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00:01The Knights Templar. Legendary soldier monks of the Middle Ages.
00:07Warriors of God.
00:10Holy men, devilish fighters, sworn to poverty, but richer than kings.
00:17Legend says they guarded the greatest relic in Christendom.
00:22The Holy Grail.
00:24A treasure so priceless, it gave them unrivaled power.
00:31Yet at their height, the Templars are destroyed and their fortune vanishes.
00:38Who were the Knights Templar?
00:41And can the true secret of their power be revealed today?
00:54March 18, 1314 A.D.
01:03One of Europe's most powerful men, Jacques de Molay, is about to be executed.
01:09The charges against him? Devil worship, sodomy, and financial blackmail.
01:14De Molay is one of 69 men burned alive on orders of King Philip IV of France.
01:23The condemned belong to one of the most mysterious brotherhoods in history.
01:30The Knights Templar.
01:33In the Middle Ages, these warriors are feared.
01:37Wealthy, and powerful.
01:47But in 1307, that reign comes to an end.
01:58The Templars stand accused of heresy.
02:00Under intense interrogation, they crack and confess.
02:16Overnight, two centuries of wealth and power go up in smoke.
02:24The Knights Templar vanish from history, but leave behind a beguiling mystery.
02:30The Templars call themselves the poor Knights of Christ, yet become one of the richest organizations in Europe.
02:43It's here.
02:45It's said the source of their wealth is an ancient relic discovered beneath the ruins of the old Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.
02:52And its fate remains a riddle.
02:59To discover the Templars' secret, we must retrace their footsteps.
03:05Back to the beginning.
03:07Back to the clash of civilizations called the Crusades.
03:10The Crusades.
03:161096 AD.
03:18An army of European knights marches thousands of miles to the region they call the Holy Land.
03:25Muslim states dominate the Middle East, and a region that stretches from Persia to Spain.
03:30Pope Urban II calls for a holy war to liberate Christianity's most sacred city.
03:39Jerusalem.
03:41It takes the Crusaders nearly three years to reach the holy city.
03:45Along the way, battle, disease, and starvation take their toll.
03:54Over 4,000 knights set out for Jerusalem.
03:58A little over 1,000 arrive.
04:00The Crusaders will arrive.
04:21July 1099.
04:24After a five-week siege, the Crusaders take the city.
04:27city. When the crusaders captured Jerusalem, first thing that happened, there was a bloodbath of
04:36almighty proportions. They slaughtered everybody, Christian, Jew, Muslim alike. It was not a pretty
04:44event. A French eyewitness describes the carnage. Piles of heads, hands, and feet were to be seen
04:54on the streets of the city. In the temple and porch of Solomon, men rode in blood up to their
04:59knees and bridle reins. Indeed, it was a just and splendid judgment of God that this place should
05:05be filled with the blood of unbelievers, since it had suffered so long from their blasphemies.
05:18To rule the new kingdom of Jerusalem, the crusaders choose from their own ranks.
05:24Crusader kings will fight battle after battle to hold this sacred ground. In 1118, they choose
05:32their third leader and name him King Baldwin II. King Baldwin receives an offer of help from a
05:43crusader knight. My lord. The French nobleman, Hugh de Payon. Rise. I have a great vision, my lord.
05:54Hugh de Payon proposed the idea of a contingent of fighting monks, whose responsibility would be to
06:01guard the Holy Land and to safeguard passage of pilgrims on their way from Europe to the Holy Land
06:06and to defend the Holy City of Jerusalem. King Baldwin likes the idea, and the Templars are born.
06:18Thou art a knight of the Templar. Thou art a warrior of God.
06:25From a band of nine knights, the Templars will swell into an army of thousands.
06:35They call themselves the Order of the Poor Knights of the Temple of Solomon. In time, they're
06:41simply known as the Knights Templar. They're not only warriors, but monks. They take bows of poverty,
06:54obedience, and celibacy. Europe has never seen such a force.
07:00The whole idea of a fighting order, a military order, was really a quite extraordinary and indeed
07:12even revolutionary idea in the church. How do you combine these two things? Do you pray over your
07:22weapons? The answer is yes, that they did. You know, they regarded their calling as a holy calling.
07:28The Knights Templar decided they would create what we might think of today as special forces for
07:37Christ. Like medieval monks, Templars pray seven times a day. But what makes these monks different
07:47is they train to fight. Your first defense is your sword.
07:58I guarantee you, you lose this, you will lose your life. When we cut, we cut, we keep going, we do not
08:05stop. Is everyone ready?
08:07Between those two military orders, you had an extremely efficient, highly disciplined, superbly equipped
08:14standing army. Small in number, but incredibly packed one hell of a bunch.
08:19The Templars crush the Muslims at the siege of Ascalon in 1153. The battle of Morkizad in 1177.
08:29And the battle of Arsuth in 1191. They seem invincible.
08:43The Templars fight by strict rules. They are forbidden to retreat unless ordered to do so,
08:54and only when outnumbered by more than three to one.
08:57The Templars really were different from other parts of the Crusader army. It was known that they
09:07wouldn't break ranks. It was known that they wouldn't run away, that they wouldn't desert.
09:12The Templars' Red Cross stands for martyrdom. Death in battle
09:21is glorious.
09:22The key tactical maneuver is the squadron charge. A small group of knights attacks head-on a tightly
09:32packed wedge. Their goal? To break the enemy line and scatter the enemy to the right and left.
09:41The charge is reckless, terrifying, magnificent.
09:53They famously won many battles, so their respect was incredible. They had a mystique. They had an aura of power.
10:02Part of their mystique grows from their headquarters. King Baldwin gives the knights one of Christendom's
10:09holiest places, the site of the ancient Jewish temple. Jesus himself once preached here.
10:16We found something! Show us!
10:19That's right.
10:20But it's what the Templars uncover here that may have shaped their destiny.
10:27Beneath the ancient temple, folklore says the knights make one of the most remarkable discoveries of all time.
10:38Nine centuries ago, in one of the holiest places on earth,
10:43a primitive archaeological dig begins.
10:49It is the site of the ancient Jewish temple in Jerusalem.
10:55During the First Crusade, it becomes the headquarters of the Knights Templar.
11:02The temple was built by King Solomon in the 10th century BC.
11:07Four centuries later, the Babylonians destroy it and the Jews rebuild it.
11:14The temple once housed the sacred ark of the covenant.
11:18In an inner room, the Holy of Holies, it is said, God himself lived here.
11:2570 AD
11:27War destroys the house of God.
11:32A Roman army crushes a Jewish rebellion.
11:35The Romans burn the city and tear down the temple.
11:38By the time of the Crusades, the Muslims built a mosque over the ruins of the Jewish temple that still stands.
11:49The Dome of the Rock.
11:50A small group of fighting monks now occupy part of one of the holiest pieces of real estate in the holiest city on earth.
12:00They were housed in the temple complex in Jerusalem and that was a very important
12:08statement as far as the importance that they gave to this new order, this new ideal.
12:16Not all scholars agree.
12:19Frankly, I think the reason is sort of an accident.
12:23I don't think it was freighted with any kind of real meaning other than it was something available.
12:30Scholars also dispute the Templars' original mission,
12:34to safeguard pilgrims to the Holy Land.
12:37There have been some researchers who say they had nothing to do with assisting pilgrims.
12:44And the question remains, of course, what else were they doing?
12:52Maybe they were on to something.
12:54They spent nine years tunneling through solid rock and then a series of radiating tunnels underneath.
13:11What they discovered down there has been a matter of intense speculation ever since.
13:17According to one theory, the Templars discover a treasure map.
13:21The map is actually a scroll etched in copper, detailing the exact hiding place of the treasures of the Jewish Temple.
13:3670 AD, as the Roman army conquers Jerusalem, Jewish rebels hide the treasures of the Temple throughout the Holy Land.
13:4570 AD, to recover them, they lead directions, etched in copper, to last forever.
13:57For centuries, the scroll's very existence is unknown.
14:00Then, in 1947, a Bedouin shepherd looking for a stray sheep makes an electrifying discovery.
14:07Ancient scrolls, nearly 2,000 years old, some of the oldest Jewish texts ever found.
14:18The Dead Sea Scrolls.
14:21When the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, amongst them was one called the Copper Scroll.
14:25And it listed a series of sites throughout what we would now call the Holy Land,
14:30where Temple treasures had been buried for safe keeping, prior to the Roman destruction of the Temple.
14:36In the 1950s, a British archaeologist follows the clues etched on the Copper Scroll.
14:42He finds no Jewish treasure, but learns a previous expedition discovered something just as tantalizing.
14:50Clues that someone may have beaten him to it.
14:53It was found that the Knights Templar of the 12th century were there, but there's no evidence as to precisely what they were doing.
15:21Or what they found.
15:22Clues that someone may have found.
15:24Here.
15:25This is it.
15:26Here.
15:26Here.
15:27Here.
15:33Legends say, within the very ruins of the Temple, the Copper Scroll led them to one of Christendom's most sought-after treasures.
15:43The Holy Grail.
15:52In the Middle Ages, the Grail is the subject of countless tales, legends, and songs.
16:02In some versions, the Grail is a cup or plate used by Christ at the Last Supper.
16:08But with so few clues, it could be anything.
16:11The Grail is a medieval concept.
16:13The Grail is a medieval concept.
16:15The Grail in these stories was many different forms.
16:22Maybe they're searching for a cup.
16:25Others believed it was a special stone that fell from heaven.
16:28Another story connects the Grail to the very death of Jesus, the Roman spear that pierced Christ's side.
16:38The other candidate for the treasure, if you will, that the Templars were supposedly tunneling for, was the head of John the Baptist, which also presumably had been buried there.
16:55The most controversial theory suggests the treasure the Templars found may have been records of the descendants of Christ.
17:14Some people have said that somehow they secreted out a member of the family of Jesus,
17:21some relative of the marriage between Jesus and Mary Magdalene.
17:33By this theory, the Latin words for Holy Grail, song grail, are really a mistranslation of two different words, song real, or royal blood.
17:46Under this theory, Jesus married and had children, and those offspring were the secret of the Grail.
17:59There are conspiracy theories, of course, everywhere, so often surrounding the Grail.
18:04And surrounding Jesus as well, the story that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were surely married.
18:09I happen to think it's false, but it's perfectly reasonable.
18:19But the royal blood theory makes more sense than a relic being the source of Templar power.
18:26Proving Jesus had married and had children would shake the very foundation of Christianity
18:31and threaten the entire power structure of medieval Europe.
18:42The church would surely pay any price to suppress this information.
18:46Or so the theory goes.
18:49No one knows what the Templars may have found.
18:52But there's little question about what happened next.
18:55Hugh de Payon, the head Templar, leaves the Holy Land to attend the Council of Troye in France.
19:08No one knows what was discussed, only the outcome.
19:12Pope Honorius II gives the Templars his blessing.
19:16His successor, Pope Innocent, gives them unprecedented power.
19:20The Templars now enjoy immunity from the laws, regulations and taxes of every nation.
19:34The Templars become a force unto themselves.
19:43The Templars' mysterious new power gives rise to many conspiracy theories.
19:50books like the Da Vinci Code suggest the Templars blackmailed the Vatican,
19:58demanding special privileges in return for suppressing the bloodline of Jesus.
20:04But most scholars simply ascribe their sudden success to good connections.
20:12Evidence of their financial clout and influence still stands today.
20:20The Templars were openly involved in financing and constructing most of the major Gothic cathedrals
20:30of the 12th and 13th centuries.
20:34They almost certainly financed the entire building of Chartres Cathedral.
20:39Financially, it would have been the equivalent of the American moonshot back in the late 60s.
20:44One of the finest Templar churches stands in the heart of London.
20:50Called the London Temple, it displays the Templar seal.
20:54Two men riding a single horse.
20:58Unlike most medieval churches, this one is round.
21:01Such a church was designed to recreate the sanctity of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem,
21:10the destination of every pilgrim, the most sacred place on earth,
21:14and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is round.
21:21This wasn't just a church.
21:22It was a treasury.
21:27The King of England came here to the London Temple and removed £50,000 sterling.
21:35In 1307?
21:37It was like walking into Fort Knox and taking off with the gold.
21:41Huge resources were being managed and administered apparently honestly and effectively by the Templars.
21:52Throughout Europe, the cash-rich Templars begin to lend money to cash-strapped nobles.
22:04The Templars had an edge over other Christian lenders.
22:07They could charge interest.
22:12In Europe in the Middle Ages, very few people were allowed to transact with money because it was
22:17supposedly a sin, simony and usury, to lend money at an interest.
22:22The Templars may have created the idea of the cheque and the line of credit.
22:28Pilgrims travelling to the Holy Land or other places would deposit money in a local Templar treasury.
22:34In return, a receipt showing the amount deposited.
22:40You would finally make it to your destination.
22:42You would then cash in what amounts to a medieval traveller's cheque concept.
22:48This was like an early letter of credit.
22:53Convenient but costly, the Templars charged up to 10% for this service.
23:03The Templars vowed themselves to a life of poverty, but that didn't seem to affect their bottom line.
23:09How did the Templars reconcile their worldly riches with their beliefs?
23:17The individual knights took vows of poverty, so they themselves did not own property.
23:21They themselves were not wealthy, but the order was allowed to hold that money in order to conduct its own businesses.
23:27By the late 1200s, the Knights Templar are one of the richest and most powerful organisations in Europe.
23:35But envy and anger follow them, and a ruthless plot is set in motion.
23:50The Knights Templar is one of the most powerful organisations in Europe.
23:54But there's trouble ahead.
24:00The Crusades made the Knights Templar.
24:04And the Crusades are about to destroy the Knights Templar.
24:13Muslim armies converge on the Holy Land.
24:16After two centuries of warfare, Muslims are newly united under the Egyptian Sultans.
24:30Support for the Crusades dwindles back in Europe.
24:33The Crusades, over a period of time, became more expensive in both life and resources for Europe,
24:47and began to look less and less like the kind of thing that would work in the long run.
25:03Muslims crush the Crusades at the battles of Jaffa, Al-Mansura,
25:13and the siege of Safid.
25:22By 1290, the Templars hold only one castle in the Holy Land.
25:27At the siege of Acre, they lose that one too.
25:33The Holy Land is again occupied by Muslims.
25:39The Templars retreat to the island of Cyprus.
25:44After the fall of Acre in 1291, you have a serious disillusionment with the idea of the Crusades.
25:51As the common populace saw the resources of Europe and the resources of the military
25:56going towards these holy wars that seemed to be futile, the role of the Templar seemed to be less tenable.
26:03The order's fate lies with a new leader, the French nobleman Jacques de Molay.
26:17He lobbies for a new crusade launched from Cyprus, but to no avail.
26:291307, de Molay arrives at the Paris headquarters of the Knights Templar.
26:34He was asked to come to France by Pope Clement V in order to reassess their finances and
26:44in order to discuss their future endeavours.
26:48And it just happened that he showed up in France at a time when Philip IV, Philip the Fair,
26:53was experiencing a great deal of economic hardship.
26:56Philip is known as the Fair for his handsome looks, but he's accumulated huge debts.
27:06His wars with England have put France in hock.
27:09His biggest creditor is none other than the Knights Templar.
27:15Philip decides to wipe out his loans with one stroke.
27:18Yes, my lord.
27:22Arrest the Templars and seize their money.
27:25Bring them to the dungeons on the loom.
27:27The king concocted a group of charges and accused the Templars of, you know,
27:35the most vile forms of heresy known to the medieval mind.
27:39Friday the 13th of October, 1307.
27:45Some believe the modern superstition of Friday the 13th hails from this date.
27:51In just one day, Jacques de Molay and hundreds of French Templars are rounded up.
27:57Jacques de Molay, by the order of the king, you are under arrest.
28:01By what charge?
28:03Heresy.
28:05The arrests shock Europe.
28:08Today, it might be as though we all woke up one morning,
28:11turned on the television and heard that every single executive of every bank or corporation
28:17had been suddenly rounded up at dawn.
28:19I mean, it was that of that magnitude.
28:23The investigation of the accused begins in the usual way.
28:38I'm pretty nasty.
28:40Confess!
28:40Torture isn't the penalty for crime.
28:44It's a tool to extract a confession.
28:47The most common form of torture was the rack.
28:52A rack was simply three triangulated boards with a rope attached to a winch.
28:57And the idea was to dislocate the wrists and the ankles.
29:01In Paris alone, over 100 Templars are tortured, including their elderly grandmaster, Jacques de Molay.
29:11Oh, I confess!
29:14I confess my sin of heresy!
29:17There were 127 accusations levied against the Knights Templar.
29:22They included everything from denying Christ, spitting on the crucifix, defecating on the host,
29:28waving their bottoms at the Eucharist, kissing each other on the bottoms during their initiation rites.
29:35Hundreds of Templars confess, including the grandmaster.
29:47But the confessions go beyond the original charges, moving from the odd to the bizarre.
29:53Night after night confesses to strange religious practices, including the worship of an unusual object.
30:03There are a lot of suggestions that this was, in fact, the skull of John the Baptist.
30:08Others have suggested that the severed head on the silver platter is, in fact, the Holy Grail.
30:14The stories get stranger, as Templars independently tell similar bizarre stories.
30:22Several Templars confess to worshipping the Baphomet, or Baphomet.
30:28The Baphomet is probably one of the most spectacular aspects of the accusations against the Templars.
30:36Some have suggested that this is a stone idol of the devil, which was one of the most sensational
30:41aspects of their trial, trying to link them in some way with demon worship.
30:46Other theories abound.
30:48There are some scholars who suggest that Baphomet is actually a mistranslation of Muhammad,
30:53that the Templars were actually combining a number of different religious traditions in their own practice.
31:03Thousands of Templars served for many years in the Holy Land.
31:07Some may have secretly absorbed religious beliefs from the Muslims,
31:12like reverence for the Prophet Muhammad or Baphomet.
31:16The strange term still mystifies historians.
31:19In the early 1980s, a scholar named Hugh Schoenfield made a startling claim.
31:28Baphomet is a coded message.
31:30Dr. Hugh Schoenfield is a famous Dead Sea scholar,
31:35has worked on this issue about the word Baphomet,
31:40with using the Atbash cipher from biblical studies.
31:44The Atbash cipher was an ancient Hebrew encoding technique in use since at least 500 BCE.
31:53When the Atbash cipher is applied to Baphomet, a new word emerges.
32:00Sophia, Greek for wisdom.
32:03To venerate wisdom isn't heresy, unless the wisdom itself is heretical.
32:14Sophia is the ancient Greek name for a goddess worshipped by an early Christian sect, the Gnostics.
32:21Sophia appears in several Gnostic Gospels as the creator of the world,
32:27a figure greater even than Jesus.
32:32But the Gnostic beliefs are deemed heretical,
32:35and their Gospels are banned by the Church.
32:42Some scholars suggest the Templars discovered these Gospels
32:45and resurrected a lost form of Christianity.
32:48Was Baphomet code for goddess worship?
32:57Here, two theories converge.
33:00Some Gnostic Gospels say the goddess Sophia came to earth in the body of Mary Magdalene.
33:09Under the royal blood theory, Mary Magdalene carried the bloodline of Jesus.
33:14She became the vessel of holy blood, the grail itself.
33:22In their written charter, the Templars dedicate themselves not to Jesus, but to Mary.
33:28The question that has often come up is, who was the Mary?
33:32Was it the Blessed Virgin Mary, meaning the Mother of God?
33:36Or was it, in fact, Saint Mary Magdalene?
33:39If the Templars worshipped Mary Magdalene as equal to Jesus,
33:48it's one of the worst kinds of heresy.
33:52The question still lingers.
33:54The Templar charter is dedicated to Mary,
33:57but doesn't say which one, or whether she was worshipped as a goddess.
34:04Again, there are unanswered questions, yes,
34:07but there isn't yet any documentable evidence that the Knights Templar worshipped Mary Magdalene.
34:14It's just not there.
34:20Under torture, the Templars may have confessed to practicing a heretical goddess religion,
34:26worshipping an idol, or even worshipping a human head.
34:31More likely, the Templars were innocent scapegoats for a king who decided to wipe away his debts.
34:44King Philip demands the heretics face justice.
34:48I have here numerous eyewitness accounts of acts of heresy in name and deed.
34:54Reluctantly, the Pope agrees.
34:59In 1314, the Knights Templar are officially disbanded.
35:08March 18, 1314.
35:12After seven years of imprisonment and torture,
35:15Grand Master Jacques de Molay is executed as an unrepentant heretic.
35:20With his dying breath, it is said de Molay put a curse on the Pope and the King.
35:31In a year, I shall see you both in a tribunal before God.
35:38Within a year, both are dead.
35:41After 200 years, the Templars are no more.
35:47Their castles are taken and their great wealth mysteriously disappears.
35:52The Templar treasure that King Philip Lebel had seen with his own eyes,
35:57by the time his men got there to take possession of it, it had vanished.
36:03Nobody knows what happened to the wealth of the Templars after they were suppressed.
36:07It has been suggested that two great carts of treasure were carted out of Paris right before
36:14the final arrest on Friday the 13th.
36:18And from that point onwards, the Templars vanished from the record.
36:23We know that the Templars survived, or at least that some Templars survived.
36:33They had adequate warning every place but France.
36:39And even in France, we know that some Templars escaped.
36:44One theory claims a few Templars slipped out of Paris with their treasure.
36:49To this day, its whereabouts remain unknown.
36:54But a clue survives.
37:03This is Rosslyn Chapel near Edinburgh, Scotland.
37:09In the thriller The Da Vinci Code, the chapel appears as one of the key clues to the hiding
37:13place of the Holy Grail.
37:18A medieval church and a lost treasure may be linked by one man.
37:24Rosslyn Chapel, this magnificent building, was built in 1446 by William Sinclair.
37:31Sir William Sinclair is an enigmatic figure.
37:34Though he built the chapel almost 150 years after the Templars were officially disbanded,
37:41it has a tremendous amount of Templar symbolism.
37:45Two riders on a single horse is a symbol of the Templars.
37:49It appears in Rosslyn.
37:53As does the Templar seal, the Lamb of God, holding a cross.
38:02Throughout the chapel, mysterious engravings, symbols, signs, faces.
38:11Encoded very cleverly within its artwork are little triggers that say,
38:15look closer, there are hidden messages here.
38:18The predominant floor plan for medieval churches was the shape of the cross.
38:24But Rosslyn's design appears to be modelled after another famous structure.
38:28The chapel's layout and architecture give a clue to its inspiration.
38:38With 14 freestanding pillars, including two majestic pillars in front,
38:45it resembles the ancient Jewish temple described in the Bible.
38:49William Sinclair apparently built his chapel to match the original Jerusalem temple.
38:58The ruins of this ancient structure was the site of the first headquarters of the Knights Templar.
39:04In Herod's temple itself, there were three floors beneath the temple floor.
39:09If this nave of the choir is Herod's temple, then you have to take that little bit of a leap
39:15and say there are three floors beneath here.
39:17There is no evidence for that. There'd be no proof of it, no record of it.
39:21But if you can believe the story so far, then it's not too difficult to go that extra step.
39:26More evidence links the chapel to the Templars.
39:31Some have theorised that there may be sealed chambers or vaults below Rosslyn Chapel.
39:38They may hold one of the world's greatest mysteries, the Templar treasure, the Holy Grail, or perhaps nothing at all.
39:49The secret has been speculated on. Anything from the mummified head of Christ to the Ark of the Covenant,
39:56to possibly scrolls from the Temple of Jerusalem. But no concrete archival evidence yet has emerged
40:04to prove anything like that. And they have yet to be fully excavated.
40:09But exploratory excavation has been ruled out for fear the old chapel would collapse.
40:16The vaults may simply be tombs, or they may be a treasure trove.
40:20The chapel may simply be an eccentric church, or it may be a replica of the Temple of Jerusalem.
40:32Rosslyn remains an unsolved mystery, like so much of the Templars' legacy.
40:37Yet evidence suggests someone knows.
40:44A mysterious international organisation with its own secrets.
40:49Some claim the fabulous treasure of the Knights Templar is just waiting to be dug up.
41:07Skeptics say the fortune doesn't exist.
41:11Others say the treasure is closely guarded by modern Templars.
41:16The Knights Templars have always existed. I think probably you'll find that they never actually
41:21ceased to exist. They just went underground.
41:27Some believe they've flourished for centuries, in a brotherhood as powerful as it is secret.
41:34Clues to its identity lie in plain sight, in Rosslyn Chapel.
41:38In the Lady Chapel behind me, we have carvings which are at the bottom of the niches of the statue holders.
41:47And these have hand positionings which are quite significant.
41:50The hand on the chest, the feet splayed out, hands on knees.
41:55All signs of the Freemasons, one of the largest and oldest fraternal organisations in the world.
42:0214 American presidents have been Freemasons. Many of the founding fathers, including George Washington, were Freemasons.
42:12The Freemasons keep their rituals secret, but over the years, illustrations and descriptions have leaked out.
42:19They show an uncanny resemblance to the Knights Templar.
42:26Nowhere is that connection more clear than on the walls of Rosslyn Chapel.
42:32A figure wearing the distinctive cross of a Templar holds a rope tied around the neck of a blindfolded man.
42:43Nearly identical to the Freemasons initiation ritual.
42:49Other similarities abound.
42:52A Freemason ritual describes the excavation of the ancient Jewish temple, the first headquarters of the Knights Templar.
43:01The Templars and Masons are even linked by blood.
43:06Before he took a vow of celibacy, Templar founder Hugh de Payon had married into the Sinclair family of Scotland.
43:13Three hundred years later, William Sinclair built Rosslyn Chapel.
43:18And in the 18th century, the Sinclairs were listed as the hereditary leaders of Scottish Freemasonry.
43:25Some Freemason organisations use Templar code words and symbols.
43:30One of the highest ranks in the Masonic hierarchy is Knight Templar.
43:34The Freemason youth organisation is called Demolay, the name of the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar.
43:44Perhaps the Freemasons are modern Templars, or maybe it's all just a coincidence.
43:50There's all kinds of people who pattern their spiritual, social and structural activity of their groups on these Templar ideals.
44:01The walls of Rosslyn Chapel suggest the Templars were here 150 years after they supposedly vanished.
44:15The same walls suggest the Freemasons were here 250 years before they were officially founded.
44:23Legend says the cryptic codes of Rosslyn Chapel hold a greater secret.
44:28The key to the Templars' rumoured treasure, the Holy Grail.
44:36Rosslyn, I think, is an enigma. I think Rosslyn was probably designed to be an enigma.
44:42No one has cracked the code of Rosslyn. No one has found hidden treasure.
44:47And no one can prove the Templars were ever here.
44:50700 years after their demise, the Knights Templar remain a mystery, their secrets still hidden, their codes unbroken.
45:08Some say there's nothing to find.
45:10They found no great secret on the Temple Mount.
45:14They bequeathed no great secret to the Masons.
45:18The Templars were monks who were knights, but that was the limit of their mystery.
45:25What we do know is that the Knights Templar were the holiest warriors in Christendom, yet they were punished for heresy.
45:32They were shrewd and innovative businessmen, but their methods created powerful enemies.
45:40They were fabulously wealthy, but their fortune disappeared with them.
45:46They were rumoured to possess an explosive secret,
45:49and there is a cottage industry of conspiracy theorists and best-selling novels
45:54that question if that secret is still guarded today.
46:02The answer is we simply don't know.
46:04No matter what anyone tells you, we simply do not know.
46:09There is always going to be a secret of the Templars, because so little is known about their fate.
46:15And as long as that past remains shrouded in mystery, there will always be secrets to find.
46:21The Knights Templar had a secret that much we know.
46:25But would it still be as earth-shaking today?
46:28We may never know.
46:29700 years after the Templars disappeared, their elusive secret is just as enticing.
46:36And it is that mystery that may allow the legend of the Knights Templar to live forever.
46:50Friends are gone, but if Africa is a foreign learner, they'll call it only a 18th climate pandemic.
46:54There is a secret that McLareслot Novelom.
47:03The Knights promises now that the Saintshana will pursue.
47:05Hope this is the Reich if not for anyone.
47:08Although the Knights of the Knights still is registered,
47:09the means for�pancySee in the country of the Pentalf 바프am.
47:11Remember, even if the Knightsha the Knights have knife завивают the number that is festive,
47:13the Knights be baptized labeled gender revolutionary設備,
47:14the Knights to be given by the Knights of the Knights from side of Peter bijvoorbeeld in subjective power.
47:18And of course, it is a specimen of person building.
47:19And of course, we may stay together on the 1st in the ministry of life.

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