THE KNIGHTS TEMPLAR - Essay Example

After the First Crusade reclaimed Jerusalem on July 15, 1099, people were pouring in pilgrimage to the Holy Land. This multitude including wealthy pilgrims was the grand attraction to thieves. Surprise attacks along the roads were inevitable and a group of knights proposed to establish a troop that would ensure the safety of the travelers to Jerusalem. One of the knights was Count Hugh of Payns, a knight from the First Crusade. At this proposal, King Baldwin II of Jerusalem permitted Hugh of Payns and Godfrey of Saint-Omer along with other knights to stand guard along the roads to Jerusalem and were eventually recognized by the Council of Troyes as one of the orders of the Latin Church in 1129.

The forefathers of this order were Hugh of Payns, Godfrey of Saint-Omer, Roland, Godfrey Bisol, Payen of Montdidier, and Archambaut of Saint-Armand. Hugh of Payns and Godfrey of Saint-Omer’s troop of knights were named The Knights of the Temple of Solomon of Jerusalem. They were named after the place where they requested the king to grant them as their official headquarters, the Temple of Solomon. The Knights of the Temple of Solomon of Jerusalem or the Knights Templar followed the Latin Rule, a set of codes which was formulated by Hugh of Payns in 1129 guided by Bernard of Clairvux.

In this set of codes, the knights were to follow certain rules regarding their authorities, their garb, rituals on the death of their members, practices on giving alms, duration on standing on foot, on what to eat, the manner on reading, manners on dining, when to sleep, when to rise from sleep, how to coexist with fellow members, prohibitions on clothing, recommended materials of their clothing, the allowed number of pieces of clothing, what kind of shoes to wear, how to groom their hair, how to treat their servants, the number of allowed horses, prohibitions regarding bridles, spurs, spears and shields, on kinds of bags or trunks, on