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Neo-Templarism is a term describing groups who claim to be descendants of the Knights Templar. Following the dissolution of the Templars by Pope Clement V at the start of the 14th century, several organizations have claimed to be secret continuations of the original Templars. This idea has been criticized by scholars of Templar history and is widely regarded as dubious. These orders typically draw from western esotericism, with other groups incorporating New Age beliefs or freemasonry. Other groups are only ceremonial.
The notion of the Templars secretly surviving embedded within masonic movements, resulting in the creation of several Templar grades in Freemason organizations. The origins of most Neo-Templar groups can be traced to a revivalist Templar order founded by French physician Bernard-Raymond Fabré-Palaprat in 1805, widely regarded as the father of neo-Templarism, who claimed to have discovered an unbroken chain of Knights Templar Grand Masters descending from the original group. A separate wing of neo-Templarism grew from the works of French esotericist Jacques Breyer in the 1950s.