TEMPLARS, KNIGHTS, a celebrated religious and military order, founded at Jeru salem in the of the 12th c., by Hugues Paganes, Geoffroy de St. Omer, and seven other French knights, for the protection of the Holy Sepulcher, and of pilgrims thither. Baldwin II., king of Jerusalem, bestowed on this order their first place of residence; and an additional building was acquired from the abbot and canons% of the church and convent of the temple, whence the order obtained the name of the "poor soldiers of the temple of Solomon," afterward abbreviated into templars. The• knights were bound by their rule to hear the holy office every day, or if prevented by their military duties, to say a certain number of paternosters instead; they were to abstain from flesh four days in the week, and from eggs and milk on Fridays. They might have three horses and an esquire each, but were forbidded to hunt or fowl. In the earlier period of their history, the templars made a great show of poverty, con trasting much with their later condition. After the conquest of Jerusalem by the Sara cens, they spread over Europe; their valor became everywhere celebrated; immense donations in money and land were showered on them; and members of the most dis tinguished families thought themselves honored by enrolment in the order. In country where they existed, they had their governor, called the master of the temple of the militia of the temple. The templars had settlements in England from an early period. The first was in London, on the site of Southampton buildings, Holborn; but from 1185 their principal seat was in Fleet street, still known as the temple. The round. church which hears their name was dedicated by Heraclius, patriarch of the church of' the resurrection in Jerusalem, in 1185, and the chancel was consecrated in 1240.
The templars were at first all laymen, and of noble birth. Pope Alexander III., however, in 1162, authorized the admission of spiritual persons not bound by previous. vows, as chaplains to the order, who were not required to adopt the military vows. A
third class was afterward introduced, consisting of laymen not of noble birth, who entered as serving brothers, some of them being attendants on the knights, and others exercising trades in the houses or lands of the order. Eventually, many persons became affiliated members without taking the vows, for the sake of the protection afforded them. As the power and prosperity of the templars increased, so did their luxury, arrogance, and other vices, which gave the French kings a pretext for endeavoring to suppress them, and lay hold of their possessions. Accusations, many of which were absurd and incredible, were brought against them by two members of their own body. Their principal enemy was Philippe IV. of France, who induced pope Clement V. to accede to a scheme by which the whole members of the order were seized and imprisoned, their lands confiscated, and many of them tried, convicted, and executed for capital. crimes. The English templars were arrested by command of Edward II.: and a council held in London in 1309 having convicted them of various crimes, most of which were. probably imaginary, the king seized their possessions. In 1312 the whole order through out Bv.rope was suppressed by the council of Vienne, and its property bestowed on thc knights of St. John, to which latter order their English possessions were formally trans ferred by a statute of Edward II. in 1323.
The-habit of the templars was white, with a red cross of eight points of the Maltese form worn on the left shoulder. Their war-cry was "beau scant;" and their banner, which bore the same name, was parted per fess sable and argent. They also displayed above their lances a white banner charged with the cross of the order. Their badges were the Agana Dei, and a representation of two knights mounted on one horse—indica tive of the original poverty of the order.—See Addison's History of the Knights Templar:, the Temple Church, and the Teniple (Load. 1842); A. O. Haye's -Persecution of the Knights Templars (Edin. 1865).