DCS Kickstarter Wags July 2014 "In this July 2014 update, the primary news is in regards to the restructured backer rewards. After a careful review of the older system under RRG, we found it financially unattainable." Wags October 2017 "the investment vs. generated revenue has been excellent for the World War II aircraft. In fact, the P-51D Mustang has twice the cost effectiveness of the A-10C Warthog."
The Knights Templar were undoubtedly wealthy at the height of their power, but the idea that there is a huge 'treasure' to be found is almost certainly an invention dating from long after their dissolution. Their wealth consisted largely of land holdings (including the entire island of Cyprus at one point), along with sources of income derived from what amounted to an early form of banking: not the sort of thing you can bury. Like most wealthy organisations and individuals later, they didn't keep their capital tied up in valuables, but instead invested it. And given the methods used by Pope Clement V's inquisitors, I suspect most assets they had hidden would likely have been revealed under torture (if you can persuade a Templar to 'confess' to spitting on the Cross, getting him to tell you where the loot is buried should be a doddle...). Maybe there are a few forgotten items of Templar property hidden away somewhere, but any value is highly unlikely to amount to much in comparison to what the Templars held overall, and such artefacts, if they exist, are probably worth more for their archaeological significance than anything else. A horde of Templar treasure lying hidden for centuries makes for an entertaining story, but as a historical concept, it makes little sense.
Interesting topic. Like TychosElk mentioned, I think their wealth involved land, to which King Philip the (?) was indebted to them and forced their decline through the Pope at that time. Like all noble causes they grew too big and famous. See the Battle of Montigard (sp). {recently saw a fairly good documentary on this; the Rangers of old - they kicked ass} And weren't they supposed to have a relic of the Crucifixion? There's your wealth.
I watched a documentary on them that seemed to point at it being at the castle Aaaargh. Unfortunately the investigators ran into trouble with local law enforcement, probably worried they were going to steal antiquities, so the mystery remains open.
Suicide is man's way of telling god "You can't fire me, I quit!"
The Templar Order did survive in Portual (got renamed eventually into Military Order of Christ), so if any mobile assets got rescued by the Templars, they most likely were brought there (to Tomar, one would assume).
My guess is, since Phillipe did not find anything valuable (certainly not what he had hoped), all financial assets not in the form of real estate were most likely invested somewhere (trade, manifacturing, agriculture), and I guess that the surviving heirs to the Order kept investing in some venture or other...guilds like the Hanse, or Dutch and English trading companies.
Then there's this popular myth/ conspiracy theory that some Templars went on to found Switzerland by being pivotal in the defeat of Duke Leopold (of Habsburg) in 1315, and subsequently setting up the Swiss banking system. Maybe they were their own first customers.
(Also, while in Switzerland, they invented the Cheese Fondue and became even richer)
Last edited by Jayhawk; 04/14/1703:32 AM.
Why men throw their lives away attacking an armed Witcher... I'll never know. Something wrong with my face?
Joined: Sep 2001 Posts: 24,712Dart
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Dart
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Lifer
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 24,712
Alabaster, AL USA
The Templar Treasure has been found!!!
May god blessed you, my name is RAGOSA MAGHI, secretary of Vatican Treasury at EU Headquarters in Switzerland and there is ONE HUNDRED TEN MILLIONS United States Euros in a special account held in trust and able for claims. I am looking for the relative of the account leader to find withdrawals of the money and release it.
Please send the following:
Full Name Passport Number Bank Account Number with Bank Name and Routing Number to send money to.
Send me this and a small modality fee of ten thousand United States Dollars by Western Union and I will transfer the ONE HUNDRED TEN MILLIONS UNITED STATES EUROS to you.
Jesus kisses you,
Robert Matthews EU Headquarters Secreaty
The opinions of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.
Interesting topic. Like TychosElk mentioned, I think their wealth involved land, to which King Philip the (?) was indebted to them and forced their decline through the Pope at that time. Like all noble causes they grew too big and famous. See the Battle of Montigard (sp). {recently saw a fairly good documentary on this; the Rangers of old - they kicked ass} And weren't they supposed to have a relic of the Crucifixion? There's your wealth.
Philip IV of France. And yes, their downfall was almost entirely due to them becoming too big, too powerful, and too much of a threat to the status quo. While they served a military purpose they were useful, but with once it became clear that the Holy Land wasn't going to be retaken for Christendom, the established ruling elite were inevitably going to look for a way to get rid of them. And not just because of their wealth and worldly power: they were a threat to the establishment on spiritual terms too, as 'Knights of Christ' who might be seen as having more legitimacy than a royalty which by and large held power through brute force. Hence the charges laid against them: not just homosexual conduct (an easy charge to lay against a secretive monastic organisation, since it was more or less impossible to disprove), but heresy of the most vile kind. They had to be destroyed, and in a manner that gave those responsible for the destruction grounds to claim to be doing 'God's work'.
As for relics of the Crucifixion, the Templars certainly claimed to have a fragment of the True Cross: but there were many such in circulation. I've seen it suggested (not entirely in jest) that there were enough True Fragments of the Cross in circulation at the time to have crucified a 400-foot-tall Messiah. Religious relics of the time were generally only as significant as the people who held them, and as the holders power waxed and waned, so did that of the relic. Once the Templars had fallen, the authenticity of any relic would have fallen into question, particularly given the charges laid against them. Anyone coming into possession of such a relic would be risking their own encounter with the Pope's inquisitors should they make it publicly known,one might think. So again, not really a 'treasure' by any material standards. And as for whether an actual fragment of the cross (in the very unlikely circumstance that they had one) would have any particular spiritual value beyond that of any other lump of ancient wood, I'll leave that question for the believers to argue amongst themselves.
Then there is the Scottish connection, in 1314 at the battle of Bannockburn it is rumoured to have been the Knights Templar that came in to help finish off the English for Robert the Bruce.
There is supposed to be a connection between Roslyn Chapel which was built by the Sinclair family, the were originally from France and they anglicised their name from St. Clair to Sinclair, they held lands just south of Edinburgh and also had a large estate in the Far North of Scotland with castles at Girnigeo, Kiess and Thurso. I never found any treasure while exploring the castles though, but I did find a secret room between the floors of Castle Sinclair/Girnigeo. I had spotted a small window in the corner of where the towers joined together and it was totally out of alignment with the flooring, So I climbed up the wall and went through a window on to the level above the ground floor, there I found a small hatch in the floor which lead directly into the room which was above the kitchen, there was a window on the east end of the room which lead into the great chimney from the kitchen fireplace and also the small window on the north side of the room which was the window I had seen from the shore.
A little video I made a long time ago about the castles, music is a traditional song sung by my brother's ex-girlfriend Karen.
There are also connections to the Templars at Kilchurn Castle on Loch Awe and there are graves of knights at Kilmartin Church which are purported to be those of Knights Templar.
Quote
Kilmartin (Scottish Gaelic: Cille Mhàrtainn) is a small village in Argyll and Bute, western Scotland. It is best known as the centre of Kilmartin Glen, an area with one of the richest concentrations of prehistoric monuments and historical sites in Scotland. It contains over 350 monuments within a 6-mile radius.
The Knights Templar (French Knights) had been granted about 100 properties in Scotland by King David 1st in the 12th century
But all in all there is little direct evidence that they actually settled in Scotland. At the time of the Templar trials in Paris Scotland had already been excommunicated from the Catholic Church and the Papal Bull had no power in Scotland.
Chlanna nan con thigibh a so's gheibh sibh feoil Sons of the hound come here and get flesh Clan Cameron
Joined: Apr 2001 Posts: 121,384PanzerMeyer
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PanzerMeyer
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In many ways the Knights Templar were similar to the Roman praetorian guard in that both groups eventually became too powerful and too influential in political events so the ruling class got rid of them.
“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”