Editing Knights Templar (section)

== History ==
{{Main|History of the Knights Templar}}

=== Rise ===
After the [[Franks]] in the [[First Crusade]] captured [[Siege of Jerusalem (1099)|Jerusalem]] from the [[Fatimid Caliphate]] in 1099, many [[Christians]] made [[pilgrimage]]s to various sacred sites in the [[Holy Land]]. Although the city of [[Jerusalem]] was relatively secure under Christian control, the rest of [[Outremer]] was not. [[Banditry|Bandits]] and marauding [[highwaymen]] preyed upon these Christian pilgrims, who were routinely slaughtered, sometimes by the hundreds, as they attempted to make the journey from the coastline at [[Jaffa]] through to the interior of the Holy Land.{{sfn|Burman|1990|pp=13, 19}}
[[File:Seal of Templars.jpg|thumb|A [[Seal of the grand master of the Knights Templar|Seal of the Knights Templar]]<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Archer |first1=Thomas Andrew |url=https://archive.org/details/crusadesstoryla01kinggoog |title=The Crusades: The Story of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem |last2=Kingsford |first2=Charles Lethbridge |date=1894 |publisher=T. Fisher Unwin |page=[https://archive.org/details/crusadesstoryla01kinggoog/page/n218 176]}}</ref>{{sfn|Burgtorf|2008|pages=545–546}}]]

In 1119, the French [[knight]] [[Hugues de Payens]] approached King [[Baldwin II of Jerusalem]] and [[Warmund, Patriarch of Jerusalem]], and proposed creating a [[Monasticism|monastic]] Catholic [[Religious order (Catholic)|religious order]] for the protection of these pilgrims. King Baldwin and Patriarch Warmund agreed to the request, probably at the [[Council of Nablus]] in January 1120, and the king granted the Templars a headquarters in a wing of the royal palace on the [[Temple Mount]] in the captured [[Al-Aqsa Mosque (building)|Al-Aqsa Mosque]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Selwood |first=Dominic |date=20 April 2013 |title=Birth of the Order |url=http://www.dominicselwood.com/birth-of-the-order/ |access-date=20 April 2013}}</ref>

The order, with about nine [[knight]]s including [[Godfrey de Saint-Omer]] and [[André de Montbard]], had few financial resources and relied on donations to survive. Their emblem was of two knights riding on a single horse, emphasizing the order's poverty.{{sfn|Read|2001|p=91}}

[[File:Temple mount.JPG|thumb|left|The first headquarters of the Knights Templar, on the [[Temple Mount]] in Jerusalem. The Crusaders called it "the [[Solomon's Temple|Temple of Solomon]]" and from this location derived their name of Templar.]]
The impoverished status of the Templars did not last long. They had a powerful advocate in Saint [[Bernard of Clairvaux]], a leading Church figure, the French [[abbot]] primarily responsible for the founding of the [[Cistercian Order]] of monks and a nephew of [[André de Montbard]], one of the founding knights. Bernard put his weight behind them and wrote persuasively on their behalf in the letter [[Liber ad milites templi de laude novae militiae|''In Praise of the New Knighthood'']],<ref>{{Cite web |last=Selwood |first=Dominic |date=28 May 2013 |title=The Knights Templar 4: St Bernard of Clairvaux |url=http://www.dominicselwood.com/the-knights-templar-4-st-bernard-of-clairvaux/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170630150549/http://www.dominicselwood.com/the-knights-templar-4-st-bernard-of-clairvaux/ |archive-date=30 June 2017 |access-date=29 May 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Selwood |first=Dominic |chapter='Quidam autem dubitaverunt': the Saint, the Sinner and a Possible Chronology |title=Autour de la Première Croisade |publisher=Publications de la Sorbonne |year=1996 |isbn=978-2-85944-308-5 |location=Paris |pages=221–230}}</ref> and in 1129, at the [[Council of Troyes 1129|Council of Troyes]], he led a group of leading churchmen to officially approve and endorse the order on behalf of the church. With this formal blessing, the Templars became a favoured charity throughout [[Christendom]], receiving money, land, businesses, and noble-born sons from families who were eager to help with the fight in the [[Holy Land]]. At the [[Council of Pisa (1135)|Council of Pisa]] in 1135, [[Pope Innocent II]] initiated the first papal monetary donation to the Order.{{sfn|Barber|1994|p=56}} Another major benefit came in 1139, when Innocent II's [[papal bull]] {{lang|la|[[Omne Datum Optimum]]}} exempted the order from obedience to local laws. This ruling meant that the Templars could pass freely through all borders, were not required to pay any [[Tax|taxes]] and were exempt from all authority except that of the pope.{{sfn|Burman|1990|p=40}} However, in practice, they often had to respect the wishes of the European rulers in whose kingdoms they resided, especially in their handling of funds for the local noblility in their [[Bank|banks]].<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=Cartwright |first=Mark |date=2018-08-28 |title=Knights Templar |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Knights_Templar/ |access-date=2024-04-19 |website=[[World History Encyclopedia]] |language=en}}</ref>

With its clear mission and ample resources, the order grew rapidly. Templars were often the advance [[shock troops]] in key battles of the Crusades, as the heavily armoured knights on their [[horses in warfare|warhorses]] would [[Cavalry tactics#Tactics of heavy cavalry using lances|charge]] into the enemy lines ahead of the main army. One of their most famous victories was in 1177 during the [[Battle of Montgisard]], where some 500 Templar knights helped several thousand infantry to defeat [[Saladin]]'s army of more than 26,000 soldiers.{{efn|The Latin estimates of Saladin's army are no doubt greatly exaggerated (26,000 in Tyre xxi. 23; 12,000 Turks and 9,000 Arabs in Anon.Rhen. v. 517).{{sfn|Stevenson|1907|p=218}}}}

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|quote = A Templar Knight is truly a fearless knight, and secure on every side, for his soul is protected by the armour of faith, just as his body is protected by the armour of steel. He is thus doubly armed, and need fear neither demons nor men.
| source = ― [[Bernard of Clairvaux]], {{circa|1135|lk=on}}<br>''De Laude Novae Militae – In Praise of the New Knighthood''<ref>{{Cite web |last=Stephen A. Dafoe |title=In Praise of the New Knighthood |url=http://www.templarhistory.com/praise.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170326012543/http://www.templarhistory.com/praise.html |archive-date=26 March 2017 |access-date=20 March 2007 |publisher=TemplarHistory.com}}</ref>
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Although the primary mission of the order was military, relatively few members were combatants. The majority acted in support positions to assist the knights and manage their financial infrastructure. Although individual members were sworn to poverty, the Templar Order controlled vast wealth even beyond direct donations. A nobleman participating in the Crusades might place all his assets under Templar management during his absence. Accumulating wealth in this manner throughout Christendom and the Outremer, in 1150 the order began to issue [[letter of credit|letters of credit]] for pilgrims journeying to the Holy Land: pilgrims deposited their valuables with a local Templar preceptory before embarking, received a document indicating the value of their deposit, then showed that document upon arrival in the Holy Land to claim treasure of equal value to their funds. This innovative arrangement was an early form of [[banking]] and may have been the first use of bank [[cheque]]s; it protected pilgrims from robbery, while augmenting Templar finances.{{sfn|Martin|2005|p=}}

Based on this mix of donations and business dealings, the Templars established financial networks across the whole of Christendom. They acquired large tracts of land, both in Europe and the Middle East; they bought and managed farms and vineyards; they built massive stone cathedrals and castles; they were involved in manufacturing, import, and export; they owned fleets of ships; and at one point they even owned the entire island of [[Cyprus]]. The order arguably qualifies as the world's first [[multinational corporation]].<ref name="KTPedia">{{Cite book |last=Ralls |first=Karen |title=Knights Templar Encyclopedia |publisher=Career Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-56414-926-8 |page=28}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Benson |first=Michael |title=Inside Secret Societies |publisher=Kensington |year=2005 |page=90}}</ref> By the late 12th century the Templars were also politically powerful in the Holy Land. Secular nobles in the Kingdom of Jerusalem began granting them castles and surrounding lands as a defense against the growing threat of the [[Zengid dynasty|Zengids]] in [[Syria (region)|Syria]]. The Templars were even allowed to negotiate with Muslim rulers independently of the feudal lords. The Templar castles became ''de facto'' independent lordships with their own markets, further growing their political authority. During the regency after the death of King [[Baldwin IV of Jerusalem|Baldwin IV]] in 1185, the royal castles were placed in the custody of the Templars and [[Knights Hospitaller|Hospitallers]]: the grand masters of the two orders, along with the [[Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem|patriarch of Jerusalem]], each had a key to the crown jewels.{{sfn|Burman|1990|pages=63–64}}

From the mid-12th century, the Templars were recruited (jointly with the [[Knights Hospitaller|Hospitallers]]) to fight the Muslim kingdoms in the Iberian Peninsula, in addition to their campaigns in the Latin East.{{Sfn|Barquero Goñi|2011|pp=174−175}} In the kingdoms of Castile and León, they obtained some major strongholds (such as [[Calatrava la Vieja]] or [[Coria, Cáceres|Coria]]), but their vulnerability along the border was exposed during the [[Almohad]] offensive.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://rua.ua.es/dspace/bitstream/10045/25670/1/Historia_Medieval_17_07.pdf|first=Carlos|last=Barquero Goñi|journal=Anales de la Universidad de Alicante. Historia Medieval|publisher=[[University of Alicante|Universidad de Alicante]]|title=Templarios y Hospitalarios en la Reconquista peninsular|issue=17|year=2011|pages=175−176}}</ref> In Aragon, the Templars subsumed the [[Order of Mountjoy]] in the late 12th century, becoming an important vanguard force on the border, while in Portugal they commanded some castles along the Tagus line.{{Sfn|Barquero Goñi|2011|pp=176−177}} One of these was Tomar, which was [[Siege of Tomar|unsuccessfully besieged]] by the Almohad Caliphate in 1190.

Due to the expense of sending a third of their revenues to the East, Templar and Hospitaller activities in the Iberian Peninsula were at a disadvantage to the Hispanic military orders which expended all their resources in the region.{{Sfn|Barquero Goñi|2011|p=176}}

=== War ===
[[File:King Baldwin II and the Templars.jpg|thumb|King [[Baldwin II of Jerusalem|Baldwin II]] presiding over a council with the Templars]]
Accounts of the Order's early military activities in the Levant are vague, though it appears their first battles were defeats, because the Seljuk Turks and other Muslim powers used different tactics than those in Europe at that time. The Templars later adapted to this and became strategic advisors to the leaders of the Crusader states.{{sfn|Burman|1990|pages=53–54}} The first recorded battle involving the Knights Templar was in the town of [[Teqoa]], south of Jerusalem, in 1138. A force of Templars led by their grand master, [[Robert de Craon]] (who succeeded Hugues de Payens about a year earlier), was sent to retake the town after it was captured by Muslims. They were initially successful, but the Muslims regrouped outside the town and were able to take it back from the Templars.{{sfn|Howarth|1982|page=97}} 

The Order's mission developed from protecting pilgrims to taking part in regular military campaigns early on,{{sfn|Burman|1990|pages=53–54}} and this is shown by the fact that the first castle received by the Knights Templar was located four hundred miles north of the pilgrim road from [[Jaffa]] to Jerusalem, on the northern frontier of the [[Principality of Antioch]]: the castle of [[Bagras]] in the [[Nur Mountains|Amanus Mountains]].{{sfn|Burman|1990|pages=53–54}}{{sfn|Forey|1995|p=191}} It may have been as early as 1131, and by 1137 at the latest, that the Templars were given the mountainous region that formed the border of Antioch and [[Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia|Cilician Armenia]], which included the castles of Bagras, [[Trapessac|Darbsak]], and [[Roche de Roissel]]. The Templars were there when [[List of Byzantine emperors|Byzantine emperor]] [[John II Komnenos]] tried to make the [[Crusader state]]s of Antioch, [[County of Tripoli|Tripoli]], and [[County of Edessa|Edessa]] his vassals between 1137 and 1142. Templar knights accompanied Emperor John II with troops from those states during his campaign against Muslim powers in [[Syria (region)|Syria]] from 1137 to 1138, including at the [[Siege of Aleppo (1138)|sieges of Aleppo]] and [[Siege of Shaizar|Shaizar]].{{sfn|Burman|1990|pages=51–53}} In 1143, the Templars also began taking part in the [[Reconquista]] in [[Iberia]] at the request of the [[County of Barcelona|count of Barcelona]].{{sfn|Forey|1995|page=187}} 

In 1147 a force of French, Spanish, and English Templars{{sfn|Philips|Hoch|2001|p=145}} left [[Kingdom of France|France]] to join the [[Second Crusade]], led by King [[Louis VII of France|Louis VII]]. At a meeting held in Paris on 27 April 1147 they were given permission by [[Pope Eugenius III]] to wear the red cross on their uniforms. They were led by the Templar provincial master in France, [[Everard des Barres]], who was one of the ambassadors King Louis sent to negotiate the passage of the Crusader army through the [[Byzantine Empire]] on its way to the Holy Land. During the dangerous journey of the Second Crusade through [[Anatolia]], the Templars provided security to the rest of the army from Turkish raids.{{sfn|Barber|1994|pages=66–67}} After the Crusaders arrived in 1148, the kings Louis VII, [[Conrad III of Germany]], and [[Baldwin III of Jerusalem]] made the decision to [[Siege of Damascus (1148)|capture Damascus]], but their siege in the summer of that year failed and ended with the defeat of the Christian army.{{sfn|Barber|1994|pages=68–70}}{{sfn|Howarth|1982|pages=106–107}} In the fall of 1148 some returning Templars took part in the successful [[Siege of Tortosa (1148)|siege of Tortosa]] in [[Spain in the Middle Ages|Spain]], after which one-fifth of that city was given to the Order.{{sfn|Philips|Hoch|2001|p=145}}

Robert de Craon died in January 1149 and was succeeded as grand master by Everard des Barres, one of the few leaders at the siege of Damascus whose reputation was not damaged by the event.{{sfn|Barber|1994|pages=68–70}} After the Second Crusade, Zengid forces under [[Nur ad-Din Zengi]] of [[Aleppo]] attacked the [[Principality of Antioch]], and in June 1149 his army defeated the Crusaders at the [[Battle of Inab]], where Prince [[Raymond of Poitiers|Raymond of Antioch]] was killed. King Baldwin III led reinforcements to the principality, which led Nur ad-Din to accept a truce with Antioch and not advance any further.{{sfn|Runciman|1951|pages=325–328}} The force with King Baldwin included 120 Templar knights and 1,000 sergeants and squires.{{sfn|Barber|1994|p=70}}

In the winter of 1149 and 1150, King Baldwin III oversaw the reconstruction of the fortress at [[Gaza City]], which had been left in ruins.{{sfn|Smail|1956|pages=211–212}}{{sfn|Barber|1994|p=73}} It was part of the ring of castles that were built along the southern border of the Kingdom of Jerusalem to protect it from raids by the Egyptian [[Fatimid Caliphate]], and specifically from the Fatimid troops at the fortress of [[Ascalon]], which by then was the last coastal city in the Levant still under Muslim control.{{sfn|Barber|1994|p=73}}{{sfn|Fulton|2022|p=25}} Gaza was given to the Knights Templar, becoming the first major Templar castle.{{sfn|Barber|1994|p=73}} In 1152 Everard stepped down as grand master for unknown reasons, and his successor was [[Bernard de Tremelay]].{{sfn|Barber|1994|page=71}} In January of the following year, Bernard led the Templars when King Baldwin III led a Crusader army to [[Siege of Ascalon|besiege Ascalon]]. Several months of fighting went by until the wall of the city was breached in August 1153, at which point Bernard led forty knights into Ascalon. But the rest of the army did not join them and all of the Templars were killed by the Muslim defenders. Ascalon was captured by the rest of the army several days later,{{sfn|Barber|1994|pages=73–75}}{{sfn|Nicholson|2001|pages=74–75}} and Bernard was eventually succeeded by [[André de Montbard]].{{sfn|Barber|1994|page=75}}

After the fall of Ascalon, the Templars continued operating in that region from their castle at Gaza. In June 1154 they attacked [[Abbas ibn Abi al-Futuh]], the vizier of Egypt, when he tried to flee from Cairo to Damascus after losing a power struggle. Abbas was killed and the Templars captured his son, who they later sent back to the Fatimids.{{sfn|Barber|1994|page=75}} In the late 1150s the Egyptians launched raids against the Crusaders in the areas of Gaza and Ascalon.{{sfn|Fulton|2022|p=26}}

=== Decline ===
[[File:Battle of Cresson.jpg|thumb|[[Battle of Hattin]] in 1187, the turning point leading to the Third Crusade. From a copy of the {{lang|fr|[[Passages d’outremer]]}}, c. 1490]]
In the mid-12th century, the tide began to turn in the Crusades. The [[Islamic]] world had become more united under effective leaders such as [[Saladin]], and the [[Fatimid Caliphate|reborn Sunni regime in Egypt]]. Dissension arose among Christian factions in and concerning the Holy Land. The Knights Templar were occasionally at odds with the two other Christian [[Military order (society)|military order]]s, the [[Knights Hospitaller]] and the [[Teutonic Order|Teutonic Knights]], and decades of internecine feuds weakened Christian positions, both politically and militarily. After the Templars were involved in several unsuccessful campaigns, including the pivotal [[Battle of Hattin]], Jerusalem was [[Siege of Jerusalem (1187)|recaptured]] by Muslim forces under Saladin in 1187. The Holy Roman Emperor [[Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick II]] reclaimed the city for Christians in the [[Sixth Crusade]] of 1229, without Templar aid, but only held it for a little more than a decade. In 1244, the [[Ayyubid dynasty]] together with [[Khwarazmian dynasty|Khwarezmi]] mercenaries recaptured Jerusalem, and the city did not return to Western control until 1917 when, during [[World War I]], the [[British Empire|British]] captured it from the [[Ottoman Empire]].{{sfn|Martin|2005|p=99}}

The Templars were forced to relocate their headquarters to other cities in the north, such as the seaport of [[Acre, Israel|Acre]], which they held for the next century. It was lost in 1291, followed by their last mainland strongholds, Tortosa ([[Tartus]] in present-day [[Syria]]) and [[Château Pèlerin|Atlit]] (in present-day [[Israel]]). Their headquarters then moved to [[Limassol]] on the island of Cyprus,{{sfn|Martin|2005|p=113}} and they also attempted to maintain a garrison on tiny [[Arwad Island]], just off the coast from Tortosa. In 1300, there was some attempt to engage in [[Franco-Mongol alliance|coordinated military efforts with the Mongols]]<ref>Demurger, p. 139. "During four years, [[Jacques de Molay]] and his order were totally committed, with other Christian forces of Cyprus and Armenia, to an enterprise of reconquest of the Holy Land, in liaison with the offensives of Ghazan, the Mongol Khan of Persia."</ref> via a new invasion force at [[Arwad]]. In 1302 or 1303, however, the Templars lost the island to the Egyptian [[Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo)|Mamluk Sultanate]] in the [[Siege of Ruad|siege of Arwad]]. With the island gone, the Crusaders lost their last foothold in the Holy Land.<ref>{{harvnb|Nicholson|2001|p=201}}

{{quote|The Templars retained a base on Arwad island (also known as Ruad island, formerly Arados) off Tortosa (Tartus) until October 1302 or 1303, when the island was recaptured by the Mamluks.}}</ref>

With the order's military mission now less important, support for the organization began to dwindle. The situation was complex, however, since during the two hundred years of their existence, the Templars had become a part of daily life throughout Christendom.{{sfn|Nicholson|2001|p=5}} The organization's Templar Houses, hundreds of which were dotted throughout Europe and the [[Near East]], gave them a widespread presence at the local level.<ref name="quantity" /> The Templars still managed many businesses, and many Europeans had daily contact with the Templar network, such as by working at a Templar farm or [[vineyard]], or using the order as a bank in which to store personal valuables. The order was still not subject to local government, making it everywhere a "state within a state" – its [[standing army]], although it no longer had a well-defined mission, could pass freely through all borders. This situation heightened tensions with some European nobility, especially as the Templars were indicating an interest in founding their own monastic state, just as the [[Teutonic Order|Teutonic Knights]] had done in [[State of the Teutonic Order|Prussia and the Baltic]] and the [[Knights Hospitaller]] were doing in [[Rhodes, Greece|Rhodes]].{{sfn|Nicholson|2001|p=237}}

The Templars were accused of enabling [[corruption]] in their ranks which often allowed them to influence the legal systems of Europe to act in their favor and gain influence over local rulers' lands at the expense of the rulers.<ref name=":5" />

=== Arrests, charges and dissolution ===
{{main|Trials of the Knights Templar}}
In 1305, the new [[Pope Clement V]], based in [[Avignon]], France, sent letters to both the Templar Grand Master [[Jacques de Molay]] and the Hospitaller Grand Master [[Foulques de Villaret|Fulk de Villaret]] to discuss the possibility of merging the two orders. Neither was amenable to the idea, but Pope Clement persisted, and in 1306 he invited both grand masters to France to discuss the matter. De Molay arrived first in early 1307, but de Villaret was delayed for several months. While waiting, de Molay and Clement discussed criminal charges that had been made two years earlier by an ousted Templar and were being discussed by King [[Philip IV of France]] and his ministers. It was generally agreed that the charges were false, but Clement sent King Philip a written request for assistance in the investigation. According to some historians,  Philip, who was already deeply in debt to the Templars from his [[Philip IV of France#War against England|war against England]], decided to seize upon the rumours for his own purposes. He began pressuring the church to take action against the order, as a way of freeing himself from his debts.{{sfn|Barber|2006|p=}} <!-- The French king's motivations went beyond merely financial though. By charging the Templars with heresy, the monarchy was also claiming for itself a charism proper to the papacy. The Templar case was another step in the process of appropriating these foundations, which had begun with the Franco-papal rift at the time of Boniface VIII. -->

[[File:Tomar-Convento_de_Cristo-Rotunda_dos_Templários-20140914.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.4|[[Convent of the Order of Christ|Convent of Christ Castle, Tomar, Portugal]]. Built in 1160 as a stronghold for the Knights Templar and [[Siege of Tomar|besieged in 1190 by the Almohads]], it became the headquarters of the renamed [[Order of Christ (Portugal)|Order of Christ]]. In 1983, it was named a [[UNESCO World Heritage Site]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Convent of Christ in Tomar |url=http://www.worldheritagesite.org/sites/tomar.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061231034026/http://www.worldheritagesite.org/sites/tomar.html |archive-date=31 December 2006 |access-date=20 March 2007 |publisher=World Heritage Site}}</ref>]]

At dawn on Friday, 13 October 1307, King Philip IV had de Molay and scores of other French Templars to be simultaneously arrested. The arrest warrant started with the words: {{lang|fr|"Dieu n'est pas content, nous avons des ennemis de la foi dans le Royaume"}} ("God is not pleased. We have enemies of the faith in the kingdom.").<ref name="Science">{{Cite journal |date=July 2010 |title=Les derniers jours des Templiers |journal=Science et Avenir |pages=52–61}}</ref> 

Claims were made that during Templar admissions ceremonies, recruits were forced to spit on the Cross, deny Christ, and engage in indecent kissing; brethren were also accused of [[idolatry|worshipping idols]], and the order was said to have encouraged homosexual practices.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Riley-Smith |first=Johnathan |title=The Oxford Illustrated History of the Crusades |date=1995 |publisher=Oxford Press |location=Oxford |page=213}}</ref> Many of these allegations contain tropes that bear similarities to accusations made against other persecuted groups such as Jews, heretics, and accused witches.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rice|first=Joshua|date=1 June 2022|title=Burn in Hell|journal=History Today|volume=72|issue=6|pages=16–18 |url=https://www.historytoday.com/archive/history-matters/burn-hell}}</ref> These allegations, though, were highly politicised without any real evidence.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Dodd |first1=Gwilym |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AmM07AhPrZQC |title=The Reign of Edward II: New Perspectives |last2=Musson |first2=Anthony |date=2006 |publisher=Boydell & Brewer |isbn=978-1-903153-19-2 |page=51 |language=en}}</ref> Still, the Templars were charged with numerous other offences such as financial corruption, fraud, and secrecy.{{sfn|Barber|1993|p=178}} Many of the accused confessed to these charges under torture, and their confessions, even though obtained [[coercion|under duress]], caused a scandal in Paris. The prisoners were coerced to confess that they had spat on the Cross. One said: {{lang|fr|"Moi, Raymond de La Fère, 21 ans, reconnais que [j'ai] craché trois fois sur la Croix, mais de bouche et pas de cœur"}} ("I, Raymond de La Fère, 21 years old, admit that I have spat three times on the Cross, but only from my mouth and not from my heart"). The Templars were accused of [[idolatry]] and were charged with worshipping either a figure known as [[Baphomet]] or a mummified severed head they recovered, amongst other artefacts, at their original headquarters on the Temple Mount. Some have theorised that this head might have been believed to be that of [[John the Baptist]], among other things.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Edgeller |first=Johnathan |url=https://dspace.lib.ttu.edu/etd/bitstream/handle/2346/ETD-TTU-2010-08-791/EDGELLER-THESIS.pdf?sequence=4 |title=Taking the Templar Habit: Rule, Initiation Ritual, and the Accusations against the Order |publisher=Texas Tech University |year=2010 |pages=62–66 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720060659/https://dspace.lib.ttu.edu/etd/bitstream/handle/2346/ETD-TTU-2010-08-791/EDGELLER-THESIS.pdf?sequence=4 |archive-date=20 July 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Relenting to King Phillip's demands, Pope Clement then issued the papal bull {{lang|la|[[Pastoralis praeeminentiae]]}} on 22 November 1307, which instructed all Christian monarchs in Europe to arrest all Templars and seize their assets.{{sfn|Martin|2005|p=118}} Clement called for papal hearings to determine the Templars' guilt or innocence, and once freed, many Templars recanted their confessions. 

Several Templars are listed as having come from [[Gisors]] to defend the Order on 26 February 1310: Henri Zappellans or Chapelain, Anceau de Rocheria, Enard de Valdencia, Guillaume de Roy, Geoffroy de Cera or de La Fere-en-Champagne, Robert Harle or de Hermenonville, and Dreux de Chevru.<ref>{{cite book |author=Alain Demurger |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SAx-DwAAQBAJ&q=Guillaume+De+Roy&pg=RA1-PA52 |title=The Persecution of the Knights Templar: Scandal, Torture, Trial |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=2019 |isbn=978-1-64313-089-7 |chapter=Templars |quote=Seven of these nine Templars are also on the list of brothers who came from Gisors on 26 February 1310: Henri Zappellans or Chapelain, Anceau de Rocheria, Enard de Valdencia, Guillaume de Roy, Geoffroy de Cera or de La Fere-en-Champagne, Robert Harle or de Hermenonville, and Dreux de Chevru; the two others, Robert de Mortefontaine and Robert de Monts-de-Soissons, perhaps appear under different names. We don't know the reasons why those nine Templars were not taken back to Gisors. They are catalogued as 'non-reconciled': that is, they had not been absolved and reconciled with the Church by a diocesan commission. They attended neither the Council of Sens nor that of Reims in May 1310. They were from different dioceses: Toul, Sens, Chalons-en-Champagne, Treves but also Soissons (Guillaume de Roy), Laon (Geoffroy de La Fere) and Senlis (Robert Harle). |access-date=12 July 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Les Templiers |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DIzj9W9eebcC&q=Roy |work=Mémoires historiques sur les Templiers, ou Éclaircissemens nouveaux sur leur histoire, leur procès, les accusations intentées contr'eux, et les causes secrètes de leur ruine |author=De Philippe Antoine Grouvelle| year=1805| access-date=12 July 2023 |quote=Noms des Frères rassemblés le 28 mars 1310, devant les Commissaires charges par le Pape de l'Enquête sur les griefs imputés à l'Ordre du Temple en général... 184. Guillaume De Roy}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title= Bulletin de la Société académique de Laon |author= Société académique de Laon |website= Bibliothèque nationale de France |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k441211c/f150.item# |access-date=12 July 2023 |quote=Procès des Templiers" "Nicolas de Celles; Gauthier de Villesavoye; Etienne de Compiègne; Robert de Montreuil-aux-Lions, pètre; Guillaume de Roy; Geoffroy de Cère; Eloi de Pavant; Raoul et Pierre de Compiègne, Pierre d'Anizy défendront tous l'Ordre.   | year=1864 }}</ref> Some had sufficient legal experience to defend themselves in [[Trials of the Knights Templar|the trials]], but in 1310, having appointed the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Sens|archbishop of Sens]], Philippe de Marigny, to lead the investigation, Philip blocked this attempt, using the previously forced confessions to have dozens of Templars burned at the stake in Paris.{{sfn|Martin|2005|p=122}}{{sfn|Sobecki|2006|p=963}}{{sfn|Barber|1993|p=3}}

With Philip threatening military action unless the pope complied with his wishes, Clement finally agreed to disband the order, citing the public scandal that had been generated by the confessions. At the [[Council of Vienne]] in 1312, he issued a series of papal bulls, including {{lang|la|[[Vox in excelso]]}}, which officially dissolved the order, and {{lang|la|[[Ad providam]]}}, which turned over most Templar assets to the Hospitallers.{{sfn|Martin|2005|pp=123–124}}

[[File:Templars on Stake.jpg|thumb|Templars being [[death by burning|burned]]]]
As for the leaders of the order, the elderly Grand Master Jacques de Molay, who had confessed under torture, retracted his confession. [[Geoffroi de Charney]], Preceptor of [[Normandy]], also retracted his confession and insisted on his innocence. Both men, under pressure from the king, were declared guilty of being relapsed heretics and sentenced to burn alive at the stake in Paris on 18 March 1314. De Molay reportedly remained defiant to the end, asking to be tied in such a way that he could face the [[Notre Dame de Paris|Notre Dame Cathedral]] and hold his hands together in prayer.{{sfn|Martin|2005|p=125}} According to legend, he called out from the flames that both Pope Clement and King Philip would soon meet him before [[God]]. His actual words were recorded on the parchment as follows: {{lang|fr|"Dieu sait qui a tort et a péché. Il va bientôt arriver malheur à ceux qui nous ont condamnés à mort"}} ("God knows who is wrong and has sinned. Soon a calamity will occur to those who have condemned us to death").<ref name="Science" /> Clement died only a month later, and Philip died while hunting within the same year.{{sfn|Martin|2005|p=140}}<ref>

[[Malcolm Barber]] has researched this legend and concluded that it originates from {{lang|la|La Chronique métrique attribuée à [[Geoffrey of Paris|Geffroi de Paris]]}}, ed. A. Divèrres, Strasbourg, 1956, pp. 5711–5742. Geoffrey of Paris was "apparently an eye-witness, who describes de Molay as showing no sign of fear and, significantly, as telling those present that God would avenge their deaths". {{harvnb|Barber|2006|p=357|loc=footnote 110}}</ref><ref>In ''The New Knighthood'', Barber referred to a variant of this legend, about how an unspecified Templar had appeared before and denounced Clement V and, when he was about to be executed sometime later, warned that both Pope and King would "within a year and a day be obliged to explain their crimes in the presence of God", found in the work by [[Ferreto de' Ferreti|Ferreto of Vicenza]], {{lang|la|Historia rerum in Italia gestarum ab anno 1250 ad annum usque 1318}} {{harv|Barber|1994|pp=314–315}}.</ref>

The remaining Templars around Europe were either arrested and tried under the Papal investigation (with virtually none convicted), absorbed into other Catholic military orders, or pensioned off and allowed to live out their days peacefully. By papal decree, the property of the Templars was transferred to the Knights Hospitaller except in the Kingdoms of Castile, Aragon, and Portugal. Portugal was the first country in Europe where they had settled, occurring only two or three years after the order's foundation in Jerusalem and even having a presence during Portugal's conception.<ref>[http://ler.letras.up.pt/uploads/ficheiros/11799.pdf ''Templários no condado portucalense antes do reconhecimento formal da ordem: O caso de Braga no início do séc. XII – Revista da Faculdade de Letras''] [Templars in the County of Portucale before the formal recognition of the order: The case of Braga in early 12th century], Ciências e Técnicas do Património, Porto 2013, Volume XII, pp. 231–243. Author: Paula Pinto Costa, FLUP/CEPESE (University of Porto)</ref>

The Portuguese king, [[Denis of Portugal|Denis I]], refused to pursue and persecute the former knights, as had occurred in some other states under the influence of Philip & the crown. Under his protection, Templar organizations simply changed their name, from "Knights Templar" to the reconstituted [[Order of Christ (Portugal)|Order of Christ]] and also a parallel [[Supreme Order of Christ]] of the [[Holy See]]; both are considered successors to the Knights Templar.<ref name="web.archive.org">{{Cite web|url=http://jvarnoso.com/orders/christ2.html|title=The Order of Christ and the Papacy|date=6 May 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080506100231/http://jvarnoso.com/orders/christ2.html|archive-date=6 May 2008}}</ref><ref name="Nicholson2004">{{Cite book |last=Helen J. Nicholson |url=https://archive.org/details/crusades00nich |title=The Crusades |year=2004 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-32685-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/crusades00nich/page/98 98] |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref name="BurgtorfCrawford2013">{{cite book |last1=Jochen |first1=Burgtorf |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9NSybdmlStsC&pg=PA298|title=The Debate on the Trial of the Templars (1307–1314) |last2=Paul F. |first2=Crawford |last3=Helen J. |first3=Nicholson |year=2013 |publisher=Ashgate |isbn=978-1-4094-8102-7 |page=298}}</ref>

=== Chinon Parchment ===
{{main|Chinon Parchment}}

In September 2001, a document known as the [[Chinon Parchment]] dated 17–20 August 1308 was discovered in the [[Vatican Archives]] by [[Barbara Frale]], apparently after having been filed in the wrong place in 1628. It is a record of the trial of the Templars and shows that Clement absolved the Templars of all heresies in 1308 before formally disbanding the order in 1312, as did another Chinon Parchment dated 20 August 1308 addressed to [[Philip IV of France]], also mentioning that all Templars that had confessed to [[heresy]] were "restored to the Sacraments and to the unity of the Church". This other Chinon Parchment has been well known to historians,<ref>Charles d'Aigrefeuille, ''Histoire de la ville de Montpellier'', Volume 2, p. 193 (Montpellier:  J. Martel, 1737–1739).</ref><ref>Sophia Menache, ''Clement V'', p. 218, 2002 paperback edition {{ISBN|0-521-59219-4}} (Cambridge University Press, originally published in 1998).</ref><ref>[[Germain-François Poullain de Saint-Foix]], ''Oeuvres complettes de M. de Saint-Foix, Historiographe des Ordres du Roi'', p. 287, Volume 3 (Maestricht: Jean-Edme Dupour & Philippe Roux, Imprimeurs-Libraires, associés, 1778).</ref> having been published by [[Étienne Baluze]] in 1693<ref>Étienne Baluze, ''Vitae Paparum Avenionensis'', 3 Volumes (Paris, 1693).</ref> and by [[Pierre Dupuy (scholar)|Pierre Dupuy]] in 1751.<ref>Pierre Dupuy, ''Histoire de l'Ordre Militaire des Templiers'' (Foppens, Brusselles, 1751).</ref>

The current position of the [[Catholic Church]] is that the persecution of the Knights Templar was unjust, that nothing was inherently wrong with the order or its rule, and that [[Pope Clement V]] was pressed into his actions by the magnitude of the public [[Scandal (theology)|scandal]] and by the dominating influence of King Philip IV, who was Clement's relative.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Frale |first=Barbara |year=2004 |title=The Chinon chart – Papal absolution to the last Templar, Master Jacques de Molay |journal=[[Journal of Medieval History]] |volume=30 |issue=2 |pages=109–134 |doi=10.1016/j.jmedhist.2004.03.004 |s2cid=153985534}}</ref>