A Short History of Our Order

The International, Ecumenical and Military Order was founded in Jerusalem during the year 1118 by Hugues de Payens, Geoffrey de Saint-Omer and seven other French noble knights. The Order was consecrated to the protection of pilgrims and the defence of the Holy Land. The founding knights took monastic vows and were known as “The Poor Knights of Christ”.

King Baldwin II, the King of Jerusalem (1118-1131), installed the Order in a part of the Palace of Jerusalem, Solomon’s Temple, for their residence and armoury, from which it took the name of Knights of the Temple or Templars.

At the Council of Troyes in 1128 the Order was confirmed by Pope Honorius II, who gave it the strict rule dictated by Saint Bernard, the first Abbot of Clairvaux and founder of the Cistercian Order. The Knights also received the white vestment as a symbol of the purity of their life, to which in 1146 Pope Eugenius added “the red cross with two bars”.

The Order’s battle honours in the defence of the Holy Land were legion. Following the fall of Jerusalem in 1187 the Templars withdrew to Acre. They remained at Acre until the city was captured in 1291 with their Grand Master, William de Beaujue dying in the city’s defence. The surviving Templars, with their new Grand Master, were the last to leave the city. The Order withdrew to Cyprus, with its main seat at Limmasol and its headquarters in the Temple Monastery in Paris.

After many years of sacrifices and rendering service to both Christianity and Civilisation, this very rich and very powerful Order excited the envy and greed of others. The main protagonist was Philip the Fair, King of France, who was in the Order’s debt. In 1307, Philip arrested all the Templars in France and seized the Order’s goods and possessions. Unable to judge the Order himself, as it was answerable only to the Pope, Philip set about to coerce the Pope to act against the Order. Without any evidence of wrong doing, Pope Clement V yielded to pressure and in 1312 issued a Bull suppressing the Order. The Order reverted to its original status of a Secular Military Order of Chivalry.

Only in France were the Templars treated with severity, with the Grand Master, Jacques de Molay being burnt at the stake in 1314 near Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris. In England, Edward II did not take immediate action against the Order, but finally, in 1314, he permitted the Inquisitors to judge the Order at the Church of All Hallows By-the-Tower. Edward then set about seizing the Templar lands and possessions, including the Temple in London, for himself rather than passing them on to the nominated custodians, the Knights of Saint John.

Prior to his martyrdom in 1314, the 23^rd Grand Master, Jacques de Molay, invested Jean-Marc Larmenius with his powers. Larmenius was unanimously recognised as the new Grand Master following de Molay’s death. He gathered together the dispersed remnants of the Order and in 1324 gave the Order the Charter of Transmission. This Charter is still one of the governing documents of the modern Order.

The Order continued in secret with an uninterrupted line of Grand Masters until 1705. In March of that year a number of French nobles held a convention of Templars at Versailles. They elected Philip, Duke of Orleans, later Regent of France, as the Order’s 41^st Grand Master. Thus as Regent of France and Grand Master of the Temple it provided an official renewal and legitimisation of the Order of the Temple as a Secular Military Order of Chivalry.

After the death of the Duke of Orleans in 1723, three Princes of Bourbon were Grand Masters of the Order until 1776. That year the Duke de Cosse Brissac accepted the Grand Mastership and remained in office until his execution during the French Revolution in 1782. Having foreseen the coming events, he passed on the Order’s archives and the Charter of Transmission to Radix de Chevillon. The Order survived the Revolution and went through a period of prosperity in France during the early 19^th century, with many people of high office seeking admission as Knights and Dames. 

Between 1818 and 1841 the Order expanded greatly with over 20 Convents in France and Priories set up in Great Britain, Germany, Belgium and Switzerland. Legations were also established in Sweden, Brazil, India and in New York.