TEMPLAR ECONOMY

That of the Templars is a story that never ceases to generate interest and curiosity, although nine hundred years have passed since their inception as a Christian chivalric religious order. A fascination fueled, too, by the tragic suppression to which they were subjected, culminating with the sentencing to burning at the stake in 1314 A.D. of Jacques de Molay the last Templar Grand Master. Much has been told about their chivalric dimension, of the Crusades in which they participated, as if their story ended only in this context. However, this is not the case. In fact, the story of the religious knights is much broader. Because the much-remembered military strength, was possible because of the great economic capabilities that the Templars expressed over the centuries. Below, an attempt will be made to report, within the limits of an article, some news in reference to thetemplar economic organization, which arose from the offerings of the faithful and ended in a real economic-financial powerhouse.

The original nucleus of the Templar Order, officially called the “Poor Companions in Arms of Christ and Solomon’s Temple.” was born in 1119 AD.. Arising as a militia protecting pilgrims on their way to the Holy Land, the Order ended up abandoning his initial poverty and, in a short time, managed to accumulate a vast capital, thanks to increasing donations from the whole of Christendom.

Mainly, such donations can be divided into three categories. Donations pro soul, granted by the faithful with the sole condition of achieving the salvation of their souls. Those in extremis, offered by pilgrims who prudently issued them before the pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulcher. Concluding the list were donations involving a reciprocation of an economic nature, therefore comparable to acts of buying and selling. Another particular form of “donation,” again aimed at the salvation of one’s soul, was consecration to
fratres ad succurrendum
. Investiture was often required by elderly individuals and, Upon donation of all their possessions to the Order., involved moving to the Temple for the rest of their lives, with the possibility of be buried at the cemetery of the same Temple.

All the donations, so far set forth, increased the Templars’ wealth by enabling them to the expansion of land holdings. These, under the management of the Order, became genuine farms, whose profits made them totally self-sufficient. Templar production was adapted to different geographical areas. In fact, if wheat was grown almost everywhere, southern Italy and the French noon were devoted to the production of excellent wine and oil. While, on the livestock side, pigs, cattle and sheep were raised in many localities, but it is only from the Camargue (south of Arles) and from Spain that came from the best horses for military campaigns.

The profitable economic management and increase of the territories owned, thanks to the aforementioned donations from noble or royal and commoner circles, or conquered in wars, allowed the Order to rise to the function of an “agricultural bank”, granting loans to peasants with payment in goods, rights and interest-the latter, prohibited by the Church, were converted from one currency to another. However, the wealth produced was not an end in itself. In fact, the profit made had as its primary goal the Supporting the war effort in the Holy Land.. Only the war for the conquest of Christ’s territories, or the Reconquista, as in Spain, of lands that had fallen under Islamic control, were the north star of every Templar economic activity, at the time.