Editing Knights Templar (section)

=== 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}}