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The Knights Templar Founded by Hugh de Payens, a French nobleman from the Champagne region, in Jerusalem around 1119. Originally consisted of a group of knights who protected Christian pilgrims travelling to the Holy Land against attack from brigands and Saracen pirates, after the crusaders captured Jerusalem in 1099. In 1129 they took monastic vows of poverty, chastity and obedience and pledged themselves ready to die for their faith. They were given quarters next to the temple and adopted their distinctive uniform – white tunics with an eight- pointed blood red cross. After Christian fighters captured Jerusalem during the First Crusade, groups of pilgrims from across Western Europe began visiting the Holy Land. Many were killed while crossing through Muslim controlled territory during their journey. After Hugh de Payens formation of the order, with the King of Jerusalem, Baldwin II, they set their headquarters on the sacred Temple Mount in order to protect Christian visitors to the city. During the key battles of the Crusades, they developed a reputation as fierce warriors driven by religious commitment and forbidden from retreating unless they were vastly outnumbered. In addition to their campaign, they also set up a network of banks that enabled religious pilgrims to deposit assets in their home countries and withdraw funds in the Holy Land; this gave the Knights Templar an enormous financial influence that included a fleet of ships as well as the island of Cyprus.

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The Knights Templar

Founded by Hugh de Payens, a French nobleman from the Champagne region, in Jerusalem around 1119.

Originally consisted of a group of knights who protected Christian pilgrims travelling to the Holy Land against attack from brigands and Saracen pirates, after the crusaders captured Jerusalem in 1099.

In 1129 they took monastic vows of poverty, chastity and obedience and pledged themselves ready to die for their faith.

They were given quarters next to the temple and adopted their distinctive uniform – white tunics with an eight-pointed blood red cross.

After Christian fighters captured Jerusalem during the First Crusade, groups of pilgrims from across Western Europe began visiting the Holy Land. Many were killed while crossing through Muslim controlled territory during their journey. After Hugh de Payens formation of the order, with the King of Jerusalem, Baldwin II, they set their headquarters on the sacred Temple Mount in order to protect Christian visitors to the city.

During the key battles of the Crusades, they developed a reputation as fierce warriors driven by religious commitment and forbidden from retreating unless they were vastly outnumbered. In addition to their campaign, they also set up a network of banks that

enabled religious pilgrims to deposit assets in their home countries and withdraw funds in the Holy Land; this gave the Knights Templar an enormous financial influence that included a fleet of ships as well as the island of Cyprus.

After Muslim soldiers retook Jerusalem, this changed the nature of the Crusades causing the Knights Templar to relocate. After the Europeans support of the military in the Holy Land declined this caused the Knights Templars’ popularity decreased also. By 1303, they had little

power in the Muslim world. Despite being fully disbanded over 700 years ago, the Knights Templar’s beliefs have been carried through certain organisations, most recently a right wing extremist who carried out attacks in Norway. Anders Behring Breivik claimed that he attended a meeting in 2002 in which his violent right wing group “Knights Templar” was founded. He descried himself as one of the ‘founding fathers’ of the English Defence League where he wrote “I wonder sometimes if one of the EDL founders was one of the co-founders of [the Knights Templar], I guess I’ll never know for sure.”