I think everybody's heard of the knights templar,
But how much of it is true?
How powerful were they?
Well, they are extraordinarily wealthy.
-If you want a legend then you want treasure. -Sure.
-Right. Sure. -And that's enough to start the stories.
There were terrible rituals.
[josh] and where do we get this ide that they held the holy grai
This wasn't a ragtag group of knights.
No, these guys were very highly organized, very well trained.
Okay, headed down.
Got something different here.
[david] there is no doubt in my mind at all
That there is something hidden here,
And I've got the evidence to prove it.
Okay, here we go. Fire in the hole.
Oh, there's a void here. Come here. Look, look, look.
Wait, is this a skull? Oh, my word.
The order of the knights templar.
Born out of the crusades in the 12th century,
It was one of the most powerful
And secretive organizations on earth.
Founded to protect pilgrims travelling to the holy land
The templars grew to become europe's largest standing army since the roman empire,
Accumulating unfathomable wealth.
But suddenly in 1312, the order was accused of heresy and disbanded.
Its members were arrested and its leaders burned at the stake.
To this day, myths and conspiracy theories
Have shrouded the templar's true history.
So who were they really? What happened to their legendary treasury?
And is there any basis for the rumor
That they held the greatest relic in christendom,
The holy grail?
Archaeologists, religious zealots, indiana jones,
All have searched the world over
For proof of the templar treasure.
Other than indy, all have come up empty.
But they may be about to change.
In a crumbling manor house in England,
A newly discovered underground passage may lead to templar riches.
And in poland, an archaeologist is investigating
A sealed tower in a templar church
That may unlock the secrets of the order's meteoric ris and dramatic fall.
So choose wisely,
And join me on a hunt for the truth behind the knights templar.
[josh] my name is josh gates...
-Hello. -[crowd cheering]
[josh] explorer, adventurer.
Amazing.
Help.
[josh] and a guy who ends u
In some very strange situations.
Oh, [bleep]. [sighs in relief] that was exciting.
[josh] with a degree in archaeolog
And a passion for the unexplained...
[shouting] yeah.
[josh] I travel to the ends of the earth,
Investigating the greatest legends in history.
Okay, let's punch it.
[josh] this is expedition unknown.
My hunt for templar truth and treasure starts in jolly old England
As much as I'd like to see the sights here in london
And eat my weight in fish and chips,
I'm on a quest to find the holy grail.
Okay, that might be a longshot,
But I am here to investigat the mysterious group rumored to have once held it
To do that,
I'm passing through one of the oldest parts of the city.
This is temple bar gate.
In the middle ages,
It was the most important entrance to the city of london,
Linking the palace of westminster to the tower of london.
And just beyond it
Lies the former headquarters of the knights templar in England.
Down a narrow alley, tucked away from the modern world,
I find a circular church that looks a bit like a medieval castle.
-I'm here to meet doctor jones. -[whip cracks]
No, not that one. The reverend robin griffith-jones.
He doesn't carry a bullwhip
But he did write the book on the knights templar, literally.
-Reverend. -Josh, good morning.
Hello. How very nice to see you here.
-Welcome. -Very nice to meet you.
Welcome to the temple church.
-[josh] I mean, breathtaking. -Isn't it just?
[robin] on a morning like this isn't it gorgeous?
-Absolutely wonderful. -It's incredible.
I want to make sure I get your title correct. It's a very specific title.
I hope you get it right too. [chuckles]
You are...
The reverend and valiant master of the temple.
Does that come with a sword and a shield?
[laughs] well, it did 800 years ago it did.
It now just has a clerical collar. You know, same difference.
-Same difference, exactly. -Exactly, yeah.
So, I think everybody's heard of the knights templar, right?
-True. -But I think people know them from indiana jones,
And the da vinci code, and conspiracy stories.
I think if you really pressed somebody and said, "who were they?"
That they wouldn't really know.
What's the real story?
Well, it starts in the 1099, when the christians take jerusalem
For the first time in hundreds of years.
[josh] the center of the christian world had been under muslim contro
That is until the first crusade recaptured the holy city.
It becomes a pilgrimage destination,
But the journey from europe is long, perilous, and expensive.
Ambush attacks and robberies are common.
And from this problem a solution is born.
1119, thereabouts, a group of nine french soldiers, knights,
Go to the king of jerusalem and say,
"we would like to form an order of monks,
And we will also be warriors.
We will protect pilgrims."
So this is a kind of funny marriage, right?
It's a very funny marriage indeed,
And to be really honest,
The first few years nobody knew what to make of them.
-I mean, it's really wrong. Monks pray, soldiers kill. -Right.
[josh] but this medieval collectiv did both jobs very well,
Especially the killing part
Their fighting skills became legendary.
And to make yet another george lucas reference,
The original outline for star wars
Called the pious lightsaber-wielding warrior jedi templar,
Which was of course later changed to jedi knight
At their height, the templars build how many fortresses,
How many churches around europe
-And the holy land? -Oh, well, there are hundreds of commandries.
Within England itself, there were 14 or 15 round churches like this.
-Only four actually survived. -Just in England?
Just in England.
[josh] what started as an order of just nine me
Grew into a largescale global organization
That lasted almost two centuries.
Round churches like this
Were modeled after the holy sepulchre in jerusalem,
Clever branding that connected the templars
To the final resting place of jesus.
And it paid off. Protecting pilgrims became big business.
Because, of course, you really keep your pilgrims safe
-If you keep the kingdom safe. -Yes.
This means they have to build an extraordinary system
Of endowments, land, treasure, cash.
[josh] wealthy pilgrims regularly deposited funds with the templars
At the beginning of their journey to the holy land
In exchange for a promissory note,
And then collected cash as needed at outposts along the way.
The feudal equivalent of traveler's checks.
This makes them far more than just protectors of pilgrims in the holy land.
They become essential to europe's diplomatic, and political,
And financial life.
[josh] the templars became a transnational corporation
And tax-free donations from kingdoms and wealthy patrons
Made them richer than most nations today on the order of billions.
Among their holdings, at least according the legen
Were the treasures of solomon's temple,
Including the ark of the covenant and the holy grail.
So, for a while things are going great
-For the templars. -They are. More than.
More than, right? And the nerve center of all of it, for them,
-Is jerusalem. -Yes.
And then what happens there?
Well, the real crisis point is 1291,
When the last foothold of the christian presence in the holy land is over.
[josh] the holy land falls back into muslim hands
And the templars find themselves without a mission.
Yet they remain very wealth and very powerful,
And this rubs many the wrong way.
Who, ultimately, is the one who's gonna twist the knife in them?
Philip the fair, king of France.
[josh] deeply in debt to the templa
And unnerved by their military might and religious authority,
King philip goes on the atta the old fashioned way, by starting rumors.
Rumors that the secret initiation ceremonies of the templar
Were steeped in heresy.
In 1307, there were these charges that at the initiation ceremonies
There were terrible rituals denying christ, urinating on the cross.
I mean, the list goes on.
Most of this is clearly malarky,
-But there was no way of disproving the charges. -Right.
[josh] tortured into false confessions,
Many templar were burned at the stake.
The order was disbanded and exiled.
In one fell swoop, the knights templar were no more.
But what happened to all of their wealth?
All of this business about templar treasure,
And all of the hoards of things they had,
And relics from the holy land,
I mean, where do we get this idea
That these things are still out there?
-They were genuinely wealthy, -right.
But there is one story that,
On the night before the arrest,
12 knights templar were seen leaving paris with some treasure.
-And they got onto 18 ships and... -Vanished.
-Complete vanished. -Dot, dot, dot.
Absolutely dot, dot, dot.
[josh] this unfinished story
That a group of templar knights escaped by sea with treasure
Has fueled centuries of theories.
I thank doctor jones
And take to the english countryside to connect the dots.
My trusty steed for this journey
Is a very british triumph scrambler.
And just like the templars, this steel horse can go wherever it wants
Which makes me one very happy pilgrim.
[josh] researchers tracing the fleet
Of escaping templar ships that left France
Have focused on England as a probable destination.
But where exactly?
Well, to find out I'm motoring two hours north of london
To a historic town where a hunt for templar treasure
Is underway.
Woo.
[josh] welcome to burton upon trent.
This was once the beer brewing capital of the world
Thanks to the monks at nearby burton abbey
Who started brewing in the 11th century.
The abbey is long gone, but the monks controlled another property in the area
One with direct ties to the knights templar.
This is sinai park house, once a grand manor.
Today, it's undergoing major restoration.
I'm here to meet with the property's caretake kate murphy,
And lawyer and historian david adkins.
-Hi, josh. -I'm josh. Kate?
-Yeah, absolutely. Hi, and good to meet you. -Nice to meet you.
-David? -Nice to meet you.
Pleasure to meet you.
Okay, let's start with the elephant in the room here.
-I can't help but notice it needs a little work. -[kate chuckles]
Just a little bit of a doer-upper
As they would say.
[laughing] so, david, you're the historian here.
Take me through some history.
How old is this property?
What's the timeline of this place?
The first house to be built here
Was a manor house in around 1066,
Just after the norman conquest.
And the only other property that's comparable is burton abbey,
Another stone building about two miles in that direction.
Right, there was a big, powerful abbey here, yes?
Massively powerful. It was the most powerful abbey in central England.
And the templar connection with burton and sinai starts after 1307.
The french king was determined to get rid of the templars, to break the templar power.
So they were driven from paris,
And they loaded all the treasure that had come from jerusale
Onto a ship at the port of la rochelle,
And they depart from that po and sail away into the night
The treasure is never seen again.
So how do we get these templars from France to burton?
They sailed to England because it was the nearest country they could go to
-Away from France. -Right.
Also, the monks of burton abbey were notoriously corrupt.
You could buy the monks of burton abbey
-If you had money and needed a favor. -[chuckles]
The monks of burton abbey would be the people you would turn to.
How do we put them here?
When the templars leave paris in 1307,
Soon after that date the monks of burton abbey take control of sinai house.
There's long been a rumor for centuries
They have a tunnel linking sinai house to burton abbey
Down there in the trent valley.
Has anybody investigated that?
Yes, in the 1880s,
A group of local professional people, doctors, and lawyers,
And they get together and investigate what's under sinai house.
And do they find anything?
Yes, they went into the cellar,
They broke through a tiny archway,
And they went underground for a quarter of a mile.
[josh] david believes that the tunnel was used by the templars
As a hiding place for the treasure
They smuggled out of France
So as a historian, could those stories be true?
Do you think there's really something hidden here?
Absolutely. There is no doubt in my mind at all
That there is something hidden here
And I've got the evidence to prove it.
So what is that evidence?
We have a press article here.
[josh] it says that... [reading]
And then what? They turned back in this tunnel?
They turned back and it was never investigated again.
Is there anything to corroborate this?
Like, is there any physical evidence in the house
That this actually happened?
Yes, absolutely. There are things in sinai house
That you absolutely must come and see.
-Please. -Follow me.
[josh chuckling] whoa.
This is, I mean I feel like I've just stepped into a time machine.
[kate] well, we are in the 13, 1400s here, so I guess you have.
Okay, well, we're going down.
Whoa. Look at this place.
Oh, man, look at this brickwork. This is crazy.
Oh, my word, there's something there.
Whoa. Look at this place.
Oh, my word, there's something there.
[josh] I'm investigating an historic manor house in England,
In search of a secret tunne
Which could lead to knights templar treasure
Welcome to sinai's medieval cellars,
And this is the thing that we wanted to show you
Because, clearly, there's something going on with this wall.
It looks like, you can see this seam here,
-It looks like something's been bricked up. -Yeah.
And what is so intriguing about it
Is that it just fits like lock and key
-Yeah. -With this newspaper story
-And this account of some sort of tunnel here. -[kate] yeah.
-[both] yeah. -Can we look behind this wall? Can we try to get back there?
As long as we don't have the building falling down then yeah, absolutely.
We do want to avoid the building falling on us.
[josh] against a wall, yet undeterred,
Kate and david have arrange for mason dave shepherd
To carefully drill into the brick
And hopefully get a look at what's behind it.
Okay, so, what's the plan here?
Right, first off,
What we're gonna do is gonna drill a hole straight the way through,
-To try and get a camera in. -Snake camera. Yeah, okay, great.
Once we've drilled through past the resistance,
We'll know, get a basic idea of how thick the wall is.
Okay, shall we drill?
-Yeah, let's do it. -Come on.
[josh] it's time to drill, baby, drill.
Dave starts with a small masonry bit
So he doesn't crack the whole wall.
Okay, here we go. Fire in the hole.
[josh] we drill cautiously into the centuries-old morta
Until finally...
Oh, we're through.
-It went through about where? -About there.
-So two or three layers of bricks? -Yeah.
-But then no resistance? -None at all, no.
Okay, so there's something back there.
[josh] we widen the hole just enough to get a look inside.
Snake cam going in.
Okay, going through the brick here.
This looks like a loose rock beyond the brick.
[whispering] what's past that?
[in normal voice] oh, oh. There's a void here.
Come here. Look, look, look.
That's all hollow space there.
There was something back here.
It looks like, whatever it is, it's collapsed in,
So possibly it was a tunnel or, you know, something that's collapsed in on itself.
I mean, this could have been a tunnel, for sure.
But if it was, it's totally collapsed.
There's no way through this debris.
I do a see a chalice sitting on a table. Is that significant?
-Probably not. -Yeah, no, just ignore that.
But I don't think there's a way through from this side
Without ripping this entire thing apart,
Which, you know, is gonna bring a lot of house down
On top of us I think.
-Yeah, that's probably not a good idea. -Yeah.
So we could try to attack it from the surface
-And see, you know, if we can go above -mmm.
-Yes. -To figure out where this went.
[josh] having discovered what may be the remains of a tunnel,
We excitedly return to the surface to search from the top down
Kate calls in some reinforcements to help
And, as it turns out, they're familiar faces.
Well, josh, there's a few folks I'd like you to meet.
I believe you already know john.
-John, good to see you again. -Josh, good to see you.
-Norie, pleasure. -Hi, nice to see you.
-From our boudicca investigation. -Absolutely.
That was a very exciting day. I think there was more coins in one place
Than I've ever seen.
We have six, 12, 18, 24, 25 coins.
[man] fantastic.
And this is dee hillier, archaeologist.
-Hello. -Dee,
-Real pleasure to meet you. -Pleasure to meet you too.
And I see a trusty ground penetrating radar here.
[norie] yes, definitely.
So, okay, what's the plan for today?
Well, it's such a historical site,
We want to have a look around and see what there is.
We're not sure what's gonna be under the ground,
But it would be fascinating to find out and see.
Yeah, I mean just down in the basement
There's clearly evidence of what, you know, an arch or door
That must have gone somewhere.
So I mean, anything could be down here
-I suppose, right? I mean... -Yeah, we could have a good look
-And we can see. -Yeah.
[josh] we start our gpr sca in an open field outside the manor,
Following a path from the direction of the bricked up tunnel
Toward what was once burton abbey,
While john carefully monitors the results.
So, this might look like a very simple machine
But in fact it's doing something pretty slick.
The machine pulses radar signals down into the earth
Which reflect back up to the machine.
We'll mark any disturbances with a fla to investigate further.
Hopefully underneath one of them will be a templar tunnel.
-How am I doing, dee? -Oh, brilliantly.
-Just keep it nice and straight. -Thank you.
-I used to mow lawns as a kid, so... -Really?
-Did you make much money? -No, and nothing's changed.
[chuckles]
[josh] we meticulously run the gpr up and down
Long stretches of the proper near the house,
Leaving a trail of flags in our wake.
-Stop. -You got something?
-Yes. Dee, can we have a flag there, please? -Yeah.
-Press on. -[both] okay.
And be ready.
-Stop. -More?
-Just back a touch. -[dee] back.
That's it.
Stop.
-Yeah, okay. Flag there, please, dee. -Yeah?
Here we go.
Whatever these targets are,
-Look how evenly spaced they are. -[dee] yeah.
About two meters apart.
-[josh] so let's see how far this goes. -[dee] yeah, okay.
-Stop. -[josh] it's the same thing.
We've got, kind of, matching targets
On either side of the driveway here.
-Yeah, you can see. -Yeah.
Okay, flag's in.
Yeah, look at that. Wow, it does.
-It looks like a big ditch here. -Yeah.
Something here is wrapped all the way around the house.
[josh] so far, the line of flags indicates a subterranean anomaly
In the shape of a uniform path.
Could it be the collapsed tunnel
Connecting to sinai park house?
There's only one way to find out.
We are not fooling around.
[josh] this excavator will get the scoop
On what lies below the surface.
It may look like a rough process,
But the excavator is actually delicately scraping layers of soil
As it digs through history.
[josh] whoa, whoa, hang on.
I think we've broken through here.
Wow.
[josh] the anomaly in the so
Turns out to be a thick layer of clay.
Is that clay layer naturally occurring do you think, dee?
No, I believe it was put there purposefully as puddling clay.
And what is puddling clay exactly?
It's to make it to waterproof, to seal it essentially.
-It's an absolute fact that in the 1200s -[dee] yes.
There was a moat around sinai.
-There was? -Yes, yeah.
And so if in fact that's what we're looking at here,
This could be a moat that dates back to the templar times?
-1,000 years or even older. -Wow.
[josh] this isn't a templar tunnel
But it may well be a templar-era moat
That would have been used as a line of defense,
And john is convinced there's even more to find below the moat.
-Okay, so should we try to get down under it? -I believe so.
The radar douser clearly showed
That there was rubble at about three feet.
All right, let's keep digging.
[josh] after just a few more scoops,
We suddenly uncover more pieces of the story.
Hold. Yeah, hold.
-[dee] oh, wow. -[john] looks like a roof tile.
[josh] and more.
-So what is this? -It looks like terracotta, roman roof tiles.
-[josh] how old do you think this is? -First century ad.
-This is roman era? -Yeah.
Wow. And that's right underneath
-This clay layer? -[john and dee] yes.
And there's a lot of it it looks like.
-Yes. -Which means it was a roman defensive ditch
And then they filled it in.
-Later adapted into a moat. -Yes.
It's incredible.
[josh] what we've potentially uncovered is astounding.
A defended roman settlement here would be an historic find,
One that may explain the very existence
Of sinai park house right here on this site,
And it would likely have made it very attractive
To the templar as well.
So, based on the data,
-This ditch -[john] yeah.
-You think extends this way? -Yes.
And how big do you figure this is?
I think it encircles the whole of the property.
It's incredible. I mean, this could have been a defensive structure
Not only for the templars but for early generations as well.
And if that's the case, that adds to the possibility of the templars being here
With wanting to defend something.
It just adds another layer to that story.
Right. What are they defending?
So they're pretty important and probably pretty valuable.
Based on what we've seen here
And based on the fact that that door in the cellar goes somewhere,
I'd say there's a lot more searching to be done here at sinai house.
I think that's very right.
Well, I'll be back in six months.
Please have it all dug up.
[all laughing]
[josh] while there's no sig of templar treasure at sinai house,
Our discoveries have turned out to be even older
And no less significant.
David and kate are determine to keep investigating the grounds,
Which I have no doubt will yield many more remarkable finds
In the years to come
As the sun sets, one templar mystery sparks another.
We know the templars power stretched from the holy lan
All the way to here in England
In churches and properties like sinai house.
The question is, how did they maintain influence over such a huge territory?
Equating themselves with the protective power of god was a good start.
But they would have needed to back that up
With some muscle on the ground.
To find out how, I make my w to the london suburb of woking
To enroll in a little knight school.
[swords clashing]
Oh, boy.
[swords clashing]
[josh] to learn how the knights templar
Were able to control the roads of europe for hundreds of years,
I've come to the schola gladiatoria historical fencing club.
Currently hurting each othe are founder matt easton
And his appropriately-named colleague jack butcher
[josh applauding]
Hello.
I'm hoping one of you is matt.
-I'm matt. -Is that you?
-Hi. -Otherwise I've just interrupted
The weirdest mugging in history.
-Jack. -Jack, nice to meet you.
-You guys are incredible. -[matt] thank you.
Amazing.
So, I see swords. I see shields.
Are we in templar territory here with these weapons?
Yeah, we're reconstructing the fighting techniques of sword and shield
That the templars might have used
According to medieval fencing treatises.
So, they have this reputation of being really fierce warriors.
Is that well-deserved?
I think all the sources from the time say that they were, yeah.
I mean, they were pretty much professional warriors of their day.
Full-time training and, you know, dedicated to that lifestyle.
Their calvary charge was famous
And we know from the regulations of their order,
Their primary weapon's the lance.
-Right. -So they took the calvary element of it
Very, very seriously.
Right. This wasn't a ragtag group of knights.
No, no. These guys were very highly organized, very well-trained.
[josh] because they were wiped out so thoroughly,
Specifics of the templars' training
Slipped through the cracks of recorded history.
However, we know they were highly disciplined monks
Who did little besides eat, sleep, pray and fight
Using the deadliest weapons of their day.
As for me, well, I'm tall.
Maybe that'll be enough to keep me alive.
Can you give me a little templar fighting 101 here?
-We can do that, can't we? -Yeah, I think so.
We'll teach you some basic techniques.
Without killing me?
-Probably. -[josh] cool.
-[matt] we'll try our best. -Probably.
[josh] on the loose promise that I probably won't die,
I suit up for battle.
The templars invested heavil in the best armor and weapon money could buy.
Knowing that, I can't help but feel a little underwhelm in this getup.
So, josh, how do you feel?
I feel like I'm wearing a lot less armor than this guy.
-You've got enough of this. -[josh] what do you mean enough?
How about a full armor?
Here's a stick.
I don't even get a sword?
[matt] no, you get a stick to start off with.
Okay.
I start by learning to craw before I can run,
Or in this case walk,
Through some very basic fighting steps under the tutelage of matt.
Now, where to hold the weapon.
So, you've got a few different options.
A really, really simple one is just hold this up here ready to hit.
-Okay. -That's a good position.
Another variation of this is the hand in the same position but with the point forward.
Okay.
Good. So...
-If jack's in the second... -Hold on. [bleep] just got real.
-[matt and jack laughing] -he took a stance and I got real scared.
Okay, god.
[josh] matt offers me a few medieval combat techniques
That the templars may have used in battle.
And with that crash course, I'm ready to go.
And I'm killing him.
I hope.
We don our helmets
And I prepare for my impending fight with the black knight.
None shall pass!
This sucks.
Ow! [bleep]
-Oh, it's fine. It's only a flesh wound. Ohh. -[jack chuckling]
And suddenly, I'm grateful we're only using sticks.
Argh!
[jack] are you okay? That was harder than I thought.
-[jack] are you all right? -[josh] right in the skull!
[josh] that was literally m watching myself get stabbed in the eye.
It was like a 3d movie.
-[jack chuckling] -[josh] I yield.
-I yield. -You did really well though.
Very, very good. You're a natural.
Thank you. Yeah, right.
-I'm naturally dead. -[matt and jack laughing]
Honestly, that was really good.
Whew!
-Props to the knights templar. -[matt] good.
It ain't easy.
-But you've learned some real techniques there. -Yeah.
You've learned some real fundamental
-Fencing techniques. -I learned to make peace with god.
-Just like the templars actually. -[matt and jack laughing]
Thanks very much. That was great.
[matt] that was brilliant. Well done.
Okay, I'm gonna run away.
[matt and jack laughing]
[josh] I leave templar battle school
Even more impressed with their accomplishments.
But considering the templars fighting prowess,
It's incredible how quickly they were decimated
And I'm anxious to learn more about the mysteries of their final days.
Fortunately, I get word of an archaeological site
Making some remarkable discoveries that could provide answers.
So I pack my bags for a plane ride east to poland.
Welcome to western poland.
We are just over the border from germany,
And this is probably not a place that you associate
With the knights templar. At least I didn't.
Poland wasn't historically on the main route
From western europe to the holy land.
So what were the templars doing here?
The archaeological dig at a nearby church could off some clues.
I'm not exactly sure what a templar church
In the polish countryside looks like,
But hopefully we can find it.
Oh, my word.
I think we found it.
Towering above the polish countryside is an imposing redbrick chapel
Like the temple church I saw in England,
It looks more like a fortified castle.
In front of the enigmatic structure,
I'm greeted by archaeologist and templar historian, dr. Przemyslaw kolosowski,
And his translator, karl lindholm.
This is incredible.
[translator] it is. The first time I came here,
I was totally amazed.
It's a templar church in the middle of nowhere.
Right. I mean, you have this countryside and then this huge structure.
When was this built?
[speaking polish]
[translator] it was built in the late 1200s,
Shortly before the total destruction of the templar knights.
The design of the church is really surprising.
It's a church, but it also kind of looks like a fortress, right?
We have these big towers. Those look like arrow slits.
Why is it designed this way?
[translator] the church was known as a commandery,
And it served as both a place of worship
And a defensive outpost for the templar.
It was a sign of the templar power to all who saw it.
[josh] a commandery is the name given specifically
To outposts of the knights templar.
They would be led by a single commander
And would be used as churches, forts, even as treasuries.
According to dr. Kolosowski
This particular church was the headquarters
Of the eastern european templar
And a very important site during their last years.
So a very important place for them.
Why is it here?
Why is this huge church in the middle of what's now poland?
[speaking polish]
[translator] as the templar were losing control of the holy land
And as they were being persecuted in France,
This became the eastern edg of their territory in europe
[josh] with pilgrimages to jerusalem now on hold
And king philip of France turning on them,
It was time for the templar to redefine their mission.
Commanderies like this one,
On the fringes of their territory,
Would be the perfect place to regroup and plan for an uncertain future.
[translator] when the templa were disbanded,
Most of their buildings wer either repurposed or torn down.
Very, very few templar artifacts have been found
And confirmed burials of templars even fewer.
But I think we're on the verge of making some huge finds here,
Possibly even a templar cemetery.
I see you're hard a work here.
How long have you been excavating here?
[translator] we've just begu to excavate this section,
But there's a mystery in the building itself that I'd love for you to see
Please.
[josh] as dr. Kolosowski's dig team works next to the building,
We make our way to the entrance of the commandery.
There he introduces me to zaneta czerwinska,
A historian who's researchin an interesting quirk in the church's architecture
Okay, you have a bit of a mystery here.
It's just a huge empty tower.
Have you seen other construction like this?
[speaking polish]
[translator] we don't know of any similar towers,
And most of the templar structures that resemble this building
Have just one tower.
The plot thickens.
It's even weirder.
So, what do we think they used an empty tower for?
A place for treasure.
A place for treasure. Okay.
[josh] if this was the headquarters
For the eastern european templar,
It would certainly have contained a treasury
With both cash and valuable documents.
-Can we look inside, yeah? -[zaneta] inside?
Yeah, let's take a look.
[zaneta] let's have a look.
Wow.
Unbelievable.
Beautiful place.
It is stunning.
-And the mystery tower is back here? -[zaneta] yes.
Can I see?
[zaneta speaking]
[josh] oh, my word.
[zaneta speaking]
[josh] oh, my word.
A mysteriously inaccessible tower
In a commandery of the knights templar
Has me dreaming of templar treasure,
Only there's no way to get to it.
This is crazy.
There really is no staircase of any kind.
[zaneta speaking]
-[josh] and the cable comes from the roof? -From the roof, yes.
So they just dropped it down.
[zaneta] yes.
And so, what are these little niches,
-These little cutouts in the wall? -[zaneta speaking]
[josh] the niches are inexplicable.
Zaneta says they don't in any way match
The construction of the stairs in the other tower.
And to get a closer look at them
Will unfortunately be a little bit, well, unconventional.
How do you get up there?
Like from the roof?
Yes.
Oh, no, no, no.
[zaneta speaking]
No, it is zaneta.
It's very high and you know it. Come on.
To get to the top, we make our way up the southwest tower,
The one with stairs.
[josh] oh, look at that. A templar cross. Wow.
-[josh] so this is the original staircase. -[zaneta speaking]
Wow. Okay.
All right. Well...
You know, what are the odds that it gives way today.
Okay.
[josh] now that I've reache the top,
It's time to go down.
Zaneta and the team have rigged the tower's crossbeam with rappelling gear
So we can descend from above
And by we, I mean me
Because nobody else wants to dangle
From templar-era timbers.
We don't know what purpose this tower served
Or whether the niches could contain historic artifacts,
But there's only one way to find out for sure.
Okay, here we go.
[exhales]
Tight fit.
Whew.
Long way down.
I have plenty of rappelling experience,
But somehow doing it in a 12th century buildin seems a bit more risky.
Okay.
Heading down.
So, I'm at the first set of niches here right at the top.
They look empty. Nothing here.
Okay, I'm going down to the next level.
[josh] yeah.
The niches are placed every three to four feet
And are fairly regular throughout.
They don't spiral down like a staircase would,
But they could have been placed here to support beam
That have long rotted away.
Okay, don't look down. Just keep working.
Here we go.
[exhales]
All right. I'm at the next opening in the wall here.
Some loose brick here.
More loose brick in here.
Nothing else.
Okay, headed down.
I got no carvings no nothing.
Oh!
A pretty weird looking bat on the wall right here.
Hey, buddy. Sorry to bother you.
All right. I'm at the next in the wall here.
Got something different here.
One of these openings goes way back.
Not like the others.
It's probably three or four times the depth
Of any of the other openings in the bricks.
[josh] I don't know. That's a good question.
It's filled with sand.
There's definitely loose brick back there.
[josh] yeah?
Maybe.
I can see that behind that mortar it goes back further.
But I can't get to it from this angle.
Because of the age and historical importance of this building,
We don't want to use any invasive methods like drilling.
We film and document the recessed opening before carrying on.
All right. I'm headed down.
I'm down!
[josh sneezing]
Is it dusty? Yeah, a little.
It's good for you.
Okay, I'm off belay.
1,000-year-old dust aside,
Our rappel has aided the investigation
And we've documented a previously unseen feature in the building.
In the future, zaneta and the team will need to determine
How they want to proceed as they continue to investigate the tower.
However, no sooner have I reached the bottom...
[man] josh! Josh! Come quickly!
...Than I'm called back outside for some exciting news.
[josh] what did you find?
[translator] we have discovered a wall
And we think that maybe there's a burial here.
A burial here?
-[josh] oh, where it's dark? -Yes. The space over there.
-You can see there... -Yes, you can see... Right.
[josh] right.
The difference in color in these two sections of soi
Tells us at some point in time,
The darker portion was disturbed or dug up.
You think it's a complete burial?
[translator] it looks like it's facing east-west
Which could mean it's a templar-period burial
[josh] wow.
Templars were traditionally buried facing toward jerusal
To witness the rapture and christ's return.
If this is a templar burial
It may give us real physical clues
About who they really were
And why so little of their material culture survives.
As the team carefully digs,
Another member scans the pi with a metal detector.
Good thing, too.
[metal detector beeping]
They found a coin there.
Oh! A coin?
Yes, there's a coin.
Wow. [bleep]
You have a brush or something?
Official tool of archaeology.
A toothbrush.
-[josh] it's made of... Is it silver? -[man] it's silver, yeah.
-Silver, but old silver, yeah? -With patina.
With patina, yeah.
That's bracteate.
-[josh] so, what is it? -[man] bracteatic.
-[speaking polish] -14th-15th century.
14th-15th century?
-So this coin could be 700 years old? -[man] yes, it is.
Wow.
And for you to give that to me...
That's so nice of you. Thank you. Bye-bye.
A coin from the templar era
Buried in front of a commandery like this I a tantalizing discovery.
The team uses the find as fu as they excavate further dow
And we quickly learn that coins are
The least of what this place has to offer.
What did you find?
[man] yeah, it looks like we have a burial.
Oh! Oh, oh! Right here.
Is that bone?
[josh] in the historic english tow of burton upon trent,
They've been brewing beer since templar times,
Making this the perfect plac to seek out the holy grail
Or just a local ale.
-Another beer, please. -Yeah, no problem.
Choose wisely.
He choose poorly.
I got it.
I've seen the movie.
This is right, right?
-[bartender] yeah, that's right. -Okay. Phew!
It looks like we have a burial.
[josh] oh! Oh, oh! Right here.
-Is that bone? -[man] yeah, yeah, yeah. It is a skull.
Oh, there's a skull. Look at that. Can I come down?
[translator] yes, come down
[josh] I'm in western polan
Investigating one of the last strongholds of the knights templar,
And we may be about to make headlines.
-[josh] is that the skull? -[man] yes.
[josh] few relics from the templars are still in existence
And a confirmed burial even rarer still.
-And so the body is laying... Is this east-west here? -Yes.
So, this may be templar?
Yes, this may be templar.
Because the head is west,
But the face itself is looking east towards the holy land.
[speaking polish]
This location for burials was an especially important one,
So it was possible that it was somebody very important
And this was from the templar period here.
[josh] okay.
We're in the right era and we're perched on the edg of a huge commandery.
Now for the question of the hour,
Is this a templar?
This is really amazing. Look at this.
I mean, this is a really actually well-preserved skull.
Good teeth.
It's hard to tell on the tops,
But the bottom teeth are in great shape.
So, maybe somebody who was eating well.
Somebody of status maybe. I don't know.
The condition of teeth in an historic burial is
Often a good indicator of social status
For the simple reason that only the wealthy got enough nourishment
To have healthy ones.
We might expect a templar at a commandery
To have teeth like this.
And there's one other strong indicator this man wa once a templar.
[dr. Kolosowski speaking polish]
[translator] it appears the arms are bent.
Templars were always buried with their arms crossed.
Right. So, we se his right arm is crossed like this.
[dr. Kolosowski speaking polish]
[translator] there appears to be two burials actually.
[josh] what?
[translator] they're on different levels.
[josh] whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Look at this!
So, we have... We have a totally separate burial here.
Right? And then this is directly underneath this, so...
[dr. Kolosowski speaking polish]
[translator] in the middle ages,
They didn't have a tradition of remembering the exact location
Of every individual burial.
So if there were no monuments placed,
They just kept burying people one onto another.
Right.
I'm a pair of bodies deep in this hole,
And things are looking more and more like we've fou
An exceedingly rare templar burial.
But incredibly, this grave seems to be more than just a table for two.
There's something here.
Oh, is this...
-This is bone, yeah? -[man] yeah.
Is that a third burial?
-Is it? Wait, is this a skull? -[man] yes.
[josh laughing]
Oh, my word.
Another burial.
That's three...
In this pit.
Oh, my word. Look at that.
So, we have burial upon burial upon burial here.
This is truly incredible. Every...
Every pile of dirt that you move reveals more of this person.
Maybe it's templar. We don't know.
But more of their story is revealed
With every handful of dirt.
So...
This is pretty extraordinary.
[translator] I think, josh, that you are likely standin
With several templars at this very moment.
[josh] this is an important discovery and an emotional one.
This is more than just history.
These are individuals.
However, I'll admit to being a little surprised
Not to see evidence of more pageantry here.
When we imagine the templars,
I think many people picture, you know, knights in armor
With shields and swords.
That's our fantasy of the templars.
This is the reality, right?
We have a burial here that is simple. That's humble.
[dr. Kolosowski speaking polish]
[translator] at heart, the templars were monks doing the lord's work.
Right.
[translator] according to their traditions,
This is how we should find them.
No swords, no shields and no mythical treasures.
Well, the mythical treasures are here.
I mean, they are real people who had real lives
And real stories and this is their real story right here.
Still, we should probably make sure there isn't a grail down here somewhere.
Feel free to keep looking.
[josh chuckling] yes, a little more. Just a little more.
We just... We gotta be sure. We gotta be sure.
We know the knights templar were many things.
Holy men, soldiers, financiers.
Their wealth and the power it brought
Was the fulcrum on which al of medieval history turned.
Yet 800 years after they wer violently disbanded,
Most of what is left of the templars are stories,
And most of those have grow into legends.
Vast stockpiles of gold,
The fortunes of entire nations,
The cup of a carpenter.
No one knows for certain what treasures if any are still out there to be found
But what we do know is that their existence
So threatened the powers of europe
That the order was reduced to little more than a gauzy memory.
But not anymore.
Today I met the templar face-to-face,
And I think I better understand the principles
For which they lived and, in the end, died.
Penitence, service and faith
We may call them a secret society,
But there's no conspiracy here.
And their story is in and of itself a treasure.