Templar Treasure May or May Not Be a Myth

Undoubtedly the top Templar myth is the story of (allegedly) immense treasure that French Templars that (allegedly) escaped arrest on October 13th, 1307 (allegedly) hid from King’s henchmen and (allegedly) moved… somewhere.

As usual, the reality was quire different. True, the order of Knights Templar was immensely wealthy – wealthier than many European kingdoms. However, this wealth was mostly in land, building, manufacturing, warehousing and transportation facilities… something that they could neither hide nor move.

It is also true that the banking component of a multinational business conglomerate of Knights Templar was huge (it was possibly the biggest bank in Europe at that time).

However, even if its coffers held vast amounts of gold, silver, precious jewels, and other valuable liquid assets (and there is no evidence of that), most of it did not belong to the Templars.

It belonged to those who gave it to Templars for safekeeping or put it on deposit (to make some interest income). Stealing from their clients was out of the question for Templars – even faced with mortal danger – so this wealth went nowhere.

True, Templars had some money and other valuable liquid assets of their own, but – like in every other bank – they were mostly given out as loans. Like in every bank, the bulk of financial assets of Templars consisted of loan contracts with kings, nobles and other prominent individuals.

The most common version of this myth alleges that the Preceptor of the French Templars, Gerard de Villiers, had been tipped off about the imminent arrests and led over 50 horses out of Paris, before setting out to sea with 18 galleys.

This story is a fake because (1) there is no evidence of a tip-off; on the contrary, the arrests were so swift and unexpected that practically all Templars in France went to royal jails in a matter of hours… and Templars never had 18 galleys.

However, there might still be some truth to the story of Templar Treasure. Ark Templar was a religious organization independent of the order so it might have had a sizable amount of valuables in its coffers. In this case, these valuables sit next to the Ark of the Covenant in the underground chapel in Paris – and are waiting to be found.