The Catholic Church's justification of the Knights Templar's violent mission

¶ … Knights Templar, condoned by the Catholic Church, represents a religious order committed to the seemingly opposing principles and ideas of Christian peace and brotherhood of man while remaining dedicated to war and death. Through efforts to demonstrate this thesis, an effort will be made to document the manner in which the Catholic Church has justified this order in spite of its allegiance to opposing principles.

The Order of the Knights Templar was both a military and religious order, founded in the early 12 century, for the purposes of protecting Christian pilgrims who were traveling to holy places after the Catholic conquest of the Holy Land. The Order of the Temple was a military order, a type of religious order and was condoned by the Catholic Church from its onset due to its protective role. The order received its name after the King of Jerusalem gave the order his palace in the al-Aqsa mosque to serve as their headquarters. Over time, the role assumed by the order was expanded to include the protection of Christian territory in Spain. While there has been some suggestion that females were also accepted into the order, most of what has been recorded has suggested that the order consisted of men exclusively who took the normal three vows of chastity, poverty and obedience while coming to represent the Western world's first military order.

When considering the history and traditions of the Knights Templar, it is important to note that these men virtually left no written record by which their own thoughts and actual behavior could be examined. The recorded history of others has suggested that the members' lifestyle was much like that of ordinary monks, with the order's rule having laid down a strict regime on clothing, diet, charitable giving and other living arrangements. While the Knights Templar was the first military order, the order was soon followed by others including the Hospitallers and the Teutonics.

As has been explained by some, the concept of the military order emerged out of conceptualizations relating to crusade. Rather than being recognized as crusaders, who only took up weapons for a short period of time to defend Christ's people, a military order assumed this role for life. In exchange for their willingness to commit themselves to this responsibility, members of a military order expected that they would receive pardon for their sins and immediate entry into heaven if they died in action against the enemies of Christianity.

Criticisms of the Knights Templar

On the basis of the records of popes and chroniclers during the period of in the 1128-1291, information suggests that while extensive criticism was directed at all three military orders, the Templars did not receive more severe or frequent criticism than did the other two groups.

In fact, the Order may have been more protected from criticism as it was what was known as an exempt order, subject only to the rule and guidance of the Pope while the other two groups were subject to Episcopal (i.e., that which is pertaining to authority of the Bishop) monastic visitations. For clarification purposes, it is important to note that a visitation was an occasion when an external ecclesiastical authority (i.e., an authority under the rule of the bishop) inspected a monastic community to ensure that the latter was functioning properly. Exemption was granted to some orders to varying degrees, having obtained by legal efforts, petitioning to the pope, or through other methods. In cases such as that of the Knights Templar, the pope can exempt an order without the order having petitioned him, making the order subordinate only to him and under the authority of papal legates (i.e., a representative of the papacy, usually either a cardinal dispatched from Rome, an archbishop, or sometimes a bishop).

Most criticism leveled at the Templar order tended to focus on its reported arrogance and pride, its perceived responsibility for some of the military failures in the Holy Land, and, most of all, its alleged possession of wealth and power. However, some failed to recognize that the Templars' role as international bankers and money did not equate into very large amounts of money with the Templar treasury. Similarly, it as also been suggested that the perceived arrogance on the part of the order emerged from the expertise that the Templars' possessed regarding the Holy Land, their established cooperative relationships with the Muslims, and their power in determining military rule and efforts within the Holy Land.

Criticisms also emerged that were based on questioning by some religious leaders as to whether a military order truly could also serve the functions of a religious order. Evidence suggests that efforts were directed at attempting to convince the pope that the Templars should be recognized only as knights and not monks, while also suggesting that fighting the Muslims overseas was less important than dealing with problems at home in Western Europe. The military orders had become well established as part of the religious establishment by 1200, with most criticism ceasing as to whether they should be allowed to represent both a military and religious order.

Conclusions

The thesis of this paper was that the Knights Templar, condoned by the Catholic Church, represented a religious order committed to the seemingly opposing principles and ideas of Christian peace and brotherhood of man while remaining dedicated to war and death. It was the intent of this paper to demonstrate that the Templars were sanctioned and valued by the Catholic Church. As has been clearly shown throughout the paper, the Templars, up until the 1300s remained both a military and religious order, established and consistently validated by papal authority. While it may seem that the principles of peace and brotherhood were in opposition with those of war and death, the Templars assumed an important role in the eyes of the Catholic Church - protecting the Holy Land and pilgrims who traveled there. In many respects, they remained full-time military crusaders and were prepared to engage in battles to protect the interests of the Church and Christianity. They answered directly to the pope and were exempted from many of the rules placed on purely religious orders. In spite of ongoing criticisms directed at them, the pope largely refrained from interfering with the activities of the Templars until the later 1200s and early 1300s. While doubt can be cast on the role that papal authority played in the downfall and destruction of the Templars, it would appear that they remained a valued element of the Catholic Church until the Church could no longer protect them from greedy and self-serving secular rulers.