What was important about abolishing the Knights Templar?

Answer 1

It depends on what you mean by important. "The poor fellow-soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon", commonly known as The Knights Templar, existed for the better part of two centuries.

The Temple was first formed in 1119, to protect pilgrims who were traveling to the Holy Land and around the area (nicknamed Outremer) during the Christian occupation of Jerusalem, as well as other cities in the region. During these years, the Templars numbers grew to between 15,000 and 20,000 members (of which only 10% were knights). Along with this swell of dedicates, came power.

The Templars grew in power, wealth and influence and Actually became richer than any other order, country and even the Catholic Church itself. (In fact, the Templars set up the first ever international banking system.)

It was this wealth, coupled with the end of the crusades, that led to the Templars demise. The order lost a lot of support after Jerusalem was lost and people began to mistrust the templars (due to rumours about initiations and rituals that were deemed unchristian). King Philip IV of France, deeply indebted to the order due to his war with England, used this to his advantage. He had Pope Clement V, who it is suggested was little more than his puppet, order the Templars arrested and, after confessions were tortured out of them (which of course probably means that they were false) the order was disbanded. After this happened in 1312, many of the members who were in France, including Templar Grand Master Jacques De Molay, were burned at the stake, however, many others elsewhere escaped. It is believed that, because this took place on Friday 13th, it is the reason for the bad luck myth.

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