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There are endless myths, legends and speculations about the Knights Templar, their downfall and what happened afterwards. The pre-disbandment history of the Order is extremely mysterious and controversial and there are more theories out there than hard facts. This article attempts to offer some of the theories about what happened to the Knights Templar after their official disbandment in 1312, upon a foundation of solid history for the serious researcher. See also:
THE MEDIEVAL KNIGHTS TEMPLAR The Knights Templar were one of the wealthiest and most powerful organisations of the 12th and early 13th centuries. They were also highly secretive and mysterious. Their wealth, power and mystique, and the fact that many powerful people owed them money, may all have contributed to the Order's demise. The fall of Acre in 1291 virtually spelled the end of the Crusades , dissolving a significant part of the Templars' original raison d'être. They were intended to be both warriors and monks but after 1291 it was no longer possible for Christian warriors to undertake major operations in the Holy Land. So in the years between 1291 and 1307 most former Templar warriors operated as secretive and mysterious monks, merchants and bankers. See also: PERSECUTION AND DISSOLUTION The Templars were extremely wealthy and lent money to many powerful people. Most notable among the Temple's debtors was King Philip IV Of France (also known as "Philip the Fair"), who eventually conspired with Pope Clement V to destroy the Order. Early in the morning of Friday The 13th of October 1307 sealed orders were opened simultaneously all over France. They contained surprise instructions from Philip to arrest the French Templars. Hundreds were indeed arrested and charged with over 100 mostly rather ridiculous crimes. This great miscarriage of justice probably gave Friday The 13th its legacy as a day of ill luck. Many French Templars were brutally tortured, nominally by the Church's Inquisitors but ultimately under the control of the King Philip, until they "confessed". In 1312, still under pressure from Philip, Pope Clement V officially disbanded the Order at the Council of Vienne, and in 1314 the remaining Templar leaders in France were executed, some by being burned at the stake. THE TEMPLARS IN HERTFORDSHIRE Baldock in Hertfordshire was a town founded by the Templars and between 1199 and 1254 it was their English headquarters. There was great public support for the Templars in England and nowhere more so than in Hertfordshire where they held a lot of land and where, around the time the persecution began, the Templars of Temple Dinsley were greatly respected as holy men and supporters of the local community. When six Templars from the Temple Dinsley Preceptory were imprisoned in the dungeons of Hertford Castle, there were incidents of public unrest and disobedience in protest, perhaps illustrating why, according to legend, Hertfordshire became a place of refuge for fugitive Templars from all over Europe. (One of the prominent and powerful organisations in the world suddenly became one of the most secret.) Hertford, though obscure now, has not been entirely insignificant in the past. During the plague parliament, the law courts and the Privy Council were moved to the town, which has also been a royal residence more than once. Intriguingly the official date of Easter was decided in Hertford, in the first general synod of the English Church in 673 AD. So, legend has it, the Templars survived in the town where the festival of life after death was fixed in the calendar. TEMPLAR SURVIVAL IN ENGLAND Between October 13 , 1307 and January 8 , 1308 the Templars went unmolested in England. During this period many fugitive Templars, seeking to escape torture and execution, fled to apparent safety there. But after repeated pressure from Philip IV and Clement V , King Edward II Of England made a few half-hearted arrests. During a trial running from October 22, 1309 until March 18 , 1310 most of the arrested Templars were forced to acknowledged the belief that the Order's Master could give absolution was heretical, and were officially reconciled with the church, many entering more conventional monastic Orders. But most Templars in England - and indeed elsewhere outside France - altogether escaped arrest, let alone torture and execution. Obviously the disbandment in 1312 did not precipitate the sudden spontaneous deaths of all Templars and legend has it that many Templars carried on as normal, only in secret. The Order was, after all, a tightly bound group of men who relied upon each other for survival in battle and shared a secrecy that remains a source of intrigue for many people today. The Templars' shared suffering and secrecy may only have served to bind its men more closely together and harden their commitment to the innocent and wrongfully accused Order. (The Church now acknowledges that they were innocent.) Even though records suggest that most Templars escaped, along with virtually all of their treasure, ships and other mobile assets, some historians claim that the Knights Templar somehow suddenly ceased to exist, simply because after that point they created no more records. But even before their persecution the Templars were experienced in keeping their secrets, and a total secrecy - derived from the threat of horrible torture and shame - was not likely to give rise to convenient records or evidence for historians to refer to. So it is not surprising that so many stories persist about a Templar continuation. As early as 1291 the Templars had ceased to be Crusaders on any significant scale but everybody agrees they remained operational at least up until 1307. In the words of Ben Acheson , a Templar historian from Hertfordshire, "The Knights Templar existed only to worship God. One does not require the permission of mortal men to worship God." ROYSTON CAVE Legend has it that after the persecution began the Templars were forced to meet in caves, tunnels and cellars in Hertfordshire and possibly, for a while, elsewhere in South-East England as well. These places would of course have had to be well-kept secrets. But after lying undiscovered for at least 300 years workmen accidentally stumbled upon Royston Cave, hidden under a heavy millstone and a covering of soil. Since the Templars had disappeared with their treasures and King Edward had indeed searched in vain for Templar Treasure in Hertfordshire, the cave's discovery created much excitement. Today it still awes and inspires visitors who can see carvings depicting, among other images, Templars, Saint George and Saint Catherine . Before the persecution began the Templars had no reason to hide below the ground and they had wealth and access to stonemasons if they required religious carvings. Saint Catherine holds special significance for the Knights Templar. Like the Templars she was tortured and executed for crimes she did not commit. And just as the Templars were accused of heresy and abandoned by the Church, Saint Catherine was branded an heretical saint and abandoned by the Church. She is also significant to Gnostics and anybody interested in the Ark Of The Covenant . She traditionally had a vision in which she married Jesus, representing the Gnostic Mystical Marriage. Her cult was founded at the foot of Mount Sinai , where the Ark Of The Covenant was built and below its summit where Moses was given the Ten Commandments . (There have been some highly questionable claims made about Royston Cave, including the suggestion that its Templar builders may, in effect, have been early Freemasons. This claim in particular is at best tenuous, as are any suggestions of a direct historical link between Freemasonry and the Knights Templar. There is no evidence whatsoever for such a link.) Royston Cave is beneath the crossroads of the ancient Icknield Way and Ermine Street . See also: THE TEMPLAR LEGACY In addition to Royston Cave the Knights Templar have left us with a rich legacy that demonstrates how important they were before their suppression. (How powerfully they have influenced our history and culture since!)
Today they are associated with numerous intriguing mysteries and fictions including the Holy Grail, the Ark of the Covenant and even the alleged bloodline of Jesus! Though obviously ridiculous, some theologians argue that these themes are employed as signposts, pointing 'those with eyes to see' deeper within the religious Mysteries. There is at the time of writing a revival of interest in the Templars, fuelled by a raft of books and movies exploring the mysteries and fictions that surround the order. This Templar 'renaissance' coincides with the end of 700 years of suppression. A TEMPLAR RENAISSANCE? In October 2004, almost 700 years after the start of the persecution on Friday the 13th of October 1307, it emerged that a group claiming to be the real Knights Templar had been writing to the Pope every year on October 13 for a great many years. A copy of the 2004 letter was leaked to The Times newspaper that printed the story on November 29: The letter, allegedly from the Knights Templar, based in Hertford, made reference to the seventh centenary of the start of the persecution and to two dates of particular significance: Friday the 13th of October 2006, and the 13th of October 2007 - which falls precisely 700 years after the first arrests were made in France. SOME TEMPLAR LOCATIONS IN ENGLAND
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