Philip IV of France destroyed the Knights Templar in 1307, accusing the wealthy military order of bizarre mystical practices, devil worship, and spitting on the cross during secret initiations.

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Philip IV of France destroyed the Knights Templar in 1307, accusing the wealthy military order of bizarre mystical practices, devil worship, and spitting on the cross during secret initiations. Over the centuries, conspiracy theorists and occultists adopted the Templars as the ultimate mystic guardians, claiming they possessed the Holy Grail, the Ark of the Covenant, and secret magical powers. Most historians agree the French king simply owed the Templars a massive amount of money and decided that burning them at the stake for heresy was much cheaper than actually paying his debts. It is the ultimate historical irony that a bunch of celibate warrior monks who operated as medieval bankers were posthumously rebranded as esoteric wizards simply because a broke monarch didn't want to pay his overdraft fees!