Quote:
Originally Posted by WTE_Galway
Actually the The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, more commonly known as the Templars, are an interesting choice as ...
1) they were declared heretical in France and officially disbanded by the church in 1312. They were not exactly exalted heroes of Christendom towards the end.
2) unlike the Hospitallers, who left a humanitarian legacy in the form of St John's ambulance, the Templars were the worlds first corporate bankers, and the first to use control of money to manipulate politics ... which led to their eventual downfall.
To be honest the people who can truly trace their lineage back to the Knights Templar are not the American Marine Corp, it is Goldman Sachs.
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in a way..
The Church did grant The Templars exoneration from all forms of payment to the Church (even the obligatory Tithing), at their inception, in return for doing the Church's land grabbing in The Holy Lands.
The real problems arouse when the Church wanted to get its (fair share) hands on the huge amount of wealth amassed by the Templars in their trophy runs