CHAPTER II. A MEDIEVAL MAFIA: THE KNIGHTS TEMPLAR

Following the Council of Troyes, the Templars swiftly increased their numbers of recruits and became the most powerful and the most formidable knightly order of their time. They amassed great donations, obtained taxes on private income, and made lucrative investments in such diverse fields as construction, agriculture, cattle breeding, shipping and transportation. However, these ostensible activities were largely for show, inasmuch as the order's true source of income was through ill-gotten means.
While amassing their capital, the methods Templars employed were not terribly different from the methods that organized crime has been using in our own day. Actually they first developed those same methods later used by the Mafia and organized crime.
Illegal policies, employed by the ruffian kings and those clergymen who followed the evil pathways, became an illicit source of income for the Templars and gave them further power to wield. The organized clandestine methods they had been using was the reason why their order's members-who had originally sworn to remain poor and to live as so-called missionaries-attained such great wealth, almost equal to a monarch's, by methods that included usury; ransacking, usurpation, and despoliation under the name of war; bribery; political trickery; arbitrary taxes; demanding undeserved privileges; slave-trading; colonial activities; and trade in drugs available at the time, including opium.
As you will soon see, the Templars aimed at organizing and propagating numerous forms of evil. But their chief goal was to expand their influence and to gain profit and earthly power. In the Qur'an, Allah speaks of those who organize and propagate evil:

Do those who plot evil actions feel secure that Allah will not cause the earth to swallow them up or that a punishment will not come upon them from where they least expect? Or that He will not seize them on their travels, something they are powerless to prevent. Or (do those who plot evil actions feel secure) that He will not seize them little by little? For your Lord is All-Compassionate, Most Merciful. (Surat an-Nahl: 45-47)

The Templars were as wealthy as kings.

Usury was the first method that the Templars used in building their clandestine fortune. Actually, usury is specifically forbidden in Christianity, and severe punishments are threatened for committing it. During the Middle Ages, therefore, usury was largely the monopoly of some Jews. Some Jewish bankers, who were exempted from these New Testament strictures, earned great profits through their money lending and were, accordingly, granted considerable great privileges by the monarchs and the nobles who had fallen into their debts and had trouble paying them back. In short, the Templars replaced the Jewish bankers by entering this field, where no Christian had ever dared venture before.

King Richard I of England

The Templars continued with these forbidden practices by referring to the ten-percent interest they charged as "rent" or "donations." The network they established that reached into all the important financial centers, enabled them to transfer money securely between all well-known civilized regions, particularly between the Holy Land and the important European capitals. A great amount of this money was stored in the Templars' castles, which operated much like banks-particularly in major trade centers and along pilgrim routes.
Anyone who wanted to transfer funds used to invest his money at the nearest Templar mansion and received a bearer draft in return. When arriving at his destination, he could receive his money by cashing his draft-after paying a certain amount of interest.
What's specifically more interesting was that they kept their profit system a secret. Meanwhile, the money invested in the Templars' original branch offices was being used for various reasons. The order, which performed ostensible charity work, collected a great deal of interest income from a variety of classes, including the poorer and less well-to-do. This money in the Templars' account was to be used for purposes known only to them, without the control or supervision of any authority. Since no one could ask them for an account, the Templars were able to transform usury into an institution in their missionary order. Only much later was that fact revealed, leading to their imprisonment.

In 1207, Pope Innocent III accused the Knights of abusing their privileges.

During the first Crusade, the total annual income of France was about 250 thousand livres.5 At that time, the order's annual cash income in Europe alone-except for the real estates in 9,000 different districts-was estimated to be some 30 million livres.6 When this income is compared with present-day rates of exchange, it is clear that the Templars were controlling wealth that could compete with that of monarchs. Their fortune was so great that in 1191, they purchased the entire island of Cyprus for 25 thousand marcs from King Richard of England and enjoyed a further income by imposing heavy taxes on the island until they sold it to Guy of Lusignan, one year later.
A part of the Templars' tainted money came from ransacking. Templars pretended to be waging war with the enemy, while they were actually searching for pillage. They attacked defenseless caravans and residential districts in the Holy Lands and the borders where civilians lived in grand houses. Nevertheless, what they were doing was actually similar to the actions of gangsters: usurpation, ransacking, abduction, and mass murder.
The most interesting example of their actions was the order's collaboration with the corrupted group of Assassins. The two organizations made an agreement with each other in return for an annual payment of 2,000 besants. Assassins organized the assassinations of monarchs who were known to be the Templars' rivals. The Knights later adopted the same methods of this corrupt group that they admired and employed.7
The Templars were so eager and obsessed about ransacking that they caused the Christians to be defeated many times, as is also revealed by historical documents. In the attack to Aschkelon in 1150, a city wall was brought down, giving Christians an opportunity to win the battle. But at this point, Grand Master Bernard de Tremelay stopped the Crusaders and let the Templars enter the city to pillage it first.

The Templars attacked villages and carried off their Muslim inhabitants, selling them as slaves in Europe or else using them for their own purposes.

However, the Templars' obsession with wealth eventually resulted in their defeat and the demise. William of Tyre, the famous historian and clergyman of the time, blamed the Knights of chasing after their worldly ambitions:
Bernard de Tremelay had ordered his knights to prevent anyone else from joining them in this initial assault because he wanted to reserve for his Order the glory of taking the city and a lion's share of the booty.8
After amassed a certain store of money, the Templars applied the technique of bribery more often to get their works accomplished. Ultimately, they found it possible to do almost anything by bribing and being bribed in turn. When they wanted to settle down in a given region, they would bribe the district's ruler under the guise of an aid. This way, they could obtain the district as well as some privileges for themselves.
After the death of King Richard I, the Templars preserved their rights and privileges by bribing his heir, King John with horses and 1,000 pounds. Buying the influence of Europe's poor aristocrats at very low cost and cheap gifts increasingly encouraged the Templars, and enabled them to move more easily throughout Europe. The Templars grew accustomed to receiving bribes as a source of income, just as they got used to handing them out. In so doing, they were of course abusing the special privileges the Church had granted them.
Nobles who did not care to go to war often made a substantial donation to the Knights, who would then go fight in their names. Any aristocrats who had become outcasts could easily redeem themselves by that same method. Criminals wanted by the law in various jurisdictions devoted themselves to the Knights and were thus granted the right of immunity.
Clearly, Templars were abusing the privileges the Papacy had granted them, and from time to time, that deeply angered the Vatican. In 1207, Innocent III declared that the knights had grown proud and misused their prestigious position. The Pope complained that virtually anyone with money in his pockets could join the order, and that people previously refused access to the Church, those who were excommunicated and "those who add sin to sin, like a long thread,¨ were being buried in holy ground. The Pope demanded that the necessary action be taken.9

The Roman Emperor Frederick II, known as a friend of Muslims, joined forces with the Pope and seized all the assets of the Templars who had fought against him. He freed hundreds of Muslim slaves working for the order, thus becoming a target for the Knights’ hatred.

After establishing deals with construction, real estate, and transport, the Templars abused these businesses in order to speculate and as a result of these speculations, increased both the taxes and the rents they were enjoying. They were also speculating over products they were trading and mines whose value they had increased by "salting" them with high-grade ores. For example, their activities increased by 50% the value of the lands and properties in England. Due to their commercial privileges, they earned still more money by exporting English wool to the entire continent of Europe.
But this, of course, was only a cover operation.

Pope Gregory IX

Gathering money from the poor, Templars claimed that they were fighting a great struggle in the name of Christianity. However, this was simply an alibi to keep alive their sources of donations. After the Council of Troyes, the Templars got defeated in their next three wars. In contrast to the stories of heroic deeds, which were usually exaggerated, the Knights were not undefeatable warriors. Mainly, all they did was murder the innocent and the defenseless. When faced with no choice except to fight, they were doomed to lose, because they had simply hoarded a great deal of their dark donations, instead of expending the fortune on arms and defense.
In addition to these covert operations, the Templars also became organized in slave trading and smuggling. When the methods they employed in slave trading were finally revealed, the Pope was forced to admonish them. As is well known, slave trading was not illegal at the time, but Christians were forbidden to own Christian slaves. Accordingly, Templars were kidnapping innocent Muslims by attacking Palestinian villages and enslaving the young people. They either sold them to Europe, or else used them for their own cruel purposes.
Collaborating with the Pope, and the Roman Emperor, Frederic II, known as a friend of Muslims, seized the Templars' property by force. He freed hundreds of Muslim slaves, though he received nothing in return. Thus he became truly hated by the Knights.10
For the Templars, trading Muslim slaves was not enough. They were also selling Greeks, Bulgarians, Russians and Romanians (the latter of whom were Orthodox Christians), claiming that they were Muslims. Pope Gregory IX complained about these abusive deeds to the Syrian bishop and the Grand Master of the Templars. Nevertheless, the Templars continued their exploiting of humans through slave trading. African peoples soon provided a significant source of their income.
Beside these underhanded methods, the Templars performed some nefarious deeds in politics, as well. Through dishonest methods, they turned themselves into a very rich organization that more and more people grew to resent. No longer perceived as religious, their cruel tactics especially caused great troubles to local populaces. Their aberrant beliefs and life styles that were later disclosed so tarnished their reputation that they finally became an embarrassment to Christendom.