The Knights Templar... I knew the name, but little beyond a vague sense of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Then I met some and they did more than attempt to assassinate charismatic archaeologists with chiseled jawlines. Tell me more, Indiana Google.
Among the most powerful military organizations during two centuries of the Middle Ages, the Templars were founded to protect pilgrims to Jerusalem after the First Crusade, and played a key part in many battles during those ill-advised conflicts.
Individual members were sworn to poverty and a life of servitude, but the order prospered, partly due to the creation of an early form of banking, whereby crusaders would give their money to the Order and receive a paper script, which could be redeemed in The Holy Land and/or their return home. This meant they didn't have to carry their money, leaving them less tempting to bandits on the long road to/from Jerusalem, but also that the ones who died, effectively gave their earthly fortunes to the Knights.
Being rich and sort-of-banks, the Templars eventually loaned a bunch of money to King Philip IV of France, who was an asshole. Instead of paying them back, he eradicated his rivals in 1307 by having them all arrested (on Friday the 13th) and tortured into confessions of idolatry, homosexuality, and spitting on the cross. History records that the last Grand Master of the Templars was burned at the stake in Paris in 1314 for having recanted his earlier confession.
There is a popular legend that as he died he cursed the Pope and the King to join him in death; both died within the year.
Almost seven hundred years later, somewhere in the 1980s, a snowstorm hit the mountains of western Castilla-Leon. The people of the already semi-abandoned village of Manjarin were forced to take refuge in the lower lands, and when they returned, they found that snow had caved in their roofs, and looters had taken most of their possessions. Harsh, no? The town had been struggling to survive for some time already, and that was the flake that broke the villagers' back, so they packed up what remained and left, leaving the town to fall into ruin, like several others in the area.
A few years later a generous and hard-working man named Tomas opened an encomienda in the abandoned schoolhouse. It is separate from the albergue system of the Camino de Santiago, and is located just before the highest point on the French Way of the Camino in an area characterized by bad weather.
Tomas is a Templar Knight.
I reached Manjarin coming down through the mist after passing the Iron Cross, a pilgrim landmark and guide post with an unfortunate name (though the cross was there long before the Nazis hatched from their eggs). The town is largely reduced to piles of fallen stones, with the notable exception of the refugio, that welcomes you with a display of flags and woodsmoke from the chimney.
The building is basic, stone, and the fireplace in the corner provides all the heat, some of which is carried by a chimney up to the loft where a dozen lucky pilgrims can sleep on mats, nervous about the smoke that lingers in the room but grateful for the heat.
There is no running water in the abandoned town, so the toilet is a dry one, with a pile of sawdust to dump in after you use it. The generator is for emergencies, and illumination comes from candles, a propane tank providing the cooking, and a bellows is an everyday tool for keeping the fire going.
A few serious men have dedicated themselves to this ancient order, and live in that empty stone town, offering peregrinos a unique experience in a place without street lights, clean of the cacophonies of traffic and television, and wrapped in mist that holds the sound of the Gregorian Chant close and intimate.
Tomas was away the night I was there, but the two men who were there prepared a simple dinner for us, which we took together at a trestle table, discussing their belief that Jesus took a wife, had children, and that women can exist outside of the Virgin v Whore dynamic promoted by some other dogmas over the centuries.
They believe celibacy is a powerful tool for getting closer to God…if the brother chooses it. Otherwise it does not work. It is always nice to hear common sense.
That place is no softer now than it was in the 1980s, and the modern Knights alternate years staying during the winter. They get few pilgrims during the snowbound months, but they do get some. The thought of that isolated mountain shrine, wrapped in snow, Gregorian chant hanging in the stillness…that would be worth the cold climb.
Among the most powerful military organizations during two centuries of the Middle Ages, the Templars were founded to protect pilgrims to Jerusalem after the First Crusade, and played a key part in many battles during those ill-advised conflicts.
Individual members were sworn to poverty and a life of servitude, but the order prospered, partly due to the creation of an early form of banking, whereby crusaders would give their money to the Order and receive a paper script, which could be redeemed in The Holy Land and/or their return home. This meant they didn't have to carry their money, leaving them less tempting to bandits on the long road to/from Jerusalem, but also that the ones who died, effectively gave their earthly fortunes to the Knights.
Being rich and sort-of-banks, the Templars eventually loaned a bunch of money to King Philip IV of France, who was an asshole. Instead of paying them back, he eradicated his rivals in 1307 by having them all arrested (on Friday the 13th) and tortured into confessions of idolatry, homosexuality, and spitting on the cross. History records that the last Grand Master of the Templars was burned at the stake in Paris in 1314 for having recanted his earlier confession.
There is a popular legend that as he died he cursed the Pope and the King to join him in death; both died within the year.
Almost seven hundred years later, somewhere in the 1980s, a snowstorm hit the mountains of western Castilla-Leon. The people of the already semi-abandoned village of Manjarin were forced to take refuge in the lower lands, and when they returned, they found that snow had caved in their roofs, and looters had taken most of their possessions. Harsh, no? The town had been struggling to survive for some time already, and that was the flake that broke the villagers' back, so they packed up what remained and left, leaving the town to fall into ruin, like several others in the area.
A few years later a generous and hard-working man named Tomas opened an encomienda in the abandoned schoolhouse. It is separate from the albergue system of the Camino de Santiago, and is located just before the highest point on the French Way of the Camino in an area characterized by bad weather.
Tomas is a Templar Knight.
The building is basic, stone, and the fireplace in the corner provides all the heat, some of which is carried by a chimney up to the loft where a dozen lucky pilgrims can sleep on mats, nervous about the smoke that lingers in the room but grateful for the heat.
A few serious men have dedicated themselves to this ancient order, and live in that empty stone town, offering peregrinos a unique experience in a place without street lights, clean of the cacophonies of traffic and television, and wrapped in mist that holds the sound of the Gregorian Chant close and intimate.
Tomas was away the night I was there, but the two men who were there prepared a simple dinner for us, which we took together at a trestle table, discussing their belief that Jesus took a wife, had children, and that women can exist outside of the Virgin v Whore dynamic promoted by some other dogmas over the centuries.They believe celibacy is a powerful tool for getting closer to God…if the brother chooses it. Otherwise it does not work. It is always nice to hear common sense.
That place is no softer now than it was in the 1980s, and the modern Knights alternate years staying during the winter. They get few pilgrims during the snowbound months, but they do get some. The thought of that isolated mountain shrine, wrapped in snow, Gregorian chant hanging in the stillness…that would be worth the cold climb.
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