Persecution of the Templars
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I wanted to ask you something. Which is... what's your name? This article title is conjecture. Although the article subject is canon, no official name for it has been given. |
- "Are you familiar with the Templars? One of several Knightly orders formed during the Crusades. History teaches they were disbanded nearly 200 years ago in France. Only they weren't. Merely pushed underground where they continued their nefarious work."
- ―Mario Auditore speaking about the official end of the Templar Order to his nephew Ezio, 1478.[src]-[m]
The Persecution of the Templars was a purge of the Knights Templar by the combined forces of the Parisian Brotherhood of Assassins and King Philip IV of France.
On 13 October 1307, the French Assassins, through their Mentor in the King's court, Guillaume de Nogaret, manipulated the Crown into declaring the Templar Order as heretical; something made all the easier by the fact that Philip IV was heavily indebted to the Templars at the time.[1] Led by the future Mentor Thomas de Carneillon, the French Assassins disguised themselves as Flemish mercenaries and assaulted the Temple - headquarters to the Knights Templar - in Paris, either killing or arresting all who were present.[2]
Jacques de Molay, the Templar Grand Master and a Sage, was apprehended by the Assassins, though not before ordering his advisor to hide the Codex Pater Intellectus and a Sword of Eden.[2]
The purge finally drew to a close on 18 March 1314, when Jacques de Molay and Geoffroi de Charney were burned at the stake, charged with heresy and worship of the idol Baphomet.[2][3]
Legacy
Recognized as a possibility even before its execution, the purge destroyed the public image of the Order of the Knights Templar, and drove the Order to adopt the same tactics as its bitter rivals, the Assassins, by moving underground. Operating in secret, the Templars survived and gradually rebuilt their Order, which spread across Europe.[4]
In April 1478, the Italian Assassin Mario Auditore recounted the tale of the Knights Templar and their downfall to his nephew Ezio, who did not fully understand their enemy.[5]
By 1776, the Parisian Rite of the Templar Order had grown such that it once again challenged the strength of the Assassins in France.[4]
In 1789, the Parisian Rite, led by François-Thomas Germain, another Sage who shared memories with Jacques de Molay, instigated the French Revolution in order to avenge themselves against the French crown.[4] This vengeance was obtained when, in 1793, King Louis XVI of France was guillotined in the public gardens outside the Louvre.[6]
Appearances
- Assassin's Creed II (indirectly mentioned only)
- Assassin's Creed: Unity (first appearance)
References
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Unity – Database: Journal of Thomas de Carneillon, October 12, 1307
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Assassin's Creed: Unity – The Tragedy of Jacques de Molay
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Unity – Database: Persecution of the Templars under Philip the Fair
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Assassin's Creed: Unity
- ↑ Assassin's Creed II – Practice Makes Perfect
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Unity – The Execution
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