Editing Knights Templar (section)

== Organization ==
{{main|List of Knights Templar}}

[[File:Chapelletemplier.jpg|right|thumb|160px|Templar chapel from the 12th century in [[Metz]], France. Once part of the Templar commandery of [[Metz]], the oldest Templar institution of the [[Holy Roman Empire]].]]
The Templars were organised as a [[monasticism|monastic order]] similar to Bernard's [[Cistercians|Cistercian]] Order, which was considered the first effective international organization in Europe.{{sfn|Burman|1990|p=28}} The organizational structure had a strong chain of authority. Each country with a major Templar presence (France, [[Poitou]], [[County of Anjou|Anjou]], Jerusalem, [[Knights Templar in England|England]], [[Spain]], [[Order of Christ (Portugal)|Portugal]], [[Italy]], [[County of Tripoli|Tripoli]], [[Antioch]], [[Hungary]], and [[Croatia]]){{sfn|Barber|1993|p=10}} had a master of the Order for the Templars in that region.

All of them were subject to the grand master, appointed for life, who oversaw both the order's military efforts in the East and their financial holdings in the West. The grand master exercised his authority via the visitors-general of the order, who were knights specially appointed by the grand master and convent of Jerusalem to visit the different provinces, correct malpractices, introduce new regulations, and resolve important disputes. The visitors-general had the power to remove knights from office and to suspend the master of the province concerned.<ref>{{Cite web |last=International |first=American |title=The Knights Templar and Knights Hospitaller |url=http://www.medievalwarfare.info/templars.htm#masters |access-date=11 December 2017 |website=www.medievalwarfare.info}}</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=November 2024}}

The central headquarters of the Templars had several offices that answered to the grand master. These were held as temporary appointments rather than for life. The second-in-command of the Order was the [[seneschal]]. The highest ranking military official was the [[marshal]], while the [[preceptor]] (who was also sometimes called the commander) was responsible for the administration and provisions. The [[draper]] was responsible for their uniforms, the [[treasurer]] was in charge of finance, the [[turcopole|turcopolier]] commanded auxiliary forces, and the [[prior (ecclesiastical)|prior]] was the head of the church at the headquarters.{{sfn|Burgtorf|2008|pages=3–4}} The headquarters and its most senior officials were known as the [[convent]]{{sfn|Burgtorf|2008|page=1}}{{sfn|Burgtorf|2008|page=14}} and its role was to assist and advise the grand master with running the administration of the Order.{{sfn|Burgtorf|2008|pages=15–16}}

No precise numbers exist, but it is estimated that at the order's peak, there were between 15,000 and 20,000 Templars, of whom about a tenth were actual knights.{{sfn|Burman|1990|p=45}}<ref name="quantity" />

=== Ranks within the order ===

==== Three main ranks ====
There was a threefold division of the ranks of the Templars: the noble knights, the non-noble sergeants, and the chaplains. The knights wear white mantles to symbolise their purity and chastity.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Rule of the Templars |page=article 17}}</ref> The sergeants wore black or brown. All three classes of brothers wore the order's red cross.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Selwood |first=Dominic |date=7 April 2013 |title=The Knights Templars 2: Sergeants, Women, Chaplains, Affiliates |url=http://www.dominicselwood.com/the-knights-templars-2-sergeants-chaplains-women-affiliates/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170630160328/http://www.dominicselwood.com/the-knights-templars-2-sergeants-chaplains-women-affiliates/ |archive-date=30 June 2017 |access-date=12 April 2013}}</ref> Before they received their monastic rule in 1129 at the Council of Troyes, the Templars were referred to only as knights (''milites'' in Latin), and after 1129 they were also called brothers of their monastic order. Therefore the three main ranks were eventually known as knight brothers, sergeant brothers, and chaplain brothers. Knights and chaplains were referred to as brothers by 1140, but sergeants were not full members of the Order until the 1160s.{{sfn|Burgtorf|2008|pages=36–37}}

The knights were the most visible division of the order. They were equipped as [[heavy cavalry]], with three or four horses and one or two [[squire]]s. Squires were generally not members of the order but were instead outsiders who were hired for a set period of time. The Templars did not perform knighting ceremonies, so anyone wishing to become a knight in the Templar had to be a knight already.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Selwood |first=Dominic |date=20 March 2013 |title=The Knights Templar 1: The Knights |url=http://www.dominicselwood.com/the-knights-templar-1-the-knights/ |access-date=12 April 2013}}</ref>

Beneath the knights in the order and drawn from non-noble families were the sergeants.{{sfn|Barber|1994|p=190}} They brought vital skills and trades from [[blacksmith]]s and builders, including administration of many of the order's European properties. In the [[Crusader states]], they fought alongside the knights as [[light cavalry]] with a single horse.{{sfn|Martin|2005|p=54}} Several of the order's most senior positions were reserved for sergeants, including the post of Commander of the Vault of Acre, who also served as the Templar fleet's admiral. But he was subordinated to the Order's preceptor instead of the marshal, indicating that the Templars considered their ships to be mainly for commerce rather than military purposes.{{sfn|Burgtorf|2008|page=92}}{{sfn|Burgtorf|2008|page=296}}

From 1139, [[chaplain]]s constituted a third Templar rank. They were [[ordination|ordained]] priests who cared for the Templars' spiritual needs.{{sfn|Moeller|1913|p=}} These Templar clerics were also referred to as priest brothers or chaplain brothers.{{sfn|Burgtorf|2008|p=97}}

The Templars also employed lightly armed mercenaries as cavalry in the 12th century that were known as [[turcopole]]s (a Greek term for descendants of Turks). Its meaning has been interpreted as either referring to people of a mixed Muslim-Christian heritage who became Christians, or members of the local population in [[Syria (region)|Syria]]. Sometime in the 13th century, turcopole became a formal rank held by Templar brothers, including Latin Christians.{{sfn|Burgtorf|2008|pages=37–38}}

==== 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}}

=== 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}}