The Templars
But the Templars eventually got too big for their boots. The Knights Templar order was very powerful in England, with the Master of the Temple sitting in parliament as primus baro (the first baron in precedence of the realm). The compound was regularly used as a residence by kings and by legates of the Pope. The Templars introduced a system of international banking to fund their enterprises and their wealth earned them the enmity of perennially cash-strapped European monarchies, Serving as an early safety-deposit bank, the Temple sometimes defied the Crown's attempts to seize the funds of nobles who had entrusted their wealth there. The quasi-supra-national independent network and great wealth of the Order throughout Europe, and the jealousy this caused in secular kingdoms, is considered by most commentators to have been the primary cause of its eventual downfall.
It probably didn’t help matters that among other purposes, the Templars used the church for their initiation ceremonies. In England the ceremony involved new recruits entering the Temple via the western door at dawn. The initiates entered the circular nave and then took monastic vows of piety, chastity, poverty and obedience. The details of initiation ceremonies were always a closely guarded secret, and gossip and rumours spread about possible blasphemous usages. These rumours were manipulated and exploited by the Order's enemies, such as King Philip IV of France, to fabricate a pretext for the order's suppression in 1307. Templar property in England was confiscated a year later by Edward II.
The Templars
But the Templars eventually got too big for their boots. The Knights Templar order was very powerful in England, with the Master of the Temple sitting in parliament as primus baro (the first baron in precedence of the realm). The compound was regularly used as a residence by kings and by legates of the Pope. The Templars introduced a system of international banking to fund their enterprises and their wealth earned them the enmity of perennially cash-strapped European monarchies, Serving as an early safety-deposit bank, the Temple sometimes defied the Crown's attempts to seize the funds of nobles who had entrusted their wealth there. The quasi-supra-national independent network and great wealth of the Order throughout Europe, and the jealousy this caused in secular kingdoms, is considered by most commentators to have been the primary cause of its eventual downfall.
It probably didn’t help matters that among other purposes, the Templars used the church for their initiation ceremonies. In England the ceremony involved new recruits entering the Temple via the western door at dawn. The initiates entered the circular nave and then took monastic vows of piety, chastity, poverty and obedience. The details of initiation ceremonies were always a closely guarded secret, and gossip and rumours spread about possible blasphemous usages. These rumours were manipulated and exploited by the Order's enemies, such as King Philip IV of France, to fabricate a pretext for the order's suppression in 1307. Templar property in England was confiscated a year later by Edward II.