The Knights Templar (or at least one sect of them) are suing the Vatican for €100Bn. This comes on the heels of the release of trial documents released by the Vatican last October in which the Vatican admitted that the dissolution of the Order was purely political and baseless. The property of the Knights themselves was seized by the then Pope, circa 1307, and the Grand Master of the Order was executed.
Since then, the Knights have been fringe at best. Probably the best known sect exists as a subsect within the Masonic Guild (Freemasons), but they claim no parentage by or connection to the original Order. There is another Spanish Order of Knights Templar who are recognized by UNESCO (for whatever that’s worth), but the way of the warrior monks of the Crusades is long gone and lost forever. It would be interesting to know if the rites of any of the modern versions of the Knights is in any way similar to the original, but no: Four hundred years passed between the time DeMoley (the final Grand Master) was executed and the Freemasons adopted the charge. I know of no order of the Knights that endured from then until now.
The Knights were considered, from what I’ve been able to gather, one of the most powerful fighting forces of the dark ages and the first Crusade. They were even referred to as “warrior monks,” which is in itself something I don’t think that has ever been duplicated in Christianity. And that’s the largest part of my fascination with the Order. It conjures images of Shao Lin monks, etc., of the Far East, but of European peoples. I know, I know: Christianity wasn’t practiced then the way it is now (evidenced by the Crusades), and it’s very likely the warrior monk mantle was just a label, and that all the Knights themselves were money-grubbing landlords. But as usual, I like the romantic side of things, I like to envision them as cavalier truth seekers, wise and skilled in the arts of war.
But as for the Association of the Sovereign Order of the Temple of Christ, the Knights sect that is actually suing the Holy See, well, first they would have to do the impossible by proving they are actually descendents of the original Knights, and then, well, since the “primary” objective of this lawsuit is to have the name of their ancestors cleared, that was already done by the Vatican back in October. What will come of this? Probably nothing. The Vatican could probably offer up the money out of petty cash, but they won’t. They’ll launch a legal grind at the “Knights” and drain them of their ardour.
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August 7th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
Well, the veracity of their effectiveness in battle is highly disputed. They were, however, excellent bankers. They created a money transfer system to aid pilgrims to the Holy Land, and acquired great wealth in money and land in Europe. While the legends exits (including all you sited above as well as the Teutonic Knights and fleeing to N. England and Scotland and being behind the Peasants Rebellion), they were official dissolved by Papal Decree at the behest of Philip the Fair (King of France, spurned of membership in the order, envious of the money, power, and lands the Order controlled, to the point of kidnapping the Pope), so these people would have very little legal standing. There was one other order of Warrior-Monks, the Poor Knights of St. John, aka Knights of Malta and Knights Hospitaliers.