☩ The Trial of the Templars: What Really Happened - Part 1 ☩

During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, a highly disciplined order of warrior monks, known as the Knights Templar, defended the holiest sites in the Christian world. Unlike ordinary knights, the Templars gave up personal wealth and power, and lived by a strict code of work, training, prayer and battle. As they achieved outstanding victories alongside the crusader kings of Jerusalem, their fame grew, and Christians throughout Europe knew them as the army of God. Kings began to prize the Templars as councilors, and in every royal court in Europe Templars acted as diplomats and advisors. In Paris, especially, the Templars cooperated closely with the King of France. But at the close of the thirteenth century, the battle for the Holy Land grew more intense. A new power arose – the Mamluks. Led by the Sultan Baibars, who conquered the Muslim kingdoms across Egypt, Syria, and Mesopotamia. Baibars’ Mamluk Empire could field armies larger than any yet seen in the arena of the Crusades. In the face of impossible n