in Isabel Cristina Ferreira Fernandes (Coord.), As Ordens Militares. Freires, Guerreiros,Cavaleiros. Actas do VI Encontro sobre Ordens Militares, Vol.

1, GEsOS / Municpio de Palmela, Palmela, 2012.

THE CULT OF THE CROSS IN THE ORDER OF THE TEMPLE

Jochen Schenk
German Historical Institut, London

The military orders were unique religious institutions in very obvious ways, but one characteristic feature that has so far attracted little attention is the fact that of all the regular religious orders and communities that existed during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries only they wore the cross, which was the sign of the crusader, permanently on their habit. At a time of heightened crusade activity and spiritual refocusing on Christ the potency of the cross symbol could not have been lost to those who saw or wore it. It marked the bearer as a participant in Christs suffering, and at the same time projected on him the penitential and spiritually elevated status of the pilgrim and armed crusader. More than that, the symbol associated the bearer with the actual relic of the True Cross itself, which was at the core of crusader identity1. The Templars were from the start closely connected with the localities of Christs Passion; yet they do not seem to have added the signum of the cross to their habit until after the composition and translation of their original rule, but before 1139, when Pope Innocent III mentioned it in his bull Omne datum optimum2. As part of the Templar habit it is frequently mentioned in the Templar statutes, the retraits, which provided detailed regulations on how and where the cross should be worn ( 141), and when it should be removed ( 470, 489, 496, which show that by not wearing the cross the penitent was visually, spiritually as well as factually excluded the community of the brothers)3. These references further added to the already very diverse Christological imagery of the Templar
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1 See generally CONSTABLE, Giles, The cross of the crusaders, in id., Crusaders and Crusading in the Twelfth Century, Aldershot, 2008, p. 45-91, and MURRAY, Alan, Mighty against the enemies of Christ: the relic of the True Cross in the armies of the kingdom of Jerusalem, in John FRANCE, and William G. ZAJAC, The Crusades and their Sources. Essays Presented to Bernard Hamilton, Aldershot, 2008, p. 217-38. 2 DEMURGER, Alain, Les templiers: une chevalerie chrtienne au moyen ge, Paris, 2005, p. 296 3 Taken from CURZON, Henri de (ed.), La Rgle du Temple, Paris, 1886, p. 112, 251, 259, 262-3.

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rule recently described by Tom Licence4, which have led him to conclude that even in the intensely Christocentric period of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the Templars ostensive identification with Christ stood out. His observation seems to find subtle support in the research of Joan Fuguet i Sans, who in an earlier article regarded the cross as the most prominent element in the Orders iconography5. It is also in line with Sebastin Salvads more recent observation that the Templars in the Crown of Aragon made extensive use of True Cross relics and devotional icons from the East to express their association with the Holy Land and recreate the spiritual homeland of their order6. In this article I intend to follow in particular the lead of Salvad by expanding the list of True Cross relics associated with the Order of the Temple, and, in a second step, by investigating more closely what the Templars association with these relics can tell us about the Templars religious culture. The sources that are most relevant for this kind of research are the Order of the Temples inventory lists, which have survived in large number in many western archives but of which only a few have so far been edited. These the Templars had sometimes commissioned themselves; more often, however, they were the result of royal decrees during and after the trial of the Templars to have the Orders mobile and immobile belongings catalogued.7 In the inventories are recorded the Templars mundane possessions but also, albeit to a more limited extend, their liturgical instruments and religious objects, including relics. And it is from these entries that first conclusions on the religious culture of the Order of the Temple can be drawn8. As argued by Licence (who follows the lead of Sylvia Schein) the Templars, who were from the outset exposed to the spiritual climate of Mount Moriah, developed a heightened awareness of their significance as soldiers of Christ in the land of Revelation, which also infiltrated their western commanderies9. Moreover, in the Holy Land the Templars were
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LICENCE, Tom, The Templars and the Hospitallers, Christ and the saints, Crusades , 4, 2005, p. 39-57. FUGUET I SANS, Joan, Consideracions sobre ls de la Creu en lordre del Temple, El temps sota control: homenatge a Francesc Xavier Ricoma Vendrell, Tarragone, 1997, p. 295308. 6 SALVAD, Sebastin, Icons, crosses and the liturgical objects of Templar chapels in the Crown of Aragon, in Jochen BURGTORF, Paul F. CRAWFORD and Helen J. NICHOLSON (eds.), The Debate on the Trial of the Templars (13071314), Aldershot, 2010, esp. p. 1912 and 193 for the quotation. 7 An excellent introduction to the historical value of these inventories is BURGTORF, Jochen, The trial inventories of the Templars houses in France: selected aspects, in BURGTORF, CRAWFORD and NICHOLSON, Debate, p. 105-15 8 SALVAD, Icons, is a first-class example of how such an investigation is to be conducted. 9 LICENCE, Tom, The Templars and the Hospitallers, Christ and the saints, Crusades , 4, 2005, p. 45-6; Sylvia SCHEIN, Between Mount Moriah and the Holy Sepulchre: the changing traditions of the Temple Mount in the central Middle Ages. Traditio, 40, 1984, p. 175-95.
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also in frequent contact with the holiest relic of Christs passion, the True Cross of Jerusalem, which they guarded when it was transported away from Jerusalem or carried into battle10. This very physical association of the brethren with the relic combined with exposure to the increasingly Christocentric liturgy and cultic activity on the Temple Mount described by Licence surely must be seen as one reason why, as a survey of the published Templar inventories indicates, Templar convents in the Orders western provinces were by the end of the thirteenth century swamped with pieces of the lignum Domini. The extant inventories show that Pescola had three, perhaps even four pieces of the Cross in its treasury11. And the four-armed Templar reliquary crosses of Acre12 and Pontoferrada (now in the cathedral of Astorga)13 contained four splinters of the Cross each14. Toulouse had altogether four pieces, encased in two reliquaries15; New Temple London had two; and Corbins, Grasse, Limaye and Venice had at least one each. At this time I know of thirty-six reliquaries six of them likely but not certainly Templar - with forty-six or more fragments of the True Cross, although they may include a few duplicates.
Templar house [...] = unconfirmed Acre [Biais] [Bray, St-Nicola] Cantavieja Cross Reliquaries 1 [1] [1] 1 Fragments of lignum Domini 4 [1] [1+] 1

Reference FOLDA, Crusader Art, p. 141-2 CORSON, Templiers en Bretagne16, pp. 265-7; Enciclopedia17, XI, p. 105; and generally BOUYER, Notice18. DURU, Templiers19, p. 64 MARTNEZ, La Cmara20, no 32, p. 41

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CURZON, La Rgle, 122, p. 101. See table below. 12 FOLDA, Jaroslav, Crusader Art in the Holy Land: From the Third Crusade to the Fall of Acre, 1187-1291, Cambridge, 2005, p. 141-2. 13 ATINEZA, Juan, Guia de la Espaa Templaria, Barcelona, 1985, p. 174; cf. SALVAD, Icons, p. 188 14 The best study of the subject of Templar crosses in the Crown of Aragon is SALVAD, Icons, which also includes an excellent guide to the archival evidence. 15 BOURG, M. A. du, Ordre de Malte. Histoire du grand prieur de Toulouse, Toulouse, 1883, no 23, p. xvi. 16 CORSON, Guillotin de, Les Templiers en Bretagne et les hospitaliers de Saint-Jean de Jerusalem, Nantes, 1902, reprint: Yoran Embanner, 2006. 17 ROMANINI, Angiola Maria (ed.), Enciclopedia dellArte Medievale, 11 vols., Rome, 1991-. 18 BOUYER, J., Notice sur la relique de la Vraie Croix de Saint-Pre en Retz, Paimboeuf, 1898. 19 DURU, Andr,Templiers, hospitaliers et vrai croix de St. Pre-en-Retz, Bulletin de la socit dtudes et de recherches historiques du pays de Retz, 4, 1984.
11

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Templar house [...] = unconfirmed Catalonia Catalonia Catalonia Carentoir [Chieri] Corbins [Douai] Ste-Eulalie Grasse Italy [Lantiern]29

Cross Reliquaries 4 1 1 1 [1] 1 [1] 1 1 1 [1]

Fragments of lignum Domini 5 2 1 1 [1+] 1 [1+] 1 1 1 [1]

Reference RUBI, Inventaris indits21, no 7, p. 398-9 VILAR BONET, Els bns del Temple22, no 75, p. 194 MARTNEZ, La Cmara, no 91, p. 124 CORSON, Templiers en Bretagne, p. 161-2. RICALDONE, Templari23, p. 434. VILAR BONET, Els bns del Temple, no. 2, p. 114; MIRET Y SANS, Inventaris24, p. 70 MANNIER, Ordre de Malte25, II, p. 684 Inventaire Ste-Eulalie26, p. 258 DURBEC, Provence27, p. 263 RIANT, Exuviae28, II, p. 56 G. de CORSON, Templiers en Bretagne, p. 136

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MARTNEZ FERRANDO, Jess Ernesto, La Cmara Real en el reinado de Jaime II (12911327): Relaciones de entradas y salidas de objetos artsticos, Anales y Boletn de los Museos de Arte de Barcelona, 11, 19534. 21 Jordi RUBI, Ramn dALS and Francesc MARTORELL (eds.), Inventaris indits de lordre del Temple a Catalunya, Institut dEstudis Catalans, Anuari, I, 1907, p. 385-407. 22 VILAR BONET, Mari, Els bns del temple a la Corona dArag en suprimir-se lordre (1300-1319), Barcelona, 2000. 23 RICALDONE, Giuseppe Aldo di, Templari e Gerosolimitani di Malta in Piemonte dal XII al XVIII secolo, 2 vols., Madrid, 1979. 24 MIRET Y SANS, Joaquim (ed.), Inventaris de les cases del Temple de la corona dArag en 1289, Boletin de la real academia de buenas letras de Barcelona, 42, 1911, p. 61-75. 25 MANNIER, Eugne, Ordre de Malte. Les commanderies du Grand Prieur de France, 2 vols., Paris, 1872, reprint: Brionne, 1987. 26 HIGOUNET-NADAL, Arlette, Linventaire des biens de la commanderie du Temple de Sainte-Eulalie du Larzac en 1308, Annales du Midi, 68, 1956, p. 255-62. 27 DURBEC, Joseph-Antoine, Templiers et Hospitaliers en Provence et dans les Alpes-Maritimes, first published in Provence Historique, 9, 1959, reprint: Grenoble, 2001. 28 RIANT, Paul (ed.), Exuviae sacrae Constantinopolitanae, 2 vols., Geneva, 1875, reprint: Paris, 2004. 29 Evidence of a Holy Cross relic in the church of Lantiern dates from 1643 (CURSON, Templiers en Bretagne, p. 136). But the Templars held property at Lantiern in the late twelfth century and a connection of the Order with the church is possible. See ROSENZWEIG, Louis (ed.), Cartulaire gnral du Morbihan, Vannes, 1895, no 234, p. 1901.

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Templar house [...] = unconfirmed [Lecce] Limaye London Mas Deu N.N. (later Rhodes) Pescola I Pescola II Pescola III Perticano Pontoferrada Sulniac Toulouse Venice Total (27)

Cross Reliquaries [1] 1 2 1 2 1 1 3 1 1 1 2 1 30 [36]

Fragments of lignum Domini [1+] 1 2 1+ 2 1 1 3 1 [+] 4 1 4 1 (+) 41 [46] +

Reference SCARDINO, Discorso30, p. 54; Infantino, Lecce sacra31, p. 51, 122, 175, 213 SCHOTTMLLER, Untergang32, II, p. 430 Exch. L.T.R. Enrolled Accts. Misc. no 20, m 3, cf. WILLIAMSON, Temple London33, p. 73 MICHELET, Procs34, II, p. 457 Ogier dANGLURE, Saint voyage35, p. 386, 441 VILAR BONET, Els bns del Temple, no. 4, p. 116-17 VILAR BONET, Els bns del Temple, no. 16, p. 128-9 RUBI, Inventaris indits, no 4, p. 393-6 Enciclopedia, XI, p. 105. MARTNEZ, La Cmara, no 53, p. 76; Frolow, Vraie Croix36, no 619, p. 467 CORSON, Templiers en Bretagne, p. 140. BOURG, Ordre de Malte, no 22, pp. xv-vii. CORNELIUS, Ecclesiae Venetae37, 12, p. 247

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SCARDINO, Peregrino, Discorso intorno la citt di Lecce, Bari, 1607. INFANTINO, Giulio Cesare, Lecce sacra, Lecce, 1634. 32 SCHOTTMLLER, Konrad, Der Untergang des Templerordens mit urkundlichen und kritischen Beitrgen, 2 vols., Berlin, 1887. 33 WILLIAMSON, John Bruce, The history of the Temple, London, London, 1924. 34 MICHELET, Jules (ed.), Le procs des Templiers, 2 vols., Paris, 1841-51, reprint: Paris, 1987. 35 ANGLURE, Ogier d, Le saint voyage de Jherusalem, in Albert PAUPHILET (ed.), Jeux et sapience du moyen ge, Paris, 1951. 36 FROLOW, Anatole, La relique de la Vraie Croix, Paris, 1961. 37 CORNELIUS, Flaminius, Ecclesiae Venetae antiquis monumentis nunc etiam primum editis illustratae ac in decades distributae, 16 vols., Venice, 1749.
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Some of these reliquaries were of very simple design. The cross containing a splinter of the lignum Domini discovered at Limaye, for example, was described as small (parva) and not much longer than half a palm (c. 5 cm)38. The reliquary containing another splinter found at Grasse was a small silver cross and the Holy Cross relic from the Templar convent of Cantavieja, a lordship which the Templars had gained in 1196, was in 1311 described as old and made of silver39. The reliquary recorded in a fifteenth-century inventory of the former Templar chapel of Douai was described as a small gilded silver double-cross containing multiple relics of the True Cross40. The relic containers and reliquary crosses found in other churches, however, could be extremely sumptuous; many were enamelled in the style of Limoges, others were made from ivory.41 As artefacts they were meant to inspire marvel and wonder in the spectator. Moreover, in appearance and content they constituted a memorable visual link between the relics owners and the Holy Land42. Among the liturgical artefacts confiscated from Templar houses and chapels in Aragon were two reliquary crosses of impressive size, five Spanish piedras (c. 140 cm) and ten Spanish piedras (c. 280 cm) respectively, which each contained a splinter of the lignum Domini. The taller of the two crosses was a present from Remon Oliver, who seems to have been identical with the Templar preceptor of Villel (before 1286), Tortosa (1286-7) and Zaragoza (1292-4, 1297-1307) of that name43. Toulouse possessed two reliquaries with splinters of the Cross. One was in 1313 described as a wooden cross covered with silver, which, it was said, contained splinters of the Holy Cross in two places and which was decorated with forty-five stones of different colours, small and big. The other as a silver cross, with its scogio, containing two wooden crosses with pieces of the Holy Cross, with ten stones on the front and seven at the back44. Pescola apparently possessed one fragment of the Holy Cross in a reliquary enamelled in the style of Limoges and two silver crosses with splinters of the Cross in 1307. In 1311 one of the crosses from Pescola was described as made of gilded silver, decorated with a figure of the Crucified and forty-eight
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SCHOTTMLLER, Untergang, II, p. 430. DURBEC, Provence, p. 263 (Grasse, 1308); MARTNEZ, La Cmara, no 32, p. 41 (1311). On Cantavieja see FOREY, Alan, The Templars in the Corona of Aragn, London, 1973, p. 28, 90. 40 une petite crois double, couverte d'argent quy est dore, en laquelle a plusieurs reliques de la vraye croie, MANNIER, Ordre de Malte, II, p. 684. 41 See e.g. BOURG, Ordre de Malte, no 23, p. xvi; MIRET Y SANS, Inventaris, no 1, p. 391. 42 See also SALVAD, Icons, p. 189. 43 .i. crueta de fulla de plata sobredorada en que ha .i. lignum Domini chico del qual minvan .v. pietra. Otro lignum Domini que y fizo fer don Remon Oliver con dies pietra e con su pie d argent. See RUBIO Y LLUCH, Antonio (ed.), Documents per lhistoria de la cultura catalane mig-eval, 2 vols, Barcelona, 1908, I, no 35, p. 278 (1318). For Remon Oliver see FOREY, Aragn, p. 265, 266. 44 BOURG, Ordre de Malte, no 23, p. xvi.
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large pearls, four stones the colour of emeralds, eight stones the colour of sapphires, and four stones the colour of rubies45. Corbins possessed a fragment of the lignum Domini enshrined in a crystal cross, which may have been identical with a similar crystal cross given by James II to Valldigna in 131846. The Crux Sancta in the church of Sainte-Eulalie was described as made of silver and gold and encrusted with precious stones.47Another reliquary cross that once belonged to the Templars but in 1318 went into the possession of the Cistercians of Valldigna was described as qoddam (sic!) crux argenti cum lingo Domini in qua sunt duo [] lingo Domini et est [] granats seu balays grossi et triginta II perle [] lapides modice sive encastedes et in ila parte dicte crucis est unus crucifixus et beati Johannis et beate Marie et cum IIII evangelistis, et est [] sunt tribus crucis reliquie diversorum sanctorum, et in capite dicte crucis deficit aliquantulum lingo Domini [] argenti, signe pedem dicte crucis et est cum signo magistri mayoris Templi, sine est [] et in una cruce crocea per medium et unum velum cerici albi cum orlis rubeis, in quo est involuta dicta crux48. Enclosed in this enamelled and richly adorned staurotheka were multiple minor reliquaries containing pieces of the Cross and various relics of saints. Its visual reference to Christ Crucified, Saint John, Blessed Mary and the Evangelists and attribution to the grand master of the Temple made it a centrepiece for Templar devotion and in the eyes of outsiders it created a strong link between the sanctity of the object and the Order. As relics associated with Christs Passion these splinters also served as constant reminders to the Templars of their origin and allegiance to Christ, as did the vial of the Precious Blood guarded at New Temple in London. Enshrined, as they often were, in reliquaries of obvious Frankish-Levantine provenance, the function of these relics was moreover as a visual reminder of the physical location where Christ endured his Passion and which the Templars had professed to protect and defend, thereby adding substance and a sense of urgency and immediacy to the brothers daily prayer por le saint reaume de Jerusalem49.
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VILAR BONET, Els bns del Temple, no 4, p. 116-17 (1302), no 16, p. 128-9 (1307), no 17, p. 129-30 (1307); MARTNEZ, La Cmara, no 32, p. 38-44 (1311). 46 VILAR BONET, Els bns del Temple, no 4, p. 114-15 (1300), no 75, p. 194 (1318). 47 [Q]uandam crucem sanctam munitam lapidibus preciosis incastratam in auro et argento. Inventaire St-Eulalie, p. 258. 48 VILAR BONET, Els bns del Temple, no 75, p. 194 (1318). 49 A bidding prayer of this content was recited, for example, during daily chapter meetings in the Temple of Paris. SINCLAIR, Keith V., La rgle du Temple et la version templire de lOratio communis fidelium, Revue Mabillon, 69, 1997, p. 177-82; LINDNER, Amon, Raising arms. Liturgy in the struggle to liberate Jerusalem in the late middle ages, Turnhout, 2005, p. 355, 360. The vial with the Precious Blood is recorded in Exch. L.T.R. Enrolled Accts. Misc. No 20, m 3, cf. WILLIAMSON, Temple London, p. 73.

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The Cistercians of Valldigna for one hardly could have failed to notice the importance of the Cross in Templar devotion, for they also received from the Orders possession one gilded silver pedum with the figure of three enamelled angels depicting the scene of the discovery of the True Cross50. Likewise, visitors to Templar churches or chapels who had seen any of the three reliquary crosses, which were after 1313 recorded among the former Templar possessions now in the hands of James II of Aragon, would have been left in little doubt over the spiritual yearning of the Templars for Jerusalem. It seems by their description that the design of all three reliquary crosses followed an artistic style first developed in Jerusalem workshops51. Two were described as gilt double-armed crosses in the Greek style with mounted semiprecious stones and containing, among other relics, fragments of the lignum Domini52. The third reliquary (which has also already been described by Salvad) was a complex arrangement of three richly decorated double-armed crosses formed into one reliquary depicting Christ, Mary and the apostles, enclosed in which were two more reliquaries of the True Cross set into one another53. Another reliquary containing a splinter of the Cross eventually came into the possession of the Franciscans of Vilafranca. This reliquary, too, seems to have been designed in the shape of the Byzantine double-armed cross, but unfortunately its description is riddled with lacunae and unreadable passages. Transcribed by Martinz it reads as follows: [I]tem Minorisis Villefranche quondam hiis cohoperta filio argenti et est in branchio inferiori quedam crux modica ibi inter ambas partes quadraginta unus ? lapides sive doblex fixi et lignum Domini, quinquaginta quinque perle enfilate54. Through these relics the Templars in Europe, and in particular in the Crown of Aragon, demonstrated a pronounced veneration for the True Cross55. As mentioned
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50 [U]num pedum argenti de super deauratum, in quo est forma trium angelorum embotits, et est crucis ligni Domini, prout fuit inventum, VILAR BONET, Els bns del Temple, no 75, p. 194 (1318). 51 FOLDA, Jaroslav, The Art of the Crusaders, Cambridge, 1995, plates 3 and 4 and p. 97-100, 167-8. 52 [I]tem quandam crucem cum folio argenti superaurato et cum IIII brachiis in qua sunt reliquie, et quedam crux parva lingo Domini, et ymago crucifixi, et viginti sex perle, et sex lapides virides, et quidam pes argenti superaurati dicte crucis. item quandam crucem parvam argenti duplicem cum IIII brachiis, in quibus sunt octo lapides minimi valoris, et videtur quod in ibi sit de lingo Domini. MARTNEZ, La Cmara, no 53, p. 76-7 (1313). 53 [Q]andam croetam argenti subtilem, que pertitur, queque deaurata est, in cuius parte quadam fermata est quadam parva crux cum quatuor brachiis, et videtur quod in ea fuerit de lingo Domini, et in alia parte dicte crucis est quadam media crux fixa, et ista medi crux cohopertur cum alia in qua est una pecia de lingo Domini; est eciam intus cruce preditam quadam modica croeta rotundiatis unius denarii, et in una parte dicte crucis que pertitur est quidam cruxifixus, et ex alia parte in medio crucis est ymago Virginis gloriose [te]nentis filium suum in brachio, et in quolibet quatuor brachiorum dicte crcis medie sunt singule imagines, medie quatuor evanglistorum, et eciam in dicta cruce quadam pecia reliquie nigre grossitudinis unius favete. In medio autem dite cruces fecimus poni de lingo Domini. Ibid., no 130, p. 180 (1323). See also ibid. no 53, p. 76 (1313) and SALVAD, p. 188. 54 Ibid., no 91, 124 (1318). 55 SALVAD, Icons, 188.

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earlier, the sign of the cross was the most recognisable insignum of the military orders, who wore it openly displayed on their habits. And in the same way that preachers employed the Cross of Christ as visual aid in their crusade sermons, the relics pertaining to its archetype must have been among the Orders most potent tools of recruitment56. The importance of the Holy Cross reliquary as a defining element of religious perception of the Order of the Temple and as a focal point for devotional attention becomes even clearer if one considers the important function of chapels and churches, where these reliquaries were put on display, as arenas for religious and social intercourse, as places, in other words, where agreements of confraternity were contracted, benefactions delivered and accepted, and business transactions conducted. It is telling that in Cyprus the most vocal lay advocates of the Templars during the trial were knights, nobles and churchmen who had attended Templar mass and had witnessed the brethrens devotion to Christ and the Cross. Thus Robert de Montgisard testified that in Nicosia he saw brothers of the Temple many years ago, in the church of the Temple, on bended knee, adoring the cross and devoutly hearing mass and other divine offices57. Rupen de Montfort, lord of Beirut, witnessed the Templars adoring the Cross just as any Christian he had ever seen58, whereas lord Laurentius of Beirut, who by his own account had lived for eighteen years with the Templars as a lay associate, remarked that he had only ever witnessed them revering and honouring the Cross with great devotion59. And the vicar Simon Rouss at least agreed that many times he had seen the Templars adoring the Cross honestly and devoutly60. The most impressive spectacle of Templar devotion of the Cross, and the one that Robert de Montgisard may have been referring to, was undoubtedly the Adoration of the Cross on Good Friday, which was also one of the few devotional acts which the Templars performed publicly. The Good Friday ceremony was regulated for in the Templar retraits and well rehearsed by many Templars, who were able to describe it to the detail in their depositions. The liturgy of the day unfolded in the most solemn manner, culminating in the unveiling of the Cross in the chapel to the chants of Ecce lignum Crucis and the response Venite adoremus. During the singing of the response the assembled brothers kneeled in adoration, and once the Cross was completely unveiled and placed in front of
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For the importance of the cross as visual aid for preachers of the crusade see MORRIS, Colin, Picturing the crusades: the uses of visual propaganda, c. 1095-1250, in FRANCE, ZAJAC, The Crusades and their Sources, p. 197-8. 57 GILMOUR-BRYSON, Anne (ed.), The trial of the Templars in Cyprus. A complete English edition, Leiden, 1998, p. 64. 58 Ibid.,p. 63. 59 Ibid., p. 410. 60 Ibid., p. 69.

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the altar, they took off their shoes, weapons and head-covers and with washed feet, as some brothers remembered in their depositions, they approached the Cross on bended knees. Details of the ceremony crop up in an abundance of Templar testimonies. As some Templars would explain, the Cross stood for the Passion of Christ, which in turn reminded them of their mission to shed their own blood to defeat the enemies of Christendom. It was in honour and reverence of the Cross on which Our Lord sustained his death and passion for us that they wore the symbol of the cross on their mantles61. In the words of Berenguer de Collo, a brother knight from Mas Deu in Roussillon, he and his brothers wore the cross on their habits in reverence of the Cross of Christ. Like many of his brothers he believed that the red colour of the Templar cross signified the blood Jesus had shed on the Cross for them, so they would be able to shed their blood against the Saracen enemies of Christ in the land across the sea and all other enemies of the Christian faith62. Across France, Italy, Spain and Cyprus the same solemn celebrations unfolded on Good Friday. Brother Gerard de Passagio, for one, insisted that he and his brethren always venerated the Cross with much reverence on Holy Friday and that he had never seen it done any differently in any of the Templar houses he had visited during his career in Cyprus, Burgundy, Lotharingia, Picardy and Allemania63. Some of the best descriptions of what happened in the Temple on Good Friday come from Mas Deu, home to one of the Orders Holy Cross reliquaries. Here, according to the knight brother Berenguer de Collo already mentioned, the Cross was venerated thrice a year, at the feasts of the Holy Cross in September (Exaltation of the Cross) and May, and on Good Friday, when the brothers, as was required for the occasion, put off their shoes, swords and head dresses (deponunt sotulares quos portant et gladios et cofas lineas et quicquid portant aliud extra caput)64. His memory is supported by Arnaldus Septembris. According to him the brothers of Mas Deu
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MICHELET, Procs, I, p. 141, 326, 366, 555-6, 606, 609, 612-13, 615-16, 620; II, p. 82-3, 111, 201, 222, 227-8, 230, 232. 62 ...dicens eciam quod, ob reverenciam crucifixi Domini Jhesu, omnes fratres dicti ordinis portant in clamyde crucem. Et sicut Christus Jhesus effudit sanguinem proprium in cruce pro nobis, in illa significatione fratres dicti ordinis portant crucem panni rubei in clamide, ut effundant suum sanguinem proprium contra hostes Christi Sarracenos in terra transmarina, et alibi contra hostes fidei Christiane. Ibid., II, p. 446. See also ibid. I, p. 141, and II, p. 506: [E]xcepto quod confessus est Christum Jhesum crucifixum verum Deum esse, passum et mortuum fuisse in ligno sancte crucis pro redemptione humani generis, non pro culpis nec pro peccatis suis, sed pro nostris duntaxat, cum ipse peccatum non fecerit, nec dolus unquam fuerit in ore ejus semper veridico; se habere spem firmam habende salvationis per eum et per neminem alium; pro cujus honore ipse et reliqui fratres Templi portant signum venerabilis crucis rubee in mantellis albis vel nigris, in figuram vel signum sacri sanguinis Jhesu Christi, cujus effusione ipse crucem suam sanctissimam insignavit; quam fratres dicti Templi ter in anno adorant reverenter. 63 MICHELET, Procs, I, p. 216-17. 64 Ibid. II, p. 446.

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venerated the Holy Cross, on which Our Lord Jesus Christ, son of God died for the salvation of mankind, not for his sins, for he never sinned, but for our misdeeds by taking their swords, shoes and capes off, and reciting the prayer: Adoro te, Christe, et benedico tibi, quia per crucem tuam redemisti mundum65. Ferrier Hoti, too, remembered that in accordance with the customs of the Order the brothers of Mas Deu celebrated the Holy Cross of Christ three times a year and that on Holy Friday, the day when Christ died on the Cross for the salvation of mankind, they recited the prayer Adoramus te, Christe, et benedicimus tibi, quia per sanctam crucem tuam redemisti mundum. The adoration was done solemnly, nudis pedibus, cultellis et cofis capitis dimissis, genibus flexis, and with utmost devotion (cum summa devotione meliori qua possunt)66. The Templar Stephen de Cellario, a frequent commuter between France and the Holy Land, also remembered that wherever he was on that day he would adore the Cross with washed bare feet, with reverence and devotion67. Often the Adoration of the Cross was performed in front of lay people who had come to the chapel or church to witness the occasion. In their defence the Templars did not fail to remind the bishops and prelates that the adoration of the Cross on Good Friday was not only done with humility and devotion, but also en presence deu pueple, and thus for everyone to see68. John de Bayes, a knight from Nicosia, who had seen Templar masters and brothers attending mass and celebrating the Divine Office in the Templar church of Nicosia, had only positive things to tell about the brothers devotion. Called upon as a secular witness in the trial against the Order in Cyprus, he remembered that on Good Friday he had seen crowds of Templars entering the Orders church on bended knees to venerate the Cross, which they did with no less devotion than any other faithful Christian69. His observations were confirmed by other laymen, who remembered that time and time again they had witnessed the Templars attending Mass and venerating the Cross with honesty and devotion70. Guy de Bandes, a merchant from Acre who by the time of the Templars arrest was living in Famagusta, told the inquisitors that in Acre and in Cyprus
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The other two feastdays of the Cross were celebrated non tantum discalciatis pedibus, sed cultellis et cofis capitum depositis. Ibid., p. 474. 66 Ibid., p. 500 and also p. 503: Quamquidem crucem ipse et ceteri fratres ejusdem ordinis cum quibus conversatus est, et idem credit de aliis, adoraverunt et adorant ter in anno, videlicet in duobus festis Sancte Crucis maii et septembris, et solempnius in die Veneris sancta, discalciatis pedibus et cultellis dimissis et capitibus discohopertis et flexis genibus, dicendo, cum sit laycus ipse qui loquitur: Ador te Crist, et benesesc te Crist, qui per la sancta tua crou nos resemist! 67 Ibid., II, p. 245. 68 Ibid., I, p. 141. 69 SCHOTTMLLER, Untergang, II, p. 384. 70 Ibid., p. 386.

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he had seen Templars entering their churches on that day with their heads uncovered and on bare feet to venerate the Cross and to pray, which they did with more devotion than he had ever seen in any other faithful Christian71. Henry de Bibbio, another knight from Nicosia, was also full of praise72. He had never seen anyone adore the Cross with more reverence than the Templars in Acre, Tripoli and Nicosia, where, on Good Friday, they would walk the length of three cannarum (c. 15m) on bended knees to kiss the Cross73. The Adoration of the Cross was a public event that attracted spectators not only in the Holy Land and Cyprus. In Paris, as we know from the deposition of Brother Raynald de Tremplaio, the Adoration of the Cross in the church of the Temple was done in conspectu totius populi74. Just how important a centre for popular devotional activity the church or chapel of a military order could become can be glanced from the records of the Hospitaller church of Saint-Jean-de-Guerno in Bretagne, which was in the possession of a small silver cross reliquary with a splinter of the Holy Cross. Frequented by worshippers from neighbouring towns throughout the year, in the early modern period the small church became so overcrowded with pilgrims on Good Friday that the sermon had to be preached on the cemetery instead75. At the south-western border of Bretagne, the Templar chapel of Biais contained a relic of the True Cross that still in the seventeenth century attracted pilgrims from Poitou and Anjou76. The chronicle of Pavia reports that still twenty years after the dissolution of the Order the citizens of the city would on Good Friday gather at the former Templar church, as was tradition on that day, in expectation of indulgences after they had heard the sermon in the Franciscan convent77. And it is equally telling that in Parma in 1327, twenty years after the first Templar arrests, during Carnival it was the members of the confraternity of the Holy Cross who dressed as master and knights of the Temple, thus demonstrating that in public memory the association of the Order with the
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71 72

Ibid., II, p. 392. Ibid., II, p. 395. See also ibid.,p. 292-4. 73 Ibid., II, p. 394. 74 Item, de contentis in quinto et omnibus sequentibus articulis respondit se nichil scire ultra quod supra deposuit, hoc excepto quod, in die Veneris sancta, devote et reverenter in conspectu totius populi adorabant crucem in capitulo. MICHELET, Procs, I, p. 423. 75 CORSON, Les Templiers en Bretagne, p. 128-9. 76 Ibid., p. 265-7. 77 Procedunt autem tunc mulieres omnes velato capite, depositis ornamentis vel occulatis: visitant illa die loca indulgentiarum devotius et copiosus solito et specialiter loca Hospitalariorum seu Templariorum, nec non ecclesiam Sancti Sepulcri, ubi est similitude et forma sepulcri Domini, procedentes illuc tota nocte precedenti, licet diset ab urbe per mille passus. See Anonymus TICINENSIS, Liber de laudibus civitatis ticinensis, ed. Rodolfo MAIOCCHI, Rerum Italicarum Scriptores, xi:1, Citt di Castello, 1903, p. 40 (c.1330).

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relic of Christs Passion and the devotional cult that had been organised around it was still alive78. The importance and popularity of Templar churches and chapels as places of public devotion is an important topic worthy of investigation. The Order of the Temple, like all other medieval military orders, was a religious order first and foremost, whose members engaged in devotional activities, which, if witnessed by outsiders, influenced any assessment of their religious worth. As Helen Nicholson was able to show using trial related material from England, the Templars were far less reclusive than they were commonly portrayed and quite willing to open their church doors to the public79. And at least of the Templar chapels of London and Paris it is known that they attracted partial indulgences and were promoted as pilgrim sites80. If the Templars religion was as transparent as these findings seem to suggest, then it makes sense that one inquires about the elements that defined it, which would also have registered with those who visited the Orders sacred spaces. In this context the cult of the Holy Cross and the popularity of the Templars adoration of the Cross on Good Friday deserve our closest attention, for they confirm that the Order was and always had been an Order of Christ and that it was perceived and recognised as such by large parts of medieval society.

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Chronicon Parmense ab anno MXXXVIII usque ad annum MCCCXXXVIII, ed Guiliano BONAZZI, Rerum Italicarum Scriptores, ix:9, Citt di Castello, 1902, p. 186 (1327). 79 NICHOLSON, Helen J., Relations between houses of the Order of the Temple in Britain and their local communities, as indicated during the trial of the Templars, 1307-12, in Norman HOUSLEY (ed.), Knighthoods of Christ. Essays on the History of the Crusades and the Knights Templar, presented to Malcolm Barber, Aldershot, 2007, p. 195-207 80 One papal bull and nineteen Episcopal letters from the Cotton manuscript collection at the British Library in London report the promise of indulgences of between ten and forty days to visitors to New Temple in London. These letters, and the bull, were issued between 1161 and 1275 (but mostly between 1246 and 1262) by various bishops of Canterbury, York, Lincoln, London, Ely and Rochester in England; Armagh, Leighlin, Waterford, Ossory, Ardagh, Achonry, Elphin and Kildare and Fordensis in Ireland; and Bordeaux in Plantagenet Aquitaine. The promulgation of New Temple in London was therefore a thoroughly English endeavour and, it seems, a well orchestrated one at that. At New Temple the pilgrims would have been able to marvel at a great number of relics, among them the sword that killed St Thomas Becket, the vial with the Precious Blood, and the two fragments of the True Cross set into reliquaries. See BL Cotton ms Nero E VI, 74-93. I am grateful to Dr Nicole Hamonic who first drew my attention to these manuscripts.

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