The Knights Templar

The Knights Templars was formed in 1118 AD, 20 years after the crusaders conquered Jerusalem. The founders of the knights templars were two French knights - Hugh de Payens and Godfrey de st. Omer. The knights templar together with the knights of st. Johns of jerusalem and the teutonic knights were the leading organizations behind the crusades against the muslims. In the begining there were just 9 knights, but later it grew in numbers. The templars were also called as “the poor fellow-soldiers of jesus christ and the temple of solomon. They named themselves after the temple of solomon because they were formed at the base of the ruins solomon temple.

The templars were formed for the protection of pilgrims. It was their wish to serve the lord Jesus and the faith. This group stood alone, had no protection nor adequate funds. This group approached to baldwin I, the latin king of jerusalem and to the patriarch. Their intent was lauded and the king presented them with a german house near the temple of solomon, resulting in the name “Knights Templar”.

The templars were bound by a vow of poverty and were to live solely on alms given by the travellers, pilgrims and the people they protected. But the donations became so enormous that they abandoned their vows of poverty and spread themselves over Europe. They then started to lend money and give loans. They first set up a cheque and credit system, similar to the modern banks. They established medieval capitalism and interest based transactions and this led to the creation of the banking system. They even supported parties in uprising against governments and helped overthrow the governments.

The templars were the main force behind the attacks and murdering of the muslims. It was Saladin the Great Islamic commander who defeated the crusaders in 11187 AD, took control of Jerusalem and put the templars to death. He even pardoned a large number of christians. Watch the hollywood movie “the kingdom of heaven” it is based on the battle between Saladin The Great and the crusaders. However, everything shown in the movie is not accurate it will give you an understanding of the crusades against the muslims.

In the later years the templars grew in numbers, wealth and power. The templars discovered some of the important remains of hebrew writings in the ruins of a temple. This discovery was so remarkable that it had totally changed the course of history for the knights templars. The findings contained fragments of statements by jewish spies and the contents of the reports conflicted with what was commonly preached. According to the writings, jesus called the hebrew god Yahweh as satan and re-approached the jews for having made satan himself into their only god. By studying the bible the templars understood that the teachings of jesus and old testament were completely opposite. The templars deviated and started practicing strange mystical rites. In 1307, the French King Philip le Bel ordered to arrest them. Some templars managed to escape but most of them were caught and put to trial. Many accepted that they adopted heretical beliefs and rejected christians faith and even insulted jesus in the masses. They were condemned by the church and executed in 1314 AD.

After most of the members were executed, the order was officially terminated. The surviving members escaped and went underground. They took shelter under the scottish king Robert the Bruce. They reorganized and later infiltrated the most important guild in the medieval British Isles - the wall builders lodge. They gained a full control over the lodge. 

The wall builders lodge changed its name and called itself the Masonic Lodge. The scottish rite is the oldest branch of masonry. The templars and their philosophy still exists in the freemasonry in disguise today. The rituals of the initiation ceremony of the order of templars and modern freemasonry are similar. The starting point of freemasonry's royal art and initiatic esoteric line belonged to the templars and its end point belonged to the freemasons.