Templars II

1119-1312 CE

From 1119 to 1312 CE, the Templars embodied medieval Christendom's strangest contradiction — warrior monks who took vows of poverty yet built Europe's first international banking system. In their white mantles marked with blood-red crosses, they guarded pilgrims, garrisoned castles from Jerusalem to Portugal, and grew so powerful that a French king would destroy them with accusations of heresy rather than repay his debts.