Mackey A G - Encylopedia of Freemasonry - The Grand Masonic ...

KNIGHTS
KNIGHTS 405
of these religious wanderers were weak or
aged, almost all of them unarmed, and thousands
of them were subjected to insult to pillage
and often to death, inflicted by the
hordes of Arabs who, even after the capture
of Jerusalem by the Christians, continued to
infest the seacoast of Palestine and the roads
to the capital.
To protect the pious pilgrims thus exposed
to plunder and bodily outrage, nine French
knights, the followers of Baldwyn, united, in
the year 1118, in a military confraternity or
brotherhood in arms, and entered into a solemn
compact to aid each other in clearing the
roads, and in defending the pilgrims in their
passage to the holy city .
Two of these knights were Hugh de Payens
and Godfrey de St . Aldemar . Raynouard
(Les Templiers) says that the names of the
other seven have not been preserved in history,
but Wilke (Geschichte des T. H. Ordens)
gives them as Roral, Gundemar, Godfrey
Bisol, Payens de Montidier, Archibald de St .
Aman, Andre de Montbar, and the Count of
Provence .
Uniting the monastic with the military character,
they took, in the presence of the Patriarch
of Jerusalem the usual vows of poverty,
chastity, and obedience, and with great humility
assumed the title of "Poor Fellow Soldiers
of Christ ." Baldwyn, the King of Jerusalem,
assigned for their residence a part of his palace
which stood near the former site of the
Temple ; and the Abbot and Canons of the
Temple gave them, as a place in which to store
their arms and magazines, the street between
the palace and the Temple, whence they derived
the name of Templars ; a title which
they ever afterward retained .
Raynouard says that Baldwyn sent Hugh
de Payens to Europe to solicit a new crusade,
and that while there he presented his companions
to Pope Honorius II ., from whom he
craved permission to form wreligious military
order in imitation of that of the Hospitalers .
The pontiff referred them to the ecclesiastical
council which was then in session at Troyes, in
Champagne. Thither De Payens repaired
and re presented to the fathers the vocation of
himself and his companions as defenders of the
pilgrim ; the enterprise was approved, and St .
Bernard was directed to prescribe a rule for
the infant Order .
This rule, in which the knights of the Order
are called Pauper" commilitis Christi et Temple
Salomonis, or "The Poor Fellow Soldiers
of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon," is
still extant. It consists of seventy-two chapters,
the details of which are remarkable for
their ascetic character . It enjoined severe
devotional exercises, self-mortification, fasting,
and prayer. It prescribed for the professed
knights white garments as a symbol of
a pure life ; esquires and retainers were to be
clothed in black . To the white dress, Pope
Eugenius II . subsequently added a red cross,
to be worn on the left breast as a symbol of
martyrdom.
Hugh de Payens, thus provided with a rule
that gave permanence to his Order, and encouraged
by the approval of the Church, returned
to Jerusalem, carrying with him many
recruits from among the noblest families of
Europe .
The Templars soon became preeminently
distinguished as warriors of the cross. St .
Bernard, who visited them in their Temple
retreat, speaks in the warmest terms of their
self-deniatheir frugality, their modesty,
their piety, and their bravery . " Their
arms," he says, "are their only finery, and
they use them with courage, without dreading
either the number or the strength of the barbarians
. All their confidence is in the Lord
of Hosts, and in fighting for his cause they
seek a sure victory or a Christian and honorable
death ."
Their banner was the Beauseant, of divided
white and black, indicative of peace to their
friends, but destruction to their foes . At their
reception each Templar swore never to turn
his back on three enemies, but should he be
alone, to fight them if they were infidels . It
was their wont to say that a Templar ought
either to vanquish or die, since he had nothing
to give for his ransom but his girdle and his
knife .
The Order of the Temple, at first exceedingly
simple in its organization became in a
short time very complicated. 1?n the twelfth
century it was divided into three classes,
which were Kn ights, Chaplains, and Serving
Brethren.
1 . The Knights . It was required that whoever
presented himself for admission into' the
Order must prove that he was sprung from a
knightly family, and was born in lawful wedlock
; that he was free from all previous obligations
; that he was neither married nor betrothed
; that he had not made any vows of
reception in another Order ; that he was not
involved in debt ; and finally, that he was of a
sound and healthy constitution of body .
2 . The Chaplains . The Order of the Temple,
unlike that of the Hospitalers, consisted
at first only of laymen . But the bull of Pope
Alexander III ., issued in 1162, gave the Templars
permission to receive into their houses
spiritual persons who were not bound by previous
vows, the technical name of whom was
chaplains . They were required to serve a
novitiate of a year . The reception was, except
in a few points not applicable to the clergy,
the same as that of the knights, and they
were required to take only the three vows of
poverty, chastity, and obedience. Their duties
were to perform all religious offices, and to
officiate at all the ceremonies of the Order,
such as the admission of members at installations,
etc. Their privileges were, however, unimportant,
and consisted principally in sitting
next to the Master, and being first served at
table .
3 . The Serving Brethren . The only qualifi
cation required of the serving brethren, was,
that they should be free born and not slaves ;
yet it is not to be supposed that all the persons
of this class were of mean condition. Many