Biden Administration Implements Last Minute Trump MOU with Turkey; Coins, Religious Artifacts of Displaced Greek, Jewish, Armenian, and Kurdish Minorities Included

Today’s Federal Register announced regulations implementing the Trump Administration’s January 19, 2021, Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Republic of Turkey.   This MOU is the latest in a series of recent agreements with authoritarian Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) Governments engineered with behind the scenes help from archaeological advocacy groups.  

Following a pattern established in these other recent MENA MOUs, the restrictions being imposed are of exceptional breadth, including virtually all Turkish archaeological and ethnological material dating from 1.2 million B.C. to the founding of the Turkish Republic in 1924.

In a blow to advocacy groups representing displaced religious and ethnic Greek, Jewish, Armenian, and Kurdish minorities, the regulations explicitly list religious artifacts associated with these groups that were either forcibly deported and/or encouraged to leave Turkey during the troubled 20^th century.  The import restrictions explicitly apply to:

I. Archaeological Material

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B. Metal

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7. Ceremonial Objects – Ritual and ceremonial objects pertaining to Turkey’s religious communities, in bronze, copper, gold, silver, electrum, iron, and lead. This type includes libation vessels, ritual cauldrons and pitchers, rhytons, masks, chalices, plates, censers, candelabras, crosses, pendants, bells, reliquaries, liturgical spoons, Kiddush cups, book covers and boxes, decorated book spines, Torah pointers, finials, andampoules. Approximate date: 5th millennium B.C. to the 18th century A.D.

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 II.  Ethnological Material

 ...

C. Ritual and Ceremonial Objects – This category includes objects for use in religious services (Christian, Islamic, Jewish, and others) or for imperial use by the state (Byzantine Empire, Seljuk Empire, Anatolian Beyliks, and Ottoman Empire). Examples of ritual and ceremonial objects covered in the Agreement include, but are not limited to, the following objects:

1. Religious Objects – This category includes objects in all materials such as lamps, libation vessels, pitchers, chalices, plates, censers, candelabra, crosses and cross pendants, pilgrim flasks, tabernacles, boxes and chests, carved diptychs, liturgical spoons, Kiddush cups, bells, ampoules, Torah pointers and finials, prayer beads, icons,amulets, and Bektashi surrender stones. This type also includes reliquaries and reliquary containers, which may or may not include human remains. Often engraved or otherwise decorated.

 D. Paintings – This category includes works of paint on plaster, wood, or ceramic from religious or public contexts. Paintings from these periods provide information on social and religious history of the people of Turkey that may be absent from written records. Examples of paintings include, but are not limited to:

 1. Wall Paintings – This category includes paintings on various types of plaster, which generally portray religious images and/or scenes of Biblical events. Types may also include simple applied color, bands and borders, animal, floral, and geometric motifs.

2. Panel Paintings (Icons) – Icons are smaller versions of the scenes on wall paintings, and may be partially covered with gold or silver, sometimes encrusted with semiprecious or precious stones and are usually painted on a wooden panel, often for inclusion in a wooden screen. May also be painted on ceramic.

3. Works on Paper – Paintings may be on papyrus, parchment, and paper. Images depicted may include religious scenes, representations of imperial court life, simple applied color, bands and borders, animal, floral, and geometric motifs.

Additional materials associated with religious and ethnic minorities are covered more generally.  See, e.g., I. Archaeological Material, A. Stone, 1. Sculpture, b. Monuments and Stelae, c. Sarcophagi and Ossuaries, d. Large Statuary, e. Small Statuary, 2. Vessels, 4. Seals and Stamps, 5. Jewelry and Beads, B. Metal, 1. Sculpture, a. Large Statuary and Portraits, b. Small Statuary, c. Reliefs, d. Inscribed and Decorated Metal Sheets and Plates, 2. Vessels, 3. Jewelry and Personal Adornment, 6. Seals and Stamps, 8. Musical Instruments, C. Ceramic, Terracotta, and Faience, 1. Sculpture, a. Architectural Elements, b. Sarcophagi and Ossuaries, c. Large Statuary, d. Small Statuary, e. Terracotta Plaques, 2. Vessels, 4. Seals, Stamps, and Tablets, D. Bone, Ivory, and Other Organic Material, 1. Small Statuary and Figurines, 3. Seals and Stamps, E. Wood, 1. Architectural Elements, F. Glass, 1. Architectural Elements, 2. Vessels, 3. Beads and Jewelry, G. Plaster and Stucco, H. Textile, I. Leather, Parchment, and Paper, J. Rock Art, Painting, and Drawing, K. Mosaics, II. Ethnological Material, A. Architectural Elements, B. Funerary Objects, C. Ritual and Ceremonial Objects, 2. Imperial, 3. Furniture, 4. Textiles, 5. Musical Instruments, E. Written Records.

The prospect of such broad import restrictions on such artifacts raises two distinct concerns. First, as a practical matter, such import restrictions will allow Turkey to “claw back” the religious and community property of Turkey’s displaced Greek, Armenian, Jewish and Kurdish populations living in exile on import into the United States. Second, and perhaps of even more concern, the MOU provides de facto U.S. Government recognition to the claims of the authoritarian Erdogan Government to the cultural patrimony of Turkey’s ancient Greek civilization and the religious and community property of Turkey’s small Greek, Armenian, and Jewish population. Even worse, Erdogan can spin such a MOU as reflecting Department of State support for his conversion of Hagia Sophia and other former Greek Orthodox churches into mosques.

The regulations will also have a significant impact on millions of coin collectors and thousands of small businesses here and abroad that trade in historical coins.   The restrictions on coins are as follows: 

I. Archaeological Material

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B. Metal

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9. Coins

a. Greek coins – Archaic coins, dated to 640 – 480 B.C., in electrum, silver and billon, that circulated primarily in Turkey; Classical coins, dated to 479 – 332 B.C., in electrum, silver, gold, and bronze, that circulated primarily in Turkey; and Hellenistic coins, dated to 332 – 31 B.C., in gold, silver, bronze and other base metals, that circulated primarily in Turkey. Greek coins were minted by many authorities for trading and payment and often circulated all over the ancient world, including in Turkey. All categories are based on find information provided in Thompson, M., Mørkholm, O., Kraay, C., Inventory of Greek Coin Hoards, 1973 (available online at http://coinhoards.org/) and the updates in Coin Hoards I-X as well as other hoard and single find publications. Mints located in Turkey and surrounding areas are found in Head, B. V., Historia Numorum, A Manual of Greek Numismatics, 1911 (available online at http://snible.org/coins/hn/).

b. Roman provincial coins – Roman provincial coins, dated from the end of 2nd century B.C. to the early 6th century A.D., in gold, silver, and bronze and copper that circulated primarily in Turkey.

c. Byzantine period coins – Byzantine period coins, in gold, silver, bronze, copper coins, and sometimes electrum, dating from the early 6th century to the 15th century A.D., that circulated primarily in Turkey, (e.g., coins produced at mints in Nicaea and Magnesia under the Empire of Nicaea).

d. Medieval and Islamic coins – Medieval and Islamic coins, in gold, silver,bronze, and copper coins from approximately A.D. 1077 – 1770, that circulated primarily in Turkey.

While the regulations continue a current exemption for widely collected Roman Imperial coins, everything else down to 1770 is included, subject to the qualification that the coin type “circulated primarily in Turkey.”   This qualification apparently stems from the acknowledgement  found in the regulations themselves that ancient coins as a general rule circulated far from where they were minted.  Before the controversial decision to first impose import restrictions on Cypriot coins in 2007, the wide circulation of such coins, as well as the fact that individual types have often come down to us in hundreds or thousands of examples, was enough to keep ancient and early modern coins from being placed on the designated lists. Since that time, coins have usually been included, often misleadingly simply based on the fact that they were minted within the confines of what is today a modern nation state.  

If the phraseology here is meant to better comply with the Cultural Property Implementation Act’s (CPIA’s) language, it still only pays “lip service” to the statutory provisions.  Indeed, the “plain meaning” of the CPIA requires far more.  Import restrictions only apply to “designated archaeological material” under 19 U.S.C. §   2606.  This “designated archaeological material” is that “covered by an agreement” and “listed” under Section 2604.  19 U.S.C. § 2601 (7).  Section 2604 states that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and/or the Treasury Department “may list this such material by type or other appropriate classification, but each listing made under this section shall be sufficiently specific and precise to insure that (1) the import restrictions under Section 2606 are applied only to the archaeological . . . material covered by the agreement . . . ; and (2) fair notice is given to importers . . . as to what material is subject to such restrictions.”  19 U.S.C. § 2604 (emphasis added).  The word “only” emphasizes the requirement that “designated archaeological material” must be only that covered by the agreement, i.e., “first discovered within” and “subject to export control by, the State Party.”   19 U.S.C. § 2601 (2).   The word “shall” emphasizes the mandatory nature of this Congressional direction; there is simply no discretion allowed.     See, e.g., Black's Law Dictionary 1407 (8th ed. 2004) (defining "shall" as "has a duty to; more broadly, is required to").  Therefore, under the CPIA, the proper standard is not whether a coin type “primarily” circulated within the confines of a given, modern nation state, but whether it can only be found there.  Moreover, even assuming the “circulated primarily” phraseology were correct, the regulation’s failure to identify which coins “circulated primarily in Turkey” raises the question whether the regulation may be constitutionally void for vagueness. 

In any event, the real problem with such a broad MOU with Turkey is that in seeking to “protect” any and all “Turkish Cultural Patrimony” from looting, the U.S. Government will further harm minority communities living abroad as well as the legitimate trade in “Turkish” artifacts with our major trading partners in the European Union and the United Kingdom.  The cumulative impact of import restrictions on behalf of authoritarian MENA governments has been very problematical because most minor artifacts (like coins) and family keepsakes simply lack the document trail necessary for legal import under the “safe harbor” provisions of CPIA, 19 U.S.C. § 2606. The CPIA only authorizes the government to impose import restrictions on artifacts first discovered within and subject to the export control of a particular country. (19 U.S.C. § 2601.) Furthermore, seizure is only appropriate for items on the designated list exported from the State Party after the effective date of regulations. (19 U.S.C. § 2606.) Unfortunately, the Department of State and CBP view this authority far more broadly. CBP has promulgated designated lists based on where items are made and sometimes found, not where they are actually found and hence are subject to export control. Additionally, restrictions are not applied prospectively solely to illegal exports made after the effective date of regulations, but rather are enforced against any import into the U.S. made after the effective date of regulations, i.e., an embargo, not targeted, prospective import restrictions.

What can be done?  Advocates for displaced minorities and trade and collector groups need to engage with their elected representatives.  Our elected representatives need to be sensitized to these concerns and asked for help in ensuring that any import restrictions are only be applied to archaeological or ethnological objects illicitly exported from Turkey after the June 16, 2021 effective date of the implementing regulations.  Otherwise, the U.S. Government will become Erdogan’s enforcer in clawing back virtually every object that can be considered “Turkish” on entry to the United States, and we will all be poorer for it.

D-Day Battle Still Imprinted on Normandy Beaches

Almost 70 years have passed since Allied forces invaded Normandy on June 6, 1944.  Today, only military cemeteries and a few German concrete defensive emplacements remain visible indications of the battle, but believe it or not, the sand itself still remembers in its own way too.

Can a Coin Save a Ship?

The Spanish-American War is often considered to mark the beginning of the ascent of the United States as a world power. Yet, that war is little remembered today, and now one of the few artifacts that remains from that period is in danger of being lost too.

The Protected Cruiser Olympia served as Admiral Dewey's flagship during the battle of Manila Bay, and in 1921 brought the body of the "unknown soldier" back from France, but efforts to preserve her have been marred by a lack of money, mismanagement and even fraud over the years. See http://www.csmonitor.com/From-the-news-wires/2010/0907/USS-Olympia-one-of-a-kind-steel-cruiser-battles-for-survival and http://www.phillyseaport.org/ships_olympia.shtml

A bill has been introduced in Congress to provide for the striking of commemorative coins to help fund a refurbishment, but it is unclear whether the bill will pass or the ship will survive economic realities.

Palestinian President Brokers Peace Deal Aimed at Shoring Up Christian Shrine

President Abbas has brokered a peace deal amongst Christian sects with rights to occupy the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. The truce will allow much needed repairs to take place at the 1500 year Christian shrine.
See http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/oct/26/bethlehem-church-nativity Tense relations between and among the Catholic, Orthodox and Armenian guardians of the Church have hampered much needed repairs for years. The divisions of responsibility for the shrine date back at least to Ottoman times.

CPAC Meets on MOU with Nicaragua

You might not think so based on the controversies related to the MOU's with Cyprus, China and Italy, but in fact most MOU's don't attract much attention. Such is the case with the MOU with Nicaragua, which was first agreed to in 2000 and extended again in 2005. Not that there was no room for debate. Though it will presumably be extended again, if the AAMD has its way, there will be some necessary changes.

There were only two speakers at today's public session, Alcides Montiel from the Embassy and Josh Knerly, representing the AAMD. Surprisingly, though some representatives of the archaeological community were present, none testified about the MOU.

It was left entirely to Mr. Montiel to argue for the renewal. He testified that the MOU should be renewed because artifacts continue to be smuggled out of the country, particularly to Spain. He also mentioned that 800 artifacts had recently been seized within the country from an illicit storehouse. He further indicated that draft legislation is being prepared for additional protection of cultural patrimony and that a dedicated police force is in the works.

CPAC Member Korver (trade representative) asked Mr. Montiel if given the worldwide recession, his country will seek relief from any of its obligations under Art. II of the current MOU. Mr. Montiel indicated he would need to confer with the authorities at home about this issue. In response to a question from CPAC Member Sandy Boyd (museum representative), Mr. Montiel indicated there are registered collectors in his country.

Josh Knerly questioned whether the MOU should be renewed at all, but seemed resigned to the fact that it will. He first asked whether the concerted international response requirement of the CPIA can really be met given the limited nature of the market in Nicaraguan cultural artifacts.

He next urged that Article II be modified to contain specific requirements. He found it troubling that Nicaragua was apparently just starting to address its promises of years past.

He also issued a challenge to the State Department to provide greater transparency about what restrictions are being considered. Although the Federal Register indicated that CPAC would consider expanded restrictions on ethnological artifacts, no additional detail was provided. Mr. Knerly indicated such secrecy makes formulating a response virtually impossible.

Based on recent expansions of the designated list for other Latin American countries, Mr. Knerly nonetheless guesses that Nicaragua seeks additional restrictions on religious art. If so, Mr. Knerly argues that such an extention would only reward Nicaragua for its failure to create a proper inventory of such religious art. Such inventoried artifacts are already barred from entry without the need to impose restrictions on all such art.

Finally, Mr. Knerly also explained that it is difficult to tell restricted pottery from Nicaragua from unrestricted pottery from Costa Rica. He urged CPAC to ensure there are efforts to create an accurate designated list that will make such distinctions clear. CPAC member James Willis (representing trade interests) mused that it might be impossible as a practical matter to create such a list.

While I expect the MOU to be renewed, it is possible it will receive greater scrutiny because diplomatic relations with Nicaragua's current government are not all that good.

Organizers of Cypriot Icon Auction Donate Cypriot Icon to Orthodox Church

The organizers of the first-ever auction in Cyprus of icons have donated the sole Cypriot icon in the auction to the Orthodox Church of Cyprus. See http://www.cyprus-mail.com/cyprus/auction-house-donates-mamas-icon-church/20100505

The icon in question depicted Saint Mamas. Saint Mamas is the patron saint of Turkish-occupied Morphou. I assume that at least suggests the possibility that the icon originated from this town. The article does not state whether there is any suspicion it may have been looted when Turkish troops invaded the Island, but one wonders whether that possibility factored into the auction house's decision to donate the icon to the Orthodox Church.

As I indicated in my original blog post about this auction, I am happy Cyprus is allowing sales of antique icons on the Island, but I do question whether the auction organizers were afforded some special treatment.

For another Cyprus Mail article on the auction and some of the controversy surrounding it, see http://www.cyprus-mail.com/cyprus/treasured-icons-auction/20100403

Oddly, the usual Internet critics of the trade in cultural property have stayed strangely quiet, and, indeed, one of the harshest wrote an as usual off-point critique of my original post rather than a critique of the auction itself. See
http://paul-barford.blogspot.com/2010/03/what-part-of-phrase-export-licence-dont.html

One wonders if this may have to do with the fact that the auction's organizer seems to have good relations with Saving Antiquities for Everyone.
See http://www.savingantiquities.org/feature_page.php?featureID=6 (post attributed to auction organizer who was instrumental in the return of other icons associated with Morphou to the Orthodox Church).

Metal Detectorists Help Record Journeys of Medieval Pilgrims

Most ancient coin collectors know how English and Welsh metal detectorists have helped record thousands upon thousands of Iron Age, Roman and Anglo-Saxon coins under the Treasure Act and Portable Antiquities Scheme.

A "Cultural Property Observer" reader sent me this interesting article discussing how the PAS also has encouraged metal detectorists to help record relics from medieval pilgrimages in England. See http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/news/Unearthed-relics-help-chart-lives-Leicestershire-pilgrims/article-1820935-detail/article.html

As the article notes,

Peter Liddle, community archeologist for Leicestershire County Council, said: "When I started with the county museums service over 20 years ago our collection included just a handful of religious relics.

"But thanks to the work of metal detectorists and the portable antiquities scheme, particularly since 2003, we are building a picture of the journeys undertaken by Leicestershire's pilgrims. We now have about 75 relics, many of which have been donated to us.

The finds include small flasks which held holy water from the shrines and medallions.

"The flasks were used as 'medieval first aid kits' which were used to heal wounds or cure illnesses."

King Henry VIII suppressed England's monasteries for political and economic reasons. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissolution_of_the_Monasteries Some of their medieval art and architecture were recycled. Most of it, however, was unfortunately utterly destroyed.

Now, with the help of metal detectorists, some previously lost evidence about England's great medieval monasteries and the pilgrims that helped support them has come to light.

The Face of the Real Saint Nick Revealed in Time for Christmas

An Italian forensic pathologist has teamed up with a British anthropologist and new technology to reconstruct the face of the real Saint Nicholas, whose relics can be found in Bari, Italy. See http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/12/24/yes-virginia-there-is-a-santa-claus-and-heres-what-he-look/?icid=mainhtmlws-sb-ndl1link7http%3A%2F%2Fwww.politicsdaily.com%2F2009%2F12%2F24%2Fyes-virginia-there-is-a-santa-claus-and-heres-what-he-look%2F

As the article explains,

Nicholas of Myra (270-346 AD) was born into a patrician family of some wealth, but as a devoted Christian he used what he had to help others (and to intervene on behalf of the falsely accused). The most famous story to come down to us is how Nicholas, hearing of the plight of a father who could not afford dowries for his three daughters, secretly left bags of gold coins at their home to provide a dowry and preserve the ladies from a likely fate as prostitutes. In one version of the story, the father lay in wait the third time the donor was to visit and thus discovered the identity of history's first secret Santa.

But Nicholas was much more than a kindly, anonymous gift-giver. As a bishop in the fourth century, he was also deeply involved in the raging disputes of the day over core issues of church doctrine that we now take for granted, or ought to.

For the story of how Saint Nick's bones arrived in Bari, Italy, from what is now present day Turkey, see: http://www.basilicasannicola.it/home/capitoli.php?area_id=25&lingua_id=2&capitolo_id=116

Presumably, despite Italy's own aggressive repatriation efforts, there are no plans to send Saint Nick's relics back to Turkey anytime soon.

In any event, Cultural Property Observer wishes all its readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

First to Fall: The William Edward Cramsie Story

This Memorial Day it is worth mentioning that Wayne Sayles, better known as a numismatist, publisher, and founder and executive director of the ACCG, has written a book about the first member of West Point's Class of 1943 to fall in combat. See: http://wgs.cc/FirstToFall/

The survivors of the generation that fought in WW II are now passing from this earth at an accelerated rate. In this well done and unusual book, Wayne has reconstructed through interviews and research the life and death in the service of his country of an otherwise unknown pilot who was shot down after making a bombing run on a V-1 "Buzz Bomb" launch site.

It is also a book about the power of artifacts-- in this case a West Point class ring-- to inspire us. Through the story of that ring, Wayne's book serves to honor not only Bill Cramsie, but also his comrades whose exploits have begun to fade as their peers and loved ones age and pass on.

Vatican Says Knights Templar Hid Shroud of Turin

Many Christians believe that the Shroud of Turin is the burial cloth of Jesus. This Easter, the Vatican has weighed in with information that the Knights Templar hid the shroud for the period it disappeared from the historical record.

Here is an article about the revered relic, which was published in the Times of London and was circulated on the "Milnet" list serve:

Medieval knights hid and secretly venerated The Holy Shroud of Turin for more than 100 years after the Crusades, the Vatican said yesterday in an announcement that appeared to solve the mystery of the relic's missing years.

The Knights Templar, an order which was suppressed and disbanded for alleged heresy, took care of the linen cloth, which bears the image of a man with a beard, long hair and the wounds of crucifixion, according to Vatican researchers.

The Shroud, which is kept in the royal chapel of Turin Cathedral, has long been revered as the shroud in which Jesus was buried, although the image only appeared clearly in 1898 when a photographer developed a negative.

Barbara Frale, a researcher in the Vatican Secret Archives, said the Shroud had disappeared in the sack of Constantinople in 1204 during the Fourth Crusade, and did not surface again until the middle of the fourteenth century. Writing in L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, Dr Frale said its fate in those years had always puzzled historians.

However her study of the trial of the Knights Templar had brought to light a document in which Arnaut Sabbatier, a young Frenchman who entered the order in 1287, testified that as part of his initiation he was taken to ´a secret place to which only the brothers of the Temple had access¡. There he was shown ´a long linen cloth on which was impressed the figure of a man¡ and instructed to venerate the image by kissing its feet three times.

Dr Frale said that among other alleged offences such as sodomy, the Knights Templar had been accused of worshipping idols, in particular a ´bearded figure¡. In reality however the object they had secretly venerated was the Shroud.

They had rescued it to ensure that it did not fall into the hands of heretical groups such as the Cathars, who claimed that Christ did not have a true human body, only the appearance of a man, and could therefore not have died on the Cross and been resurrected. She said her discovery vindicated a theory first put forward by the British historian Ian Wilson in 1978.

The Knights Templar were founded at the time of the First Crusade in the eleventh century to protect Christians making the pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The Order was endorsed by the Pope, but when Acre fell in 1291 and the Crusaders lost their hold on the Holy Land their support faded, amid growing envy of their fortune in property and banking.

Rumours about the order?s corrupt and arcane secret ceremonies claimed that novices had to deny Christ three times, spit on the cross, strip naked and kiss their superior on the buttocks, navel, and lips and submit to sodomy. King Philip IV of France, who coveted the order?s wealth and owed it money, arrested its leaders and put pressure on Pope Clement V to dissolve it.
Several knights, including the Grand Master, Jacques de Molay, were burned at the stake. Legends of the Templars? secret rituals and lost treasures have long fascinated conspiracy theorists, and figure in The Da Vinci Code, which repeated the theory that the knights were entrusted with the Holy Grail.

In 2003 Dr Frale, the Vatican?s medieval specialist, unearthed the record of the trial of the Templars, also known as the Chinon Parchment, after realising that it had been wrongly catalogued. The parchment showed that Pope Clement V had accepted the Templars were guilty of ´grave sins¡, such as corruption and sexual immorality, but not of heresy.

Their initiation ceremony involved spitting on the Cross, but this was to brace them for having to do so if captured by Muslim forces, Dr Frale said. Last year she published for the first time the prayer the Knights Templar composed when ´unjustly imprisoned¡, in which they appealed to the Virgin Mary to persuade "our enemies¡ to abandon calumnies and lies and revert to truth and charity.

Radiocarbon dating tests on the Turin Shroud in 1988 indicated that it was a medieval fake. However this had been challenged on the grounds that the dated sample was taken from an area of the shroud mended after a fire in the Middle Ages and not a part of the original cloth.
After the sack of Constantinople it was next seen at Lirey in France in 1353, when it was displayed in a local church by descendants of Geoffroy de Charney, a Templar Knight burned at the stake with Jacques de Molay.

It was moved to various European cities until it was acquired by the Savoy dynasty in Turin in the sixteenth century. Holy See property since 1983, the Shroud was last publicly exhibited in 2000, and is due to go on show again next year.

The Vatican has not declared whether it is genuine or a forgery, leaving it to believers to decide. The late John Paul II said it was ´an icon of the suffering of the innocent in every age.¡ The self proclaimed heirs of the Knights Templar have asked the Vatican to ´restore the reputation of the disgraced order and acknowledge that assets worth some £80 million were confiscated.

The Association of the Sovereign Order of the Temple of Christ, based in Spain, said that when the order was dissolved by Pope Clement V in 1307, more than 9,000 properties, farms and commercial ventures belonging to knights were seized by the Church. A British branch also claiming descent from the Knights Templar and based in Hertfordshire has called for a papal apology for the persecution of the order.

There were several orders of knights that figured during the Crusades, but perversely the demise of the Knights Templar has ensured their everlasting fame, albeit as the victims of conspiracy theories involving the Church.