CLEP Western Civ I

Answer: B - The Knights Templar were a military order founded in 1118 after the First Crusade to protect the Christian pilgrims who were traveling in the Holy Land. After the church’s victory in the Crusade, Christians were guaranteed access to the holy sites through the Crusaders’ control of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. However, the Christians faced numerous threats nearly everywhere else in the Levant. The Knights Templar were essentially created to act as bodyguards. They answered only to the pope and were supported by Christian charity. Many of the Templar knights ultimately worked on infrastructure building projects or financial matters for the organization rather than the actual military part. However, once the Crusades were over and control of the Holy Land was permanently lost for Christendom, the knights lost support, quickly became the subject of persecution and the pope was eventually pressured to disband them. Myths have abounded for centuries about the fates of any surviving knights and their purported activities throughout history, but there is no evidence to support that any present-day organization descended from the Templars.