian forces, especially the Templars, were at their lowest point. They needed more people from the West in order to help to restore the power locally. So, this was the first task of the Order. To sustain the

few that were still there and to enforce them. They needed help to survive. (Tense drum instrumental) VO: This help will arrive thanks to the Third Crusade. Financed by a tax christened "the Saladin tithe" and collected by the Templars themselves, this crusade mobilized thousands of men. Philippe II, King of France, arrives in the Holy Land in April of 1191 with six boats. Richard the Lionheart, King of England, arrives in June with 200 ships and a load of gold. As soon as he arrives, he manages to have one of his closest advisers, Robert de Sablé, elected as

Grand Master of the Order of the Temple. (Dramatic music) VO: For several months, the crusaders fought against Saladin's troops to recapture the lands lost after the battle of Hattin. During this third crusade, the island of Cyprus fell into the hands of the Christians who also managed to retake several cities along the coast: Ascalon, Jaffa, Arsuf, Caesarea, Tortosa, Maraclea and, above all, Acre. But Richard the Lionheart and his army fail to retake Jerusalem. NICHOLAS: The Third Crusade was neither a success for Saladin or for Richard. On one hand, yes, Saladin had retained Jerusalem, and therefore that

was his big goal. But on the other hand, the cost of maintaining his hold on Jerusalem had been extreme. Viewed from Richard's perspective, it also wasn't a success. He hadn't gained Jerusalem, that was the big objective. VO: On September 2, 1192, Richard the Lionheart and Saladin signed the Treaty of Ramla. The Kingdom of Jerusalem is restored but without Jerusalem. Acre becomes its capital. (Mysterious music) Saladin dies the following year. Throughout the 13th century, the Templars in the East tried at all costs to defend this strip of Christian land along the Mediterranean coast between Antioch and

Ascalon. NICHOLAS: While the Templars are trying to defend what's left of the crusader states, the West continues to flourish, at least in the early 13th century. The Templars are able therefore to send more money, more troops to the East. However, in the second half of the 13th century, particularly with the rise of a new force called the Mamluks in Egypt, increasing pressure is put on the crusader states, slowly they begin to fall into decline. SEAN: They'd been slowly losing land throughout the 13th century ever since Saladin took Jerusalem in 1187. In fact, the Christian kingdom

had been shrinking. VO: Despite their prestige in the West and their devotion to defending the Holy Land, despite the money and troops that continue to arrive in the East, the Templars lose more than they gain. In the West, the first rumblings of criticism emerge. Matthew Paris, an English Benedictine monk and renowned historian of the 13th century, recounts some events during which the courage of the Templars was indeed called into question. In this text, Mathew Paris claims to re-transcribe the words of the Count of Artois, who was engaged in the attack on the city of Mansourah.

According to him, the Templars refused to lead the attack at his side, preferring to wait for the rest of the troops to join them, sparking his fury. (Man reads) "Oh, ancient Templar treachery! Oh long-concealed fraud, how openly it erupts now! This whole land of the Orient would have been won long ago, if the deceit of the Temple and others who proclaim themselves religious, had not impeded us laymen. The Knights Templar and their accomplices are afraid that their dominance, fattened with rich incomes, will eventually expire." VO: In the West, the wealth of the Templars is beginning

to vex. Several archives attest to the tensions between the aristocrats and the Templars. Here, Louis IX, King of France, recounts a conflict between the Knights Templar and Thibaud IV, King of Navarre and Count of Champagne, over their acquisitions in the county of Champagne and Brie. (Man reads) "I, Louis the IX, King of France, declare that peace has been restored between our dear cousin, Thibaut IV, King of Navarre, and the Templars. And that the Templars shall never again make acquisitions in his county of Champagne and Brie, nor in his fiefdoms without his consent." VO: In this

additional document, Amaury de la Roche, commander of the Temple in France in 1268, agrees to pay a tax which was, until now, exempted. (Man reads) "I, Brother Amaury de la Roche, Commander of the Temple in France, declare that Thibaut IV, King of Navarre, Count of Champagne and Brie, has granted us an exemption from tax on the transport of 40 barrels of wine to Provins. We accept that if these 40 barrels are exceeded, we will pay the tax according to the custom of Provins." NICHOLAS: During the 13th century, the donations continue to come in, but criticism

also begins to take root. Some landholders become very antagonistic towards the Templars. They see the Templars as pushy landowners. Infringing their rights, causing trouble in the West. (Men shouting) The Templars are also being defeated a lot on the crusades and that too doesn't pass unnoticed. Why should we send money to them when they keep losing? Their vacation, the conquest or retention of Jerusalem, is slipping away. So, the Templars task is to prove that they still have a reason to exist. VO: At the end of the 13th century, the Knights Templar, who still have considerable resources

in the West, want to believe that a Christian presence in the East is still possible. Created to protect the Holy Land, the Knights Templar must continue their mission at any cost. If they fail, the Temple Order might simply disappear... forever. Acre. A city in the eastern Mediterranean, situated north of Jerusalem. In the month of April, 1291, the Mamluk Sultan, Al Ashraf Khalil, lays siege to the city with his army of 220,000 men. Inside, are 30,000 inhabitants including 14,000 soldiers and a few hundred Knights Templar. These fighters are members of the Order of the Temple, a

brotherhood born at the start of the 12th century. Their mission: To defend Christians in the Holy Land. But nearly 200 years after their creation, and despite eight crusades, Christian holdings in the east have largely disappeared. Surrounded by Mongols and Muslims of the Mameluk Dynasty, they are under constant attack. Acre is one of the last major Christian cities in the east. And it is here that the seat of the Templars has been for a century. (horse whinnying) (swords clanging) On May 18th, 1291, the Sultan's soldiers launch the assault. Guillaume de Beaujeu, Grand Master of the Order,

dies in battle. Ten days later, Acre falls to the Muslims. The Holy Land was lost. The last Christian stronghold. It was at its greatest extent probably in the early 1140's. Ever since it had been getting less and less Christian as they lost land and lost cities. The loss of Acre was a disaster. Everybody was slaughtered. The fall of Acre in 1291 is the end of the crusader states. The few towns that are left to the crusaders on the coast, they are evacuated almost immediately afterwards. At the end of the summer of 1291, the Muslims retake

all Christian holdings in the Holy Land. The surviving Templars retreat to the island of Cyprus, which becomes their new headquarters. The Templars' retreat to Cyprus was not the end of their struggle for the holy land. They soon started to lay plans seeking for options for getting back. When they left Acre, the Knights had already planned their departure, and the Order's treasury had been evacuated. The Order's archives had also been evacuated. And in Cyprus, a new Grand Master was elected in the early spring of 1292, Jacques de Molay. Jacques de Molay. 23rd Grand Master of the

Order of the Temple. Now, in his 40's, having spent 20 years fighting in the Holy Land. Jacques de Molay is a warrior, this is not a man of diplomacy, he is not good at politics, he is a soldier. He believes the Temple Order can have only one mission: The war to defend Jerusalem, and the faith. As the Knights Templar suffered a total rout, Jacques de Molay now has an immense task ahead of him. The Templars were founded as a crusading order to defend the Holy Land, so the loss of the Holy Land meant that the

Order had no reason to exist, effectively. (music reaches a crescendo) As early as 1293, Jacques de Molay travelled throughout Europe to convince the Pope and the kings that it was possible to reconquer the Holy Land. For 15 years, he worked tirelessly to maintain an armed presence on the island of Cyprus, ready to go back into battle. In 1306, an event will alter the status quo. The new Pope, Clement V, commissions Jacques de Molay to write a report on the necessary conditions for possibly launching a new crusade. When Clement the fifth wrote to him in 1306

to ask his opinion on a new crusade, we can assume he was very happy with the circumstances, that this policy he had supported for about 15 years was going to have a successful outcome. This report is kept at the National Archives in Paris. The words of the Temple's Grand Master are clear: De Molay believes Christians can return to the Holy Land. "...We must organize a great crusade to destroy the enemies of the Christian faith. If we could have twelve to fifteen thousand knights and five thousand foot soldiers, with the help of God, we will be

able to recover the entire Holy Land. I also recommend that you arm ten ships as soon as possible. I will arrange for money to pay the fees..." With his field experience, he knows that small expeditions will not overcome the enemy and it will take an army of boats to retake enough positions. He sends a report to the Pope, and leaves Cyprus in late 1306, arriving in France in early 1307. Jacques de Molay arrives in France, ready to do anything necessary to promote his new crusade. Although he does not know it yet, he will never again

return to the east. He is the 23rd Grand Master of the Order of the Temple, and he will be the last. Behind Molay's back, two men have been plotting in secret over several months to realize one of the most Machiavellian plans in history: To bring down the Order of the Temple. (dramatic horn music) These two men are Philip IV, King of France, also known as "Philip the Fair" and Guillaume de Nogaret, his closest adviser. (music reaches a crescendo) At the time, Philip the Fair has been king for over 20 years. He is known as the

"Iron king". The personality of Philip the Fair was a mystery perhaps even more impenetrable than the mystery of the Templars. A man of terrifying intransigence and an appalling temperament. Philip is both authoritarian and a propagandist. He manipulates public opinion. A modern king. Alongside Philip the Fair is Guillaume de Nogaret. Guillaume de Nogaret is a very versatile royal civil servant. He manages economic affairs, financial affairs, politics, conflicts with local churches, with bishops. He's a kind of an all-round Prime minister who has a global vision of the kingdom. The reasons which drove these two men to destroy

the Order of the Temple were multiple. The first, and most obvious, was money. Philip the Fair had a very aggressive territorial policy, both towards the South and Lyon and towards the North and Flanders, so he is in a permanent war in the early 1300s with Flanders and the Flemish nobility, and this costs him lots of money. In 1307, France was on the verge of bankruptcy. The king was in debt up to his neck with foreign bankers. The French Crown's finances were weak and the Templars were a source of wealth. If he can take the Order

down, he's got access to their money. Or that's what he thought. For Philip the fair, given the disastrous finances of his kingdom, the money of the Knights Templar represents a windfall. However the main reason which drove him to attack the Order of the Temple is more political. What the king is seeking at the beginning of the 14th century, is to assert his authority at any cost, over his country, and to the detriment of one man: The Pope. The Order of the Temple is a means for Philip the Fair to obtain above all else, what he

has sought since the beginning of his reign: Absolute power. Philip the Fair is trying to create a new kind of state where the king is above anyone. Which means that a king is the main power in his land and that he receives the power directly from God. Not from the Pope. There was no need for the middleman, the Pope as a middleman between God and the King. Of course, the Templars could not fit in this new modern world new vision. They were a part of the past. If Philip's looking for a way to erode the

powers of the church, perhaps the Templars, with a substantial presence in the kingdom of France, become a viable target, particularly given the collapse of their position in the crusader states only a few years previously. The Temple Affair was devised by the French monarchy to weaken the Papacy. It was aimed against an Order dependent on the Pope alone, which is the best hope for the Holy Land and one of its privileged creatures. To take down the Templars, Philip the Fair and Guillaume de Nogaret carefully formulated their plan. Several months before Jacques de Molay's return to Europe,

they secretly warned the new pope, Clement V, that scandalous rumours were circulating about the Order. According to these rumours, the Templars were actually heretics. Heresy is one of the most terrible crime that there was, it is a crime against faith. The Templars were accused of denying Christ, of maintaining initiation ceremonies where one would encourage the brothers to indulge in sodomy with each other. The Templars, instead of fighting for the faith, would offend it on a daily basis. Rumours had been circulating for most of the time the Order had been going. Whether there was any truth

to them or not. They were also fanatically secretive. They were in their own bubble of privilege. So, once these accusations started to filter out, I think the secrecy again worked against them because people didn't know what they did in their initiation rituals. Guillaume de Nogaret collects testimonies, accumulates false evidence and constructs arguments: a list of possible accusations against the Knights Templar. It is in 1306 that all these accusations, these rumours that are circulating will grow and grow. Arriving in France, Jacques de Molay hears of these rumours, but is unaware they originate from the king himself.

He senses that his order of knights is threatened. He decides to counterattack. Jacques de Molay asked the pope for an inquiry, led by the pope himself, into the honour of the Order. De Molay was warned something was going on, but because he was a lifelong Templar, he thought they were untouchable, and for 200 years they had been. They were answerable only to the Pope. I think Jacques De Molay underestimated Philip the Fair. He thought, "Well, we're Templars. Nobody can touch me except the Pope." But what Jacques de Molay doesn't know, is that Philip the Fair

and De Nogaret have no intention of waiting for Pope Clement to investigate. In the greatest secrecy, they have already drawn up an arrest order. Several original copies of this order are kept in the National Archives in Paris. Written in Latin, the words were chosen with the greatest care. And the charges are extremely serious. In the arrest order, five main justifications are advanced. First, something implausible that happens during the initiation of a new Templar. "...A brother who is received is led behind the altar. The master then shows him the cross, the figure of our Lord Jesus

Christ, and makes him spit on it three times..." Secondly there were some other troubling practices for the candidate to be a new Templar. The officiant making him a Templar kisses him on the back, just above the buttocks, a very bizarre, obscene kiss. Thirdly, Templars would be encouraged at their initiation to engage in homosexual practices so as not to unite carnally with women. "...The Master tells him that, according to their statutes, if a brother wants to sleep with him carnally, he is obliged to accept..." They were advised to commit a classic heretic crime: sodomy. They are

also accused of worshiping an idol, something in the realm of witchcraft and magic. And the final justification: The brother chaplains of the Order would not consecrate the host at members' communions, meaning, not an orthodox practice during a mass. A set of heterodox practices is swept away to justify an accusation of heresy. "Whereas the truth cannot be fully discovered otherwise, and since a vehement suspicion has spread to all, we have decided that all members of the said Order of our kingdom shall be arrested, without exception whatsoever, held prisoner and reserved for the judgment of the Church,

and that all their property, movable and immovable, shall be seized, put under our hand, and faithfully preserved." The arrest order indicates that the operation must remain an absolute secret. On September 14th, 1307, the Royal Order was sent to all regions of France and delivered in person to the bailiffs and seneschals. The king's representative officers had to prepare one of the greatest police operations of the Middle Ages. One month later, throughout the kingdom of France, and at precisely the same time, the king's police arrive at each commandery of the Order of the Temple. The Templars were

arrested suddenly on the orders of Philip the Fair on Friday the 13th of October 1307. It is thought to be the origin of Friday 13th being unlucky. It certainly was for Templars in France. They were all arrested at dawn throughout France. It speaks of considerable preparation and considerable logistics, because the Templars didn't see it coming. Jacques de Molay, the 23rd Grand Master, is also arrested. The soldiers appeared at dawn on October 13th, at the gates of the temple, a fortified district just outside the French capital, and arrested all 138 Templars that were present. From that

moment on, Philip The Fair and Guillaume De Nogaret knew that what they were doing was outside the law. Philip was technically acting outside his jurisdiction. The Templars were an order of the church; therefore, he had no right to arrest them. But he claimed to be acting in the church's interests by arresting the Order. That was how he justified it. In anticipation of any reaction from the Pope, the King's men must obtain quick and incontestable confessions. To achieve this, Philip the fair and De Nogaret have an unmatched method: Torture. (fire crackling) (gasps) The interrogations begin on

October 15th, 1307. They weren't officially supposed to spill blood. (ropes creaking) (groans) So they would use the rack. People were stretched or arms would be dislocated. (rope creaks) (groans) Squeezing fingers with pliers and so on. (cries) (screams) Although they couldn't cut somebody open, they could do pretty much everything else. It was nasty. The record of the interrogation of Templars arrested in Paris is preserved in the National Archives of France on a scroll of 44 goat skins, sewn together, and on which are transcribed the confessions of the prisoners. On the scrolls, the royal notaries in charge

of writing the report are identified. We have a very short summary of an interrogation with three questions that come up: Did they spit on the cross of Christ? (screams) During their initiation ceremony, did they kiss the candidate on the top of their buttocks? (screams) Were they instructed to unite carnally with other knights? (screams) So, to be clear, they are fabricating mass confessions in order to be able to take legal action afterwards. In the middle of the scroll is the interrogation report of the most important prisoner of the investigation: Jacques de Molay. "In the name of

Christ amen, may it be known to all that the year of the Lord 1307, the 24th day of this month of October, appeared before us Brother Jacques de Molay, grand master of the Knights of the temple, present in person, who swore on the holy gospels of God to speak the truth pure, simple and in its entirety." Even today, no one knows how badly Jacques De Molay was tortured to make him say the following words, transcribed in the interrogation report of the King's notaries: "I, Jacques de Molay, was admitted to the Temple at Beaune 42 years

ago. And the one who admitted me brought a cross and commanded me to deny Christ whose image was there. And I, reluctantly, did so. I was commanded to spit upon the cross, but I spat on the ground. Only once. I was never told to unite myself carnally with brothers and I never did." Jacques de Molay agrees to say, or rather said under torture, that yes, he was asked to deny Christ, and that he did so and spat on the cross. That was enough for Guillaume de Nogaret to say: "The Grand Master of the Order of

the Temple has confessed". Depending on the Templar's level of resistance to torture, they almost all confessed. In Paris, of the 138 Templars interrogated, only 4 refused to confess to the crimes they were accused of. 121 confessed to having denied Christ. 111 to having spat on the cross. 109 to having carried out the obscene kiss above the buttocks. Elsewhere in France, some Templars also confessed to having worshipped an idol called Baphomet. What is a Baphomet? We don't even know! The descriptions given tell us everything. It could have feet, or not, have two feet, have four feet,

be bearded, be oozing, have two faces... We are in perfect confusion, which shows the imagination of the inquisitors. In all the regions of France without exception, all Templars will confess to one or more crimes of heresy. You could say: "the sheer number of confessions proves that some must have been guilty". Or say: "They're being tortured of course, they will confess." The link between torture and the guilty verdict is strong. The Templars said what Philip wanted to hear. Thanks to all these confessions extracted under torture, Philip the Fair and De Nogaret achieved their first victory. They

announce to all of Europe the result of their investigation: the Templars are heretics and must be eradicated. Pope Clement V is cornered. Although the King of France has acted outside of the law, these confessions are far too serious for the Pope to stand by and do nothing. On November 22nd, 1307, he publishes the bull "Pastoralis Preeminentie" which is addressed to all the Christian kings of Europe. "I, Pope Clement the fifth, demand and exhort that Your nobility prepares to give the order to seize all the Templars of Your territory, as well as their movable and immovable

goods, on the same day." Clement V was confronted with an almost impossible situation. The Templars had already been arrested, many of them had confessed under torture and he probably was trying to save at least a part of the Templars as well, because the Templars of France, they were already condemned, and there was no way for them to avoid the trial, and for many of them, death. The rest of Europe's sovereigns are sceptical of the Templar's guilt. Although members of the Order are arrested, and tried in the different countries the conclusion nearly everywhere is the same:

No one finds anything to reproach the Knights Templar. When the papacy starts the trial across western Christendom, the Templar are put on trial in multiple countries, in England and the kingdom of Aragon, parts of Germany, Italy and elsewhere, the main finding from all of this is that no Templars confessed. In Spain, the king and the population defended their own. There was a trial but no defamation. In Venice, the trial was in the hands of the Doge, who said: "Ours are very honourable". We are absolutely sure that they are not heretics. And there was not even

an arrest. The king of Cyprus defended his own. The most glaring example is England. The police were unable to cross examine and obtain a confession. There had been no torture and no work by the interrogators. But Philip the Fair and De Nogaret had no intention of letting other countries' investigations disrupt their Machiavellian plan. The machine had been set in motion, and there was no stopping it. It didn't really matter if the English Templars weren't admitting to heresy, the guys in France were and that was enough. During the first six months of 1308, the King of

France and his lawyers put pressure on the Pope. They insist on the seriousness of the confessions obtained and assert again and again that the Templars are guilty and that the king has acted in the interest of the church. The Pope is not fooled, he suspended the interrogators of the kingdom of France. We therefore had a sort of balance of power that was established in the spring of 1308 between the Pope and the King of France. This is the period of tension where everything is played out. In the summer of 1308, Clement V decides to take

back control of the legal situation. He appoints interrogators to interview the Knights Templar and asks Philip The Fair to let them see the prisoners. The King of France's men selected 72 prisoners to send to Poitiers for questioning. The highest dignitaries, including Jacques De Molay, are interrogated in the royal fortress of Chinon. (dramatic music) In the Vatican's apostolic archives, which holds all the documents of the history of the Holy See, the reports from the cardinals in charge of the investigation of the Templars can still be found. The exchanges between the investigators and the prisoners are recorded

on these pages. "When they asked him, seeing he regretted his actions, why he had agreed to do things that went against his faith, he said that to enter the order, it was an obligation." In the margins, are still some notes indicating "Sodomy" "Initiation rite" "Idol worship" The Pope's men try to determine whether the crimes alleged by the French king are true. However, Philip the fair authorized the cardinals to question the Templars only in the presence of his men. Threatened, the prisoners are incapable of denying heresy. All confess. The Templars who speak know the Royal Police

are watching them and they will be returning to the Royal Prison, so considering the torture and the torments they have endured, it's likely they did not try to retract their confessions, and in the end, they took the established line: confessing the minimum, but only to be left in peace. When the Templars were interrogated in the spring of 1308 in Poitiers, the Pope realized that all the inappropriate gestures, which formed the basis of the accusations, belonged to a practice. The document says: "usus ordinis nostri" or "modus ordini nostri", therefore a practice, a rite like in the

military, but which had no connection with theology or heretical doctrines. So the Pope was convinced that yes, the Templars may have been guilty of several faults because they tolerated these inappropriate ceremonies, but that these faults were not of a heretical nature. At the end of these interrogations, Pope Clement V decides to write down his decision concerning the dignitaries of the Order of the Temple seen by his Cardinals in the prison of Chinon. The original of this document, entitled "The Chinon Parchment" remained lost until the early 21st century. The statement leaves no room for doubt. Pope

Clement V gives absolution to the highest members of the Order of the Temple. The wrongs they had allegedly committed are thus forgiven, and expunged by the Pope himself. "For Jacques De Molay, Grand Master of the Order, we have decided to grant him absolution according to the canonical form of the Church, we bring him back to the unity of the Church, we bring him back to the communion of the faithful, and we allow him once again to have the ecclesiastical sacraments." The pontifical commission in charge of instructing the trial of the Order of the Temple was

set up in 1309. Its members heard hundreds of prisoners who returned to testify, but this time not before the King of France's police, but before of the men of the Holy See. As they can testify freely without being tortured beforehand or being held by the royal police, most of the Templars retract their confessions, tell how their initiations take place and all seems normal. Dozens of Templars testify before the Commission, describing to the cardinals the tortures they suffered and the deprivations to which they were subjected. Locked in a well without food or water, they lost their

flesh, they bled, they tell all their tortures. This is totally contradictory to the first interrogations and the Templars admit none of the things they're accused of, because they say that these are false accusations. (music reaches a crescendo) Little by little, the defence of the Templars is organized. Faced with the increasing number of retracted confessions, Philip the Fair and Guillaume De Nogaret decide to strike back. Hard. Philip the Fair and his legal experts seized upon this saying that these Templars who had confessed had been reconciled, and now that they denied, they have thus relapsed. They returned

to their heresy. And for returning to their heresy, they deserve to be burned at the stake. (crowd cheers) In May 1310, 54 Templars who retracted their confessions were burned at the stake at Porte Saint-Antoine in Paris. (crowd cheers) (music reaches dramatic crescendo) The movement to defend the Order of the Temple launched by the Templars, individually, stopped overnight. The threat of burning Templars who retract their testimonies had worked. No one wants to defend the Order anymore, no one wants to tell the truth. King Philip the Fair had already won. (fire crackles) (crowd cheers) Philip the Fourth's

early executions were intended primarily to put pressure on the papacy. He was telling the Pope that he wasn't going to back down and to accept the fact that the Templars would be found guilty. The Templar affair becomes far too embarrassing for Clement V. In spite of his conviction that the Order is not guilty, the persistence of the King of France directly threatens the Pope's legitimacy. Pope Clement realized that the damage had been done. The accusations were so outrageous and had spread around Europe pretty quickly. Everybody was shocked to hear that the Knights Templar, the great

Christian knights, the summit of crusading zeal were doing all of these strange and very unchristian things in their initiation ceremonies and their spiritual practices. On October 16, 1311, the Council of Vienna convened. Its 170 members rule on the culpability of the Knights. A commission reviews all records of the trials against members of the Order across Europe. But Philip the Fair aims to prevent that the Templars be recognized as innocent. He goes in person to apply pressure on the Pope. Six months after the beginning of the Council, Clement V capitulates and stops the trial. He is

the superior of the Order and therefore, he alone decides to suppress it. The Pope couldn't save the Order. I think he reluctantly said: "we have to wind the Order up." Clement really had no choice but to dissolve the Order. Philip the Fair was breathing down his neck the whole time. I think that the Pope tried to make the whole affair die down. In order to do so, he had to sacrifice the Templars that were already condemned. It was more convenient for the church, that they disband somehow. On March 22nd, 1312, the pope signs the papal

bull "Vox In Excelso" officially dissolving the Order of the Temple. "Considering the grave scandal this has brought to the surface and the evil deeds perpetrated by many brothers, I have decided to abolish, not without bitterness and pain, the Order of the Knights Templar, its state, its uniform and its name, and I subject it to a perpetual ban, expressly forbidding anyone from now on to enter this Order, to wear its uniform and to impersonate a Knight Templar. Anyone who contravenes this prohibition will incur the sentence of excommunication." Less than two months later, the bull "Ad Providam"

stipulates the decision taken by Pope Clement V, regarding the possessions of the Order. "All their belongings, overseas or on the continent, in any part of the world, their villages, lands, barns, places, rights of justice, income and all other movable and immovable possessions that depend on the Templar Houses are to be turned into the Order of St. John of Jerusalem." It is therefore not the King of France who recovers the Templar's possessions but another religious military order called the Order of Saint John Of Jerusalem. (music reaches a crescendo) 192 years after its creation in 1120 in

the Holy Land, and less than 5 years after the spectacular arrest of all the Templars of France by the men of Philip the Fair, the Order of the Temple disappears. Two years later, the fate of the dignitaries of the Order must be decided. Among them: Hugues de Pairaud, leader of the Order in France, Geoffroy de Gonneville, Master of the Order in Aquitaine and Poitou, Geoffroy de Charnay, Master of the Order in Normandy and the 23rd and last Grand Master, Jacques De Molay. Jacques de Molay has been waiting since his arrest to see the Pope in

person, he has remained silent saying: "I am waiting to talk to the Pope and to explain to him why I acted." But the Pope won't be coming. Instead He sends his cardinals to communicate his judgment to De Molay and the last dignitaries of the Order still in prison. On March 11th, 1314, De Molay and the three other dignitaries, were summoned by the Pope's men. The Templar Grand Master had been in prison for seven years I think he was clearly an old and confused man. And eventually he was given the choice again of: confess or be

burnt at the stake. (crowd cheers) (horse and cart noises) As the 4 dignitaries have renewed their confessions, they are brought to the square in front of Notre Dame de Paris to hear their sentence. In front of the population, and in the utmost silence, they are officially sentenced to life imprisonment. (crowd jeers) Faced with injustice, and to general surprise, Jacques De Molay decides to change his version of the facts. He denies the accusations brought against him. De Molay and Geoffroy de Charnay both retract their confessions before the Commission, before the king's men and the crowd, signing

their death warrant. Philip the Fair, King of France, is immediately informed of the situation. Without waiting for the approval of the cardinals, he has a pyre erected at the end of the Ile de la Cité. Jacques De Molay and Geoffroy De Charnay are burned at the stake that same evening. De Molay refusing to confess again and being burnt is a tragic end, but it's also hugely symbolic, hugely powerful in that his willingness to be burnt at the stake is almost the only thing he can do to get one over on the French king. His one

powerful card left to play is to go to the stake. (dramatic crescendo) On that day, the course of events is retold in a poem by Geoffroy de Paris, a chronicler of the Royal Chancellery. "The master unclothed himself without any fear. They took him to bind him to the stake. But he said to them as follows: 'Lords, at least let me join my hands a little And to God make prayer I see here my judgment Where death suits me freely, God knows who is wrong and who has sinned, Misfortune will come to those who have wrongly

condemned us, God will avenge our death, Know that all those who are contrary to us By us will suffer!'..." He says that God will recognize those who have done good and those who have done evil, he speaks before god. In other words he also speaks for posterity. For his own and, above all, that of his Order to which he had so devoted himself. Long after, legend would have it that these words pronounced by Jacques De Molay were at the origin of the curse that would strike those who caused his fall, and that of the Order

of the Temple. Jacques de Molay was said to have cursed French king, Philip the Fair, and the Pope Clement. And indeed, the Pope did die the following month and Philip died in a hunting accident that November. The kingdom appeared to have a bright future, all mapped out. But what happened? The king died very quickly and his three sons who succeeded him also died. And then the kingdom of France went into crisis. France, which was a military power, was defeated by England. And to make matters worse, the black plague broke out. For many observers of the

mid-14th century, the Capetian kings became cursed kings. As all the sons of Philip the Fair die very quickly, it is almost like an erasing of his family, like a revenge on behalf of the massacred Templars. (orchestral music crescendo) (militaristic classical music) The heroic end of Jacques de Molay, the sudden deaths of Philip The Fair and Pope Clement V, the mysteries around the birth, reign and fall of the Knights Templar are all elements that for centuries fuelled wild conspiracies about the Order of the Temple. Here we have an Order at the heart of the relationship between

Christianity and Islam for a substantial period during the crusades. Here is an order which fights for Christ, which to many people would seem a contradiction in terms. An order that was mysterious in some of its practices. And here is an order that was ultimately dissolved on accusations of heresy. There is a lot there that people will find intriguing. So it's never surprised me that people do write fabulous stories about Templar myths or Templar treasure or whatever it may be. Having said that, there's very little evidence to support them. While some still hope to find, somewhere,

a possible hidden treasure from the Templars, and historians continue their investigations into the secrets related to the history of these soldier-monks, one thing is clear: The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ of the Temple of Solomon, which later became The Order of the Temple, created by a few devoted knights in 1120 in the heart of the Holy Land, will forever be a legend. (orchestral music crescendo) Subtitling TITRAFILM