 The emblem of the Hospitallers, the first knightly order |
One of the main reasons for this is the predominating battle for the supremacy of the Papacy, which drew the Vatican into countless games of politics. As a result, more than once the Papacy grew far distant from the original purpose of its existence: During these periods, it set a priority on increasing its own influence over the crowned heads of Europe, and thus effected a long-standing change.
This all began with Pope Gregory VII, who stated that the force of arms could be employed for the sake of protecting the Papacy. In defending the notion that the Church was the highest temporal institution, he started the so-called Gregorian Movement and got into a squabble for authority with the powerful rulers of his time. The policies he initiated were widely accepted and were sustained with great enthusiasm. Although this process did provide the Vatican with increased power, it caused many rulers and numbers of the ruled to turn against the Papacy.
Pope Urban II later furthered Gregory's politics of force and agreed with his thesis, which can be summarized as "Violence is justified in the battle for religion"- which of course goes absolutely against Christian religious values. Thus, the so-called religious justification for the first Crusade was put in place. During his lifetime, St. Bernard strongly defended these policies, though they went against the essence of Christianity. He even brought this error to an extreme, saying that, "When the knight of Christ kills someone who has done evil deeds, this is not killing a man, but expelling the evil."
After the first Crusade, the Papacy was instrumental in founding the Hospitallers order, the very first of the Knights' organizations. At the very beginning, this sect took on the responsibility of aiding pilgrims to the Holy Lands and for tending to and curing the sick. Yet, for certain self-seeking groups in the Papacy, that was not enough. They wanted more: Any army that belonged to the Papacy was actually under their command, and thus they could compete against the armies of other European rulers. Therefore, they could extend their own potential by using the Papacy's authority and to protect the possessions they had already gained. And while doing so, they could expand Christianity by force of arms.
Furthermore, sovereignty over the Holy Lands would be permanent, and the acts of colonization would continue, under their control. Within the leading body of clergy, the group that harbored such wrong thoughts set themselves to creating an army that could perform their plan. The Templars appeared exactly at this moment and started to make defense of their political agenda their primary goal.
All of these showed that the Knights' visit to Bernard had been an important part of their strategy. They knew very well that Bernard was the only one who could provide them the advantages they wanted, out of a desire for mutual benefit.
Saint Bernard had many goals and plans to further the interests of the Church. By the help of his relationship with the nobles and because of his expertise in political strategies, he had held very important positions, even since his youth. He wielded such great influence, in fact, that he had his most loyal follower elected as Pope.
Bernard was fully aware how thoroughly difficult it was for priests to serve as soldiers. Actually, there was no need for them to do so. In his opinion, having the warriors who already currently served in the Holy Lands to become more loyal to the Church's doctrines was an easier, brighter plan. Yet he foresaw one obstacle: How could anyone transform these brutal, vigorous, ignorant lovers of violence into loyal Knights? In what would later prove a serious mistake, he let himself believe that this group of unlettered men could be tamed and taken under control by using a few techniques. Among them, bribery-under the disguise of concessions and donations-was the most popular.
The Templars had followed Bernard and his strategies since the very beginning and they continued to make their plans dependent on him. Bernard was planning to establish an army of the Church by using first of all, the Templars and then their Knights. Even as he was planning to do so, the Templars-who had drifted away from religious morality-were expecting to attain great privileges, all thanks to Bernard.
In this mutual relationship of theirs, members of the order would seem to be religious, and the Papacy would be going to advance their every interest.
Furthermore, even despite the Templars being arrested in 1307-and despite the revelation of their perversions-some groups within the Papacy would try to acquit these Templars and to save them from further persecution.
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