All of you Star Wars fans out there, you know about the Jedi: the super-elite, Force-wielding, lightsaber-battling guyAs in the Star Wars universe that act as guardians of the Republic and function as monks when they’re not fighting. They’re also led by a Grandmaster (The last was Luke Skywalker). But you didn’t know that there were real Jedi during the Middle Ages, and that they were executed for treason just like the Jedi were in Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith.
These mysterious warriors were the Knights Templar, tasked with protecting Christendom and spreading the word of God. They were also tasked with reconquering the Holy Land (what is now Israel, Palestine, and Syria) from the “Saracens” (plunderers in Arabic), the Medieval term for Muslims. The Knights Templar were led by the Grandmaster, or Master of the Order, who was elected. Templars would be taken by knights as squires when they were young, similar to how Jedi raise their Padawans and younglings from a young age. After an amount of time, the Master would knight the squire. Templars had no allegiance to any country or leader save the Pope and God.
The Templars are most widely known for the Crusades, the series of wars that started out as a war against the Seljuk Turks that invaded the Byzantine Empire, then progressed into a religious war against the Muslims in Palestine, then ended in a failed attempt to retake Jerusalem, Acre, and Tyre. They fought alongside King Richard I Lionheart and the English soldiers in the Third Crusade, and they lent their identities to the name of the war. Crusade means “war of the crosses” because the Templars wore red crosses on white surcoats over their armor.
While the Templars didn’t use lightsabers nor trick people into following their wishes, they were just as important in history and were the real-life basis for our favorite warrior monks. In 1307, many Templars were charged with heresy in France and arrested. Many other countries such as England and Cyprus follow suit. Many of the Templars were found falsely guilty and executed. Sound like Order 66? Well, this was the real Order 66, sent by the Pope, ruler of all Christendom.
Well that’s it for this blog, bye!
Anay Ganesh 