In 1128, Pope Honorius II grants a papal sanction to the military order known as the Knights Templar, declaring it to be an army of God.
The Knights Templar was founded in 1118 to protect Christian pilgrims on their way to the Holy Land during the Crusades. The Templars took their name from the location of their military headquarters at Jerusalem's Temple Mount.
Initially, there were only nine knights who met the group's requirements of having a noble birth, taking a strict vow of poverty, obedience and chastity. In 1127, they loosened the rules a bit to get more noblemen to join the order.
While individual knights were not allowed to own property, over the years the order received gifts of land and other valuables from rich christians to support the Knights Templar. This caused a bit of a problem for the order in that, by the time the Crusades ended unsuccessfully in the early 14th century, the Knights Templar had grown extremely wealthy. With the Holy War over, there original mission was no longer in tune with their principle supporters and sponsors and their wealth provoked the jealousy of both religious and secular powers.
By 1307, a plan had been hatched by King Philip IV of France and Pope Clement V combined to take them down, arresting the grand master, Jacques de Molay, on charges of heresy, sacrilege and Satanism. The arrests took place on Friday October 13, 1307 and to this day Friday the 13th is considered unluckly.
It was certainly a bad day to be a Knight of the Templar Order. Under torture, Molay and other leading Templars confessed and were eventually burned at the stake. Clement dissolved the Templars in 1312, assigning their property and monetary assets to a rival order, the Knights Hospitalers. Philip and King Edward II mostly kept the goodies for themselves after publically banning the organization from their own countries.
Over the centuries, myths and legends about the Templars have grown, including the belief that they may have discovered holy relics at Temple Mount, including the Holy Grail, the Ark of the Covenant or parts of the cross from Christ's crucifixion.
None of this has been proven fact today, but it was fodder for excellent books like the DiVinci Code.
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