Perhaps the history of the Templars (and the crusades, and even Europe) would have been very different if the two had been strangers.
)The Cistercian habit: a white tunic with a black scapular, all of which could be covered by a white cowl.The same fears of sin, purgatory and hell that twenty years earlier had prompted more than a hundred thousand people to go on the First Crusade were now drawing thousands of people to his new, raw, earthy kind of monasticism. Indeed, in June 1215 the Master of the English Templars, Aymeric de St Maur, was a key person involved in the production and sealing of Magna Carta – the Great Charter – at Runnymede, by King John. Kingdom of Heaven . They shave their hair, knowing from the Apostle that it is shameful for a man to have flowing locks. They abominate jesters, magicians, story-tellers, singers of scurrilous songs and jousts as so many vanities and mad deceptions. 16979, fol. Chanting was part of the monks’ opus deiCîteaux no longer exists, but the Abbey of Sénanque in Provence (1148) gives an excellent idea of the simple Cistercian architecture of the periodAt Cîteaux, the abbey the earnest young man stood in front of in 1112, there were no gold crosses and jewelled chalices in the chapel.Everything was made simply, of bare wood and stone.
The scene below shows the lead character, a Templar named Thomas Marshall, doing battle with a Viking. William de Albany (Cox) recruits Templar Thomas Marshall (Purefoy) and a band of rebels to defend the strategically important Rochester Castle … All best wishes, DominicJust bought this quirky little volume in a charming old bookshop, only to find this glorious dedication from 1911! After significant petitioning, Bernard eventually wrote him a long letter, ‘in praise of the new knighthood’.Hugh’s intention had been to get some words of spiritual comfort for his knights.He can have had no idea how epoch-defining Bernard’s letter would turn out to be.A medieval book of St Bernard’s writings containing the It began to circulate widely, copied repeatedly by scribes as it passed from hand to hand across Christendom.In no time, Bernard’s letter became the Order’s official press release and public mission statement.As more and more people read Bernard’s thundering words, the Templars’ lives, and the Crusades, were changed forever.Bernard used the letter as an opportunity to crack European military society wide open, describing how the knights of Europe were vain, arrogant, and godless. They rarely wash and seldom tidy their hair, content to be disheveled and dusty, unkempt, covered in dust and blackened by the marks of the sun and their armour.Because their military life was steeled with a strong religious discipline, Bernard declared the Templars to be the ultimate fighting machines:Truly, [the Templar] is a fearless knight, secure on every side, for as his body is encased in iron, his soul is protected with the breastplate of faith. They lack neither monastic meekness nor military might. I do not know if it would be more appropriate to call them monks or knights, unless perhaps it would be better to recognize them as being both. Know that neither death nor life can separate you from the love of God which is in Jesus Christ … .
Fight the good fight. however, he was not a templar during the time he was actually active as a knight. Full text of "The Knights of England.A complete record from the earliest time to the present day of the knights of all the orders of chivalry in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and of knights bachelors, incorporating a complete list of knights bachelors dubbed in Ireland"
The two Hughs had crusaded together numerous times, and in 1125 Count Hugh had taken the ultimate step of giving up his title, repudiating his wife, and taking his solemn vows to join Hugh as a Templar knight.The mutual connection to Count Hugh was enough to get Hugh through the doors of Clairvaux and gain an audience with Bernard.But there was an even stronger connection Hugh relied on, too.One of Hugh’s fellow Templars was Andrew of Montbard, who later became Master of the Templars from 1154–6.
I am so glad you like it! I have read the Knights of the Cloister with a growing realisation of how little I know of that period, though I have spent a considerable time exploring Crusader Castles in the Middle East.Hi Antony, thank you for reading the blog and for your feedback. Thomas Marshall.
At the abbot’s table, there were no trestles overflowing with stuffed birds and aged wines.
The abbey did not sell itself well. Based on the novels by Jan Guillou, it follows the Templars as the fight against Saladin in the 12th century.In this 2011 film, the Knights Templar have somehow gotten involved in the war between King John and his barons. But its philosophy was new, and a radical break with the past.A Rule of St Benedict from the time of Hugh of Payns and St BernardSince the early 500s, all European monks had lived by a ‘Rule’ (a constitution setting out how a monastery was to be run) devised by St Benedict, a wise and seasoned recluse from Umbria in Italy.For the following half millennium, there were no other monasteries in Europe. And he wrote unceasingly on every topic imaginable.For most of his lifetime, he was one of the most respected and listened to voices in Christendom.So when Hugh of Payns needed a spokesman for the wavering Templars, he could not have chosen better than Bernard of Clairvaux, the man the church came to call its As an influential knight, Hugh of Payns had his pick of who to approach to gather support for his new Order.Wisely, he spread the net wide, travelling about Europe gaining allies. Life is fruitful and victory is glorious, but a holy death is more important than either. If they are blessed who die in the Lord, how much more are they who die for the Lord!Much of the rest of the letter is taken up with theological justifications for Christian religious warfare. Check out Danièle Cybulskie’s article “The afterlife of the Templars: From fighting injustice to ruling the world” in the latest © 2007-2020