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The first of the military orders, the Knights Templar or Poor Knights of Christ was founded in 1118, in the aftermath of the First Crusade, to help the new Kingdom of Jerusalem maintain itself against its defeated Muslim neighbors, and to ensure the safety of the large numbers of European pilgrims who flowed towards Jerusalem after its conquest.
1 Organization
The Templars were organized as a monastic order, following a rule created for them by Bernard of Clairvaux, the founder of the Cistercian Order. The Templars were well connected and quickly became prime movers in the international politics of the Crusades period. In time, they were endowed with several extraordinary Papal bulls (see Omne Datum Optimum) that permitted them, among other things, to levy taxes and accept tithing in the areas under their direct control, facilitating their quick rise to institutional power.
There were four divisions of brothers in the Templars:
- the knights, equipped as heavy cavalry;
- the sergeants, equipped as light cavalry and drawn from a lower social classA social class is, at its most basic, a group of people that have similar social status. The relative importance and definition of membership in a particular class differs greatly over time and between societies, particularly in societies having a legal d than the knights;
- farmers, who administered the property of the Order;
- the chaplains, who were ordained priests and saw to the spiritual needs of the Order.
At any time, each knight had some ten people in support positions. Some brothers were devoted solely to banking, as the Order was often trusted with precious goods by participants in the Crusades.
2 History
Their name alludes to their historical headquarters in the Mosque of OmarThe Dome of the Rock ( Arabic: Qubbat As-Sakhrah is a famous Islamic shrine in Jerusalem. It was built between 687 and 691 by the 9th Caliph, Abd al-Malik. It is not a mosque, it is a shrine. According to tradition, the Dome was built to honor the Lord, w (a.k.a. "Dome of the Rock") on the Temple MountThe Temple Mount or Noble Sanctuary ( Hebrew language: Har HaBayit Arabic language: Al-Haram As-Sharif , is a hotly contested religious site in the old city of Jerusalem. It was the site of the first and second Jewish Temple in Jerusalem and according to in Jerusalem, which they renamed Templum Domini. Represented on one of their seals, the structure was believed to be a remnant of the Temple of Jerusalem, and was the model for many Templar churches in Europe, such as the Temple ChurchThe Temple Church is a 12th century church in London located between Fleet Street and the River Thames. Originally constructed as the headquarters in England of the Knights Templar, it was the scene of important negotiatons leading to the signing of Magna in LondonLondon is the capital of the United Kingdom and of England, and with over seven million inhabitants in the Greater London area, is the second-most populous conurbation in Europe (after Moscow). From being Londinium the capital of the Roman province of Bri.
In addition to PalestineFor varying definitions, see definitions of Palestine. Palestine ( Latin: Syria Palaestina Hebrew: Palestina Eretz Yisrael Arabic: Filasin , is a region in the Middle East extending inland from the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. Its political sta, the order fought in the Spanish and Portuguese Reconquista. They were given extensive possessions and castles in frontier land. At one point, they were to inherit the kingdom of Aragon, jointly with other military orders.
