The Knights Templar fail...again

One of the most important plotlines of Ishmael Reed's "Mumbo Jumbo" consists of the atonists fight against the outbreak of the never defined (but highly implied as Jazz) Jes Grew. The atonists consist of the remains of the Knights Templar, with Hinckle Von Vampton, a man presumably of almost 1000 years, leading the charge against Jes Grew.

I listen weekly to a podcast (from the Parcast network) series named "Secret Societies". As it so happens, right as we were in the midst of exploring Mumbo Jumbo, "Secret Societies" came out with two 45 minute podcasts detailing the history of the Knights Templar. While very complicated, it is extremely important to understand the history of the Knights as a way to understand their actions in Mumbo Jumbo.

The Knights Templar, also known as the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon were formed by eight poor Knights in 1119. They originally were formed as a Catholic Military Order as a response to the Crusades to protect Jerusalem. In 1139, the Knights were officially recognized, and the order continued to grow. As time passed, the vow of poverty that the Knights had originally taken fell apart, as Templars began to become more and more wealthy. Eventually, Templars served not only as Knights for the Church, but also as bankers, masons, and many other well paying professions. While the people trusted the Templars, it was never clear what the group did behind closed doors. King Philip IV the Fair of France eventually began to take issue with this policy of keeping initiation a secret, believing there to be an extreme amount of heresy going on behind closed doors. As such, he launched a thorough* (What could thorough possibly mean in the 1300s without DNA, film, or audio) investigation in the group. In the end, the investigation turned into a lot of he said, she said and Philip decided to quietly arrest all of the Templars on trumped-up heretic charges such as acts of homosexuality, spitting on the cross, and worshipping false idols (all of this without any proof at all). After being firmly tortured, most of the knights (all of the leaders) confessed to crimes, all of which suspiciously sounded similar, leading historians to believe the confessions may have been true despite every templar revoking his confession at the same time. In the end, many of the knights were released or jailed. In 1312, the order was officially dissolved with the execution (by the traditional Catholic Method of burning at the stake) of the Grand Master at the hands of Philip. 

In the end, rumors of the order's comeback have been speculated upon since the 1500s, with the discovery of historical documents having been found.

Today, as Mr. Mitchell pointed out to me, the Knights Templar do exist in America, and you can apply to become a Knight as long as you are not a felon at knightstemplar.org. I do digress however.

Obviously, in Mumbo Jumbo, the Knights returned as well. Their fight against Jes Grew in the novel is remarkably similar to their original mission of protecting Jerusalem from outsiders. Like protecting Jerusalem, they once again fail their mission of containing Jes Grew.