An order of knights founded in Jerusalem in 1118 by Hugues de Payen and seven Frankish crusaders. Officially called the “Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon,” or the Order of the Temple. De Payen received his charter from Badouin I, King of Jerusalem. He and his fellow knights became known as the Order of the Temple because they housed themselves in a wing of Badouin’s palace, which was built on the ruins of Solomon’s temple. It is rumored that the eight men conducted excavations underneath the temple, although it is not known what they were looking for. Whatever the case, within ten years of its inception the Order of the Temple had become an extremely potent political and military presence in Europe and in Outremer, the elite vanguard of Christianity in the Holy Land.
The Order of the Temple waxed powerful for almost 200 years. Towards the end of their existence they rivaled the Pope in political power.
In 1285 Philippe IV (Phillip the Good) ascended the throne of France. Philippe disliked any institution which threatened his sovereignty, including the Templars and the Church. In 1305 he arraigned for the kidnap and murder of Pope Boniface VIII, after which he installed a puppet onto the throne of St. Peter, Clement V. Accusing the Templars of a number of bizarre activities, including the worship of an entity called “Baphomet” and trampling and spitting on the cross, Clement ordered the arrest of every member of the order on Friday the 13th, 1307. Although Clement seized the amassed property of the Templars, which was considerable, he never found the legendary “treasure” supposedly uncovered by Hugues de Payen and his seven companions beneath the Temple of Solomon 200 years previously.