March of the Templars: The Crusades

The Knights Templar went from 9 poor knights in 1119 to Europe's first international bank — then were burned as heretics. It traces Hugues de Payens and Baldwin II on Temple Mount, Bernard of Clairvaux and the Council of Troyes, and the 1139 bull Omne Datum Optimum. It covers Montgisard and Hattin against Saladin, how pilgrim deposit notes let gold move from Paris to Acre, and why Philip IV arrested 600 Templars on Friday 13 October 1307 and burned Jacques de Molay in 1314 after the fleet vanished from La Rochelle.