The Foundations
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The Order was
founded in Jerusalem in 1118 by Hughes de Payens, Geoffrey de St. Omer
and seven other French knights* following a call to arms from Pope Urban
II. The Order was consecrated to the protection of
pilgrims and the defence of the Holy Land. The founding knights took
monastic vows and were known as "The Poor Knights of Christ". |
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King Baldwin II, the French King of Jerusalem (1118-1131) installed the
Order in a part of his Palace, on the site of Solomon's Temple, for
their residence, stables and armoury, from which it took its name of
Knights of the Temple or 'Templars'. |
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At the Council of Troyes in 1128 the Order was confirmed by Pope
Honorius II, who gave it the strict Rule dictated by St. Bernard, a monk
of the Cistercian Order who became the first Abbot of Clairvaux. The
Knights also received the white mantle as a symbol of purity of their
life, to which in 1146 Pope Eugenius added a red Templar cross. |
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The Order's battle honours in defence of the Holy Land were many.
Following the fall of Jerusalem in 1187 the Templars withdrew to Acre.
They remained at Acre with Grand Master William de Beaujue until 1291
when the city was captured and William was killed. The surviving Templars,
with their new Grand Master, were the last to leave the city. The Order
withdrew to Limmasol, Cyprus and had its headquarters at the Temple
Monastery in Paris. |
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Persecution and
Suppression After many years of sacrifices and rendering services to both Christianity and civilisation, this very rich and powerful Order excited the envy and greed of others. |
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| The principal malefactor was Phillipe le Bel, King of France, who was
financially indebted to the Order. In 1307 Phillipe arrested all serving
Templars in France with the intention of sequestrating all the Order's
possessions. However, these were hidden in a secret place and have never
been found to this day. Not able to judge the Order himself, (it was
only answerable to the Pope) Phillipe set about to coerce the Pope to
suppress the Order, but the Pope refused. Whereupon, the king dismissed
him and created his friend, the Bishop of Bordeaux, Pope Clement V, who
readily issued a Bull suppressing the Order in 1312. The Order then
reverted to its original status of a Secular Military Order of Chivalry. |
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Only in France were the Templars treated with any severity, with Grand
Master Jaques de Molay and others burnt at the stake in March 1314 on an
island in the Seine. However, Clement V later revoked the Bull and
pardoned all the Templars, including de Molay. In England, Edward II (a patron) at first did not take any action against the Order, but finally, he allowed the inquisitors to judge the Order at the Church of All Hallows By-the-Tower. Edward then set about reclaiming English Templar lands and possessions including the London Temple, rather than passing them to the Hospitallers. |
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The Order Survives In Portugal, the former Knights Templar were formed into a successor body, with the support of the king and the blessing of the pope. Dropping "and of the Temple of Solomon" from their name, this body became the "Order of Christ". Under its banner, the Portuguese ships of Prince Henry the Navigator sailed to discover the New World of the Americas in the fifteenth century. Today, the Order of Christ is occasionally still given to Roman Catholic heads of state as the highest order of chivalry the Holy See can award. |
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At the beginning of the nineteenth century the ideals of the medieval Knights Templar inspired a new organisation in France, supported by the Emperor Napoleon I. At a meeting of its Grand Convent in Paris in 1841, this nineteenth century Order of the Temple declared itself to be an ecumenical Christian and chivalric association dedicated to acts of charity. It counted among its members nobility from Europe, business leaders from the USA, military officers from the colonies and royalty - including HRH the Duke of Sussex, uncle of Queen Victoria, as Grand Prior of England. But the nineteenth century Order of the Temple did not survive the conflicts of the First World War, and by 1917 the organisation had ceased to function and had put its documents into the care of a research association in Brussels. These documents inspired a modern revival in the early 1930's that gathered momentum in Europe after the Second World War under the title: the Supreme Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem (OSMTH in Latin). Different national and international branches of the modern Order developed, placing emphasis on differing aspects of its traditions and work: military, monastic, cultural and charitable. |
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Into the Modern Era Over the last five years, a number of Grand Priories in Europe and the USA have come together to form a new umbrella body, OSMTH - Knights Templar International. In recognition of the Order's continuing contributions to the World, it became a Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) in Special Consultative Status with the United Nations in 2002. |
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This body has established working relationships with leaders of the
various Christian Churches in Jerusalem and is supporting peace
initiatives between the faith communities in the Holy Land, as well as
donating to humanitarian aid programmes in Africa and the Middle and Far
East. There are Knights Templar throughout Western Europe, Scandinavia, Romania, North, South and Central America, Japan, and Australia. Therefore the Order is truly International and it is Ecumenical as the Order does not restrict membership to any single Christian Denomination. The Order is Christian orientated, encouraging and directing its members to an in-depth spirituality and devotion to Jesus Christ whose soldiers and servants they are. As the Knights of Christ of old fought for what they saw as Christian ideals, so today the Knights and Dames strive to maintain high ideals of morals, ethics and Christian principles in an ever increasingly secular world. The Order is not part of Freemasonry, does not engage in politics and does not encourage or allow members to act contrary to their obligations to their Country. |
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