Knights Templar in France (von Gustavo - Adobe Stock)

The Knights Templar is a group of popular, but secretive, historical figures. You may have heard about them for the first time in a high school history course, or maybe they caught your attention in famous films such as “Kingdom of Heaven” or “The Da Vinci Code.”

The Knights Templar are fascinating, and you can still visit some of their strongholds on your next trip to France.

Medieval Armor (Catherine Leblanc - Adobe Stock)

For 200 years, the Knights Templar was one of the largest and richest organizations in existence. Founded in the 1100s by the Pope to defend the Holy Lands, they were originally called  “the poor knights of Christ and of Solomon’s Temple,” but since that was so much to say, it was shortened in French to “les Templiers.”

The knights were known for being warrior monks and helped the Pope reclaim land from different peoples and nations during the Crusades. Easy to spot, they wore a white vestment (tunic or cloak) emblazoned with a red cross and two bars. The white represented the purity of the knights.

La Couvertoirade, Aveyron, France (von Gustavo - Adobe Stock)

While they were founded by the Catholic Church, the Knights Templar had to be a self-sustaining entity. This led to the creation of Commanderies. These complexes acted as fortresses and bases for the Templars. It is estimated that the Knights Templar constructed 1,000 Commanderies between the 1100s and 1300s. These centers were large enough to have wineries, mines, housing, chapels and mills. The Knights acted as Lords of the Commanderies and were able to fund their Crusades by not only winning battles but also from the profits gained from these complexes.

There are dozens of Commanderies in France still standing today that you can visit. At these Commanderies you may see artifacts, ruin, crypts, old chapels and barns. You can even immerse yourself in the experience and stay overnight at a few of the Commanderies.

While the Knights Templar took vows of poverty and donated large sums of money, they also amassed huge amounts of wealth through their Commanderies and victories in battle. This led to jealousy and resentment from others. King Philip the Fair of France had borrowed money from the Knights Templar to fund his war. Sources disagree on whether the King did not want to pay back the loan or if the Knights refused to loan the money in the first place; either way, this confrontation was the downfall of the Knights Templar.

Members of the organization were accused of acts against the church such as Satanism, heresy, false idol worship and sodomy. Many were arrested and burned at the stake by order of the King of France who also dissolved the Knights Templar officially with the help of the Pope in the 1300s. Conveniently, and in no way suspiciously, most of the Knights Templar’s assets were distributed between the King of France and the King of England.

Ramparts and corner tower of La Cavalerie, former Templar Castle (von rysan34 - Adobe Stock)

Rumor has it that the Knights Templar continued in secret for many years and that they could be connected to the modern Freemasons of the same name; however, in true secret club fashion, there really isn’t much proof of the connection. What we do know is that the original Knights Templar continued under the leadership of “Grand Masters” for centuries, that these knights passed on their masonry (stone building) knowledge to others in the 1400s and that modern Masonic Knights Templars base their ideals and morality off of the Templars of old.

In 1705, Phillip, Duke of Orleans was named Grand Master and used his position of power to legitimize the organization and remove it from the shadows of secrecy. The Order expanded quickly across France, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland and Britain as a secular organization based around chivalry. It is up to you to draw whatever connections you can between the Templars of old and new.