Dear U238;
I've taken the opportunity to review the paper which you've so thoughtfully provided a link to, and for this I thank you, however there are several points that I would take issue with. First, there exists no historical documentation which states that 54 Templars were burned at the stake in France. The historically recorded number is 14 Templars, all Knights, all found to be guilty as charged. Please note that Mr. Kinsella does not provide a footnote reference to his statement that 54 Knights Templars were burned alive, because to the best of my knowledge no such document exists.
Next, the statement by Mr. Kinsella that:
A series of
papal bulls allowed the knights to keep the spoils of their conquests, creating a reserve of capital
While this statement is factual, it is also VERY misleading. The Vatican permitted ALL of the Crusading knights to retain ALL of the spoils of conquest, not just the Templars, as Mr. Kinsella's statement implies. It therefore stands to reason that many other Catholic military Orders had also amassed wealth as a result of the Crusades, most notably the Hospitallers and the Teutonic faction.
Next, Mr. Kinsella convienently omits the fact that what the Templars were doing was in fact a sin. A Christian cannot loan another Christian money and expect to recieve more than the actual loan amount and if offered more than the actual loan amount, they are to refuse it. This was, and still is, a sin, as far as I am aware. Therefore, Mr. Kinsella's statement that:
The destruction of the Templars allowed the rise of the Italian banking families,
many of whom went on to sponsor the Renaissance
The Italian banking families which Mr. Kinsella is referring to were the traditional Jewish money lenders, and they had been living and working in Italy for several centuries. In fact, these money lending families were in place for a couple of centuries before the Crusades had begun, therefore Mr. Kinsella's preceeding statement is very misleading in context. In fact, King Phillip the Fair had expelled ALL of the traditional Jewish money lenders from France BEFORE he persecuted the Templars and of course, these Jewish money lenders went to Italy to live with their relatives.
Also, the Renaissance was not *sponsored* by anyone. The Renaissance was not driven by a financial motive, rather it came about due a very sudden population increase throughout Western Europe. The population had expanded to the point where Europe was no longer able to feed itself and as a result, the entire European population was slowly starving itself to death. The Renaissance was not anything of a physical nature, rather it was shift in the way Europeans thought. Over a period of about two centuries, Europeans slowly changed their veiws of art, science, politics, engineering and technology.
Many amateur scholars incorrectly assume that the Age of Discovery was brought about the Renaissance, whereas the opposite viewpoint is the correct one. The Renaissance was first brought on by the Age of Discovery. The birth place of the Renaissance can agruably placed in Florence, Italy during the mid 1400s. It started with a group of Roman Catholic scholars, the largest portion being Jesuits, who started questioning the traditional views towards science, most notably the field of astronomy and mathmatics.
To conclude, while Mr. Kinsella's paper is entertaining to read, he offers precious little insight as to the workings of the Templar banking system. The Templars did not invent the modern banking, as this system had already been firmly in place for two centuries before the inception of the Templar Order, rather the Templars took an existing system, and with their far-flung physical holdings, were able to consolidate already established banking procedures into a rather effective international banking organization.
The traditional Jewish money lending society, who had previously only worked on local levels, soon saw the advantage of a far reaching banking system which the Templars had initiated,and with the sudden demise of the Templar Order, they quickly stepped in to fill the gap left by the Templar disbandment.In other words, international banking EVOLVED, due to Europe's NEED for such an entity. Had the Templars maintained a strong military presence, through funding and training, they may have had the strength and power to denounce Philip as a heretic and could have called for a Crusade against France, however the Templar Order had degenerated from being a military Order into a secular financial organization, without the needed manpower to effectively field a sizable army in order to protect it's assests.
Your friend;
LAMAR
It would seem to me that if the Templars were as powerful as many assume they were, then they would have had absolutely NO trouble invading France en masse and holding the French nobility hostage at sword point until their captive members were released from prison, my friend.
