Sacred Sites - First Season

A thousand years ago,

a bloody struggle for control of the world's most sacred site

led to 200 years of holy war.

A conflict that would see the rise

of a legendary military order, sworn to protect the faithful.

Some called them heroes.

And yet, in their time, they would be accused

of corruption and blasphemy.

Homosexual relationships.

They were also accused of spitting on the cross.

It was said they were heretics

who worshiped a mysterious idol in the form of a bearded head.

An idol that new evidence now suggests

could be the most sacred of all Christian relics.

The head was described in various different ways.

The general appearance of it was of a disembodied male head

with a short forked beard and long hair.

For centuries, they would be known

as a sinister cult, whose sacred sites were shrouded

in mystic symbolism and arcane ritual.

Were the Knights Templar really the enemies of Christianity?

Or the victims of cynical propaganda?

There has to be an explanation.

There has to be a story.

So it has to be the Templars rose

because they were virtuous

and then they fell because they were sinners.

¶ ¶

¶ ¶

Jerusalem.

A city venerated by three of the world's greatest religions,

Judaism, Islam and Christianity.

A city whose ancient walls contain

the most bitterly contested sacred sites on Earth.

On one of the three great hills of the old city

stands the Temple Mount.

According to Jewish belief, this was the ancient site

of Solomon's Temple

and the resting place of a powerful sacred object...

The Ark of the Covenant.

Once the most venerated shrine of the Jewish world,

the Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.

But the site remains a place of great mystery.

Nine hundred years ago, it became the headquarters

of a new order of warrior monks... the Knights Templar.

It was from this base that they transformed themselves into

the wealthiest and most powerful military religious order

in history.

We could compare the Templar Knights

a little bit like today what we would see the S.E.A.L.S

or the Special Forces.

Certainly the Templars were considered

to be perhaps the single most elite fighting force

in Europe in the 12th and 13th centuries.

The Templars had their origins in

the bitter struggle for another of Jerusalem's holy places.

A short distance east of the Temple Mount

lies the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

The Church was founded in the fourth century AD

at the very place where many Christians believe

Jesus of Nazareth was crucified.

But this immense domed rotunda overshadows

a sacred site of even greater significance.

The Holy Sepulchre itself.

The tomb from which Jesus is said to have risen

three days after his death.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre

itself has immense significance for all Christians.

Jerusalem was believed in the Christian worldview

to be the center of the world.

It was depicted as such on maps.

It was the center of the Christian faith,

sanctified by Christ's presence, his life, his crucifixion,

and his resurrection.

For more than 1600 years,

Christian pilgrims have come to worship at this shrine.

In 637 AD, however, they did so

at the risk of persecution and death.

In that year Muslim armies conquered Jerusalem,

first burning the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

and then converting it into a mosque.

Centuries later, the armies of the Christian world

set out to win it back.

In 1095, Pope Urban II gave his blessing

to a holy war known as the First Crusade.

For three years, 70,000 Christian knights

and warriors waged a bloody campaign in the Middle East.

In 1099 the Crusaders recaptured Jerusalem,

slaughtering its Muslim and Jewish population.

Once again, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,

Christianity's most sacred site, was in Christian hands.

As pilgrims from Europe began flocking to the Holy Land,

the Crusaders established four large settlements

to protect the pilgrimage route:

Odessa, Antioch, Tripoli and Jerusalem.

They built dozens of castles to govern the conquered territory.

Soon, Jerusalem would be home to the most powerful

and controversial military religious order

the world has ever known.

Despite the presence of the Crusader armies,

attacks on pilgrims increased.

The Crusaders feared that if they did not take action,

all the gains they had made would be for nothing.

The security situation of the new Kingdom however was difficult.

Pilgrims travelling out to Jerusalem were attacked

on the road by bandits.

Some warriors who came out to Jerusalem on pilgrimage

decided that what the Kingdom really needed

was not just prayer but force.

In 1119, nine Crusader Knights

led by the French nobleman Hugh de Payens

vowed to devote themselves to the protection of pilgrims.

The Templars come into existence in the wake

or the aftermath of the Crusades.

There is a perceived problem about the protection

of pilgrims, who are of course coming

in greater numbers to Jerusalem

in the wake of the success of the First Crusade.

And the Templars are organized, effectively,

to provide that escort.

They set up their headquarters here

at the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Temple Mount.

For over 60 years this would be the Knights' center of power...

Their military and religious headquarters.

Many believe this to be the original site

of Solomon's Temple.

For centuries, Christian scholars had speculated

about its mystical purpose.

The Knights were fascinated by this place.

So much so that they called themselves the

Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon...

A title eventually shortened to Knights Templar.

In the holiest precinct of the world's holiest city,

the Templars controlled a legacy

dating back to the time of King Solomon,

thousands of years of spiritual and arcane knowledge

from the Middle East, Africa and Asia,

a vast spiritual treasure house

to which the Templars now held the key.

Ten years after they were founded,

the Templars were endorsed at the Council of Troyes

by the Pope himself.

They were given special status under papal rule

and the freedom to move through Europe without restriction.

Bernard of Clairvaux,

one of the leading churchmen of the day,

drew up the Latin Rule ,

which outlined how the ideal Templar Knight should behave.

Swearing oaths of poverty, chastity and obedience,

Templars were not permitted to gamble, swear, or become drunk.

The ceremonies and rituals of the Order

were shrouded in secrecy.

Quickly, it began to grow in size and power.

In 1139, the Pope granted the Templars

further special privileges, exempting them from paying taxes

to kings and lords.

Henceforth, the Order would be subject to the Pope

and the Pope alone.

It took about 50 or 70 years

for them to evolve into perhaps the single wealthiest

military and religious order in Europe.

They had very strong moral support of leading

Church figures on their own day, but of course it wasn't enough.

You also need the financial support.

And that's where they could always rely on the support

of local nobility.

The Templars were a breed apart.

Supported by the kings of Europe and blessed by the Church,

they had access to the most sacred city on earth,

and all the secrets it contained.

But in time, accusations would emerge

that this seemingly pure Christian order

was anything but.

There were accounts of perverse practices and dark,

blasphemous rituals.

Some believed that the Templars did not worship Jesus at all.

Instead, it was rumored that they were heretics

who venerated a mysterious and powerful entity.

¶ ¶

In the early 12th century, nine Crusader knights

founded a sacred order in Jerusalem.

Originally dedicated to the protection

of Christian pilgrims travelling to the Holy Land,

the Knights Templar soon became

the most powerful military-religious order

of the Middle Ages.

Unlike other armies in the 12th century,

the Templars were a permanent disciplined force

that trained and fought together on the battlefield.

They were first in the field, they were last off the field.

At the Order's peak, there were between fifteen

and twenty thousand Templars.

Among them, 2,000 Knights, whose distinctive trademark

was a white robe bearing a red cross worn over their armor.

They were in the vanguard of the war

between the Crusaders and the Muslim armies that had, by now,

declared jihad on the Christian invaders.

The Templars were the shock troops of the Crusade,

forbidden from retreating in battle

unless outnumbered three to one.