Their Eyes Were Watching God

Who Were the Knights Templar and what was the source of their great power?

Mystery is applied to something beyond human knowledge or understanding, or it merely refers to any unexplained or seemingly inexplicable matter. Enigma specifically applies to that whose meaning is hidden by cryptic or ambiguous allusions, and generally, to anything very difficult to explain.(1) There has been much stipulation as to the explaining of this veiled institution's true purpose. Truth is, the history of the Order of the Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon-better known as the Knight's Templar remains an entangled and often impenetrable array of fact and supposition.(2) The Templars were a very mysterious enigma veiled in ancient religious allegory, that initially was established to protect the pilgrims on the roadways to and from the sacred city of Jerusalem. However, this initial mission statement and/or assignment was not indicative of who the Knights Templar really was or the source of their great power.

On one hand, the Templars were known as the devout, loyal, and famed monastic warriors of the crusades--the "white Knight's" of medieval Christendome.(3) This religious-military knighthood formed from the elite or nobility of Champagne or the Languedoc. The founding knights humbly appeared before King Baldwin of Jerusalem and asked to keep roads and highways safe permission to stay in the ruins of Solomon's Temple. Access and requests were granted by King Baldwin and the order became known as the "Bretheren of the Soldiery of the Temple" in 1118 A.D., and later changed in 1119 A.D. to the Knights of the Temple to be further quickly shortened to the Knights Templar. The founding nine knights led by Hugh de Payens were closely related by blood and connections to Flemish royalty and the Cisterian monks. Payens was a vassal and cousin of Hugh de Champagne, Saint Bernard of Clairvaux was also was a vassal of Champagne and they were joined by Andre de Montbard who was Saint Bernard's uncle, Payen de Montdidier, Achambaud de St. Amand, Geoffroi Bisol, Godfroi de Boullon, and two Cisterian monks of St. Bernard Gondemare and Rosal. It appears this alliance of knighthood was stragically organized years prior to coming to Jerusalem to see King Baldwin as Godfroi de Boullon was the older brother of King Baldwin. Abbot Bernard of Clairvaux was the chief financial supporter of the Templars as he rose to even greater religious heights. Oddly enough this order recruited no new member during their initial nine years of existence which was not in order with their promise of protection to the pilgrims headed to the Holy land. They were rarely seen outside of the mosque they were granted to stay in called the Al-Aqsa Mosque which was situated directly over Solomon's temple. The idea that they could patrol the roads to Jerusalem effectively with so few knights is unfathomable. They really had come to the Holy Land in search of the relics of Christinity buried in the ruins of the stables of Solomons temple and spent most of their initial nine years excavating for treasures deep under the ruins of the first permanent Hebrew Temple.(4)

So, on the other hand the Knights Templar was speculated to be mystics and keepers of all things sacred to mankind. They were something like a spiritualized version of modern day elite military special forces--such as the famed Navy Seals, the Marines, of the British SAS--who lived by far more rigorous standards than other soldiers. They were the elite special forces for Christ, the most disciplined fighting force in western Europe. (5) They were the secret informers and the covert mis-informers all in one when it came to reporting their findings from their excavations. It seems the founding knights understood that for