Templars. The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, also known as the Order of Solomon's Temple, the Knights Templar or simply the Templars, were a Catholic military order founded in 1119 and recognised in 1139 by the papal bull Omne datum optimum.
The order was active until 1312 when it was perpetually suppressed by Pope Clement V by the bull Vox in excelso. The Templars became a favoured charity throughout Christendom and grew rapidly in membership and power.
They were prominent in Christian finance. Templar knights, in their distinctive white mantles with a red cross, were among the most skilled fighting units of the Crusades.
Non-combatant members of the order, who formed as much as 90% of the order's members, managed a large economic infrastructure throughout Christendom, developing innovative financial techniques that were an early form of banking, building its own network of nearly 1,000 commanderies and fortifications across Europe and the Holy Land, and arguably forming the world's first multinational corporation. The Templars were closely tied to the Crusades; when the Holy Land was lost, support for the order faded.
Rumours about the Templars' secret initiation ceremony created distrust, and King Philip IV of France-deeply in debt to the order-took advantage of this distrust to destroy them and erase his debt. In 1307, he had many of the order's members
The order was active until 1312 when it was perpetually suppressed by Pope Clement V by the bull Vox in excelso. The Templars became a favoured charity throughout Christendom and grew rapidly in membership and power.
They were prominent in Christian finance. Templar knights, in their distinctive white mantles with a red cross, were among the most skilled fighting units of the Crusades.
Non-combatant members of the order, who formed as much as 90% of the order's members, managed a large economic infrastructure throughout Christendom, developing innovative financial techniques that were an early form of banking, building its own network of nearly 1,000 commanderies and fortifications across Europe and the Holy Land, and arguably forming the world's first multinational corporation. The Templars were closely tied to the Crusades; when the Holy Land was lost, support for the order faded.
Rumours about the Templars' secret initiation ceremony created distrust, and King Philip IV of France-deeply in debt to the order-took advantage of this distrust to destroy them and erase his debt. In 1307, he had many of the order's members
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