Place of Intrigue

“Do you know what you are drawing?” the man said to me in Italian-accented English. 

“I know that up ahead is a pizzeria called The Tavern of the Templars,” I replied.

“Ahhh, but this is where the actual Knights of Templar were headquartered for a period of time in the middle ages!” he exclaimed. “To your left, lived the once-mayor of Jerusalem!”

The man introduced himself as a professor from Milan who summered in Viterbo. He proclaimed his love for the small city’s history, as well as for the cultural festival held there every July. 

The Knights of Templar

Perhaps you’ve heard of the Knights of Templar. They’ve long been fodder for conspiracy theorists, most recently and famously in The DaVinci Code. 

The Knights of the Order of the Temple of King Solomon, better known as the Knights of Templar, or Templars, were the first military-religious order. They were fighting monks. Formed in 1118, following the First Crusade’s conquering of Jerusalem from the Muslims, their charge was to protect pilgrims in the Holy Land. Their first headquarters were in the Temple Mount itself—to this day, a controversial place, as it is home to important holy sites of the Muslim, Jewish and Christian faiths. Growing in number and wealth, and answering only to the Pope, the Templars extended their mission throughout Europe and East Asia, building castles and churches with the goal of protecting all the routes of pilgrims to religious sites.  

The Templars grew so powerful as the favored charity of their time, and as the developers of a form of banking system, that their influence rivaled that of kings, and thus, they were abolished in 1312 following dramatic trials and executions in France (where it is said the King owed them money).  

Seven hundred years after the dissolution of the Knights of Templar, they are still a hot topic, associated with mysteries and conspiracies. The Holy Grail, the Ark of the Covenant and the Shroud of Turin all have associations with the Templars. They’re accused, to this day,  of holding secrets (as a secret society) which could undermine the entire Christian faith. Some say that Freemasonry rose from the Templars’ ashes, keeping their secrets as well as their symbols and rites.  

The Templars of Viterbo

The years during which Viterbo was the home of a series of popes (12th to 13th centuries) coincide with the Knights of Templar’s peak of power.  Grand Masters of the Knights surely stayed in Viterbo, consulting with Church leadership.

Viterbo was a prominent stop on the “via Francigena,” the major medieval pilgrimage route to Rome from all of Europe.  

The Templars were headquartered briefly in Viterbo after being driven from the Holy Land and before moving on to Malta.  

Santa Maria Carbonara,the very church against which I was leaning when I created this drawing, was a Templar church, and Templars are most likely buried therein.

“Do you know what you are drawing?” the man asked.  

“Yes,” I would reply today. “A place of intrigue.”