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Knights Templar
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Founder
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Cain
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Leader title
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Grand Master
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Date Formed
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Pre-history
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Notable Members
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Cain
Julius Caesar Yang Guozhong An Lushan Alfred the Great Robert de Sable Rodrigo Borgia Cesare Borgia Ahmet Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba Laureano de Torres y Ayala Haytham Kenway Shay Cormac François-Thomas Germain Crawford Starrick Tsar Alexander III Adolf Hitler Hideki Tojo Hillary Clinton Xi Jinping Min Aung Hlaing |
"May the Father of Understanding guide us."
―Templar motto.
The Templars, also known as the Knights Templar, were a monastic military order-turned-corporate giant formed during the prehistoric era. The Templars sought to create a perfect world, although the means by which they sought to do so - through force and control - were questionable. Because of this, they were the sworn enemies of the Assassin Order, who believed that mankind should always have the ability to choose; to have free will, even if it means a flawed humanity. With these conflicting ideologies, the two groups have fought over the course of thousands of years for the control and fate of humanity.
History[]
Prehistory[]
The Templar Order was likely founded by Cain, whose 'mark' was used as the Templars' crest. The Templars quickly became the archenemies of the Assassins, who, as opposed to the Templars, fought to allow the people to retain free will.
Roman Era[]
During the Roman era, the Templars went under the alias "Senatus Populusque Romanus", ruling the Roman Empire. However, their rule was continually thwarted by the Assassin Order. A notable example of this was the plot against Gaius Julius Caesar, who was appointed as a dictator for life. Forty Assassins, most notably Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus, had infiltrated Caesar's inner circle as senators. They actually planned to assassinate Caesar, a plan which they successfully executed on 15 March 44 BC. Additionally, on 24 January 41, the Assassin Leonius stabbed Caligula with a dagger.
During the 1st century, the Templars found out that one of the Pieces of Eden, the Shroud, was in the hands of Jesus Christ. Wanting the Piece for their own purposes, the Templars crucified Jesus in order to gain it.
Middle Ages[]
Formation as a Knightly Order[]
During the Middle Ages, the Templars removed themselves from the underground and founded themselves as a Knightly Order, the Knights Templar.
In the 1129 Council of Troyes, the Order was officially recognized by the church, and in 1139, Pope Innocent II granted them diplomatic immunity in all provinces and territories and exemption from taxes. This allowed the faction to grow in numbers, strength and wealth quickly, and as they became a larger force, their responsibilities increased accordingly: the Order's many members were prominent figures in the second crusade.
Third Crusade[]
This section of the article deals specifically with the Knights Templar faction's activities during the Third Crusade. If you were looking for information on the specific enemy type in Assassin's Creed, see their article under Crusaders.
In 1191, after the theft of the Apple of Eden by the Assassins Malik A-Sayf and Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad from the Templars, the Brotherhood entered into a brief period of sustained conflict with their Assassin enemies. Over the course of that year, ten Templar leaders from both Crusader and Saracen backgrounds fell to the blades of the notorious Assassin, Altaïr, who was serving penance for breaking the three tenets during the theft. The deaths included not only the Grand Master Robert de Sable, but also Al Mualim, leader of the Assassins in Syria and the only Templar not willing to share the power of the Apple with his nine brothers.
With their leadership effectively wiped out by a single Assassin, the Brotherhood retreated to the island of Cyprus under the command of a new Grand Master, Armand Bouchart. Pursued by Altaïr, the Templars were wiped out once again, although the treasures of the Templar Archive in Limassol were spirited away before they could be found.[6] The death of Armand forced the Order to consider its position carefully, and by 1312 the Order had publicly disbanded. In reality, the Order continued to thrive, adopting a much more secretive position in world affairs. As the Templars withdrew into near anonymity in the eyes of the world, the Order of the Assassins also retreated into the shadows, as said in Altaïr's fabled Codex.
Renaissance[]
By the late 15th Century, the Brotherhood had regained a position of strength on the world stage, spreading deep into the Church and nobility of Italy. Under the command of Rodrigo Borgia, the Templars sought to unify northern Italy under their command, and regain the Apple of Eden which they knew to be buried in Cyprus. Targeting Lorenzo de' Medici, the de facto ruler of Florence, the Templars found themselves confronted by the Assassin Giovanni Auditore, who whilst not knowing of their Templar allegiances, was rapidly piecing together the clues. Following two near fatal encounters with Giovanni himself, Borgia arranged for the trial and execution of Giovanni and his three sons – Federico, Petruccio and Ezio – for the crimes of high treason against the city of Florence, having corrupted the city official Uberto Alberti. The city guards arrested Giovanni and two of his sons, narrowly missing their chance to capture the third, Ezio, who had been delivering and collecting letters for his father.[1]
Realizing too late the treachery of Uberto Alberti, whom his father had considered a friend,[7] Ezio appeared at the execution of his family, watching in horror as his father and brothers were hanged; he narrowly escaped the same fate himself. Unconcerned with the remaining Auditore, the Templars continued in their mission to assume control of the cities of northern Italy. In 1478, the Templar affiliated Pazzi family made their push for control. In what would become known as the Pazzi Conspiracy, the family struck against the Medici during High Mass at Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, killing Giuliano de' Medici and critically wounding Lorenzo, who was saved only by the timely intervention of Ezio Auditore, the son who had evaded Templar capture. Lorenzo's survival and the arrival of Ezio spelled doom for the Pazzi family, who were left to their fate by Rodrigo Borgia. Vieri, Francesco and Jacopo de' Pazzi were all slain by the lone assassin whilst the Templars acknowledged their defeat in Florence, instead turning their attention to the city of Venice.
Ideas and Goals[]
The existence of the Templars became known to the public in 1129, when its military order was founded to counter the greatly increasing threat against the Holy Land by the Saracens, and to protect the city of Jerusalem. Over time, the Templars began to believe it within their power to unite the world in peace.
Their system of belief changed greatly upon the discovery of the Pieces of Eden; they began to speculate that God was a myth and this led the Order to become atheistic, although they publicly maintained the pretense of following the Christian ways so as to not lose the support of the Church.
Realizing the power that the Pieces of Eden held over man, the Templars began to seek out the artifacts. In 1191, Robert de Sable, then the Grand Master of the Order, personally sought the fabled Apple of Eden, buried in the catacombs beneath Solomon's Temple.The theft of the piece of Eden by the Order of Assassins brought the two great powers into a sustained conflict with one another, ending with the death of Armand Bouchart in Limassol. Despite this setback, the Order maintained its belief in creating a world of peace through manipulation of the Pieces of Eden.
By their reasoning, with no afterlife or ultimate punishment or reward after death, there was no reason to oblige notions of morality or ethics: the end always justified the means, no matter how heinous those means were. They thought that only this life was important, rather than preparing for a thought-to-be nonexistent next life. With so many lower class people kept in line by the promise of an afterlife, and so many upper class men blissfully ignoring such ideals, the Templars vowed to make a better world; one of lasting peace, no matter what the cost.
As time progressed, the Templars interest in the Pieces of Eden became more about seeking the power and domination that the artifacts offered. Their goals changed as they sought to control and unify the entire world using the Pieces of Eden to create a "New World Order"