Clement V, Pope: Gascon archbishop Bertrand of Got, crowned pope in Lyon in 1305. Ruled the church from France and established the Avignon papacy. Unable to resist the French crown’s attack on James of Molay and the Templars. Died in 1314.
Conrad III, king of the Germans: Leader of the German contingent of the Second Crusade, Conrad stayed with the Templars in Jerusalem and led the failed assault on Damascus in 1148.
Edward I, king of England: Visited Acre in 1272 and brokered a ten-year peace deal with Baybars. Then known as the Lord Edward, he succeeded to the English throne on his return and ruled until 1307.
Edward II, king of England: Son of Edward I and son-in-law of Philip IV of France, he suppressed the English Templars in exchange for papal support against his enemies. Ruled from 1307 to 1327.
Eleanor of Aquitaine: The wife of Louis VII, who travelled to the Holy Land on the Second Crusade.
Everard of Barres: Master of the Templars from 1149 to 1152 and a key ally of Louis VII of France, he helped finance the Second Crusade and eventually resigned to become a Cistercian monk.
Francis of Assisi (St Francis): Italian missionary and preacher who founded the Friars Minor, or the Franciscan Order. Visited Egypt during the Fifth Crusade and attempted to convert Sultan al-Kamil to Christianity.
Frederick II Hohenstaufen: Holy Roman Emperor, king of Sicily and king of the Germans, he extended his rule to include the crown of Jerusalem from 1225 to 1228. Fiercely intelligent, cosmopolitan but belligerent. Fell into dispute with the papacy many times in his long career and was excommunicated four times. Clashed with the Templars during a visit to the Holy Land from 1228 to 1229, but secured a treaty with al-Kamil restoring Jerusalem to crusader rule. Died in 1250.
Fulk I, king of Jerusalem: Count Fulk V of Anjou, persuaded by Hugh of Payns and others to leave his French lands and become king of Jerusalem, he ruled from 1131 to 1143 alongside his wife, Melisende. An early Templar patron.
Geoffrey of Charney: Templar preceptor of Normandy and associate of James of Molay, he was burned as a recusant heretic in 1314.
Geoffrey Fitz Stephen: Master of the Templars in England, he produced a detailed inventory of all property belonging to the order there in 1185.
Gerard of Ridefort: Tenth master of the Templars. Highly political, rash and aggressive. Led the Templars to disastrous defeats at Cresson, Hattin and the siege of Acre in 1189, where he was finally captured and killed.
Guy of Lusignan: Controversially chosen husband of Sibylla, queen of Jerusalem. Captured after leading the Christian army into the battle of Hattin in 1187. Lost the crown of Jerusalem by election in 1192 but was compensated with the kingdom of Cyprus, which he ruled from 1192 to 1194.
Honorius III, Pope: Successor to Innocent III, saw through plans for the Fifth Crusade. Used the military orders, including the Templars, to help channel money raised from faithful Christians to the front line of the war against Islam.
Hugh of Pairaud: Senior Templar in the west, and variously master of the order in England and France. One of the senior leaders of the order imprisoned and absolved at Chinon castle.
Hugh of Payns: The founder and first master of the Order of the Temple. Born near Troyes in Champagne, he died in 1136.
Hülagü: Mongol ruler of the Persian Ilkhanate, in power between 1256 and 1265. Corresponded with Christian kings, including Louis IX of France, seeking an alliance against Baybars and the Mamluks.
Ibn al-Athir: Muslim chronicler born in 1160 to a family from Mosul. Kept a detailed chronicle of relations between Franks and Muslims until his death in 1233.
Il-ghazi: Artuqid ruler in northern Syria who routed a Christian army at the Field of Blood in 1119, prompting the establishment of the Templars.
Imad al-Din Zengi: Turkish governor of Aleppo, he expanded his rule between 1127 and 1146 and conquered the crusader town of Edessa, sparking the Second Crusade.
Innocent II, Pope: In office 1130 to 1143. Granted the Templars the bull Omne Datum Optimum, giving the order official papal recognition and the right to all spoils they took in war.
Innocent III, Pope: A towering figure in the medieval church, whose papacy lasted from 1198 until 1216. Launched the Fourth Crusade, which sacked Constantinople, and set in motion the Fifth Crusade, but died before it began.
James I, king of Aragon: Succeeded to the crown of Aragon as a child in 1213, he was raised by the Templars of Monzón castle. A hero of the Reconquista, conquering Mallorca and Valencia with Templar assistance. Died in 1276.
James II, king of Aragon: Ruled from 1291 to 1327, and oversaw the winding up of the Aragonese Templars.
James of Maillé: Templar knight killed at Cresson in 1187. Miracles were associated with his corpse and stories preserved of his heroic death.
James of Molay: Last master of the Templars, elected in 1292. Defended the order against calls for merger with the Hospitallers. Targeted by Philip IV of France and Pope Clement V from 1307, he was imprisoned, tortured and burned at the stake in Paris in 1314.
John of Brienne: Ruler of Jerusalem from 1210 to 1225 by right of his wife, Maria, and subsequently his daughter, Isabella. Replaced when his daughter married Frederick II Hohenstaufen, and was awarded the position of Latin emperor of Constantinople. Died in 1237.
Louis VII, king of France: Ruled 1137 until 1180. Led the French contingent of the Second Crusade. An important patron of the early Templars.
Louis IX, king of France: Grandson of Philip Augustus. Ruled France from 1226 until 1270, and led two crusades: a huge assault on Damietta in 1248 and a failed attack on Tunis. Famous for his piety and ambitious religious building works, he died 1270 and was canonized in 1297.
Matthew Paris: Thirteenth-century monk from St Albans whose vivid chronicle included information about the Templars gleaned from sources at the court of the English king Henry III.
Melisende, queen of Jerusalem: Daughter of King Baldwin II of Jerusalem. Co-ruler with her husband, Fulk I, from 1131 to 1143, and then with her son, Baldwin III, until he reached adulthood in 1153.
Nasr al-Din: Son of the Egyptian vizier Abbas, he fled Cairo after murdering the Fatimid caliph in 1154. Captured by the Templars of Gaza.
Nur al-Din: Son of Imad al-Din Zengi and ruler of Aleppo, he extended his rule to include most of Syria between 1146 and 1174. Highly religious, he was described by William of Tyre as a ‘mighty persecutor of the Christian name and faith’.
Old Man of the Mountain: The Mysterious leader of the Assassin sect based in the mountains around Masyaf, his real name was Rashid al-Din Sinan. Attempted a pact with the Christian kingdom of Jerusalem, which was sabotaged by the Templars.
Oliver of Paderborn: German churchman, eventually a cardinal, he travelled to Damietta on the Fifth Crusade, helped design siege machinery and kept a detailed chronicle of the campaign. Died in 1227.
Pelagius: Bishop of Albano and papal legate sent to the Fifth Crusade in 1219. Partly responsible for the disastrous decision to reject peace with al-Kamil and march up the Nile to attack al-Mansurah.
Peter of Montaigu: Master of the Templars from 1219 to 1231 and staunch opponent of Frederick II Hohenstaufen.
Philip II Augustus, king of France: Son of Louis VII, who ruled France from 1180 until his death in 1223. Leader of the French contingent of the Third Crusade, he quarrelled with Richard the Lionheart and left the Holy Land following the fall of Acre in 1191.
Philip IV, king of France: Grandson of Louis IX, who became king of France in 1295. Pious, cold and aggressive, he attacked Pope Boniface VIII, persecuted France’s Jews and ordered the mass arrests and trial of French Templars. Died in 1314.
Raimbaud of Caron: Templar preceptor of Cyprus, arrested in France in 1307 and imprisoned at Chinon with James of Molay and others.
Reynald of Vichiers: Templar master who worked closely with Louis IX of France to help organize his first crusade, and helped pay the ransom demanded after his defeat. Led the order from 1250 to 1256.
Richard I t
he Lionheart: King of England between 1189 and 1199. Led a large crusading army to relieve Acre in 1191 and restore Christian possessions taken by Saladin, but was captured on his way back to England and held prisoner in Germany from 1192 to 1194.
Robert of Sablé: Eleventh master of the Temple. A close supporter of Richard I, appointed to strengthen ties between the order and the English crusader king.
Saewulf: Christian pilgrim, probably English, who travelled to Jerusalem on pilgrimage c. 1101–3, after the First Crusade.
Saladin: Kurdish sultan of Egypt and Syria from 1175 until his death in 1193 and founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Victorious at the battle of Hattin in 1187, and restored Jerusalem to Islamic rule later that year.
Shawar: Fatimid vizier of Egypt, who served Caliph al-Adid until he was murdered in 1169 during a coup.
Shirkuh: Kurdish general who served Nur al-Din in Egypt. An adversary of Amalric I, king of Jerusalem, and uncle of Saladin, who assumed command in Egypt after his death in 1169.
Sibylla, queen of Jerusalem: Daughter of Amalric I, her marriage to Guy of Lusignan disastrously split the Christian nobles of Jerusalem. Ruled from 1186 until her death in 1190.
Terricus: Preceptor of the Temple from 1187 to 1189, who escaped from the battlefield at Hattin and helped rebuild the order in the immediate aftermath.
William of Beaujeu: Twenty-first master of the Templars, who was killed at the siege of Acre in 1291 during the evacuation of the city.
William of Chartres: Master of the Templars from 1210 to 1219, he was killed in Egypt during the Fifth Crusade.
William of Nogaret: Leading advisor to Philip IV of France and the intellectual architect of attacks on the French Templars from 1307.
William of Paris: Dominican friar and personal confessor to Philip IV of France, who led the inquisition into Templar heresies from 1307 to 1308.
William of Plaisians: A lawyer in the service of the French crown, who argued for the Templars’ destruction and oversaw judicial inquiries into the order’s alleged misdeeds.
William of Tyre: Chronicler, scholar and friend of kings, his History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea was one of the most important chronicles of the kingdom of Jerusalem in the twelfth century. Naturally suspicious of the Templars.
Appendix II: Popes, 1099–1334
Antipopes have been excluded from this list.
Paschal II
1099–1118
Gelasius II
1118–1119
Calixtus II
Honorius II
1124–1130
Innocent II
1130–1143
Celestine II
1143–1144
Lucius II
1144–1145
Eugene III
1145–1153
Anastasius IV
1153–1154
Adrian IV
1154–1159
Alexander III
1159–1181
Lucius III
1181–1185
Urban III
1185–1187
Gregory VIII
1187
Clement III
1187–1191
Celestine III
1191–1198
Innocent III
1198–1216
Honorius III
1216–1227
Gregory IX
1227–1241
Celestine IV
1241
Innocent IV
1243–1254
Alexander IV
1254–1261
Urban IV
1261–1264
Clement IV
1265–1268
Gregory X
1271–1276
Innocent V
1276
Adrian V
1276
John XXI
1276–1277
Nicholas III
1277–1280
Martin IV
1281–1285
Honorius IV
1285–1287
Nicholas IV
1288–1292
Celestine V
1294
Boniface VIII
1294–1303
Benedict XI
1303–1304
Clement V
1305–1314
John XXII
1316–1334
Appendix III: Kings and Queens of Jerusalem
Godfrey of Bouillon*
1099–1100
Baldwin I
1100–1118
Baldwin II
1118–1131
Fulk and Melisende
1131–1143
Baldwin III and Melisende
1143–1153
Baldwin III
1143–1163
Amalric I
1163–1174
Baldwin IV
1174–1183
Baldwin IV and Baldwin V
1183–1185
Baldwin V
1185–1186
Sibylla and Guy of Lusignan
1186–1190
Guy of Lusignan
1190–1192
Isabella I and Conrad of Montferrat
1192
Isabella I and Henry of Champagne
1192–1197
Isabella I and Almaric II
1197–1205
Maria I
1205–1210
Maria I and John of Brienne
1210–1212
Isabella II and John of Brienne
1212–1225
Isabella II and Frederick II Hohenstaufen
1225–1228
Conrad II†
1228–1254
Conrad III (aka Conradin)
1254–1268
Hugh I
1268–1284
John II
1284–1285
Henry II‡
1285–1324
* Never crowned; used the title ‘Prince and Defender of the Holy Sepulchre’.
† Power exercised by Frederick II Hohenstaufen until 1243 and later by other regents.
‡ Titular only from 1291.
Appendix IV: Masters of the Order of the Temple
Hugh of Payns
1119–1136
Robert of Craon*
Everard of Barres
1149–1152
Bernard of Tremelay
1153
Andrew of Montbard
1153–1156
Bertrand of Blancfort
1156–1169
Philip of Nablus
1169–1171
Odo of Saint-Amand
1171–1179
Arnold of Torrolla
1180–1184
Gerard of Ridefort
1185–1189
Robert of Sablé
1191–1193
Girbert Eral
1194–1200
Philip of Plessis
1201–1209
William of Chartres
1210–1219
Peter of Montaigu
1219–1231
Armand of Périgord
1232–1244
Richard of Bure
1245–1247
William of Sonnac
1247–1250
Reynald of Vichiers
1250–1256
Thomas Bérard
1256–1273
William of Beaujeu
1273–1291
Theobald Gaudin
1291–1292
James of Molay
1292–1314†
* Or Robert Burgundio.
† Date of death. The Order of the Temple was dissolved at the Council of Vienne in 1311.
Notes
Introduction
1. Nicholson, H., The Knights Templar: A New History (Stroud: 2001) 1.
2. Summarized judiciously in Barber, M., The New Knighthood: A History of the Order of the Temple (Cambridge: 1994) 315–18.
PART I: Pilgrims
&
nbsp; 1: ‘A Golden Basin Filled with Scorpions’
1. Brownlow (trans.), Saewulf (1102, 1103AD) (London: 1892) 7. For an alternative English translation of Saewulf’s pilgrimage memoir, see Wilkinson, J. et al (eds.), Jerusalem Pilgrimage 1099–1185 (London: 1988) 94–116.
2. Ibid. 7.
3. Ibid. 31 and ‘Introduction’ vi.
4. Ibid. 31.
5. Ezekiel 5:5.
6. Wilkinson et al, Jerusalem Pilgrimage 1099–1185 101.
7. Ibid. 102.
8. According to the account of Daniel the Abbot, a Russian pilgrim who wrote a detailed account of his own trip to Jerusalem a couple of years after Saewulf: Jerusalem Pilgrimage 1099–1185 128.
9. Qur’an 17:1. ‘Exalted is He who took His Servant by night from al-Masjid al-Haram [ie Mecca] to al-Masjid al-Aqsa [i.e. Jerusalem], whose surroundings We have blessed, to show him of Our signs. Indeed, He is the Hearing, the Seeing.’
10. This was the term used, for example, by the Damascus scholar Ali ibn Tahir al-Sulami in his Kitab al-Jihad (Book of Jihad). See Hillenbrand, C., The Crusades: Islamic Perspectives (Edinburgh: 1999) 71. Extracts from the Kitab al-Jihad can be found in French translation in Sivan, E., ‘La genèse de la contre-Croisade: un traité damasquin du début du XIIe siècle’, Journal asiatique, 254 (1966) and in English at http://www.arts.cornell.edu/prh3/447/texts/Sulami.html