Rumours of deviant sexual rituals are not exclusive to the Knights Templar, who amassed a vast fortune between their foundation by Frenchman Hugues de Payens, along with a group of eight acquaintances, in about 1118 and their alleged dissolution in 1312, after King Philip IV of France – deeply in debt to the knights – pressured Pope Clement V to have many of the order's members in France arrested, tortured into giving false confessions and then burned at the stake as a result of his accusations.

Calling themselves the Poor Fellow-Soldiers Of Christ And The Temple Of Solomon, later known simply as the Knights Templar, they came into being after the Crusaders captured Jerusalem from Muslim hands in 1099 to protect groups of Christian pilgrims, from across western Europe, visiting the Holy Land from being robbed and killed as they passed through Muslim-controlled territories.

With the support of Baldwin II, the ruler of Jerusalem, they set up headquarters on Temple Mount, pledging to protect the Christian visitors to the city... FULL STORY