Download The Knights Templar: The Pocket Essential Guide AudioBook Free
The Knights Templar were the most effective military religious order of the center Ages. Formed to safeguard pilgrims in the Holy Land, they participated in the Crusades and swiftly gained riches, lands and influence and were answerable to none save the Pope himself. Furthermore to having a fearful military reputation, they were also Christendom's first bankers, and invented the modern banking system that is still in use today, and were also involved with exploration and anatomist. Apparently untouchable for nearly two centuries, the Templars fell from sophistication spectacularly after the loss of the Holy Land: in 1307, all Templars in France were caught on charges of heresy, homosexuality, denial of the mix and devil worship. The order was suppressed by the Pope in 1312, and Jacques de Molay, the previous Grand Professional, was burnt at the stake as a heretic two years later. The myth of the Templars was born and in the ensuing seven centuries, they may have exerted a unique influence over European history: orthodox historians see them as nothing more than soldier-monks whose arrogance was their ultimate undoing, while others see them as occultists of the first order, the founders of Freemasonry, possessors of the Holy Grail and designers of the Turin Shroud. Sean Martin considers both the orthodox and conspiratorial version of happenings, and includes the latest revelations from the Vatican Collection.
