EPISODE ONE – “YOU’D KNOW WHAT TO DO”
The Knights Templar have been due a good dramatic treatment for a while – and Knightfall looks like it’ll deliver the goods. Of course, much of the politics and intrigue of that historical period had to be explained in the first episode, which has just broadcast in the United States – but I thought this was done effectively without resorting to clunky dialogue.
The plot involves a quest for the Holy Grail and readers of this blog will know that there has been a long association between that sacred vessel and the Knights. People were making the Templar/Grail connection when the order was still in business in the 13th century. Is there a 100% proven link? No, of course not. But it’s fun to speculate and the Templars’ search for the lost Grail will give the series a thrilling impetus.
The action starts in the first episode in the aftermath of defeat for the crusaders at Acre, now called Akko in modern Israel. That brought the crusader project in the Middle East to a thundering close.
During the fighting, the Grail has been lost. A knight called Landry must now retrieve it by whatever means. Everything moves to Paris where the Templars are kicking around with no crusades to fight, their Holy Grail is missing and the King of France, Philip, is involved in some dubious dealings with Pope Boniface VIII. In the middle of all the intrigue is the king’s scheming counsellor William De Nogaret – who has a major downer on the Knights Templar.
The performances from Jim Carter as Boniface VIII and Julian Ovenden as De Nogaret are delicious. They reminded me of the kind of fine acting that made the 1970s BBC series I Claudius such a timeless classic. Sure they’re eating the scenery but it’s fun to watch.
Rather unfairly, in my view, some reviewers of the first episode have made constant comparisons with another History series, Vikings. Well, I guess the simple answer is – the Knights Templar weren’t Vikings. I’d also point out that Vikings got off to a pretty slow start before audiences fell in love with the series.
Knightfall
Pope Boniface had a miserable relationship with King Philip of France – the monarch who crushed the Knights Templar. Basically, the French king wanted to tax the Catholic church while the pope believed he needed to be asked first. It was his clergy and the king could lay off until he gave his permission. Also, the pope argued that he had no objection to funding religious wars, crusades in other words, but was less amenable to bankrolling bust ups between the kings of France and England.
Relations between King Philip of France and pope Boniface just went from bad to worse. Boniface saw everything Philip did as an attack on the church. Philip reacted with measures designed to provoke Rome like banning the export of gold, silver and precious stones – a law that would starve the pope of revenue from France. There was even a suggestion that Philip wanted to establish a new Christian realm under French control incorporating the Byzantine and Holy Roman empires. In this new empire, the pope would be reduced to a patriarch on a salary.
There was now a showdown between king and pope. Philip called for Boniface’s removal. Boniface demanded the French people overthrow an excommunicated monarch. That was too much for the king. His adviser William De Nogaret and a leading member of the Colonna family went with 2,000 mercenaries down to the city of Anagni where Boniface was holding court and kidnapped him.
Clearly, De Nogaret wanted to overcompensate for this family’s past treacherous leanings. He determined to prove to the king that he was the most loyal of French subjects. This craven courtier became a pliant tool of the king’s will and an instrument for his crushing of the Templars.
De Nogaret came up with a novel idea for convincing Pope Boniface of the king’s view. He kidnapped him in Italy. And then mistreated him. But was then forced to release the pope when local townspeople besieged De Nogaret and forced him to flee back to France. When he got back there, King Philip rewarded him handsomely and both men were delighted when news broke that Pope Boniface had died.
Why did Philip come after the knights? After all, the last Grand Master – Jacques de Molay – had been a trusted individual who had even helped to bear the coffin of his sister-in-law – Catherine de Valois – at her funeral, days before his arrest.
Philip didn’t grasp this. You could say he was financially unsophisticated. Instead, he just saw lots of loot he could get his hands on if only he could trump up some charges against the Knights Templar, shut them down and grab their assets. And that’s exactly what he did.
And what of the outlandish charges made against the Knights Templar – that they engaged in sodomy, denounced Christ, worshipped a strange head and desecrated the crucifix? Most historians think these were standard issue trumped up charges used to discredit enemies of the state.
It’s one of those weeks again when a Friday 13th occurs and our thoughts turn to the Knights Templar. So why is the 13th so significant?
In 1307, the Knights Templar were rounded up, imprisoned and tortured under secret orders issued by the King of France. The trials of top Templars would last for years and lead to many being burnt at the stake including the last Grand Master, Jacques de Molay. He was incinerated in public in front of Notre Dame cathedral.
Here were some of the most noteworthy charges:
I will be appearing as a guest several times in a special edition of 
Nobody doubts that the Templars accumulated an awful lot of money. At key points in the crusades, they were asked to pay off ransoms for aristocratic warriors captured by the Saracens. More generally, they lent money to kings, princes and even popes becoming Christian moneylenders, an occupation in the medieval period normally associated with the Jews.