They were housed in the Temple complex in Jerusalem, and that was a very important statement as far as the importance that they gave to this new Order, this new idea. James Wasserman, author The Templars and the Assassins
cf.
Frankly I think the reason is sort of an accident. I don’t think it was freighted with any kind of real meaning, other than it was something available. Professor Jill N Claster, New York University
Seemingly untouchable for nearly two centuries, the Templars fell from grace spectacularly after the loss of the Holy Land: in 1307 all Templars in France were arrested on charges of heresy, homosexuality, denial of the cross and devil worship. The order was suppressed by the Pope in 1312, and Jacques de Molay, the last Grand Master, was burnt at the stake as a heretic two years later. Sean Martin, The Knights Templar
Myths, rumours, stories swirled round them like a mist and they seemed to encourage that; they certainly didn’t discourage it. Sean Martin
The Holy Grail is quite specific to the Crusading period. Every leading poet of the day was writing Grail romances. It was a huge explosion of Grail literature around the end of the 12th century and the beginning of the 13th. That’s the sacred relic that the Templars are most associated with. The first Grail romance was written by a man called Chretien de Troyes, who lived in the City of Troy, which is where the Templars essentially came from. We can date Chretien’s story of the Grail to towards the end of the Templar’s time in Jerusalem. Sean Martin
All of their estates in Europe essentially were businesses that helped support the Eastern end of things. So you see the Templars in Europe running farms, vineyards, tile factories, anything that could make money they were in there. Sean Martin
They have been described as a church within a Church. An estate within an estate. They were completely autonomous: they were answerable to nobody but the Pope himself. Sean Martin
There doesn’t seem to be a single written account, documented account, of anyone who ascribes guarding the roads to the Templars. Alan Butler, co-author The Warriors and the Bankers
France was very poor during the reign of Philip IV. His father had spent tremendous amounts of money on war. And in fairness to Philip he did inherit a very poverty-stricken nation. Alan Butler
He wasn’t allowed to be a Pope in Rome: he had to be a Pope in France. Alan Butler
In 1307 the French king turned against the Knights Templar. He must have reasoned that if he got rid of the Knights Templar, he would get rid of his debts. Alan Butler
From a band of nine knights the Templars will swell into an army of thousands. They called themselves The Order of the Poor Knights of the Temple of Solomon. In time they’re simply known as The Knights Templars. They’re not only warriors but monks. They take vows of poverty, obedience, celibacy. Europe has never seen such a force. The Secret Bible: Knights Templar, 2006
The most controversial theory suggests the treasure the Templars found may have been records of the descendants of Christ. By this theory the Latin words for Holy Grail San Greal are really a mistranslation of two different words, Sang Real or Royal Blood. Under this theory Jesus married and had children. ibid.
The Templars vowed themselves to a life of poverty but that didn’t seem to affect their bottom line. ibid.
Strong warriors on the one hand, and monks waging war with vice and demons on the other. A body of men who need have no fear. These men have no dread of death, confident in the knowledge that in the sight of the Lord they would be His martyrs. Bernard of Clairvaux
A Templar Knight is a truly fearless knight and secure on every side for his soul is protected by the amour of faith, just as his body is protected by armour of steel. He is thus doubly armed and need fear neither demons nor men. Bernard of Clairvaux
A handful of righteous warriors could vanquish a seemingly overwhelming horde. Bernard of Clairvaux
The Templars were famous worldwide as custodians of relics, particularly those directly from the story of Christ. Dr Barbara Frale, Vatican School of Palaeography
Philip IV blackmailed the Pope: either the Pope was to accept the destruction of the Templars or the King of France would create with the Bishops of France a breakaway Church of France separate from the Catholic Church. Dr Barbara Frale
The Templars had two doctrines ... They had their secret inner information inculcated in the Rosicrucians and the Jesuits. The Jesuits again formed and created freemasonry. And freemasonry was created as the Protestant arm of the Roman Catholic Church. Professor Walter J Veith, The Secret Behind Secret Societies
The link between the Asceni and the later Knights Templar who have been linked again and again to the Temple and the Ark – these Templars as repositories of unorthodox and esoteric teaching did indeed have contact and very close links with their Jewish and Islamic brothers in the Middle East. Philip Gardiner, The Ark, The Shroud & Mary, documentary & book
In the autumn of 1898 on a modest farm in Kensington, Minnesota, a Swedish immigrant named Olof Ohman was clearing trees from his farm with the help of his sons. After brushing away the soil they noticed carvings on two sides of the stone: strange symbols no-one could read that resembled old Swedish runes. Holy Grail in America, Channel 5 2009
The idea that the Knights Templar could have reached America is explosive and controversial. But the Templar story is riddled with the strange and unbelievable ... With their empire in Europe facing ruin, the Templars may have planned to rebuild what they called the New Jerusalem outside the realm of the Church. ibid.
Could that island be Oak Island? Rumoured for hundreds of years to be the site of a fabulous treasure hoard, Oak Island sits off the southern shore of Nova Scotia. ibid.
In 1795 three boys were digging when they came across a man-made shaft layered every ten feet with oak planks and coconut fibre. The stone told of a treasure thirty feet further down, but thirty feet down was a booby-trap ... The original shaft has been dubbed the Money Pit because so many investors have sunk money into its excavation without success. ibid.
The hooked X ... Evidence also connects it to the Templars by inclusion with Rosslyn Chapel, built by the Sinclairs. It’s on the East Coast Rune-stone. The Kensington Stone. And Columbus’s signature. A single symbol that ties everything together. And links it all to the Templars and the freemasons. ibid.
Thrown into prison and tortured many confessed to shocking crimes of heresy. Templars’ Lost Treasure
From London the legendary Templar treasure trail leads to the north west and an old country family estate where a collection of Georgian follies appear to contain tantalising clues: Shugborough ... Of the eight monuments scattered across the grounds one has been linked to the legend of the Templar’s lost treasure. It’s the so-called Shepherd’s Monument ... Letters carved into the marble below are seen by some to be part of a secret code ... O U O S V A V V D M ... nicknamed the ‘D M’ code. ibid.
The Oak Island treasure pit legend began in 1795 ... Some three metres down there was no treasure but a kind of wooden platform. They removed it and kept digging. Only to find another wooden platform nine metres below the surface. New excavations began later in 1803. Around every three metres the treasure hunters hit a platform of wooden beams ... Twenty-eight metres down they hit a mysterious stone. The purpose of the so-called Warning Stone became clear: it appeared to mark a boundary. Digging beyond it, workers found themselves engulfed by water flooding into the pit. ibid.
The idea that the Templars were digging into the Temple Mount is a modern one – nobody at the time wrote about that. And I think the Templars would have talked about it had they been doing it as well, because they liked to advertise their activities as a way of making money. Helen Nicholson, author and historian
What would be the point in taking treasure to Nova Scotia when the whole point of the Order is to protect Jerusalem? Helen Nicholson
In six days of carnage the swords of Islam massacre eight hundred men. Then for the next eight hundred years the dead simply disappear. Archaeologists have discovered human remains bearing savage scars. Now they are digging deeper in the castle ruins. Templars: The Last Stand, National Geographic 2011
Jacob’s Ford – a barren hilltop overlooking the Jordan River, one hundred miles north of Jerusalem. A crack team of archaeologists recover relics from a twelfth-century Templar castle. ibid.
The story of the Knights Templar’s downfall begins eighty years before the Battle of Jacob’s Ford after Jerusalem is recaptured from the Muslims during the first crusade. ibid.
The Templars are the favourites right now for the finders of the Holy Grail. Dr Juliette Wood, Cardiff University
The indictment (acte d’accusation) published by the court of Rome set forth ... ‘that in all the provinces they [Knights Templar] had idols, that is to say, heads, some of which had three faces, others but one; sometimes, it was a human skull ... That in their assemblies, and especially in their grand chapters, they worshipped the idol as a god, as their saviour, saying that this head could save them, that it bestowed on the order all its wealth, made the trees flower, and the plants of the earth to sprout forth’. Michael Haag, Templars: History and Myth