Templars - The history of the Knights Templars, the Temple Church, and the Temple

The History

of the

Knights

Templars,

The Temple Church and The Temple

by

Charles G. Addison

[1842]

Contents

Introduction

This is a mainstream history of the Knights Templars, written in the 19th century.

Addison details the rise of the Templars to become, essentially, the first multinational

corporation. The Templars were entrusted by the Church and States of Europe to be the

spearhead of the crusades. In the process they gained immense wealth and influence,

although individual Templars took a vow of poverty. Jerusalem was won and lost several

times by the crusaders through the 12th and 13th centuries. Addison notably cites eyewitness descriptions from both the Crusaders and their Moslem opponents to give a wellrounded picture. After the crusades, and the loss of the Holy Land, the Templars began a

quick decline from which they never recovered. Accused of heresy and bizarre secret

rituals, the Templars were subjected to torture and the stake.

The second portion of the book focuses on Temple Church in London, the English

headquarters of the Templars in their prime. Addison details the architecture and history

of this edifice. The Temple Church eventually became the center of the legal profession

in the City of London, a hostel and school for lawyers. Addison mentions on the title

page that he is a member of the 'Inner Temple,' which doesn't mean that he was part of a

secret society, but instead qualified to practise law in England.

Addison quotes liberally from contemporary accounts in Latin, Norman French, and

Early Modern English (which he thankfully occasionally translates), and includes

extensive citations of source documents. If you want to learn the fascinating history of

the Knights Templars without any extraneous theorizing, this is an excellent book to start

with.

TO THE

MASTERS OF THE BENCH OF THE HONOURABLE SOCIETIES

OF THE

Inner and Middle Temple

THE RESTORERS OF

The Antient Church of the Knights Templars

THIS WORK

Is

RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED

BY

THE AUTHOR.

THE extraordinary and romantic career of the Knights Templars, their exploits and their

misfortunes, render their history a subject of peculiar interest.

Born during the first fervour of the Crusades, they were flattered and aggrandized as long

as their great military power and religious fanaticism could be made available for the

support of the Eastern church and the retention of the Holy Land, but when the crescent

had ultimately triumphed over the cross, and the religio-military enthusiasm of

Christendom had died away, they encountered the basest ingratitude in return for the

services they had rendered to the christian faith, and were plundered, persecuted, and

condemned to a cruel death, by those who ought in justice to have been their defenders

and supporters. The memory of these holy warriors is embalmed in all our recollections

of the wars of the cross; they were the bulwarks of the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem

during the short period of its existence, and were the last band of Europe's host that

contended for the possession of Palestine.

To the vows of the monk and the austere life of the convent, the Templars added the discipline of the camp, and the stern duties of the military life,

joining

"The fine vocation of the sword and lance,

With the gross aims, and body-bending toil

Of a poor brotherhood, who walk the earth

Pitied."

The vulgar notion that the Templars were as wicked as they were fearless and brave, has

not yet been entirely exploded; but it is hoped that the copious account of the proceedings

against the order in this country, given in the ninth and tenth chapters of the ensuing volume, will tend to dispel many unfounded prejudices still entertained against the

fraternity, and excite emotions of admiration for their constancy and courage, and of pity

for their unmerited and cruel fate.

Matthew Paris, who wrote at St. Albans, concerning events in Palestine, tells us that the

emulation between the Templars and Hospitaliers frequently broke out into open warfare

to the great scandal and prejudice of Christendom, and that, in a pitched battle fought

between them, the Templars were slain to a man. The solitary testimony of Matthew

Paris, who was no friend to the two orders, is invalidated by the silence of contemporary

historians, who wrote on the spot; and it is quite evident from the letters of the pope,

addressed to the Hospitaliers, the year after the date of the alleged battle, that such an

occurrence never could have taken place.

The accounts, even of the best of the antient writers, should not be adopted without

examination, and a careful comparison with other sources of information. William of

Tyre, for instance, tells us that Nassr-ed-deen, son of sultan Abbas, was taken prisoner by

the Templars, and whilst in their hands became a convert to the Christian religion; that he

had learned the rudiments of the Latin language, and earnestly sought to be baptized, but that the Templars were

bribed with sixty thousand pieces of gold to surrender him to his enemies in Egypt, where

certain death awaited him; and that they stood by to see him bound hand and foot with

chains, and placed in an iron cage, to be conducted across the desert to Cairo. Now the

Arabian historians of that period tell us that Nassr-ed-deen and his father murdered the

caliph and threw his body into a well, and then fled with their retainers and treasure into

Palestine; that the sister of the murdered caliph wrote immediately to the commandant at

Gaza, which place was garrisoned by the Knights Templars, offering a handsome reward

for the capture of the fugitives; that they were accordingly intercepted, and Nassr-eddeen was sent to Cairo, where the female relations of the caliph caused his body to be cut

into small pieces in the seraglio. The above act has constantly been made a matter of

grave accusation against the Templars; but what a different complexion does the case

assume on the testimony of the Arabian authorities!

It must be remembered that William archbishop of Tyre was hostile to the order on

account of its vast powers and privileges, and carried his complaints to a general council

of the church at Rome. He is abandoned, in everything that he says to the prejudice of the

fraternity, by James of Vitry, bishop of Acre, a learned and most talented prelate, who

wrote in Palestine subsequently to William of Tyre, and has copied largely from the

history of the latter. The bishop of Acre speaks of the Templars in the highest terms, and

declares that they were universally loved by all men for their piety and humility. "Nulli

molesti erant!" says he, "sed ab omnibus propter humilitatem et religionem amabantur."

The celebrated orientalist Von Hammer has recently brought forward various

extraordinary and unfounded charges, destitute p. x

of all authority, against the Templars; and Wilcke, who has written a German history of

the order, seems to have imbibed all the vulgar prejudices against the fraternity. I might