| Revision as of 04:40, 28 September 2001 editMichaelTinkler (talk | contribs)2,468 editsmNo edit summary | Revision as of 22:01, 19 November 2001 edit undoAlex Kennedy (talk | contribs)5 editsm Added information on the suppressionNext edit → | ||
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| On October 13, 1307, what may have been all the Knights Templar in France were simultaneously arrested by agents of Phillip the Fair (<i>Phillipe le Bel</i>), to be later tortured into "admitting" heresy in the Order. | |||
Revision as of 22:01, 19 November 2001
The first of the military orders, the Knights Templar were founded in 1118 in the aftermath of the First Crusade to help the new Kingdom of Jerusalem maintain itself against its Muslim neighbors.
The Templars were organized as a monastic order, following a rule revised for them by Bernard of Clairvaux, the great leader of the Cistercian Order.
There were four divisions of brothers in the Templars:
- the knights, equipped as heavy cavalry
- the serjeants, equipped as light cavalry and drawn from a lower social class than the knights
- farmers, who administered the property of the Order
- the chaplains, who were ordained priests and saw to the spiritual needs of the Order.
On October 13, 1307, what may have been all the Knights Templar in France were simultaneously arrested by agents of Phillip the Fair (Phillipe le Bel), to be later tortured into "admitting" heresy in the Order.
see also:
Pope Clement V -- Acre, Palestine --
military orders