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 TEMPLARS

493

TEMPLARS

the Knights of Fatlicr Mathew wore affiliated with the Catholic Total Abstinence Union of America in 1895, and have been among its most energetic mem- bers in advancing the work of the national union.

One Hundred Years of Temperance (New York. 1886); Blair, The Temp. Movement (Boston, 1888); Stearns, Temp, in all Nations (New York, 1893): Rountrbe and Sherwell, Temp. Problem and Social Reform (New York. 1899); Fehiandt, .1 Century of Drink Reform (Cincinnati. 1904); Gibbs, Hisl. of Cath. Tot. Abstinence Union of America (Philadelphia. 1907).

Walter J. Shanley.

Templars, Ivnichts, The. — The KniKhts Templars wore the cailicst founders of the milittiry orders, and are the iy]ie on which the others are modelled. They are marked in historj' (1) by their humble beginning, (2) by their marvellous growth, and (3) by their tragic end.

(1) Immediately after the dehverance of Jerusalem, the Crusaders, considering their vow fulfilled, re- turned in a bodj' to their homes. The defence of this precarious conquest, surrounded as it wa,s by Moham- medan neighbours, remained. In 1118, during the reign of B:ikhvin II, Hugues de Payens, a knight of Champagne, and eight companions bound themselves by a perpetual vow, taken in the presence of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, to defend the Christian king- dom. Baldwin accepted their services and assigned them a portion of his palace, adjoining the temple of the city; hence their title "pauvres ehevahers du temple" (Poor Knights of the Temple). Poor indeed they were, being reduced to Uving on alms, and, so long as they were only nine, they were hardly prepared to render important services, unless it were as escorts to the pilgrims on their way from Jerusalem to the banks of the .lordan, then frequented as a place of devotion. The Templars had as yet neither distinc- tive habit nor rule. Hugues de Payens journeyed to the West to seek the approbation of the Church and to obtain recruits. At the Council of Troyes (1128), at which he assisted and at which St. Bernard was the leading spirit, the Knights Templars adopted the Rule of St. Benedict, as recently reformed by the Cistercians. They accepted not only the three per- petual vows, besides the crusader's vow, but also the austere rules concerning the chapel, the refectory, and the dormitory. They also adopted the white habit of the Cistercians, adding to it a red cross. Notwith- standing the austerity of the monastic rule, recruits flocked to the new order, which thenceforth comprised four ranks of brethren: the knighls, equipped like the hea\^' cavalry of the Middle Ages; the serjeaitis, who formed the light cavalrj'; and two ranks of non- fighting men: the fiirmem, entrusted with the ad- ministration of temporals; and the chaplains, who alone were vested with sacerdotal orders, to minister to the spiritual needs of the order.

(2) The order owed its rapid growth in popularity to the fact that it combined the two great passions of the Middle Ages, religious fervour and martial prowess. Even before the Templars had proved their worth, the ecclesiastical and lay authorities heaped on them favours of every kind, spiritual and temporal. The popes took them under their immediate protec- tion, exempting them from all other jurisdiction, episcopal or secular. Their property was assimilated to the church estates and exempted from all taxation, even from the ecclesiastical tithes, while their churches and cemeteries could not be placed under interdict. This soon brought about conflicts with the clergy of the Holy Land, inasmuch as the increase of the landed property of the order led, owing to itscxemp- tion from tithes, lo the diminution of the revenue of the churches, and the interdicts, at that time used and abused by the episcopate, became to a certain extent inoi)erative wherever the order had churches and chapc^ls in which Divine worship w:is regularly held. .Vs early as 11.50 the clergj- of the Holy Land tried to restrain the exorbitant privileges of the

military orders, but in Rome every objection was set aside, the result being a glowing antipathy on the part of the secular cicrgj' against these orders. The temporal benefits which the order received from all the sovereigns of Europe were no less important. The Templars had commanderies in every state. In France they formed no less than eleven bailiwicks, subdivided into more than forty-two commanderies; in Palestine it was for the most part with sword in hand that the Templars extended their possessions at the expense of the Mohammedans. Their castles are still famous owing to the remarkable ruins which remain: Safed, built in 1140; Karak of the desert (1143); and, most important of all. Castle Pilgrim, built in 1217 to command a strategic defile on the sea-coast.

In these castles, which were both monasteries and cavalrj' barracks, the life of the Templars was full of contrasts. A contemporary describes the Templars as "in turn lions of war and lambs at the hearth; rough knights on the battlefield, pious monks in the chapel; formidable to the enemies of Christ, gentleness itself towards His friends" (Jacques de \'itrj-). Having renounced all the pleasures of life, they faced death with a proud indifference; they were the first to attack, the last to retreat, always docile to the voice of their leader, the discipline of the monk being added to the discipline of the soldier. As an army they were never \'ery numerous. A contemporary tells us that there wore 400 knights in Jerusalem at the zenith of their prosjjority; he does not give the number of serjeants, who were more numerous. But it was a picked body of men who, by their noble example, inspirited the remainder of the Christian forces. They were thus the terror of the Moham- medans. Were they defeated, it was upon them that the victor vented his furj-, the more so as they were forbidden to offer a ransom. When taken prisoners, they scornfully refused the freedom offered them on condition of apostasy. At the siege of Safed (1264), at which ninety Templars met death, eighty others were taken prisoners, and, refusing to deny Christ, died martyrs to the Faith. This fidelity cost them dear. It has been computed that in less than two centuries almost 20,000 Templars, knights and Serjeants, perished in war.

These frequent hecatombs rendered it difficult for the order to increase in numbers, and also brought about a decadence of the tnie crusading spirit. As the order was compelled to make immediate use of the recruits, the article of the original rule in Latin which required a probationarj- period fell into desuetude. Even excommunicated men, who, as was the case with many crusaders, wished to expiate their sins, were admitted. All that was required of a new member was a blind obedience, as imperative in the soldier as in the monk. He had to declare himself forever "serf et esclave de la maison" (French text of the rule). To prove his sincerity, he wag subjected to a secret test concerning the nature of which nothing has ever been discovered, although it gave rise to the most extraordinary accusations. The great wealth of the order may also have contributed to a certain laxity in morals, but the most serious charge against it was its insupport;vble pride and love of power. At the apogee of its jirosperity, it was said to possess 9(K)0 estates. With its accumulated revenues it had amassed great wealth, which was deposited in its temples at Paris and London. Numer- ous princes and jiriwite individuals had banked there their personal property, because of the uprightness and solid credit of such bankers. In Paris the royal treasure was kept in the Temple. Quite independent, except from the distant authority of the pope, and possessing power ecjual to th;it of the leading tem- poral sovereigns, the order soon assumed the right to direct the weak and irresolute government of the