2. They Were Systematically Rounded Up on Friday the 13th
In the year 1307, King Philip IV of France was in a genuine crisis, owing large amounts of money to the Knights Templar and having inherited a ruined economy from his financially inept father. He would not be able to pay them the money that he owed, so he came up with a plan. He had an order sent out to his soldiers, which was not to be open until Friday the 13th. The letter gave orders to raid all of the command houses of the Knights Templar in France and imprison its members. They were then subjected to the Inquisition.
The Inquisition was a feature of the Vatican that was designed to weed out heresy, or false beliefs, through the use of torture. Though the Vatican had long been friendly with the Knights Templar, the pope at the time was unable to provide any assistance to them. Approximately 138 of the knights were faced with cruel torture, under which they confessed to crimes such as urinating on the cross, denying Jesus, and worshiping the devil. Many of them either died under torture or were burned at the stake. To this day, Friday the thirteenth is considered to be unlucky because of what happened to the Knights Templar on that fateful day.
Ultimately, though, the actions of Philip IV towards the Knights Templar did not provide the economic boon that he had hoped. He was only able to recover enough of their land to pay for the torture and imprisonment that he subjected to. There were vast rumors about an immense treasure that the knights had, which he may have hoped would enrich both his personal treasury and his kingdom, but the wealth was nowhere to be found. In fact, there is evidence that many of the Knights Templar’s documents were burned shortly before Friday the thirteenth, and any treasure that they may have had was whisked away in ships that very morning.