| The most authoritative chronicler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem in the twelfth century was William of Tyre. In his work A History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea, which he compiled between 1167 and 1184, he places the foundation of the Templars in 1119/20, a date confirmed by charter evidence. Their original aim was to protect pilgrims from Moslem attacks as they travelled through Palestine to visit the Holy Places in Jerusalem and elsewhere. |
| People had been making pilgrimages to the Holy Land for centuries, but the capture of Jerusalem in 1099 encouraged them to make the hazardous journey in greater numbers. Defence of the Christian-held lands was not easy, and man-power levels were such that the Franks were never able to muster sufficient trained men for both a large field army and an adequate garrison for their castles. Men could seldom be spared to patrol the pilgrim routes, nor to escort new arrivals from the ports. There are a number of accounts by pilgrims of the dangers they faced on their travels. They might be attacked by Moslem robbers and left dead by the roadside by their companions who were too afraid to stop to bury them; or they might die of sunstroke or thirst, for the brigands allowed them no access to natural water sources. Pilgrim camps were easy targets, and people were advised not to travel without a large escort, which was not always easy to find. If one managed to escape these human dangers, there were the lions and other wild animals which lived in the Jordan valley. |
| So it was that a small group of knights, led by Hugues de Payens, took pity on the plight of such pilgrims and vowed to devote themselves to their protection and to form a religious community for that purpose. The Order derived its title from the site of the former Jewish Temple, near to which Baldwin II, King of Jerusalem, gave them quarters in a wing of the royal palace. They took vows of poverty, chastity and obedience before the Patriarch of Jerusalem and were attached to the regular canons of the Holy Sepulchre who lived by the rule of St Augustine. The idea of protecting travellers was not new in the West. As part of |
 | | | | 1 William of Tyre, 'Chronicon', ed. R.B.C. Huygens, in the Corpus Christianorum, vols. LXIII & LXIIIA (Brepols 1986), XII,7: 'Ordo militie Templi Ierosolimis instituitur', vol. LXIII, pp. 55355. An English translation entitled A History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea is available, tr. A.E. Babcock & A.C. Krey (New York 1976). |
| | | 2 'Saewulf. A Reliable Account of the Situation of Jerusalem', in Jerusalem Pilgrimage 10991185, ed. J. Wilkinson, with J. Hill and W.F. Ryan, The Hakluyt Society, Series II, vol. 167, London 1988, p. 100. |
| | | 3 'The Life and Journey of Daniel, Abbot of the Russian Land', in Jerusalem Pilgrimage 10991185, ed. J. Wilkinson, with J. Hill and W.F. Ryan, The Hakluyt Society, Series II, vol. 167, London 1988, p. 137. |
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