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Write an ArticleIt has spawned endless flights of speculation and has even become popularly attached to the stigma surrounding Friday the 13th. But the arrest, expurgation and subsequent controversy surrounding the fall of the Knights Templar in the dawning years of the 14th century may now finally have a little more light cast on them. Accused of myriad crimes, the Templar Order was destroyed in 1307; its Grand Master, Jacques de Molay, burned at the stake. But were the knights heretics as the French king maintained? It seems not. A new book set to be published by the Vatican and based on recently discovered documents long misfiled in the voluminous Secret Archives reportedly "absolves them; rather completely. Will the release of the book put the brakes on the cottage industry that has developed around templar lore? Probably not. But it will be available on October 25th.
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Vatican Archives Exonerate Knights Templar
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So what is the real reason by Dereck :: NR6 :: Show
So if not for heresy, what’s the real reason the French king had the Templar destroyed?
The Knights were a fascinating group by scottb :: NR9 :: Show
I’m really looking forward to seeing what Processus contra Templarios really has to say.
There’s so much conflicting information floating around about the Templars – stories connecting them to Freemasonry, to various 19th century secret societies, to witchcraft, to the Grail legends, and so on, that it’s hard to discern what’s real. It’s obvious that Philip IV’s action to suppress them was financially motivated, and the charges of heresy have always been a little hard to credit. The Friday the 13th arrest orders were only effective in France – though the Knights had order houses throughout Europe. England was dealing with the death of Edward Longshanks and the succession of Edward II, and didn’t arrest even a single Knight.
The whole thing is a great source of amusing conspiracy theories.