Knights Templar

IstilllikeZARcoins

Does anyone know of any coinage or artefacts that belonged only to the Knights Templar ?

theboz11

I'm not sure what you mean by belonging just to them. They were the worlds first real bankers and it took ships to carry their coins. Google" Knights Templar coins", and there are pages of info.

Aethelred

Do you mean coins issued by them?

JZrarities

I don't think they issued any coins in their name.

But, they did a large amount of banking in coins of the Realm.

IstilllikeZARcoins

Sorry, yes, I meant was there any coinage issued by the KT ?

Blackhawk

Weren't there some issues by them after they were pushed from the holy lands...it seems to me from some island off Italy or something?

satootoko

<< <i>Weren't there some issues by them after they were pushed from the holy lands...it seems to me from some island off Italy or something? >>

Not sure, but I think you are confusing the Knights Templar with the Sovereign Order of Knights of Malta, which has issued its own coinage for centuries. Their current headquarters are in two buildings in Rome which have been granted extraterritorial status by Italy.

Sapyx

The three major military orders of knights in the Holy Land during the Crusades were the Templars, Hospitalliers and Teutonics. Once the Holy Land was lost to them, they had to find other reasons for their existence.

The Hospitalliers eventually evolved into today's Order of Malta, and ruled their own territory for several centuries, first the island of Rhodes and later the island of Malta. Napoleon deprived them of Malta; the buildings in Rome are the only "territory" they have left. Their activities today are largely humanitarian.

The Teutonic Order went back home to Germany and carved out their own state there, in a "crusade" against the pagan Prussians. Napoleon deprived them of their territory, too. The remnants of this order also reverted to a spiritual and humanitarian role. Though the Nazis used their legacy and imagery for their own purposes, they actually expelled the last remnants of the Order from Austria when they invaded there.

The Templars remained a "Christian army-at-large", and as such were seen as a threat - not to mention the vast wealth they'd managed to accumulate through donations and "banking activities" during the Crusades. In the end, the French king Philip IV owed them so much money, he arranged for their destruction as a way out of debt. Many Templars were sent to the Inquisition and burned at the stake for heresy. The remaining property and assets of the Templars were merged with the Hospitalliers in 1312.

Since then, the Templars have been the inspiration and role model for various secret societies.