The most exotic, legendary, and enigmatic medieval institution, with a touch of the glamorous, has to be the Templars. Many visitors to Paris know that the last (official) Grand Master of the Order was burned at the stake in Paris – at the tip of the Ile de la Cité, where a plaque memorializes the event. The DaVinci Code, Indiana Jones and National Treasure have spun tales of fabulous treasure and mysterious secret societies watched by millions. Yet very, very few know that the Doom of the Templars came… in Poitiers.
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, also known as the Order of Solomon’s Temple, the Knights Templar or simply the Templars, were founded in 1119, and originally headquartered on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The cause of the Templars was to support and provide safe-keeping for Western pilgrims wishing to go to the Holy Land. In the first two decades after the First Crusade’s capture of Jerusalem in 1099, many pious Europeans sought to make a pilgrimage to the Holy City, only to be attacked and often killed by bandits and various groups along the way. The Templars took their side and made the sacred journey safer. Leading churchmen and European royalty and nobility supported them, and recruits and donations poured in. Their fame grew with further crusades, especially in 1177 when some 500 mounted Templar knights helped defeat an army of over 20,000 Moslem soldiers under the Great Saladin. Their characteristic uniform of white shirts with a red cross over their armor is recognized throughout Christendom. But the big key for the Templars was the invention of “pilgrim Letters of Credit”, whereby crusaders and pilgrims placed their wealth at the disposal of the Templars, who in turn arranged for money to be available along their route. If the travelers failed to return home, the Templars kept their property. Through this early development of international banking networks, the Templars accumulated massive amounts of money and property. In Poitiers, the Templars had a lodge, a church and adjoining property, along the west side of the Rue Scevole Sainte-Marthe (entrance at #10), and along the Rue de la Cathedrale (entrance at #76), west of the Cathedral. Vast underground passages underlie the complex.
The renown and financial might of the Templars was closely tied to the Crusades; when these failed to keep control of the Holy Land, support for the Order dwindled. As one of the West’s first successful de-facto banking houses, the Templars has also lent substantial sums to the Kings of France, which seemed like a good idea at the time. But political risk is hard to gauge, and the large debts owed by the French monarchy became a strong incentive for Philippe le Bel to attack the Order, rather than repay it. There were two main players in the collapse of the might Templar Empire: the King of France, Philippe le Bel, and Pope Clement V. The Pope authorized the dissolution of the renowned Catholic military order, which most considered a branch of the Church. He was convinced to do so, or depending on the reading of history, conspired to do so, by the King of France. Their conspiracy, the negotiations of how Doom would befall the Templars, and the “interrogation” and de-fact show trial of the Templars, all took place in Poitiers.
The plot began to unfold in March of 1307, when Clement V came to Poitiers with all the Papal court. He would stay in Poitiers for no less than 16 months, lodging in the Convent of the Cordeliers (better known in English as Franciscans), located around the current street of the same name in the center of Poitiers. Much of the site is occupied today by the Monoprix department store (between 1930 and 1984 was the Dames de France, in the Immeuble Vannier), whose entrance is at #1 Rue des Cordeliers. In May of 1307, the King arrived in Poitiers. Along with his retinue, he took his lodgings at the Convent of the Jacobins (better known in English as the Dominicans), just to the east of the Cordeliers. Their Convent spread over a large area, bounded to the north by the Rue de la Cathedrale, to the west by the Rue du Marché Notre-Dame and the Rue de l’Ancienne Comedie, to the east by the Rue Arsene Orillard. The Chamber of Commerce of Poitiers today occupies part of the site. A bridge was built above the street between the two convents to give Pope and King free access to each other. The bridge between Pope and King was located between #s 36 and 38 on the present-day Rue du Marché Notre-Dame (then the Rue des Jacobins), by the corner of today’s Rue Jean-Jaures. They confer chiefly regarding the Templars. The Grand Master of the Templars, Jacques de Molay, is summoned from Cyprus to be questioned in Poitiers by the combined Papal and Royal court. He comes in June with 72 of the principal knights of the Order. One day, a wall along the intervening street collapsed, killing 80: Pope and King barely avoid being crushed. No doubt the early 14th Century internet was full of dark conspiracy theories, blaming the Templars and their agents… The “plot” fails, and the King and Pope agree on the suppression of the Order. The King leaves Poitiers in July. After their interrogation, held at the Cordeliers Convent, all the leading Templars are sent to Paris for a formal show-trial. On Friday the 13th, in October 1307, all members of the Order are arrested, jailed, tortured until they “confessed,” and burnt at the stake by the King’s executioners.
The mighty Templars have fallen: King and Pope have gotten what they want. Along the Grand’ Rue of Poitiers, there is another big winner of this historic episode. There is one “other Order” of knights sworn to protect pilgrims and the western territories of the Holy Land: the Knights of St John of Jerusalem, also known as the Knights of Malta. Their politics and wealth have not created the envy or animosity which have concentrated on the Templars. A part of the massive wealth of the Templars is handed over to the Knights of Malta to ensure that pilgrims to the Holy Land remain supported, tripling the assets of the Order overnight. A short two decades later, the Grand Master for Western and Southern France of the Order builds a massive new administrative complex for the Order’s regional leadership, the “Great Priory of Aquitaine”. Its entrance was located at #159 on the Grand’ Rue. The façade of the complex is rebuilt in 1669, and can still be seen today all who pass by along the Grand’ Rue. The Great Priory’s grounds stretched all the way from the Grand’ Rue, along the Rue Montgautier, to the Rue de la Cathedrale, where the Priory’s Treasury was located at #40. The Poitiers property has long since been sold, but the Knights of Malta still today carry on with their “mission,” though pilgrims to the Holy Land rarely ask for military escort.
Conspiracy theorists and adventure movie fans have been having a great time with the Templars since they met their doom in 1307. Today’s visitor to Poitiers can imagine themselves immersed in the drama – or as Aaron Burr says in Hamilton, being “in the room where it happened.”
