Editing Knights Templar (section)

==== Grand masters ====
{{Main|Grand Masters of the Knights Templar}}
[[File:Saint-Martin-des-Champs Chapelle.JPG|right|thumb|Templar building at Saint Martin des Champs, France]]
Starting with founder Hugues de Payens, the order's highest office was that of grand master, a position which was held for life, though considering the martial nature of the order, this could mean a very short tenure. All but two of the grand masters died in office, and several died during military campaigns. For example, during the [[Siege of Ascalon]] in 1153, Grand Master [[Bernard de Tremelay]] led a group of 40 Templars through a breach in the city walls. When the rest of the Crusader army did not follow, the Templars, including their grand master, were surrounded and beheaded.{{sfn|Read|2001|p=137}} Grand master [[Gérard de Ridefort]] was beheaded by Saladin in 1189 at the [[Siege of Acre (1189)|Siege of Acre]].

The grand master oversaw all of the operations of the order, including both the military operations in the Holy Land and [[Eastern Europe]] and the Templars' financial and business dealings in [[Western Europe]]. Some grand masters also served as battlefield commanders, though this was not always wise: several blunders in de Ridefort's combat leadership contributed to the devastating defeat at the Battle of Hattin. The last grand master was [[Jacques de Molay]], burned at the stake in Paris in 1314 by order of King Philip IV.{{sfn|Barber|1993|p=3}}