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The Sign of the Cross: the Knights Templar

© Viola Ashford

Take the sign of the cross. At once you will have indulgence for all the sins which you confess with a contrite heart. It does not cost you much to buy, and if you wear it with humility, you will find that it is the Kingdom of Heaven.1.

In this inspiring sermon Saint Bernard exhorted young men to join the Knights Templar, a monastic military order formed at the end of the First Crusade to protect Christian pilgrims on route to the Holy Land. For an idealistic younger son unable to claim an inheritance because of the rule of primogeniture this was a prestigious and altruistic way of life. Chastity seemed a small price to pay to join this Order, founded in 1118 by Hugh de Payens and eight companions from Champagne and Provence.

Poor Beginnings

The first Crusade began when Alexius Comnenus, Emporer of Byzantium, wrote to Pope Urban III requesting help to repel the Turks from the Eastern part of his Empire. The Pope seized this opportunity to save the Holy Land from the Moslems and men flocked to fight for Jerusalem. After three difficult years the Crusaders gained control of Jerusalem.

Pilgrims could at last travel to the land where their Saviour was born, but both the land routes and the sea ways were very dangerous. The route through Constantinople, Nicea and Antioch was beset by bands of highway robbers and the sea routes were roamed by pirates eager to take possession of ships and capture slaves.

Originally called The Poor Knights of Christ, the Templars at first escorted pilgrims from Jerusalem to the banks of the Jordan, living on the alms they received. Later they protected the route from the Mediterranean Coast to Jerusalem, providing safe escorts for Christain pilgrims. They had no habit or rule.

Ascent to Power

In 1128 the luck of the 'Warrior Monks" as they were nicknamed changed. St.Bernard of Clairvaux, called the Second Pope, and the chief spokesman of Christendom at that time gained the Pope's backing for these knights with whom he was greatly impressed. "First of all, there is discipline and unqualified obedience...they live in a community, soberly and in joy, without wife and children...Never overdressed, they bathe rarely, and are dirty and hirsute, tanned by the coat of mail and the sun." he said. (They don't sound too attractive - not my idea of 'knights in shining armour'!) The Rule of Saint Benedict was approved and they now had a habit - a white mantle emblazoned with a red cross.

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