Knights Templar was one of the most wealthy and powerful of the Western Christian military orders. Officially endorsed by the Catholic Church around 1129, the Order became a favoured charity throughout Christendom and grew rapidly in membership and power. Templar knights were among the most skilled fighting units of the Crusades. Non-combatant members of the Order managed a large economic infrastructure throughout Christendom.

The Templars' existence was tied closely to the Crusades; when the Holy Land was lost, support for the Order faded. The situation was complex though, as over the two hundred years of their existence, the Templars had become a part of daily life throughout Christendom. The Templars still managed many businesses, and many Europeans had daily contact with the Templar network, such as by working at a Templar farm or vineyard, or using the Order as a bank in which to store personal valuables. The Order was still not subject to local government, making it everywhere a "state within a state" — its standing army, though it no longer had a well-defined mission, could pass freely through all borders. This situation greatly heightened tensions with European nobility.

Rumours about the Templars' secret initiation ceremony created mistrust and King Philip IV of France, deeply in debt to the Order, took advantage of the situation. In 1307, many of the Order's members in France were arrested, accused of atheism, sodomy, blasphemy, apostasy, idolatry, heresy, obscene rituals and homosexuality, financial corruption and fraud, and secrecy. Templar Knights are tortured into confessing, then executed in large numbers. To some degree, Pope Clement V has gone along with the accusations, but when he launches an independent investigation, he learns that the "confessions" are due to torture, not real acts of heresy.

On August 20th 1308 Pope Clement V pardons Jacques de Molay, the 23rd and last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, absolving him of charges of heresy. This pardon is documented in the historical document named the Chinon Parchment.
1100AD team gives to every player Templar Knight hero to commemorate this date.