The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, whose members are popularly known as the Templars, was during the Middle Ages a powerful military order affiliated with the Catholic Church.

Recognized in 1139 by the papal bull Omne datum optimum, the order was founded in 1119 and was active until 1312 when it was perpetually suppressed by Pope Clement V by the bull Vox in excelso.

Dedicated originally to defend the Christian pilgrims in the Holy Land, they soon accumulated impressive riches and great doses of power that earned them the hatred of many powerful people of the time.

A mystery in history

One of the greatest historical mysteries in which they have been involved began in the year 1307, when a fleet composed of dozens of ships, in which the Templars escaped the persecution of the French King Philip IV, disappeared without a trace.

María Lara Martínez author of the book “Enclaves Templarios“, suggests that there is a possibility that the ships that went missing in 1307 actually ended up landing in America around 200 years before Cristopher Columbus ‘discovered the continent’.

Where’s the evidence?

To support her theory the author explains: “Legend has it that when the Spanish conquistadors arrived in the Yucatan Peninsula, they heard that white men had already been there and had given their knowledge to the natives.”

Another hypothesis states that, according to the testimony of monks who accompanied Columbus, the natives were not surprised to see the crosses of the warriors because they already knew them.

Finally, it is also known that the Maya worshiped Kukulkan, a white and bearded god. This is strange since why would the Maya worship a god that was not physically similar to them?

In fact, several authors have proposed that it is possible that Kukulkan and Quetzalcoatl was one of the Knights Templars.

It has been argued that up until the Templars persecution at the hands of King Philip IV in 1307, the Templars had a fully matured sailing fleet, so traveling long distances may not have been impossible for them. They had riches, which means they could have gathered the necessary resources to survive such a journey.

We know that the Templars had beards and that the Maya and Aztecs did not. The Nahua people have it that Quetzalcoatl sailed to the New World from the east on a boat made of snakes.

In her book, Lara Martinez delves into the study of the history of the Templars, explaining how the Order of the Temple was closely linked to the medieval history of the Iberian Peninsula.

In fact, they took part in a great number of events that took place between the 13th and 14th centuries.

Moreover, she explains, what happened in those two centuries, both in the military, political, commercial, religious and even artistic, is intimately linked to the Order, for their passage through the Iberian lands has been recorded in numerous architectural remains and traditions, written and oral, that have survived to this day.

The legacy of the Knights Templar still persists. And speaking of templars remains synonymous with mysteries and mysticism.