Bernard and Hugh Did NOT Plan a Shadow State

Contrary to some wild conspiracy theories, neither Hugh of Champagne nor Bernard of Clairvaux ever intended (let alone planned) to grow the order of Knights Templar into a shadow pan-European state. They envisioned a military-religious order with the Divine Mission to keep and protect the Ark of the Covenant and – by extension – Jerusalem and the Outremer (Crusader states in the Holy Land).

This Divine Mission drove strategic objectives of Hugh and Bernard – and thus of the order of the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon: at minimum, preserve the existing borders of the Outremer (and thus its territory) and ideally expand the latter to the maximum extent possible.

To achieve these strategic objectives, the order had to develop four key components: the fighting force (shock troops of the Christian army); local secular support staff (cooks, repairmen, etc.); local religious support staff (priests) – and the European system of recruiting and financing of all of the above.

Quite unexpectedly for the duo (obviously, they did not live long enough to see it with their own eyes), the latter grew into the first genuinely multinational corporation in human history supported by its own church (with Ark Templar and Christian components) and – after the fall of Acre in 1291 – with its own army.

Consequently, into a full-fledged shadow pan-European state. The shadow state that (1) could have taken over the whole Christendom; and (2) was totally incompatible with the existing structure of European civilization.

Therefore, Knights Templar faced a genuinely existential church: either take over the whole Europe (thus creating the “EU of the 14th century”) … or be destroyed by an especially hostile king (and/or the Pope).

Could Templars have taken over the whole Europe? Yes, if they had made the decision to do it right after the fall of Acre in 1291 and created the necessary clandestine organization (e.g., Christian version of the Assassins – the latter were a genuinely a substantial strategic threat to Fatimid, Abbasid, and Seljuk authority).

Could Templars have built an overt pan-European state? Yes, had they merged (took over, actually) the Teutonic order – instead of discussing the merger with Knights Hospitallers. By that time, the Teutons had their successful state which could have been used as a model for the pan-European Ordensstaat.

Unfortunately for them, the Templar leaders did not see “the writing of the wall” and did not have the imagination (or the courage) to go for the whole Europe. So, the order was destroyed – and its leaders were burned at a stake as heretics.