3. Saladin Eventually Defeated Them
Salah al-Din, known to the Christian Crusaders as Saladin, was a sultan from Egypt who led his forces against the Crusaders in the attempt to liberate the Holy Land from the Christians and return it to its prior Muslim rule. The Knights Templar had defeated Saladin’s army on several occasions, but in July of 1187, Saladin’s forces were victorious at the Battle of the Horns of Hattin. They surrounded the Knights Templar, who were far outnumbered, and massacred them. This decisive victory was the beginning of the end for the Kingdom of Jerusalem. A Third Crusade was launched to try to reclaim it, but it was unsuccessful.
The Knights Templar in the Holy Land, who was headquartered at the Temple Mount and protected pilgrims on their journey to Jerusalem, was ultimately finished. However, they continued their activities throughout Europe, including banking. Their banks had made them so wealthy that they were offering loans to kings. They moved their headquarters to Paris, France, which later came under the kingship of Philip IV, also known as Philip the Fair. Philip the Fair became heavily indebted to them, and because his father had pretty much bankrupted France through his military expenditures, he had no money to pay them back. Their wealth would prove to be their undoing.