Editing La Rochelle (section)

===Knights Templar===
The [[Knights Templar]] had a strong presence in La Rochelle since before the time of [[Eleanor of Aquitaine]], who exempted them from duties and gave them [[mill (grinding)|mill]]s in her 1139 Charter.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uHwUWoRKqSkC&pg=PA26 |title=''The new knighthood'' |author=Malcolm Barber |date=28 September 1995 |page=26 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521558723 |access-date=15 April 2010}}</ref> La Rochelle was the Templars' largest base on the Atlantic Ocean,<ref name="books.google.com">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1BeOrJ0JPooC&pg=PA15|title=The History of the Knights Templars|first=Charles Greenstreet|last=Addison|date=15 April 1997|publisher=Adventures Unlimited Press|isbn=9780932813404}}</ref> and where they stationed their main fleet.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=obueOSNhbcEC&pg=PA155 |title=''The Knights Templar in Britain'' |author= Evelyn Lord |year=2004 |page=120,155 |publisher=Pearson Longman |isbn=9781405801638 |access-date=15 April 2010}}</ref> From La Rochelle, they were able to act as intermediaries in trade between England and the Mediterranean.<ref name="books.google.com"/> A popular thread of [[conspiracy theory]] originating with ''[[The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail|Holy Blood, Holy Grail]]'' has it that the Templars used a fleet of 18 ships which had brought [[Jacques de Molay]] from Cyprus to La Rochelle to escape arrest in France. The fleet allegedly left laden with knights and treasures just before the issue of the warrant for the arrest of the Order in October 1307.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GpLSrOvPhJUC&pg=PA26 |title=''The Templars and the Grail'' |author= Karen Rall |date=May 2003 |page=26 |publisher=Quest Books |isbn=9780835608077 |access-date=15 April 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xf_uvy6h1OoC&pg=PA17 |title=''Templars in America'' |author= Tim Wallace-Murphy |date=November 2004 |page=17 |publisher=Weiser Books |isbn=9781578633173 |access-date=15 April 2010}}</ref>