

.113 



.: that "for sako of tho party" moat men were moat 



I : 



.. -i 



Tliu wili of my luily-lovo 



BeoinM If* tho fuhlon . . -I 

 Lore of Lloodabwl ....' 

 For the Mike of tho party . . 15 



It limy luivo boon BO with thoo who joined tho brotherhood. 

 tlio iiiimKtT of the order soon exceeded the original 

 muul'iT, and Borne of tlio "best blood" and the first military 

 tiikmto were to bo found among its members. 

 f&^ Iwin II., King of JiTu-i-ilom in the year 



1118 (uinotcon years after tlio conquest of tho 

 place), granted tho kui '.iing-placo in 



tho enclosure of tho Temple on Mount Moriah, 

 the ro-edified Temple of Solomon, and from 

 that timo tho knights woro known as the 



\th'>"<l >/// T-Mnlc of Solomon. 

 Ten years afterwards, tho knights having 

 formed themselves into a body of military 

 monks, bound by the same rules as monks, 

 and yet soldiers still, obtained recognition from 



tho Pope (Honoring ;m>l woro favoured with ... fp 



many honours of an ecclesiastical kind. St. ! tho order at Jerusalem. In ot 

 IScrnard, Abbot of Clairvaux (author, among ; countries, especially in Franco, t 

 other things, of tho hymn " Jerusalem the 





Europe, amassing gU U, and getting recruiU for the brotherhood. 

 In England he was well received in tho year 1128, and there he 

 founded a branch establishment of th Knights, under the war- 

 donship of a Prior, who was, on the appointment of nub-prior* 

 iior branches in England, called the Grand Prior, and 

 subsequently Master of tho Temple, the title of the supreme 

 head in Palestine being at the same time changed into that of 

 Grand Ma>: 



On the spot where "now tho studious lawyers hare their 

 bowers," tho English Templars dwelt, their Master a peer of 

 Parliament At first, however, they lircd in the Old Tempi* 

 wit'.iout Holhorn IUr, close to tho spot where Southampton, 

 now stand ; and it was not till many years after the 

 -hmontof tho order in Eng- 

 land that they bought tho ground 



i on which they built tho New Tom- 



i pie, tho sito of tho present law 



! colleges. Numerous branch depots 

 in the country sent up men and 



i money to the central body in Lon- 



; don, and tha Master and KnighU 

 in London supplied tho wants of 



Golden "), himself drew up the rules of tho 

 order, which are exceedingly curious and suffi- 

 ciently stringent. 



Constant attendance on prayer, self-morti- 

 fication, complete self-surrender, fasting these 

 wero the principles on which the rules were 

 framed. The twentieth rule prescribed whito 

 dresses for the knights. " To all tho professed 

 knights, both in winter and summer, we give, 

 if they can bo procured, whito garments ; that 

 those who have cast behind them a dark life, 

 SWORD OF COD- ma 7 know that they are to commend them- 

 FREY DE BOUIL- selves to their Creator by a pure and whito life. 

 LON. FROM THE For what is whiteness but perfect chastity, and 

 ouitiixAL PHE- chastity is tho security of tho soul, and tho 

 SERVED AT JE- health of the body. And unless every knight 

 RUSALEII. shall continue chaste, he shall not come to per- 



petual rest, nor see God, as tho Apostle Paul 

 witnesseth : Follow after peace with all men, and chastity, without 

 which no man shall see God." Esquires and retainers wero to be 

 clothed in black cloth, or, failing that, of brown or some mean 

 colour ; " it is granted to none to wear whito habits, or to have 

 whito mantles, excepting the above-named knights of Christ." 

 Gold or silver was forbidden to be worn on tho harness and trap- 

 pings of the knights simplicity and unrichness were to be the 

 order of the brotherhood. All money and all gifts wero to be in 

 common. There was not to be any communication with tho outer 

 world except through the master, and sporting of all kinds was 

 strictly forbidden. For the purposes of tho brotherhood it was 

 permitted the knights to possess lands 

 and husbandmen, " and tho customary 

 services ought to be specially rendered 

 unto you." Rule 66 says, " It is, 

 moreover, exceedingly dangerous to 

 join sisters with you in your holy pro- 

 fession, for the ancient enemy hath 

 drawn (St. Bernard spake as a monk) 

 many away from the right path to 

 paradise through tho society of women." 

 In tho last clause, of the rules this 

 warning is repeated, with a prohibition : 

 " Lastly, we hold it dangerous to all 

 religion to gaze too much on the coun- 

 tenance of women ; and therefore no 

 brother shall presume to kiss neither 

 widow nor virgin, nor mother nor sister, 



nor aunt, nor any other woman. Let the knighthood of Christ 

 shun fVmimne kisses, through which men have very often been 

 drawn into danger, so that each, with a pure conscience and 

 life, may be able to walk everlastingly in the sight of 

 God." 



-; were confirmed by the Pope, and Husrh do Payens 

 was chosen Master of the Knights. De Payens travelled through 



SHIELD Or A MIGHT TXXrLAJU 



TOMB or GODFRET DE BOV1LLOS AT JERUSALEM. 



Templars took deep 'oot, :in-l 

 enormous possessions in land and 

 money were bestowed upon thorn. 

 Tho order became very popular, 

 and its numbers increased so that 

 the ruuster-roll of the Knights in- 

 cluded the names of many thousands of warriors, picked men 

 from the flower of European chivalry. In the course of a few 

 years they rose into such prominence that kings were glad to 

 court their favour ; to the King of Jerusalem they were in tho 

 stead of a standing army, and upon them devolved tho never- 

 ceasing warfare which was necessary to defend the Latin settle- 

 ment from destruction. 



About tho year 11-46, when the second Crusade was being pre- 

 pared, tho Templars assumed, by permission of the Pope, a red 

 cross, which was worn on the left breast of their mantles, and 

 which obtained for them tho namo of Red Friars, or Red Crosa 

 Knights. They also obtained, at the same period, large addi- 

 tional benefices. Their work was not all rose-water, however ; 

 far from it they had rough and constant employment against 

 enemies both to race and religion, men embittered by yean of 

 mutual injury, by fanaticism, by every strong impulse. At times, 

 they conquered, at others they fell even their Grand Master 

 on one occasion being taken and kept in prison till he died. 

 Saladin, tho hero of many a romance, a most able warrior and 

 statesman, was the great foe of the Christians ; and as under his 

 auspices the Crescent grow, the light of the Cross became polo 

 in Palestine. At one time the whole of tho brethren in garrison, 

 at Jerusalem having been captured, and offered tho alternative 

 of death or the Koran, elected the former, and were beheaded 

 accordingly. By way of reprisal for 

 those things, it often happened that 

 the Knights forgot the Christian quality 

 of mercy, and involved in one common 

 destruction tho whole of their captives ; 

 indeed, in the end the war between 

 Cross and Crescent became a war ta 

 the knife. The Templars were a terrot 

 to all but the best of the Turkish 

 soldiers, and rode through their lines 

 in splendid charges, which made tho 

 earth quake beneath them. 



Tho Knights Templars had been in- 

 stituted as a rival order to that of the 

 Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, 

 which was organised as a military body 

 about 1099. This order was never at 

 any timo of ita existence so wealthy and powerful as that of tho 

 Templars, and on this account always held a higher posr 

 popular favour. The Templars, on tho other hand, were being 

 spoiled by prosperity, and their wealth was now beginning to 

 stir up tho en ire of tho needy. In every country in 



Europe they had property either in land or money nine thou- 

 sand manors in all, besides other riches ; and their privileges. 



