Knights Templar


Hymn
Grandmasters
Shroud

Sponsor:

This page has moved to

http://sinclair.quarterman.org/templars/index.html

Your web browser will be redirected there automatically in 5 seconds.

Rosslyn and Templars Lists

From: John Duguid <john.duguid@snl.co.uk>
Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 09:48:04 +0000

Recent postings have shown a few people are interested in Templar history and Rosslyn Chapel. Please note that there are two lists on onelist dealing with these subjects templars@onelist.com and rosslyntemplar@onelist.com.

Regards
John Duguid

The Templar hymn

From: Niven Sinclair <niven@niven.co.uk>
Date: Wed, 01 Dec 1999 20:53:54 +0000

Non Nobis Domine

by Rudyard Kipling, 1934.

Non nobis domine
Not unto us, O Lord!
The Praise or Glory be
Of any deed or word;

For in Thy judgement lies
To crown or bring to nought
All knowledge or device
That Man has reached or wrought.

And we confess our blame -
How all too high we hold
That noise which men call fame
That dross which men call gold.

For these we undergo
Our hot and godless days,
But in our hearts we know
Not unto us the Praise.

O Power by whom we live -
Creator, Judge and Friend,
Upholdingly forgive
Not fail us at the end:

But grant us well to see
In all our piteous ways -
Non nobis domine! -
Not to us the Praise

Knights Templar

A few years after the First Crusade captured Jerusalem in 1099, the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon, or in Latin Pauperes Commilitones Christi Templique Salomonis, or as commonly known today the Knights Templar, were founded at the site of Solomon's Temple, in 1118. Only nine knights took the original vow in the presence of the Patriarch of Jerusalem: Hugues de Payens, Godfrey de Saint-Omer, Godfrey Bisol, Payén de Montdidier, Archembaud de Saint Aignant, André de Montbard, Gondemar, Hugues de Champagne, and Jacques de Rossal. They came together to assist pilgrims to the Holy Land. In 1128 St. Bernard of Clairvaux organized them into religious order. Yet later they became the only standing army of Outremer, and as such participated in and between the Crusades. They were the first military order in Christendom. This was a strange idea at the time: fighting monks. But it proved popular, one might even say lucrative, and they were soon imitated by others, especially the Hospitallers.

The Templars wore the red Cross Patee, of four equal arms with wide ends, on their white habits. Their seal is two knights riding the same horse, illustrating their poverty. Yet they became wealthy very early, after excavations at the site of the Temple. They grew even more wealthy by acting as bankers to Christendom. By many accounts they did much good, but they were mysterious and not always well-liked, particularly by feudal lords, since the Templars were answerable to nobody except the Pope.

They never had many knights, but the order also organized serjeants, farmers, and chaplains. They built or held numerous castles, and also churches, which they called temples, and which were usually round. But even they could not hold Outremer together nor hold back the Islamic tide.

Their battle flag was called Beauseant. Some versions have it as four quarters, black and white, with a red cross patee in the center. Others say that the red cross had straight arms, like the St. George cross of England. Beauseant was also their battle cry; it meant roughly ``Be glorious!''

They were first into battle; last to retreat; never ransomed; often martyred. Their rule required the double discipline of monks and soldiers. As many as 20,000 Templars of all ranks died by war in their two centuries.

After the final loss of the Holy Land in 1291, their purpose was in question, and their international military and especially financial power produced fear and envy. They were in many ways exactly what their name said: soldiers. They were not sufficiently adept at the game of politics, and they lost. In 1307, on Friday the 13th of October, King Philip the Fair of France suppressed the Knights Templar on charges (never proven) of heresy. Those who survived are commonly supposed to have gone to Scotland and Portugal. The ones who went to Portugal mostly ended up in the Order of Christ; their Cross Patee is familiar from the sails of Portuguese exploring ships. The ones who went to Scotland are said to have sailed in more than a dozen ships, carrying their treasure. There their fate became bound up with that of the family of St. Clair.

—jsq


	This Knights Templar Research Ring site owned by John Sinclair Quarterman. Previous 5 Sites \| Previous \| Next \| Next 5 Sites \| Random Site \| List Sites Want to Join the Knights Templar Research Ring

Last changed: 00/05/07 11:22:51