Las Médulas: the gold of the Templars

The history of the Temple is, without a doubt, a story whose epic vicissitudes, like the most exciting and popular of the best-sellers, always engage and generate a deep interest in a public lover of mystery and historical enigmas. Much of this widespread interest, lies in the extreme poverty of its origins-an origin wrapped in the most impenetrable of the mysteries, by the way-and in the ability with which its leaders made a Order thrive, of the most absolute of poverty and in a relatively short time, it became the richest and most powerful in the West.

Much has obviously been speculated about the nature of their, in theory, inexhaustible resources; and above all, in the destiny that these suffered, when the Order was dissolved. This point, doubtless, generates, possibly, one of the questions that more hypothesis has generated, without that until now none of them has been able to fully satisfy the curiosity of historians, researchers, and why not say it, of amateurs and curious .

Possibly, the answer that comes closest to reality, is as simple as thinking that most of those seemingly inexhaustible riches were swallowed up in an insatiable black hole that, without a doubt, were the Crusades and the permanence in the Holy Land. . And another part, perhaps the one that should make us think that this great treasure is really there, before our very noses, are those monumental churches and cathedrals, full of Art and Knowledge, which the Order was also in charge of financing.

But aside from the resources that were sent to Ultramar, which had their origins in a wise exploitation of the natural resources of the innumerable farms and encomiendas spread across the different European kingdoms, the Templars were also adept at exploiting other resources that already they were exploited by other peoples many centuries before them. It would be the case, of course, of this immeasurable tear that, with the name of Las Médulas, we must place in the very heart of an eminently mysterious area such as the Bierzo of Leon.

There is no doubt that, despite the thousands of tons of gold collected by the Romans using this devastating technique of the montium ruin, there was still enough for the templars, strategically installed in the main access points, could still exploit enough gold to help, and not little, to continue his great adventure. Hence, one of his main interests to remain in places like Priaranza, Carucedo, Cacabelos and Cornatel, from those who controlled the main accesses to the place, and to maintain a tight control over a region, which not only still had many riches to offer , but also had a long history of culture, because not in vain in the area is located the so-called Berciana Tebaida and in its endless mountains was sheltered, in times, a knowledge with a certain taste of sulfur, formed not only by a hermitic phenomenon that was massified until unsuspected points, but also because in them they found refuge multitude of people who fled from the Christian persecutions by heresy, being the main ones, Cathars and priscilianistas.

Whether or not Matilde Asensi (1) has reason to place the place where the Templars hid their treasure in the depths of these mines -the hypothesis, although novel, is still interestingly suggestive-, leaving signals that could only be properly interpreted by those who were in the secret, the truth is that the place and its surroundings, well deserve the fatigue of a trip. A trip, otherwise, whose destiny is none other than one of the greatest historical mysteries of the Iberic Peninsula.

Notes:

(1) Matilde Asensi: 'Iacobus', Ramdon House Mondadori, S.A., 12th edition, 2005 and 'Peregrinatio', Editorial Planeta, S.A., 2006.

Related video:

NOTICE: was published for the first time in my blog, SPAIN OF THE TEMPLAR. However, both the photographs and the video shown here are totally new. These, like the text, belong to my exclusive intellectual property. The original entry, which is linked to STEEMIT, can be found at the following address: https://juancarlosmenendez.blogspot.com.es/2012/06/las-medulas-el-oro-de-los-templarios.html