The Templar Treasure at Gisors

When French king Philip the Fair ordered the arrest of the Knights Templars and the confiscation of their property in 1307, the Order was one of the most powerful forces in Europe, answerable only to the Pope. It was also one of the richest, despite their vow of poverty. Mysteriously, not a penny of their immense treasure was ever found. The hunt for this lost treasure has centred on a number of locations, among which is the medieval city of Gisors, a key strategic site on the Normandy and French border that is honeycombed with complex underground passageways and chambers. Just as mysteriously, all attempts to discover what may be concealed in these subterranean corridors are rigorously discouraged, by contemporary authorities. The enigma of the treasure is but one of the many unsolved mysteries concerning this order that continues to haunt the imagination. Who were these "poor knights of Christ" who made denial of Jesus a requirement of acceptance into the Order? What were their true purposes and what was the nature of their secret that drew the wrath of the king of France down on their heads? Was there really a treasure and if so what was it-material wealth or something more powerful, such as the Holy Grail or the secret to the philosopher's stone?