Knights+Templar

Knights Templar The Poor Knights of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon  The Knights Templar combined military prowess and religious fervour creating a new breed of soldier. D e spite their humble beginning and rapid growth ultimately they could not survive in the medieval world. The dramatic end of the Templars made way for myths and legends to be created in which their extreme lifestyles are revered. The truth about the Templars is to a large extent unclear, but a close look at the standards to which they were held while still at their height shows the extent to which they impacted the medieval society.
 * Date Active || c. 1118 - 1314 ||
 * Allegiance || The Pope ||
 * First Grand Master || Hugues de Payens ||
 * Last Grand Master || [|Jacques de Molay] ||
 * Patron || St Bernard of Clairvaux ||
 * Size || Began with 9 knights and grew to around 20,000 members ||

** Humble Beginning ** The Templars were the first of the religious knights to be constituted as a military order. What began with just nine men in 1118 grew to become so great and widespread that it is said their wealth was equal to the treasures of kings. Their popularity and growing numbers made it essential for them to be recognised in public. They wore a white habit to represent the pure lives they lived with a red cross representing that which they fought for. Devoted to God, these men vowed to live without possessions, chastely and obediently.

** Daily Lives ** [|The Primitive Rule of the Templars] gives insight into the expectations of these monk/soldiers. They were told to live unified and peacefully as brothers. The Templars shared meals and lived very communal lives. They were not permitted to touch or even spend too much time looking at women. With no wives, children or personal property to distract them, the Templars supposedly spent their time devoted to physical and spiritual training. Of course it is difficult to tell just how strictly these rules were kept, but they promoted unity. This kind of focus potentially produced fearsome and disciplined warriors who were the first to attack and last to retreat. Secrecy and silence, relatively unique characteristics of the Templars, gave way for speculation. The Templars had numerous enemies who accused them of many crimes even including denying Christ. After dark Templars were not permitted to talk except in an emergency and it was forbidden entirely for them to speak idle words or burst into laughter at any time of day. Their daily lives were filled with spiritual activities such as scriptures being read to them during mealtimes. More importantly however, is what they believed which made them influential. Templars were not afraid of dying because they believed that to die for the Lord was glorious. The Templars who were burned at the stake symbolise martyrdom which lives on and their death was even more influential than their life.

** Tragic End ** King [|Phillip IV] sought to destroy the Templars and falsely accused them of many things including blaming them for crusader failures in the Holy Land. The reason why King Phillip IV had many Templars cruelly tortured to gain false confessions of blasphemy and ordered many others to be burnt at the stake is disputed. The order of the Knights Templar came to an immediate end and much of their wealth was given to the Knights Hospitallers.

 Clifford Hugh Lawrence, //Medieval Monasticism: Forms of Religious Life in Western Europe in the Middle Ages// (London: Longman Group, 1989), 208.  William of Tyre, //The Foundation of the Order of Knights Templar,// trans. James Brundage (Milwaukee: Marquette University Press, 1962), [].  Jean Michel, //The Primitive Rule of the Templars,// trans. Judith Upton-Ward (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 1992), [].  Bernard of Clairvaus, //In Praise of the New Knighthood,// trans. Conrad Greenia (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1977), [].  Michel, //The Primitive Rule of the Templars//, [].  Ibid. <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> Ibid. <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> Charles Moeller, “The Knights Templars,” in //The Catholic Encyclopaedia,// (New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912), []. <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> Ibid. <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> Michel, //The Primitive Rule of the Templars//, []. <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> Michel, //The Primitive Rule of the Templars,// []. <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> Bernard, //In Praise of a New Knighthood,// []. <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Templar,” (2011), []


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Additional Readings **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">[|In Praise of the New Knighthood] written by St. Bernard of Clairvaux

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">[|Knights Templar]