146 THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS
the red cross was safe from interference by the Church or
State. People who had no connection with the Temple raised
the symbol of the Order when they fell foul of the king or the
prelates, and a law had to be passed to restrict the use of
the all-powerful red cross to bona fide members of the Order
and their servants. This, however, brought about little im-
provement 5 for the Temple sold to criminals the right to use
the red cross over their houses, and many years passed before
a stop was put to the nuisance.
The Templars were to be found in positions of authority
in every land. They were the representatives of the Pope
and the princes. The crown jewels and the public money
were often in the keeping of the Temple 5 pensions granted
by the ruler were paid through it; the collection of taxes was
entrusted to its officers. Even if the duty of collection was
not given to the Temple, the proceeds of almost every tax
passed through its hands. The contributions to be sent by
the English Church to the Holy See were handed over to the
care of the Temple in London, and the Master of the Temple
in Paris and the Masters in other centres of the Order fulfilled a
similaroffice. FortheTemple was safe. If money were given
into the custody of the bishops, anyone who, tried to steal it
must run the risk of the ecclesiastical ban, but kings and princes
and others were sometimes willing to face that penalty in their
lust for gold. The Templars, however, were not only
protected by the Church, but could defend by force of arms
whatever was entrusted to them. The Church had spiritual
weapons, the secular power had temporal ones, but only the
religio-military Orders had both temporal power and spiritual
authority behind them.
After acting as the depository where the wealth of the
kings and princes, the barons, the merchants and the Church
was held, the Temple adopted other banking functions.
Barter, was common in the thirteenth century, but one result
of the growth of trade had been the need for additidnal