Sean Martin - The Knights Templar

1135 Earliest records of Templars acting as bankers

c.1136 Death of Hugues de Payen (possibly 1131); Hospitallers begin militarisation

1136–37 Templars first established in the Amanus March

1139 Omnes datum optimum (possibly as late as 1152)

1144 Milites templi (possibly as early as 1134)

1145 Militia Dei

1147–49 The Second Crusade

1148–49 Templars granted Gaza

1153 Fall of Ascalon to the Franks

Mid 1160s Hierarchical statutes or retrais added to the Rule

Late 1160s Statutes on conventual life, the holding of chapters, and penances added to the Rule

1168 Templars refuse to participate in the Egyptian campaign

1173 Assassin envoy murdered by the Templars

1187 (1 May) Battle of the Springs of Cresson; (4 July) Battle of Hattin; (2 October)Jerusalem falls to Saladin

1188Council of Gisors: the ‘Cutting of the Elm’

1189–92The Third Crusade

1192Templars move headquarters to Acre

1191–92Templars occupy – and for a short time, own – Cyprus

1191–1216Templars and Leo of Armenia in conflict over the Amanus March

1198Foundation of the Teutonic Knights

1202–04The Fourth Crusade

1208Innocent III accuses the Templars of necromancy; Start of the Albigensian Crusade

1217–21Building of the castle of ’Atlit (Pilgrim’s Castle)

1218–21The Fifth Crusade

1228–29Crusade of Frederick II

1239–40Crusade of Theobald of Champagne

1240–41Crusade of Richard of Cornwall

1240Rebuilding of Safad begins

1241–42Siege of the Hospital compound at Acre

1243Eviction of Imperial forces from Tyre

1244 (16 March)Fall of Cathar stronghold at Montségur; (23 August)Loss of Jerusalem; (17 October)Battle of La Forbie

1248–54Crusade of St Louis

1250 (8 February)Battle of Mansurah

1257–67Additional clauses on penances added to the Rule

1266Fall of Safad to the Mamluks

After 1268Catalan Rule of the Templars

1271–72Crusade of Edward of England – truce negotiated with Mamluks

1274Council of Lyon

1277Maria of Antioch sells her rights to the throne of Jerusalem to Charles of Anjou

1277–82Civil War in Tripoli

1291 (May)Fall of Acre to the Mamluks; (August)Templars evacuate Tortosa and ’Atlit

1299Fall of La Roche Guillame

1300Templars attack Egyptian coastal towns

1300–01Abortive attempt to retake the Holy Land

1302Loss of Ruad and massacre of the Templar garrison

1305First allegations made against the Order by Esquin de Floyran

1306Templars support Amaury in coup in Cyprus; Jacques de Molay returns to the West

1307 (13 October)Arrest of the Templars in France; (19 October)Parisian hearings begin; (24 October)Jacques de Molay’s first confession; (22 November) Pastoralis praeeminentiae calls for Templars everywhere to be arrested; (24 December)De Molay retracts his confession before Papal committee

1308 (February)Clement suspends proceedings; (27 June)72 Templars confess before Clement; (August)Papal Commissions launched; De Molay interviewed at Chinon

1309 (22 November)Papal commission begins its proceedings; (26 & 28 November)De Molay appears before commission

1310 (April)Templar defence begins; (10 May)Burning of 54 Templars as relapsed heretics near Paris

1311 (5 June)Papal hearings finally end; (16 October)Council of Vienne begins

1312 (22 March) Vox in excelso abolishes the Temple; (2 May) Ad providam transfers Temple property to the Hospital; (6 May) Considerantes dudum allows provincial councils to judge cases

1314 (18 March)Burning of Jacques de Molay and Geoffroi de Charney; (20 April)Pope Clement V dies; (24 June)Battle of Bannockburn; (29 November)Philip the Fair dies

1319 Ad ea exquibis recognises the Knights of Christ

1571Presumed destruction of the Templar archive on Cyprus by the Ottomans

There is no definitive list of Templar Grand Masters. If one ever existed, then it is possible that it was amongst the documents destroyed by Jacques de Molay shortly before the arrests of 1307. The earliest known list dates from 1342.

c.1136–c.1149 • Robert de Craon

c.1149–c.1152 • Everard des Barres*

c.1152–1153 • Bernard de Tremelay

1153–1156 • André de Montbard*

1156–1169 • Bertrand de Blancfort

1169–1171 • Philip de Nablus*

c.1171–1179 • Odo de St Amand

1181–1184 • Arnold of Torroja

1185–1189 • Gerard de Ridefort

1191–1192/3 • Robert de Sablé

1194–1200 • Gilbert Erail

1201–1209 • Philip de Plessis

1210–1218/19 • Guillame de Chartres

1219–1230/32 • Peter de Montaigu

c.1232–1244 • Armand de Périgord

c.1244–c.1247 • Richard de Bures*

c.1247–1250 • Guillame de Sonnac

1250–1256 • Reginald de Vichiers

1256–1273 • Thomas Bérard

1273–1291 • Guillame de Beaujeu

1291–1292/93 • Theobald Gaudin

c.1293–1314 • Jacques de Molay

*Disputed.

Many Grand Master lists omit Richard de Bures (see Note 23, above).

The Masterships of Everard des Barres and André de Montbard have been called into question by Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln in The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail . 53As regional masters and Grand Masters often signed themselves as ‘ magister templi ’, it has often led to confusion about precisely who was Grand Master and who was merely a regional master.

All the Masters died in office, with the exception of Everard des Barres, who resigned to become a monk at Clairvaux, where he was still living in 1176, and Philip de Nablus, who apparently also resigned. While Hugues de Payen died in his bed, other Masters were not so lucky: Bernard de Tremelay died during the siege of Ascalon; Gerard de Ridefort at Acre; Guillame de Sonnac at Mansurah; Guillame de Beaujeu during the Fall of Acre; Jacques de Molay was executed as a relapsed heretic. Odo de St Amand and Armand de Périgord both died in Muslim jails.