012 - The Rise of the Knights Templar

The Knights Templar, or the Poor-Fellow Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, are a fascinating example of how too much success can be a bad thing. Rapidly abandoning the 'Poor-Fellow' aspect of their name, the Templars grew into a vast land-owning organisation with enormous wealth, ignoring the growing anger and discontent against their privileges. Once they lost the 'Temple of Solomon' aspect of their name, their days were numbered... This episode primarily makes use of the following text: Cohn, N. Europe's Inner Demons (London, 1975) For a full show bibliography, please see the website: http://thehistoryofwitchcraft.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Om Podcasten

Witches didn't exist, and yet thousands of people were executed for the crime of witchcraft. Why? The belief in magic and witchcraft has existed in every recorded human culture; this podcast looks at how people explained the inexplicable, turned random acts of nature into conscious acts of mortal or supernatural beings, and how desperate communities took revenge against the suspected perpetrators.