Admission requirements
The commanderies had, among other things, the role of ensuring the permanent recruitment of the brothers. This recruitment should be as broad as possible. Thus, lay men of the nobility and the free peasantry could claim to be received if they met the criteria required by the order.
First of all, entry into the order was free and voluntary. The candidate could be poor. Above all, he gave of himself. It was necessary that he be motivated because there was no trial period by the novitiate. Entry was direct (pronunciation of vows) and definitive (for life).
The main criteria were:
be over the age of 18 (the majority for boys was set at 16) (article 58)
not to be engaged (article 669)
not be part of another order (article 670)
not be in debt (article 671)
be in perfect mental and physical health (not be crippled) (article 672)
not having bribed anyone to be received in order (article 673)
to be a freeman (no man's serf) (article 673)
not to be excommunicated (article 674)
The candidate was warned that if proven a lie, he would be immediately fired "...if you lie about it, you will be perjured and could lose the house, from which God forbid you." (Excerpt from article 668)
The Templar face
In his homily (1130-1136), called "praise to the new chivalry", Bernard of Clairvaux presented a physical and above all moral portrait of the Templars, which contrasted with that of the knights of the century. "They cut their hair short, knowing from the Apostle that it is an ignominy for a man to take care of his hairstyle. We never see them combed, rarely washed, their beards shaggy, smelling of dust, stained with harnesses and by the heat...".
Although contemporary with the Templars, this description was more allegorical than realistic. Moreover, the Templar iconography is thin. In the rare paintings representing them at their time, their faces, covered with a helmet, a gossan or a camail, are not visible or only appear partially.
In article 28, the Latin rule specified that "the brothers must have their hair shaved", this for both practical and hygienic reasons of which Saint Bernard did not speak, but above all "in order to consider themselves as recognizing the rule permanently". Moreover, "in order to respect the rule without deviating, they must have no impropriety in the wearing of beards and mustaches." Note that the chaplain brothers were tonsured and beardless. Many miniatures, which represent the Templars at the stake, are neither contemporary nor realistic. By this time, some had even shaved to show their disengagement from the order. Finally, the official painters of the 19th century imagined the Templars in their own way, mixing idealism and romanticism, with long hair and large beards.