6. The Knights Templar Were Warrior Monks
But make no mistake, the Knights Templar were by no means white-collar bankers. They were warrior monks who had been training in armed combat and warfare since the age of seven. To be initiated into the order, you had to be a knight already. And the order was an order of monks. This idea is quite peculiar, seeing as things like poverty and chastity traditionally characterize a monkish lifestyle. The concept of a monk riding a horse into combat, decked out in chainmail and bearing a double-edged sword, runs counter to how many people think of monks.
What is particularly surprising is that these monks were not just soldiers; they were vicious. If you were faced with an entourage of Knights Templar, mounted on horseback and carrying their weaponry, your best option would be to run in the other direction. They were characterized by the brutality that far exceeded that of the peasant armies. One way that they might be recognized as monkish, however, is their poverty. Even though the order itself was incredibly wealthy, to join, a knight had to sell the order all of his possessions. The knights themselves had no belongings. However, as members of the Knights Templar, they had everything.