Der 1118 gegründete Ritterorden der Templer kämpfte während der Kreuzzüge im Heiligen Land. Durch Stiftungen und Schenkungen erlangte der Orden auch in Europa zahlreiche Besitzungen und agierte faktisch autonom. Frankreichs König Philipp IV., der Schöne (reg. 1285-1314), war bei den Templern hoch verschuldet und sah in ihnen eine Gefahr für die Macht des Staates.
 |
| Großmeister Jacques de Molay und der Ordenspräzeptor der Normandie, Geoffroy de Charnay, auf dem Scheiterhaufen in Paris am 18. Märzt |
Harenberg - Abenteuer Geschichte 2016
13 October 1307,Friday - The day that changed the world [8:21]
Hochgeladen am 14.12.2011
In 1305, the new Pope Clement V, based in France, sent letters to both the Templar Grand Master Jacques de Molay and the Hospitaller Grand Master 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. Villaret was delayed for several months. While waiting, De Molay and Clement discussed charges that had been made two years prior by an ousted Templar. It was generally agreed that the charges were false but Clement sent King Philip IV of France a written request for assistance in the investigation. King Philip was already deeply in debt to the Templars from his war with the English and seized upon these rumours for his own purposes.
Philip began pressuring the Church to take action against the Order, as a way of freeing himself from his debts. On Friday October 13, 1307 Philip ordered de Molay and scores of other French Templars to be simultaneously arrested. The Templars were charged with numerous heresies and tortured to extract false confessions. The confessions, despite having been obtained under duress, caused a scandal in Paris. Again under pressure from Philip, Pope Clement issued the bull Pastoralis praeeminentiae on November 22, 1307, which instructed all Christian monarchs throughout Europe to arrest all Templars and seize their assets.
Pope Clement called for papal hearings to determine the Templars' guilt or innocence. Once freed of the Inquisitors' torture, many Templars recanted their confessions. Some had sufficient legal experience to defend themselves in the trials, but in 1310 Philip blocked this attempt, using the earlier forced confessions to have dozens of Templars burned at the stake in Paris.
With Philip threatening military action unless the Pope complied with his wishes, Pope Clement 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 Vox in excelso, which officially dissolved the Order, and Ad providam, which turned over most Templar assets to the Hospitallers.
The elderly Grand Master Jacques de Molay, had confessed under torture, but retracted his confession. Geoffrey de Charney, Preceptor of Normandy, followed de Molay's example, and insisted on his innocence. Both men were declared guilty of being relapsed heretics, and they were sentenced to burn alive at the stake in Paris on March 18, 1314.
According to legend, he called out from the flames that both Pope Clement and King Philip would soon meet him before God. Pope Clement died a month later, and King Philip died in a hunting accident within the year.
With the Order's leaders killed, remaining Templars around Europe were either arrested and tried under the Papal investigation, absorbed into other monastic military orders, or pensioned off and allowed to live out their days peacefully. Some may have fled to other territories outside Papal control, such as Scotland (then under excommunication) or to Switzerland. Templar organisations in Portugal escaped lightly through the imaginative expedient of changing their name from Knights Templar to Knights of Christ.
In 2001, a document known as the "Chinon Parchment" was found in the Vatican Secret Archives, supposedly after having been misfiled 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. (In October 2007, the Scrinium publishing house published secret documents about the trial of the Knights Templar, including the Chinon Parchment.)
It is now the Roman Catholic Church's position that the medieval persecution of the Knights Templar was unjust; that there was nothing inherently wrong with the Order or its Rule; and that Pope Clement was pressured into his actions by the magnitude of the public scandal and the dominating influence of King Philip IV. As on other occasions, it has not expressed an opinion as to how the highest moral authority on earth could have colluded in the torture and killing of innocent men.
The Templar Code [1:26:58]
Veröffentlicht am 08.03.2014
For nearly two centuries, the Knights Templar was the most powerful order in the medieval world. Today, the group's legacy is played out in an array of Hollywood blockbusters and numerous works of popular literature.
Despite the Knights' long reign of power, the order experienced a sudden collapse in the early fourteenth century when certain members stood accused of unspeakable crimes and were subsequently tortured and killed.
In this insightful program, Decoding The Past interviews some of the world's leading biblical scholars and visits historic sites throughout Europe and the Near East to probe the past of this mysterious order.
Did the Knights, as many believe, guard the Holy Grail? Or was the object of their attentions buried a thousand years before the birth of Christ?
The Templar Code is an in-depth examination into the remarkable rise and rapid descent of the powerful and obscure Knights Templar.
Templars Lost Treasure (Documentary) [44:48]
Veröffentlicht am 07.02.2014
full, A fascinating exploration of the legends accredited to the mysterious religious and military order of the Knights Templar.
The Order of the Templar, created after the first Crusade and disbanded by the King of France in 1307, gave birth to fabulous legends which persist to this day.
Despite in-depth research, many enigmas still surround this mythical order and its legends - not least whether mysterious discoveries at Gisors and Oak Island can really hold the fabled Templar treasures. Now, this insightful documentary relives an epic adventure based on facts, places, puzzles and legends that feed faiths and have fascinated generations.
MILITARY HISTORY : Ancient Turkey and Knights Templar [44:36]
Veröffentlicht am 11.04.2015
Uploaded by MILITARY HISTORY 2015. The Military History of Ancient Turkey and Knights Templar. Recruited from Christian populations of the Balkans and trained in the Muslim faith and culture of the Turks, the Janissaries formed a warrior caste, distinguished by military skill and unequivocal loyalty to the Sultan.
Essentially Christian warrior-monks, the Knights’ mission was to rid the Holy Land of Muslims. Usually of noble birth, the knights adhered to a strict moral code of poverty, chastity and obedience.
Janissary starts at 00:10
The Janissaries were elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman Sultan's household troops and bodyguards.
Knights Templar starts at 23:37
The Knights Templar were among the most wealthy and powerful of the Western Christian military orders and were among the most prominent actors of the Christian finance.
Much of what we know of ancient history is the history of militaries: their conquests, their movements, and their technological innovations. There are many reasons for this. Kingdoms and empires, the central units of control in the ancient world, could only be maintained through military force. Due to limited agricultural ability, there were relatively few areas that could support large communities, so fighting was common.
Weapons and armor, designed to be sturdy, tended to last longer than other artifacts, and thus a great deal of surviving artifacts recovered tend to fall in this category as they are more likely to survive. Weapons and armor were also mass-produced to a scale that makes them quite plentiful throughout history, and thus more likely to be found in archaeological digs.
