[Chapter5]

Mediaeval Knights Templars

Chapter 4.

The kingdom of Jerusalem was divided into three provinces: Jerusalem, Tripolis, and Antioch--and the countries of the West, where the Templars had possessions, were also divided into provinces--1. Portugal, 2. Castile and Leon, 3. Aragon, 4. France and Auvergne, including Flanders and the Netherlands, 5. Normandy, 6. Aquitaine, 7. Province, 8. England, including Scotland and Ireland, 9. Germany, 10. Upper and Central Italy, 11. Apulia and Sicily. Each of these provinces was presided over by a Great Prior or provincial Master, and was sub-divided into large districts containing several houses of the Order, and governed by Priors or Bailiffs. The Preceptors were subordinate to the Priors and presided over one or more houses.

The Templars early came into England, and established themselves in London, on the South of the Holebourne. They subsequently moved to near the Fleet river, where they built the Temple, the Church of which was consecrated by the Patriarch Heraclius in 1185. There were in all ten Bailiwicks or Priories in England, with seventeen Preceptories. One of their houses was at Temple Balsall, in Warwick-shire, where there are still some interesting remains of their buildings; and they had also possessions at Keele, in North Staff­ordshire, but I do not know if anything is left there. The Order became very wealthy, and possessed a large number of houses, churches, farms, mills, rights of pasturage, fishing, venery, and land. They had also, in many places, the right of holding annual fairs. The profit from their properties was sent to Palestine to be used for the benefit of the Order in the East. In some Northumberland accounts of the 13th century there is one of a Templars' farm, showing expenses £33-lOs as against receipts £94. They were said to have had in the various countries 9000 Preceptories, and their annual total income is said to have been 6,000,000 sterling. They shared with the Jews the position of financiers to the Rulers of States and Kingdoms, and their influence was proportionately large. Their Temple houses became depositaries of treasure in troublous times. In 1213 we find King John demanding of the Templars 20,000 marks which he had committed to their keeping. In 1263 Prince Edward broke into the Temple in London and took away £1000; and, in the following year, the citizens of London followed suit and carried off the money stored there. During the wars between the King and the Barons, Henry III being in want of money, threatened to seize the property of the church and the Military Orders. “You prelates and religious,” said he, “especially you Templars and Hospitallers, have so many liberties and charters that your enormous possessions make you rave with pride and haughtiness. What was imprudently given must be, therefore, prudently revoked: and what was inconsid­erately bestowed must be considerately re-called. I will break this and other charters which my predecessors and myself have rashly granted.” But the Prior of the Templars immediately replied: “What sayest thou, 0 King? Far be it that thy mouth should utter so dis­agreeable and silly a word. So long as thou dost exercise justice thou wilt reign; but if thou infringe it, thou wilt cease to be a King.”

Resuming the history of the Order;- After the Council of Troyes, Hugh de Payens, the Master, visited several countries, England among them, enrolling members, and returning to the Holy Land with 300 Knights. And from this time the history of the Templars is the history of the Christians in the East; for no action with the Infidels was fought in which the chivalry of the Temple did not bear a distinguished part. On the march their place was in the van, and in battle on the right; as that of their rivals, the Hospitallers, was in the rear and on the left. Their war-cry was ever heard in the thickest of the fight, and rarely was their banner seen to waver or give back in the conflict.

Under their Master, Eberhard de Bar, 130 Knights accompanied Louis VII and his followers on the second crusade, and their valour and skill contributed largely to the preservation of the army during the march through lesser Asia.

In 1153 the Christians laid siege to Ascalon. The siege was long and desperate. By kindling a huge fire, fed with pitch and oil, under the walls, a considerable breach had been made, through which the Christian Knights were preparing to enter, when Bernard de Tremelay with his Templars, took his station at it and barred all ingress. It was the rule of war among the Crusaders that whatever house or spoil anyone took when a town was stormed became his property. The Templars, therefore (I am merely repeating history) were eager to have the first chance, and, having kept off all others, Tremalay, with forty Knights, boldly entered a strongly-garrisoned town. They quickly paid the penalty for their rashness, for the garrison surrounded and slew them all, and then closed up the breach.

In 1170 the Master, Odo de St.Amand, was taken prisoner in fight, and was offered to ransom. He replied, “He had no goods but a knife and a girdle. A Templars' duty was to conquer or die.” He remained in captivity till his death. It was the rule of the Order to offer nothing more than the girdle or hood or knife as ransom for any of their members. This was, doubtless, on the same principle that inspired the old Romans, who never redeemed prisoners, to instill unfaltering bravery into their soldiers. But it was also inspired by the sentiment that as Christ was sold for thirty pence, no mortal man could be worth more than the merest trifle.

In 1187, when Saladin was overrunning Palestine, were fought the disastrous and fateful battles of Tiberias and Hittin, which led to the surrender of Jerusalem. The Christians were utterly overthrown; 30,000 are said to have lost their lives. The King and all his Princes became captives, the Master of the Hospital died of his wounds, and the Master of the Temple, Gerard de Ridefort, with 230 of his Knights, were taken prisoners. Saladin hated the Knights of the Temple. “Firebrands of Christianity” he called them, and he offered them the choice of abjuring their faith or death.. Not one of them accepted the shameful alternative, and, with the sole exception of the Master, they were put to death. It must be noted that notwithstanding his hatred of them, Saladin bore witness to the good faith of the Knights. “The Templars,” he said, “are pious men, and keep their word.” This was the more remarkable as it was a rule of the Church that no faith need be kept with Infidels; as if honour and honesty was a matter of circumstances.

In the third Crusade, under Philip of France, and our Richard, “Lion-heart,” in the unfortunate dispute between the Christian Princes, the Templars took the side of France, but Richard neverthe­less, bore witness to their bravery and devotedness. On one occasion, seeing a body of Templars outnumbered by the enemy, he cried, “I would to God they were aught else, but Templars or not, I will not desert brave Knights in their need”; and his appearance soon turned defeat into victory.

In the expedition to Egypt in 1219, the Templars were amongst the bravest of the brave. And in the second expedition there under St. Louis of France, 1250, at the sanguinary battle of Massoura, under-taken against the advice of the Masters of the Temple and the Hosp­ital, they fought with all their accustomed daring. The King and twenty thousand Crusaders were taken prisoners, among them the Master of the Hospital. The Master of the Templars, Walter de Sonnac, fell fighting with his Knights.

Mention has been made of the rivalry between the Hospitallers and the Templars. This rivalry at times proceeded to enmity and open conflict. They made war upon one another from their fortified castles, and only laid aside their jealousy in the face of a common enemy, and not always then. This feeling reached such a height in 1259, that a pitched battle was fought in Syria, between the two Orders. The Templars were defeated, and so great was the enmity displayed by their rivals that they cut to pieces any Templar who fell into their hands, and scarcely one remained to carry the news to Europe.

But whatever their faults, their valour and constancy in faith remained undiminished. In 1244, at the battle of Gaza, where the Christians were defeated, and from which the Latin Kingdom in Palestine never recovered, out of 300 Templars only 18 escaped, and out of 200 Hospitallers only 16. In 1266 the Egyptians were besieg­ing the fortress of Saphoury. After a determined defence the Prior of the Templars agreed to surrender the fortress, on condition that the Knights and the garrison--600 men in all--should be allowed to proceed to the next Christian town. The Moslem leader, after taking possession of the place, violated the conditions and gave the Knights a few hours to decide between death and conversion to Islamism. The Prior, with two Franciscan Monks, spent the time in exhorting their brethren to remain true, and at the appointed time they all avowed their determination to die rather than incur the dishonour of apostacy. The Knights were beheaded, and the Prior and the Monks were flayed alive.

The last scene of the Christian Rule in the Last, the defence of Acre in 1291, was one of the most brilliant of the achievements of the Templars. By force of numbers the Moslems had beaten back the Knights of the Cross until this was the sole remaining ground they could call their own. No help came from Europe in response to the cry of the distressed inhabitants. An army of 140,000 foot with 60,000 horse, besieged the doomed city, and with desperate courage the defenders held the place for thirty-three days. In the end the garrison was starved out, and 60,000 Christians were killed or sold into slavery. The Templars and Hospitallers refused to fly on board their own vessels. They maintained the fortress of the Temple for three days more, and of 500 Knights, all but ten shared the glorious fate of the Grand Master. Never again did the Christians gain footing in Palestine, and in the stately words of Gibbon, "A mournful and solitary silence prevailed along the coast which had so long resounded with the world's debate."

The remnant of the Templars who escaped took refuge in the island of Cyprus. In 1297 James de Molay was ejected Grand Master: and within twenty years from their defence of Acre which had aroused the admiration of the Christian world, came the fall of the Order, with a starling and dramatic suddenness without parallel in history.

[top][back][chapter5]