|
Regalia of Orders 
The Templars http://www.templars.org.uk/ The Order was founded in Jerusalem in 1118 by Hughes de Payens, Geoffroy de St. Omer and seven other French knights *. It was consecrated to the protection of pilgrims and the defence of the Holy Land. The founding nights took monastic vows and were known as "The Poor Knights of Christ". King Baldwin II, the French King of Jerusalem (1118-1131) installed the Order in a part of his Palace, on the site of Solomon's Temple, for their residence, stables and armoury, from which it took its name of Knights of the Temple or 'Templars'. At the Council of Troyes in 1128 the Order was confirmed by Pope Honorius II, who gave it the strict Rule dictated by St. Bernard, a monk of the Cistercian Order who became the first Abbot of Clairvaux. The Knights also received the white mantle as a symbol of purity of their life, to which in 1146 Pope Eugenius added a red Templar cross. |
