Knights Templar

Knights Templar
Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon
*Pauperes commilitones Christi Templique Salomonici Hierosolymitanis*
Knights Templar; Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon; Pauperes commilitones Christi Templique Salomonici Hierosolymitanis;
	Flag used by the Templars in battle
Active	c. 1119 – c. 22 March 1312
Allegiance	The Pope
Type	Roman Catholic military order
Role	Protection of the Christian pilgrims in Jerusalem (region); Shock troops
Size	15,000–20,000 members at peak, 10% of whom were knights
Headquarters	Temple Mount, Jerusalem, Kingdom of Jerusalem
Nickname(s)	Order of Solomon's Temple; Order of Christ;
Patron	Saint Bernard of Clairvaux
Motto(s)	Non nobis, Domine, non nobis, sed Nomini tuo da gloriam; (English: Not to us lord, not to us, but to your name give the glory);
Attire	White mantle with a red cross pattée
Mascot(s)	Two knights riding a single horse
Engagements	The Crusades, including: Siege of Shaizar (1138); Siege of Damascus (1148); Siege of Ascalon (1153); Battle of Lake Huleh (1157); Battle of Montgisard (1177); Battle of Marj Ayyun (1179); Battle of Cresson (1187); Battle of Hattin (1187); Siege of Jerusalem (1187); Siege of Safed (1188); Siege of Acre (1190–1191); Battle of Arsuf (1191); Siege of Mount Tabor (1217); Battle of Fariskur (1219); Battle of Mansurah (1221); Battle of Legnica (1241); Battle of La Forbie (1244); Battle of Mansurah (1250); Battle of Fariskur (1250); Siege of Safed (1266); Fall of Tripoli (1289); Siege of Acre (1291); Fall of Ruad (1302); The Reconquista, including: Soure (1144); Tomar (1190); Navas de Tolosa (1212); Alcácer do Sal (1217); Majorca (1228); Burriana (1233);
Commanders
First Grand Master	Hugues de Payens
Last Grand Master	Jacques de Molay

The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, mainly known as the Knights Templar, was a French military order of the Catholic faith, and one of the wealthiest and most popular military orders in Western Christianity. They were founded c. 1119 to defend pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem, with their headquarters located there on the Temple Mount, and existed for nearly two centuries during the Middle Ages.

Officially endorsed by the Roman Catholic Church by such decrees as the papal bull Omne datum optimum of Pope Innocent II, the Templars became a favoured charity throughout Christendom and grew rapidly in membership and power. The Templar knights, in their distinctive white mantles with a red cross, were among the most skilled fighting units of the Crusades. They were prominent in Christian finance; non-combatant members of the order, who made up as much as 90% of their members,^[1]^[2] managed a large economic infrastructure throughout Christendom.^[3] They developed innovative financial techniques that were an early form of banking,^[4]^[5] building a network of nearly 1,000 commanderies and fortifications across Europe and the Holy Land.^[6]

The Templars were closely tied to the Crusades. As they became unable to secure their holdings in the Holy Land, support for the order faded.^[7] Rumours about the Templars' secret initiation ceremony created distrust, and King Philip IV of France, while being deeply in debt to the order, used this distrust to take advantage of the situation. In 1307, he pressured Pope Clement V to have many of the order's members in France arrested, tortured into giving false confessions, and then burned at the stake.^[8] Under further pressure, Pope Clement V disbanded the order in 1312.^[9] The abrupt disappearance of a major part of the medieval European infrastructure gave rise to speculation and legends, which have currently kept the "Templar" name alive.

^ ^a ^b Burman 1990, p. 45.
^ ^a ^b Barber 1992, pp. 314–26
By Molay's time the Grand Master was presiding over at least 970 houses, including commanderies and castles in the east and west, serviced by a membership which is unlikely to have been less than 7,000, excluding employees and dependents, who must have been seven or eight times that number.
^ Selwood, Dominic (2002). Knights of the Cloister. Templars and Hospitallers in Central-Southern Occitania 1100–1300. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press. ISBN 978-0-85115-828-0.
^ Martin 2005, p. 47.
^ Nicholson 2001, p. 4.
^ Barber 1994.
^ Miller, Duane (2017). 'Knights Templar' in War and Religion, Vol. 2. Santa Barbara, California: ABC–CLIO. pp. 462–64. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
^ Barber 1993.
^ Barber, Malcolm (1995). The new knighthood : a history of the Order of the Temple (Canto ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. pp. xxi–xxii. ISBN 978-0-521-55872-3.

[FOOTNOTEBurman199045-1] Burman 1990, p. 45.

[quantity-2] Barber 1992, pp. 314–26
By Molay's time the Grand Master was presiding over at least 970 houses, including commanderies and castles in the east and west, serviced by a membership which is unlikely to have been less than 7,000, excluding employees and dependents, who must have been seven or eight times that number.

[3] Selwood, Dominic (2002). Knights of the Cloister. Templars and Hospitallers in Central-Southern Occitania 1100–1300. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press. ISBN 978-0-85115-828-0.

[FOOTNOTEMartin200547-4] Martin 2005, p. 47.

[FOOTNOTENicholson20014-5] Nicholson 2001, p. 4.

[FOOTNOTEBarber1994-6] Barber 1994.

[7] Miller, Duane (2017). 'Knights Templar' in War and Religion, Vol. 2. Santa Barbara, California: ABC–CLIO. pp. 462–64. Retrieved 28 May 2017.

[FOOTNOTEBarber1993-8] Barber 1993.

[9] Barber, Malcolm (1995). The new knighthood : a history of the Order of the Temple (Canto ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. pp. xxi–xxii. ISBN 978-0-521-55872-3.

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