The Knights Templar in Blagdon

Fig.1 The Seal of the Knights Templar, with their famous image of two knights on a single horse, a symbol of their early poverty. Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, commonly known as the Knights Templar or the Order of the Temple, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders. The organisation existed for approximately two centuries in the Middle Ages. It was founded in 1119 in the aftermath of the First Crusade of 1096, to ensure the safety of the many Europeans who made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem after its conquest. Officially endorsed by the Roman Catholic Church in 1129, the Order became a favoured charity across Europe and grew rapidly in membership and power. Templar knights in their distinctive white mantles with a red cross were among the best fighting units of the Crusades. Non-military members of the Order managed a large economic infrastructure throughout Christendom, inventing or adapting many financial transactions that were an early form of banking. They also built many castles and other fortifications across Europe and the Holy Land. The Knights were organized as a monastic order, similar to Saint Bernard's Cistercians and received money, land, businesses and noble-born sons from families who were eager to help with the fight in the Holy Land. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records how in 1128 Hugh of the Temple came from Jerusalem to the king in Normandy, and the king received him with great honour, and gave him great treasures, consisting of gold and silver; and then he sent him to England and there he was received by all good men and they all gave him treasures – and in Scotland also – and sent by him to Jerusalem great property entirely in gold and silver; (Whitelock, 194). In 1185 there was a country-wide survey of Templar property in England; they held lan