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-34925063500000Why did European kings fear the power of the Knights’ Templars? Who were the Knights Templar?-3517903166745In 1095, Pope Urban II declared the First Crusade (holy war) to seize Jerusalem from Muslim hands. For the next two centuries, kings and emperors from across Europe sent expeditions to the Holy Land to battle for control of Jerusalem and the other Crusader States. In 1099, Jerusalem was captured by the Christians, and the first King of Jerusalem, Baldwin I from Boulogne in France, was put on the throne. The newly conquered land and Christian pilgrims (holy travellers) to the Holy Land needed protecting. Military orders were set up to do this. They swore to serve the church (like monks) and existed to fight for it – literally. One military order set up around 1118 was “The Poor Knights of the Temple of King Solomon” (the Knights’ Templar). Their headquarters were at Temple Mount in Jerusalem, and they had several other bases across Europe, including in Paris and at Temple Newsam in Yorkshire. The head of the Knights’ Templar was called the Grand Master. At its peak, historians estimate that there were around 15,000 members, or brothers, belonging to this military order. They were not part of any country. No King or Emperor could directly control them. What did they do?Templars are often remembered as some of the fiercest fighters of the Crusades. Historians often attribute this to their very strong belief in the Church’s teachings. The Templars followed a code of conduct similar to that of monks: “The Rule of the Templars”. They promised to follow a life of poverty, chastity, obedience, and above all to fight against the enemy in the Holy Land. At first, there were 68 rules telling the Templars how to live, including not being able to have a bath without permission and only being able to eat if they were wearing their uniform (a white mantle with a red cross). As the Templar Order grew in popularity, more rules were added and the rules became even stricter.The Templars are also well known for setting up the first European banking system. Templars were trusted with moving money across Europe, because they moved between the Holy Land and Western Europe. Travellers put their money in the trust of the Templars before their trip, were given a document as proof of this, and then picked up their money on arrival in the Holy Land. Why were the Templars a problem for European monarchs?The Templars were incredibly wealthy because of their role in banking across Europe. They frequently lent money to kings and emperors, and they owned large amounts of land and property in France, England and Spain. King Henry III of England even moved all of the money in the Royal Treasury to the Templar’s base in London, and used their banking system to pay his debts to other European leaders. The Templars were very secretive, and this caused a lot of suspicion. The monarchs did not entirely trust these dedicated fighting ‘monks’, they had no control over them and they did not like having to depend on them for money. The Trial of the TemplarsIn 1291, the Crusader States were lost when the Christian forces lost the Battle of Acre. This also meant that the Knights Templar lost their headquarters in Jerusalem. By 1303, they had made Paris their new home, but they no longer had the purpose of protecting the Holy Land for Christians.On 13th October 1307, King Philip IV of France had every Templar Knight arrested at the same time across his kingdom. All Templar property in France was seized. He accused them of worshipping the Devil, spitting on the cross, and ritual homosexuality. Over the next 5 years, Templars were tortured to confess their crimes. Historians largely agree that there is little truth to these confessions because they were extracted under torture. Philip IV finally convinced Pope Clement V to close the Order in 1312, and the final Grand Master Jacques Molay was burned at the stake in 1314.THINK!From what you have read, how can you explain why kings often did not like the Templars and why King Philip of France was the first king able to crush them? Over to you!You could do some internet research to find out more about the influence of the Knights’ Templars on the Kingdom of England in the Middle Ages. Teacher notes: ‘Why did European kings fear the power of the Knights’ Templars?’What is a slot-in?A slot-in is a short story from the past that is rich in historical concepts. You can use a slot-in as part of a longer sequence, or as cover work, or in those moments where you need something short. They are also useful for building connection and coherence across the history curriculum. The concept focus of this enquiryThe enquiry question here is: ‘Why did European kings fear the power of the Knights’ Templars?’ The story the students will read is about an aspect of religion in the Middle Ages that is not often studied in depth. By thinking about the reasons that the Knights’ Templars were feared by kings in the early middles ages in Europe, the students gain more of a sense of the medieval period. Templars were fiercely independent and devout, not easily controlled by kings and in control of money – threatening to monarchs. Curriculum linksIf we teach England as the Middle Ages as a place isolated from the rest of Europe we are being ahistorical. The idea of western Christendom was very real. We also have such a restricted amount of curriculum time to teach a large amount of past. This story could be slotted-in to your curriculum as part of a sequence on:Religion in the Middle Ages,The Crusades,English Kings from 1066-1422.This topic can help students to understand the challenges of fragmentary evidence – the sources that we have about the Templars are not complete, of course. The history of them was written by their vanquishers and they have been mythologised for several centuries. This topic could also be used as a bridge from the Normans towards the Hundred Years’ War (see below)Activity suggestionsYou might just want students to read this story to support the development of their wider knowledge of the period, to make a connection to a wider topic and move on. You could set them the story to read for homework, or as an extension task, or as a small part of a lesson. You could reduce the text to suit your students. However, you might decide to use this material for more of a lesson with activities. You could:Use the map of Europe at the time of the Crusades and mark onto it the key bases of the Knight’s Templars, drawing out how they connected across Europe and to the Holy Land.Put the story of the Templars into the timeline of the history of the Middle Ages studied in the school history curriculum. Use the story of the Temple Church () or a local Templar site (for example: ) to introduce the students to the Templars, their work, their world and their destruction. Misconceptions to dispelThere is a lot of mythology that surrounds the Templars. It is important to distinguish for students what is known, from what might have been the case, to the utterly fictionalised for entertainment/ other modern purposes. Extra background for teachersPhilip IV of France, who defeated the Templars, was the father of Isabella who married King Edward II of England. Through her, her son Edward III claimed the Kingdom of France – there’s a direct link from this story to the Hundred Years’ War and onwards! The French monarchy was more powerful than the English monarchy at the time. Philip IV is a controversial monarch. He also expelled the Jewish community from France (16 years after they were excluded from England by the King of England). Where to link toA useful short summary of the Templars, particularly in England, is here: ................
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