I was pulling trees in Daming, and Lao Zhu begged me to come out of retirement

Chapter 157: The Knights Templar Shocked Europe

As everyone knows,

There are three major knight guilds in Europe.
Among them, the Knights Hospitaller and the Teutonic Knights had already rebelled and established their own independent knight states.

Only the Knights Templar belonging to the Holy See suffered the worst. They were directly labeled as heretics and then persecuted by the puppet Pope of the Kingdom of France and forced to disband.

The Knights Templar, also known as the Knights of the Temple,

The official full name is "The Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon".

Although the name sounds poor, the Knights Templar are actually the richest of the three major knightly orders.

The Templars' former power and wealth made them considered the true masters of the East during the Crusades, and the Kingdom of Jerusalem relied mainly on their strength to fight against the Arabs.

They are also the shining examples of the chivalrous spirit that has been passed down to later generations.

In fact, not all members of the Knights Templar were knights.

Their members are divided into four levels.
Knights, sergeants, peasants and priests.

Therefore, the sources of their property are quite diverse.

In addition to taxation, plunder and donations from believers, the Knights Templar also engaged in commercial and banking activities.

With guns in hand and financial power in control, one can imagine how glorious the Knights Templar were during their heyday.

In France, many nobles donated their estates to the Knights.
The Order's properties were spread almost throughout Europe, and all of them were tax-free.

The Knights' involvement in banking is a notable page in the history of the organization, as they pioneered the modern banking model.

Initially, the members of the Knights Templar handed over their property to the Order due to the constraints of the order's rule of poverty.

This behavior quickly evolved into a commercial activity and expanded beyond the Knights.

Many European nobles deposited their valuables with the Knights Templar, which was responsible for safekeeping.

This is very similar to the deposit business of modern banking.

In fact, the Knights Templar also invented a kind of bill that is very similar to the deposit slips in modern banks. With this bill printed with the special mark of the Knights Templar, the Knights Templar can withdraw money and property from various branches of the Knights Templar.

As the branches of the Knights Templar were spread all over Europe and with the support of the Holy See, their deposit business developed rapidly. A large amount of property was gathered in the branches and temples of the Knights Templar all over the world, and then they started the loan business.

Initially they lent money to Spanish pilgrims to help them travel to the Holy Land.

After tasting the sweetness, the Knights' lending business developed extremely rapidly.

Its business targets ranged from kings of various countries, who were once the largest creditors of the King of France, to ordinary pilgrims.
They even lent money to the Saracens, the enemies of the Christians.

Since they charged interest on their loans, which was illegal at the time, they were condemned by the Vatican. However, the Knights Templar were so powerful at their peak that they completely ignored the Vatican's condemnation and continued to do as they pleased.

Later, these financial businesses became the main activities besides military activities, resulting in the Knights Templar in the later period having more IOUs and account books than religious books.

This arrogant lending behavior naturally caused dissatisfaction among many people and countries.

No one wants to have a creditor hanging around his head every day.

However, due to the power of the Holy See and the Knights Templar, everyone had to endure it and pay the high interest honestly.

Until 1294, when the stupid Pope Boniface VIII came to power,

He publicly issued the Ecumenical Bull, which stipulated that clergy could not pay taxes to secular monarchs without the Pope's consent.

Unfortunately, the power of the Holy See had already been extremely weakened after many crusades to the East.

Unsurprisingly, the Holy See was counterattacked by the kings of Britain and France.

The French king even convened the first Estates General in French history, declaring that the pope had no right to interfere in French internal affairs. He also kidnapped Boniface VIII, who had been shouting that "secular monarchy must obey the pope's divine authority",

After beating, scolding, humiliating and parading him through the streets,
The majesty of the Holy See plummeted, and successive popes became puppets controlled by the French king.

At this time, many debtors who were already hungry and thirsty began to take the opportunity to attack the Knights Templar.

Because they were the king's major creditors in France, owning thousands of castles and huge wealth, the king and bishops were very envious and jealous.

So, King Philip IV of France fabricated the charge of "heresy" to eradicate them.

The so-called "Black Friday" happened on Friday, October 1307, 10, when almost all members of the Knights Templar in France were arrested without any prior warning and were restricted from using any property to prevent it from being transferred abroad and then spreading.

Many members were arrested in France, brutally tried and burned at the stake for heresy.

And he hunted down the Knights throughout Christendom,
It was not until 1312 that Pope Clement V, who was in the Avignon See, was pressured by Philip IV and announced the dissolution of the Knights Templar.

The Knights Templar, which originally belonged to Portugal, was changed to the Society of Jesus, no longer engaged in military missions, and evolved into an ordinary religious order mainly engaged in overseas missionary work.

This loan shark organization that was spread throughout Europe was finally declared to have disappeared completely.

The many debtors in Europe who had been watching from the sidelines naturally celebrated.

Because they don’t have to pay back their money.

But now, someone is openly establishing a guild in France under the name of the Knights Templar. This is no different from praying to God madly in the face of death.

Everyone looked at the luxurious city wall in front of them, which looked like a castle inhabited by giants, and swallowed their saliva in fear.

until evening,

The castle gates opened,

Rows of knights in armor stood majestically on the red carpet on both sides.

Maria, dressed in a white saint's dress, holding a blood and energy orb in her hand, walked on the water and ice at the end of the waterway.

With every step she took, the water beneath her feet would instantly freeze into solid ice.

All the waiting merchants and explorers exclaimed in surprise.

Maria stood in front of the castle gate, looked up at the explorers around her and slowly spoke:

“Welcome the coming of the Lord!”

The knights behind him all drew their swords and raised them high into the air, shouting:
"Welcome my lord!"

At this time, at the pyramid beacon in the sky, Tianyu faced the holy light and slowly floated out on the transparent air bridge created by the shadow bridge mark.

Everyone fell into an even more horrified mood.

"Oh my god! What happened? I think I saw that priest flying!"

"What flying? Land appeared in the void and dragged him in the air!"

The explorers' legs were starting to feel weak.
Is it true that an angel has descended to earth?

At this time, Tianyu slowly stretched out his hands and slowly spoke in the standard pronunciation that he had learned for a long time:

“God said let there be light!”

The blood marks flew away,
The evening sky was illuminated by the light created by blood magic, making it as bright as day!

(End of this chapter)