I have fashioned together a concoction of Templar myths that would make Dan Brown proud. Enjoy.
In 1314 the Templar Grandmaster James of Molay is burnt at the stake for heresy. Many of his Order fled France from the Atlantic port of La Rochelle and land in Scotland. Joining with other Scottish Templars, they actively participated at the Battle of Bannockburn and helped deliver a decisive victory to their new patron Robert the Bruce over the English.
Having won Scottish independence for centuries to come, the King rewarded the Templars with unrivalled freedoms that allowed them to expand back into Europe albeit under new names. By the end of the 1400’s the Templars were identified with a wide assortment of organizations ranging from glorified social clubs through to sects practicing ancient esoteric rituals.
In 1487 the Malleus Maleficarum linked the failure of the Crusades and loss of confidence in the Church to a pathological fear of Satan’s ascendancy in the world. Many also came to believe that groups connected to the Templars were in league with the devil and advancing his cause. The papacy saw this as an opportunity to finally rid itself of the Templars by using a Papal Bull to grant permission for bishops and secular authorities to prosecute those aligned with these known heretics if there was no representation from the Inquisition. By early 1500’s the Templars and its offshoots had been largely driven out of mainland Europe leaving only the original order intact in Scotland.
After his death, Molay had fatefully cursed the French Monarchy and the Pope, both dying within a few short years of his own death. Radicalized elements of the Templars (known as the Molays) had come to see Molay as a martyr whose revenge must be made good by any means necessary. Having altered their Red Cross to a skull and crossbones, the Molays actively resisted the papacy and the crown heads of Europe (all except for the Scottish) through piracy in the Mediterranean.