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00:02Medieval warriors with a sacred calling.
00:06The Knights Templar are engaged in a holy wall.
00:10Trained as monks with a license to kill.
00:14This is a crazy multi-day slaughter.
00:18Destined to change the course of history.
00:21The Templars are such an awesome force and they bring such terror.
00:24These are people who know how to fight.
00:34Warriors aren't born, they're built.
00:41Understanding how reveals the true nature of their greatness.
00:47From the cradle to the grave, these are the steps to creating history's greatest warriors.
01:06The Knights Templar, committed to their faith.
01:12Equally devoted to war.
01:16The Templars are the fighting force of the church.
01:20They are retaking control of the Holy Land.
01:24Protecting pilgrims, protecting religious sites.
01:26They are monks as well as warriors.
01:29The Templar Knight can fight without fear.
01:32If he's killed in battle, then his place in heaven is assured.
01:35And those battles the Templars are a part of, it's some of the most brutal and bloody combat of the
01:43Middle Ages.
01:44The Templars are shrouded in mystery to a degree.
01:48They are loyal to an ideal that makes them create the greatest of warriors.
01:54The journey to becoming a Templar Knight will require years of training and devotion to his mission.
02:02The mounted warrior must become expert with the most devastating weapons of his age.
02:09He must defeat his enemy with bold tactics, even when vastly outnumbered.
02:17This path to greatness traces its origins back to the First Crusade.
02:24The Knights Templar are a medieval military order.
02:27They dedicate themselves to the defense of the Holy Land in the aftermath of the First Crusade.
02:34In the First Crusade, the Latin Church encourages European rulers to reconquer the Holy Land.
02:40What is today Israel and Palestine.
02:43This area had been under Islamic control since the 7th century.
02:49The Crusading armies are joined by Christian pilgrims.
02:53The Christian faithful all over Europe want to come to the Holy Land.
02:59They want to see where Jesus was born, where he died, where he was resurrected.
03:06They have to do this pilgrimage in order to redeem themselves.
03:10Repentance for big sins that they've committed.
03:12And in about 1099, Jerusalem falls to the Christians.
03:16By 1099, the Crusaders take control of the Holy Land and conquer the city of Jerusalem.
03:23But their hold is tenuous and religious conflict continues.
03:29From a Muslim point of view, Jerusalem is under Crusader control.
03:34This is an insult to the prophet.
03:37On the Christian side, Jerusalem must stay under Christian control.
03:41It's the birthplace of Jesus.
03:43So both sides have completely entrenched religious positions.
03:48As a result, Christian pilgrims remain subject to constant attacks.
03:54The control of that region is very minimal.
03:57It's basically these fortified positions.
04:00Once you go out into the roads, it becomes very dangerous.
04:03There are robbers.
04:04There are highwaymen.
04:06Neighboring Muslim armies.
04:08The road from Jerusalem to Jericho is known as the Ascent of Blood, because this is an incredibly perilous route
04:16for the pilgrims.
04:18They're not just robbing you.
04:20They're murdering you.
04:21The roads into Jerusalem are littered with the bleached skeletons of pilgrims who have been totally ransacked, everything taken, and
04:32their bodies cast to one side.
04:34One especially violent incident shocks all of Christendom.
04:42In 1119, there is a devastating attack on Christian pilgrims.
04:48You have this group of 700 pilgrims traveling from Jerusalem to the Jordan River.
04:54This is where Jesus was baptized.
04:56This is a holy river.
04:58And these pilgrims are attacked.
05:03300 are killed, and then 400 go into slavery.
05:07It is the spark that incites one warrior to create one of history's most notorious fighters.
05:14The Knights Templar.
05:18The Knights of the Lord.
05:18The Knights of the Lord.
05:18The Knights of the Lord.
05:19The Knights of the Lord.
05:20The Knights of the Lord.
05:22The Knights of the Lord.
05:23Hugh de Payne is a knight from France.
05:25He is traveling in the Holy Land, and he sees that pilgrims are dying, and he wants to do something
05:32about it.
05:36Hugh goes to the King of Jerusalem with an idea of creating this order of holy warriors.
05:43King Baldwin II needs all the help he can get, so he receives this idea with open arms.
05:51The official mission of the Knights Templar is to protect pilgrims on the roads into Jerusalem.
05:59The order starts small.
06:05Hugh de Payne organized nine men, and this was the beginning.
06:11Baldwin II gives them a headquarters, which they believe is the original Temple of Solomon.
06:17And this gives them their name, the poor fellow soldiers of Christ, and the Temple of Solomon.
06:21And nobody wants that entire mouthful, so they just call them the Templars.
06:26And for the first 10 years, they don't really grow very much.
06:30Maybe to 30 at the max.
06:34Then at 1128, Pope Honorius II grants a papal sanction to the Knights Templar, declaring them to be an army
06:44of God.
06:45When the Templars hear that this has happened, this is the catalyst that helps take them from a small, obscure
06:51group of knights to a fighting force that can tip the balance of power in the Holy Land.
06:57But only the select few have what it takes to be a Templar.
07:07Recruits initially come from Europe's elite families, men already trained as skilled and deadly fighters.
07:14They are members of the nobility who already start out as knights.
07:19They are trained as knights from the time that they are young men.
07:21The offer by the Pope and by the church to young men all over Europe is if you join the
07:29Knights Templar, the slate is wiped clean.
07:33And you also have a fast track into heaven, into eternal glory.
07:38And it's after that a lot of people want to join.
07:43But becoming a Templar requires more.
07:46Each candidate must take holy vows, including one demanding celibacy.
07:52It's a big decision.
07:54You are giving yourself entirely to this order.
07:58You will not control your own life anymore.
08:03The decision to join the order is marked by a sacred ceremony.
08:10You go before the superior brothers in the order and you recite these vows.
08:17You take a vow of poverty, of chastity, of obedience.
08:20But on top of that, the Templars take an additional vow to fight for the Holy Land.
08:25The key moment is when they receive the kiss of peace.
08:30The kiss of peace is something that has enormous religious significance.
08:38And this is a very, very normal thing for the Middle Ages.
08:42It is a way of sealing a deal, whether it's fealty to a king or joining an order like the
08:47Templars.
08:49Once you take this vow, you're committed to it, because once you do become a Templar, there's no giving it
08:54up.
08:54There is only one way out of the Templar order, and that is death.
08:58As their fame increases, so too does their wealth.
09:04When the European elites hear what these knights are doing, they start making material donations to these knights.
09:11Now this is in the form of land, this is in the form of castles.
09:15Wealth and power increases, manpower increases, influence increases.
09:20By the middle of the 12th century, they're one of the wealthiest and most powerful orders, really institutions in Christendom.
09:27But that's not the whole story.
09:30A mercenary fights for money, but a soldier who's truly effective is fighting for the homeland, or for king and
09:38country, or for God, in the case of the Knights Templar.
09:42And you don't get a much higher ideal than God.
09:46The Templar warrior's mission requires courage, sacrifice and training for the brutal battles that will be waged for the Holy
09:56Land.
10:03Building knights capable of thriving in some of the most brutal combat of the Middle Ages doesn't happen by accident.
10:15How do the Templars consistently create excellent warriors? How do they become the elite of the elite knights?
10:22It's their discipline, it's their dedication to this cause.
10:26It's also a written code of conduct that eventually includes 609 articles.
10:36The Latin rule is kind of the guidebook for the Templars, which is an exhaustive description of how warrior monks
10:44should conduct their lives, conduct battle and live from day to day.
10:49It's their warrior code.
10:51So not only are you vowing to live as a monk, but you're also vowing that you're going to fight.
10:57Every new recruit entering the Templars is from European nobility, trained in elite fighting skills since their youth.
11:05If you come from the knightly elite, you come from the nobility, you are learning to become a knight your
11:10whole life.
11:11From the time you're a kid, you're first learning to put armor on, you're learning to use these weapons.
11:15So by the time you're an adult, you will have quite a lot of military training.
11:22You cannot separate the warrior from the monk.
11:25And this is what makes the Templar very unique.
11:29And it involves a kind of spiritual transformation.
11:32So there's a change in the mindset that has to happen.
11:39The knight Templar is faced with a grueling daily routine, which includes hours and hours of prayer.
11:46And the rest of the time is spent in preparing armament, looking after the horses.
11:52This was a rigorous life.
11:54They are drilling, they're protecting pilgrims, and all the time there's the next set of prayers coming up.
12:02So it is a really grueling Spartan existence.
12:06It is a very austere life.
12:08And at the end of it, it is probably going to end in martyrdom.
12:13The Templar has one crucial mission.
12:17Protect the Holy Land and the Christians who come to worship there.
12:21To do so, he must learn to survive combat in that unforgiving and deadly terrain.
12:30Until you actually are in the Holy Land, you can't be fully prepared for the type of warfare you're going
12:35to experience.
12:38You're in extreme heat. You're in very dusty, dry conditions.
12:46And you can be campaigning for hours and for even days on end.
12:52You may not have access to food. You may not have access to water.
12:56And you are also susceptible to diseases that you may never have encountered before and that are going to kill
13:03you.
13:05Heat stroke is a persistent enemy. Thirst is a big killer.
13:13One notorious battle against the fierce Muslim leader Saladin illustrates why Templars must be built to withstand extreme conditions.
13:23Saladin is the Sultan of both Egypt and large portions of Syria.
13:28He really has an empire that kind of surrounds the Crusader states.
13:32He can field these massive armies. He can field armies, you know, 20,000, 30,000 men, which is very
13:37big for the Middle Ages.
13:40At the Battle of Hattin, he lures the Crusader army to a position where they are going to be cut
13:45off from water.
13:46They spend a long night in agony. Their horses become exhausted and thirsty.
13:54Saladin's troops start all these fires all around the position the Crusaders are in.
13:59By the time his forces really close in for the kill, a lot of people are already collapsing and exhausted.
14:11To avoid such chaos and defeat, the new Templar trains with his brothers, striving to become part of a disciplined
14:19and coordinated unit.
14:21In the Middle Ages, it's very rare that anyone has an army that's always together, that they're feeding, that they're
14:27training together.
14:28Usually people are called up to war. You don't have an army that's worked together all the time.
14:33And this is something that really gives them their strength. I think it is the thing that makes them the
14:37most unique in the Middle Ages.
14:40The Templars train for an innovative battlefield tactic known as the Fighting Box.
14:46One of the things they find in the Holy Land is that Muslim forces are very good at hit and
14:51run tactics and attrition, particularly on supply lines and baggage train.
14:58So the Crusaders developed this box tactic of moving across the land, a bit like later ringed wagons to defend
15:06civilians, to protect the baggage train.
15:19The fighting box is unique to the Crusades. It's a box of infantry around the cavalry.
15:30They interlock their shields, they stay in this tight formation and they surround the cavalry.
15:36The advantage of the fighting box is this is a mobile formation which can keep your pilgrims safe, but can
15:44also allow for a kind of opening up which facilitates a rapid charge toward the enemy.
15:57It's a strategy employed by England's King Richard I in a notorious fight against Saladin along the Mediterranean Sea.
16:05As Richard leads a Crusader army away from the Christian stronghold of Acker.
16:11Saladin's troops harass the Crusader army, dodging in and out and attacking the rear flank.
16:16And this is something that Saladin does on purpose.
16:19He wants to provoke the Crusaders and get them to break formation, but King Richard keeps his troops disciplined.
16:26They're patiently waiting.
16:27Shielded on their right flank by the coastline, the infantry protects the horses along the other three sides in a
16:35fighting box formation.
16:37Saladin's archers blacken the sky with their arrows.
16:41And this is kind of a crucial moment because Saladin thinks that he has the advantage.
16:46But really, King Richard is just waiting for the enemy to come closer.
16:51It's at that point that some of Richard's cavalry see an opportunity, and they charge.
16:57And from there, all hell breaks loose.
17:02The infantry box opens, and the Crusader knights charge across the battlefield, destroying half of Saladin's army.
17:11This is a deadly route, thanks in part to the fighting box and a huge victory for the Crusaders.
17:18What the Templars do is they turn the box, the squadron, into something that operates like a single unit.
17:28So this box thunders across the battlefield.
17:37The strength is training people not to think as individuals, not to be on the battlefield as individuals, not to
17:46be on the battlefield to seek personal glory, but to seek the glory of God.
17:51With hard work, the Templar transforms physically, spiritually, and mentally, honed into a new kind of warrior.
18:00You'll need to deploy these skills with the right weapons, and the Templars are equipped with the best that money
18:07can buy.
18:11Molded by faith and constant training, the Knight Templar must now be armed with the best weapons, and master them
18:20all.
18:24To begin, he must become one with a thousand-pound beast of war.
18:31Four nights in the Middle Ages, a horse is everything.
18:35It is fundamental to knighthood.
18:37What we need to remember about horses in the Middle Ages is that they are weapons themselves.
18:41Not only are they very heavy, but they are trained to kick and stomp and bite and rear.
18:47And they've been trained to deal with the horrors of the battlefield, the sounds, the sight, the smells.
18:54And they are able to do it.
18:57By the middle of the 12th century, the Templars are using such horses in holy wars as far away as
19:03the Iberian Peninsula.
19:06And in the Holy Land, the Order's increasing wealth provides them with stables of war horses that are housed at
19:13the Temple Mount itself.
19:15For the Templars especially, they're mounted knights.
19:18They are a heavy cavalry, and their horses are the key to them being successful in any military operation.
19:27They have to make sure that they can fight on horseback.
19:30And so this starts with the lance.
19:38The lance is really the primary and most important weapon of the night.
19:42The lance is what they deliver their heavy cavalry shot to charge with.
19:47Without the lance, it wouldn't be possible.
19:49Because the lance is heavy, the longer that you hold the lance down horizontal, the less accurate you're going to
19:54be with it.
19:56So, you'll ride with the lance up.
19:58As you get close, you anticipate the moment of impact, you bring the lance down.
20:03Then tucking it under the armpit and anchoring it in firm.
20:08Coupled with a very high saddle with front and rear either side of the rider.
20:13This means that at the moment of impact, all of the energy of the horse and the rider are delivered
20:20into one small point of that lance.
20:23Which means it will transfix and penetrate pretty much anything it hits.
20:33Any armor of the day can be penetrated by a lance delivered with the weight of a horse moving at
20:40speed behind it.
20:43A poorly held lance or misguided strike could unseat the Templar, leaving him exposed on the battlefield.
20:52It's something that requires enormous strength, but it also requires precision.
20:57You've got to know what's going to happen when you strike the enemy.
21:01You could easily break your own bones, you could dislocate your shoulder.
21:05So, you've got to really know how to use this weapon and how to not injure yourself in the process.
21:11What happens when the lance enters the target?
21:14If it breaks, that's great.
21:16You've penetrated the target, you've taken out one enemy.
21:19We have records of the lance going through an enemy target and then it having to be abandoned because you
21:25can't extract it.
21:26Certainly not when you're moving at speed on horseback.
21:28So, it's an incredibly powerful weapon.
21:32And importantly, the lance is long enough that it can outreach a lot of infantry standing on foot.
21:38Which means that in this era, heavy cavalry dominate the battlefield.
21:43This is really the glory golden age of heavy cavalry.
21:48Once he has mastered the lance, the knight must also prepare to strike with a weapon that's more than mere
21:55steel.
21:56It is a holy symbol of his faith.
21:59His sword.
22:07So, the lance works fantastically when you're moving at speed.
22:11But if you come to a standstill or you have lots of enemies all around you, the lance can now
22:16become a liability.
22:17Because it's a fairly heavy, fairly cumbersome weapon.
22:20So, in that case, dropping the lance and going straight to the sword would be a fantastic option.
22:28Given the fact that the Knights Templar are on horseback and they're having to hold a shield at the same
22:34time,
22:34they go for the arming sword, something that is slightly lighter and that can be carried on horseback.
22:43The type of sword used by Templar Knights is a one-handed, double-edged, cut-and-thrust sword.
22:49It has a pommel, which gives some degree of counterbalance to the blade, which enables you to have quite a
22:55long blade.
22:57To be able to reach an opponent on foot from horseback, you need a fairly long blade.
23:06It's excellent for a chopping type of attack or a stabbing type of attack.
23:11The hacking motion, it can really, you know, cut through the enemy.
23:15As deadly as the armed knight has become, one of his most vital pieces of equipment is for defensive purposes.
23:23His state-of-the-art armor.
23:35To be stabbed in battle can be even worse than being shot in our own modern day, because what a
23:44sword does when it enters is to inflict a major trauma.
23:49It may be that you simply bleed to death on the battlefield.
23:54Chainmail is specifically developed in order to prevent slashes from cutting into the body.
24:00You're still going to get broken bones if you get hit very hard, but you're not going to get those
24:03slashes that can cause cuts and infection and actually sever limbs.
24:10It is heavy, but if you grow up wearing this armor, you're going to have a conditioning that adapts you
24:15to it, and so it's going to feel like your second skin.
24:18Chainmail is really expensive, but it's very effective at deflecting even dagger, sword, but particularly arrows coming at you.
24:29And it's something that is really made specifically for you.
24:34The Templars are wealthy, and they understand that without armor, they would not be able to survive in these battlefields.
24:41There are blacksmiths who are working with the Order in the Holy Land, repairing weapons, repairing armor, forging weapons, and
24:48forging armor.
24:51Trained and armed, it is time for the new Templar knight to go into battle.
25:07The new Templar has become an elite warrior dedicated to protecting Christian pilgrims and the Holy Land.
25:14Now it is time to meet the enemy.
25:24Siege combat is one of the many ways that Templars are trained to fight.
25:28Once you climb over the wall, they will find themselves in one-on-one combat.
25:33The Templars use siege engines to breach the walls of cities that have fallen into the hands of the Muslim
25:39enemy.
25:46At the siege of Ascalon in 1153, there's an almost suicidal charge by the Knights Templar into the city.
25:54In a siege situation, the Knights are fighting on the walls, and once that process takes place, you're going to
26:00be fighting hand-to-hand with somebody.
26:11The Templar faces his adversary, knowing this will be a fight to the death.
26:19You fight with your eyes.
26:24Then your feet, then your hands.
26:26But your eyes have to be on the enemy.
26:29You have to be almost like a cobra.
26:32You're surveying everything.
26:34Nothing should take you by surprise.
26:36His opponent's fighting style emphasizes speed over power.
26:43There's a huge contrast between a Knight Templar and a Saracen.
26:49Much more lightly armoured.
26:53On the other side, the Knight Templar really is a human tank.
27:03The Knight's lifetime of training has conditioned him to the weight of his armour.
27:08Chainmail isn't something that's cumbersome for a Knight.
27:12In fact, it's something that puts them into a battle mentality.
27:19A slash from the Saracen sword could be deadly.
27:26But the Templar's chainmail absorbs and deflects the attack.
27:35He gibbons, wielding his preferred weapon, his arming sword.
27:41The Templars have this sword that's really designed for thrusting and parrying.
27:47I mean, it can have terrible effect.
28:03Even if you lose your sword during combat.
28:06And you've got, on your left hand, you've got the shield.
28:09Which is a very formidable weapon in its own right.
28:13You can attack with it and also create some distance from the enemy.
28:19The shields are kite shields.
28:21They're made of wood and leather.
28:23And the wood is hardened to be especially protective against mace blows and sword attack.
28:31The Templar is prepared for every eventuality.
28:36He conceals a second blade.
28:39They will have a dagger.
28:40Because sometimes you are in close combat and you don't have a sword.
28:44Combat at this time is all about trying to get around and behind the shield.
28:50A savage attack leaves the Saracen disarmed.
28:53All that is left is to strike.
29:00There is no mercy from the Templar.
29:03Even though they are very much about having this honor and having a holy mission,
29:08when it comes to actually fighting in the Middle Ages, it is not just chivalrous.
29:13It's very dirty and bloody and scary.
29:16When the enemy sees them coming, they know that this is going to be a fight to the death.
29:24Faith, training, and brutal combat have forged the Knight Templar into a fearless and resilient warrior.
29:33And the Order's success depends on it.
29:37Because the enemy is coming.
29:39By the thousands.
29:46The Templar has been trained to be an elite killer.
29:51He must now ride out to battle a superior warrior.
29:55A fearsome and resolute protector of the Holy Lamb.
30:06But by the late 12th century, Muslim armies have grown in power under the great Sultan Saladin.
30:13Posing an ever increasing threat to the order of Templars.
30:17The Templars are such an awesome force and they bring such terror to Saladin soldiers
30:23that the only good Templar for Saladin is a dead Templar.
30:27All of them, once they are caught, are put to death.
30:33Saladin's well-trained and mobile army is a formidable foe.
30:37They ride these very fast ponies.
30:40This mounted archery type of fighting style enables them to move very quickly.
30:44They operate in these very large groups.
30:46They can kind of sweep in and overwhelm a slower moving Western army.
30:51This is a common fighting style for the nomadic groups.
30:55Think of the Mongols, the Huns, etc.
31:02Routinely facing overwhelming odds in the Holy Land.
31:05The Templar must outmaneuver his enemy.
31:10The genius of the Knights Templar is that very often they are outnumbered.
31:15They are, after all, occupiers of the Holy Land.
31:19And yet it's the way they operate that secures them victory at the end of the day.
31:24If you have inferior numbers, it might make more sense for you to attack first.
31:29And this might look rash, but not cavalry charge where you have all of these knights moving as one can
31:35be psychologically devastating.
31:36So it can be a really good advantage to attack first.
31:40This is perhaps never truer than at the Battle of Montgisard.
31:51The prelude to the Battle of Montgisard is that the Templars have headed north to engage the enemy up near
32:00Syria.
32:00Now Saladin sees an opportunity.
32:04Saladin decides this is a perfect opportunity to bring his huge Saracen army up from Egypt in the south and
32:10capture a relatively undefended Jerusalem.
32:14And he's going to field this very large Egyptian army.
32:18On the low end, it was maybe 12,000 men.
32:21On the high end, it could have been 23,000.
32:25Standing between Saladin and the Kingdom of Jerusalem is its young ruler, King Baldwin.
32:34King Baldwin IV is a teenager.
32:38Sadly, he suffers from leprosy, a massively debilitating and then untreatable disease.
32:45When Baldwin learns that Saladin plans to attack his unprotected kingdom, he only has a few hundred Templar knights at
32:54hand.
32:55Baldwin thinks that he has no chance.
32:58He withdraws into Ashkelon with his forces and he hides out there.
33:03When Saladin sees that King Baldwin is hiding in Ashkelon, he thinks,
33:07OK, the kingdom really is kind of defenseless.
33:10This is perfect.
33:10I can spread my army out and start sacking the villages.
33:14We can burn territory.
33:15With a vast Saracen army drawing closer to Jerusalem, the young king and his attachment of Templars leads a small
33:22Christian army to confront Saladin.
33:27Baldwin forms whatever army he can.
33:30And this amounts to maybe a few hundred knights and then a couple thousand infantry.
33:34So we compare this to Saladin's army.
33:37He greatly outnumbers what seems like an insignificant Crusader force.
33:42But he rallies the forces around him.
33:45And the one thing he does is to bring out the true cross.
33:50This is the cross, the wood on which people believed Jesus was actually crucified.
33:56It is the most sacred relic in Jerusalem.
34:00And to bring it out is to inspire people in a way that we can't imagine.
34:07So long as they see their standard flying, they stay there.
34:11They're not going anywhere else.
34:13They're going to fight until the last man.
34:18King Baldwin and the Templars forge a plan to intercept Saladin's forces at a place called Molgazar.
34:27The Templars and Baldwin decided to try to lure Saladin himself to follow them into kind of a trap.
34:34And this is crucial.
34:36Saladin decides, OK, well, the king is out here trying to do something, but he's just got a few hundred
34:40knights with him.
34:41Whatever, let's go take him down.
34:42So Saladin follows Baldwin and the Templars, and they lead him to this area close to Molgazar.
34:48This is an area that is pretty marshy.
34:51In fact, once Saladin gets there, his baggage train becomes bogged down in the mud.
34:58This isn't just food and supplies.
35:01It's also weaponry.
35:03And he's just taken his eye off the ball.
35:07Once they got Saladin exactly where they want him,
35:11the Templars charge directly at Saladin with insane courage.
35:20Saladin cannot believe what he's seeing coming at him.
35:25As the Templar fighting box advances on the enemy, it opens, unleashing the full force of the Templars.
35:31The warrior monks charge into battle.
35:34The fighting box is like a wall of metal and horse coming at you.
35:40Saladin's soldiers don't know what to do.
35:42It is a disaster for Saladin.
35:46It's a devastating execution of the tactics the Templar has perfected.
35:51The ferocity of the Crusaders on the battlefield provokes panic in the enemy, and the bulk of Saladin's army flees.
36:00Saladin's able to escape by jumping onto a racing camel and riding away, but his army is destroyed.
36:07They're being chased down by the Crusaders, so this is a crazy multi-day slaughter.
36:13Everything that the Knights Templar are about comes into play at the Battle of Mongisad.
36:20All their tactics, everything that's in the rule book, it just gets displayed beautifully.
36:30The Templar victory against such overwhelming odds sends a powerful message.
36:37The Battle of Mongisad is one of the celebrated battles of the Knights Templar.
36:42There is an acknowledgement that the Templars are a superior fighting force.
36:47Mongisad really cements their reputation as the invincibles in the Holy Land.
36:54Bloodied and bruised, the Templars have fought with honor, proving themselves fearsome defenders of the Holy Land.
37:02But victory is always temporary, and the future uncertain.
37:20The Order has built warriors who carry out their divine mission to protect pilgrims, and strike fear in the hearts
37:28of the enemy.
37:33The Order has built warriors who carry out their divine mission to protect pilgrims, and strike fear in the hearts
37:36of the enemy.
37:36Elite Muslim mercenaries spells disaster for the Templars.
37:42Halfway through the 13th century, this new Muslim power emerges, the Mamluks of Egypt.
37:48They're able to attack these Templar strongholds with really overwhelming forces.
37:53The Templars and all of the Crusaders are getting pushed back until they make a stand in Acker round 1291.
38:06This is the last piece of the Holy Land that the Templars control.
38:11And when that city falls, they have nowhere to go but the sea.
38:18The loss of this is devastating.
38:21The Templars return to Europe.
38:24But their days are numbered.
38:27And their downfall is as violent as their rise.
38:31After the loss of the Holy Land in 1291, the Templars are still a huge organization.
38:37They have enormous assets and wealth.
38:40The Knights Templar have long been in the business of lending money to monarchs, especially King Philip of France.
38:49And he is so badly in debt, he's essentially on the verge of bankruptcy.
38:54King Philip decides to move against the Knights Templar.
39:01The accusations that Philip levels against the Templars are basically the cookie-cutter accusations that you hurl at somebody in
39:09the Middle Ages.
39:09They're heretics, they're homosexuals, they're wizards.
39:13The accusations against the Templars are pretty serious.
39:17The kiss of peace was interpreted as a carnal kiss.
39:23In 1307, famously on Friday the 13th, the date that's gone down in infamy in history, arrest warrants are issued
39:34for all the Knights Templar in France.
39:40And what happens in France is different than what happens everywhere else, because legally in France, you can torture people
39:46in order to get a confession.
39:47The Templars who have been arrested face years of confinement, torture, and ultimately, execution.
39:57In 1312, the Pope officially dissolves the order.
40:08The Templars' demise may be part of what makes them so unique.
40:13There was this sense that they had been unjustly accused, and this seems to have probably contributed to their mystique.
40:21It's very difficult for us to accept that an organization, an institution like the Templars could just disappear.
40:28Where did they go?
40:30Do they just sort of vanish into the smoke of the past, or do they survive?
40:38Even as the lights go out on the Knights Templar, not all flames are extinguished.
40:45They're not all arrested and killed. Some of them are even pensioned off, or allowed to join another order, or
40:52sent to a monastery.
40:53They get lost in the tides of history, but these are Knights, these are people who know how to fight.
40:59There are still active frontiers in Europe, and the Templars get deployed to those frontiers in Spain and Portugal.
41:06Despite their tragic end, the Templars' powerful legacy endures.
41:12More than 700 years after the Crusades, there are still rumours that the Templars, and their treasure, survive.
41:22Some have never believed that the Templars made their enormous wealth from sheep and cows.
41:28They think that they discovered the Holy Grail, the Ark of the Covenant, and other sacred relics underneath the Temple
41:36Mount.
41:36Even that the Templars deliberately located themselves there, so that they could start digging down.
41:43And then what did they do with these relics? Well, that's another big question.
41:48Their exceptional discipline and devotion to their cause, alongside their innovations on and off the battlefield,
41:58earn the Knights Templar a hallowed spot among history's greatest warriors.
42:05among the Templars.
42:07.
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