The Knights Templar.

Originally called Poor Knights of the Temple of Solomon. In more modern Times their name has been reduced to the Templars,they were said to be a mendicant order! They most certainly existed,their original reason for coming into existence was escorting pilgrims and merchants to Palestine. The majority of the Templars were Frankish (French)soon after arriving in Palestine they changed the name of the order to Knights of the Hospital of St John and the Temple of Solomon. After the conquest of Palestine and Jerusalem in particular,
the Knights changed it's name to the Kingdom of Outremer,they made their first outpost on the Temple Mount,but soon began building castle fortresses throughout Outremer. In the conquest of Jerusalem it is said that they annhilated the population irrespective of whether Jewish or Muslim.It is suggested that the Templars explored the water tunnels under the Temple Mount and discovered much gold hidden there. This they appropriated unto themselves,and is thought to be the basis for the vast wealth the order had. Eventually they were defeated militarily at the Horns of Hattin,following that battle all of the Crusaders including the Frankish King (a member of the Templar order) began a retreat having been given assurance by Salal Ad Din (Saladin)that they would be safe if they left the country. They finally ended up in one of the Castles they had built at Acre in the Levant,from which they returned to Europe.

There is a great liklihood that the Knights were the founders of the Masonic Order,and the European banking system.

This is abseloute falacy im afraid.

The templars and hospitalers were two complete different orders i thought. Both in competition too.

They began as seperate orders but combined eventually!

I'll look into that because im really not sure thats true.

I really hope not because the whole concept just scares the hell out of me.But I do think(in reality)that they must have really existed.In all their brutality.
They were supposed to be devil-worshippers,weren't they?

Nope, they began sepratly and ended sepratly with the templars being more or less anihalated in 1307.

If you read the rest of the thread it'll answer your question in more detail, but no they were not satanists. That was merely a lie formed by King Phillipe as an excuse to persecute them as he was heavily in debt to them.

I would direct you to THE MONKS OF WAR by Desmond Seward,or AN HISTORY OF THE CRUSADES 3 vols. by Stephen Runciman!

King Philippe the last of the Orleans monarchs of France was deposed,using the same sorts of "evidence" homosexual orgies etc..

Maybe you misunderstand. They fought together, as they did with the teutonic knights, but at no point has anything ive ever read sugested they actually joined together.

Well then professor Wobin how would you explain the name in the later period.
The Vatican ordered the Templars and Teutonic Order to the southern Baltic littoral to convert the pagan tribes in Lithuania,Prus and Lettland to christianity! They sucsceded in the conversion of Prussia and Lettland,but were defeated by the Lithuanians and Poles.
The Poles had been ordered by the papacy to cooperate with the crusaders, but when they saw the brutality and greed of the Orders the Poles dropped out of the coalition.