Courtesy of Wikipedia. From geograph.org.uk John Salmon / Temple Church, Temple, London EC4 /
Nothing stirs the blood more than stories of the Knights Templar with its crusading monks and the secret world they lived in. And hidden amongst a maze of lanes just off Fleet Street in London’s legal district, lies a church with unique Templar connections.
Templars were no ordinary monks. With their distinctive red crosses and white tunics, they were the most feared military order in the medieval Chistian World.
Their London headquarters was here at the Temple, a vast complex stretching from Fleet Street down to the Thames and was made up of Temple Church (based on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem) military training facilities and recreational areas.
The Templars were incredibly wealthy. They introduced an early form of safety-deposit banking which led to considerable wealth and influence. They could almost be described as the world’s first multinational corporation and private army rolled into one.
Such was their power, it caused great jealousy amongst the Christian hierarchy until finally the Pope decided to challenge them head-on in a series of purges culminating to scores of arrests on Friday 13th October 1307 (some say giving the origin to the Friday 13th superstition).
Those who resisted were tortured and burnt at the stake. Eventually, all remaining templars were disbanded and either absorbed into other Catholic military orders or pensioned off.
Afterwards the Temple was leased to two colleges of lawyers which evolved into the Inner Temple and the Middle Temple – two of the four Inns of Court – who still share the church as a private chapel, though it is open to the public for Sunday services.
Today, the church has a reputation for music and one of the finest choirs in London. But even now, you can’t help get a feeling that ghosts from the Knights Templar still linger and it was no surprise the church featured in Dan Brown’s chilling novel the ‘Da Vinci Code’ and subsequent movie with Tom Hanks.