The rise of Knight Templar

The most influential organization the medieval Western world has ever known, the Order of the Temple (1119-1312) was the first military-religious Order of the Western Church, a ‘new knighthood’.

Its member were not only powerful monastic warriors, but also international banking experts, agriculture land owners and developers, seasoned diplomats, businessmen, advisors to popes and kings, guardians of assets, ship owners, and much more.

The order had existed since about 1094 with Hugues de Payens as head of it from day one. He was pious, and he went out to the Holy Land, with the First Crusade around 1096.

He was distressed by the plight of the pilgrims seeking to obtain divine grace and favor by visiting the Holy Palaces of Jerusalem. They landed mostly at Jaffa and found the Promised Land without shade, water or shelter.

Hughes de Payens proposed to create a volunteer escort to protect and assist the pilgrim bands from shipside to their goal. And this was his great idea – to enroll volunteers in a monastic order of men-at-arms, the Poor Knights of Christ.

Not long after the Templars became established in Jerusalem, it founders returned to Europe to request aid in the form of both manpower and materials. Eventually, the Poor Knights of Christ were renamed the Templars.

In 1129 at Council of Troyers, the Order was officially endorsed by the Catholic Church. With this formal blessing, the Templars became a favored charity across Europe, receiving money, farmland, businesses, property and noble-born sons from families who were eager to help with the fight to secure the Holy Land.

As the Templar organization matured, it became one of the most successful institutions of the Middle Ages.
The rise of Knight Templar