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==Background==
==Background==
Following the capture of [[Jerusalem]] and the [[The_Crusades#Holy_Land_Crusades|First Crusade]], most of the surviving crusaders began to return home to [[Europe]]. This shortage of manpower, combined with the ongoing military campaigns to secure the coastal frontier, made pacification of the interior very difficult. Increasing numbers of pilgrims were beginning to make the journey to the Holy Land, and although some were lightly armed, many carried only the traditional pilgrim's pouch and staff. Due to the nature of the terrain, the hostility of the [[Islam|Muslims]] among the inhabitants, and the presence of [[Bedouin]] bandits in the Judaean hills the pilgrims were constantly at risk while travelling.<ref>'''Read, Piers Paul''', ''The Templars'',
London: Wiedenfeld and Nicolson (1999) ISBN 0-7538-1087-5</ref> A group of 700 unarmed pilgrims travelling from Jerusalem to the [[River Jordan]] during [[Holy Week]] in 1119 were ambushed by [[Saracens]], who killed 300 and took at least 60 as slaves.
==The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Jesus Christ==
In 1119, two knights, Hugh of Payns and Godfrey of Saint-Omer, sought audience with King [[Baldwin II]] of Jerusalem and proposed the creation of a community of knights that would follow the Rule of a religious order but devote themselves to the protection of pilgrims. The Rule they chose was that of [[Saint Augustine|Augustine of Hippo]], followed by the canons of the [[Church of the Holy Sepulchre]] in Jerusalem. The proposal received royal assent, and on December 25, 1119 Hugh of Payns and 8 other knights (including Godfrey of Saint-Omer, Archambaud of Saint-Aignan, Payen of Montdidier, Geoffrey Bissot and a knight who history only records as Roland)<ref>'''Read''', ''The Templars'', op cit.</ref> took the required vows of chastity, poverty and obedience, and added a fourth of "''fighting incessantly against the Infidels''".<ref>'''Keightley, Thomas''', ''Secret Societies Of The Middle Ages: The Assassins, Templars & the Secret Tribunals of Westphalia '', (1837) 2005 reprint ISBN 1-5786-3334-6</ref> They named their order "The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Jesus Christ" and initially wore no distinctive habit. The Patriarch of Jerusalem and the king endowed them with several ''benefices'' - income from land-based tithes - and accommodation in the palace he had made in the al-Aqsa mosque on the southern edge of the Temple Mount (known by the crusaders as the ''Templum Salomonis'', the Temple of Solomon.) Through this association, the order became known as "The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Jesus Christ and the Temple of Solomon", then "The Knights of the Temple of Solomon", "The Knights of The Temple", "the Templars", or simply "The Temple".<ref>'''Read''', ''The Templars'', op cit.</ref>
It is possible<ref>'''Read''', ''The Templars'', op cit.</ref> that the original intention was not to set up an order of "soldier-monks", but to found a lay confraternity along the lines of the hospice of Saint John, which had been founded to care for pilgrims before the crusade. Michael the Syrian, a medieval chronicler, suggested that it was King Baldwin, aware of the crusaders inability at the time to provide protection for the pilgrims, who persuaded Hugh of Payns to remain knights rather than monks, "''in order to work to save his soul, and to guard these places against robbers''."<ref>'''Chabot, Jean-Baptiste''', ''Chronique de Michel le Syrien, Patriarche Jacobite d'Antiche (1166-1199). Éditée pour la première fois et traduite en francais I-V'' Paris (1899) 1963 reprint</ref> In any event, it has been argued that the [[Catholic]] theologians' endorsement of the crusades and fighting in a "just cause" made it inevitable that an order fusing military skills, martial zeal and a religious vocation would eventually be created.<ref>'''Riley-Smith, Jonathan''', ''The First Crusade and the Idea of Crusading'', University of Pennsylvania Press (1986) ISBN 0-8122-1363-7</ref>
[[Image:Templar seal.jpg |right|thumb|200px|The seal of the Templars]]
==Powerful allies==
In 1120, Fulk V, Count of Anjou, (later King Fulk of Jerusalem) enrolled as an associate of the Templars while on pilgrimage. Having been impressed by the Order, on his return to France he endowed them with a regular income from his estates. Several other powerful nobles followed suit, including Count Hugh of Champagne, Payn's former master, who took the vows and joined the Order as a knight. However, for the first nine years after their creation, the Templars still lived in relative poverty, using all the money sent to them from Europe for the service of the pilgrims. They still had no uniform, and although they were all knights and engaged in constant warfare, their poverty was such that their seal showed two knights riding a single horse .
In 1127, King Baldwin sent two members of the Order, Andreas and Gundemar, to Rome to obtain from the Pope an official confirmation of the Order of the Templars. The Council of Troyes was convened by Pope [[Honorius II]] in 1129 to discuss the Order. One of the testimonies in support came from [[Saint Bernard|Bernard of Clairvaux]], who wrote:
<div style="width: 70%; margin: 0 15% 1em 15%; text-align: left; background-color: #DEE6ED; padding: 0.5em; border: solid 1px #6699CC;">"They go and come at a sign from their 'Master; they wear the clothing he gives them, and ask neither food nor clothing from anyone else; they live cheerfully and temperately together, without wives and children, and, that nothing may be wanting for evangelical perfection, without property, in one house, endeavouring to preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace, so that one heart and one soul would appear to dwell in them all. They never sit idle, or go about gaping after news. When they are resting from warfare against the Infidels, a thing which rarely occurs, not to eat the bread of idleness they employ themselves in repairing their clothes and arms, or do something which the command of the Master or the common need enjoins. There is with them no respect of persons; the best, not the noblest born, are the most highly regarded; they endeavour to anticipate one another in respect, and to lighten each other's burdens. No unseemly word or light mocking, no murmur or immoderate laughter is let to pass unreproved, if anyone should allow himself to indulge in such. They avoid games of chess and tables; they are adverse to the chase, and equally so to hawking in which others so much delight. They hate all jugglers and mountebanks, all wanton songs and plays, as vanities and follies of the world. They cut their hair in obedience to these words of the Apostle, 'it is not seemly in a man to have long hair.' No one ever sees them dressed out; they are seldom ever washed; they are mostly to be seen with disordered hair, and covered with dust, brown from their corsets and the heat of the sun. When they go forth to war they arm themselves with faith, without with iron, but never adorn themselves with gold, wishing to excite fear in the enemy and not the desire for booty. They delight in horses which are strong and swift, not in such as are handsomely marked and richly caparisoned, wishing to inspire terror rather than admiration. They go not impetuously and headlong into battle, but with care and foresight, peacefully, as the true children of Israel. But as soon as the fight has begun, then they rush without delay on the foes, esteeming them but as sheep: and know no fear even though they should be few, relying on the aid of the Lord of Sabaoth. Hence one of them has often put a thousand, and two of them ten thousand to flight. Thus they are, in union strange, at the same time gentler than lambs and grimmer than lions, so that one may doubt whether to call them Monks or Knights. But both names suit them, for theirs is the mildness of the Monk and the valour of the Knight. what remains to be said but that this is the Lord’s doing, and it is wonderful in our eyes. Such are they whom God has chosen out of the bravest in Israel, that, watchful and true, they may guard the Holy Sepulchre, armed with swords and well-skilled in war."<ref>'''Keightley''', ''Secret Societies Of The Middle Ages'', op cit.</ref></div>
The Order was duly approved, and given a new rule, comprising their own previous regulations, with several additions chosen from the Rule of the [[Benedictine]]s: "to speak little, to give alms, to be gentle and courteous to the weak, the aged, the sick, to observe the fast days, and keep always a spare diet." Honorius II also instructed that a white mantle should be the distinguishing uniform of the Order. The mantle was plain, without any cross, until the Pope [[Eugenius III]], in 1146, instructed a red cross to be worn on the breast. This cross was of the shape known as the "Latin cross", resembling that on which Christ suffered, and as a symbol of the martyrdom to which the Order stood exposed. The Order was also assigned a ''vexillum belli'', or war-banner. The upper half of the banner was black, and the lower half white: black, to typify terror to foes, and white, fairness to friends. It bore the inscription: ''Non nobis, Domine, non nobis sed nomini tuo da gloriam:'' {{Bible quote|Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name give glory.||book=Psalms|chap=115|verses=1|version=KJV}}
The order was now fully established, though further privileges were subsequently accorded it. In 1147 they were allowed to have Mass said once a year in places lying under Interdict; in 1162, by a special Bull of Pope [[Alexander III]] they were released from all spiritual obedience, except to the Holy See, they were allowed to have their own burial grounds, to have chaplains of their own, and they were freed from the obligation to pay tithes.
==References==
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