Knights Templar A Short History of the Knights Templar The Order was founded in Jerusalem in 1118 by Hughes de Payens,

Geoffroy de St. Omer and seven other French knights *. It was consecrated to the protection of p ilgrims and the defense of the Holy Land. The founding knights took monastic vow s and were known as "The Poor Knights of Christ". King Baldwin II, the French King of Jerusalem (1118-1131) installed the Order in a part of his Palace, on the site of Solomon's Temple, for their residence, sta bles and armoury, from which it took its name of Knights of the Temple or 'Templ ars'. At the Council of Troyes in 1128 the Order was confirmed by Pope Honorius II, wh o gave it the strict Rule dictated by St. Bernard, a monk of the Cistercian Orde r who became the first Abbot of Clairvaux. The Knights also received the white m antle as a symbol of purity of their life, to which in 1146 Pope Eugenius added a red Templar cross. The Order's battle honours in defence of the Holy Land were many. Following the fall of Jerusalem in 1187 the Templars withdrew to Acre. They remained at Acre w ith Grand Master William de Beaujue until 1291 when the city was captured and he was killed. The surviving Templars, with their new Grand Master, were the last to leave the city. The Order withdrew to Limmasol, Cyprus and had its Headquarte rs at the Temple Monastery in Paris. After many years of sacrifices and rendering services to both Christianity and c ivilisation, this very rich and powerful Order excited the envy and greed of oth ers. The principal malefactor was Phillipe le Bel, King of France, who was finan cially indebted to the Order. In 1307 Phillipe arrested all serving Templars in France with the intention of sequestrating all the Order's possessions. However, these were hidden in a secret place and have never been found to this day. Not able to judge the Order himself, (it was only answerable to the Pope) Phillipe s et about to coerce the Pope to suppress the Order, but the Pope refused. Whereup on, the king dismissed him and created his friend, the Bishop of Bordeaux, Pope Clement V, who readily issued a Bull suppressing the Order in 1312. The Order th en reverted to its original status of a Secular Military Order of Chivalry. Only in France were the Templars treated with any severity, with Grand Master Ja ques de Molay and others burnt at the stake in March 1314 on an island in the Se ine. In England, Edward II (a patron) at first did not take any action against t he Order, but finally, he allowed the inquisitors to judge the Order at the Chur ch of All Hallows By-the-Tower. Edward then set about reclaiming English Templar lands and possessions including the London Temple, rather than passing them to the Hospitallers. After Edward's actions The Templars sought refuge in Scotland where they were welcomed. Prior to his martyrdom in 1314 Grand Master Jaques de Molay invested Jean-Marc L armenius with his powers. Larmenius was unanimously recognised as the new Grand Master following de Molay's death. He gathered together the dispersed remnants o f the Order and in 1324 gave the Order the Charter of Transmission. This Charter is still one of the governing documents of the Present Order. The Order continued in secret, it is believed by some (although not proven), wit h an uninterrupted line of Grand Masters until 1705. In March of that year a num ber of French nobles held a convention of Templars at Versailles. They elected P hilip, Duke of Orleans, later Regent of France, as the Order's 41st Grand Master . Thus as Regent of France and Grand Master of the Temple it provided an officia l renewal and legitimisation of the Order of the Temple as a Secular Military Or der of Chivalry and also its right to resume the use of "sovereign" in its title

. After the death of the Duke of Orleans in 1723, three Princes of Bourbon were Gr and Masters of the Order until 1776. That year the Duke of Cosse Brissac accepte d the Grand Mastership and remained in office until his execution during the Fre nch Revolution in 1792. Having foreseen the coming events he passed on the Order 's archives and the Charter of Transmission to Radix de Chevillon. The Order sur vived the Revolution and went through a period of prosperity in France during th e early C19th with many people of high office asking to be admitted. 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. Legatio ns were also established in Sweden, Brazil, India and in New York. In 1940 when France and Belgium were invaded by Nazi Germany, Emile Joseph Issac Vandenburg who lived in Brussels was Grand Master. In order to safeguard and en sure the survival of the Order he handed over his rights to a Portuguese neutral , a nobleman, Count Antonio Campello Pinto de Sousa Fontes who became the Regent pending an election of a Grand Master. He remained the Regent until resignation due to ill health in 1956. After four years in abeyance the Order was taken ove r, in dubious circumstances, by Fontes' son. Since then many Grand Priories, dis enchanted with Portuguese leadership, have claimed Autonomous status. In 1989 th e IFA (International Federative Alliance) was formed with a number of mainly Eur opean, and some South American member priories, headed by Spain. In 1995 the "At lantic Obedience" known under the Latin name of the Order OSMTH (Ordo Supremus M ilitarus Templi Hierosolymitani) was formed with priories from both sides of the Atlantic, headed by the USA. In England there were two priories each with alleg iance to one of these organisations. In 1997 the two priories merged, having nom inal allegiance to both the IFA and OSMTH. In 1999 it was decided to sever relat ionships with IFA and become fully affiliated to OSMTH. There is a third world a ffiliation. That is the OIMT (Ordo Internationalis Militiae Templi) Confederatio n. Another English priory belongs to this group. The first two organisations had each set itself to elect a Grand Master of The O rder. Unfortunately they could not agree over procedure. The OSMTH appointed Sir Roy Redgrave as Temporary Master at an international meeting in Turku, Finland in 1998 which was subsequently ratified as a permanent appointment. The IFA 'el ected' Don Fernando de Toro Garland as Master in 1999. There are Knights Templar throughout Western Europe, Scandinavia, Romania, North , South and Central America, Japan, and Australia. Therefore the Order is truly International and it is Ecumenical as the Order does not restrict membership to any single Christian Denomination. The Order is Christian orientated, encouragin g and directing its members to an in-depth spirituality and devotion to Jesus Ch rist whose soldiers and servants they are. As the Knights of Christ of old fough t for what they saw as Christian ideals, so today the Knights and Dames strive t o maintain high ideals of morals, ethics and Christian principles in an ever inc reasingly secular world.