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The Origin of the Templars (1119)1

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The Origin of the Templars (1119)1 1 Primary Source 5.3 THE ORIGIN OF THE TEMPLARS (1119)1 The Order of Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, commonly known as the Knights Templar, was founded in 1119 by Hugo de Payens, who became the order’s first Grand Marshal. It emerged as an association of monk-soldiers living by a monastic rule but also protecting Christian pilgrims, thus fusing the two medieval European ideals of human excellence: that of the monk and that of the soldiers. Though the knights were sworn to lives of poverty, the order grew in popularity and received much charity after it was officially recognized by the Catholic Church in 1128. The order provided banking services to pilgrims and crusaders, and its members established a financial network throughout Europe. Soon the order grew tremendously rich and powerful. Its successes inspired the establishment of several other military-monastic orders, including the Knights-Hospitallers, all arising in the borderlands between Christians and Muslims, in the Near East in Spain, thus showing their close link with the Crusades. The Templars lost support after the fall of the crusader states in the Holy Land in the late 1200s. At the behest of King Philip IV, who was immensely indebted to the Templars, Pope Clement V (r. 1305–1314) disbanded the order in 1312. The Templars retained an aura of mystery and power, and left legacy of innovative financial methods. The passage below is excerpted from a history of the Kingdom of Jerusalem by the archbishop of Tyre, William of Tyre (c. 1130–1186). For the text online, click here. In the same year [1118–19] certain nobles of knightly rank, devout, religious, and God-fearing, devoting themselves to the service of Christ, made their vows to the patriarch [of Jerusalem] and declared that they wished to live forever in chastity, obedience, and poverty, according to the rule of regular canons. Chief of these were Hugo de Payens and Geoffrey of St. Omer.2 Since they had neither a church nor a house, the king of Jerusalem gave them a temporary residence in the palace which stands on the west side of the temple.3 The canons of the temple granted them, on certain conditions, the open space around the aforesaid palace for the erection of their necessary buildings, and the king, the nobles, the patriarch, and the bishops, each from his own possessions, gave them lands for their support. The patriarch and bishops ordered that for the forgiveness of their sins their first vow should be to protect the roads and especially the pilgrims against robbers and marauders. For the first nine years after their order was founded they wore the ordinary dress of a layman, making use of such clothing as the people, for the salvation of their souls, gave them.4 But in their ninth year a council was held at Troyes [1128] in France at which were present the archbishops of Rheims and Sens with their suffragans,5 the cardinal bishop of Albano, papal legate, and the abbots of Citeaux, Clairvaux, and Pontigny, and 1 Oliver J. Thatcher and Edgar Holmes McNeal, (Ed.), A Source Book for Mediæval History: Selected Documents Illustrating the History of Europe in the Middle Age (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1905), 492-494. 2 Co-founder of the Knights Templar. 3 Their house was constructed near the ruins of Solomon’s Temple. 4 The order was very poor during the first decade because few people knew of it in Europe. 5 A bishop appointed as an aide to a diocesan bishop. 2 many others. At this council a rule was established for them, and, at the direction of the pope, Honorius III,6 and of the patriarch of Jerusalem, Stephen, white robes were appointed for their dress.7 Up to their ninth year they had only nine members, but then their number began to increase and their possessions to multiply. Afterward, in the time of Eugene III,8 in order that their appearance might be more striking, they all, knights as well as the other members of a lower grade, who were called serving men, began to sew crosses of red cloth on their robes. Their order grew with great rapidity, and now [about 1180] they have 300 knights in their house, clothed in white mantles, besides the serving men, whose number is almost infinite. They are said to have immense possessions both here [in Palestine] and beyond the sea [in Europe]. There is not a province in the whole Christian world which has not given property to this order, so that they may be said to have possessions equal to those of kings. Since they dwelt in a palace at the side of the temple they were called “Brothers of the army of the temple.” For a long time they were steadfast in their purpose and were true to their vows, but then they forgot their humility, which is the guardian of all virtues, and rebelled against the patriarch of Jerusalem who had assisted in the establishment of their order and had given them their first lands, and refused him the obedience which their predecessors had shown him. They also made themselves very obnoxious to the churches by seizing their tithes and first-fruits and plundering their possessions. 6 Actually Honorius II, Pope from 1124–1130. 7 In addition to the new uniforms, this council officially acknowledged the Templars and made them exempt from church tithes and regular taxes. 8 1145–1153. .
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