Why Were The Knights Templar Accused Of Being Heretics And Then Tortured And Executed By The Catholic Church?
they were not executed by the catholic church. They were executed by the King of France- who was very heavily in debt to the Templars and got rid of them- and the debt. The Templars at that time had lost their original aim – they were no longer protecting pilgrims or even fighting against the muslim invasions (e.g the Knights of St John (Maltese) still fought on). They simply acted as a huge bank, got fat on the priviledges given to the church (eg tax free status) but were in reality a bank. Too much a tempting target. Moreover the Order was also fiercely independent which did not lie well with the church authorities.
