The Order of the Temple was one of the most influential organizations of the Middle Ages, from its founding in 1118 until its demise in 1312.<\/p>\n
Emerged in the First Crusade, at the initiative of Hugo de Payns and eight other French knights, the Temple ended up having a notable presence not only in the so-called Latin States of the East<\/strong>, as the conquered territories were known by the crusaders in the Holy Land in their fight against the Saracens, but also in Europe<\/strong>, with important establishments in Spain, Portugal, France and England.<\/p>\n One of the territories where the Templars settled was the former Kingdom of Hungary<\/strong>, which in the 12th century occupied what are today the territories of Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia and some parts of Romania, Ukraine and Serbia. A former Templar domain in that kingdom was Vrana Castle, in present-day Croatia<\/strong>, initially built as a Benedictine monastery in the 11th century and which also served as the residence of papal delegates.<\/p>\n The monastery was assigned by the Pope to the Temple in the second half of the 12th century<\/strong>, and following their condition of half monks, half soldiers, the Templars fortified it. After the dissolution of the Temple at the beginning of the 14th century, Vrana Castle passed into the hands of the Knights Hospitallers <\/strong> (the now famous Order of Malta), as did many other Templar possessions in the rest of Europe. Like other parts of the Kingdom of Hungary, Vrana eventually fell under Ottoman rule in the 16th century.<\/strong> Today the castle lies in ruins.<\/p>\n A few months ago, Tattooed Traveler<\/a> posted an interesting video touring the ruins of that castle:<\/strong><\/p>\n
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