Spanish Rite of the Templar Order
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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. |
The Spanish Rite of the Templar Order is the branch of the Templar Order operating in Spain. The Rite grew to prominence during the Renaissance when it spearheaded the Spanish Inquisition under Grand Inquisitor Tomás de Torquemada, through the machinations of Rodrigo Borgia, Grand Master of the Italian Templars.
Under the auspices of these two leaders, the Templars enacted a purge of the Assassins in the region while goading the Christian kingdoms of Castile and Aragon to conquer the Emirate of Granada. At the same time, they attempted to sabotage the expedition of Genoese explorer Christoffa Corombo through any means necessary so that they may be the first Europeans to reach the Americas. A third scheme involved the Grand Inquisitor's plans to seize the Apple of Eden in the possession of Muhammad XII of Granada. Their plots unraveled in particular due to the Italian Assassin Ezio Auditore's intervention and the successes of the Spanish Assassin Aguilar de Nerha, though Granada would fall to the Spanish forces.
Following the Spanish Empire's expansion to the New World, the Spanish Rite sent agents to the Inca Empire and the West Indies, including Laureano de Torres y Ayala, to lay the seeds for new rites of the Templar Order in the Americas. In modern times, the Templars remain active in Spain through their front company, Abstergo Industries, and its subsidiaries, such as the Abstergo Foundation.
History[edit | edit source]
Renaissance[edit | edit source]
Controlling the Inquisition[edit | edit source]
In the late 15th century, the Templars integrated themselves into the leadership of the Spanish Inquisition, using it to root out those who opposed the Templar agenda and manipulating faith for their own gain. To accomplish this, Grand Inquisitor and Master Templar Tomás de Torquemada favored the auto-da-fé, public executions during which "heretics" were burned at the stake. At some point, the Templars captured and executed Aguilar de Nerha's Assassin parents, prompting the Spaniard to join the Brotherhood.[1]
In 1489, after the Heredia noble family refused to support the Inquisition, the Templars branded them as heretics and executed them.[3] The sole surviving member of the family, Horacio de Heredia, subsequently sought vengeance on his family's murderers and allied with the Spanish Assassins to eliminate Commandant Duran and Executioner Pedrosa.[4]
In 1491, Torquemada received a list of names of supposed heretics from cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, Grand Master of the Italian Templars. In reality, the list consisted of the names of Spanish Assassins whom Rodrigo wished to see executed. Nevertheless, Torquemada followed Rodrigo's orders and had his Inquisitors capture the Assassins, secretly hoping to earn Rodrigo's favor due to his candidacy for the Papacy.[5]
After the Spanish Assassin Luis de Santángel requested his aid,[6] the Italian Assassin Ezio Auditore traveled to Spain to save his brethren and killed the Inquisitors Gaspar Martínez and Pedro Llorente, both of whom had been kept in the dark regarding the Assassins and Templars' existence.[7][8]
Search for the Staff of Eden[edit | edit source]
- "Pestilential Assassins! You have gained in strength since we last met. You may have kept me from the second piece of the Staff of Eden, but it is useless to you without the first! We will regroup and take this piece from you when you least expect it."
- ―Ojeda taunting the Spanish Assassins following his defeat, c. 1490.[src]-[m]
In 1489, Torquemada began a search for the pieces of the Shattered Staff of Eden, tasking his right-hand man Ojeda and the Inquisitor Gustavo Ramírez to find the three Staff sections scattered across Spain. Ramírez found the first section at St. Rafael Abbey but was targeted by a team of Spanish Assassins led by Aguilar de Nerha, who had uncovered the Templars' plans.[9] Fortunately, Ojeda was able to warn Ramírez in time and he lured the Assassins into a trap at his stronghold in Murcia before escaping.[10]
Later, Ramírez ordered the executions of innocent civilians in Zaragoza, which the Assassins prevented,[11] and retreated to Sádaba Castle until he could safely transport the Staff section to Torquemada.[12] The Assassins again tracked him down, but Ramírez's bodyguard, Captain Ordóñez, fought them to allow his master to escape.[13]
By this time, the Templars had located the second piece of the Staff, which a group of Dominican monks loyal to Ramírez were holding for him at the Monastery of St. Lucia. Ojeda was sent to retrieve the artifact, but the Assassins intercepted and defeated him, forcing the Templar to escape empty-handed.[14]
Prolonging the Granada War[edit | edit source]
- Luis: "Interesting... first they seek Christoffa's map, then they come to España to exacerbate a war that does not concern them."
- Raphael: "We have suspected for some time that the Templars were planning their own expedition west. This may be their way of delaying Christoffa's journey."
- —Luis de Santángel and Raphael Sánchez discussing the Templars' plans, 1491.[src]-[m]
Aside from their involvement with the Inquisition, the Templars also discovered the existence of an entire landmass across the Atlantic Ocean unknown to Europeans at the time. Hoping to claim the continent for themselves, they aspired to prolong the Granada War indefinitely as a means of exhausting the treasury of Castile and depriving the explorer Christoffa Corombo of his much-needed funds for his own voyage across the Atlantic.[15] In order to accomplish this, the Templars placed a spy within Emir Muhammad XII's circle of advisors, who provided the emir with false counsel that downplayed the peril he was in.[16]
In late November 1491, just before the night of the last assault on Granada, the Templar spy present in Muhammad's circle of advisors was assassinated by Ezio Auditore.[16] In the wake of this development, the Templars seized Muhammad outright in his throne room at the Alhambra palace, without even his guards being aware of it. As a hostage, Muhammad could do nothing but listen as his Templar captor gloated over his schemes, all while the battle of Granada raged on outside.[17]
However, it was at that moment that Ezio, under the guidance of the Assassin Raphael Sánchez, infiltrated the palace through the catacombs, entered the throne room and killed the Templar from behind, freeing Muhammad. He wasted no time in convincing the Emir to surrender to Spain, effectively ending the war and thwarting the Templars' plans.[17]
In a last-ditch attempt to prevent Corombo's voyage, the Templars attempted to kill the explorer during his journey to France to accept a sponsorship from King Charles VIII. However, Ezio protected him and the Assassins convinced Queen Isabella I of Castile to sponsor Corombo' voyage, ultimately leading to the discovery of the "New World".[18]
Quest for the Apple[edit | edit source]
- "Thanks to the Apple of Eden, the known world will be ushered into a new age. One of peace, in which all the warring populations of mankind shall bow in perfect obedience to our one Templar rule."
- ―Torquemada upon acquiring the Apple, 1492.[src]
During this time, the Templars discovered that Muhammad was in possession of an Apple of Eden given to him by the Assassins. Prior to the Granada War's end, the Templars took advantage of the ongoing siege of Granada to try and infiltrate the city and steal the Apple. They successfully captured Fort Baza, one of Granada's last lines of defense,[19] but their actual attempts to breach the city were thwarted by the Assassins.[20][21]
Eventually, Torquemada devised another plan to acquire the Apple and decided to kidnap Muhammad's son, Prince Ahmed, and exchange him for the artifact. The Templars Ojeda and Ramirez led a company to a remote Andalusian village, having received intelligence that the prince was being sheltered there. The information turned out to be correct, as they found the prince hidden in one of the residences. However, the Templars were then ambushed by a team of Assassins led by their Mentor, Benedicto.[2]
Despite the unexpected resistance and the loss of Ramirez and several soldiers, the Templars were ultimately victorious and captured Ahmed, as well as the Assassins Benedicto, Aguilar de Nerha, and María. Subsequently, on 2 January 1492, the captured Assassins were taken to Seville to be publicly executed in an auto-da-fé, presided over by Torquemada. Although Benedicto was burnt at the stake, Aguilar and María escaped and, after a long pursuit across the city's rooftops, fled Seville.[2]
After the fall of Granada, the Templars marched into the city and took over the Alhambra, confronting Muhammad. With his Assassin protectors dead and his son in the hands of the Templars, the defeated Emir led them to the room where the artifact was hidden and relinquished the Piece of Eden to Torquemada, who in turn released the young prince. As Torquemada held up the Apple in victory, Aguilar and María commenced their attack and dispatched the Grand Inquisitor's guards.[2]
During the chaos, Aguilar seized the Apple from Torquemada, and Ojeda took María hostage, prompting her to commit suicide, to prevent Aguilar from renouncing the Apple to save her. Enraged, Aguilar killed Ojeda, then fled with the Apple as Templar reinforcements arrived. Although Torquemada and his guards pursued him, they ultimately failed to prevent the Assassin's escape.[2]
Later that day, on the night of Muhammad's abdication ceremony, the Templars struck again, targeting not him this time, but Queen Isabella I. However, the Templar assassins were intercepted and killed outside the ceremony by Ezio Auditore and his friend, the former French Assassin Helene Dufranc.[22]
Torquemada's downfall[edit | edit source]
In the aftermath of the fall of Granada, Torquemada acted swiftly in dispatching an Inquisitor, Juan de Marillo, to round up all heretics in the city. This operation failed when Ezio rescued many of these condemned citizens before proceeding to assassinate Juan in the city's sewers without anyone noticing.[23]
Shortly after Corombo set sail on his first voyage, the Inquisitors, under the manipulation of the Templars, sent soldiers to kill the Assassins Luis de Santángel and Raphael Sánchez in retaliation for foiling their plans to stall the expedition. Ezio protected both men,[24][25] before infiltrating Torquemada's estate in an attempt to assassinate him. However, the Grand Inquisitor managed to escape, though not before denying any knowledge of the Assassins and Templars. This led Ezio to conclude that Torquemada was just a puppet of Rodrigo Borgia and abandon any plans to eliminate him.[26]
During this time, Gustavo Ramírez continued his search for the third and final piece of the Shattered Staff of Eden, secretly aided by the Assassin turncoat Diego de Alvarado.[27] Ramírez and his forces captured and tortured a sect of monks from the Asturias mountains, learning that they had entrusted the Staff section to the nobleman Pedro Madruga.[28] Diego subsequently retrieved the artifact from Sobroso Castle, Pedro's former residence,[29] but while meeting with Ramírez, he decided to double-cross and kill the Templar so he could personally deliver the Staff to Torquemada and be rewarded accordingly.[30]
After also stealing the Staff section in the Assassins' possession,[31] Diego delivered the complete Staff to Torquemada, shortly before he was tracked down and killed by the Brotherhood for his betrayal.[32] With all pieces of the Staff in-hand, Torquemada traveled to "the Forge", an Isu vault underneath the Real Monasterio de Santo Tomás, where he sought to use the ancient technology inside to repair the Staff and then use its power to subjugate Spain.[33]
On 16 September 1498, the Assassins launched an assault on the heavily-guarded monastery with the help of their mercenary allies, and confronted Torquemada inside the Forge. Although the Grand Inquisitor used the Staff to summon an army of holographic soldiers, he was ultimately killed and the Staff destroyed. With Torquemada's demise, Templar control over the Spanish Inquisition came to an end, although the Inquisition itself would continue for another three centuries.[33]
Routing from Spain[edit | edit source]
In 1499, the Templar Garza and the Assassin turncoat Ubayd Alayza captured Assassin sympathizers in Granada. The Spanish Assassins intervened and worked with Ubayd's sister Najma, a Libyan Assassin who wanted to kill her brother for betraying the Brotherhood and their family.[34] As Ubayd rebelled against the Templars after seeing that they did not care about the population of Granada, Garza killed him.[35] Later, Najma assassinated Garza and joined the Spanish Brotherhood.[36]
By the turn of the 15th century, the Templars had infiltrated Queen Isabella I's inner circle and began influencing her. The Assassin Luis de Santángel discovered their plans and attempted to poison the queen, but died before he could succeed. In 1504, a group of Assassins from Rome sent by Ezio Auditore finished Luis' mission and successfully poisoned the queen.[37][38]
In 1511, the Templars commandeered the forges of Toledo's famous blacksmiths, causing them to flee to Madrid. However, the Assassins reclaimed their properties from the Templars, returning them to their rightful owners.[39] Later that year, the Assassins discovered and foiled the Templars' plot to murder King Ferdinad and divide the kingdoms of Aragon and Castile.[40] After the Assassins eliminated the Order's leaders in Madrid, the Templars were finally expelled from the city.[41]
Age of Discovery[edit | edit source]
In 1521, the Spanish Templars influenced the explorer Juan Ponce de León to journey to Florida in search of the Fountain of Youth, a rumored Piece of Eden. However, the Assassins in Florida stopped Ponce de León by sending their agent Miguel Ramón Carlo de Lugo to convince him to abandon his quest and turn back. When de León refused, the Assassin struck him with a poisoned arrow that soon afterwards resulted in his demise, thereby ending his quest.[42]
The Templars also influenced Francisco Pizarro, who led the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire. After discovering his affiliation with the Order, the Assassins killed Pizarro in 1541 to end his tyrannical rule over Peru.[43]
In 1540, the Spanish Templar and priest Francis Xavier co-founded the Society of Jesus.[44] Recognizing the Templars' need to expand their influence beyond Europe after their numerous defeats at the Assassins' hands, Xavier and his fellow missionaries journeyed to Japan to spread Christianity; secretly, however, Xavier also used the Jesuit mission as cover to scour Japan for potential Templar recruits,[45] such as the Shimazu clan.[46] In 1552, Xavier was killed on Shangchuan Island in China by fellow Templar João Machado, who sought the Precursor box in his possession,[47] but his mission to spread the Templar ideology to Japan would be continued by the Order, primarily by the Portuguese Rite.[48]
Age of Enlightenment[edit | edit source]
In the mid-to-late 17th century, Laureano de Torres y Ayala was recruited into the Templar Order while serving in the Spanish Army.[49] Tasked by the Templar council to locate the Observatory, an Isu surveillance facility hidden in the West Indies, Torres traveled to the Caribbean and established the West Indies Rite,[50] leading it as its Grand Master until 1722 while searching for the Observatory.[51] The West Indies Rite also comprised several other Spanish Templars, such as Renardo Aguilar.[52]
At some point before 1747, the Spanish Templar Juan Vedomir was given a journal to decipher by Reginald Birch, Grand Master of the British Rite. However, Vedomir eventually betrayed the Order by collaborating with the Assassins, leading Birch to send Haytham Kenway to kill the traitor in Altea and recover the journal.[53]
In 1750, the Spanish Templar Rafael Joaquín de Ferrer, whose family owed a debt to Reginald Birch, was sent to Cuba in search of a Precursor box.[54] After stealing a set of maps of the Yucatán Peninsula from the Assassin Rhona Dinsmore, de Ferrer discovered the ruins of the Maya city of Chichen Itza, which he believed to house Pieces of Eden.[55] The Louisiana Templars would subsequently set up an excavation site in the area, overseen by de Ferrer.[56]
In 1751, the Templar Alonso Fernández de Heredia was appointed Governor of Florida, a post he held until 1758. During his tenure, Heredia established a naval industry in Florida and used military action against the British Empire in Georgia to cover the Templar activities in the Gulf of Mexico. He also supplied the Templar excavation site in Chichen Itza with slave workers and, after being appointed Governor of Yucatán in 1758, helped to conceal the site's existence.[57]
Prior to his coup d'etat of the Parisian Rite in 1789, François-Thomas Germain likely contacted the Spanish Rite to gain their support for his plot by convincing them that the overthrowing of Grand Master François de la Serre was necessary. In 1794, Frederick Weatherall contacted the Spanish Rite and sent appeals asking them to support the overthrown de la Serre family against Germain and his extremists. Though they lent their sympathies, they offered no support, as the Parisian Rite ran smoothly, making Élise de la Serre's request for support of marginal interest.[58]
Spanish Civil War[edit | edit source]
The Templars maintained a presence in the country during the Spanish Civil War, supporting the Nationalists against the Assassin-backed Republicans,[59] and eventually helping them win the war in 1939.[60]
Modern times[edit | edit source]
By 2016, the Abstergo Foundation Rehabilitation Center, a subsidiary of Abstergo Industries, was located in Madrid. Like its parent company, it operated as a front for the modern-day Templar Order. Ostensibly, the Foundation's goal was to find a genetic "cure to violence" by locating an Apple of Eden. Headed by Dr. Sofia Rikkin, the Foundation held a number of imprisoned subjects, many of whom were either descended from or active members of the Assassin Brotherhood, who were forced into the Animus in order to explore their ancestors' genetic memories.[2]
On 22 October 2016, Callum Lynch, a descendant of the 15th-century Spanish Assassin Aguilar de Nerha, was brought to the facility by Sofia Rikkin and placed into their Animus. After several sessions in the Animus, the Templars succeeded in locating Aguilar's Apple, but were forced to flee the facility when its inmates organized a revolt and overcame the guards.[2]
Members[edit | edit source]
- Renaissance
- Ubayd Alayza
- Bordingas
- Duran
- Garza
- Lord Captain
- Ojeda
- Pedrosa
- Ramirez
- Gustavo Ramírez
- Tomás de Torquemada (leader; until 1498)
- Unidentified agent
- Age of Discovery
- Age of Enlightenment
- Alejandro Estrada de Ortega
- Renardo Aguilar (West Indies Rite)
- Rafael Joaquín de Ferrer (Louisiana Rite)
- Alonso Fernández de Heredia
- Laureano de Torres y Ayala (West Indies Rite)
- Juan Vedomir (betrayed)
Allies and puppets[edit | edit source]
- Renaissance
- Age of Discovery
- Age of Enlightenment
- Modern times
Appearances[edit | edit source]
- Assassin's Creed II – Glyphs
- Assassin's Creed II: Discovery (first appearance)
- Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy – Contracts
- Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood – Contracts
- Assassin's Creed: Revelations – Mediterranean Defense
- Assassin's Creed: Recollection
- Assassin's Creed: Forsaken
- Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
- Assassin's Creed: Black Flag
- Assassin's Creed: Rogue (mentioned only)
- Assassin's Creed: Unity novel (mentioned only)
- Assassin's Creed film
- Assassin's Creed: The Official Movie Novelization
- Assassin's Creed: Rebellion
References[edit | edit source]
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