Editing Knights Templar (section)

=== Conduct, uniform and beards ===
[[File:HPIM3597.JPG|thumb|Representation of a Knight Templar ([[Ten Duinen Abbey]] museum, 2010 photograph)]]
[[File:Templari Paris.jpg|thumb|Depiction of two Templars seated on a horse (emphasising poverty), with ''[[Beauséant]]'', the "sacred banner" (or [[gonfanon]]) of the Templars, ''argent a chief sable'' ([[Matthew Paris]], {{circa|1250|lk=on}})<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hourihane |first=Colum |title=The Grove Encyclopedia of Medieval Art and Architecture |date=2012 |publisher=OUP USA |isbn=978-0-19-539536-5 |page=514 |language=en |chapter=Flags and standards |quote=the Knights Templar ... carried white shields with red crosses but [their] sacred banner, ''Beauséant'', was white with a black chief |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FtlMAgAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PA514 }}</ref>]]
Bernard de Clairvaux and founder Hugues de Payens devised a specific code of conduct for the Templar Order, known to modern historians as the [[Latin Rule]]. Its 72 clauses laid down the details of the knights' way of life, including the types of garments they were to wear and how many horses they could have. Knights were to take their meals in silence, eat meat no more than three times per week, and not have physical contact of any kind with women, even members of their own family. A master of the Order was assigned "four horses, and one chaplain-brother, and one clerk with three horses, and one sergeant brother with two horses, and one gentleman valet to carry his shield and lance, with one horse".{{sfn|Burman|1990|p=43}} As the order grew, more guidelines were added, and the original list of 72 clauses was expanded to several hundred in its final form.{{sfn|Burman|1990|pp=30–33}}{{sfn|Martin|2005|p=32}}

The daily schedule of the order adhered to the canonical hours in the ''[[Rule of Saint Benedict]]'', with communal prayers designated at specific hours throughout the day. Members unable to participate must recite the ''[[Lord's Prayer]]'' at the same hours.

The knights wore a white [[surcoat]] with a red cross, and a white mantle also with a red cross; the sergeants wore a black tunic with a red cross on the front and a black or brown mantle.{{sfn|Barber|1994|p=191}}{{sfn|Burman|1990|p=44}} The white mantle was assigned to the Templars at the Council of Troyes in 1129, and the cross was most probably added to their [[Religious habit|robes]] at the launch of the [[Second Crusade]] in 1147, when [[Pope Eugene III|Pope Eugenius&nbsp;III]], King [[Louis VII of France]], and many other notables attended a meeting of the French Templars at their headquarters near Paris.<ref>{{harvnb|Barber|1994|p=66}} {{quote|According to [[William of Tyre]] it was under Eugenius&nbsp;III that the Templars received the right to wear the characteristic red cross upon their tunics, symbolising their willingness to suffer [[martyr]]dom in the defence of the Holy Land.}} (WT, 12.7, p. 554. James of Vitry, 'Historia Hierosolimatana', ed. J. ars, [[Dei gesta per Francos|Gesta Dei per Francos]], vol I(ii), Hanover, 1611, p. 1083, interprets this as a sign of martyrdom.)</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Martin|2005|p=43}} {{quote|The Pope conferred on the Templars the right to wear a red cross on their white mantles, which symbolised their willingness to suffer martyrdom in defending the Holy Land against the infidel.}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Read|2001|p=121}} {{quote|Pope Eugenius gave them the right to wear a scarlet cross over their hearts, so that the sign would serve triumphantly as a shield and they would never turn away in the face of the infidels': the red blood of the martyr was superimposed on the white of the chaste." (Melville, ''La Vie des Templiers'', p.&nbsp;92.)}}</ref> Under the Rule, the knights were to wear the white mantle at all times: They were even forbidden to eat or drink unless wearing it.{{sfn|Burman|1990|p=46}}

The red cross that the Templars wore on their robes was a symbol of martyrdom, and to die in combat was considered a great honour that assured a place in heaven.{{sfn|Nicholson|2001|p=141}} There was a cardinal rule that the warriors of the order should never surrender unless the Templar flag had fallen, and even then they were first to try to regroup with another of the Christian orders, such as that of the [[Knights Hospitaller|Hospitallers]]. Only after all flags had fallen were they allowed to leave the battlefield.{{sfn|Barber|1994|p=193}} This uncompromising principle, along with their reputation for courage, excellent training, and heavy armament, made the Templars one of the most feared combat forces in medieval times.

Although not prescribed by the Templar Rule, it later became customary for members of the order to wear long and prominent beards. In about 1240, [[Alberic of Trois-Fontaines]] described the Templars as an "order of bearded brethren"; while during the interrogations by the papal commissioners in Paris in 1310–1311, out of nearly 230 knights and brothers questioned, 76 are described as wearing a beard, in some cases specified as being "in the style of the Templars", and 133 are said to have shaved off their beards, either in renunciation of the order or because they had hoped to escape detection.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Harris |first=Oliver D. |year=2013 |title=Beards: true and false |journal=Church Monuments |volume=28 |pages=124–132, esp.&nbsp;124–125 }}</ref>{{sfn|Nicholson|2001|pp=48, 124–127}}

Initiation,{{sfn|Martin|2005|p=52}} known as "reception" (''receptio'') into the order, was a profound commitment and involved a solemn ceremony. Outsiders were discouraged from attending the ceremony, which aroused the suspicions of [[Medieval Inquisition|medieval inquisitors]] during the [[Knights Templar Trial|later trials]]. New members had to willingly sign over all of their wealth and goods to the order and [[Religious vows|vow]] to "God and Our Lady" ([[Mary, mother of Jesus|mother of Jesus]])  poverty, chastity, piety, obedience to the master of the order, and to conquer the Holy Land of Jerusalem.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Nicholson |editor-first=Helen J. |year=2021 |section=Beliefs |title=The Knights Templar |publisher=Amsterdam University Press |doi=10.1017/9781641891691.004 |isbn=978-1-64189-169-1 |pages=33–42 |section-url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/knights-templar/beliefs/15B7CC66655704583F6B706253AAE50E |access-date=2024-04-04 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> They were then promised "the bread and water and poor clothing of the house and much pain and suffering".<ref>{{cite book |last=Newman |first=S. |author-link=Sharan Newman |year=2007 |title=The Real History Behind the Templars |publisher=Berkeley Publishing |pages=304–312 }}</ref>

Most brothers joined for life, although some were allowed to join for a set period. Sometimes a married man was allowed to join if he had his wife's permission,{{sfn|Burman|1990|p=44}} but a married brother was not allowed to wear the white mantle.{{sfn|Barber|1993|p=4}}