A Tribute to the Knights Templar

The Templars, the heros of the medieval world. They, the warrior monks, protected Christian pilgrims on their way to the shrines and churches set up by warrior Crusaders in the Holy Land. These men were formed in the 11th century during the First Crusade. They were formed from a group of poor men in France who wanted to fight for the cause of Christ. They traveled to the Holy Land, where they were granted power and weapons from the newly crowned Crusader king of Jerusalem, Baldwin. They were charged to defend the Christian pilgrims, who were greatly plagued by the Muslim Turks. Their headquarters were in Jerusalem near the remnants of the old Temple, which was destroyed by the ancient Romans in olden days. They adopted a red cross on a white field as their banner. The white stood for the purity of Jesus Christ and the red, for the blood which was shed on the cross. They also adopted a Latin motto as their creed. Non nobis, Domine, non nobis sed nomini tuo da gloriam-"Not to us, Lord, not to us but to Thy Name give the glory." They were charged with the mission of protecting Solomon's Temple or what was left of it. They were given the name, Knights of the Temple, or for short and their most common name is "Knights Templar".

Well, the Knights Templar grew in power and wealth and eventually were powerful enough to even challenge the decisions of the kings and popes! But Philip, King of France, did not like this at all, neither did Pope Clement of Rome. They wanted the Templar treasure for themselves. Seeing their likeness in thinking, the Philip and Clement made a secret alliance, dedicated to the fall of the Knights Templar. They organized a plan, a plan to bring the Templars to their knees. It all came to a head on Friday, the 13th of October, A.D. 1307. The king of France sent out men to arrest all of the Templars. Alot of good men died that day. Many were taken prisoner and burned at the stake as convicted "heretics". Others died defending their homes and families from the tyranny of King Philip. There were some, though, who sensed the festering danger and fled France. Some went to Scotland, where they fought with Robert the Bruce and William Wallace in their fight for freedom from England, alot, however, gathered in the early hours of the morning in the seaport of Rochelle in France. They had hidden a lot of their precious treasures that they had obtained in the Holy Land, fighting the Crusades. They took this treasure and placed it aboard the Templar fleet, their sea-going war machine. They then boarded the ships themselves and sailed away into the sea, never to be seen again. We might never know. But many people have speculated and have reason to believe that the Templars sailed to America and set up a colony and were eventually vanquished by the Native Indians. Many people also believe that they buried their mass of precious religious treasure on Oak Island, an island in Eastern coastal Canada. There have been many attempts to try to recover treasure on Oak Island, but all have failed. But the fact that keeps many people perplexed is that every ten feet of dirt down, there is a series of wooden boards stack against eachother, therefore proving that there was something that a certain group of people did there. Every time a treasure team gets to what they think is close to the treasure, water from the sea floods in a drowns everybody. Interesting huh? Well, others have a, what may seem, logical approach to the Templars. Some people think that the Templars somehow kept their order alive and evolved into what is now the "Freemasons." There are many secrets the Freemasons keep and many people believe that that is one of them. Others choose to speculate that the Templars are a completely confidential order known to the only to the chosen. Who knows? Are the Templars still among us? Do they walk with us along the streets? Do they teach in our schools? Do they babysit our children? We may never know.