The Templar Curse: Story or legend?
On this episode of The Adventure Story Podcast, we're heading back to medieval Paris for one of the most dramatic exits in history. Picture this: a cold March morning in 1314, a massive crowd gathered on the Île de la Cité, and Jacques de Molay—the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar—chained to a pyre in the shadow of Notre Dame.
As the flames rise, Molay doesn’t scream. He speaks. And what he says? It sounds like a curse.
We dive deep into the infamous Templar Curse—the chilling prophecy Molay delivered moments before his death. Did it really doom a pope, a king, and an entire dynasty? Or is it all just a medieval mic drop with some seriously spooky timing?
Along the way, we unravel the rise and fall of the Templars, their legendary treasure (maybe even in the Americas 👀), and the mysterious underground world of Portugal’s secret Templar sites.
History, myth, fire, and a bit of revenge from beyond the grave? Yeah, we’re into it.
The Templar Enigma, by ME, Luke Richardson,
If you've enjoyed the mystery and intrigue of this episode, I think you'll love my book, The Templar Enigma.
Here's what it's all about:
A TEMPLAR CURSE. AN ANCIENT PROPHECY. A PULSE-POUNDING RACE AGAINST TIME.
In 1314, a dying Grand Master swore vengeance. Now, the curse is awakening...
When a modern-day Templar descendant unearths the key to unlocking that ancient power—the legendary Seal of Solomon—he sets in motion a plan that could collapse the modern world.
Only one person stands in his way.
Enter Eden Black—archaeologist, adventurer, and accidental hero. As the countdown to global chaos begins, Eden races from forgotten crypts to desert ruins, unraveling a conspiracy centuries in the making. But as she gets closer to the truth, she realizes the greatest secret of all… is her own.
If you’re into ancient mysteries, secret societies, and edge-of-your-seat adventure, The Templar Enigma is your next obsession.
Takeaways:
- The Templars, at their zenith, represented the first multinational corporation in history.
- Jacques de Molay's execution in 1314 marked the beginning of a significant historical changes.
- The Templar curse seemingly manifested through the swift demise of Pope Clement V post-execution.
- King Philip IV of France suffered a fatal accident shortly after condemning Jacques de Molay.
- The unexpected deaths of Philip's sons led to the collapse of a royal dynasty.
- The theories surrounding the Templar treasure continue to spark intrigue and speculation today.
Got a Story Idea?
If you have a mystery, legend, or adventure you’d like me to explore, drop a comment or email me at hello@lukerichardsonauthor.com. I’d love to hear from you!
Join the Adventure Society!
Need more adventure in your life? (And let’s be honest, who doesn’t?) Join The Adventure Society, my weekly newsletter, where I share real-world explorations, book updates, and exclusive podcast insights. Sign up at:
LukeRichardsonAuthor.com/AdventureSociety
Get a Free Adventure Thriller!
A missing Picasso... A master thief... A thrilling race against time!
When a priceless Picasso disappears in Paris, legendary thief Bernard Moreau is the prime suspect. But as two unlikely allies—Eden Black and Adriana Villa—hunt him down, the chase turns deadly. It’s a race through the shadowed streets of Paris, where every twist is as unpredictable as the city itself.
Grab your FREE COPY of The Paris Heist here:
LukeRichardsonAuthor.com/Paris
A Huge Thanks to My Patrons!
This podcast, my books, and all my creative projects are made possible by my amazing supporters on Patreon. Want to support the show and get some awesome perks including:
🎧 Ad-free podcast downloads
📚 Early and free access to my books
🎁 More fun stuff as I invent it!
Join the crew on Patreon:
LukeRichardsonAuthor.com/Patreon
Love Adventure Stories?
If you enjoyed today’s episode, you’ll love my books—fast-paced thrillers packed with action, history, and mystery.
Check them out at LukeRichardsonAuthor.com
Thanks for tuning in! See you in the next episode of The Adventure Fiction Podcast. 🏆🎙
Transcript
Paris, France.
Speaker A: ,: Speaker A:You push through the crowd and see the pyre for the first time.
Speaker A:The mound has been constructed from carefully arranged kindling, straw and logs.
Speaker A:It lies in the center of the Isle de la City, in the middle of the River Seine, in the shadow of Notre Dame.
Speaker A:In the center of the pyre, there's a thick wooden stake driven into the earth.
Speaker A:Excitement moves through the crowd and the jostling increases.
Speaker A:Voices raise and heads whip from side to side.
Speaker A:You force your way forward, then freeze.
Speaker A:You wish you hadn't moved.
Speaker A:As they're now just feet away from you, you see the grandmaster Jacques de Molay.
Speaker A:After seven years imprisonment, Molay is a shadow of the man who had led the order with a fiery passion.
Speaker A:His body is gaunt and pale, and his bones jut through his skin.
Speaker A:Two burly executioners drag him towards the pyre.
Speaker A:They wrap chains around his wrists, waist and ankles, securing him in place.
Speaker A:One executioner stands beside the pyre while the other fetches a flaming torch.
Speaker A:Orange flames flicker across Malay's haggard cheeks as the executioner approaches.
Speaker A:Receiving the signal he requires, the executioner lunges, shoving the torch into the base of the fire.
Speaker A:The kindling catches.
Speaker A:The fire begins its devilish work, licking at the edges of the wood, climbing hungrily towards Malay's crumpled body.
Speaker A:The silence of a seance settles across the crowd.
Speaker A:Hundreds, maybe thousands of people watch, stunned and motionless.
Speaker A:The fire grows in intensity now licking at Molay's feet and legs.
Speaker A:Instead of cowering away in the center of the rising flames, Molay straightens up as though battling the inferno.
Speaker A:His features settle into a look of peaceful resignation, reflecting the calm resolve of someone willing to sacrifice everything for his cause.
Speaker A:The flames lick past Molay's feet, growing in ferocity and hunger with every passing moment.
Speaker A:As the flames reach his waist, a voice rises above the crowd.
Speaker A:It takes you a moment to realize that the voice is Molay's.
Speaker A:The grandmaster's voice, weakened by the years of torture.
Speaker A:It's not the booming baritone it once was, but his words remain distinguishable.
Speaker A:May I make my peace before God?
Speaker A:Malay says, his voice surprisingly steady.
Speaker A:For God is the only one who can judge me, and I tell you this.
Speaker A:Soon a calamity will occur to those who have condemned us to death.
Speaker A:You have abused the word of faith for your greed, and for that you will pay Pope Clement and King Philip.
Speaker A:You will be summoned to the Tribunal of Heaven before the year is out.
Speaker A:Hey, I'm Luke.
Speaker A:I'm an author of archaeological adventure novels.
Speaker A:I travel the world looking for stories to put into my books and to share with you right here on the Adventure Story podcast.
Speaker A:Now, today, we're talking about the Templars.
Speaker A:More specifically, though, the much fabled Templar curse.
Speaker A:First of all, a bit of background.
Speaker A:At their height, the Templars were essentially the world's first multinational corporation.
Speaker A:They invented modern banking, owned vast territories, and answered only to the Pope himself.
Speaker A:They were warrior monks, the elite special forces of the Crusades.
Speaker A:And their treasures?
Speaker A:Well, they're treasures, they are the stuff of legend.
Speaker A:But power breeds enemies.
Speaker A: th October: Speaker A:Yeah, this is actually where Friday the 13th gets its bad reputation.
Speaker A:King Philip IV of France made his move.
Speaker A:In a single day, thousands of Templars were arrested on charges of heresy, witchcraft and and devil worship.
Speaker A:The charges were false, of course.
Speaker A:Philip simply wanted their wealth and was deeply in debt to the Order for seven years.
Speaker A:The Templars were tortured, tried and then executed.
Speaker A:But none, not one, gave up the location of their fabled treasure.
Speaker A:Some experts claim that the treasure was smuggled out of France before the arrests, possibly to Scotland or Portugal, where the Templars had strong connections.
Speaker A: ly discovered by Europeans in: Speaker A:This theory, while highly controversial, is not entirely implausible, given the Templars extensive seafaring experience and resources.
Speaker A:As skilled sailors and navigators, the Templars had access to advanced shipbuilding techniques and possessed a deep knowledge of ocean currents and wind patterns.
Speaker A:If the Templars did indeed reach the Americas before Columbus, they may have hidden their treasure in remote locations, such as the alleged Templar sites in New England and the Caribbean.
Speaker A:Some even suggest they left behind clues and symbols, like Newport Tower on Rhode island, which bears a striking resemblance to Templar architecture.
Speaker A:While these theories remain speculative and lack concrete evidence, they certainly capture the imagination of thriller writers like me.
Speaker A:Although the Templars making it to the Americas may require some imagination, their seeking refuge in Portugal while King Philip arrested their brothers in France is widely accepted.
Speaker A:King Denis I of Portugal, who had been a strong supporter of the Templars and was loosely related to a prominent figure in the Order, negotiated with the Pope to create a new order, the Order of Christ.
Speaker A:The Order of Christ then absorbed the Templars and their assets in Portugal.
Speaker A:Basically the same order, but with a new name, the Order of Christ went on to become a powerful force in Portugal, playing a significant role in the country's maritime explorations and colonial expansion.
Speaker A:The Order's influence extended beyond Portugal, with some theorizing that Christopher Columbus, who had married into A Portuguese noble family may have had connections to the Order of Christ and, by extension, the Templars.
Speaker A:There we go again with ideas of Templars related to the discovery of the New World.
Speaker A:To this day, there are several fascinating Templar sites throughout Portugal, including the Convento di Cristo in Tamar, Amarol Castle and the Castle of Pombal.
Speaker A:One slightly more fantastical site, which I featured in my book the Templar Enigma, is Quinta de Reguilera.
Speaker A:Located in Sintra, near Lisbon, Quinta di Reguilera is an early 20th century estate that was built by Antonio Augusto Carvalho Monteiro, a wealthy Portuguese businessman with a deep interest in esotericism, Freemasonry and the Knights Templar.
Speaker A:The estate features a series of underground tunnels, grottoes, and two initiation wells that were never used for water collection, but rather symbolic and ritualistic purposes.
Speaker A:These wells, known as the Unfinished well and the Initiation well, are adorned with spiral staircases, carved symbols and astrological references.
Speaker A:The Initiation well is believed to represent the journey of the soul through the nine circles of Hell, Purgatory and Paradise, as described in Dante's Divine Comedy.
Speaker A:The estate also boasts beautiful gardens filled with esoteric sculptures and hidden symbols that allude to alchemy, masonry and Templar mythology.
Speaker A:Whether any of these symbols amount to a secret code or map, as I said in the book, I don't know, but I love the idea that they might.
Speaker A:So what about this curse, then?
Speaker A:You know, the one issued by the final grandmaster of the Order as he burned at the stake.
Speaker A:You will be summoned to the Tribunal of Heaven before the year is out.
Speaker A:Here's the kicker.
Speaker A:It was a prophecy that ultimately came true.
Speaker A: In April: Speaker A:He's headed from the papal residence in Avignon to Bordeaux, but he'll never make it.
Speaker A:En route, death catches up with him, bringing with it the first act of the Templar curse.
Speaker A:But to understand why many saw this as more than just convenient timing, which it is, let's be honest, we need to roll back a few years and look at Clement's role in the Templar's destruction.
Speaker A:Clement was a Frenchman and owed his position to King Philip.
Speaker A:When Philip first suggested investigating the Templars, Clement actually tried to resist.
Speaker A:But before he could do anything, Philip launched his surprise attack.
Speaker A:What followed was a master class in medieval political pressure.
Speaker A: m until his death in November: Speaker A:Under pressure from Philip, he issued a papal bull ordering all Christian monarchs to arrest the Templars and seize their properties.
Speaker A: By: Speaker A:Of course, we don't know if Clement thought about de Molay's final words, or if he considered them to be some kind of divine retribution.
Speaker A:But we do know that his death, coming so soon after that fateful promise, sent shockwaves through medieval Europe.
Speaker A:We also know now, this far after that, that was just the beginning.
Speaker A:To be fair, while we can suggest that the Pope's death was the curse at work, others do say, quite truly, quite fairly, that he wasn't a well man to begin with.
Speaker A:So you might think his death was expected.
Speaker A:Alright, alright, fair enough.
Speaker A:I'll take that.
Speaker A:But King Philip, on the other hand, now he was a healthy 46 year old.
Speaker A:He was a man at the height of his power.
Speaker A: ,: Speaker A:Philip goes hunting.
Speaker A:Now, it's a place he's been hunting loads near his palace at Fontainebleau.
Speaker A:It promised to be a routine day, the kind of hunting trip he's taken hundreds of times before.
Speaker A:As the hunting party follow the trail of their prey, I imagine, because I'm a writer, the forest becoming unusually quiet.
Speaker A:No birdsong, no rustling in the undergrowth.
Speaker A:Just the sound of the horse's breath and the occasional snap of a branch underfoot.
Speaker A:As the hunting party pushed deeper into the woods, I imagined mists gathering between the trees, turning familiar shapes into shadowy specters.
Speaker A:And that's when it happened.
Speaker A:Philip's horse, a mount he'd ridden countless times before, reared up without warning.
Speaker A:Maybe the horse had seen something in the shadows or was spooked by something unexpected.
Speaker A:Either way, the king was thrown from the saddle.
Speaker A:Although the impact didn't kill him immediately, Philip sustained serious injuries.
Speaker A:His men carried him back to the hunting lodge, where the royal physicians tried desperately to save him.
Speaker A:For several hours, Philip suffered.
Speaker A:Until just eight months after condemning Jacques de Molay to the flames, Philip IV of France breathed his last.
Speaker A:The king, who had seemed invincible, who had bought both the Pope and the Templars to heal, was dead at 46 years old.
Speaker A:But the curse wasn't yet done.
Speaker A:Within 14 years of Philip's death, France witnessed something unprecedented.
Speaker A:All three of his sons, Louis X, Philip V and Charles IV, died in quick succession, each each failing to produce a male heir.
Speaker A:In the span of just 14 years, a dynasty that had ruled France for over three centuries simply vanished.
Speaker A:The crown passed to Philip of Valois, a cousin.
Speaker A:But the transition wasn't smooth.
Speaker A:The sudden change threw France into chaos, leading directly to the Hundred Years War, when England's Edward III claimed he had a better right to the French throne.
Speaker A:Was this the work of de Molay's curse, reaching beyond the grave to destroy not just his enemies, but their entire bloodline?
Speaker A:Or was it simply the cruel hand of fate, a series of coincidences that just happened to align with a condemned man's final words?
Speaker A:Of course, we'll never know for sure, but here's something I do know.
Speaker A: ted on that cold March day in: Speaker A:If you ever make it to Paris, take a walk to the Isle de la City stand where Jacques de Molay spoke those final words.
Speaker A:Watch the river flow past, just as it did all those years ago in the shadow of Notre Dame.
Speaker A:Ask yourself, is it really possible that the dying words of a wrong man can reach across the centuries to exact their revenge?
Speaker A:This is the Adventure Story Podcast.
Speaker A:Thank you so much for hanging out today.
Speaker A:It's great to spend time with you.
Speaker A:If you've enjoyed the show today, please subscribe, like and share.
Speaker A:It'll take you just seconds, but really helped me spread the word about this show.
Speaker A:Now, a lot of the stories and ideas for this episode came from my book the Templar Enigma, which is available in stores now.
Speaker A:Just search your favorite bookstore for the Templar Enigma by Luke Richardson and you'll see it there.
Speaker A:If you have a story you'd like me to explore, let me know in the comments or via email.
Speaker A:Helloukerichardsonauthor.com and if you need some more adventure in your life, and let's be honest, who doesn't, you might like to join the Adventure Society.
Speaker A:This weekly newsletter is your ticket to travel with me to share real world adventures and find out when a new story or season of this podcast drops.
Speaker A:Lukerichardsonauthor.com Adventuresociety is where you need to go for that.
Speaker A:A special thanks to my patrons who make creating in different ways like this possible.
Speaker A:All of my books and all of my podcasts are dedicated to to you.
Speaker A:You keep me motivated when times get tough and focused when something else threatens to steal my attention, as it quite often does.
Speaker A:Many of you have been supporting me since the very early days and for that I'm incredibly grateful.
Speaker A:If you'd like to support me and my various creations, consider joining our vibrant crew on Patreon.
Speaker A:You'll get free and early access to my books, commercial free direct downloads of the podcast, and more stuff as I invent it.
Speaker A:Lukerichardsonauthor.com Patreon P A T R E O N is where you need to head to find out everything about that.
Speaker A:And of course, if you're a fan of adventure stories like the one I've told today, please check out my books lukerichardsonauthor.com or search for me on your favorite bookstore.
Speaker A:Thanks so much.
Speaker A:Bon voyage, Enjoy the adventure and I'll see you again very soon.
