It is difficult to pinpoint the exact time in history when the journey of the Grail and the Truth it protects began because the trail has grown cold over the centuries. However, a starting point for the current leg of the Grail’s journey can be found in the legend of the Knights Templar organization.

In the year 1118, the King of Jerusalem, Baldwin II, formed a monastic order of noble knights. The order was founded with the express task of protecting Christian travelers in the Holy Land from marauding gangs, bandits and highway robbers. The king provided the Al-Aqsa mosque, which was built on the ruins of Solomon’s Temple, to the knights as a headquarters for their operations. The order was called The Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon, or the ‘Order of the Temple.’ Over time, they would become known as the ‘Knights Templar.’ >

Initially, the order consisted of only nine knights, led by Hugues de Payens and Godfrey de Saint-Omer, and for the better part of the next decade, their ranks grew very slowly, if at all. It would have been nearly impossible for a small group of nine knights to fulfill their mission and offer adequate protection to the hundreds of Christian Pilgrims at that time. So what were they doing during those first ten years while residing in the Al-Aqsa mosque on top of the ruins of Solomon’s Temple.

In the late 1800’s, Sir Charles Warren of the Palestine Exploration Fund, led an expedition to excavate areas of Jerusalem. Among his many discoveries were a series of subterranean chambers and tunnels beneath the Temple Mount, beneath Solomon’s Temple. Small Templar artifacts were also discovered in these tunnels offering proof that the Templars had at the very least used the tunnels, and may have even built them.

Legends tell of a more clandestine purpose for the Templar Knights and the location of their headquarters. Some historians believe that the Templars were charged with more than just protecting pilgrim travelers, that they were also given the daunting task of finding a lost treasure buried long ago beneath Solomon’s Temple.

Outside of legend, little evidence exists to show what the Templars may have found beneath the Temple. What is known is that after the first 9-10 years of living and working at the site of Solomon’s Temple, the Templar order began to experience an explosive growth in its ranks and wealth. Many Templar stories credit the Knights with protecting The Holy Grail, The Ark of the Covenant, ancient scrolls, and even gold, silver, and jewels.

Over the next 200 years, the Templars grew to number in the thousands and they held enormous amounts of land, money, and precious metals. The Templars established the first banking system and even protected the treasures of Kings and loaned money to countries. To protect the Christian pilgrims from being robbed on their journeys, the Templars developed a system where an individual could deposit money with the Templars in one city and then withdraw that money in another city at the local Templar office by presenting a coded slip of paper. This approach was rather ingenious; the Templars effectively removed the motivation for the bandits to rob the travelers.

The Templars made loans to individuals and even kings and became very wealthy and powerful in the process. Since the Catholic Church did not allow them to charge interest, they charged rent for the money, a clever way of getting around the religious laws of the Church. The power of the Templars was growing at such a rate that it began to threaten the power of the Pope and Kings.  In 1307, Pope Clement V, and the King of France, Philippe IV, joined forces to eliminate the Templar order. It has been said that the Vatican created false charges of crimes against the church, charging the Templars with worshipping the Baphomet, heresy, homosexuality, spitting on the cross, denying the divinity of Christ, and other atrocities, giving the King the power to have them arrested.

On Friday, October 13, 1307, the Templars were arrested all over Europe and the Holy Land, but not all of the Templars were captured.  In addition to wealth, the Templars had a good intelligence network and learned of the impending arrest several days in advance. This was enough time for the Templars to escape with their vast treasure. Legend tells of a fleet of Templar ships berthed in a French harbor. By the day of their planned arrest, the ships, the treasure, and large numbers of Templar Knights had simply vanished. It is well known that the Templars were expert seamen and navigators. They could have taken the treasure anywhere in the world they wanted.

To this day, very little concrete evidence has ever been found to suggest where the Templars went to avoid arrest, nor has anyone managed to find the lost treasure of the Templar Knights. There have been many who speculated about the fate of the Templars and some clues seem to have been left behind, but what exactly happened is still a mystery. However, it is a mystery that is slowly being unraveled. In the pages that follow, the real secrets of the Templars and what happened to the treasure, and ultimately The Holy Grail, will be revealed. The treasure is real, the legends are true, and the legacy of the Knights Templar will at last be revealed.