Freemasonry and Knights Templar

The Freemasons have been connected with a knights order called the Knights Templar. These knights were monks who took up arms in 1118 A.D. in order to protect Christian pilgrims traveling from Jaffa (a port city in Israel) to Jerusalem. According to legend, the Knights Templar discovered the greatest treasure in history buried in the ruins of King Solomon’s temple. The Knights became rich—so rich, in fact, that they were the targets of envy and suspicion.

In 1307, King Philip IV of France had all of the Knights Templar arrested so that he could take possession of their great wealth.

Knights went into hiding and continued their work in secret, to reemerge in Europe during the 1700s as the modern Freemasons. The Knights, in their desire to seek vengeance on King Philip IV, had a hand in starting the French Revolution.