Knights Templar
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The Knights Templar were a powerful Christian military order founded in 1118 that played a significant role during the medieval period, particularly in the Crusades, until their dissolution in 1312. They mattered because they were among the most influential and wealthy military organizations of their time, combining religious devotion with military prowess in ways that shaped medieval warfare and politics.
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The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, mainly known as the Knights Templar, was a military order of the Catholic faith, and one of the most important military orders in Western Christianity. They were founded in 1118 to defend pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem, with their headquarters located there on the Temple Mount, and existed for nearly two centuries during the Middle Ages.
Officially endorsed by the Catholic Church by such decrees as the papal bull Omne datum optimum of Innocent II, the Templars became a favoured charity throughout Christendom and grew rapidly in membership and power. The Templar knights, in their distinctive white mantles with a red cross, were among the most skilled fighting units of the Crusades. They were prominent in Christian finance; non-combatant members of the order, who made up as much as 90% of their members, managed a large economic infrastructure throughout Christendom. They developed innovative financial techniques that were an early form of banking, building a network of nearly 1,000 commanderies and fortifications across Europe and the Holy Land.