Birth
It was around 1118 (date conventionally retained) that the militia of the Poor Knights of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon (in Latin:pauperes commilitones Christi Templique Solomonici) was born, under the impulse of Hugues de Payns and Geoffroy de St-Omer. ), whose mission was to secure the journey of pilgrims arriving from the West since the reconquest of Jerusalem.
The date of 1118 for the creation of this militia is controversial because there are few precise references, and the change in the calendar (which no longer starts the year in March but in January) further complicates matters. Thus, some historians propose the dates of 1118, 1119 and 1120. The only precise marker that we currently have comes from the date of the Council of Troyes which took place nine years after the birth of the original militia.
It is therefore safer (and also more relevant) to link the date of the birth of the Order of the Temple to that of the Council of Troyes, during which its creation was ratified.
At first, Payns and St-Omer concentrated on the defile of Athlit, a particularly dangerous place on the route taken by the pilgrims. Subsequently, one of the largest Templar strongholds in the Holy Land was built here:the Château Pèlerin.
The new order thus created could only survive with the support of influential people. Hugues de Payns succeeded in convincing the King of Jerusalem Baudoin II of the usefulness of such a militia, something quite easy given the insecurity reigning in the region at that time.
The knights took the three vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. They received from Patriarch Gormond the mission to "guard ways and paths against brigands, for the salvation of pilgrims" ("ut vias et itinera, ad salutem peregrinorum contra latronum") for the remission of their sins.
King Baudoin II granted them part of his palace in Jerusalem, on the site of the Temple of Solomon, which later gave the name of Templars or Knights Templar.
Hugues de Payns and Geoffroy de Saint-Omer were not the only knights to have been part of the militia before it became the Order of the Temple. Here is the list of these knights, precursors or "founders" of the order:
Hugues de Payns
Geoffroy de St-Omer
André de Montbard
Payen de Montdidier
Geoffroy Bisol
Archambault de Saint-Amand
Gondemare
Rolland
The first donation (of thirty pounds of Angevin sous) received by the Order of the Temple came from Foulque, Count of Anjou. Subsequently, Fulk went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem and became its king.
The search for support
However, the notoriety of the Temple did not manage to extend beyond the Holy Land and that is why Hugues de Payns, accompanied by five other knights (Godefroy de St-Omer, Payen de Montdidier, Geoffroy Bissol, Archambault de St-Amand and Rolland), sailed for the West in 1127 to carry a message for Pope Honorius II and Monk Bernard.
With the support of King Baudoin of Jerusalem, Hugues de Payns had the following three objectives:
have the order recognized by the Church and give it a rule:attached to the canons of the Holy Sepulchre, the knights followed like them the rule of Saint-Augustin;
give legitimacy to the action of the Templars since the denomination of monk-knight, an amalgam of a novelty absolute, could be in contradiction with the rules of the Church and of society in general;
recruit new knights and obtain gifts that would keep the order alive in the Holy Land.
The western tour of the Poor Knights of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon began in Anjou and then passed through Poitou, Normandy, England (where they received many donations), Flanders and finally Champagne.
It should be noted that this approach by Hugues de Payns, accompanied by these five knights and supported by the King of Jerusalem, followed two unsuccessful attempts which had been made by André de Montbard and Gondemare, probably in 1120 and 1125.
The Council of Troyes (January 13, 1129)
Arriving at the end of his tour in the West and after having carried the message of the king of Jerusalem to Bernard of Clairvaux so that he would help the Templars to obtain the agreement and the support of the pope, Hugues de Payns took part in the council of Troyes ( so named because it took place in the Cathedral of Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul in Troyes). On January 13, 1129, the council opened in the presence of many religious personalities whose names are given in the prologue of the primitive Rule of the Temple:
Cardinal Mathieu d'Albano, papal legate in France,
the archbishops of Reims and Sens, together with ten of their suffragan bishops,
four Cistercian abbots (those of Cîteaux, Clairvaux, Pontigny and Troisfontaines),
two Cluniac abbots (those of Molesmes and Vézelay),
two canons,
two masters and a secretary.
In addition to the religious, there were secular characters:
Thibaut IV of Blois, Count of Champagne,
André de Baudement, Seneschal of the County of Champagne,
William II, Count of Nevers, Auxerre and Tonnerre.
The council led to the creation of a rule specific to the order of the Temple, which was of strong Cistercian inspiration (presence of Saint Bernard and Etienne Harding, founder of Cîteaux), in contradiction with the Cluniacs who followed the rule of Saint Benedict. Once the rule was adopted, it still had to be submitted to Étienne de Chartres, Patriarch of Jerusalem.
Rules and statutes of the Order of the Temple.
Before the founding of the order of the Temple, the Poor Knights of Christ, future Templars, lived in Jerusalem under the rule of the canons of the order of the Holy Sepulchre. These canons respected the rule of Saint Augustine.
The rule of the order of the Temple made some borrowings from the rule of Saint Augustine but was mainly inspired by the rule of Saint Benedict followed by the Benedictine monks. It was also adapted to the kind of active life, mainly military, led by the Templar brothers. For example, the fasts were less severe than for the Benedictine monks, so as not to weaken the Templars called upon to fight. Moreover, the rule was adapted to the bipolarity of the order, so certain articles concerned both life in the West (convent) and life in the East (military).
The primitive rule (or Latin because written in Latin), written in 1128, was annexed to the minutes of the Council of Troyes in 1129. It contained seventy-two articles.
Around 1138, under the mastery of Robert de Craon, second master of the Order of the Temple (1136-1149 ), the original rule was translated into French and modified.
Subsequently, on different dates, the rule was expanded by the addition of six hundred and nine withdrawals or articles statutes, especially concerning the hierarchy and justice within the order.