Original subtitles

Medieval warriors...

with a sacred calling.

The Knights Templar are engaged in a holy war.

Trained as monks, with a license to kill...

This is a crazy, multi-day slaughter.

Destined to change the course of history...

The Templars are such an awesome force,

and they bring such terror!

These are people who know how to fight.

Warriors aren't born...

They're built.

Understanding how

reveals the true nature of their greatness.

From the cradle to the grave,

these are the steps to creating...

History's Greatest Warriors.

The Knights Templar.

Committed to their faith...

Equally devoted to war...

The Templars are the fighting force of the church.

They are retaking control of the Holy Land,

protecting pilgrims, protecting religious sites.

They're monks as well as warriors.

The Templar knight can fight without fear.

If he's killed in battle,

then his place in heaven is assured.

And those battles the Templars are a part of-

it's some of the most brutal...

and bloody combat of the Middle Ages.

The Templars are shrouded in mystery to a degree.

They are loyal to an ideal that makes them

create the greatest of warriors.

The journey to becoming a Templar knight

will require years of training and

devotion to his mission.

The mounted warrior must become expert with

the most devastating weapons of his age.

He must defeat his enemy with bold tactics,

even when vastly outnumbered.

This path to greatness

traces its origins back to the first crusade.

The Knights Templar are a medieval military order.

They dedicate themselves to the defense of the Holy Land

in the aftermath of the First Crusade.

In the First Crusade,

the Latin Church encourages

European rulers to reconquer the Holy Land,

what is today Israel and Palestine.

This area had been under Islamic control

since the 7th century.

The crusading armies are joined by Christian pilgrims.

The Christian faithful all over Europe

want to come to the Holy Land.

They want to see where Jesus was born,

where he died, where he was resurrected.

They have to do this pilgrimage in order to

redeem themselves- repentance for

big sins that they've committed.

In about 1099, Jerusalem falls to the Christians.

By 1099,

the crusaders take control of the Holy Land and

conquer the city of Jerusalem.

But their hold is tenuous,

and religious conflict continues.

From a Muslim point of view,

Jerusalem is under Crusader control.

This is an insult to the prophet.

On the Christian side, Jerusalem must stay

under Christian control.

It's the birthplace of Jesus.

So, both sides have completely entrenched

religious positions.

As a result,

Christian pilgrims remain subject to

constant attacks.

The control of that region is very minimal.

It's basically these fortified positions.

Once you go out into the roads

it becomes very dangerous.

There are robbers, there are highwaymen,

neighboring Muslim armies.

The road from Jerusalem to Jericho

is known as the Ascent of Blood,

because this is an incredibly perilous

route for the pilgrims.

They're not just robbing you.

They're murdering you.

The roads into Jerusalem are littered with the

bleached skeletons of pilgrims

who have been totally ransacked,

everything taken, and their bodies cast to one side.

One especially violent incident

shocks all of Christendom.

In 1119, there is a devastating attack

on Christian pilgrims.

You have this group of 700 pilgrims

traveling from Jerusalem to the Jordan River.

This is where Jesus was baptized.

This is a holy river.

And these pilgrims are attacked.

300 are killed,

and then 400 go into slavery.

It is the spark that incites one warrior to create

one of history's most notorious fighting units...

the Knights Templar.

Hugues de Payens is a knight from France.

He is traveling in the Holy Land,

and he sees that pilgrims are dying,

and he wants to do something about it.

Hugues goes to the King of Jerusalem with

an idea of creating this order of holy warriors.

King Baldwin II needs all the help he can get.

So he receives this idea with open arms.

The official mission of the Knights Templar is to

protect pilgrims on the roads into Jerusalem.

The order starts small.

Hugues de Payens organized nine men,

and this was the beginning.

Baldwin II gives them a headquarters,

which they believe is the original Temple of Solomon.

And this gives them their name,

The Poor Fellow Soldiers of Christ and

the Temple of Solomon.

And nobody wants that entire mouthful,

so they just call them the Templars.

For the first ten years, they don't really

grow very much, maybe to 30 at the max.

Then in 1128,

Pope Honorius II grants a papal sanction to

the Knights Templar, declaring them to be

an army of God.

When the Templars hear that this has happened,

this is the catalyst that helps take them from a small,

obscure group of knights to a fighting force that can

tip the balance of power in the Holy Land.

But only the select few

have what it takes to be a Templar.

Recruits initially come from Europe's elite families,

men already trained as skilled and deadly fighters.

They are members of the nobility

who already start out as knights.

They are trained as knights from the time that

they are young men.

The offer by the Pope, and by the church

to young men all over Europe is,

if you join the Knights Templar,

the slate is wiped clean.

And you also have a fast track into heaven,

into eternal glory.

And it's after that, a lot of people want to join.

But becoming a Templar requires more.

Each candidate must take holy vows,

including one demanding celibacy.

It's a big decision.

You are giving yourself entirely to this order.

You will not control your own life anymore.

The decision to join the order is

marked by a sacred ceremony.

You go before the superior brothers

in the order, and you recite these vows.

You take a vow of poverty,

of chastity, of obedience.

But on top of that, the Templars take

an additional vow to fight for the Holy Land.

The key moment is

when they receive the kiss of peace.

The kiss of peace is something that has

enormous religious significance.

And this is a very, very normal thing

for the Middle Ages.

It is a way of sealing a deal.

Whether it's fealty to a king,

or joining an order like the Templars.

Once you take this vow, you're committed to it

because once you do become a Templar,

there's no giving it up.

There is only one way out of

the Templar order, and that is death.

As their fame increases...

so, too, does their wealth.

When the European elites

hear what these knights are doing,

they start making material donations to these knights.

Now, this is in the form of land.

This is in the form of castles.

Wealth and power increases,

manpower increases, influence increases.

By the middle of the 12th century,

they're one of the wealthiest and most powerful orders,

really institutions, in Christendom.

But that's not the whole story.

A mercenary fights for money.

But a soldier who's truly effective is fighting for

the homeland, or for king and country, or for God,

in the case of the Knights Templar.

And you don't get a much higher ideal than God.

The Templar warrior's mission requires courage,

sacrifice and training...

for the brutal battles that will be waged

for the Holy Land.

Building knights capable of thriving in

some of the most brutal combat of the Middle Ages...

doesn't happen by accident.

How do the Templars consistently create

excellent warriors?

How do they become the elite of the elite knights?

It's their discipline.

It's their dedication to this cause.

It's also a written code of conduct

that eventually includes 609 articles.

The Latin Rule is kind of the guidebook for the Templar,

which is an exhaustive description of how

warrior monks should conduct their lives,

conduct battle, and live from day to day.

It's their warrior code.

So not only are you vowing to live as a monk,

but you're also vowing that you're going to fight.

Every new recruit entering the Templars

is from European nobility,

trained in elite fighting skills since their youth.

If you come from the knightly elite,

you come from the nobility.

You are learning to become a knight your whole life.

From the time you're a kid,

you're first learning to put armor on,

you're learning to use these weapons.

So, by the time you're an adult,

you will have quite a lot of military training.

You cannot separate the warrior from the monk.

And this is what makes the Templars very unique.

And, it involves a kind of spiritual transformation.

So there's a change in the mindset

that has to happen.

The Knight Templar is faced with

a grueling daily routine, which includes

hours and hours of prayer.

And the rest of the time is spent in

preparing armament, looking after the horses.

This was a rigorous life.

They are drilling.

They're protecting pilgrims. And all the time,

there's the next set of prayers coming up.

So, it is a really grueling, Spartan existence.

It is a very austere life, and at the end of it,

it is probably going to end in martyrdom.

The Templar has one crucial mission:

protect the Holy Land and the Christians

who come to worship there.

To do so, he must learn to survive combat

in that unforgiving and deadly terrain.

Until you actually are in the Holy Land,

you can't be fully prepared for the type of warfare

you're going to experience.

You're in extreme heat.

You're in very dusty, dry conditions.

And you can be campaigning for hours and

for even days on end.

You may not have access to food.

You may not have access to water.

And you are also susceptible to diseases that

you may never have encountered before and

that are going to kill you.

Heatstroke is a persistent enemy.

Thirst is a big killer.

One notorious battle against the fierce Muslim leader

Saladin illustrates why Templars must be built to

withstand extreme conditions.

Saladin is the Sultan of both Egypt and

large portions of Syria.

He really has an empire that kind of surrounds

the crusader states.

He can field these massive armies.

He can field armies, you know, 20,

30,000 men,

which is very big for the Middle Ages.

At the Battle of Hattin,

he lures the Crusader army to a position

where they're going to be cut off from water.

They spend a long night in agony.

Their horses become exhausted and thirsty.

Saladin's troops start all these fires

all around the position the crusaders are in.

By the time his forces really close in for the kill,

a lot of people are already collapsing and exhausted.

To avoid such chaos and defeat,

the new Templar trains with his brothers,

striving to become part of a disciplined

and coordinated unit.

In the Middle Ages, it's very rare that

anyone has an army that's always together,

that they're feeding, that they're training together.

Usually people are called up to war.

You don't have an army that's worked together

all the time, and this is something

that really gives them their strength.

I think it is the thing that makes them the

most unique in the Middle Ages.

The Templars train for an innovative

battlefield tactic known as the 'Fighting Box'.

One of the things they find in the Holy Land

is that Muslim forces are very good at

hit and run tactics, and attrition,

particularly on supply lines and baggage train.

So, Crusaders developed this box tactic

of moving across the land.

A bit like later ringed wagons

to defend civilians, to protect the baggage train.

The fighting box is unique to the Crusades.

It's a box of infantry around the cavalry.

They interlock their shields.

They stay in this tight formation,

and they surround the cavalry.

The advantage of the fighting box is this is a

mobile formation, which can keep your pilgrims safe,

but can also allow for a kind of opening up,

which facilitates a rapid charge toward the enemy.

It's a strategy employed by England's King Richard I

in a notorious fight against Saladin

along the Mediterranean Sea...

as Richard leads a crusader army away from

the Christian stronghold of Acre.

Saladin's troops harass the Crusader army,

dodging in and out, attacking the rear flank,

and this is something that Saladin does on purpose.

He wants to provoke the Crusaders and

get them to break formation.

But King Richard keeps his troops disciplined,

they're patiently waiting.

Shielded on their right flank by the coastline,

the infantry protects the horses along the other

three sides in a fighting box formation.

Saladin's archers blacken the sky with their arrows.

And this is kind of a crucial moment because

Saladin thinks that he has the advantage.

But really, King Richard is just waiting for

the enemy to come closer.

It's at that point that some of Richard's calvary

see an opportunity, and they charge,

and from there all hell breaks loose!

The infantry box opens,

and the crusader knights charge across the battlefield,

destroying half of Saladin's army.

This is a deadly route,

thanks in part to the fighting box,

and a huge victory for the Crusaders.

What the Templars do is they

turn the box, the squadron,

into something that operates like a single unit.

So, this box thunders across the battlefield.

The strength is training people

not to think as individuals,

not to be on the battlefield as individuals,

not to be on the battlefield to seek personal glory,

but to seek the glory of God.

With hard work,

the Templar transforms physically,

spiritually, and mentally...

honed into a new kind of warrior.

He'll need to deploy these skills

with the right weapons...

And the Templars are equipped with

the best that money can buy.

Molded by faith and constant training,

the Knight Templar must now be armed with

the best weapons...

and master them all.

To begin, he must become one with

a thousand-pound beast of war.

For knights in the Middle Ages

a horse is everything.

It is fundamental to knighthood.

What we need to remember about horses in the

Middle Ages is that they are weapons, themselves.

Not only are they very heavy, but they are trained to

kick, and stomp, and bite, and rear.

They've been trained to deal with the horrors of the

battlefield, the sounds, the sight, the smells,

and they are able to do it.

By the middle of the 12th century,

the Templars are using such horses in holy wars

as far away as the Iberian Peninsula.

And, in the Holy Land,

the order's increasing wealth provides them

with stables of warhorses that are

housed at the temple mount itself.

For the Templars especially,

they're mounted knights.

They are a heavy cavalry,

and their horses are the key to them

being successful in any military operation.

They have to make sure that they can fight on horseback.

And so, this starts with a lance.

The lance is really the primary

and most important weapon of the knight.

The lance is what they deliver

their heavy cavalry shock charge with.

Without the lance, it wouldn't be possible.

Because the lance is heavy, the longer that you

hold the lance down horizontal,

the less accurate you're going to be with it.

So, you'll ride with the lance up.

As you get close,

you anticipate the moment of impact.

You bring the lance down.

They're tucking it under the armpit and

anchoring it in firm, coupled with a very high

saddle with front and rear either side of the rider.

This means that at the moment of impact,

all of the energy of the horse...

and the rider are delivered into

one small point of that lance,

which means it will transfix and penetrate

pretty much anything it hits.

Any armor of the day can be penetrated by

a lance delivered with the weight of a horse

moving at speed behind it.

A poorly held lance or

misguided strike could unseat the Templar,

leaving him exposed on the battlefield.

It's something that requires enormous strength,

but it also requires precision.

You've got to know what's going to happen

when you strike the enemy.

You could easily break your own bones.

You could dislocate your shoulder.

So you've got to really know how to use this weapon and

how to not injure yourself in the process.

What happens when the lance enters the target?

If it breaks, that's great.

You've penetrated the target.

You've taken out one enemy.

We have records of the lance going through

an enemy target, and then it having to be abandoned

because you can't extract it,

certainly not when you're moving at speed

on horseback.

So, it's an incredibly powerful weapon.

And, importantly, the lance is long enough that

it can outreach a lot of infantry standing on foot.

Which means that in this era,

heavy cavalry dominate the battlefield.

This is really the glory golden age of heavy cavalry.

Once he has mastered the lance,

the knight must also prepare to strike with a weapon

that's more than mere steel...

It is a holy symbol of his faith...

His sword.

So the lance works fantastically

when you're moving at speed.

But if you come to a standstill,

or you have lots of enemies all around you,

the lance can now become a liability

because it's a fairly heavy,

fairly cumbersome weapon.

So in that case, dropping the lance and going straight to

the sword would be a fantastic option.

Given the fact that the Knights Templar are

on horseback, and they're having to hold a shield

at the same time, they go for the arming sword,

something that is slightly lighter,

and that can be carried on horseback.

The type of sword used by Templar Knights

is a one handed, double edged,

cut and thrust sword.

It has a pommel, which gives some degree

of counterbalance to the blade,

which enables you to have quite a long blade.

To be able to reach an opponent on foot from

horseback, you need a fairly long blade.

It's excellent for a chopping type of attack

or a stabbing type of attack.

With a hacking motion, it can really,

you know, cut through the enemy.

As deadly as the armed knight has become,

one of his most vital pieces of equipment

is for defensive purposes...

His state-of-the-art armor.

To be stabbed in battle...

can be even worse than being shot in our own modern day,

because what a sword does when it enters

is to inflict a major trauma.

It may be that you simply bleed to death

on the battlefield.

Chainmail is specifically developed

in order to prevent slashes from cutting into the body.

You're still going to get broken bones

if you get hit very hard,

but you're not going to get those slashes

that can cause cuts and infection

and actually sever limbs.

It is heavy, but if you grow up

wearing this armor, you're going to have

a conditioning that adapts you to it.

And so it's going to feel like your second skin.

Chainmail is really expensive,

but it's very effective

at deflecting even dagger,

sword, but particularly arrows coming at you,

and it's something that is really made

specifically for you.

The Templars are wealthy,

and they understand that without armor...

they would not be able to survive

in these battle fields.

There are blacksmiths who are working

with the order in the Holy Land,

repairing weapons, repairing armor,

forging weapons and forging armor.

Trained and armed,

it is time for the new Templar knight

to go into battle.

The new Templar has become

an elite warrior dedicated to protecting

Christian pilgrims and the Holy Land.

Now, it is time to meet the enemy.

Siege combat is one of the many ways

that Templar are trained to fight.

Once you climb over the wall,

they would find themselves in one-on-one combat.

The Templars use siege engines to breach the

walls of cities that have fallen into the hands

of the Muslim enemy.

At the Siege of Ascalon in 1153,

there's an almost suicidal charge

by the Knights Templar into the city.

In a siege situation,

the knights are fighting on the walls,

and once that process takes place,

you're going to be fighting hand-to-hand with somebody.

The Templar faces his adversary

knowing this will be a fight to the death.

You fight with your eyes.

Then your feet, then your hands.

But your eyes have to be on the enemy.

You have to be almost like a cobra.

You're surveying everything.

Nothing should take you by surprise.

His opponent's fighting style

emphasizes speed over power.

There's a huge contrast between

a Knight Templar and a Saracen.

Much more lightly armored.

On the other side,

the Knight Templar really is a human tank.

The knight's lifetime of training has

conditioned him to the weight of his armor.

Chainmail isn't something that's

cumbersome for a knight.

In fact, it's something that puts them

into a battle mentality.

A slash from the Saracen's sword could be deadly...

But the Templar's chainmail

absorbs and deflects the attack.

He pivots...

wielding his preferred weapon,

his arming sword.

The Templars have this sword that's really

designed for thrusting and parrying.

I mean, it can have a terrible effect.

Even if you lose your sword during combat...

then you've got on your left hand,

you've got the shield,

which is a very formidable weapon in its own right.

You can attack with it, and also create

some distance from the enemy.

The shields are kite shields.

They're made of wood and leather.

And the wood is hardened to be especially protective

against mace blows and sword attack.

The Templar is prepared for every eventuality.

He conceals a second blade.

They will have a dagger because

sometimes you were in close combat,

and you don't have a sword.

The combat at this time is all about

trying to get around and behind the shield.

A savage attack leaves the Saracen disarmed.

All that is left...

is to strike.

There is no mercy from the Templar.

Even though they are very much about

having this honor and having a holy mission,

when it comes to actually fighting

in the Middle Ages, it is not just chivalrous.

It's very dirty and bloody and scary.

When the enemy sees them coming,

they know that this is going to be a fight to the death.

Faith, training,

and brutal combat have forged the Knight Templar

into a fearless and resilient warrior.

And the order's success depends on it...

Because the enemy is coming...

by the thousands.

The Templar has been trained

to be an elite killer.

He must now ride out to battle a superior warrior.

A fearsome and resolute protector of the Holy Land.

But, by the late 12th century,

Muslim armies have grown in power

under the great sultan, Saladin,

posing an ever - increasing threat

to the order of Templars.

The Templars are such an awesome force,

and they bring such terror

to Saladin's soldiers that

the only good Templar for Saladin is a dead Templar.

All of them, once they are caught, are put to death.

Saladin's well trained and

mobile army is a formidable foe.

They ride these very fast ponies.

This mounted archery type of fighting style

enables them to move very quickly.

They operate in these very large groups that can kind of

sweep in and overwhelm

a slower moving Western army.

This is a common

fighting style for the nomadic groups,

think of the Mongols, the Huns, etc.

Routinely facing overwhelming odds

in the Holy Land,

the Templar must outmaneuver his enemy.

The genius of the Knights Templar is that

very often they are outnumbered.

They are, after all, occupiers of the Holy Land.

And yet, it's the way they operate that

secures them victory at the end of the day.

If you have inferior numbers,

it might make more sense for you to attack first.

And this might look rash,

but that cavalry charge where you have all of these knights

moving as one can be psychologically devastating.

So it can be a really good advantage to attack first.

This is perhaps never truer

than at the Battle of Montgisard.

The prelude to the Battle of Montgisard is that

the Templars have headed north

to engage the enemy up near Syria.

Now Saladin sees an opportunity.

Saladin decides this is a perfect opportunity

to bring his huge Saracen army

up from Egypt in the south,

and capture a relatively undefended Jerusalem.

And he's going to field this very large Egyptian army.

On the low end, it was maybe 12,000 men.

On the high end,

it could have been 23,000.

Standing between Saladin and

the Kingdom of Jerusalem

is its young ruler, King Baldwin.

King Baldwin IV is a teenager.

Sadly, he suffers from leprosy,

a massively debilitating and then

untreatable disease.

When Baldwin learns that

Saladin plans to attack his unprotected kingdom,

he only has a few hundred

Templar knights at hand.

Baldwin thinks that he has no chance.

He withdraws into Ascalon with his forces,

and he hides out there.

When Saladin sees that King Baldwin

is hiding in Ascalon, he thinks,

"Okay, the kingdom really is kind of defenseless.

This is perfect. I can spread my army out.

We can start sacking the villages.

We can burn territory."

With a vast Saracen army

drawing closer to Jerusalem,

the young king and his attachment of Templars,

leads a small Christian army to confront Saladin.

Baldwin forms whatever army he can.

And this amounts to maybe a few hundred knights,

and then a couple thousand infantry.

So, we compare this to Saladin's army.

He greatly outnumbers what seems like

an insignificant crusader force.

But he rallies the forces around him.

And the one thing he does is to

bring out the True Cross.

This is the cross, the wood on which

people believed Jesus was actually crucified.

It is the most sacred relic in Jerusalem,

and to bring it out is to

inspire people in a way that we can't imagine.

So long as they see their standard flying,

they stay there.

They're not going anywhere else.

They're going to fight until the last man.

King Baldwin and the Templars

forge a plan to intercept Saladin's forces

at a place called Montgisard.

The Templars and Baldwin decided to try to

lure Saladin himself to follow them

into kind of a trap.

And this is crucial. Saladin decides,

"Okay, well, the king is out here trying

to do something, but he's just got a few hundred

knights with him. Whatever.

Let's go take him down."

So, Saladin follows Baldwin and the Templars,

and they lead him to this area close to Montgisard.

This is an area that is pretty marshy.

And in fact, once Saladin gets there,

his baggage train becomes bogged down in the mud.

This isn't just food and supplies.

It's also weaponry.

And he's just taken his eye off the ball.

Once they've got Saladin

exactly where they want him,

the Templars charge directly at Saladin

with insane courage.

And Saladin cannot believe

what he's seeing coming at him.

As the Templar Fighting Box

advances on the enemy, it opens,

unleashing the full force of the Templars.

The warrior monks charge into battle.

The fighting box is like a wall of metal and

horse coming at you.

Saladin's soldiers don't know what to do.

It is a disaster for Saladin.

It's a devastating execution of

the tactics the Templar has perfected.

The ferocity of the crusaders on the battlefield

provokes panic in the enemy,

and the bulk of Saladin's army flees.

Saladin is able to escape by jumping onto a racing camel,

and riding away.

But, his army is destroyed.

They're being chased down by the crusaders.

So this is a crazy, multi-day slaughter.

Everything that the Knights Templar are about

comes into play at the battle of Montgisard.

All their tactics,

everything that's in the rulebook.

It just gets displayed beautifully.

The Templar victory against such overwhelming odds

sends a powerful message.

The Battle of Montgisard is one of the

celebrated battles of the Knights Templar.

There is an acknowledgment that the Templars

are a superior fighting force.

Montgisard really cements their reputation

as the Invincibles in the Holy Land.

Bloodied and bruised,

the Templars have fought with honor,

proving themselves fearsome defenders

of the Holy Land.

But victory is always temporary...

And the future uncertain.

The order has built warriors who carry out

their divine mission to protect pilgrims...

and strike fear in the hearts of the enemy.

But after 200 years of holding the Holy Land,

the rise of a new power made up of

elite Muslim mercenaries

spells disaster for the Templars.

Halfway through the 13th century,

this new Muslim power emerges,

the Mamluks of Egypt.

They're able to attack these Templar strongholds with

really overwhelming forces.

The Templars and all of the Crusaders

are getting pushed back,

until they make a stand in Acre around 1291.

This is the last piece of the Holy Land

that the Templars control.

And when that city falls,

they have nowhere to go but the sea.

The loss of this, it's devastating.

The Templars return to Europe...

But their days are numbered.

And their downfall is as violent as their rise.

After the loss of the Holy Land in 1291,

the Templars are still a huge organization.

They have enormous assets and wealth.

The Knights Templar have long been

in the business of lending money to monarchs,

especially King Philip of France.

And he is so badly in debt, he's essentially

on the verge of bankruptcy.

King Philip decides to move against the Knights Templar.

The accusations that Philip levels against

the Templars are basically the cookie-cutter accusations

that you hurl at somebody in the Middle Ages.

They're heretics, they're homosexuals.

They're wizards.

The accusations against the Templars are pretty serious.

The kiss of peace was interpreted as a carnal kiss.

In 1307, famously, on Friday the 13th,

a date that's gone down in infamy in history,

arrest warrants are issued for

all the Knights Templar in France.

And what happens in France is different than

what happens everywhere else,

because legally in France,

you can torture people in order to get a confession.

The Templars who have been arrested

face years of confinement, torture and,

ultimately, execution.

In 1312...

The pope officially dissolves the order.

The Templars' demise may be

part of what makes them so unique.

There was this sense that they had been

unjustly accused, and this seems to have

probably contributed to their mystique.

It's very difficult for us to accept that

an organization, an institution

like the Templars could just disappear.

Where did they go?

Do they just sort of vanish into the smoke of the past?

Or do they survive?

Even as the lights go out on the Knights Templar,

not all flames are extinguished.

They're not all arrested and killed.

Some of them are even pensioned off,

or allowed to join another order

or sent to a monastery.

They get lost in the tides of history,

but these are knights.

These are people who know how to fight.

There are still active frontiers in Europe,

and the Templars get deployed to those frontiers

in Spain and Portugal.

Despite their tragic end,

the Templars' powerful legacy endures.

More than 700 years after the crusades,

there are still rumors that the Templars-

and their treasure- survive.

Some have never believed that the Templars

made their enormous wealth from sheep and cows.

They think that they discovered the Holy Grail,

the Ark of the Covenant, and other sacred relics

underneath the Temple Mount, even that the Templars

deliberately located themselves there so that

they could start digging down.

And then, what do they do with these relics?

Well, that's another big question.

Their exceptional discipline and

devotion to their cause...

Alongside their innovations

on and off the battlefield...

Earn the Knights Templar a hallowed spot...

among History's Greatest Warriors.