Much legend and supposition
surrounds the history of the Knights Templar, and even certain documents
recently discovered in the Vatican archives about the end of the Order of
the Temple in 1307 shed little new light on the established facts. The Templars'
Sicilian presence came to an end long before the order disappeared across
the rest of Europe.
The order was founded in Palestine around 1107 by Hugh de Payens, a French
crusading knight, to protect pilgrims in the Holy Land. A great number of
these pilgrims had begun to arrive following the First Crusade a few years
earlier in 1099. King Baldwin II of Jerusalem gave them some land on the
Temple Mount, from which they took their name.
Initially the knights took vows of poverty. Like the Hospitallers,
they often participated in battles against the Muslims, most famously against
Saladin at Montgisard in 1177. Not only did the Templars establish a number
of castles and commanderies in the Middle East, they soon had a number of
such communities across Europe - from which they recruited esquires - and
in Sicily. The wealth of the Templars, like that of the Hospitallers (Order
of Saint John), rivalled that of many sovereigns, a fact that generated
a certain degree of envy. This was not the case of the Kingdom of Sicily,
then Europe's richest realm, which included most of Italy south of Rome
and (at times) territories in Tunisia and the Balkans.
As an aid to pilgrims and other travellers, the Templar network of preceptories
and commanderies facilitated the novel means of letters of credit to transfer
money. Essentially, a sealed document (a "cheque") issued by one
commandery could be exchanged for actual funds (gold and silver coins) by
another. Checking, as it came to be known and used in modern times, was
developed by the Templars, though paper currency was already in use in China.
Such instruments obviated the need for wealthier travellers to carry large
amounts of coinage which could very easily be robbed by armed bandits.
Two of the larger Templar foundations in Sicily were Saint Nicholas of
the Temple (San Nicolò del Tempio) in Bulgherano near Scordia (in
Catania province) before 1151 and the Saint Mary Carmine Church (Chiesa
del Carmine) in Piazza Armerina. There were other commanderies at Caltagirone,
Butera and Lentini. The most important, at Messina,
served as a major stopover for crusaders and Pilgrims en route to the Holy
Land by sea. The commanderies at Marsala and Trapani also served the order
in this regard, but Messina's was its major administrative centre in Sicily.
The Hohenstaufens, as Holy Roman Emperors, were
no more kindly disposed toward the Templars than other monarchs, and much
preferred the Teutonic Knights, who for the most
part were drawn from the German-speaking regions of Europe and sometimes
lent military support to Imperial campaigns in Europe. By 1200, the Teutonic
Order had important commanderies based in Sicily in Palermo
(the Magione) and Messina (Saint Mary of the Germans). The Hohenstaufens
had inherited the Templars and Hospitallers of Sicily from their Hauteville predecessors. There was no immediate effort
to remove either order.
Frederick II was not only King of Sicily and
Holy Roman Emperor (and King of the Germans) but, by right of his second
wife, Isabella (Yolande) of Brienne, King of Jerusalem. He arrived in Palestine
leading the "Sixth Crusade" in 1229. Ostensibly, this was a military
campaign to rein in the Muslims. In fact, Frederick, who spoke Arabic, reached
an agreement with them while having himself crowned.
For this reason and others, the Templars did not support Frederick in
the Holy Land. The king did not forget their treason. Upon his return to
Sicily, he confiscated all their properties on the island and assigned these
to the rival Hospitallers. A few of these estates were still in the possession
of the Hospitallers when they were expelled from Malta
in 1798. The Templars were allowed to retain most of their estates in peninsular
The order's removal from Sicily presaged their deposition in France during
the next century. The Templars are gone but, given their colorful history,
About the Author: Palermo native Vincenzo Salerno
has written biographies of several famous Sicilians, including Frederick II and
Giuseppe di Lampedusa.