Templars - The Templars Curse

Like so many aspects of the Knights Templar much of the detail surrounding their foundation is shrouded in mystery. We know that it was founded by Hugh de Payens, who became the Orders first Grand Master. Hugh de Payens may have come from a village of that name in Champagne, and his overlord the Count of Champagne may have played an important part in the subsequent course of the Order, as he was an intimate of St Bernard of Clairvaux, the Templars patron.

The original members of the Order (see They were known collectively as brothers and when not in the saddle they lived a cloistered life dedicated to the worship of God.

The Orders first dwelling place was in the Temple of Solomon and there is proof of this not only from tradition, but also from the evidence of a German monk Theoderic, who visited Jerusalem in 1174 and left a description of the knights precinct in the Temple of Solomon. They may have been given these premises by King Baldwin of Jerusalem as William of Tyre suggested, or by the patriarch of Jerusalem or the canons of the Holy Sepulchre.

Founder knights of the Knights templar

Hugh de Payens, First Grand Master

Andrea de Montbord

Archimbaud de St Armand from Picardy

Geoffroy Bisol or Bisot

Godfrey de St Omer from Picardy

Payen de Montdidier from Picardy

Roland or Rossol

Although the Orders original aim was to protect pilgrims, this was a body of knights trained in arms and warfare and possessing a great deal of aggressive energy. If this could be harnessed into fighting for God and the Christian occupation of the Holy Land, they believed they would gain absolution for their sins through the practical application of the life they knew best combat and would be doing the whole of Christendom an inestimable service.

It soon became clear that a handful of knights would not succeed in stemming the flow of the enemies of Christ into the Holy Land. Men, money and resources were needed. In order to acquire these, the western powers had to be wooed into recognizing the Order and sponsoring it by granting it resources. In 1127 Hugh and five companions left the East for the Council of Troyes in France to put the case for the Order, and to establish it firmly in western minds by promoting the idea that a man dedicated by his vows to the service of God could spill blood provided it was not Christian blood.

Hugh put his case to the Council of Troyes on 13 January 1129. He already had an advocate at the council, St Bernard of Clairvaux, who had been alerted to Hughs presence at the council by the Count of Champagne. Bernard was the energetic and articulate young nobleman who became abbot of Clairvaux, daughter house of Citeaux, the first monastery of the reforming Cistercian order. Bernard and Hugh came from the same background and understood each other.

It was Bernard who had given the Cistercians their identity as a separate order, and had drawn up the strict guidelines by which they were