"
In this same year [1118] certain pious and
god-fearing nobles of knightly rank, devoted to the Lord, professed
the wish to live perpetually in poverty, chastity and obedience. In
the hands of the patriarch they vowed themselves to the service of
God as regular canons. Foremost and most distinguished among these
men were the venerable Hugh de Payens and Godfrey de St. Omer. Since
they had neither a church nor a fixed place of abode, the king
granted them a temporary dwelling place in his own palace, on the
north side of the Temple of the Lord. Under certain definite
conditions, the canons of the Temple of the lord also gave them a
square belonging to the canons near the same palace where the new
order might exercise the duties of its religion."
|
Two Templars burned at the stake, from a French
15th century manuscript |
By
the 1180s, the Order of the Temple looked very different from
the small group that was originally formed by the two French knights.
Even so, the protection of pilgrims remained central to the order's
activities and ethos. The organization of "warrior monks" became known for being ferocious
in battle and it acquired, primarily through donations, vast holdings of
land all over Europe, particularly in France. Despite their vows of
poverty, the Order also accumulated enormous wealth during the time of the
crusades. After the crusades were over, the knights
returned to their Chapters throughout Europe and became known as
moneylenders to the monarchs. In the process many historians believe
they invented the Banking System.
For nearly two centuries the Templars
grew in size, strength, political clout, reputation (good at first, but
bad towards the end), but most of all in wealth, and this would prove to
be their undoing. In the early fourteenth century King Philip IV of
France, who was deeply in debt to the Templars, decided to not only
cancel that debt but seize their wealth and property for himself and
having his puppet pontiff Clement V dissolve the order. On October 13th,
1307, King Philip had all the Templars arrested on the grounds of
heresy, since this was the only charge that would allow the seizing of
their money and assets. [This is similar to the way a major debt was
discharged to Elizabeth Bathory, the so-called "Blood
Countess", in the early 17th century.]
As he burned at the stake, Jacques de Molay, Grand Master of the
Knights Templar, cursed King Philip and Pope Clement to meet eternal
justice within the year. Pope Clement died only one month later and
Philip IV seven months after that. Commentators were extremely pleased
with such development and often featured this story in their chronicles.
Myths and Mysteries
The Knights Templar later become surrounded by legends concerning
secrets and mysteries handed down to the select from ancient times.
Perhaps most well known are the those concerning the Holy Grail, the Ark
of the Covenant, and secrets of building. Some sources say the Holy
Grail, or Sangreal, was found by the order and taken to Scotland during
the scourging of the order in 1307, and that it remains buried beneath
Rosslyn Chapel. Some say that the order also found the Ark of the
Covenant, the chest which contained sacred objects of ancient Israel,
including Aaron's rod and the tablets of stone inscribed by Moses with
the Ten Commandments.
These myths are connected with the long occupation by the order of
the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Some sources record that they discovered
secrets of the master masons who had built the original and second
temples secreted there, along with knowledge that the Ark had been moved
to Ethiopia before the destruction of the first temple. Allusion to this
is made in engravings on the Cathedral at Chartres (considered along
with the Cathedrals at Amiens and Reims to be one of the best examples
of gothic architecture), great influence over the building of which was
had by St. Bernard of Clairvaux, who was also influential in the
formation of the order. Further links to both the search by the order
for the Ark and to its discovery of ancient secrets of building are
suggested by the existence of the monolithic Church of St George in
Lalibela in Ethiopia, which stands to this day and whose construction is
incorrectly attributed to the Knights Templar. There is also an
underground church dated to the same period in Aubeterre in France.
There is growing speculation surrounding relics that would indicate the
possibility that the Knights Templar may have undertaken pre-Columbian
voyages to America.
Conspiracy theories related to the suppression of the Knights Templar
often go far beyond the suggested motive of seizing property and
consolidating geopolitical power. It is the Catholic Church's position
that the persecution was unjust, that there was nothing wrong with the
Templars, and that the Pope at the time was manipulated into suppressing
them. In 2001, Dr. Barbara Frale found the Chinon Parchment in the
Secret Vatican Archives, a document that
shows that Pope Clement V secretly pardoned the Knights Templar in 1314.
The Templars in Istria and Environs
The Templars' headquarters were first moved from Jerusalem to Cyprus and
then to France. In Istria
they
established themselves at Risano, at S. Clemente
of Muggia, and at S. Maria di Campo near Visinada. In 1221. S. Giovanni del
Prato of Pola, passed into the hands of the Templars, of which monestary, as also
that of S. Maria del Campo near Visinada, was still noted in 1229.
In the 9th and 10th century a Benedictine Monastery
was built attached to both side walls of the old Basilica on the island of
Brioni. The
Monastery belonged to the Templar Knights in the 13th century and in 1312 when
this order was suspended by the pope the site was probably abandoned. A few
decades later the islands suffered from
plague.
In the 16th century the building was restored and was in use up to the 18th
century. The last time it was restructured was in 1721.
In the 12th century, the order
of the Knights Templar erected a hospice next to the water spring at Pola
(Fons Nymphea). After the order was abolished, it was taken over by the
Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. Due to strategic reasons the Venetian
authorities demolished several structures that were located outside of
the town wall in 1357, and it seems that the St. John of the Nymphaeum
church was one of them. It is believed that they held knightly contests (jousts) in
the Arena.
From 1219 to 1269 Otočac in the Lika was owned by Templar Knights, given to them by
king Andrija II. In 1184, Croatian-Hungarian king Bela III gave
the town of Senj (Segna) to the Templars, which town in 1271 then became
the property of the counts of
Cherso, the Frankopans.
In 1240 the bishop of Parenzo gave the Templars an ex-Benedictine monastery, St. John at Prato
(Prato Grande, Pragrande)
near Parenzo,
requesting that they maintain a hospital there for the pilgrims.
In 1267, in the women's division of the
Templars, Agnes Chatela was accepted as
"Sister Templar" in the preceptory of Bras in Provence. In 1305 another
Agnese took the votes from the hands of the preceptor of Venice and S.
Michele di Leme (Istria, diocese of Parenzo), father Simone da Osimo,
who accepted her in the religion of the Temple and in the monastery of
S. Michele di Leme.
Despite
accusations that the Templars had failed in their mission, which
followed the loss of Palestine and Syria in 1291, they continued to
expand this provision for pilgrims. The Templars order had succeeded in
planting preceptories along the important pilgrimage routes. In the
thirteenth century they took particular interest in developing their
Italian possessions, for the Adriatic ports were becoming increasingly
important for contact with the Holy Land, and Istria was certainly on
one of the routes.
In April, 1305, Boniface, Bishop of
Parenzo, taking account
as he said of the fact that the order had no houses in Istria, granted
the Templars possession of the monastery of San
Michele di Leme which was better known as the Camaldolenses monastery
[see note] which was linked to
Sanvincenti. The monastery had been neglected due to wars and
pestilences, as well
as poor administration and licentious monks, and abandoned in 1300.
Thus,
the Templars
planned to transform the abbey, which was close to embarkation points on
the Adriatic, into a complex there explicitly for pilgrims setting out for and returning
from the Holy Land (in quo peregrinos euntes et redeuntes de
ultramarinis partibus valeant recepturi). At least some of the
religious there joined the Temple; within two days domina Agnes,
a conversa, offered herself with the usual ceremonies to God and
the Order, and then received back the custody of the place from the
hands of the Templar. It is not known, however, if they ever went there because shortly
thereafter the Templars were suppressed by King Philip, their
order was disbanded and the monastery was returned to
the Camaldolenses order in 1314. Also after the disbandment of the
order, the monastery of St. John at Prato was given
back to the order of St. John who then abandoned it at the end of the
15th century.
|
The Coat of Arms of the Templars of Rabuiese |
|
|
There is also evidence of the Templars at Rabuiese (or Raboiese,
Rabujeis), the true door to Istria which in recent years gave its name
to the international
check point to Slovenia. Rabuiese is the
eastern slope of mount Castellier, facing the torrent Ospo, at the end
of the Salinera valley, once called valley of St. Clemente. There, in a
locality called Malson, in the XII century stood a church dedicated to
St.Clemente, and nearby the old Hospice of the Templars. At the
suppression of this religious order, the monastery and all its
appurtenances passed to the Knights of Malta, who kept it till 1530,
when they ceased all activities there. Thereafter the properties passed
to the church of Muggia, which kept them until 1823.
In 1576 masses were still being officiated there, but in 1683 the place
was already in complete neglect, seeing that in the report to the
Bishopric of Trieste it is not even mentioned.
Those dilapidated walls of the convent and of the church could still be
seen a century ago, whereas they have now completely vanished, together
with their very name. The ruins looked like the remnants of some palace,
so much that people renamed the place as "Palazòt".
Villa Marie in Barat
was originally a mud and cow-dung structure, and is purported to have
been owned by the Knights Templar when they criss-crossed Istria on
their way to the Holy Land. Their emblem decorates the gates and you can
spot their crosses in the local graveyard among the mossy stones.
Note:
The Camaldolese (Camaldolenses as
mentioned above), were part of the Benedictine family of monastic orders founded by St.
Benedict in the sixth century. Noted for their strict and solitary
discipline, they had several monasteries and possessions in Istria from
about the year 1000. The Camaldolese branch was established
through the efforts of the Italian monk
St. Romuald in the eleventh
century. His reform sought to revitalize the best of the communal and
solitary dimensions of monastic life. St.
Romuald founded the Hermitage of Camaldoli high in the mountains of
central Italy. There are Camaldolese hermitages and monasteries
throughout Italy. The most ancient is the urban monastery of St.
Gregory the Great in the heart of Rome.
As for the Templars, the first military order in the Church, in their
brief history spanning only two centuries, they became very rich and
powerful, the very reasons that led to their downfall and abolition.
Their presence in Istria, interesting as it may be, was only a marginal
aspect of their exploits.
Sources:
-
Bernardo Schiavuzzi, "La malaria in Istria. Ricerche sulle cause che l'hanno prodotta e che la mantengono", Atti e
memorie della Società istriana d'archeologia e storia patria, 1889. p. 390, 395.
- Dario Alberi, ISTRIA - storia, arte, cultura, Edizioni LINT
(Trieste, 1997), pg. 369.
-
https://www.templarhistory.com/who.html
-
https://www.ecu.edu/history/whichard/MBarberCharitable.htm
-
S.J. Skunca, Istarska Enciklopedija,
Leksikografski
Zavod 'Miroslav Krlež' (Zagreb, 2005)
-
Text (Italiano) -
https://www.mansiotempli.it/storia/regola2.htm
-
https://hallencyclopedia.com/Senj,
https://hallencyclopedia.com/Knights_Templar, and
https://hallencyclopedia.com/Secret_Vatican_Archives
-
https://travel.guardian.co.uk/countries/story/0,7451,1406799,00.html
-
Hospitaller
Women in the Middle Ages, edited
by Anthony Luttrell, Helen J. Nicholson,
Anthony Luttrell,
Helen J. Nicholson, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2006,
p. 85.
-
https://www.smrikve.com/istria/books/smrikve/places/west-istria/brijuni/page-6/
-
https://www.ami-pula.hr/en/projekti/crkva-sv-ivana/