We would enter the psychological or anthropological field if we tried to find out the reason for the great successes of a series of historical myths and legends that, under pseudoscientific garb, are sold about the Templars. His case is one of the most notorious, most constantly topical and about which hundreds of books have been published, most of them revealing alleged mysteries.
The abrupt end of the order, the result of the intrigues of Philip IV, king of France, has given rise to all kinds of theories. The conspiracies and maneuvers hatched against them, today demonstrated by specialists as false and malicious, the confessions extracted under torture, as well as the burning at the stake of their last grand master, followed by the deaths in the same year of the pope and the French monarch. , were a magnificent starting point to let the imagination fly.
The medievalists have worked rigorously and have discovered data that maintains interest in the Templars, but from a solid and truthful point of view. Even so, the myths that have been spread about the Templars for centuries and up to the present day are innumerable.
The main accusation that fell on the Templars, and which was the reason why they were arrested and prosecuted, was that of sacrilege. Rumors had been circulating about it for years, encouraged by the enemies of the Temple and fueled by the secrecy that surrounded everything concerning the order.
The French king had ordered several spies to enter it to look for evidence of such practices. The initiation ritual, secret and left to the discretion of the veterans, was the one that provided the most and best ammunition for the accusation. The complaint was that, after accepting entry into the order, the novices were forced to spit on the cross and deny Christ.
The documentary discoveries of the specialist Barbara Frale in the first decade of this century shed light on the subject. Clement V, alerted to this by the French king, summoned Grand Master Jacques de Molay and other leaders to ask them for explanations shortly after acceding to the papacy. They recognized that, in effect, the unwritten practice of such a sacrilegious custom was common. However, it had to be read in its context.
The Templars were determined that only the best, the most selfless, sacrificed and obedient, could enter their ranks. Therefore, after the mere ritual promises, the novice was told: “Lord, all the promises you have made are vain words. Now we must prove ourselves with the facts.” After that, on the basis of his oath of blind obedience, the impossible was demanded of him: that he renounce Christ and spit on the cross.
This was what awaited the Templars if they fell into Saracen hands, and, faced with the general refusal, they were all beheaded. It is not surprising, therefore, that the same thing that their enemies were going to demand of them was asked of them.
Evidently, the state of shock in which the novice was left in response to such a request was tremendous: on the one hand, he owed blind obedience to his superiors, but on the other hand, he could not betray the faith. The spontaneous reaction to this situation served many superiors to verify the status of the newly admitted. Many refused to do so, despite being threatened with the dagger to the neck; others spit, but taking care not to hit the target or putting their hands in front of the crucifix; others didn't know what to do.
Depending on the reaction – and, it must be said, the influence or weight of the postulants – the superiors could decide whether or not to accept their entry into the order. Generally, a reaction that was too docile or insolent could represent an obstacle to entry or guidance on what work to entrust to the applicant, be it combat or rearguard administrative tasks. After the ceremony, they sent the new members to confess to the Temple friars, who absolved them by reassuring them about what had happened.
This tradition was about a hundred years old when Clement V called Molay to account. It was directed by second-order Templars as they deemed appropriate. It took place when the high dignitaries – aware of the unpleasantness of the test and who had only attended the official written ceremony – had already left.
When the Pope learned of this custom, he condemned and prohibited it, but a general sacrilegious behavior did not result from it. It was a practice not regulated in any text, carried out in a discretionary and varied manner depending on the protagonists. Initiatory rite, preparation for the hard military life and sacrifices that awaited them, hazing and mockery of veteran comrades, a litmus test to see if they could trust the new member...? Possibly all at once, but it was certainly something incomprehensible to those outside the Temple and a very powerful weapon in the hands of its enemies.
The entrance tests imposed by the Templars were going to inadvertently become a double-edged sword.
This text is part of an article published in number 497 of the magazine Historia y Vida. Do you have something to contribute? Write to us at redaccionhyv@historiayvida.com.
