Portuguese Rite of the Templar Order
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The Portuguese Rite of the Templar Order is the branch of the Templar Order operating in Portugal. During the Renaissance, it became one of the Order's foremost rites following the defeat of both the Italian and Byzantine Templars and, mirroring the Portuguese Empire's colonial expansion, it was responsible for spreading the Templars' influence to new territories, such as India and Japan.
History[edit | edit source]
Renaissance[edit | edit source]
Expeditions to India[edit | edit source]
In the early 16th century, emboldened by the Portuguese colonization efforts, the Templars started sending "missionaries" as far east as India,[3] paying for the expeditions by diverting money sent by King Manuel I.[4] The Templar sea captain Francisco was placed in charge of the Order's proselytizing in Portugal's colonies. However, he was eliminated by the Assassins in 1511, who boarded his ship in Lisbon and killed him at sea.[5]
That same year, the Templars paid large sums of money to explorers for information of their discoveries. However, the Assassins, although lacking the Templars' wealth, used other means of acquiring the same information.[6]
Prior to the House of Borgia's downfall in Italy, the Templars held influence over King Manuel, who sent a fleet led by Pedro Álvares Cabral to Calicut, India, to eliminate the local Assassin Guild. With the help of the Italian Assassins, the Indian Brotherhood was able to foil Cabral's attempt,[7] leading Manuel to send his prized explorer Vasco da Gama to complete the task.[8][9] However, the Assassins' continued opposition eventually caused the Portuguese to lose their grip over Calicut.[10]
Expansion to Japan[edit | edit source]
By 1552, the Templar and Jesuit missionary Gaspar Vilela had arrived in Japan to influence Portuguese and Christian presence on the island. He was accompanied by João Machado, a priest and commander of the Knights of Aviz, who was ordered by Vilela to retrieve the Precursor box held by fellow missionary and Spanish Templar Francis Xavier. Machado and his men killed Xavier on the Chinese island of Shangchuan, but before their ship could depart the island, it was attacked by either pirates or the Ming military, granting a group of Chinese Assassins the opportunity to steal the box.[11]
Circa 1560,[12] the Inner Sanctum tasked the Portuguese Templar Nuno Caro with traveling to Japan in search of Pieces of Eden. Accompanied by Duarte de Melo, Caro worked to establish a foothold for the Templars in the country and learned about the Imperial Regalia of Japan. Despite the artifacts holding no advanced abilities, Caro believed that their religious and cultural significance would allow the Order to rule over the people of Japan by influencing their beliefs. He thus endeavored to retrieve them and lied to the Inner Sanctum about the regalia's true nature so that they would continue to sponsor his mission.[13]
Caro formed an alliance with the Shinbakufu, a secret organization founded by the deposed shōgun Ashikaga Yoshiaki, promising him the Templars' support to regain his title and power in exchange for the Imperial Regalia.[14] He also influenced Akechi Mitsuhide to betray his lord, Oda Nobunaga, whose ambitions to unify Japan threatened to undermine the Templars' plans, and recruited the daimyō Kimura Kei and Mitsuhide's daughter Hosokawa Tama into the Order.[15][16] By 1582, thanks to Caro's efforts, the Templars had successfully established a fledgling rite in Japan, with Caro at its head.[17]
However, the rite's operations were eventually sabotaged by the Kakushiba ikki members Fujibayashi Naoe and Yasuke, the latter of whom sought revenge against the Templars for murdering his mother when they suspected her of being an Assassin spy.[18] Tracking down Caro and his subordinates, Yasuke eliminated Duarte de Melo,[19] Kimura Kei,[15] and Caro himself,[18] and helped Hosokawa Tama escape from the Order's influence,[20] bringing a temporary end to the Templars' activities in Japan.[18]
Following Caro's death, another Portuguese Templar, Gaspar, was ordered by the Inner Sanctum to secure the area around the Seta River in anticipation of the arrival of the Black Cross, who would continue the Order's work in Japan. To accomplish this, Gaspar and his fellow Templar Ermigo commissioned a band of hired killers to assassinate various influential people, which would allow the Templars to take over their respective communities. They also employed Ermigo's friend Rufino as a translator to help them issue out their contracts and gather information on potential targets, and kept him in the dark about their true agenda.[21]
Once Rufino discovered the truth, he enlisted Naoe and Yasuke's help to eliminate the killers hired by the Templars and save their targets.[22] After the pair were successful,[23] Rufino went to confront Ermigo while the latter met with Gaspar at Kashiwabara Fortress, and tried to convince his friend to abandon the Templars. As Naoe and Yasuke also arrived, all four were surrounded by Gaspar's men, who were ordered to kill Rufino for his betrayal. Ermigo tried to save his friend but was shot, whereupon Naoe and Yasuke eliminated Gaspar and his guards and invited Rufino to join their league.[21]
Seven Years' War[edit | edit source]
Sometime before 1746, the Templar Duarte Jorge Correia Pinto started looking for an Isu site around Lisbon, under John Harrison's specific suggestion. By 1746, his research had been a failure, and he decided to go back to his commercial activities.[24]
During this period, the Templars maintained a presence in the Portuguese Empire's colony of Mozambique, where the Templar Lourenço de Noronha served as governor and collaborated with the British Rite under Reginald Birch to search for Isu sites in Africa.[25] The Portuguese nobleman and Grand Master of the Knights Hospitalier, Manuel Pinto da Fonseca, also joined the Templars and struggled to defend his order's base in Malta against the Ottoman Empire, the Kingdom of France, and the Assassins.[26] He would eventually receive aid from the Colonial Templar Shay Cormac, who sent troops to reinforce the Hospitalier rule in Malta.[27][28]
Members[edit | edit source]
- Renaissance
- Nuno Caro[17] (Japanese Rite)
- Ermigo[17] (Japanese Rite)
- Francisco[29]
- Gaspar[17] (Japanese Rite)
- João Machado[11] (Japanese Rite)
- Duarte de Melo[17] (Japanese Rite)
- Gaspar Vilela[11] (Japanese Rite)
- Seven Years' War
Allies and puppets[edit | edit source]
- Renaissance
- Akechi Mitsuhide[17]
- Ashikaga Yoshiaki[17]
- Baltazar[17]
- Rodrigo Borgia[1] (Roman Rite)
- Cesare Borgia[1] (Roman Rite)
- Pedro Álvares Cabral[1]
- Vasco da Gama[1]
- Hosokawa Tama[17] (Japanese Rite; betrayed)
- Kimura Kei[17] (Japanese Rite)
- Manuel I of Portugal[1]
- Rufino[17] (betrayed)
- Samemaru[17]
- Seven Years' War
- Reginald Birch[2] (British Rite)
- Shay Cormac[2] (Colonial Rite)
- John Harrison[2] (British Rite)
Appearances[edit | edit source]
- Assassin's Creed: Revelations (mentioned only)
- Assassin's Creed: Rogue (mentioned only)
- Assassin's Creed: Shadows (first appearance)
- Story Drops
- Claws of Awaji (mentioned in Database entry only) (indirect mention only)
- Assassin's Creed: Shadows – Tales of Iga
- Assassin's Creed Roleplaying Game (mentioned only)
References[edit | edit source]
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