The problem that anyone has who wants to investigate the history of The Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon, to give them their full name, is, undoubtedly, to separate the facts from the myths.

The facts are that they became a large and powerful organization, that they owed allegiance not to kings or church hierarchies, but directly to the Pope (which, of course, gave rise to many disputes), that they were international bankers with great wealth (although, as their name suggests, they swore personal vows of poverty being, in fact, soldier monks), that they had a special knowledge of architectural techniques that meant they were instrumental in the building as well as the financing of many of Europe's greatest cathedrals and that, starting in France, they were suddenly and dramatically disbanded at the instigation of Philip IV of France on Friday 13 October 1307 (supposedly the reason why Friday 13 is unlucky).

The biggest mystery is what happened to their portable wealth and possession. This disappeared, together with the huge Templar fleet, literally overnight. No time to bury it or build a network of secret tunnels, so the most likely explanation would seem to be that it was loaded onto the ships and they sailed off for a place or places unknown. The rest is speculation.

There are several organisations that claim to be the modern desendants of the Templars. Here are a couple:


http://www.templars.org.uk/

http://www.knightstemplar-uk.co.uk/ark.htm