So, I was doing some reading on Berlin. Found an interesting little tidbit of information. Berlin's Tempelhoff district has a medieval heritage as an outpost of the Knights Templar, the warrior monks who gave that part of town its name. Anyone who read the DaVinci Code knows about the Knights Templar. For the one or two of you that haven't, here's a quick history from "Time Out Berlin."
The Templars were founded during the Crusades to protect pilgrims travelling to the Holy Land. They also blended two of mankind's most powerful urges - to worship and to fight - into an institution with spiritual legitimacy, political clout and extraordinary wealth. Their trademark white tunics with red crosses were as recognizable then as the logo of any global corporation today. The group had secret initiation rituals, took vows of poverty and celibacy and were big on collecting holy relics.
The knights were feared as ferocious fighters, but they also set up possibly the world's first formal banking scheme: pilgrims could deposit gold and silver at their nearest Templar outpost, collect a voucher, and cash it in at a Templar office near their destination. The Templars were probably invited to settle Tempelhoff precisely because of their money management skills.
In 1307, France's Philip IV arrested all the Templars at their Paris headquarters, charging them with heresy, based on stories of idol worship. The reality was that Pope Clement felt threatened by the Templar's power, and Philip wanted their cash for his war against England. After Templars confessed under torture, their Grand Master was burned at the stake and their land holdings, including those at Tempelhof, were turned over to other religious orders.
Templar legends are central to many esoteric systems, and why they went down without a fight in an enduring source of speculation. Some believe a chosen few went underground to preserve a secret knowledge, and re-emerged in the 17th century as the Freemasons.
Maybe Craig and I can go on a little DaVinci Code mystery chase all of our own (minus the whole people dying and everything). Then, I'll come back, write a book about it and become rich. Yup...great idea!!
